Leon Fontaine - Looking For Love
The first symptom of someone who doesn't get the new covenant is avoiding God. They will avoid an intimacy with God because they're not sure they can get because they don't qualify. They got things in their life that aren't quite there. So they'll hang around the periphery. They'll come, and they'll go. But they won't dive right in and just enjoy intimacy with Him because they don't understand the new covenant so they're avoiding God. So many Christians are like this. Many people who have teenagers don't recognize that as teenagers begin to rise up and come into this area of where all these desires begin to become unlock.
You know, to be independent, to be whatever that's ahead of you, for sex and for someone into party and drugs. They begin to back away because they just, they're avoiding God. Stop going to church, don't go to youth group, don't get to plug in, stand at the back and just kind of be at the periphery but don't come right in. They're avoiding God. There are Christians everywhere who want the fire insurance. Okay, I don't wanna go to hell. I want to go to heaven. But they have no idea of the incredible intimacy and how it would unlocks faith and every other relation.
Number two: the second symptom of people who don't get it, is guilt and shame. They struggle with the sense of guilt. They struggle with the sense of shame.
And number three: the third symptom that people who don't Christians, how many Christians? Christians who don't get it is they struggle with fear. They're anxious. They're worried. They're not looking, they struggle with it.
Fourth symptom: They don't have the ability to receive love or to give love. They don't have the ability to receive it or to give it. If you're married to somebody and you don't believe they love you, you'll never experience it anyway because it must be believed to be experienced. If your spouse says to you, "I love you. I love you. I love you. You're amazingly incredible. I'm so glad I married you". And you go, "Right, what do you want"? Okay, will you ever experience that love? No. You have to believe it, to experience it.
And so people who do not understand the new covenant and I'll show you why. They don't have the ability to receive love. You can pour love on them and it will just kind of be deflected by what they believed. They don't know how to give love. Because one of the crowning teachings of Jesus was that, it's not how much you love Him but it's how much He loves you. This value that comes into your life changes your ability. Some people love in galloons and some people love in cups. They don't have the ability to receive love or to give love.
The fifth symptom of someone who don't understand the new covenant, is pride and a judgmental attitude. Pride. People think that pride is arrogance but it's not. Arrogance is this persona you emit out. That I'm better than you and I got it together. In fact, most people who act superior feel inferior which is why they act superior. So, but pride can be a person who's quite and not arrogant at all but deep inside they believe what they want to believe. You can't change their mind and they're not gonna self-assess anything. They know what they believed and so they judge others on their own beliefs. And so people who don't understand the new covenant, they're continually judging others. You know why? Because they feel something's off. They know that they internally don't add up.
And so the only way you can feel better about yourself is if anybody else rises up minimize, minimize, minimize. Bring them back down because the further they rise up for God, the more you feel there's something wrong with you. You don't want to look something wrong with you so minimize, minimize, minimize. A new person could come in to your group and someone say, "Have you meet Bob, Bobby Joe and Bessie Sue? Aren't they an incredible couple"? And right away it's, "Yeah, well. Ah, yeah, yeah, yeah". Already your tone and already how you respond is telling them that there's something wrong with them. Because it's your judgments and it's your pride. If anybody else is doing better than you, you automatically wonder what's wrong with you. It's a sign of you not getting this new covenant.
The sixth sign is there will be a lack of peace, rest, and joy. Joy is different than happiness. Joy is a deep force. There's no rest. And so even as Christians, they're always looking for the new thing, the new teaching, the new powerful service. They're gonna fall in the spirit. The smoke gonna enter the room and the presence of God is gonna hit this place. And man, you should have been there. They need experience after experience after experience because they don't have a relationship. And Jesus says that there's a rest that is for the people of God. These six things, you don't have to have all six. But if one of them haunts you or one of them is there, you need to understand something. That you need to get in the God's Word. This incredible beautiful truths of God's Word and line up exactly what this new covenant is.
It's amazing how few Christians even know how to differentiate between the old agreement with God and the new one. They're dragging all the old agreement into the new agreement and the two can't mix. They're just impossible. That's like some guy dragging his old relationship into his new one. Do you think that's gonna work? Ha ha, not a chance! It's gonna destroy it. A lot of people don't even know why they feel off. So I don't know exactly what's going on. Leon, I just don't feel on. I just don't feel like, you know, the Bible says that there's a peace and a joy and a presence of God and a rejoicing and a life that is knowing Jesus. It's just an incredible thing. It's wonderful. It's awesome.
So many people who don't get that if they don't understand the new covenant. And Jesus was very clear on that. So the only people who have the ability to change is first you have the ability to self-assess. But no one wants to do that, because I don't have a problem. My problem is you. My problem is you because you're my boss. My problem is you because you're my spouse. My problem is you because you're my parents. And my problem is you because you're on my team. And so we're always got the language of excuses. And the language of excuses is never gonna self-assess that I need to change. My problem is not me. My problem is you. And as long as you can't self-assess and believe that you can change, you will live a life with these six symptoms. Flowing in and out, ebbing and flowing. You'll feel better when things succeed. You'll feel better when you have an experience. You'll feel better here and there. But there won't be this rest and this beauty of a relation.
Most Christian walk is transactional. So why did you come to Jesus? I want Him to heal me. I don't wanna go to hell. Because I wanted my daughter healed. I want my wife to love me more. I want to rescue our marriage. It's all about a transaction. Now, we know the benefits are amazing to serve God. His promises are beautiful. But Christianity, okay, is not a transaction. It's a relationship. But if you don't get a relationship there are people here that you're struggling right now because some relationship you have, maybe you're dating, maybe you're married. That it's more transactional. What can I do for you? What do you do for me? And his needs, her needs. It's all good teaching in that and learning that. But the greatest desire is to have a relationship. And then all of these transactions, all of these needs and gives and takes and flows, that they come so easily and beautifully and naturally if there's a relationship.
And today Christians we even when we talk about Christianity, we talk about it as He's gonna heal you. He's gonna prosper you. He's gonna make you rich. He's gonna restore your marriage. He's gonna fix your home. He's gonna raise your kids. They're gonna be awesome. It's all transactional. We know it all but the most incredible thing about Jesus is the relationship. It's knowing Him. It's feeling His love. It's sensing as never before. When God made mankind, He made them with this need to be loved so far beyond anything you could imagine, that nobody will meet that need. And you will crucify somebody that you expect to meet that need which is usually your spouse. Meet my needs. Make me feel good. You know, make me feel love. You know, have sex with me. Do this. I just not feeling love.
What's your problem? I'm not feeling love today. Welcome to hell. Because what you thought was a beautiful relationship that says, "Hey, if you find". And so you're single, but if you're dating someone right now that completes you, run. If you're dating someone who needs you, run. If you're dating someone that thinks you are the most amazing incredible person and there's nobody like you, run. Are you ever gonna be able to live up to that after a couple years of marriage? You won't. You won't! Nobody can live up to this incredible desire. I need to be loved, so completely, so incredibly. Someone's gonna love me and see me and see how amazing I am. But they've got needs and when they put those needs on you, it just mad things. They're complicated. They get mess up.
So we need to understand that according to Romans 5:5, the love of God is shed abroad in my heart by the Holy Spirit. Not by your spouse, not by your kids. There are parents here whose kids have never been free because they're your cheerleading section. They're the ones who are gonna come home all the time and love you and look after you. And it's like, "Hey, just a minute". Even your kids won't. They don't wanna be your, "Good one dad. Good one dad". It's like you need that. "Mom, you're amazing! You're amazing mom. We love, oh, mom, you're incredible". Oh, can we get out here. Because you need somebody to tell you you're amazing. You need someone to make you feel love. You need someone to make you feel significant. We can do that for each other and we should. We should respect and love. But there's no way that anybody can meet that need that only God can fill.
And so the old agreement in the Old Testament where nobody was spiritually alive. From the garden and on the presence of God left the spirits of mankind. They were functioning as only two-thirds a person. They had a body. They had an onboard computer, a mind, an emotion, and a will. But the presence of God inside that made them know they're special, made them know they're loved, made them just know, "Waa ha! This is so good. Yes"! Just slowly ebbs away the older you get because you moved onto people. You're looking for someone, looking for love in all the wrong places. Looking for love. Yes, there's love in marriage. Yes, there's love in friendship. Yes, there's love in children. Yes, there's love in grandchildren until how much you need. It's so brutally high they can't measure up.
And then because you don't know how to self-assess and you don't understand the first covenant, you're sure they're not loving you better. And if they would just do this and make you breakfast, that they make love more often. And you've all these things that if they would do this, life would be great. But I promise you it won't. If they do those things what then? This relationship with Jesus, okay? It's the new covenant written in the blood of Jesus is different than the old covenant. But today many preachers they continue to mix all the requirements from the old covenant. Let me just, we're out of time already. Let me just give you something to think about for those who want to study and learn because I'm gonna challenge you. One of the weaknesses of coming to Springs Church is to let me feed you every week and not be self-feeding. Okay?
I am not responsible for your feeding. I'm responsible for your maturity. That's different. Okay? You're responsible to feed. Like my dad always said, "I don't mind bottle feeding baby Christians. I just don't like parting the whiskers to get the bottle in decades later". And, you know, and it's true. I need to say this because if you do not begin to discipline yourself and go to God's Word and see how valuable it is and listen to messages and study His Word so that you know what this new agreement is. You're gonna be at the mercy of whatever comes along. So begin to study His Word, get out to the course during the midweek. When you come to church, you know, get this message if you don't want to take notes, then get it and replay it over and over. Dive into God's Word because when you know truth, the truth will set you free and your belief systems will begin to line up with the truth of God's Word.
You know, we're on a series on faith and how to believe God. And I decided to take this topic today because unless you begin to believe and know the love of God and you don't experience it, you can have all the faith in the world and you'll be running in all the wrong directions trying to meet a need. This desire to be loved and valuable and significant. And my wife doesn't notice it anymore and my husband he doesn't get it anymore. If he would just, and my kids and they all deserted. Of course, they did. You raised them for God not for you. I just didn't know, things are off. When you begin to feel off, I didn't finish this thought earlier.
One of the most important things you need to do is analyze what's the feeling that you've got that's off. You know, most people don't even know how they feel. I just feel off. Oh, why? Begin to analyze, begin to get God's Word. Begin to say, "God, help me to grow". And realize I'm just jealous because so and so got complicated. It's kind of touching the area that I really want her. I'm just angry. I'm angry because. Begin to recognize the emotion that rises up. Begin to recognize why things are going on. And begin to walk your life into a love relationship with Jesus Christ where all of this deep spiritual needs are meet by Him. Your wife, your husband cannot meet your spiritual needs. They'll work with you on having a relationship together around Jesus. But, and they'll meet a certain amount of emotional need. That you can meet a certain amount of physical need. You can meet a certain amount of purpose together, etcetera. But this deep relationship that only Jesus can meet the spiritual need. You need it with Him.
And you're dangerous in relationships until you get that because of what require from other people will literally bankrupt that relationship as you can't get it from them and you'll never will. Then we begin to go towards pleasures and the other, a need to tie ourselves with drug and alcohol. Anything you take to cope, you're becoming an addict. I don't care if the Canadian government legalizes it, just because government legalizes it, it doesn't mean I'm gonna do it. My standards are a whole lot higher than what is Mr. Trudeau want? This thing about knowing Jesus, I promise you a thought. Here's a thought I want you to understand. A covenant is an agreement between two people. The old covenant in the Old Testament were three things. They were conditional, bilateral, and temporal. Meaning, that there's an if on all of these things.
So if you humble yourself, I'll heal your land. If you'll obey me, I'll prosper you. There was an if. So in other words, two parties come together and they have an agreement. This person does this, this person does that. So that's why it's bilateral. There's two people that have to agree and if one person doesn't hold up their end to the bargain, the whole agreement falls. Which is what happened all through the Old Testament. That this is a conditional covenant. There're things that people had to do. And it's bilateral so that God holds up His end, the human race doesn't. But it's temporal. The Bible says the old covenant was only gonna be in place until the seed came along, a word for Jesus. That when Jesus came this old covenant would go away and new covenant would come.
Now, the new covenant is the opposite of these three things. It's not conditional. The new covenant is unconditional. There's no conditions you have to work at for this agreement. It's unilateral, meaning only God has to hold up His end of the bargain. And this about freaks out Christians who are living in the old covenant. There's still working at it, trying to earn more blessings, trying to be better for God, trying to get it together for God. And they don't understand that it's an unconditional covenant. Only one person, God, and He'll never fail on His side and it's eternal. So once you recognize this, Jesus in what He does for you, how incredible He is. You should fall in love. Begin to study the scriptures. Get out to church. Focus on how much does God love me.
So many will still, "Well, I wanna love God and I wanna love Him more". You know, I remember when I was a kid I'd sing this song. "Change my heart, Oh God. The tears would start to come. Make me ever new. Change my heart, Oh God. Help me". And I was always reminded of how little I love God and how I wasn't enough. And I would work at it and sing song. Worship was a sad time for me of remembering, now don't get proud, you worthless scum. God loves you and, you know, and you're trying hard to get better. And that old covenant thinking.
Listen to me, babies, and you've heard this example before, babies don't do anything to be loved. They crap their pants, peed their pants, puke upon you, cry at night, keep you up. They don't say thank you. They can't even talk. And yet, you would die for this. You love this little baby so much. Yet we can't believe that God can love us even if we don't meet all these conditions. This new covenant, when you accept Jesus Christ as your Saviour, the love, Romans 5:5 is a stunning verse, the love of God is shed abroad in your heart by the Holy Spirit. And Holy Spirit comes within you and you gave your life to Him. There's a love that's in there. You better start believing, because if you don't believe it, you'll never experience it. And the only to believe it is to go into God's Word, because faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the Word of God.
While so many believers are trying to get healed and trying to get prosperous and trying to fix their spouse and try to fix their kids, and all this. They forgotten the most important thing to believe is in Jesus that He loves you. That He cares about you. That He values you. And only His Word can show that to you as you get into His Word and you recognize it. Mankind is His crowning achievement. That He's in love with you and me. It doesn't matter how messed up or how perfect we think we are. His love is there and we need to begin to believe that love. The problem is if we go into the old covenant, we won't believe the love till we get our lives straighten out. I gotta get my head together. I gotta start treat my spouse better. I gotta be a better parent. I gotta get rid of my addictions. I gotta stop being angry and mad. I gotta stop being jealous and ornery. I gotta stop. I know what's going on my head so there's no way God loves me. Nobody could love me if they really know me.
But God knows you through and through. He even knows things that are bad about you that you don't even know about you. He's absolutely in love with you. He wants to come in your heart. He wants to forgive you. And then He wants to help you change because He loves you too much to leave you the way you are. But He's in love with you. In Romans 5:5, this version I'm gonna stop. It says, "Such hope never disappoints or deludes or shames us". Stop right there. You know, sometimes we think, "I'm just ashamed Leon because God's in love with me and I don't hold up my end". But God's love, have you ever had love someone who they love you but they're gonna let you know how much they show you love, how little you show them love back? God's love will never disappoint you. Never delude you or shame you, for God's love has been poured in to your heart through the Holy Spirit who's been given to us. If you don't sense love, it's because you don't believe it. Because God's love, if you've given your life to Christ and He lives on the inside of you, then you are filled with His love and it is shed abroad.