Good morning, saints. I’m waiting till Jack gives me the signal here. We good? All right. That’s the one emoji I’ve learned how to use—that one. Amen.
Oh, the love that drew salvation’s plan;
Oh, the grace that brought it down to man;
The mighty gulf that God did span at Calvary.
You know, the older I get, the more I realize the great gulf that stood between me and the Lord—the impossibility of me ever reaching God or ever being able to satisfy God. But praise the Lord, He was able to span that mighty gulf at Calvary.
Oh, all the resistance that we may have offered up in our life to the Lord Jesus—we must testify here this morning that He broke through to us by His amazing mercy, grace, and love. I am so thankful and grateful this morning that much of our worship and time together has been focused on the love of God for us, because that is what is on my heart. It was what was on my heart the previous time I shared as well.
Today, I want to continue in that same line: the line of love.
You know, we are quickly approaching the end of this age of grace, this age in which God has determined that He will pour forth all of His grace upon mankind, that mankind might respond to His grace and His love, and draw many into His kingdom. But this age of grace is soon to come to an end.
I think we all—I do not know about you personally, but for me, this past year particularly—I have had that sensing down in my spirit. It is close. His return is very close. The end of this age is very near.
In Matthew 24 and Luke 21, the Lord shares with us, and with His disciples at that time, what would characterize the end of this age—the way people would be at the end of this age. He said, basically, lawlessness will abound. Certainly, we have barely experienced that in the last year.
Hatred would abound. Just hate. You can see it. You can feel it. It is intense. He said that Christians would be persecuted for His name’s sake, and we see that happening. I recently prayed with a sister who was undergoing great pressure and persecution at her job because she was a Christian.
Brothers and sisters, particularly for you younger ones who are still working, it is out there. It is going to be strong in these last days. The Lord has warned us of this.
And remember, He said people’s hearts would grow cold. Now, He was not just talking about unbelievers. He was talking about believers—that our hearts would get cold in this atmosphere that we are in, this atmosphere of expelling the Lord from everything.
When you expel the Lord, you expel His love, you expel His grace, and you expel His mercy. What is left but the coldness of men’s hearts, manifesting the sin that is a part of our nature? That is the last days.
And remember, He also said it would be like the days of Noah. Brothers and sisters, the Lord said, “I cannot take it anymore.” He said the people had become so evil that even their very thoughts were evil continually before Him. They were all rejecting the Lord, except Noah and his family.
Isn’t that amazing? It had come down to just one family. That is how long the Lord suffered with the people He had created. He loved them.
Noah preached—I forget how many years, 140, 120; I cannot remember—but he was building an ark. It was a testimony to God. He was saying, “Yes, God is the way of your salvation. This ark that I am building represents God’s love to you, the way to escape from your tragedy and the bondage of evil that you are in.”
But the people did not see it. In fact, I am pretty sure they probably despised Noah and his family. They probably did their best to persecute him, as much as they could, in those days. Well, we know how that ended. The Lord’s judgment came upon the world.
Well, the Lord’s judgment will come again, and I am afraid it is going to be very soon. At the end of this age, we have reached that second cycle, if you want to say it that way—the end of this age. I think we all sense it.
I think I can sum up the spirit that we see in the world today, particularly in the United States: it is the spirit of humanism. Brothers and sisters, it originated with Adam and Eve, and we have their genes, unfortunately. That sinful nature has passed on to us.
But what is the flaw of humanism? It says, “You know, I want to live on my own. I want to live without having to depend on God. I want to take that up myself.” In other words, the enemy’s challenge to Eve was, “You will be like God.”
Now, none of us, I think, here would say, “Hey, I want to be like God,” in the sense that I do not need God anymore; I can be my own god. But, you know, that is what is at the basis of all men’s hearts. It is called lawlessness. The rejection of God is lawlessness, brothers and sisters.
I think we have come near to the end of this dispensation. I think we all sense it in our hearts. The time is short. The time remaining for us to get to what is important in our lives is very short.
I think one thing that has happened to me, and I think to many of you here, is that we begin to consider things, haven’t you? What is my life really all about? What is really important? What is going to make a difference—not just a temporary difference, but an eternal difference?
Isn’t that what we are called to be? We are called to be eternal beings. We have eternal life. That means much more than just living forever. That means you have the life of God in you.
Even unbelievers will live eternally, but they will be in torment because they have rejected the love of the Lord. That is the issue. They have rejected God’s love for them: “I do not need Your love. I do not need Your salvation. I can take care of myself. I am on my own.”
But we have seen the tragedy of that in many lives personally, I am sure. So I think we have been—at least I have been—searching: What really matters? What really matters now, Lord?
I think there is a primary issue. I think there is an ultimate issue that we have to be concerned about in this day. I think it is a master key to your life and your future with the Lord.
Do you all know what a master key is? Well, some of you do. If you have been in construction work, or if you ever lived in an apartment complex, you will understand what a master key is.
You know, I worked for the Housing Authority. It was, what, four thousand units? We had a key for every unit, but we also had a master key that could unlock any unit. It was the key—the master key—and it was carefully guarded and kept.
Because if the master key was ever lost, we had to rekey everything in the Housing Authority. But the master key is what opens all the doors. It is what brings you into the full light of what is behind everything. In other words, it opens the door.
So, I believe there is a master key that we need to consider in these days—that ultimate thing that the Lord is after.
You know, the Lord is coming soon. As we look through the book of Revelation particularly, we would say that the Lord is coming back to judge. He is coming back to judge the world. He is going to judge His church.
But is that really what is on the Lord’s heart—is judgment? Certainly, He will come, and He will judge the world. There will be judgment. But I wonder: is there a positive reason for the Lord coming back? Is there a positive reason for His return?
Is there something—is there a master key, is there a key—to our lives that will draw the Lord Jesus back, not just to judge the earth, but because of His love for us? I think there is. I think there is.
You know, in my previous message, it was on love: the Lord’s love for us and our love for Him, our response. I am going to read that Scripture once again. It came from Jeremiah 31:3.
When the nation of Israel was in the most horrible of spiritual conditions, worshiping Molech—the one to whom they offered their babies—it was a horrible religion. But they were worshiping him, and this was the Lord’s word to them. He was in such agony over His people:
“I have loved thee with an everlasting love.”
—Jeremiah 31:3
In such a terrible condition, He was able to say, “My love for you has not waned.” He certainly hated what they were doing, but He really loved them. And He still loves that nation. Thank the Lord.
Then I spoke not only of the Lord’s love for us, but of Mary Magdalene. Mary Magdalene was the one who had gone to the Lord’s grave that morning, and the Lord responded to her. Do you remember? I think the story needs a brief review.
You know, she was the first one to whom the Lord revealed Himself after His resurrection—the very first one. I thought a lot about that. Why Mary Magdalene?
We remember she was the one who had seven evil spirits cast from her. She had been set at liberty and made free. Certainly, she had a lot to rejoice in the Lord about, and a deep love for the Lord.
In fact, she, brothers and sisters, was there at Calvary. You know, His disciples were not. They were scattered, except for John. He was there, of course, and he was the one the Lord asked to take care of His mother.
But John left. The disciples were dispersed, confused, and fearful, because if they would kill the Lord Jesus, they would certainly come after them as well.
But our sister, our dear sister, watched the Lord perish at Calvary’s cross. She followed Him as they took Him to the gravesite and buried Him there. She had made plans with the other sisters to come back the next morning to anoint His body.
But she could not wait. Her love was so intense for the Lord that she had to be with Him, just being near where He was buried. So, before daybreak the next morning, she went by herself back to the tomb just to be there, to weep before her Lord at His gravesite.
But when she got there, He was not there. His body was gone. She was deeply disturbed. She rushed back to tell Peter and John what had happened. The Lord’s body was gone. She was so concerned. Where was her Lord?
That was her passion for the Lord Jesus. We know they went to the tomb, and they also realized that the Lord was not there. Then they went back.
Somehow, they did not cross paths, but our sister showed up once again at the gravesite. A man appeared to her, and she immediately looked at Him and thought, “Well, He is the gardener.” So she said, “Where have they taken my Lord’s body? Where is He? I need to go to Him. I need to take care of Him. I need to take care of that body.”
Finally, the Lord asked her, “Whom are you seeking?” Of course, it was the Lord. Finally, our Lord Jesus—it was like the Lord’s heart was exploding, and He could not wait any longer—simply said, “Mary.”
Upon hearing her name and the voice, she knew it was the Lord. Brothers and sisters, she did not initially recognize our Lord. The Lord had to open her eyes. It was a precious revelation that our Lord gave to our sister, that she could see the risen Lord Jesus Christ.
The One who had been to Calvary and died for her and her sins—she was now seeing that He was the risen One. How her heart was full of joy and love.
Brothers and sisters, why was she the one that the Lord responded to and was drawn to? It was Mary Magdalene. It was Mary Magdalene’s passionate love for our Lord Jesus. That is what drew Him to her.
I believe, brothers and sisters, that is why she was the first one to whom He revealed Himself. She had a passionate, pursuing love—a love that could not be satisfied without the Lord Himself.
Brothers and sisters, that was the master key that drew the Lord Jesus back. I think it is the master key that is going to draw our Lord Jesus back at the end of this age: when He sees His bride full of first love—love for Him, passionate love.
You know, love is one of the most—I’ll say it differently. Love is the most powerful force in the universe. Hate is certainly a strong force, but love conquers hate in our Lord Jesus Christ. It is the consummation of the age.
When you look at the book of Revelation, it is a clear picture of the consummation of this age. I think a lot of times we tend to focus on the seven seals, the seven trumpets, and the seven bowls. We get into all the details of Revelation: all the judgments, the warfare, Satan, the Antichrist, and the false prophet who can bring fire down from heaven—the trio of evil.
We get into that, and I think sometimes we miss what the book of Revelation is all about. I think the master key to the book of Revelation is love.
It begins in Revelation 1:5 with this:
“Unto Him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in His own blood.”
—Revelation 1:5
That is the way it begins. It begins with this note of love. Brothers and sisters, at Calvary’s cross He secured something that was so precious to Him. What was that? He secured His future bride.
Brothers and sisters, the book of Revelation is not just a book of judgment. It is a love story. It begins with love, and praise the Lord, we do come to the end of that book. But between Revelation 1:5, where He says He has loved us and washed us from our sins, we see all the judgments, all the warfare, and all the turmoil.
What is all that about? It is the resistance against the Lord having His bride, against His love being totally satisfied in a bride full of first love. The enemy is against the Lord. He is against the bride, brothers and sisters.
All that turmoil has occurred in opposition to the Lord having His heart satisfied. What is it that is going to satisfy Him? A bride full of first love. That is what is going to satisfy our Lord.
In Revelation 19:7, I think Kennedy referred to this verse recently:
“Let us rejoice and be exceeding glad, and let us give the glory unto Him:
for the marriage of the Lamb is come,
and His wife hath made herself ready.”
—Revelation 19:7
That was heaven’s announcement. It went across the whole universe, brothers and sisters: “Hallelujah, and rejoice!” And it should be. There had been such tremendous opposition, but the enemy had been judged at this point. He had been cast out. All the opposition had been dealt with in judgment.
Then finally, in Revelation 21, the announcement goes again: “Behold, the bride.” What do we see? We see the holy Jerusalem coming down from heaven as a bride adorned for her husband.
What is that city full of, brothers and sisters? Crystal-clear purity—no impurities there. There is pure love. Gold is everywhere: transparent gold, representing the very nature of God. What is His nature, brothers and sisters? It is love.
The Bible says, “God is love.” That is the only One referred to as love in the whole Bible. It is not merely that God loves; it is that God is love. That is the consummation.
Brothers and sisters, at some point, if we start the book of Revelation together—which we probably will—we need to remember: this is a love story. Oh, do not get so lost in the details that we lose the big picture of the great conflict going on over the Lord having His bride. That is what it is all about: the consummation of the age.
Well, what do we see there in the book of Revelation? Revelation 1:13. Let me read that:
“And in the midst of the seven candlesticks one like unto a son of man,
clothed with a garment down to the foot,
and girt about at the breasts with a golden girdle.”
—Revelation 1:13
What do we see? As the Lord consummates the age, He gives a revelation of Himself to John to share with us. It says He is there, robed to His feet—that robe of righteousness. That is our Lord Jesus Christ. He is robed in righteousness.
Yet there is a golden girdle about the robe, across His breast. It speaks of love. The golden girdle around the breast is love, and the gold is love, brothers and sisters. This is One full of righteousness and love.
I want to say, it is not just casual love. It is a very active love. You know, in those days they wore robes, these long, flowing garments. But whenever they had work to do, or had to do something, they would lift up the robes and put a girdle around them to hold them in place, so they would not interfere with their running or working or whatever they were doing.
So, it is a love full of action, and that action is toward us—full of love. That is who we see.
What is He doing, brothers and sisters? He is in the midst of the seven candlesticks. Now, the seven candlesticks represent the church. It takes all seven to represent the church.
So what is He doing? This One so full of love is looking at His future bride. He is examining His future bride.
We know that He has already said that she will be without spot or wrinkle. But she has many spots and many wrinkles. She is not full of righteousness and love like the Bridegroom. How He passionately loves her with first love, but she is not ready. She is just not ready, brothers and sisters.
There is something lacking. What is the first thing, among the seven churches, that the Lord points out? What is it that seems to be preeminent in His mind? He goes to Ephesus. The first one He mentions is Ephesus.
What does He say about her? He said she was diligent. She was laboring on His behalf. She was faithful and endured hardships for His name’s sake. She had not fainted under all the pressure. She was discerning; she could not bear evil, falsehood, or hypocrisy. What a wonderful church. What a wonderful representation.
But the Lord sees a critical flaw in His bride. It is terminal. It is a flaw that can be terminal. It is a flaw that, if not corrected, makes her unworthy and unacceptable to bear His name.
Brothers and sisters, I dare say that if you read all the commendable things about Ephesus, you would have to say, “They do love the Lord.” And they did. But, brothers and sisters, it was not first love.
Somehow, it was not that first love—the ultimate love, the divine love, the passion of love. You know, when you look at the very end, Laodicea says, “You are lukewarm.” “I will spew you out of My mouth. I cannot stand it.” Lukewarm love is not acceptable.
These are not my words. These are the words of our Lord Jesus Christ. For His bride to be ready, there has to be first love—full of first love.
Now, what is this first love? You know, we wrestle with that a lot, I think, when we consider love, because we love the Lord, do we not? Is it first love? Is the edge gone from our first love? Have we become a little self-satisfied?
Paul, in 1 Corinthians 13, describes some aspects of this first love. He said it suffers long, which apparently they had. He says it endures. Love is kind; it is not mean. Love is not envious; it is giving.
Love does not lift itself up or make something of itself. He says it is not puffed up, like one is better than another. It is not self-importance; it is the importance of others that matters in first love.
It says love seeks not her own, but love seeks the best for others, does it not? It is not self-satisfied. Love is not easily provoked. It thinks no evil, particularly of one another. Amazing.
Love rejoices in the truth, not in lies. It says love of this kind does not fail. It overcomes everything.
It is utterly selfless and self-forgetting. It is uncalculating. It is not manipulative of others. It is fierce, fervent, hot love. It is strong, and it is faithful love. Well, those are some of the aspects of first love.
The Lord is really saying to Ephesus, “There is a problem here. It is a fatal flaw. You love Me, but it is not first love. It is not that hot, fervent love.”
What happened to Ephesus, brothers and sisters? Do you remember in the beginning, when the word of God was preached to them through Paul? They were really into the occult and magic arts in Ephesus. They were not casually into it; they were really into it. You know how that lets the enemy in.
But when they received the gospel, it made such an impact on them that they brought all their books on the occult and the arts of magic, put them in a pile in the middle of the city, and burned them as a testimony that they had turned to the Lord Jesus Christ and would no longer practice these things.
Paul was so caught by the love of these people that he remained there for three and a half years and taught and preached. Actually, his ministry went out to all the other locations, with the center based in Ephesus.
As you read Paul’s letter to Ephesus, we all realize that it was the highest revelation of the Lord’s heart—what He was after. If you read Ephesians, it is pretty clear: His eternal purpose is that Christ be fully manifested, and that would require a bride. It would require what is referred to in Ephesians as the body of Christ, the church, the bride.
That would be what would fully manifest Him. And when He is fully manifested, there is first love.
So I want to say this: it was not intelligence that the Lord responded to in Corinth. In 1 Corinthians, Paul said, “You are intelligent. You are really smart. You have all the gifts, but you are carnal.” But not Ephesus. They were full of first love, and God could share His heart with them.
But something had happened in Ephesus. I would say the blade had dulled. You know, with a knife, you can get them really sharp. When I go to use a knife in the kitchen—I do get in the kitchen some now—I like a sharp knife.
But my wife, she wants a dull knife. Believe it or not, I should not tell on my wife, I guess. There is a sister I know who likes the knife dull because she does not want to cut herself, and that is understandable.
But I cannot stand to pick up that knife and try to chop up carrots, lettuce, or tomato—particularly tomato. It just mushes under a dull knife. You need the sharpness. That is the point I am making. The sharpness is gone.
You know, first love is very discerning. It is very sharp. They had lost that sense of clarity with the Lord. Can I put it that way? Their appetite was not quite there as it used to be. The fire was smoldering in their hearts. It was there, but it was not a hot, flaming fire any longer.
What had done this to them? It could be familiarity—just being familiar. You know, we hear these words over the years. We have been here over forty years, and we have preached many different messages. We hear them, and we say, “Oh yeah, I know all about the eternal purpose of God. Yeah, I know we are the body of Christ. Yeah, I know we need to be built together.”
But it no longer makes an impact in our hearts. We are so familiar with these things sometimes, and we lose that edge. Familiarity often takes the edge off our love for the Lord. It is just not there any longer.
Ephesus knew the word of God, and they had it. Love rejoices in the truth. They had the highest revelations and the word in that letter to the Ephesians. But I believe, maybe, that forty years later they were hearing but no longer applying what they heard.
You know, when you first come to the Lord, everything you read and everything people tell you about the Lord hits your heart. Right away, it becomes something in you. It does something to you. But after a while, maybe we have a little armor on us, and it does not have that impact in our heart.
First love, brothers and sisters, I want to say, is hungry love. It is always hungry. It is never quite satisfied. The more it tastes of love, the more it wants. That is the way it should be with first love.
First love is hungry love. First love is always seeking to apply the things of the Lord to our lives personally. Maybe they were just settling down. It had been forty years. Things were very familiar to them.
Yes, they were living stones, but you had to punch them every once in a while to get the life to come out. You know what I am saying? We are all living stones, but we can get in that state of just saying, “Man, I have been at it, Lord. It is just a lot.”
Maybe I just will not meet with the brothers and sisters this week. You know, I am okay. I am okay with the Lord. Self-satisfied. That can happen to us, brothers and sisters. It happens to Jerry. Amen. I think it happens to most of us.
But you know what? First love is pursuing love. It never gets self-satisfied. It is always looking for more—pursuing love.
Our apostle Paul is the greatest example of this. You know, at the end of his life, at the end of his ministry, what was his passion? We have shared on this before. He said:
“That I may know Him.”
—Philippians 3:10
That I might know Him. That was his passion. With all that he had been through—shipwrecks, beatings, being stoned, whipped so many times, trying to get the word of God out to the world he was in—he had not given up. He had not become offended with the Lord.
He had not become pressed out so much that—even though he said, “I was pressed out of measure, even to thinking I might lose my life”—he lost his passion. But you know what was important to him at the end of his life? That I might know Him.
Is there anyone you know of who probably knew the Lord more than the apostle Paul? My goodness, he was lifted up into the third heaven. He spent some time in paradise. We talked about that last night at our meeting, in 2 Corinthians 12.
Brothers and sisters, here is a man who certainly knew God. But at the very end, this was still his passion. It was a pursuing love. That is what first love is.
Maybe we have lost—maybe we lose—a little freshness. You know, we can do that, frankly, when we kind of drift out of fellowship. Do you know what I mean by drifting out of fellowship?
You do not make a decision that you are not going to keep up your fellowship with the Lord or have a close relationship with Him. You just kind of drift away from it. Other things begin to make your life busy—other very important things that you need to do—and somehow you lose that freshness with the Lord.
First love, let me put it this way, is always fresh. When things begin to become routine and formality, be very concerned that it may be a loss of first love.
You know, it is easy to fall into a routine. You are doing it. You still have the Lord, but the passion is not there. For some reason, the fire is not there. First love is always fresh, looking for the Lord.
I have seen places where the saints kind of get in this lethargic position, and the table just seems totally dull. You know what happened in the centuries before us? They decided that what they needed to do was maybe change some things up. Maybe it would get people into it again.
So instead of having the Lord’s table weekly, they said, “Well, we will do it once a month.” That did not achieve what they wanted. They thought by having it fewer times that when you did have it, you would be more into it. But changing their method did not work.
In fact, finally, most places only have the Lord’s table at Easter and Christmas. They are trying to make it special. It is special, brothers and sisters. It is special all the time. It is us that is the problem.
It is the Lord’s love. It is first love. First love is passionate. It wants to meet with the Lord. He said He is in our midst when we have the table together. He says, “I am here. I am in the midst. Speak to Me. Talk to Me.”
First love. First love. It is not routine any longer. It is not a formality that you are going to. If you feel that way, brothers and sisters, maybe we need to reexamine our own hearts before the Lord. I know I have been in these last days.
So the key is a return to first love. Boy, I am running out of time quick. First love is the issue with all these churches. It is all-encompassing. That one issue is the all-encompassing thing.
Smyrna: they were suffering. They were under persecution. The Lord said to them, “You know what His word of comfort was? Look, you are going to be persecuted for ten days.” In other words, there is a limit on it. “I have a limit on it, but you are going to suffer. Some of you will be thrown into prison, and some will be martyred.”
But you know what His words were? “Be faithful.” That is first love. “Be faithful unto death.” That was His word. First love is what is going to make it through when you are being persecuted.
Otherwise, brothers and sisters, I think we become offended with the Lord. We say, “Well, I have loved the Lord, and I have given myself to the Lord, and all these terrible persecutions are coming upon me. This suffering is upon me.”
Smyrna was a suffering church. In our suffering, is this not what the enemy uses? He says, “The Lord does not love you. He would not let you suffer this way. He would not let you be unjustifiably persecuted. The Lord just does not love you anymore. He is not with you.”
That is the way the enemy attacks when we are under suffering. But first love is what gets us through. That is why the Lord said, “Just be faithful” to those in Smyrna.
Then we have Pergamum and Thyatira. They are interesting because something had happened in these churches. They were actually following Balaam, trying to worship the Lord while also worshiping other gods.
We know about other gods that come into our lives, brothers and sisters. They take away our first love. There were false doctrines, and there was this woman Jezebel there. She wanted to control everything. She wanted to be the center of attention. She wanted to bring everything to herself, to submit to her.
She was actually against the Lord. Boy, things had really fallen in that church. How did that happen?
I think the saints just had divided hearts. They loved the Lord, but they loved the world. They loved the things of the world. These things resulted in another god coming in and taking over their lives—Balaam, being controlled not by the Holy Spirit but by a person, a human person, not the Lord.
Divided hearts. Their hearts were divided. They did not have the singleness of the dove’s eye, brothers and sisters. It is just another way of saying they had lost first love.
First love is discerning love. I mentioned the sharp knife. First love is very discerning. When you are in first love with the Lord, when you are really having that personal walk with the Lord and you are on fire inside for the Lord, it is discerning.
When you get into an oppressive atmosphere, you notice it. I know Max and Stella go to Brazil a lot, and Stella is always telling me, “Yeah, such an oppressive atmosphere down there.” That is because of all the evil that goes on down there.
Brothers and sisters, first love is very discerning. It does not put up with evil. It recognizes it and cannot accept it. It senses false doctrine.
I do not know if you have come across that, but you hear something somebody shares, and it is false doctrine. Do you sense it? Do you sense the false doctrine? You cannot maybe explain it or put your finger on it, but something just is not right. First love is discerning love.
Let me go on to Sardis. He says to them, “You have a name, but you are dead.” Now, that is quite a proclamation. You have a name that you are a Christian, but you are really dead. In other words, you are not complete. He goes on to say, “You are not perfect. You are not complete.”
They had the word, but something was missing. What was missing, brothers? It was first love. It was love. They held the truth, but they did not hold the truth with love.
You know, the Lord says the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life. When there is first love, it is Spirit, and it gives life. But when the love is not there, it is not the Spirit. What you get is a letter in your heart, and it just kills you. It just condemns you. It does not help you.
I mentioned the Corinthian church. Boy, they had the word. They were smart. They knew it. But the Lord said they were carnal. They were not spiritual. First love was the issue.
They had become proud even of the gifts they had from the Lord and wanted to display them rather than have them be a part of what the Lord was doing. They were self-promoting. Brothers and sisters, first love is what was missing.
Paul is very clear in 1 Corinthians 13:
“Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels,
but have not love,
I am become sounding brass, or a clanging cymbal.And though I have the gift of prophecy,
and know all mysteries and all knowledge;
and though I have all faith, so as to remove mountains,
but have not love,
I am nothing.”
—1 Corinthians 13:1-2
Wow. What was Paul telling them? He said, “Brothers and sisters, without love, if you are not exercising your gift in love, if you are not loving your brothers and sisters, you are nothing. All that you do, it is nothing.”
I think the Lord has been very clear. He says in His word that we are to love the Lord our God with all our heart, all our mind, and all our soul. We are to love the brethren, and we are to love our neighbor. Everything is love.
Philadelphia: brothers and sisters, He had nothing bad to say about Philadelphia. But what did they have? Philadelphia means brotherly love. Isn’t that amazing? This is what pleased the Lord. He had no rebuke for them: brotherly love.
Now, what is brotherly love? I am talking about divine brotherly love, brothers and sisters. It is a manifestation of the love of Christ in your heart toward your brothers and sisters. That is what brotherly love is.
It is the manifestation of the love of God that is in your heart for your brothers and sisters. It manifests that first love, and that is why the Lord was so pleased with Philadelphia. It was unfeigned love.
In 1 Peter, it speaks of seeing that you have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit unto unfeigned love of the brethren. Now, what does that mean, unfeigned love? It is not pretend love. It is not giving a false appearance of love. It is pure love. It is truly sincere love.
They did not look down upon one another. They did not just love the ones who agreed with them or had the same thoughts and opinions. They did not just love the ones they liked. They loved everyone, even the ones with whom they may have had some difficulty in the assembly. They loved one another.
They did not love in order to be loved back. That is one of our human flaws, is it not? We only love if the ones to whom we show our love love us back.
But Paul was very clear with the Corinthians. You know, they despised Paul. They did not recognize him as a real apostle. They said the other eleven—with Judas as the exception—had been with the Lord for three years, three and a half years. They were with the Lord; they were true apostles. “You are a false apostle. You have made yourself an apostle.”
Well, we know that the Lord made him an apostle on the Damascus road, but they did not. They despised Paul in the Corinthian church—not the whole church, but many. This was Paul’s word to them:
“I will most gladly spend and be spent for your souls;
if I love you more abundantly, am I loved the less?”
—2 Corinthians 12:15
That is pure love, full of love, first love. It is interesting: in Philadelphia, even though He had no rebuke for them, He called them to overcome. That is interesting, is it not?
He said, “You need to overcome.” What is it that they must overcome? Right before He says overcome, He says, “Hold fast that which thou hast.” What did they have? They had that personal love, that love for one another. Maintain it.
Satan will attack it. He will try to separate us, give us different opinions, divide us, and put thoughts in your mind: “Yeah, I do not think this brother or sister really likes you.” Totally false most of the time, I think. Really.
But he puts imaginations in our hearts to try to divide us. This is his attack. But praise the Lord, with first love we see through his accusations and his implications.
Laodicea, I think, sums it all up. He said to them, “You are neither cold nor hot. You are lukewarm.” This is what He was saying to them: “I hate lukewarm. I cannot stand lukewarm. If I put lukewarm water in My mouth, I am going to spew it out.”
“I want it to be hot and fervent love, not lukewarm love. It has to be hot love. I would rather you be cold than lukewarm, because at least if you are cold, maybe I can wake you up. But when you are lukewarm, you are kind of self-satisfied.”
He is saying to us, brothers and sisters, lukewarm love is unacceptable, and it is contemptible in His eyes: “I will spew you out of My mouth.” First love for His bride, for His future bride.
Brothers and sisters, I had a lot more, but I am going to sum it up a little bit. You know, first love—how do you come to first love? You realize, “Lord, I cannot work this up. I cannot generate this love. What do I do? How can I have this first love?”
You cannot work it up. All my striving, pumping myself up—it just will not work, will it, Lord? Lord, You are going to have to draw me.
Remember in the Song of Songs, the maiden realized she was out of that intimate relationship with the Lord. She said:
“Draw me; we will run after thee.”
—Song of Solomon 1:4
It was a drawing of the Lord. It is the love of the Lord that constrains us. But, brothers and sisters, neither can we be passive and just say, “Well, I will wait until I get flooded with the love of the Lord, and then I will have it.”
No, you have to come into active participation with the Lord Himself, with the Lord’s will. “Lord, this is Your will. You would not have me be lukewarm. You want me to be fervent in my love for You, for my brothers and sisters, and for unbelievers. That is what You are after, Lord. I want to stand on Your side, Lord, that You will have it.”
It is interesting. In John 17:26, the Lord was praying to the Father, and His disciples were there. He says:
“That the love wherewith Thou lovedst Me may be in them,
and I in them.”
—John 17:26
That was what the Lord’s heart was right before He went to the cross. He said, “That the love that We have together, that it might be in them, and that I might be in them.”
Well, do you realize the Lord’s prayer was answered? Romans 5:5 says that the love of God has been shed abroad in our hearts. That is a fact, brothers and sisters.
The Lord has shed it abroad. He has poured out His love in our hearts. It is there. It may be weak. It may be muted. It may just be embers. But those embers—if you know anything about a fire—once it gets down to embers, all you have to do is stoke it, and it flames up.
We need flaming love for the Lord Jesus. But He says it has been shed abroad in my heart, in your heart.
So, brothers and sisters, my purpose in sharing this morning is not to try to condemn anybody here. My heart is that we would come together, this assembly, and actively seek that we might be full of this first love.
That we might say, “Lord, baptize me in this first love. Bring that first love to fruition. May that first love that You shed abroad in my heart come to life and so fill me that it is flowing over, that it is overflowing love. That is Your will. That is what You want.”
Let me end with this. The loss of first love, as we can see, is so critical. It is a deadly flaw, and we need first love. But, you know, we lose that edge. We become a little self-satisfied, and it is easy.
The picture that came to my heart is what I experienced with my heart attack. You know, I had been checked out. My heart had been checked out four or five years ago. Everything was fine.
But since then, something happened, and I did not realize it was going on. Slowly, plaque began to build up in an artery of my heart—not just a branch artery, but the main artery that supplies blood to the heart. Plaque was building up. I did not know it. I felt fine. I was doing okay.
Everything was fine. Then, on October 12, it happened. All of a sudden, my heart began to shut down. The blockage was one hundred percent complete.
My heart was pumping and trying to get that blood through. It was pumping, and the force against my heart became so great that my heart began to fail. My heart was damaged.
But praise the Lord, I recognized I was having a heart attack. I took three aspirin, got the rescue squad there, got to the doctor, and he was able to break up that blockage. Praise the Lord for that.
Now, I recently had a friend that I worked with for many years at the Housing Authority. A young man, sixty-two years old. Kenny went to his funeral the other day. Sixty-two.
I remember the last time I talked with him, which was about seven or eight months ago, he was talking about retiring, being able to settle down. Well, he is retired now, but he is sixty-two years old.
I said, “Lord, second chance. Second chance.” I was granted a second chance. What is important? What matters, Lord? I have been brought to this matter of love—first love.
But, brothers and sisters, it did not just end with my artery being unblocked and the blood flowing again. My heart was damaged. It was not pumping efficiently as it was before, and it is still damaged.
So I could not just go on in life and say, “Okay, the blockage is gone. I am good,” and just resume my life as I had before. I think most of you can tell the difference just looking at me. I lost about, what, fifteen pounds? I had to.
I had to get some pressure off that heart, so I had to lose weight. I love salt. I love nothing better than a tomato—a fresh, ripe tomato—with salt on it. That is my—oh, I love it. It is like ice cream to most people, I think.
I cannot eat that salt anymore because it holds fluid, and the fluid causes pressure, and it damages the heart. I have had to go to what they call cardiac rehab, exercising. I go there twice a week, plus I walk four more days of the week.
I have had to do that because I am trying to strengthen that heart back again. Now, the doctor does not think I can ever get it back to full function.
But you know what? The point I am making is this matter of first love: you cannot just say one day, “Lord, I hope I am full of it.” We have to actively pursue first love. To me, that means actively pursuing the Lord.
You cannot just be passive. We cannot be passive. I would hope that all of us would pray, “Lord, bring me to first love. I do not even know if I have it or not. Lord, bring me to first love. Fill my heart with love.”
Lord, we come to You today. Lord, like I said, I have no desire to condemn anybody, but, Lord, to bring to light the condition we may be in, that, Lord, we might actively pursue our first love, our Lord Jesus Christ.
May His love be fully expressed in us, Lord—not just lukewarm, but passionate for Thee, Lord; passionate for one another; passionate, Lord, to see that Your bride is made ready.
Lord, I just believe that first love is what is going to draw You back, when You can say, “Oh, I cannot wait any longer. My bride—I am full of first love, and My bride is full of first love, and I need to go get My bride.”
I think, Lord, that is on Your heart in these days. So, Lord, I just lift this up before You. Lord, may You speak to each heart as You would today. We ask You, bless us, Lord. Continue to keep us by Your grace and love, in Jesus’ name.