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Verse 9. And be found in him, not having mine own righteousness which is of the law, but that which is through, the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith, that I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death. When you first get saved, you know a little bit about God, but isn't it true that as you listen to more and more preaching, you know God a little bit better? And here's the thing, you're always going to be like that in this life as long as you're trying to serve God. You're going to be learning more and more and more. You're constantly getting to know God. You're constantly getting closer to God, okay? Go back to 1 John 4. Now one analogy the Bible gives in the Bible of getting close to God and knowing God and having that walk with God is climbing a mountain, okay? This is an example I often use, but one example is climbing a mountain, okay? And Moses climbed a mountain to get close to God in a literal sense and he was physically changed, and the same is true in a spiritual sense. But think about climbing a mountain. You know, mountains usually are less steep at the bottom, isn't that true? I mean there's a reason why God gives the examples he does, right? And so if you're climbing a mountain, you can usually get up that mountain pretty quickly, but then all of a sudden it gets a lot more difficult. Not only that, but there's also less oxygen as you get higher. Not only that, but you're tired from climbing the bottom half of the mountain. And so what happens in our spiritual life is the same way. Many people, they get saved, they start serving God, and you know what, they skyrocket, but then all of a sudden it gets very, very difficult to go any higher, right? Another great example is lifting weights. Isn't it true that when you first start lifting weights, you gain strength very quickly? I mean you're putting on major muscle and you're like, this is awesome, I'm gonna be Arnold Schwarzenegger in five months, right? Then all of a sudden you plateau, right? Your bench press goes from 130 pounds to 200 pounds in four months or five months, and then all of a sudden it doesn't go any higher for a long time, right? And sometimes you gotta change up your routine a little bit, you know, maybe do heavier weight, less reps or whatever, to try to basically trick your body into gaining more muscle, right? It's very difficult after you've gone through the initial six months. It's the same thing spiritually. You grow very quickly at the beginning, but then all of a sudden it's gonna be a little bit difficult. So here's the thing. When people listen to online preaching, I mean obviously the online preaching is helpful, but it's kind of almost like a way to cheat the system. It's kind of like a steroid to skyrocket your strength really quickly, right? But it's kind of an artificial high. I mean if you use steroids, your strength is gonna skyrocket, but it's kind of artificial because if you were to stop doing that, it's gonna plummet back down, right? And you know what, if you really wanna grow, it's called your daily Bible reading. It's not just listening to a bunch of sermons. The first six months you listen to sermons, you're learning a lot. Then you say, Brother Stuckey, I don't learn as much in your sermons as I used to. But that's not my fault. It's because you know more. So you're hearing a lot of the same things that you've already heard. That's just the way it works. You need to realize that, that you know what, your knowledge is gonna increase very quickly, but it's like climbing a mountain, and now it's getting more steep, and it might take some real time of memorizing the Bible, studying things out, reading the Bible. But what often happens is Christians go through that first six months, and they're excited. Then when it gets tough, they quit. Isn't it the same thing with people that lift weights? Many people join the weight room, and it's like, man, it's like they're getting strong, and then they quit when it gets hard, right? Or New Year's resolutions. People start New Year's resolutions, and it lasts like for four weeks. It's going great. Then they start running into some problems. Then they just quit. It's like, well, January next year, right? That's the way it works, and it's the same thing spiritually where, you know what, it's very easy at the beginning because you're learning really quickly. You have all these new things, but then it's gonna start getting tough, and you want to make those gains and to really grow and get closer to God. It's gonna be a daily grind where you get a little bit closer. It's not that you're just going by leaps and bounds forever. It just doesn't work that way. Now when Paul the Apostle is writing this, you would look at Paul the Apostle and say, If anybody knew God, it was Paul the Apostle, and yet he said, I have a goal to know God. He's like the guy that's really close to the top of the mountain, but he really wants to make it to the top, and it's very steep up there. It's very difficult up there. It's very tiring. It's very exhausting, but that is how you grow spiritually. It's called you individually spending a couple hours studying the Bible, memorizing the Bible, reading the Bible, fighting against sin, trying to obey God's commandments. That is how you know God. First John 4, verse 8, the Bible reads, He that loveth not knoweth not God, for God is love. A person cannot have the proper love of God unless they're saved and they know God. If somebody does not love God, that's an indication they don't know God, because God is love. If you know God, one thing that goes hand in hand with that is having the proper love. That's what the Bible teaches. And when you look at Jesus Christ, His life was typified by caring about other people more than Himself. And that is really what love is in the Bible. Love implies action. So if you get to know God and get close to God, you're going to start having the love of God in your life as well. First John 4, verse 9, And this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent His only begotten Son into the world that we might live through Him. So here we see that God the Father sends God the Son to be the Savior of the world. And He sends His only begotten Son. But you know what, this story is, I mean not this story, but this verse, you can actually see symbolism of this in the Old Testament. Go to Genesis 22, and we had that Muslim holiday recently, and I don't know if you're aware of this, but Muslims believe that it was actually Ishmael in Genesis 22 and not Isaac. I'm not an expert at Islam, but I vaguely remember that, we were talking about that in Pampanga, and I was like, no, I'm pretty sure they think Ishmael was the one. And we looked it up, and they believe what they were celebrating in the most recent Muslim holiday was Ishmael. So I don't know how much they've changed this story, but they've obviously changed it a lot because they have a completely different person, but obviously the Bible teaches Isaac. Genesis 22, and go to verse 6, Genesis 22, verse 6, And Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering, and laid it upon Isaac his son, and he took the fire in his hand and a knife, and they went both of them together. And Isaac spake unto Abraham his father, and said, My father, and he said, Here am I, my son. And he said, Behold the fire in the wood, but where is the lamb for a burnt offering? And so Abraham and Isaac go alone, and this is Abraham's only son from his wife Sarah. Obviously there's Ishmael, but his only son from his wife Sarah, and if you know the story of Abraham, he waited for a very, very, very long time to have a child. I mean as long as he waited, this wouldn't even be possible in our modern day because people don't live as long, right? It's like he waited for a very, very, very long time to have a child, and he has a child with Sarah, and then all of a sudden God tells him to sacrifice the child. Now of course we know that God was never going to allow him to sacrifice his child, but that's what Abraham is told, and so he's going by faith, and then his son asks, you know, where is the lamb for a burnt offering? Well Abraham makes a statement in verse 8, and Abraham said, My son, God will provide himself a lamb for a burnt offering, so they went both of them together. Now this phrase, God will provide himself a lamb, what is the Bible telling you? What Abraham is telling Isaac his son is God will provide himself a lamb for a burnt offering. What he's telling his son is God is going to die for your sins. You say, well how do you know that? Because there's no lamb that's offered in Genesis 22. What is offered is a ram, which is a different animal. I understand they rhyme, okay? It's different though, okay? So when he's saying God will provide himself a lamb, what he's telling Isaac is God is going to actually die and pay for your sins. He is going to be that offering. People in the Old Testament were aware of that. We're seeing Abraham say that. Now the Bible doesn't mainly focus on that, but people were actually aware of that. Now here's the thing. If you do not have a King James, your Bible might say something different. Because many Bibles in Genesis 22 verse 8 change the wording just a little bit. And it doesn't take the wording to be changed much to change the meaning here. But when he's saying God will provide himself a lamb, he's not saying God's going to get a lamb to be the offering, he's saying God will provide himself a lamb for a burnt offering. So they went both of them together. And they came to the place where God had told them of and Abram built an altar there and laid the wood in order and bound Isaac his son and laid him on the altar upon the wood. And Abraham stretched forth his hand and took the knife to slay his son. And the angel of the Lord called on him out of heaven and said, Abraham, Abraham, and he said, here am I. And he said, lay not thine hand upon the lad, neither do thou anything unto him. For now I know that thou fearest God, seeing now is not withheld thy son, thine only son from me. And Abraham lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, behind him a ram caught in a thicket by his horns. When the ram is caught in a thicket by his horns, that's a picture of the crown of thorns that was on Jesus Christ, okay, where the crown of thorns was actually put inside where, you know, he's dripping down blood. This is actually a picture of that, okay, but this is a ram, not a lamb. And Abraham went and took the ram and offered him up for a burnt offering in the stead of his son. Now, I want you to realize this, that the Bible teaches God the Father sent his son, God the Son, Jesus Christ, to die and pay for our sins. Try to put yourself in this picture, and that's why I went to Genesis 22, because imagine being Abraham, right? My wife and I waited a couple of years to have our first child, you know, we prayed and prayed and prayed, God blessed us with a child, and if God said, you know, are you willing to sacrifice your son, I would say no, I'm just being honest with you. I'd be like, no, I'm not going to sacrifice my son. I'd imagine most parents would probably feel the same way, right? Like, I'm not going to sacrifice my child. And the Bible's trying to give you an insight into the way that God felt sacrificing his own son, okay, his only begotten son. Now, I'm not saying that we can have a perfect understanding of this, but the Bible's trying to give you a picture of it, and you also see very clearly the Bible's giving you indications of Jesus Christ being the Savior all the way back in the Old Testament, okay? Go back to 1 John 4, 1 John 4, 1 John 4, and my goal in the first sermon was to be shorter. It didn't happen. This sermon is going to be shorter, though. We're going to be done early, given, you know, the weather and everything. But 1 John 4, verse 10, and it says, here in his love, not that we love God, but that he loved us and sent his son to be the propitiation for our sins. So once again, you're seeing here that love implies action, because he says he loved us and sent his son, okay? So you have to realize that Hollywood and all the movie industries, Hollywood, there's Bollywood, there's Nollywood, as in Nigeria, you know, all these movie industries, all these music songs and everything, the way they describe love is not really like the Bible describes love. Now, of course, you should have strong feelings and an attraction to the person that you're going to marry, but love in the Bible always implies action. And what the Bible says to a man who's going to get married, you need to be willing to lay down your life for your wife, just as Christ laid down his life. Now that's pretty difficult. That means your life is not about you. And it's just like, you know, when you're saying that you love someone, it doesn't mean I just have this feeling, because here's the truth, feelings come and go. Feelings come and go. Even for people that are married, it's just like your feelings are going to come and go from time to time. You get in a fight, you get mad, and you're like, ah, you know? Feelings come and go. And if that's what you're banking on for a successful marriage, well, good luck with that because they're going to come and go. But you're making a decision. It's not merely an attraction or feeling, but you're making a decision till death do us part, for better, for worse, in sickness and in health. And you're making a decision, I'm going to lay down my life and be the best husband I can be. I'm going to be the best wife I can be. You're making a decision that you're going to provide action to that person. And show your love. It's not merely just a feeling, okay? Now, don't misunderstand me. I do believe that you should be attracted to the person that you're married, because I think you can go to extremes with certain things. I've said this story before. My buddy went to Bible college, and one of his professors stood up and talked about how he had his wife stand up, and he's like, I'm not attracted to this woman, but she's the godliest woman I know. It's like, man, she should have just been like, boom, and smacked him across the, like, what is wrong with you? What a stupid, stupid thing to say, right? Obviously, you should be attracted to the person that you're going to marry, but you know what? If it's just an attraction and a feeling, but there's no real substance behind it, it's like, well, you know, they're a hardcore Muslim, but I have so much fun hanging out with them. You're going to destroy your life. You better bank in on, you know, what the Bible teaches is you ought to marry someone who's, for one, saved, but also of like faith, someone who has similar beliefs to you, because here's the thing, you're going to be married for 50, 60, 70 years. It's better off waiting a couple years for the right person rather than rushing into it, right? And see, when it talks about love in the Bible, love actually implies action. And you know what? When you think about sacrificing your son, how painful of a thing that would be as a parent. But you know, when you think about having children, having children really teaches you about love, because having children forces you to not care about yourself as much as them. I mean, literally, if you have babies and you left them by themselves for 24 hours, you're like, man, I need to take a break. I need a one-day vacation. The baby's probably going to die. Or the baby's going to have severe problems over, I mean, I don't know, for 24 hours, and it's just like you read about cases of moms who just end up neglecting their children for a couple days and something like that happens and everything. But it's like, you know what? When you're a parent, you realize my life is not about me, which means when they're having trouble breathing through the night, you have to deal with it. You can't just say, well, we'll just shut the door and just hope for the best. It doesn't work that way. You are forced to lay down your life in order to care for them as a mom or as a dad, right? Verse 11. Beloved, if God so loved us, we ought also to love one another. Okay? Now, go to John 13. John 13. I'm going to show you an example of this. I'm going to show you an example of Jesus Christ. And notice what it says. And this is the same chapter, actually, where it talks about if ye know these things, happy are ye if ye do them, because honestly, having the right love for God and having the right love for the brethren, you're actually going to be happy at the same time. Knowing God, having the right love, and being happy, these things go hand in hand. It's amazing how people can be the richest person in the world and be miserable. But if you're serving God, even if you have little, and you're reading the Bible and getting people saved, I mean, good luck getting somebody saved and then being upset afterwards. Is that even possible? Right? When you get somebody saved, there's just an excitement and a joy, right? And sometimes it's interesting because you go soul winning when you're kind of depressed or down, and then somebody gets saved, and they're so excited, it causes you to be very excited, causes you to be very joyous, right? John 13, verse 31, therefore, when he was gone out, Jesus said, Now is the Son of Man glorified and God is glorified in him. If God be glorified in him, verse 32, God shall also glorify him in himself and shall straightway glorify him. Little children, yet a little while I am with you, ye shall seek me. And as I said unto the Jews, Whither I go, ye cannot come. So now I say to you, A new commandment I give unto you, that ye love one another as I have loved you, that ye also love one another. He speaks about love here in verse 34, but here's the thing, he speaks in the past tense as I have loved you. He's foreshadowing that he's going to die and pay for the sins, which is the greatest expression for a person of their love, a single person that they would be willing to die and pay for the sins, right? Willing to die for somebody else. However, he's also speaking in the past tense as I have loved you, because the entire life of Jesus Christ, he laid down his personal ambitions and desires and cared about other people more than himself, which meant sometimes he was tired and exhausted, but he said, You know what? My life's not about me, right? And if you want to have the proper love for other people, that is what the Bible actually teaches. You care about other people more than yourself. The Bible even says this about going to church, right? I mean, your number one reason for going to church is not because, well, you know, I like the preaching. Now, obviously picking the right church, yeah, you need to have some categories, but when you found the right church, the Bible says that the number one reason is because you care about the people at church. That's what it says in Hebrews, with not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together. Look at the verse before it, and the indication is you should not forsake the assembling because you care about the people that are at church. Now I understand there's people that are probably not able to come to church today because of the weather, so I'm not trying to make them feel bad or whatever, but I'm just saying it's like that's the reason why you should want to be at church primarily, even if you wake up and don't feel like it, because the people at church want you to be there. That's what the Bible teaches, okay? Verse 35, by this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another. And see, the Bible says that your actions can be an indicator that you have the proper love for one another, and people can see that and see the love of God inside of you by the way you're living your life. Now, look, I do not believe in lifestyle evangelism. People need to hear the gospel to be saved. We go out and get people saved and preach the gospel, but let us not go to extremes. Well I'm going out soul winning, so I can also be a jerk. No, actually you should show people through your lifestyle that you actually love God. People should notice you at work and say there's something different about this person. They never say any curse words. They're always on time. They're always polite. They're saying yes sir to the boss. On their lunch break, you know, they're reading their Bible. They just seem like a kind person and a nice person. That's a lot different than other people. Does that get people saved? No it doesn't, but it could open up a door of opportunity to get somebody saved when they notice there's something about you. But let's say for example you're always late for work, you know, you're recovering from a hangover in the morning because you were drunk or whatever, you're always just gossiping and on your phone, and then you try to preach the gospel. That person is less likely to listen to you because they're just like well you're no different than me, right? And go back to 1 John 4. 1 John 4. 1 John 4. And in 1 John 4, the Bible says here in verse 12, No man hath seen God at any time. If we love one another, God dwelleth in us, and his love is perfected in us. So no man hath seen God at any time, but the Bible says people can kind of get an indication of the love of God and who He is by the way we actually live our lives, okay? Now what are the requirements to having this love of God? Well verse 7, we mentioned two things. Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God, and everyone that loveth is born of God, that's being saved, and knoweth God. So to have this love of God, step one, you have to be saved. An unsaved person can never have the proper love of God in their life. The Bible says there's a requirement to being saved. Well why is that though? Well think about this. The greatest expression that God showed us is that the Father sent the Son to die for us, and the greatest expression from the Son is that He did die for us, okay? Well here's the thing. Most people in the Philippines believe that Jesus died for them, but do they understand that? No. They'll intellectually say, well I believe Jesus died, but they really don't because they don't believe their sins were paid for, so they don't get it, right? But see, when you're saved, you get it. It's like wow, you know, Jesus died and paid for all my sins. It's an automatic where you're going to know, wow, God really loves me. And of course, everybody says that God loves them, but they don't really understand that. They could sing the love of God and say this is the greatest song, the love of God, right? But unless they're actually saved, they're just not going to get it. But once you are saved, it's like, man, things finally make sense, right? All of a sudden, everything rushes into your head. You're like, man, how did I never understand this before, right? And then you really understand what He did. No, He didn't just die for you. He paid for all of your sins. His soul went to hell to pay for your sins. He died for everything, and now you have a free gift. You're saved, and you can never lose that. Once you understand that, well, that's a big life-changing experience. And so to have the love of God, to even understand that, first you need to be saved. Otherwise, you don't really see the proper expression of God's love, because that is the greatest expression, that He would die and pay for our sins. Once you're saved, you understand that. But that does not automatically mean you're going to have the love of God in your life. Sometimes people will show you verses like, well, the Bible says, if ye love me, keep my commandments. Therefore, you've got to obey God's commandments to go to heaven. That doesn't say, to go to heaven, keep my commandments. It says, if ye love me, keep my commandments. What that does mean, though, is if you're not keeping God's commandments, you don't love God. One step is simply being saved, and the other step is having a walk with God, getting to know God. Notice what it says in verse 13. Hereby know we that we dwell in Him, and He in us, because He hath given us of His Spirit. And we have seen and do testify that the Father sent the Son to be the Savior of the world. I do believe this is referring to salvation, because of the fact, in verse 14, it's saying, hey, we have seen and testify the Father sent the Son to be the Savior of the world. So when it's talking about Him dwelling in us, I would say that's referring to God the Spirit. That would be my opinion. But here what we're seeing is, to have this love of God, you need to be saved. Verse number 15, whosoever shall confess that Jesus is the Son of God, God dwelleth in him, and he in God. And we have known and believed the love that God hath to us. God is love, and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in Him. So step one to having the love of God in your life is being saved. But being saved happens in a moment. Getting to know God is going to take a lifetime. The more you know God, the more you're going to have the love of God in your life. So getting saved, you're saying, hey, well, I'm saved, I'm 50 percent of the way there. No, you're like one percent of the way there, because that's the easy part. He died and paid for your sins. That's actually the easy part. But the part of knowing God, that's the hard part. I tell people sometimes when they get saved, hey, man, as easy as it is to be saved, it's just as hard to live for God. It's difficult to decide to read the Bible every day and to pray every day. Sometimes I say, obviously God would rather you spend an hour reading the Bible than an hour on social media, but what about you today? Yeah, I spend a lot of time on social media. These are very easy things to know, but they're very hard to do. Getting to know God is difficult. What it says in verse 17, herein is our love made perfect, meaning complete. You have the full package. Because if you're saved, you can have some love of God in your life, but if you want it to be complete, you have to actually know God. It says that we may have boldness in the day of judgment, because as He is, so are we in this world. The Bible says that if our love is made perfect, we're going to have boldness in the day of judgment. Now notice, it does not say you're going to have boldness in which judgment you're going to be at. Do you understand what I'm saying? Because there's two different judgments. There's the judgment seat of Christ for saved people, and there's the great white throne judgment. It doesn't say you have boldness that you're going to be at the judgment seat of Christ. Well, if you're saved, you know. You don't have to doubt about it. What it's saying is you have boldness that when God actually looks at your life, you've actually accomplished something. Do you understand? Because we're talking about knowing God. It's not referring to, hey, you have boldness that you're saved. Well, if you're saved, you know you're saved. These things have I written on you that believe in the name of the Son of God, that ye may know that ye have eternal life. But what it's saying is you can have confidence that when you die, you've actually accomplished things for God, okay? Now of course, all of us are going to come to the end of our lives and know we could have done more for God. I would say all of us, if you're a soul winner, can think of people that you should have preached the gospel to and you didn't, and sometimes that opportunity is gone forever, right? But you can still have confidence that you've done some things for God. For example, if you're a soul winner for 25 years and you read the Bible cover to cover once a year and you do some memorization challenges, you work hard to raise your kids, you don't live a worldly life, you can have boldness that you're going to get rewarded, that you've done good things. But what if you don't go to church, you don't go soul winning, you don't read the Bible, how much confidence are you going to have at the end that you've actually done something for God? And here's the thing, everybody's going to tell you that they love God, but even with saved people, I'm telling you they do not have confidence that they're actually going to get a lot of rewards. But here's the thing, if you're saved and you're serving God and you know what it means to serve God, you can have confidence. It's not boldness which judgment you're going to be at, it's boldness that at that day of judgment, at the judgment seat of Christ, you're going to get rewarded for the good things that you've done, that you've actually accomplished things. There is no fear in love, but perfect love casteth out fear, because fear hath torment, he that feareth is not made perfect in love. One thing that is definitely true, when somebody is living a sinful life, their life is typified by fear. Isn't that true? Just think about you personally. If you're not living the godliest life, you're going to live a life that has more fear than on other occasions. But if you're actually living godly, you're going to have more confidence, you're not going to have fear. I remember one time, I've used this example before, but I remember I was on a plane once that had a lot of turbulence, and some people around me were scared, but really in my head I was just saying, there's no way God would let me die right now, because I'm serving God and I just didn't think that he would, I mean I wasn't really afraid. But I'll tell you what, if I was in that plane and I had not been living a godly life at that time, I probably would have been pretty afraid. I probably would have been praying, please God, do not allow this plane to crash and let me die. And look, the reality is, we all have stages like that in our lives, where you're kind of not living for God as much, and you're on that gypney, right? Riding Sabid on the back, and you're like, please don't let my hand slip, please, right? So here's the thing about this, if you're actually serving God, you know what, you're not going to have a whole lot of fear in your life, okay? The only thing we're told to fear is actually fear God. Fear God and keep his commandments. Verse 19, we love him because he first loved us. The reason why we love God is simply because he loved us first, and the indication is you're not going to love God except for the fact that he actually loved you first, okay? He initiated that process. If a man say I love God and hateth his brother, he is a liar. For he that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen? See the Bible says that there's many people that would say they love God, but in reality they actually hate their brothers and sisters in Christ, and the Bible says they don't love God. It doesn't mean that they're not saved, but it means they don't love God, okay? Now I don't think most people would openly say that they hate their brothers and sisters in Christ, but the proof's in the pudding. The actions would actually tell that, and we're going to see that here in a second. Now here's the thing. Whenever we go soul winning and we knock doors, I don't ask this question to people because there's really no point, but if you were to ask people do you love God, do you realize that everybody would say yes? Quite honestly, the people that are most likely to say no or say yeah are actually the ones living for God because they realize they can love God more, right? That's actually true. If you were to ask people at our church do you love God, most of us would probably say yeah in some areas, but I got a lot of work to do, but you know what? People out there would say oh I love God, right? And why do they think they love God? Because they're listening to the Christian rock songs, right? They're listening to Third Day if they're still around, Third Day, Fourth Day, Fifth Day, whatever. They're listening to those Christian rock songs, and they feel like they love God because they're listening to that Christian rock song. They feel like they love God because they're warm and fuzzy. They feel like they love God because they love the LGBT so much, right? It's like man I'm so forgiving, I even love the LGBT, even serial killers. I mean I love every serial killer because I have the love of God in my life. That's literally the way people think. They don't understand what love is. Even people that are saved are not going to have a proper understanding of what love is unless they're actually laying down their life for other people, okay? And the Bible says that if you say you love God but you don't love your brothers and sisters in Christ, you're actually a liar. It's not true, okay? Verse 21, and this commandment have we from him that he who loveth God love his brother also, okay? Now why is this that loving God and loving your brother and sister in Christ are intrinsically linked? Go to Romans 13. We'll close up here. Romans 13. Romans 13. Right? I said we'd be done early. It's 1215. Everyone's like, yes, a short sermon, finally brother Stuckey. It's about time you preach a short sermon. And Romans 13. And here's the reason why loving God and loving your brother and sister in Christ are linked together because honestly the commandments can be broken into two categories. It's a love of God or love for other people, okay? Now the Ten Commandments is just an example. But when you look at the Ten Commandments, the first four commandments are linked with loving God, okay? Thou shalt have no other gods before me. Don't make a graven image. Don't use the Lord's name in vain. And remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy, okay? The last six commandments, the fifth is kind of a transition because obviously God is your father, you know, as a saved person, but you know, honor thy father and thy mother. Well that's linked with loving other people, right? Loving your parents. And then the other Ten Commandments as well. So this is what it says in Romans 13 verse 8. Owe no man anything, Romans 13 verse 8, but to love one another. For he that loveth another hath fulfilled the law. See the Bible says that if you love other people you've actually fulfilled the law, okay? Well why is that? Well notice this. For this thou shalt not commit adultery. Well let me ask you this question. If you're committing adultery with somebody's wife, how much love do you have for those people? How much love do you have for her husband, right? You have love for yourself and that's it. I mean if you're committing adultery, you're affecting at least a couple other lives, if not three if you're married, right? If they're married and you're married, that's affecting three other people. You say, Brother Stuckey, this is just my personal sin. Your sins are never just your own personal sins. They affect other people always, always. Your sins will always affect other people. Adultery is one example. If you commit adultery, you're affecting other people. If you commit fornication, you're affecting other people. Anything under the sexual sin, you're going to be affecting other people, right? And so look, your sins are never just isolated. Even if you feel like you're just doing sins and I'm not involving anybody else, it will affect other people around you, okay? Thou shalt not commit adultery. If you're committing adultery, guess what? Well you're not loving your brother and sister in Christ or loving your neighbor as yourself. Thou shalt not kill. Well, how much do you love somebody else when you kill them? How much do you love somebody else when you murder them? How much do you love that family? I mean if somebody gets murdered, that affects a lot of people. It affects their parents, their spouse if they're married. It affects their kids. It affects cousins. It affects friends. You're affecting probably hundreds of people if you murder someone. I mean if that person goes to church, they go to a mega church like Joel Osteen's church, you're affecting 10,000 people at that church, right? I mean you're affecting a lot of people if you're killing someone. And so here's the thing, you say, well I love other people, but then you murder someone. Do you really love other people? Now of course that's a very extreme sin, but let's bring it down to a level of just, you know, gossiping about somebody else while you're still showing hatred for that person and affecting them. It's not as bad as killing, obviously, but you're also not showing love for that person. Thou shalt not kill. Thou shalt not steal. Well if you're stealing from someone, how much do you love them? You're taking their money. It belongs to them. You can't say that you love them. And even if it's from a company, you say, well I'm just stealing from a big mega company. Yeah, but that's ultimately going out of somebody's pocket, right? How much love are you showing when you're stealing from someone? You're not showing love. What you're doing is affecting somebody else. Thou shalt not bear false witness. Well what if you lie about somebody? You bear false witness. Are you showing love for that person? Obviously not. Right? When you lie about someone. Thou shalt not covet. Well when you desire something that belongs to somebody else, eventually that's going to lead to more sins, and the Bible says, and if there be any other commandment, it is briefly comprehended in this saying, namely, thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. So here's the thing. If you actually love God, that means you're going to be keeping His commandments. And if you do love God, you're keeping His commandments, and the result of that is you're showing love for your brothers and sisters in Christ, and loving your neighbor as yourself. You say, but I thought love was a feeling. No, love is action. And you can feel like you have so much love in your life, but if there's no action, it's not real. Because love implies action. And what is action? Well action's keeping God's commandments. It takes work. It takes effort. And when you do that, what are you doing? Well you're showing love for other people. And so look, the person who is obeying God's commandments has fulfilled the law. Love worketh no ill to his neighbor, therefore love is the fulfilling of the law. So look, if you have the love of God in your life, what you're going to see is a life of not committing many sins, of obeying God's commandments. And guess what? That is intrinsically linked to actually knowing God. Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man. And that is the method to actually know God, is to actually obey what he says. It's actually not very complicated. You say, Brother Stuckey, I want to be close to God. What's the secret? Well, number one gets saved. Okay, I got that down. Only two steps. Number two, just obey what the Bible says. Very easy to understand. Very hard to do, right? Very easy to understand. The example I gave of climbing a mountain, I want you to realize Moses had pretty simple instructions. Very simple. It wasn't a calculus problem he had to solve. It's just like, hey, just climb the mountain. There's like a few basic steps, but is it easy to climb a mountain? No it's not. It's the same thing with God. Actually getting close to God is very simple. Just obey what he says. Read God's word, and when you listen to the sermons, you find out what God says and just do what he says. If you do that, what's going to happen? You're going to know God, and you're going to be fulfilling and obeying his commandments, and that is actually showing that you love other people because you're not sinning against them. But you need to realize sin always affects other people. So this sermon is pretty basic. How to have the love of God in your life. Well, be saved and know God. And knowing God is linked with obeying his commandments, walking in the light, walking in the new man, having fellowship with God, many different ways to say basically the same thing. But basically just obey and do what God says. And here's the thing. If you're just disobeying what God says and breaking his commandments, you are sinning against other people. So just obey his commandments, and you know what? You will have the love of God in your life. Let's close in the word of prayer. Dear Heavenly Father, thank you for allowing us to be here today, and help us to apply this to our lives. Help me as well, God, to have the proper love for other people. Help me to be better at obeying your commandments and obeying your rules and caring about other people and not just caring about myself. Help us to understand this in Jesus' name. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Hey. Hey. My name is And also bless us Lord with all the things that you have announced us to do. And also bless us Lord with all the things you have done to keep us safe and to whether we are compassionate or free. Amen. Thank you for watching!