The Goal Is Love
Weâre going to make a proclamation, as we always do, God helping us. This proclamation is taken from 1 John 4:7â11
and verse 16. You might be interested to research that from
the beginning of chapter 4, verse 7, to the end of the chapter, the word love as an adjective,
noun or a verb occurs twenty-eight times in those verses. Weâre not going to quote them all but weâre
going to quote some of them. âBeloved, let us love one another, for love
is of God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. He who does not love does not know God, for
God is love. In this the love of God was manifested toward
us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through
Him. In this is love, not that we loved God, but
that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought
to love one another. We have known and believed the love that God
has for us. God is love, and he who abides in love abides
in God, and God in him.â Iâm sorry, but I tend to get emotional. Itâs not through desire because I was brought
up not to be emotional. If ever anybody was trained in the school
of the stiff upper lip, it was I. I wonât go into all my background but Iâm from a
military family and I was educated in boarding schools in this country from the age of 9
through the age of 25. And, emotion had very little place in our
lives. Indeed, it was a good family but love was
something we never discussed. I came to know the Lord Jesus on the last
Thursday night in July 1941. In an Army barrack room in the middle of the
night I had a dramatic personal encounter with Jesus Christ which totally and permanently
changed my life. I am not perfect but I am different from what
I was before I met Jesus. Twelve years later in 1953 when I was pastoring
a small assembly in Bayswater, in London, about 2:00 am one night the Lord woke me up
and spoke to me audibly. Itâs the only time in my life that I actually
heard God speak to me. Iâve never forgotten one word that He spoke
at that time. I will quote a little of it but not all of
it. There was no preamble, no introduction, no
explanation, He simply said this: âThere shall be a great revival in the United
States and Great Britain.â Then He told me something about may personal
ministry which I will not quote, and He ended with these words: âBut the condition is obedience in small
things and in great things; for the small things are as great as the great things.â I have never doubted God spoke those words
to me and 40 years have no passed and I was reminded in the prayer room before we came
in of Caleb. I told the brother who reminded me it was
unusually appropriate because Caleb said, âForty years have passed but I intend to
go into the inheritance.â And thatâs my intention, too. I believe God is going to send a great revival. Heâs not going to revive the whole of Britain
but Heâs going to revive the church in Britain. And that will impact the whole nation. Itâs easy to prophesy revival. Iâve heard one or two prophecies given that
really were self defeating because just to say there is a revival or there will be revival
tends to leave people feeling âI donât have to do much about it.â But thatâs not true. I believe there will be revival when Godâs
people meet His conditions. Itâs not an unconditional promise. In the messages that I hope to bring to you
this week I propose to deal with seven issues that we have to face if we really expect revival. Since about 1991 God spoke to Ruth and me
and said, âI donât want you to go anywhere except when I send you.â Before that we would accept invitations and
go, we were always prayerful, but God has limited us now to go only where He sends us. I believe He has sent us here. So tonight Iâm going to deal with the first
of what I call the seven issues. Iâm not going to give a title to it. I was asked to give a title by the man who
does the recording but Iâm not going to make the title public, Iâll let you discover
it. I want to turn, to start with, to Romans 8:3â4. âFor what the law could not do in that it
was weak through the flesh, God id by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh,
on account of sin: He condemned sin in the flesh, that the righteous requirement of the
law might be fulfilled in us who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the
Spirit.â As I understand that, what Paul is saying
is God has never expected us to achieve righteousness by keeping the Law of Moses. The Law of Moses was perfect, it was God given. The fault is not in the law, the fault is
in us. But because we could not achieve righteousness
by keeping the law, God provided an alternative way through the substitutionary sacrifice
of Jesus on the cross. Jesus Himself was the only Jew, I believe,
who ever perfectly kept the Law of Moses. And ultimately, He gave His life as an atonement
for the sins of all those who had broken the law and also for the sins of those who had
never been under the law. So, we are not required to achieve righteousness
by obeying the Law of Moses. Can you say thank God? Because, the Law of Moses was pretty tough. And yet God says itâs perfectly possible
to do it but none of us did. So, what is the alternative? This is the issue that I want to raise tonight,
what is the alternative? If weâre not required to keep the Law of
Moses, how can we achieve righteousness with God? The theme of Romans is righteousness. In Job 9:3 Job asked a question out of his
perplexity and misery: âHow can a man be righteous before God?â And Jobâs friends, if you can call them
friends, ridiculed the idea that anybody could ever be righteous with God. But many hundreds of years later God gave
His answer. How can a man be righteous with God? The answer is found in the epistle to the
Romans. The righteousness of God which is revealed
by faith to faith is described and fully unfolded in the epistle to the Romans. So, God says youâre not required to observe
the law but Paul says âthat the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled
in us who do not work according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.â We are not required to observe the law but
we are required to fulfill the righteous requirement of the law. That word in Greek is dikaoma. The Greek word for righteousness is dikaosune. So dikaosune, righteousness, is a kind of
general concept. Dikaoma is a specific outworking of it. The same word is translated or used in Revelation
19 when it says âthe fine linen of the saints if the righteous acts of the saints.â So, the word weâre talking about is righteousness
in action, righteousness worked out, righteousness made practical. And this we are required to observe. Let me read those words again. âFor what the law could not do in that it
was weak through the flesh, God did by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh,
on account of sin: He condemned sin in the flesh, that the righteous requirement of the
law might be fulfilled in us who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the
Spirit.â That raises a question of vital importance
for every Christian, which is what is the righteous requirement of the law? What is it that we are required to fulfill? Weâre not required to keep the Law of Moses
but we are required to keep the righteous requirement of the law. And the theme of my message is simply the
answer to the question what is the righteous requirement of the law? I am simpleminded enough to believe that it
can be answered in one word of four letters. How many of you know the word? Love, thatâs right. Love is the righteous requirement of the law. We are expected to observe that. We are not required to keep the entire Law
of Moses but we are required to observe the righteous requirement of the law. Let me give you just a number of scriptures
that confirm what Iâve said. Weâll turn, first of all, to Matthew 22:35
and following. This is a conversation between Jesus and the
teacher of the Law of Moses. âThen one of them, a lawyer [or a teacher],
asked Jesus a question, testing Him, and saying, âTeacher, which is the great commandment
in the law?â Jesus said to him, âYou shall love the Lord
your God with all your heart, with all your soul and with all your mind.â This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like it: âYou shall love
your neighbor as yourself.ââ Notice He did not hedge, He did not compromise,
He was absolutely clear. The two great commandments are love the Lord
your God and love your neighbor as yourself. And then He went on to say: âOn these two commandments hang all the
Law and the prophets.â The Law and the prophets represent what we
today call the Old Testament. So, suppose that I wanted to take my jacket
off, which I donât, and I wanted to hang it up on a peg somewhere. One simple fact stands out, the peg would
have to be there before I could hang the jacket on it. Jesus said all the Law and the prophets hang
on these two commandments. The primary commandments that was there before
the Law and the prophets are the commandments to love God and love our neighbor as ourselves. Then in Romans 13:8â10 Paul writes this: âOwe no one anything...â Iâm not going to preach on that but itâs
rather a demanding statement, isnât it? Owe no one anything. Donât be in debt. âOwe no one anything except to love one
another, for he who loves another has fulfilled the law. For the commandments, âYou shall not commit
adultery,â âYou shall not murder,â âYou shall not steal,â âYou shall not bear
false witness,â âYou shall not covet,â and if there is any other commandment, are
all summed up in this saying, namely, âYou shall love your neighbor as yourself.â Love does not harm to a neighbor, therefore
love is the fulfillment of the law.â Love is the righteous requirement of the law. And then one further scripture, and we could
choose many others, but in Galatians 5:14 Paul says: âFor all the law if fulfilled in one word,
even in this, âYou shall love your neighbor as yourself.ââ Notice, the whole law is fulfilled in one
word. What is the word? I didnât hear you. Say it again. Thatâs better. Now, in John 13 Jesus, I would say, related
His teaching to what had gone before, to the Law of Moses and the Old Testament. And in John 13:34â35 Jesus said to His disciples: âA new commandment I give you...â Moses had given them ten commandments plus
a whole set of regulations. Contemporary Judaism has 613 commandments,
if you want to know. Jesus said, âIâll only give you one commandment. Thatâs all. If you fulfill this thatâs all I ask.â âA new commandment I give you, that you
love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another.â What is the commandment? To love one another the way Jesus has loved
us. And then He goes on to say: âBy this all will know that you are my disciples,
if you have love for one another.â One thing I like about Good News Crusade is
they have a powerful vision for evangelism. I share that vision. I have evangelized many ways in many places
to many people. But I recognize one thing: that no evangelist
and no evangelism will ever reach the whole human race. Thereâs only one thing that will reach the
whole human race. âBy this shall all men know that you are
my disciples, if you have love one for another.â That is the testimony that will reach the
entire world, it is the love of Christians for one another. And then I want to turn to one of my favorite
scriptures which isnât often quoted in 1 Timothy 1:5â6. âNow the purpose of the commandment is love
from a pure heart, from a good conscience, and from sincere faith, from which some, having
strayed, have turned as die to idle talk...â So Paul says the commandment, whether you
take itâs the Law of Moses or you take itâs the one commandment Jesus gave, the purpose
of the commandment is summed up in one word, love. And three conditions are given for having
that kind of love: a pure heart, a good conscience, and sincere faith. I like the New American Standard Version of
that verse, it says: âThe goal of our instruction is love...â And when I first read that it caused me to
pause and think. Iâve been a preacher for goodness knows
how long, 50 years probably, at least. I asked myself what has been the goal of my
instruction? What have I aimed to produce in the people
that listen to me? I had to say if it has been love I have often
failed. To those of you who are preachers, teachers,
Sunday School teachers or whatever you are that in some way has an active ministry, I
want to ask you this question: What is the goal of your instruction? What is it that you are aiming to produce
in the people who listen to you? If youâre a pastor, what are you aiming
to produce in your church? Because if youâre not aiming to produce
love, Paul says everything else is idle talk or vain discussion, the NASB says. Thatâs a very searching thought. I suggest to you that a great deal of contemporary
Christian activity is misdirected because it is not aimed at producing the one thing
that has to be our objective. And if it is aimed, frequently itâs missing
the mark. If you were to talk to the people who were
not Christians in this country and say, âWhat is the attitude of people who call themselves
Christians to one another?â very few people would answer love. Very few. The unsaved, in many ways, are more observant
than the saved. We get so used to a kind of religious procedure
that we call Christianity that we take it for granted this must be the right thing. This is the way everything is done, this is
how people do it; how could we do it differently? I want to say it to you, and I say it first
and foremost to myself as a preacher, if I am not producing love in the people who listen
to my teaching, hear my tapes, read my books, whatever it may be, itâs all idle talk,
itâs vain discussion, itâs empty words, itâs wasted time. I think itâs a shocking consideration. How much time is wasted in churches because
it doesnât produce the one thing that is required of us? The righteous requirement of the law is summed
up in one word, love. In 1 Peter 1, Peter gives us the primary evidence
of being born again. Now many of you here this evening would claim
to be born again. I have to confess Iâm almost tired of hearing
the phrase born again. My citizenships, one in Britain, one in AmericaâI
have a third, too, in heaven. But, Iâve lived most of my past thirty years
or so in the United States. It is frequently claimed in America today
there are 40 million born again Christians in America. My response is where are they and what are
they doing? Because the country is going downhill with
incredible rapidity. I think the words âborn againâ have become
a clichĂ© that have been used by people that want to be respectful but donât want to
change their lifestyle, donât want to undergo any radical transformation but want to think
of themselves as nice people who are headed for heaven. But this is what Peter says about the new
birth: âSince you have purified your souls in obeying
the truth through the Spirit, in sincere love of the brethren, love one another fervently
with a pure heart, having been born again not of corruptible seed but of incorruptible,
through the word of God which lives and abides forever.â What is the evidence that we have been born
again in one word? I didnât hear you. Thank you. Peter says you couldnât love the way you
love if youâve been born again. But thatâs not enough, he says go on and
purify your hearts till you love one another with a pure heart fervently. And that is directly associated with the new
birth. A whole lot of teaching about the new birth
absolutely misses the mark and deceives people. Iâm afraid that there are a lot of well
meaning people who think they will get to heaven who will be disappointed. They use the term born again as a sort of
passport. Being saved is more than a change of a label. You used to sit in the church and you had
on the label âsinner.â Now you sit there and youâve got on the
label âsavedâ or âborn again.â Salvation is not just going forward in a church,
shaking the pastor by the hand, going forward in a crusade, signing a decision card, or
going through any other kind of religious rigmarole. Being saved is a total life transformation
which takes you from darkness to light and makes you no longer a slave of Satan but a
slave of God. If thereâs one truth that needs to be emphasized
today in Britain and in the United States and in other countries with a long Christian
heritage, it is that salvation isnât what a lot of people call it. And some of you here tonight who call yourselves
saved, frankly, you are not saved. Youâre mildly religious, youâre a little
better than some of your neighbors but your relationship with God is very insecure and
shaky. Then in 1 John 4, the passage that Ruth and
I quoted, we have the evidence that a person knows God. Weâll just read two verses, 7 and 8: âBeloved, let us love one another, for love
is of God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God.â If you plumb that statement to its depths,
itâs remarkable because it means there is a kind of love that a person cannot have unless
heâs been born again. Only those who have been born again can have
that kind of love. If all you have or I have is the kind of love
that is known around the world, itâs no evidence that weâve been born again. Then John goes on to say: âHe who does not love does not know God,
for God is love.â Whatâs the evidence that you know God in
one word? I didnât hear you. Thatâs right. A lot of people that I know, and I deal with
a whole lot of people from different backgrounds, different denominations, different nationalities;
I would say if theyâre saved theyâre saved by a stranger. Let me give you a little example. There you are in a river sinking for the third
time. Somebody plunges in from the bank, rescues
you, fishes you out, puts you wet and dripping as you are in the seat of his beautifully
upholstered car, drives you off to his home, takes off your dripping clothes, gives you
a new set of clothes to wear, takes care of your needs, then says, âFrom now on, letâs
be friends. You know where I live, hereâs my phone number,
you can phone me any time you like. Come see me.â That person never goes back to the one who
saved him from drowning. I would say saved by a stranger, saved but
you never come to know the person who saved you. He who does not love does not know God. You may not know a lot of scripture, you may
have a lot of religious theory, you may be a member of a church, but if you donât love
you donât know Godâand youâre much the poorer for it. Because, if thereâs one person who is really
worthwhile getting to know, itâs God. Now letâs turn for a moment to the connection
between faith and works. Weâll turn to the epistle of James. Some people think there was a conflict between
James and Paul. I donât, I think they stated two opposite
aspects of the same truth. Before I was saved I was a professional philosopher
and my subject was logic. Iâd like to say just a word of personal
testimony. The most logical book I have ever read is
the Bible. The most logical book in the Bible is the
epistle to the Romans. Their logic is absolutely flawless. There are no inconsistencies, they are correct
all through. Letâs look at James 2:26. âFor as the body without the spirit is dead,
so faith without works is dead also.â So, what James is saying is you can say you
have faith but if it doesnât express itself in what you do itâs a dead faith. You can say to somebody, âBe warmed and
fed, have a good time,â but if you donât sacrifice and give them what they need itâs
just empty words. What James is saying is merely professing
faith is not enough. He doesnât say itâs wrong, he says itâs
insufficient. It has to be worked out by the things you
do, what is called in the Bible works. How is faith expressed in works? What is the Biblical way to express our faith
in works? There is one scripture, letâs go back to
Galatians, one of my favorite epistles. Galatians 5:6. Let me say this, if youâve never been shocked
by what youâve read in the Bible, youâve never read the Bible, because it is a shocking
book. And, itâs most shocking for religious people. I think it was Mark Twain who said, âIt
isnât the scriptures that I donât understand that trouble me, itâs the one I do understand.â Galatians 5:6: âFor in Christ Jesus neither circumcision
nor uncircumcision avails anything but faith working through love.â How does faith work? I didnât hear you. Thank you. So when we have faith but it doesnât work
through love, what kind of faith do we have? A dead faith. Faith without works is dead. Faith works through love. Therefore, faith without love is dead. Would you dare to say that after me? âFaith without love is dead.â Now turn and say it to your neighbor on the
right or the left. âFaith without love is dead.â Youâve said a very significant and far reaching
statement. You donât know what youâve put your foot
in because what it means is you may have the most meticulously accurate doctrinal faith,
dot every âiâ and cross every ât,â and yet your faith may be totally dead if
it isnât expressed in love. The problem is, and this is merely my personal
observation, the majority of church activity in this nation today isnât even aimed at
producing love. Itâs aimed at establishing certain doctrinal
truths or commenting on the political situation or the situation in the Middle East. Iâve said this many times to people. If you aim at nothing you can be sure youâll
hit it. I donât want to seem critical but I am British,
I mean, I grew up in this nation, I was christened, confirmed. And, you may be surprised to know, Ruth and
I attend an Anglican church every week in Jerusalem, and we love it. I was a rebel against the Anglican church
for many years, I said a lot of unkind things about it, from experience. They werenât untrue but they were unkind. I think God wouldnât let me finish my lifeâs
career without putting it right with the Anglican church. Today all my complaints are laid down; all
my criticisms, I no longer bother to make them. It is so easy to criticize the church, it
doesnât require any cleverness. But to change a church, that is a task. So, faith without love is dead. Let me give you just a little bit, for the
Pentecostals, the Charismatics, people like myself who speak in tongues and believe in
spiritual gifts. I never knew there was a way to be a Christian
without speaking in tongues because when I got saved I spoke in tongues. It took me a long while to discover there
was any other kind of Christian. So believe me, if thereâs anybody here who
believes in speaking in tongues and spiritual gifts, Iâm one of them. But listen to what Paul says in 1 Corinthians
13:1â3: âThough I speak with the tongues of men
and of angels...â Thatâs startling. Has it ever occurred to you that you may not
be speaking in a human tongue but in the tongue of angels? When I was in the deserts of North Africa,
after I had met the Lord, I had no Christian fellowship. I had to have fellowship with the Lord and
I used to pray many, many time in tongues. I observed that I used one tongue which had
âsâ sounds in it and Iâve often wondered whether that was an angelic tongue. I donât know but at least itâs perfectly
possible according to scripture to talk not merely in the tongues of men but also of angels. Paul says even if I do that: â...and have not love, I have become as
sounding brass or a clanging cymbal.â Iâm just an empty noise without love. Somebody said is it possible to misuse the
gifts of the Holy Spirit? The answer is most definitely yes. Any use without love is a misuse. And then Paul goes on: âAlthough I have the gift of prophecy [now
thatâs very popular today], and understand all mysteries and all knowledge [I have the
word of wisdom and the word of knowledge], and though I have all faith [which is another
thing that is very popular today], so that I could remove mountains, but have not love,
I am nothing.â Itâs easy for us to think of other people
to whom that might apply but why donât we see if it applies to us. And then he goes on to say: âAnd though I bestow all my goods to feed
the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, but have not love, it profits me nothing.â I thought about that. There are some ministers whoâve profited
others but it has not profited them. You can help other people but be unhelped
yourself without love. And then in the next chapter, chapter 14,
Paul says: âPursue love, and desire spiritual gifts...â So Paul is not against spiritual gifts but
he says get your priorities right. Priority number one is not spiritual gifts,
itâs love. I think whoever translated the New Testament
recently, J.B. Philips, he translated this âmake love your
aim.â I think thatâs a good translation. Make love your aim. I want to say to you while youâre in this
camp during this week, which is set apart, will you do that? Will you make love your aim? If you do youâll leave here different from
when you came. I want to make love my aim. There are two ways, primarily, that God imparts
His love to us. I just want to mention them without going
into great detail. The first one is by the Holy Spirit. Romans 5:5 says: âThe love of God has been poured out in
our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us.â So the Holy Spirit pours out the love of God
into our hearts. I donât think thereâs any limit on Godâs
side, He just pours out His love. The limit is on our side, how much do we receive? I have enjoyed that experience, Iâve had
the love of God poured out in my heart in the Holy Spirit. Iâll give you just one brief example. Serving as a soldier in North Africa, after
I had come to know the Lord, I ended up in a very remote barren, inhospitable corner
of what is now the Sudan. Before I got to my actual destination which
was a small military hospital on the Red Sea Hills I was detained for a few weeks in what
the British army calls a reception station. And, for the first time in three years of
army life I didnât have to sleep in my underwear because this reception station was equipped
with three beds with nightgowns and with everything that could make you comfortable. I had no patients, I thought why not enjoy
a bed which I hadnât slept in, and wear a nightgown rather than sleep in my underwear,
which is what I was used to sleeping in. Well, one night I began to pray for the people
of the Sudan and the particular tribe Iâm thinking of is called the Hundondewah. They are not attractive people, they are war-like,
aggressive, theyâve known no religion but Islam all their lives. The men have a habit of fixing their hair
with mutton fat so that it stands about eight inches above their head. There is nothing you would say would be outwardly
attractive or appealing. But that night as I began to pray, God poured
out His love in my heart for those people. I couldnât even lie on the bed, I had to
get up and pace up and down across the floor of the room, pouring my heart out for these
people whom I didnât know and whom I had no natural reason for loving whatever. If I can say this and I hope I will not be
misunderstood, as I was doing that in the darkness I discovered that my white nightgown
was gleaming. It was supernaturally illuminated. I glimpsed somehow that I had become identified
with Jesus, the great intercessor, for a few brief moments. Later I had the privilege of leading to the
Lord the first member of that tribe who had ever confessed Jesus Christ as Savior. I
say that because in a little measure I understand what it means when it says âthe love of
God is poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit.â But I want to tell you at the end of that
experience I was still a very imperfect, immature Christian. You might not believe it but I was often irritable,
selfish, self centered, insensitive and I easily got angryâafter all that. Iâm not belittling the experience but I
want to point out to you it takes more than that to change your character. And God has another means to do it, His other
instrument which is His Word. It is not the Spirit alone or the Word alone
but itâs the Word and the Spirit working togetherâwhich has been Godâs way ever
since creation. Because if you read the account of creation
in Genesis 1:2, âthe Spirit of God moved on the face of the waters.â Genesis 1:3, âGod spoke...â And when the Word and the Spirit were combined,
creation took place. And thatâs how God works in our lives, by
the Word and the Spirit combined. Letâs look at what God says about the Word. 1 John 2:5: âBut whoever keeps His [Godâs] Word, truly
the love of God is perfected in Him. By this we know that we are in Him.â So how is the love of God brought to perfection
in us? By what? By keeping His Word. Itâs not the Spirit alone, not the Word
alone; but the Spirit working with the Word. I want to give you one of my favorite scriptures
as we come to a close. I believe there is a progress in the Christian
life, an upbuilding of character. The climax is love but there are six steps
to get there. Love is the seventh step. If you have a Bible before you, turn to 2
Peter 1:5: âBut also for this very reason, giving all
diligence, add to your faith virtue...â The basis of everything in the Christian life
is faith but on that faith we are to add seven successive stages of character development. The first one is virtue. I prefer to translate that excellence because
itâs a very broad word which has many meanings. For instance, the virtue of a horse is to
run fast. I always like to emphasize that the first
evidence that you have been saved is you should become excellent. If you were a teacher before you were saved
you should become an excellent teacher. If you were a bus driver you should become
an excellent bus driver. If you were a doctor or a dentist you should
become excellent. Excellence should be the mark of Christians. The first thing we add is excellence. â...to excellence knowledge...â I donât believe that means scientific or
intellectual knowledge primarily but it means the knowledge of Godâs will revealed through
His Word. We need that knowledge to progress. â...then to knowledge self-control...â This is a virtue that is very little spoke
of in contemporary Christianity. But if you do not add self control youâll
never progress any further because any time youâre about to progress youâll lose control
of yourself, youâll lose your temper, youâll lose to lust, youâll yield to excessive
appetites, youâll yield to ungodly emotions, youâll yield to such things as depression
and unbelief, and that stops your progress. Self control is an essential step on the total
progress. And then it says: â...to self-control perseverance [or endurance]...â And again, this is essential because in the
process of maturing you will encounter tests, trials and obstacles. If you havenât acquired endurance youâll
give up. And when you give up your progress ceases. Thereâs a scripture in James that Ruth and
I recite but it really convicted Ruth at a certain time because she was going through
a real struggle for her health. And every time one thing got better something
else got worse. Then she read in James 1: âWe count it all joy when we fall into various
trials...â The Holy Spirit convicted her, âYouâre
sinning, youâre disobeying the Word of God. Youâre not counting it all joy.â And then it goes on: âWe count it all joy when we fall into various
trials, knowing that the testing of our faith produces endurance. But we let endurance have its perfect work
that we may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing.â Do you want to be perfect and complete, lacking
nothing? Then you have to cultivate endurance, thereâs
no other way. Otherwise, every time God puts you into a
process thatâs designed to make you perfect and complete, you give up and your progress
ceases. These two things, self-control and endurance,
are what I call the bottleneck. If you canât get through them you canât
make any further progress. So, after self-control, now we get to the
really good ones. â...to endurance godliness...â My definition of godliness is a temperament
controlled by the Holy Spirit. All your reactions and responses are controlled
by the Holy Spirit. The mark of a godly person is that when he
enters the room God enters with him. He carries the presence of God with him. Thatâs godliness. Thereâs still two more, weâve only got
to number five. Number six, brotherly kindness. That means loving your fellow believers. Some of us havenât got to stage six. I have to confess that not all Christians
are always easy to love. I think Iâm probably one of them. People have come to me years later and said,
âBrother Prince, I have to forgive you.â Other people have said, âYouâve changed
a lot!â I understood what they meant, I had to acknowledge
it was true. But brotherly kindness is not the end, thereâs
one more, a four letter word. Love. That in Greek is agape. That means the love that loves your enemies,
that loves the people that persecute you, that means the people that donât understand
you, love the people that are different to you. That is the climax of the Christian life,
thatâs the pinnacle. But thereâs a process and there are two
agents that God uses, the Holy Spiritâand you can have these glorious spiritual experiences. Iâve read the lives of missionaries and
others who had glorious spiritual experiences. Iâm thinking of Hudson Taylor whose life
I was reading recently. But even after that glorious experience when
he was filled with the love of God, he had a lot of personal problems and he wasnât
always easy to live with. A great man of God. But, we have to go through the process. No one is exempt. You canât get there by any other route than
Godâs appointed route. Letâs say it again. To your faith you add excellence, to excellence
you add knowledge, to knowledge you add self control, to self control you add perseverance
or endurance, to perseverance you add godliness, to godliness you add brotherly kindness [love
of your fellow believers], and to brotherly kindness you add love. And as far as Iâm concerned, that is the
pinnacle, that is the goal. Thatâs the destination for every Spirit
filled believer. Now, I have a wish for this camp, for all
of us. I can say at the moment I love every one of
you. I donât know you but I have the love of
God in my heart for you at this moment. My prayer, and I want to submit this to Don
Double and the team, my prayer is that somehow the love of God will be poured out on us during
this week, that not one of us will leave the same. I pray that a fountain of love will be opened
in this camp that will flow out at the end of the week in little rivulets that reach
every part of Great Britain in your lives. Can you say amen to that? Now I want to make a confession because I
have learned by experience that unconfessed sin is the barrier to Godâs blessing. There are other barriers but that is number
one and the most serious and most common. You see, a lot of Christians donât realize
God says âif we confess our sins He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins.â But thereâs an if and you may read the Bible
differently from me but I do not find that God has ever committed Himself to forgive
a sin that has not been confessed. So, if we want our sins forgiven, what do
we have to do? Confess. Are you sure? Are you willing? It could be painful. It may take you half the week to get through
them. Listen, donât start to analyze yourself. Donât probe into yourself because the further
you probe the worse youâll feel. Let the Holy Spirit do it. Jesus said in one gospel, âIf I by the Spirit
of God cast out demons,â and in another gospel He said, âIf I by the finger of God
cast out demons.â So what is Godâs finger? The Holy Spirit. Let God put His finger on every area of your
life that you need to confess. I want to tell you, having preached this message,
I have to confess many, many times I have not loved as I ought to have loved. Many times Iâve been critical, self-righteous,
judgmental, self-centered and insensitive. When I think back of the children that I helped
to raise, and between us Ruth and I are responsible for twelve children, I think the thing I regret
most is insensitivity. I was an only child, I had no brothers or
sisters, I grew up on my own, I learned to live my life my way. Itâs taken me years to arrive at the point
when Iâm even aware if somebody else doesnât feel good. I also learned this, that when people come
up and ask me theological questions, usually itâs not a theological answer that they
want, they want love, they want help, they want comfort. Theology is just a way of saying, âHelp
me, I need to be loved.â I want to confess that before you all because
I want to ask God to forgive me. If I donât confess I know He will not forgive. If I do confess I believe He will forgive. Now, I want to ask you if you would feel it
appropriate tonight that those of us who have not been as loving as we ought to have been
would stand up, confess it privately to God and ask Godâs forgiveness. And then ask God to pour out His love on us
in a new dimension. Iâm not asking you to tell anybody else
except God but if you say here tonight, âGod, when I compare my love with your love and
with the love of the early church, I am just an empty vessel.â Now then, Iâm going to pray a prayer and
you say amen and then take off and pray your own prayer. âLord, we want to confess before you tonight,
as your believing people, we have failed you. We have misrepresented you. Weâve given the world the wrong impression
of the kind of people we are. We have not caused them to know we are your
disciples because we have love one for another. We have often been self righteous, critical
and condemnatory, and self centered. Lord, weâve failed in many other ways but
tonight you have spoken to our hearts and we want to acknowledge before you we have
failed. We have sinned. Weâve broken the first and greatest of all
commandments, to love the Lord our God with all our hearts, soul and mind. Weâve broken the second commandment because
we havenât loved our neighbors as ourselves. All we can do tonight is say weâre sorry,
forgive us. Forgive us. Forgive us. Change our hearts. Send your Holy Spirit to do in us and for
us what only you can do.â Thatâs your prayer. If you can identify with that just say amen. Amen. âAnd now, Lord, I want to pray that on the
basis of your forgiveness and our humbling ourselves before you, you will pour out your
love on this camp this week in a new measure, in a new degree, that youâll open a fountain
of love in the midst of us that will flow out in the lives of the people that are here
to all the corners of Britain where people are longing for love. Theyâre not wanting religion, theyâre
wanting love. You have chosen us to be your vessels and
your channels. Tonight, Lord, start right where we are. Start with us and do whatever needs to be
done to change us, we pray. In Jesusâ name. Amen.â
