SER:The First Commandment by Peter Ruckman

   Open your Bibles and turn to Exodus chapter 20, in the one hand;
turn to Matthew chapter 22 in the other hand. In the third hand,
1Corinthians 8; and with the fourth hand, 2Timothy 3.

   Exodus 20, Matthew 22, 1Corinthians 8, and 2Timothy 3.

   We'll begin in Exodus 20, and go to Matthew 22, then 1Corinthians 8,
and then 2Timothy chapter 3.

   I'm redoing now, during the next couple of weeks or months, a series
I did about three years ago on the Ten Commandments. This morning,
we're going to talk about the First Commandment. Exodus chapter 20,
verse 1: "And God spake all these words, saying, I am the LORD thy God,
which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of
bondage. Thou shalt have no other gods before me."

   That's the First Commandment. The First Commandment is put God
first. Now come to Matthew 22 and notice how Jesus Christ interprets
that commandment in the New Testament. Matthew 22. Matthew 22:34. This
is a broader interpretation; it'll give you the kernel of it. Matthew
22:34: "But when the Pharisees had heard that he had put the Sadducees
to silence, they were gathered together. Then one of them, which was a
lawyer, asked him a question, tempting him, and saying, Master, which
is the great commandment in the law? Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt
love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and
with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment." So, that's
what that commandment means--to have no other gods before God, is to
love Him with all your heart and all your soul and all your mind.

   All right, 1Corinthians chapter 8, verse 3. First Corinthians
chapter 8, verse 3: "But if any man love God, the same is known of
him." If a man keeps that first commandment, you can tell it.

   All right, 2Timothy chapter 3, verse 4. Paul is speaking of the last
days. Second Timothy 3, verse 4. In the last days, among other things,
men will be "Traitors, heady, highminded, lovers of pleasures more than
lovers of God."

   Our Father, we pray the Holy Spirit will make these matters clear
today. We pray especially for any unsaved that came this way, that the
Holy Spirit might edify and enlighten and open the blindness of their
heart and let the light of the glorious gospel of Christ shine into
them. And may the god of this world's blindness be taken off their eyes
this morning. May they be turned from Satan to God, from darkness to
light, for the grace of God. Help us to realize the implications of
this commandment, and what is involved in it in our own lives, as we
preach it to others. Lord, give us the grace we need to obey this
commandment you've given us. In Jesus' name, amen.

   All right now, in particular, I'd like to call your attention to
this commandment to love God, and then the fact that He says, "If any
man love God, it is known of him." When you stop and think about it, it
would be kind of egotistical, if you're from the standpoint of an
unsaved person, to think about God standing up and saying, "The first
thing you've got to do is love me more than anybody else." Now, of
course, I'm saved, and I know that's not egotism. Yet, I've had unsaved
people tell that to me. I've had several unsaved people call that to my
attention, and say, "Well, God must be stuck on himself. Why does He
command that everybody love Him?"

   Well, it isn't that simple. There are THREE reasons why God gave
that command to love Him. First of all, God gave that commandment to
strengthen your conscience. You don't realize what a sinner you are
until you realize how little you love God. And God gave that thing to
give you a stronger conscience, so when you do something wrong, you'll
know it's because you don't love God. People don't like to have their
consciences strengthened.

   John Wesley's mother said to him, when he went off to school and
college, she said, "Beware of some, of any teaching that will weaken
your conscience." And, if that were applied today, all you kids would
have to quit school before you got to the sixth grade.

   Number two, God gave that commandment to make you aware of His
nature. Those commandments back there in Exodus 20, "Thou shalt not,"
and "Thou shalt not," and "Thou shalt not"--that was given to you to
make you aware of the fact that God is holy. You cannot find the
holiness of God in nature. You can look at the power of God in nature,
and the majesty of God in nature, and you can look at His creation and
marvel at it. But you can't find God's holiness until God says, "Thou
shalt not." When God says that, you realize there's a difference
between you and God.

   You said, "Well, you shall not under some circumstances." Or, "I
know a circumstance where..." That may be true, but God wouldn't
violate one of His commandments under any circumstance. God is holy.

   Why, do you realize God wouldn't lie or cheat to save your soul? If
God had the right motive, love, He wouldn't do anything wrong, even if
He loved you. If God had to do wrong to get you out of hell, He'd just
let you go to hell--you hear what I'm saying? God is holy. If God had
to sin to keep you out of hell, you'd be in hell with the door shut.
God gave those Ten Commandments to reveal an absolute standard.

   I don't know what kind of God you worship. It's a free country; you
can pick your own God. Men go to the churches shopping for gods. If
they don't find one God they like, they go to a church and find one
they do like. But, I'm here to tell you if your God doesn't have
absolute standards, He's not the God of the Ten Commandments. If
whatever God you worship does not have absolute standards of purity and
holiness, you have an INFERIOR God to the One I've got. The One I've
got is absolutely holy and absolutely pure and absolutely sinless, and
the God I have is the God of the Ten Commandments. He's the God of the
Commandments.

   There are some things the Lord is not. The Lord is not an Epicurean.
I've got a copy of a student newspaper from the University of
California at Berkeley. That paper came out there, and they had a
little devotional there by the chaplain, I guess, of that school--and
he pictured a God of somebody who believed that you ought to do what
you want to do when you want to do it. Kind of a Hugh Hefner type of
God. That isn't the God of the Ten Commandments. The God of the Ten
Commandments is not an Epicurean.

   The God of the Ten Commandments is not a pantheist, degenerating
with the universe. Modern scientists picture God as the eternal,
energetic force field of the universe--they've got God in the stars and
in the woods and in the trees. He's pantheistic. If your God is a
pantheistic God, He's degenerating with His creation, because His
creation is falling apart and wearing out. The God I serve is not
wearing out with His creation. The God I serve is separate from His
creation. A fellow said, "Well, show me God." If I showed you God, He'd
wear out. Why, if Jesus Christ were right here and I showed Him to you,
He'd die on a cross. What you can't see is what lasts! Everything you
look at falls apart.

   Somebody looks at the sun. Good! It'll turn to darkness. Look at the
moon; it'll turn to blood. Look at the stars; they'll fall down like an
untimely fig tree casts off her figs. Look at God; you can't see God.
God is eternal.

   I'll tell you something else about this God of these commandments.
He's not an incrutible God. He's not a God you can't get to know. I
don't profess to know Him like I should; I don't profess to understand
Him like I should. The thought of having fellowship with a Being so
vast and incomprehensible that He fills the universe and can keep track
of what's going on in everybody's mind while they're driving their cars
on the highways and flying in the airplanes, just leaves me blank. I
can't understand it.

   But I understand enough about God to know that He loves me. I
understand enough about God to know that He has done something for me,
and He's going to do something for me. One of these philosophers said,
"God is the absolute essence of the thing-hood of the what-ness of the
unmoved mover." Do you know what that guy said? He said God
is...nothing. What is the "what-ness of the thing-hood of the unmoved
mover..." blub, blub, blub, blub. He doesn't know what he's talking
about. He just doesn't know God.

   You say, "Well, God is love." Well, if God is love, love gives and
asks for nothing in return. "Herein is love, not that we loved God, but
that he loved us, and gave His Son for us, a propitiation for our
sins." These folks who are always saying, "God is love, God is love"--
I wonder about some of them. Do they love God? "If any man love God, it
is known of him." These people say, "God is love, God is love." Do you
love God? You're always talking about God being love; how about you?
You know what "love" is in tennis, don't you? It's nothing. Where
there's real love, the object is everything, and you're nothing. Love
gives and asks nothing in return. And if you love God, you'll be
nothing. For example, a score in tennis is 30-love; do you know what
that means? That means, 30-to-zero. Love identifies itself with its
object.

   When God Almighty loved us, He came down here and identified Himself
with us, and appeared in the likeness of sinful flesh. Do you love God?
If you do, then you'll identify yourself with Him. If you love God,
there will be something like you that will be like the Lord. You and He
will be similar in some ways. Eventually, you always mold yourself
after your God.

   Love doesn't coerce anybody. Love is never coerced. You say, "Well,
doesn't God command us to love Him? Doesn't God say, `Thou shalt love
the Lord thy God?'" Yes, but then God shows you why you should. Love
earns its respect; love wins its respect. You don't force on anybody.
God doesn't force His love on you.

   God comes down and takes on a body like you have, and suffers like
you do, and bleeds like you do, and dies like you do, and hangs naked
on a cross and says, "HEY! Am I worthy of something?" He APPEALS to
you! There's no hammer over your head. You see this? You can't do any
better than this. It isn't like that. Can't you see this? All right, do
I deserve your love or don't I?

   C'MON!!

   You folks who don't love Him, since He's done that for you, doesn't
He deserve your love? Then why should you get ruffled about Him saying,
"Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart and with all thy
soul and with all thy strength and with all thy mind? This is the first
and great commandment." Love is not coerced; you can't coerce anybody.
The pressure isn't put on; if God tells you, "You shall," there's a
reason why "you shall"! And if God tells you, "You shall not," there's
a reason why you should not!

   All right, this is the first and greatest commandment. I heard a
preacher say one time, "The first commandment has to do with love;
therefore it ought to be easy to keep." I haven't found it easy to keep
that thing; have you found it easy to love God with all your heart,
soul, strength, and mind? I thought to myself, "What battle did that
guy come from? Man, he must have come off the parade ground, or
something." Did you ever try to love God with all your heart and soul
and strength and mind, 24 hours a day? There's a bunch of love-nutty
people in the world; they're love-sick. They think if the word has
"love" in it, there's nothing to it. Man, if it's got "love" to it,
there's more to it than anything else!

   I mean, the First Commandment--easy to keep! The very idea! Why,
these fellows change the commandments. They think, "Love your neighbor
as yourself" is the first and great commandment. Every Communist in
this world professes to love his neighbor as himself. Why, if you put
the second commandment ahead of the first commandment, do you know what
that makes you? That makes you a humanist. That makes you a socialist.
You're not keeping the first commandment.

   Listen, the first commandment is not "love your neighbor." The first
commandment is not "love your mother." This first commandment--the
first--the first--NEVER MIND what your mind is doing right now trying
to get around what I'm saying--the First Commandment is, "Thou shalt
love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, all thy soul, all thy
strength, all thy mind." You find that easy to put that first? I never
met anybody who did.

   All modern Christians worship people. They worship people for the
purpose of income, or the purpose of attendance, or enrollment, or
image, or publicity. The modern Christian--I've known a lot of them--
there are very few of them who love the Lord their God with all their
heart, soul, strength, and mind. You say, "How do you know?" IT`S KNOWN
IF A MAN LOVES GOD!

   "If any man love God, it is known..." You can tell it. It's the same
way with women. If a woman loves God, it's obvious. It's clear. It's
apparent. There is something about the conduct of a man or woman who
loves God that doesn't need any explanation. It's there. You may not
like it; you may disapprove of it. There may be things about their
personality you strongly object to; you may have a personality problem
with them. They've probably got one with you, too. That's how people
are. But, as far as loving God goes, it's manifest; it's known. It's
known when a man puts God ahead of everybody else. And that's what
you're told to do.

   Some of you folks have it backwards; you've got the wheels on wrong.
I read about a preacher one time back in 1890 who went to preach in a
church, and it was on perfect level ground. He had never been across
it; he had to go up there by horse and buggy at night. Some mischievous
boys changed the wheels on his carriage. He had one of these little old
covered carriages, and they put the big wheel on the front and the
small wheel on the back. And the big wheel on that carriage was about
four feet in diameter. And the front one was about three feet in
diameter; they reversed those wheels. And the preacher went up there,
you know--up that hill. When he got up there, he was telling the deacon
during the service, "I never knew such a steep hill coming up here."

   And the deacon laughed at him and said, "Step outside. I want to
show you something." And he showed him the wheels of the carriage. And
he said, "Now there, preacher, that's a lesson for you. When you go
through life with things out of place, you go through on the back of
your neck. If you put the front wheel where the back wheel ought to be,
and the back wheel where the front wheel out to be, you go through
backwards."

   When you put the First Commandment for the Second Commandment, and
the second with the first, you go through life on the back of your
neck. It's an uphill climb. God said, "Put the First one first." "Thou
shalt love the Lord thy God, with all thy heart, with all thy soul,
with all thy strength, with all thy mind. This is the first and great
commandment."

   The Bible says, "The love of money is the root of all evil." There
must be a lot of folks who love money more than they love God. I read
of a case here, American Airline Flight #1, crashed on a takeoff at New
York. They found a fellow dead on there named W. Alton Jones, who
worked for the Cities Service gas station chain. He had $61,000 on
him--in ten-thousand and five-thousand-dollar bills. Sixty-one thousand
bucks on him! That guy had it in his pockets. I don't know where you'd
get that much money from! I never saw that much money in my life. I
never saw that much money in a bank. Five-thousand-dollar bills--whose
picture is on a $5000 bill? I don't even know; I never even saw one.
Got Judas on it? Or Demas, or something? Something on it.

   And you take you folks from up North--that's where you have a time
of it! You have a time with that money! Yeah, amen, amen! Makes you
hard. Makes you calculating. You know, sin up north is harder than it
is down south. That's right. It's hard and cold and calculating and
wicked and selfish. I'm not justifying Southern sins; I'm just telling
you, there's a difference.

   Some of you Northerners are like this--"Oh, dear George, help me
out!"

   I know fellows who work up there 20, 30, 40 years, and come down
here, you know, to die--and live for about two or three weeks, before
they die, trying to get that money.

   A fellow up there, 32 years old, when he retired, they said he had
35 years of service. They gave him an award for 35 years service, and
the guy was only 32 years old! They said, "How did you get 35 years
service?" He said, "I did a lot of overtime!"

   Two or three jobs a day, trying to get that money. "The love of
money is the root of all evil." God before the money. God before the
money. "Love God with all your heart and with all your soul."

   Your soul is what you feel. Your soul is your emotions. That means
God ahead of sex. God ahead of music. God ahead of beautiful things to
look at and to feel and to taste. God ahead of your food. God ahead of
your belly. Amen, amen, amen!

   All this stuff. Folks say, "What do you think about this Siecus sex
education thing?" I think it's a bunch of sex-obsessed neurotics. This
bunch of people always worrying about the kids not knowing enough about
sex--any fool in America knows more about sex ten years ahead of time
than they ought to know it's good for them to do anything with! Who
can't find out about sex? Man, you've got so much of it, you're crazy
with it!

   A fellow said in America, "It's SEX o'clock." They said, "That novel
by Leon Uris called `The Exodus,' should have been called `The
SEXodus.'" All this stuff--sex, sex, sex! Why, you've got a bunch of
neurotics--they're obsessive neurotics! "Tell it like it is, tell it
like it is." Why, Presley dies a worn-out, senile old man before he's
40 years old. What does he know about sex? NOTHING! All this
business--a bunch of sex-crazy people. They sex every time they turn
around--SEXology, SEXuality!

   You know, I had to go down here and fight the school board about
this stuff--you know all that stuff, don't you? About twelve years
back, the preachers got together and decided to fight that Siecus
stuff. What's this fellow's name? Chuck Baldwin had bad textbooks he
was fighting. We had to fight the Siecus bunch when they came through
here. There was a doctor's wife downtown--I think her name was Reuben.
She got down there, and she was trying to shovel all that stuff
through. I had to go down there and powwow those people on the tables.
You know the impression I got? I got the impression those people were
sex-obsessed neurotics. They were hung up on the stuff! About toward
the end of that thing, I got to talk with them, and I said, "What's
this thing going to do about the VD rate? Is it going to fix it up?"

   They all practically choked around the table, all shocked. I said,
"What about the pregnancies? How about these girls having babies before
they're married? Is it going to fix that?"

   And one of those half-baked, whitewashed, demon-possessed hypocrites
said, "Oh, no, we don't discuss those things."

   WHAT???!!! Sex education doesn't discuss any of THAT???!!! That
isn't a very good education, stupid!

   Why, these poor kids out in these schools, all of the problems
they've got--"we need to educate them." What's the problem they've got,
honey? The problems they've got are a bunch of pregnancies and a bunch
of VD--that's the problem they've got! If you're not going to fix that,
then SHUT YOUR MOUTH!

   All this stuff! Occupation with the body! Music.

   Why, I've read accounts of those Beatles. I'll never forget; one
time I was up in Chatauqua, and I came up off the platform. And a bunch
of little girls were there. One of them, about 15 or 16, was standing
around, just got saved. She was crying like her heart was coming out of
her mouth. And I said, "What is it?"

   She came to me, and she said, "Brother Ruckman, I'm saved now, and I
want to apologize for getting so mad at you."

   I said, "What did you get mad at me about?"

   She said, "I was just mad enough to kill you!"

   I said, "Over what?"

   She said, "You criticized the Monkees!"

   You know, I wasn't too up to date then, and I couldn't figure out
what it was she was talking about. I was standing there thinking, was
there some zoo I had been in? I criticized the monkeys in some zoo?

   She was talking about a singing group, you know.

   I didn't know that. I was trying to figure out what zoo I had been
in, throwing peanuts to the monkeys or something. Imagine a 16-year-old
girl going all to pieces over a "Monkee." Imagine that!

   Why, these kids come home from these rock concerts, and you know
what the reporters say? They say the most terrible thing about that
rock concert at Woodstock, and that San Francisco Haight-Asbury mess,
was that the parents didn't care. They said the worst thing about it
was that the parents looked at it as an innocent form of amusement,
where everything was just fine. Why, the girls were hysterical! Some of
them were having heart attacks at 17, 18, 19 years old! Some of them
were fainting; they were cutting themselves. They were clawing their
throats. They were tearing out their hair. Innocent amusement?

   Why, that's a bunch of demon-possessed fanatics at a religious
worship service. You know what they're doing? They're worshipping their
gods! "Thou shalt have no other gods before me; Thou shalt love the
Lord thy God with all thy heart, with all thy soul, with all thy
strength, with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment."
Why, those people act like religious fanatics. A reporter watched that
thing and recorded the number of people the firemen had to resuscitate
in the back room, and the number of people who had to go to a doctor,
and the number of people who had to go to a hospital--people raging,
screaming, foaming at the mouth. Why, they're religious--they're in a
worship service. You look at them, and they're kind of like this. And
they're like this. And they're like this. They're RELIGIOUS FANATICS.
Amen, amen!

   Why you take all that stuff, and you see they act just like the
worshippers of Orpheus and Bacchus did, back 500 to 1,000 years before
Jesus Christ. Kids come home and say, "Well, there's nothing wrong with
that music--the `Yellow Submarine,' and `Tinkerbell,' and `Puff, the
Magic Dragon.'" Why, the songs are about dope, you dopehead! Can't you
figure that out, dopey?

   I had a meeting one time downtown in one of these high schools down
here. A bunch of young people were talking. One little 15-year-old girl
said, "Well, I don't believe those titles are anything bad. They have
nothing to do with dope." Well, she just wasn't hooked yet. Don't give
me that stuff, see? I mean, I get around. I may be an old man, but I
still move! I move faster in a month than some of you do in ten years.
I know what's going on with that stuff. All that stuff about the
"yellow cloud," and the "pink cloud"--that's music about dope! They're
a bunch of dope heads! They're in a worship service!

   "Thou shalt have no other gods before me."

   SPORTS...."lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God." Are you
fellows as happy over brother Theos leading five souls to Christ in
Greece as you are winning the league championship? Man, you sure are
quiet, some of you here this morning! I've got news for you; Brother
Trotsville led some souls to Christ in Germany. That's some good stuff.

   You know what some of you are like? You're like the guy who told his
wife, "Well, I may not love you better than baseball, but I still love
you better than basketball." I saw a cartoon one time in the New
Yorker--I never will forget it. It showed a guy out in the sixth green,
about to make a putt. And here comes his wife and bridal party, tearing
across the fairway in her bridal gown, screaming, with the preacher
with her. And he's looking up from his putt and saying, "I told you,
only if it rained!"

   Now, some of you don't appreciate it. I didn't used to either. I was
39 years old when I played my first game of golf. That was the first
time I picked up a club. I was just like you are; I said, "Well,
there's nothing to that game; just hit the ball and walk after it."
But, hitting that ball is a problem! That's why that thing has more
cussin' than any other game--because so much of it is your fault.

   Listen, God Almighty help you if you ever see the time when catching
a limit of fish means more to you than somebody coming down the altar
to get saved. You're in trouble. You say, "What's my trouble?" Your
trouble is you love pleasure more than you love God.

   Concerning loving your belly. Do you take as good a care of the
Bible as you do of your own stomach? "You take one more bite of cake,
and you're going to explode!" "Please pass the cake and get out of the
way."

   I have a note here by Art Linkletter, who had a party out in
Hollywood. He had 39 members of this club, and 12 guests. I guess that
was about the time that pot caught up with his daughter. The meal cost
$16,000, and they paid money to hire French chefs to fly from Paris
over to Hollywood to cook that stuff for them, and then flew them back.
And each one of the people who sat down at that table paid $300.00 for
that plate. Three hundred dollars! When you have to pay $300.00 for a
meal, your god is your belly--did you know that? Nobody has to pay $300
to get a good meal; I don't care how big a belly you've got. I don't
care what kind of appetite you've got; nobody has to pay $300 to get a
good meal. Nobody has to pay $200. Nobody has to pay $100. You can get
a good one at Church's for about three-and-a- half bucks. That's right,
man!

   I was down in St. Petersburg one time. One of the rich fellows down
there in that church picked me up in a plane and took me flying, and he
flew me off in his twin-engine Cessna across about 100 miles and landed
on a private strip, where he had his own private airport, and got out
and ate at his private restaurant--all that stuff, you know. High on
the hog, low on the chicken. And we got out there and went to eat at
that place, and each one of those plates--the cheapest was 12 bucks,
and the expensive ones were 15 dollars. And, with all due respect for
that fellow's charity and Christian love, I must confess that I don't
remember any meal that was much worse than that one! I mean, the peas
on that plate were canned peas! If you have to pay twelve dollars for
canned peas, you've got problems, man! A little ol' helping of French
fries, a little old helping of this, a little ol' fillet mignon about
that big around, man--fifteen bucks! That's a sin! That's a sin, man! I
just sat up there and thought about Church's Fried Chicken all the time
I was eating. I bowed my head and said, "Lord, I ask you to bless this
mess. I want to have you know, Lord, I'm doing it for you. I sure
wouldn't do it for myself!"

   All right, love God with all your heart, with all your soul, with
all your strength--and with all your mind. Have you ever tried to put
that into practice--love God with all your mind? If you love somebody,
you're going to think about him. The Bible says about the wicked, God
is not in all his thoughts. Do you think about God? Do you worship your
mind instead of God? That's what these fellows say who are atheists.
They're not atheists; they have a god; their god is their own brain.
That's their problem. Making a god out of education. That's what
Americans do. They make a god out of education. And then, because they
make it a god, they try to tear it down, like they tear down a false
god. Now, I wouldn't try to get you kids to drop out of school; and I
wouldn't tell you it is wrong to go to school; and I think you ought to
go to school to learn how to read and to learn how to write, and to
learn how to do something to make a living. I believe in all that kind
of thing. But you better not make a god out of that thing! You better
hadn't get a college education just to get a college education.

   You go downtown for a job, and you say, "I've got a college
education." You know what they'll say? They'll say, "What are you doing
down here then?"

   We've had them go down there--real smart boys go down there, and the
fellow says, "No, we don't want you."

   And they say, "Why not?"

   And he says, "Well, there are some fellows here who wouldn't want
you coming on. If you have a college degree, you might get their job
later." You never know what's coming around these days; you better
hadn't worship that mind and that brain.

   I have somewhere back in my files a detailed account of Herman
Kennedy. I can't quote everything that fellow belonged to, but Herman
Kennedy at 69 years old went down to a railroad track and parked his
car, and went out their and lay down on the track, and let that thing
run over him and kill him. Herman Kennedy was a colored man. And Herman
Kennedy had every degree and every honor I've ever heard of a man
having. He had a B.A. and an M.A. and a Ph.D. and honorary doctorates
and wrote magazine articles for scientific journals. He was president
of the American Psychological Association of Blankety-Blank Blank
Blank, and he was vice-president of the Association of Blankety- Blank
Blank, and a member of the Advancement of Science, and Who's Who in
America, and Who's Who's in College Educators, and Who's Who in
American Educators, and Phi Beta Kappa, and a position on this board,
and that board, and another board, and clinical research, and head
psychologist at such-and-such a university--all of that stuff! That
guy, at 69 years old, just got depressed and laid down on a track and
let a train kill him. He was a fool. His god couldn't deliver him; his
god couldn't keep him off the tracks. His god was education; "heady,
highminded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of god." The bigger
the belfry, the more room for the bats. That's the business.

   I think you ought to work. I don't believe you ought to flunk your
subjects; but don't you make a god out of education! It'll disappoint
you. I have a college education; you say, "You worry about it?" No, I
never worry about it. I might have two of them; if I do, O.K.; and if I
don't, O.K. It doesn't bother me a bit. I've had time to watch that
thing, and you'd better believe it, some of the biggest flops in this
world are college graduates. All this stuff. I'm not telling you to
quit studying. I mean, like the fellow said, "You students who spend
all your time watching TV, you're going to go down in history, and down
in geometry, and down in chemistry, and down in everything else." You
ought to work, but don't make a god of education. Don't make a god out
of your head.

   My text says, "If any man loves God, it is known of him."

   Well, how do you tell if a fellow loves God? Well, how do you tell
if anybody loves anybody? Well, number one, you think about them. If
you love somebody, you think about them. Do you ever think about God?
Does your mind dwell on Him? Do you ever get off alone some place and
just think awhile about how great He is, and how big He is, and how
good He's been to you, and how much He's done for you? Do you think
about God? Do you talk about God? Do you talk to God? Do you talk to
people you love? If you love somebody, don't you like to talk to them?
Do you talk to God? Do you spend time talking to Him? Do you set a time
aside to talk to Him? "If any man love God, it is known of him."

   Do you avoid His enemies? If you love somebody, you stay away from
their enemies. You steer clear of them. I do. If there's somebody I
think highly of, and they've got enemies, or somebody's after them, or
trying to make a liar out of them or mess them up, I steer clear of
them. I don't fool with them. If you love God, you'll avoid His enemies.

   If you love somebody, you'll love their friends. Do you love God's
friends? Do you give gifts to God? Do you know why you give gifts to
your children? Because you love them. Do you know why you give gifts to
your wife? Because you love her. Do you love God? What did you give
Him? (It's getting quieter here every minute. I can hear the air
conditioner running!) "Better get to preaching on heaven if you want
some Amens, preacher!"

   Do you feel free to talk things over with Him? If you love somebody,
you feel like they'll understand what you have to say. You'll level
with them. You can talk to God about anything, any time, any place,
anywhere--if you love Him. If you love Him and believe He loves you, no
holds are barred. No doubletalk. You can lay it on the line. Do you
rejoice in His success? When God gets a victory, does it make you
happy? If you love somebody, you like to see them succeed, don't you?
"If any man love God, it is known of him."

   I can't tell you how you know; it's like how you know anything. It
isn't just always an act. Some of the biggest givers who have ever
given don't love love. Some of the people who talk the longest and the
loudest about love don't love God. I can't tell you how you can know
for sure, I just know when it's there, it's there.

   One time over there in Korea, a fellow was making some pictures of
tourists. He was photographing a field, and he noticed something
peculiar. He went down to the field and walked across it, and found an
old man out there with a plow. And the plow was hitched up to his son.
The fellow was about 50 years old, and his son was about 30, pulling
the plow. He photographed them.

   A little while later, he was showing it different places around
Korea, and he happened to show it to a missionary over on the other
side of the mountain. And the missionary took one look at it and said,
"Yeah, I know that fellow. I know his son."

   And the tourist said, "I thought it was a very unusual picture. I
thought I would take it back to the States, you know, to show how
backward these people are here, and how primitive they are in the way
they do things."

   And the missionary said, "I know that fellow real well. That fellow
and his son didn't have any money to contribute to our church building
which we're building. He didn't have any grain that he could sell. So
they sold their oxen, and gave that money to the church. So now they
take turns plowing themselves. One pulls the plow, and the other one
pulls the plow."

   If I met that fellow, I wouldn't have to ask him if he was Baptist,
Methodist, or Presbyterian. If I met that fellow, I wouldn't ask him if
he believed in pretribulation rapture, postribulation rapture, or
premillennial. If I met that fellow, I'd know one thing about him,
without asking ONE QUESTION. I'd know that fellow loved God. "If any
man love God, it is known of him."

   It's difficult to believe evil about somebody you love. They say
true love is blind. Well, if you were to love somebody, it's hard to
believe evil about him. You get an evil report? You don't believe it.
People tell me there are contradictions in the Bible. I don't believe
it. They say the Bible is untrustworthy. Oh, go peddle your papers! You
say, "Why?" Because Somebody I love wrote the Book. I have no
confidence in them at all. They couldn't convince me that thing has
corruptions in it. I don't believe it! If you love God, it's difficult
to believe anything bad about Him.

   If you love somebody, you overlook their faults. You say, "Well, I
thought you said God was pure and holy and sinless and perfect." Yeah,
but sometimes it seems like He's not. Oh, come on, you pious folks,
hasn't God made a few mistakes in your life? Come on now, level with
me! Hasn't God done a couple of things that you thought shouldn't have
been done? And hasn't God failed to do a couple of things that He maybe
should have done? Yeah, yeah, don't give me this pious stuff. You know
why some of you folks don't understand that language? Because you're
not in fellowship with God! When you're in fellowship with somebody,
you're close to them; you know their faults.

   You say, "Do you find fault with God?" Well, from our standpoint it
looks that way sometimes. But if you love somebody, or if you love God
like you should, you know what you'd be inclined to say? You'd be
inclined to say, "Well, it looks to me like it's a mistake. But He's
got more sense than I've got, and He's got more wisdom than I've got,
so if I can't forget it, I'll just have to overlook it." Amen, amen.

   A fellow said to Dr. Walter Wilson one time, "Dr. Walter Wilson,
we'd like to have you come to our New Year's Eve party and celebrate."

   Wilson was a Christian; he said, "Well, that's fine. I'd love to
come. Can I bring a friend with me?"

   And they said, "Sure. Who's that?"

   He said, "Jesus Christ."

   And the guy turned red in the face and said, "Well...uh...I don't
think He'd really enjoy this kind of a party."

   And Wilson said, "Well, I don't think I would either, then."

   That's it! "If any man love God, it's known of him."

   I knew Thee not, Thou wounded Son of God,

   Till I with Thee the path of suffering trod,

   Till in the valley through the gloom of night,

   I walked with Thee and turned to Thee for light.

   I did not know the mystery of love,

   The love that doth the fruitless branch remove,

   The love that spares not even the fruitful tree,

   But prunes that it may yet more fruitful be.

   I did not know the meaning of the cross.

   I counted it but bitterness and loss.

   Till in thy gracious discipline of pain

   I found the lost; I dreaded purest gain

   Shall I cry in the darkest day,

   "Lord of all mercy, take my cross away"?

   Nay, in the cross I saw Thy open face,

   And found therein the fullness of Thy grace.

   Do you know what that is? That's a fellow who figured God probably
made a mistake, and then decided that He hadn't. Do you know why?
Because he loved Him. "And if any man love God, it is known of him."

   Now, Lord, we pray this congregation might be filled with people who
love thee. We pray this church always might be packed out with people
who do love thee and put thee first. And, Lord, we pray that the pagan
idols, and the idols of this age, and of this generation, and of this
world system in which we live, would never gain the upper hand on us,
and get the ground on us in our own thinking. And God forbid we should
cry and whine, Lord, under your hand, Lord, when you deal us blows we
have coming, and blows we need. And God forgive us for being so soft
and sensitive, Lord, and touchy, in your dealings with us. Help us,
Lord, to appreciate thee more and more as the years go by. As the years
go by, help us to grow more in grace, and love me than in times past.
Help us be able to take your dealing with a better spirit than we have
in times past. And remember, Lord, your chastening hand upon others. It
has been much harder than it has been on us--how much they have to put
up with, and how much grace they need, and how much we should love
thee, Father, for being careful and merciful and tender to us, knowing
our weakness, Lord. Help us, God, we pray.

   Let us meet in prayer awhile. I don't know whether we'll stand and
sing this morning or not. If you want to come to the altar for a season
of prayer, you feel free to come. If you don't, just do your praying
right there in your seat.

   If you're unsaved here this morning, let me say a few words to you
before we go. While we're in prayer, just a few words to you, here this
morning if you're unsaved. I'm going to say something you're not going
to like. I'm going to make an accusation against you, and I'm not going
to worry about giving account to God for it. I'm going to say it--and
I'm going to mean it. If you are here this morning, and you've never
been saved or born again, you don't love God. Don't you sit back there
with your head bowed and your eyes closed and fool yourself about your
religious malarchy. If you love God, you would accept His Son. And
don't tell me you haven't accepted His Son, but you love God. You don't
love God! You may be a fine fellow to your neighbors and your friends
and your family. But don't tell me you love God and you'll not trust
His Son. He sent His Son on the cross to die for you and shed His blood
for you; the least you could do to show your appreciation is trust Him
as your Saviour. That's the least you could do. You don't love Him. You
talk about "God is love"; you don't know what love is. "Herein is love,
not that we loved God, but that He loved us, and gave His Son for the
propitiation for our sins."

   Before we close, if you're a Christian here this morning, you've
trusted Christ as your Saviour. I hope the prayer of your heart is,

   More love to Thee, O Christ, more love to Thee.

   Hear now the prayer I make on bended knee.

   This all my prayers shall be,

   More love to thee.

   You know why we don't have more power than we have? We're not close
enough. You know why we're not close enough? We're not whole enough.
You know why we're not whole enough? We've got too much in our lives we
need to get rid of. You know why we're not rid of it? Because God knows
that if He dealt us a blow like He should, it break our back. We
wouldn't take it in the right spirit. Some of us would get bitter; we'd
get mad with God. We'd lose the ground we've gained. Our problem is
love. Every problem in a local church is love. If you loved the
brethren like you're supposed to, you wouldn't roast them, and cut them
down all the time--make fun of them, joke about them. Once in a while,
yes. That's true once in a while--it's all right. But if you keep at it
year in and year out, it'll eat you like a cancer.

   Do you know why Christians don't give like they should? They don't
love like they should. You know why Christians don't witness and pass
out tracts? They don't love God like they should; it's a love problem.
Every problem in the local church is a love problem. You're to love God
with all your heart and all your soul and all your strength and all
your mind. This is the first and great commandment.

   More than your wife. More than your sons. More than your daughters.
More than your mother. More than your father. More than your job. More
than your school. More than your church. More than your own health.
More than your own soul. Oh, brethren, we've got a long way to go.

   Before we close today, is there an unsaved person anywhere in the
building who will raise your hand and say, "Preacher, remember me in
the closing word of prayer. I'm not a Christian. I need prayer"--would
you raise your hand? Anywhere in the building?

   Lord, we pray especially this morning for these who raised their
hands. We pray, Father, that you might speak to their hearts now about
salvation. May they trust your Son as their Saviour. You know they can
do it right there where they're sitting, with their eyes closed. All
they have to do is call upon your Name and ask for salvation, and
you'll give it. You'll grant it. I pray you might give them the grace
to put their faith in the finished work of the Lord Jesus Christ, and
trust Him as their own Saviour, and love Him, because He's worthy of
love. He deserves our love. He has earned our love. He's worthy of
love--not just worthy of wisdom and power and honor and glory, but
worthy of love. An object of love. Someone to be desired, to be wanted
and be close to. To be cherished. To serve and obey. God help us. Lord,
bless these Christians who came this morning. Do something in their
lives that will enable them to go deeper in their life with thee, to
grow in grace and become more mature and love thee more. God forgive us
for failing to love thee like we should. We confess these things and
ask these blessings, and ask for the petitions of these souls, in the
Name of the One who loved us and died for us, the Lord Jesus Christ,
Amen.

   The Lord bless you. That's all, folks. We're not going to have an
invitation this morning. We'll dismiss you and let you think these
things over.
