Build Intimacy Through Biblical Love

To begin our time together this evening, I want you to turn with me to the book of 2nd Timothy, 2nd Timothy chapter 3.

And Paul gives us a description of the last days. And the last days began with Jesus' first coming and they end with Jesus' second coming.

Those are the last days. So we are in the last days. And so he wants to give Timothy a picture of the last days. So that Timothy is well aware of what's happening, not just in his church, but in his community where he lives. And so this is what he says. Realize this, but realize this, that in the last days, chapter 3 verse number 1, difficult times, grievous times will come. And the word for difficult is the same word used of the man in Mark chapter 5 who was demon possessed. So it helps add to the word difficult to help you understand that it's a demonized world in which we live.

So Paul says in the last days, the world is going to be like Satan's graveyard. That's what it's going to be like. And this is how he describes it. Men will be lovers of self, lovers of money. Men will be self-centered and self-indulgent. That's characteristic of our day. We understand that. We get that. That in the last days, men will become more and more self-centered and more and more self-indulgent. Not only that, he says, they'll be boastful, arrogant, revilers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy, unloving.

And the word unloving means without natural affection. In other words, the reason children are disobedient to their parents is because they are without a natural affection toward their parents. And so Paul helps Timothy understand that in the last days, the answer to why there is rebellion in the home, the answer to why there is so much disruption in the home, the answer as to why families are falling apart and there is a suicide rate that will only increase, not decrease, is simply because of the characteristic of the last days.

And the only thing, the only thing that will solve that is the Lord Jesus Christ. No amount of therapy sessions, no amount of psychological counseling sessions is going to change that. No amount of money is going to change that. The only thing that's going to change it is the Lord. And that's why last week we began this study looking at what are the practical precepts for building a biblical marriage with the letter A, which means simply to acknowledge Christ as Lord of your life. That's where it begins.

It begins there because there is no solution to your marital difficulty. There is no solution to your family problems outside the Lord. Only the Lord can do this. The Lord created marriage. The Lord created family. It was His design from the very beginning. He's given us one book, one manual, one opportunity to understand what is the solution to that, and it comes through Jesus Christ our Lord. And when you acknowledge Jesus Christ as Lord of your life, you listen to what He says. Not only do you listen to what He says, you learn all about Him because you're listening to Him.

And as you learn about Him, the more you're going to long for Him, the more you're going to look to Him, the more you're going to want to live for Him, the more you're going to love Him. And the more you love Him, the more you're going to listen to Him again, and the more you're going to learn from Him again. It's a cycle. That's only for those who acknowledge Jesus Christ as Lord of their life. If you've done that, and you understand that Jesus Christ rules and reigns as the sovereign ruler of the universe, of your life, your marriage, that without Him there is no marriage, without Him there is no family, without Him there is no life, then you submit yourself to that Lordship, and you listen and learn from Him, you long and you look to Him, and you live and you love Him.

Which leads us to point number two, which if you're following along and your A to Z outline is B. And that simply is this, you want to build intimacy through biblical love. You can't do this unless you acknowledge Christ as Lord. Once you do, you want to begin to build intimacy in your marriage. And you do it only through biblical love. Now the Bible says in Ephesians 5, verse number 26, that husbands are to love their wives.

Right? It's a command. But isn't it interesting that we don't find a command for wives to love their husbands in the scriptures. But we do find in the book of Titus, the second chapter, that older women are to teach younger women to love their husbands and to love their children.

So older women in the church, more mature women, are to be engaged in helping younger women love their husbands and love their children. So pray tell, why would older women need to counsel younger women to love their husbands? Or better yet, to love their children. Don't you already love your children? Don't you already love your husband? But think about it for a minute. Older women teach younger women how to truly love their husbands. How to really truly desire their husbands. Because there are times they don't.

And for their children, I don't know a woman alive who wouldn't say that they didn't love their children. They would say, yes, I love my children. But do you discipline your children? Because the mark of true love is discipline, right? Hebrews chapter 12, book of Revelations, second chapter, all those I love I rebuke and chasten, the Lord says.

And so we know that discipline is a hallmark of love. So you're teaching your younger women to desire their husbands and discipline their children. You're teaching the younger women to adore their husbands and to admonish their children. To help them understand the essence of true biblical love. So the Bible says in 1 Corinthians 14, verse number 1, these words.

Pursue love. Pursue love. The word pursue is a hunting term. You ever been hunting? You track something down. You chase after something. You go after it. It's a word of intensity. If you're a hunter, you track down your prey with great intensity. So the Bible says that our love for others needs to be intense.

You need to hunt it down. The problem with us is that we want someone to pursue us to love us. Instead of us pursuing them to love them. Everybody wants to be pursued. Everybody wants to be loved. But to understand that we as believers are to be engaged in a hunting expedition when it comes to love. Years ago, nothing recently. Years ago, I was sitting in my office talking to two people. They were going through marital difficulties. And I was trying to encourage the wife to pursue loving her husband.

And she says, I can't do that. I said, you can't or you won't? She says, I can't do that. I said, well, you can. But you've chosen not to. No, no, no. You don't know him. I'm not going to pursue loving my husband. I wanted to pursue loving me. That's why we're here. We're in a counseling session because he's not loving me. I said, but yeah, I'm not talking to him. I'm talking to you. And the Bible says to pursue love.

She says, I cannot do that. I said, so we're in a little bit of a dilemma here. Because if you can't do that, you're telling me that you don't know Christ. She says, how can you tell me I don't know Christ? I said, well, because the Bible says in Galatians chapter 5 that the fruit of the spirit is love.

In other words, the byproduct of the spirit in you is a demonstration of your love for your fellow man. So either you're not walking in the spirit or you don't know the Lord to have the spirit within you to produce love towards your husband. Or, better yet, the Bible says in Romans chapter 5, verse number 5, that the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts.

That means it's all over the place. There's not a place in your heart where the love of God is not. So if it's shed abroad all over in your heart, the natural byproduct of that is to have it overflow toward others. So if you know the Lord, the love of God is already shed abroad in your heart. It just must spill over as you pursue to love your husband. She got up, slammed her Bible shut, and says, I'm done. I'm not doing that. And she got up and walked out. Husband looked at me and he goes, see? I told you that's the way she was.

I said, hey, the command's the same for you. You've got to pursue love. I said, you've got to go. And you've got to go track her down. And you must learn to love your wife as Christ loved the church. The only way to build intimacy is through biblical love. There's no other way. And so the Bible says this.

Remember, you must understand that love is not a reward. It's a responsibility. We want to be loved. That's a reward. Everybody wants to be loved. Nobody wants to be unloved. And if you are, that's a reward. But love is not a reward. Love is a responsibility. A responsibility that God has given to me to show others, in this case marriage, my love toward my husband, a love toward my wife. So the Bible says, Colossians 3.14, put on love.

Philippians 1.9, abound in love. Hebrews 13.1, continue in love. 1 Thessalonians 3.12, increase in love. 1 Peter 4.8, be fervent in love. Philippians 2.2, be consistent in love. Hebrews 10.24, provoke others to love. 1 Corinthians 16.14, let all you do be done in love. 1 Timothy 1.5, love out of a pure heart. Romans 13.8-10, oh no man, anything but love. All commands. The great thing about that is that God never commands you to do something by which He doesn't provide you the resources to accomplish it.

God's not going to say, well, you know what, this is what you've got to do. I hope you can do it. Not sure you can. Good luck. It's not the way it works. God says, I'm going to command you to do something and I'm going to give you the resources to pull it off.

If I command you to abound in love, to be fervent in your love, to pursue love, to oh no man, anything but love, you can be assured of this, that my love for you is going to be shed all abroad in your heart and that I'm going to give you my spirit and the fruit of that spirit is to love. I'll give you all the resources you need. Because you see, love is not about whether or not I feel like loving you or not. It's just a matter of obedience. That's all it is. It comes down to saying, yes, Lord, I will obey, or yes, Lord, I will not obey.

It's not a reward. It is a responsibility. And the question comes, will you fulfill your responsibility? Now wives, I know you want me to talk to your husbands. And I am. And husbands, I know you want me to talk to your wives. And I am. I'm talking to all of us. And so we need to understand that we're all in the same boat together. We're all part of the same assembly. We're all growing together. And part of that growth is to understand my responsibility in this relationship. It's to pursue love. Hunt it down.

Go after it. Track it. With great intensity. Now how are you going to do that? I'm going to give you six principles. Okay, six. Real biblical love demands a personal knowledge of God. Real biblical love demands a personal knowledge of God. In other words, if you're going to love biblically, I'm not talking about eros, the erotic kind of love, the romantic kind of love, a word, by the way, a Greek word that's not used in the scriptures. I'm not talking about storge, which is a family kind of love, a natural affection, a natural emotion that we have for one another.

We have that within our families, right? We love our children. Our children love us, right? We have this natural affinity with our family. That's called storge. I'm not even talking about phileo, which is a friendship kind of love. I'm talking about agape kind of love, God's kind of love that characterizes him. It only comes because I have a personal knowledge of who God is. If you've got your Bible, 1 John chapter 4. 1 John chapter 4, verse 7. Beloved, let us love one another. For love is from God, and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God.

The one who does not love does not know God. See that? The one who does not love with God's kind of love does not know God. He says, the one who does not love does not know God, for God is love. By this, the love of God was manifested in us, that God has sent his only begotten son into the world, so that we might live through him. And this is love, not that we love 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.

You see, biblical love demands a personal knowledge of the living God, because God is love. And if God is love, the way to love God's way is to know God. That's why the unbeliever can't do this, because he doesn't have the Spirit of God within him to produce the fruit of the Spirit, and the love of God is not shed upon his heart. But for you as a believer, those who acknowledge Christ as Lord, then the opportunity to do that is ever-present, because of God's great work in your life. The Bible says in 1 Thessalonians 2, 1 Thessalonians 2, verse number 2, Paul says, We give thanks to God always for all of you, making mention of you in our prayers, constantly bearing in mind your work of faith and your labor of love.

In other words, your work that's produced because of your love. In other words, the reason you're able to labor or to work for God is because you love God. It's a by-product of your relationship with the living God. So over in 2 Corinthians chapter 5, Paul says, verse number 14, Paul says, I'm doing what I'm doing because of the love of Christ. It compels me, it moves me, it motivates me, it stimulates me. There's only one reason I'm doing this. It's because I am compelled to do so. And the reason I'm compelled to do so is because of the love of Christ.

Having concluded this, that one died for all, therefore all died, and he died for all so that they who live might no longer live for themselves, but for him who died and rose again on their behalf. So the love of Christ compels me in such a way that no longer do I want to live for myself, by the way, which is characteristic of the end times, 2 Timothy chapter 3, that men will be lovers of themselves. The reason we're born again is because we no longer love ourselves, but we live and love the one who died for us.

The love of Christ compels me to do that. But Paul had a great working knowledge of Christ. He knew the Lord. And therefore the more he knew him, the more he understood the love of God, therefore he was able to demonstrate that love toward others. Way back in the book of Hosea, Hosea chapter 4, God says this to Israel, Listen to the word of the Lord, O sons of Israel, for the Lord has a case against the inhabitants of the land, because there is no faithfulness or kindness or knowledge of God in the land.

There is swearing, deception, murder, stealing, adultery. They employ violence, that bloodshed follows bloodshed. Therefore the land mourns, and everyone who lives in it languishes. Why? Verse 6, my people are destroyed for lack of knowledge, because they have rejected knowledge. I also will reject you from being my priest, since you have forgotten the law of your God. I also will forget you, or forget your children. The simple fact is, the reason things exist the way they are, is because you just don't know me.

But if you knew me, the violence, the deception, the murders, would not be happening, but you don't know me. That's why he says in chapter 6, verse number 6, For I delight in loyalty rather than sacrifice, and in the knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings. I just want you to know me. That's it. Just know me, because if you know me, what's going to happen is that you're going to portray me. You're going to live me. And I want you to live in me toward others, so they can see this. So true, genuine, biblical love demands a personal knowledge of the living God.

So listen, the problem in your marriage is not that your husband doesn't love you the way you want to, or that your wife doesn't love you the way you want to be loved. The problem in your marriage is your lack of knowing who God is. That's the problem. Knowing Christ, knowing the Lord, because once you know Him, you're consumed with Him. Once you're consumed with Him, the outflow of that is to love those closest to you. See that? It demands a personal knowledge of God. You must know the Christ. You must come to understand the Christ.

You must be consumed with the Christ. Because once you're consumed with the Christ, you don't want to be consumed with your husband, or your wife, or your children. You're just consumed with representing Christ to your wife, your husband, or your children. See that? So true, genuine, biblical love demands a personal knowledge of God. Number two, true, biblical love is demonstrated by what it does.

It's demonstrated by what it does. In other words, love is always more visible than vocal. Love, genuine, biblical love, is more visible than vocal. It's nice to say, I love you. But if I tell you I love you, and then act directly the opposite of that, my words mean nothing. So Christ never told Israel they love them to Deuteronomy chapter 7. Think about that. Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers. God never said, I love you guys, man. I am so in love with you. He never said that. But He demonstrated His love towards Israel.

He ransomed them. He saved them. He took them out of Egypt. He walked them through the wilderness. He spared their lives. He bestowed grace upon them. And then when you come to Deuteronomy 7, He says, you want to know why I do this? Only reason, I love you. That's why. So He spent all that time demonstrating His love, because love is demonstrative. Love is always more visible than it is vocal. 1 John 3 says in verse number 16, We know love by this, that He lay down His life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren.

But whoever has the world's goods and sees his brother in need and closes his heart against him, how does the love of God abide in him? Little children, let us not love with word or with tongue, but in deed and truth. We will know by this that we are of the truth and will assure our heart before Him. Let us not love in word or tongue, but in deed and in truth, because our love is to be visible. So how do we show true love? Turn with me to 1 Corinthians 13.

And you're going to say, oh yeah, the love chapter. I know all about the love chapter. Yeah, well, we'll see. 1 Corinthians 13. In 1 Corinthians 13, by the way, the Bible never defines the God they love. It doesn't really define it. All it does is describe it. In fact, it's beyond definition, but it's seen by its description. And so there's this demonstration of God's love. And so the love of God is stated in two positives, eight negatives. But notice in 1 Corinthians 13, verse number 4, the word love only appears twice in that paragraph.

And your text doesn't have it, but in the original text, the definite article appears before the word love. So it says, the love is patient, and the love is kind. What is the love? It's a particular kind of love. Well, what kind of love is that? It's God's love. God's love is patient, and God's love is kind. So you have the two positives. Because that's how God demonstrated His love toward you and me. God's love is macrothymia, that is long-suffering. It's a word that deals with people. God is not, or doesn't have to be long-suffering with circumstances.

That's hupomone. That's a different word. God's not long-suffering with circumstances because God creates circumstances. Right? That's His providence in your life and mind. God is the creator of all things. So He creates situations. He creates circumstances. He doesn't have to be long-suffering with them because He's in charge of them. But He is long-suffering with people. I mean, think of the days of Noah. He waited 120 years before the flood actually came. He told Noah it was coming. He told Noah to build a boat.

It took Him 120 years to do it. And Noah was a preacher of righteousness. But God's patience was seen for 120 years even though He said, I'm going to destroy everybody on the planet. He waited 120 years before He did so because God is very patient, very long-suffering. In fact, God is long-suffering, 2 Peter 3, 9, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance. That's the way God is. The love is patient. And the love is kind. Kind. Good. In fact, the Bible says in Nahum 1, verse number 7, the Lord is kind.

In Matthew 11, 28, the word for easy is the word kind because the Lord says, Come unto Me, all you that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you. Learn from Me, for I am meek, gentle, and My load is easy. It's kind. So, love is demonstrated by what it does. And what does it do? It's long-suffering. It's long-fused. You know anybody who's got a short fuse? You're not sitting next to, by the way? Most people have short fuses. They blow up quickly. The love is long-fused.

It's got lots of patience. And all the while, it's long-fused, it's bestowing kindness toward the one he or she is long-fused with. That's the love of God. I am long-fused with you. I'm putting up with a lot of things that you're doing. I'm putting up with a lot of situations you've placed us in. I'm going to bear up under these situations with you, because of you, and all the while, I'm going to keep bestowing acts of kindness toward you because that is the love of God. That's pursuing love. That's my responsibility.

My responsibility, because love is not a reward, it's a responsibility, my responsibility is to be long-fused, and while I'm long-fused, I'm going to bestow acts of kindness toward you because Romans 12 says, I just heat burning coals upon your head, which cause shame toward you. It's not that my goal is to shame you. My goal is to love you. And in loving you as Christ loves you, you'll be shamed, because I'm not returning evil for evil. I'm returning good for evil. I'm returning kindness for evil, because that's the love of God.

So when you read 1 Corinthians 13, note that the word love is only used with two different words, and a different article is there describing to you the particular kind of love that represents God himself. If we had time, we could go through the Old Testament and the New Testament, explaining to you how it is God is such a great, patient God, and so kind. In fact, Romans 2.4 says, it's the kindness of God that leads you to repentance. Isn't that interesting? Did you ever think, ladies, that the kindness you bestow towards your husband will lead him toward repentance?

We want them to repent. We want them to turn around so we can nag them. We can remind them. We can yell at them. We can scream at them. We can even throw pots and pans at them. But that's not bestowing kindness. It is the kindness of God you don't treat lightly, Romans 2.4, his patience, his tolerance, nor the kindness of God because it's that kindness that leads us to repentance. That should mark our homes. Long fuses. All the while, bestowing acts of kindness toward those unto pursue love with.

So, love demands a personal knowledge of God that's demonstrated by what it does. Oh, by the way, Paul says, Ephesians 5, verse number 2, be imitators of God and walk in love. Walk in love just as Christ loved you and gave himself up for us an offering and a sacrifice to God as a fragrant aroma, an aroma that was well-pleasing to the nostrils of God because he gave himself away by showing how patient and kind he was. We're to walk in that kind of love. Do you do that? That's a challenge for every one of us in the room because a lot of us love to fly off at the handle.

And a lot of us don't want to bestow acts of kindness, but we just want to get back or get ahead, probably get ahead more than get back because we keep accounts. More about that in a moment. So, true biblical love demands a personal knowledge of God. It's demonstrated by what it does. And number 3, it's described by its ability to keep on giving. It's described by its ability to keep on giving. It just keeps on giving. That's why the love of God is kind because the acts of kindness just keep coming all the while I'm being long-suffering with you through difficult times.

Very important to understand that. So the Bible says in 1 John 3, verse number 16, these words, 1 John 3, 16, We know, love by this, that he laid down his life for us and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren.

Love is patient. Love is kind. That's why Paul says in Acts 20, 35, Remember the words of our Lord Jesus when he said, It is more blessed to give than it is to receive. What a statement. It's more blessed to give than to receive. Most of us can quote it, just none of us want to live it because we want to receive. We want somebody pursuing me. We want somebody sacrificing for me. We want somebody giving their life away for me. But the characteristic of the end times is people that are self-centered and self-indulgent.

Just remember that. And so we have to ask ourselves, Am I that way? Or am I the kind of person that wants to pursue love by keeping on in the giving process? So many times, we just don't understand that true blessing only comes when I give myself away. It never comes in what others give to me. Although, you're blessed. But the long-lasting blessing always comes when you give yourself away. We just fight against that, don't we? We just don't want to do that. Everything in us wells up so large that says, I am not doing this any longer.

I am done. I'm walking out. But true biblical love just is described by its ability just to keep on giving. And the only way you can do that is because our Lord just kept giving His life. Just kept giving toward those who were in need. That's what He did. Because He gave Himself as a sacrifice that was well-pleasing to His Father in glory. Number four. True, genuine, biblical love is developed by obedience to God. Say, I want to keep on giving. I really do. I really want to be patient and kind. I really do.

But I'm not. So how do I get there? It's only developed by obedience to God. There is no other way. It's just developed one way and one way only It's saying, Lord, I will do what You command. I will pursue love. I will abound in love. I will be fervent in love. I will owe no man anything but love. I will be the kind of person You've commanded me to be. It's a choice that You make. And therefore, true biblical love is always developed by obedience to God. 1 John 2. Verse number four. The one who says, I have come to know Him and does not keep His commandments is a liar.

That's what it says. And the truth is not in him. But whoever keeps His word, in him the love of God has truly been perfected. Wow! Read it again. Whoever keeps His word, whoever is obedient to God, in him the love of God has truly been perfected. 1 John 5. Verse number three.

It says, For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments, and His commandments are not burdensome. He has to throw that in there because someone's going to say, I just can't keep the commandments. I just can't keep on keeping the commandments because they're so hard. So he says, but they're not burdensome. They don't weigh you down. Why? It's more blessed to give than it is to receive. If you obey the Lord of God, you prove yourself not to be a liar but a true disciple of the Lord and therefore the love of God that is perfected in you as you reach out and pursue true, genuine, biblical love.

That's how it works. Only developed by obedience to God. It's not developed because someone loves you. Well, someone loves me therefore I can love them in return. I'll get better at it. No. It doesn't work that way. It works only God's way. And that is simply obeying the commands of God. And the command is that you keep His Word. That you're obedient to His Word. That's the bottom line. The bottom line in your marital difficulty is that I just don't want to do what God says.

And that's why we come to the next point which says that true, biblical love is deterred by sin in my life. If it demands a personal knowledge of God and demonstrated by what it does and described by its ability to keep on giving and it's developed by obedience to God it is deterred by sin in my life. Listen, your inability to pursue love has nothing to do with your spouse or your children's obedience. It has only one thing and that is your own sin. That's what deters you. Maybe it's stubbornness.

That's a sin. We just don't want to do what God says so we stubbornly disobey. Maybe it's simply selfishness. Selfishness is a sin. And my own selfishness, wanting my own needs met in my own way hinders me from pursuing love therefore my pursuit of love is deterred by sin in my life. How about lawlessness? Not keeping the commands of God. How about lustfulness? Or how about this? Greediness. Love never seeks its own 1 Corinthians 13 verse 5. Love never seeks its own what? Its own welfare. That's one of the eight negatives that are listed in 1 Corinthians 13.

Love never seeks its own. In other words, it never seeks to benefit itself. So in your relationship, if you are doing what you do to benefit you, that's not love. That's manipulation. That's trying to control your partner to respond to you. That's not true biblical love. Biblical love does what it does whether there's a response or not simply because it doesn't want to be deterred. But sin does deter love in your life. Let me illustrate this to you by looking at things that you might not think of as sin but really lead to sin.

Turn back with me if you would to 2 Samuel 11 with David and Bathsheba. How many wives did David have in 2 Samuel chapter 11? Anybody know? How many wives did David have in 2 Samuel 11? Eight. He had six. Six wives. They're all listed in 2 Samuel chapter 3. Six wives. You see, that's not enough. Because when you have six, you get a little greedy for more, right? So greediness leads, deters my ability to love as God wants me to love. So it says in 2 Samuel 11, then it happened in the spring at that time when kings go out to battle that David sent Joab and his servants with him and all Israel and they destroyed the sons of Ammon and besieged Raba.

But David stayed at Jerusalem. Wait a minute, this is the season when kings go out to war. David's a king. David says, no, I don't want to go to war. Why? Because laziness is sin. And laziness always leads to idleness. So David wasn't doing anything. And idleness always leads to carelessness. And David was careless. Verse 2. Now when evening came, David arose from his bed and walked around on the roof of the king's house. From the roof he saw a woman bathing. And the woman was very beautiful in appearance.

You see, when you're lazy, you become idle. And laziness leads to idleness and idleness leads to carelessness and carelessness leads to lustfulness. So David sent and inquired about the woman. Lustfulness leads to foolishness. Right? David sent to inquire about the woman. He had six. Does he really need another one? And one said, Is this not Bathsheba, the daughter of Elam, the wife of Uriah, the Hittite? David sent messengers and took her. And she came to him and he lay with her. Laziness leads to idleness.

Idleness will lead to carelessness. Carelessness will lead to lustfulness. Lustfulness leads to foolishness. Foolishness leads to stubbornness. And stubbornness leads to fearlessness. I don't care whose wife she is. Go get her. I'm the king. And fearlessness leads to lawlessness. Lawlessness leads to covetousness. And covetousness leads to shamelessness. And shamelessness leads to deceitfulness. And thus David broke all ten commandments in his escapade with Bathsheba. Simply because one day he chose not to go to war.

Bad choice. The decision you make today will affect you tomorrow. Whatever decision you're going to make today, the repercussions are tomorrow and the next day. Make wise choices today so tomorrow you reap the benefits of wisdom. Make bad choices today and you'll reap the benefits and the consequences of bad choices. Whatever choice you make today, it will affect you tomorrow either good or bad. David made a bad choice and because he did, the sword never left his home and his effectiveness as a father was completely diminished for the rest of his life because of one choice on one night simply because he was lazy.

Laziness leads to idleness. And the domino effect is huge. But there was an opportunity to stop the domino effect because God always provides a route of escape, right? 1 Corinthians 10.13 What was the route of escape? It was, hey, wait a minute. She's married. She has a husband. His name is Uriah the Hittite. This was his route of escape where he said, hey, you're right. I can't do this. It goes against the law of God. It goes against everything that I stand for as king. God gave him a route of escape.

He didn't take it. Stubbornness, fearlessness led to shamelessness, deceitfulness. It's a sad downfall. But you see, sin always deters love, true, genuine, biblical love in my life. There is no sin too small that doesn't make a difference. All sin matters. Christ died for your sins. He paid the price because we're sinners. We engage in sin, it deters our love for those we are to pursue love with. Gotta hurry. True, genuine love is devoted so as to withstand all kinds of pressure. Deeply devoted so as to withstand all kinds of pressure.

Song of Solomon chapter 8, something we'll discuss later on, says this, Put me like a seal over your heart, like a seal on your arm, for love is as strong as death. Wow. Jealousy is as severe as Sheol. Its flashes are flashes of fire, the very flame of the Lord. Many waters cannot quench love, nor will rivers overflow it. If a man were to give all the riches of his house for love, it would be utterly despised. Solomon's wife describes her deep devotion to her husband because true, genuine love is deeply devoted no matter how severe the pressure.

And she had pressure because she had to compete with 700 other wives or 699 other wives. That's pressure. Oh, by the way, just remember, pressure is pleasure. So, the stronger the pressure, the sweeter the pleasure. You must understand that in order to understand how love is deeply devoted so as to withstand all kinds of pressure. That's why 1 Corinthians 13 says love never fails. What kind of love? This kind of love. The love that's patient. The love that's kind. The love that's not easily provoked.

The love that's not jealous. That love, it never fails. It bears the unbearable. It believes the unbelievable. It hopes when all things are hopeless. And it endures when nothing else can. Because the essence of true biblical love is endurance. It doesn't quit. It doesn't throw in the towel and say, I'm done. Genuine biblical love is deeply devoted so as to withstand pressure. And lastly, genuine biblical love is not dependent on a response in order to function. It is not dependent upon a response in order to function.

I don't need you to respond to me. Why? Because I'm pursuing you. I'm hunting you down. I'm tracking you down. I don't need you to respond to that. Because I'm pursuing you. God demonstrated His love toward us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us, Romans 5.8. That's what He did. He pursued us. He pursued love toward us. Love is an action verb. It demands a visible action that says, I'm pursuing you. I will constantly pursue you. No matter what you do, I will not stop pursuing you.

Why? Because this is my responsibility. It is not a reward. Once you understand that, you can be responsible. Why? Because God has given you the resources to make that happen. Granted, there are times it will not be easy. There will be difficult times. But listen, you never have to pray that God will help you love someone else. Because you don't have to pray for what God has already given. God has already given you love instead of brought in your heart. He already indwells you. He's the God of love.

He's given you the Spirit and the fruit of the Spirit is love. I don't have to pray to God that I might love you. I just have to act on what God has already done for me. I have to be obedient to His Word, obedient to His will, and follow through on what He does. And as difficult as that may be, and for some of you, it will be nearly impossible. But that's okay. God majors in the impossible. For He says, without me you can do what? Nothing. You can't do anything that's of any eternal value without me.

You can't. But if you have me, and I indwell you, and my Spirit indwells you, just pursue. Just track it down. Just do what you're told to do. The answer is, and people come back and say, but I don't feel like doing that. Of course you don't. Jesus never said, I really feel like going to the cross. I really feel like dying for these people. He was obedient unto death, even the death of a cross. Right? Philippians chapter 2. He was obedient to the call of God. He was obedient to the words of God. He was obedient to God Himself.

He was obedient to everything He had decided to do from eternity past. That's what He was going to do no matter what, no matter what it cost Him, no matter how painful it was. He was going to do it. Why? Because He's the essence of love. And we are to be imitators of God and walk in love. My prayer for you and for me is that God's grace will be evident as each and every one of us pursue love. Let's pray. Lord, thank You for tonight. The chance to be together in the Word of the Lord. You are great.

Thank You for what You've already done. Help us, Lord, to act upon it as obedient children to a loving Father. In Jesus' name. Amen.