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ABC Prayer Crusade

Glenn Coon

Path to the Heart

1-Jesus Only

2-Enamored With Jesus

3-Jesus Prepares You

4-Jesus, The Argument

5-Jesus, Not Condemnation

6-Witnessing for Jesus

7-Jesus Inspires Hope

8-Jesus Quickens Faith

9-Jesus Loves

10-Jesus the Magnet

Jesus loves. What is love? The Bible says, we love him because he first loved us. But what is this love? For many years I didn't understand exactly, perhaps in an anal, in a special psychological way, at least the love of Jesus as being humble of. And then I read in Philippians two, chapter five, let this mind be in You, which was also in Christ Jesus who is in the form of God. It wasn't robbery that he should be equal with God, but he made himself of no reputation. The Jesus who was God humbled himself, love that is not humble, is not love. Sometime ago, a man, his wife came to me and told me about a friend of theirs and I said, you, you should love him. They said, oh, we love him. We, we love him. I said, how about going up to him and placing your arms around him? And the man said me, put my arms around him. They thought they had love, but they didn't have humble love. They didn't have the love that Jesus had that made himself of no reputation. So love to be real. Love is humble Love. Love does not tower over another in the holier than thou attitude. Love does what the Bible says for love to do. One Peter two 17, honor all men love does what the Bible says to do. Philippians two, three, esteeming other better than ourselves. Love does what the Bible says to do in Titus three, two, speak evil of no man. Humble love is divine love. Humble love is kind love. In Jeremiah 31 verse three, it says, I have loved you with an everlasting love, therefore, with loving kindness, have I drawn you loving kindness. You might be interested to notice what Webster's dictionary has to say about the word kind. I was literally astonished when I first read the definition of the word kind. It said it's like a, a horse that is submissive, teachable, in a harness or with one on the saddle. So kindness is almost a shade of humble love. I'd never thought of it that way before with loving kindness. Have I drawn you? It's a love that is so sweet, so understanding it isn't a holier than thou love. Which reminds me, Mrs. Holier than thou came to see me one day and she went on to tell me how she couldn't get, get along with her teenage boy. And of course she pointed out his mistakes. Mr. Or Mrs. Holier than thou always pointed out the mistakes of others. Have you ever noticed it? Have you ever met them? They're quite a, a family. I wouldn't say they're a, a unique family for they have many relatives, but Mrs. Holier than thou knew the mistakes that other people make. It's astonishing. She knew the mistakes that her teenager made. I said, what would you think? Since you've come for counsel, what would you think of letting the mind of Jesus dwell in you? He made himself of no reputation That that text, if you'd go back to the original, it means he reduced himself. Mankind couldn't reduce Jesus. He'd already reduced himself, born in a stable cradle in a manger, barefooted, bareheaded Nazarene. He didn't worry about anybody reducing him. He didn't worry about anybody belittling him. He'd already reduced himself. And I said, what would you think of going back to your teenager and saying something like this? Honey, I've made a lot of mistakes. Will you forgive me for not being kind and sweet to you? And you know, the lady almost went into shock. She was like some others who said, if I should apologize to my teenager, my teenager would lose respect for me. I said, oh, no, no. The teenager already knows the mistakes that you make. He'd be awfully happy to know that you know it. Oh, is that it? Yes, that is humble love. Humble love is kind, but humble. Love is also courteous. The word courteous is only found once in all of the New Testament. First be Peter three 18. Be kind. Be courteous, be kind. Be courteous. Oh my friends, how courteous Christ was to the out and out center. Don't you thank the Lord for such courtesy as he bestowed on the seeking soul. You know, you and I can do the same everywhere we go. I've walked into Baptist churches, for instance, and you know what I usually find in a Baptist church? I find the same thing that I found in the church where I'm speaking today. I found people came and they were extremely courteous. As I walked into your sanctuary today, there were two or three people there, and I have never met more courteous people than I met in this sanctuary, just like a Baptist. And sometimes I say to people of my own church, I said, you know, you folks are just as happy and courteous as Baptists. That's a wonderful thing. They walk up to you, they shake your hand. I remember this man shook my hand. He flashed a broad smile into my face. And then with his left hand, he reached out and touched my elbow and gave it a pat. I said, I must be in a, in the seventh heaven of the Baptist church. Be kind, be courteous. Courtesy goes a long, long way. And we mustn't wait for somebody to be courteous to us. We must wait for somebody to welcome us. When I was assistant to a pastor in Washington DC many years ago, we went for a a visit to visit one of the members of his church family. As he rang the doorbell and she came the door. She said, pastor, I'm mad at you. And you could see a twinkle in her eyes. She wasn't really mad, but she wanted him to know that there were things, certain things that he needed to correct. She said, pastor, I'm mad at you. He was very quick witted and he, and he came back with this, I mad at you too. She said, you are? What are you mad at me for? For? He said, you tell me first. You brought it up first. She said, I mad at you because last Sabbath, you didn't shake my hand. He said, that's exactly the reason I mad at you. You didn't shake my hand. We must realize that many individuals who seem to be a little distant, they may be absent minded, their mind may be on something else. So don't wait for them. Walk right up and shake their hand and beam into their face In a church of which ours, pastor, many decades ago, I went to visit a couple of the members of my church family, and they were mad really? And they said, listen, you don't like us. I didn't know that they knew that. I said, I love you. They said, no, you don't love us. I said, what makes you? What makes you say that? They said, every time we come outta the church sanctuary and you shake your hand, our hands, you never look at us. I said, I don't. I thought I did. I thought I looked at them too much. I didn't tell 'em that. I said, I don't. They said, you look at somebody else and you know my friends of all things, everybody I was shaking hands with, I've always been in a hurry. I would shake hands with this person and look at the person next down the line when I shake hands with him, I'd look at the next person. I said, Lord, forgive me. How? How? How human we are. Aren't we friends? Look at a person right in the face. Smile. Shake their hand and don't wait for anybody to come and shake our hands. Let's be courteous. There's more soul winning in a courteous Christian than many people have. Any idea. The people equate God with God's professed children. And if we're kind and courteous, they assume that God loves them too. We love him because he first loved us. How courteous Jesus was to Judas. You ever stop to think how Jesus never exposed Judas Up until that very last night? And even then, the reason was so The disciples later would know that it hadn't taken him by surprise at all. So courteous. Whatever you're going to do now, you'll do quickly. Isn't that wonderful? How kind and courteous Jesus is. True love is tenderhearted. Ephesians 4 32. It tells us to be kind and tenderhearted to one another. To be tenderhearted means that we won't be afraid to apologize. I've told many congregations what I'd like to share with you again, at this hour, my father had eight boys, no girls. Can you imagine that what that would do to any man? Eight boys. And I'm not gonna tell you what his eight boys didn't do because there's very little that we didn't do. And there were times when we almost drove dad up the wall, But dad had a lot to do. He was a very poor man financially. He had prepared for the ministry, so he had no occupation. Finally, they gave him a ministerial license, but he, he refused it. He said, I'm afraid if I travel too much, I will. I will neglect my own family, so I'm gonna stay home. So he became a farmer. But not knowing too much about farming, not knowing much of anything about mechanics, and you have to be sort of a jack of all trades on a farm. Dad was really upset and he'd get upset at us boys, especially me. I never seemed to know just how to do what dad told me to do. And and dad would really get irritated. He didn't know how little I knew sometimes I was glad he didn't and he would get irritated. But every night when we had family worship, before we'd kneeling prayer, dad would apologize. And then mother would follow if she'd been irritated, and then would go right down the line from the eldest son to the youngest. And each time we'd say, will you forgive me? And all the rest of the course would say yes. The older boys, yes, I, yes. And you can blend those voices together. It was quite a chorus. But one night, only one night of all the years I was at home, father either forgot or or couldn't apologize, and he'd been rough on me that day. He knelt down and prayed, but dad hadn't been tenderhearted. And I equated dad's religion with dad. I went upstairs to bed in that little old farm house, turned toward the wall and I just sobbed. I never once in my life ever talked back to father, never once when he heard it. But now dad couldn't hear it, and I didn't imagine I had such a vocabulary. Great big words like hypocrite, that old hypocrite. He professes to be a Christian. He preaches in his church. You wait till I grow up, I'll have nothing to do with his religion, and I'd sob my heart out. Then I heard the little old latch to the stairway door move. I said, I bet the old hypocrite is coming up now. Sure enough, he was, but he wasn't a hypocrite. I turned my face to the wall. I said, I'll never let him know how he's broken my heart. Never. And I just tried my best to play a possum. That's a hard thing cocoon to do. I'll tell you, dad came up, put his arm around me. He saw the hot tears on my cheeks, put his face up next to mine. He said, Glenn, will you forgive me? At that instant friend, my father was the greatest man who ever lived. Love humbles itself. Love is kind, true. Love is courteous, true love is tenderhearted. And that told me what God's love is like. What a wonderful savior is. Jesus, my Lord. In Ephesians the fourth chapter in the 32nd verse, it also tells us, be kind. Be courteous, be pitiful. Be pitiful. To be pitiful, my friends means that we are to sympathize with men and women who are in trouble with boys and girls who are in trouble. Was God pitiful toward us? One Peter three, eight, be pitiful. I've been studying the pitiful love of Jesus, and it has astonished me. In the second chapter of Ephesians, it says that when we were dead in trespasses and sins, Jesus showed his love for us. I said, can you imagine? Imagine a person in a casket. They're conducting the funeral. Here is this man dead. He's to be buried in a few minutes. Can you imagine somebody that he's hurt, he is wounded, he's been mean to, he's stolen from, he's been profane to, he's cursed him out. Can you imagine that? Man comes up to the casket. He looks at that corps, his enemy. He said, my I love you. And then the Bible says that God's love was the kind that marries that's found in Jeremiah three. And he said, you know my, I feel so close to this person. I would just like to wrap my life around this person. I can hardly think of losing him. Well, you'd say that's ridiculous. The men were enemies. But remember, God is not our enemy. In Romans five, eight and 10, it says, while we were enemies to him, he died while we were sinners. Jesus stooped and came all the way past stellar world and systems and planets down to the sin cursed world and suffered and died on calvary for us. Oh, thank the Lord, my friends, for such a pitiful savior. What do you say? What a lover. What a Lord. When I was a little boy, and from then on through the years, my parents read a statement from my favorite author, and it went something like this. If professed Christians Would humble themselves before the Lord and be kind and courteous and tenderhearted and pitiful, they would win a hundred people to the Lord Jesus, where now they win one. I said, dear Lord, think of the tens of thousands of dollars that Christian churches in all faiths are spending in evangelism. Tens of thousands of dollars. We're not belittling the money that's spent, but wouldn't it be a wonderful thing if some of that money were spent in calling for church councils, conference committee meetings and saying, look, shouldn't we study over these five great things, humbling ourselves before God being kind, courteous, tenderhearted, and pitiful? Wouldn't that be a wonderful thing? And it costs nothing and money. It costs a lot himself. For me to be kind and courteous and humble myself before someone whom I think is so totally unworthy, someone who is mean cursing, gossiping. Oh, a hundred souls could be garnered to the cross of Calvary, where now there's one. Wouldn't it be a wonderful thing to have that kind of a promotional program one year in every church? Wouldn't it be a glorious thing to have the various committees in the church, in the schools, in Christian schools to meet? And they say, now look, why don't we claim the promise of the Holy Spirit? Why don't we ask him to give us the wisdom and the spirit of Jesus so that we'll humble ourselves? If somebody wants to argue, we don't argue back. We don't try to set anybody straight. We get on the same side of the fence And we try to understand people who oppose themselves. And we are humbling. We say, we think we understand. Maybe we don't fully understand, but we'd like to understand more of this as you are suggesting. So they see we're humbling ourselves. We're trying to understand their thinking. And then we'd say, well, I'm not sure I have a solution, but would this make any sense? Maybe what I have to suggest wouldn't be worth much, but how about this? Thus, we are showing a respect for men and women with whom we come in contact. And when we show men respect, they're assuming that the great God of the universe does as we do. And thus, God respect the sinner. He respected the sinner so much, all of us that he led the the blood of his son, Jesus Christ flow from his head, his hands and feet, sorrow in love, flowed mingled down. Did air such love and sorrow meet? Did thorns compose so rich a crown? Then we say, if I who am undone and lost have pardoned through his name and word forbid it God that I should boast save in the cross of Christ, my Lord. What do you say? France? Back home in New York state where I was born, the newspapers carried the story of a Chester, a Gillette. He lived up near Auburn, New York. He was engaged to a young woman. And finally he decided that he didn't wanna marry her. So he conceived the idea that instead of blatantly turning her off since she had become pregnant, that he would take her out on the Auburn Lake on a lovely little cruise. And then he would come back from this cruise and announce the terrible thing that had happened, that she had drowned after all that he could do to rescue her. She had drowned, but the officials had the lake dragged as they found her body. They found where the oars had hit her again and again. The tail, tail marks were there. Chester was hauled into court as his father, his brother and his mother sat there in court. Though they had believed implicitly in his innocence, there was no question, but what their Chester was a murderer. When the jury brought back the verdict guilty of murder, the court recessed Chester's father and Chester's brother walked over in a huff to Rochester, was they shook their fists in his, in his face, and they disowned him. They wanted the whole court to know how angry they were. They were in no way a part of that nefarious crime. And as they shook their fists in his face, and as they disowned him with oaths, they turned from him and left the courtroom. His mother, who was on the other side of the courtroom by the help of some guards, made her way faley over where Chester was. She placed her arm around Chester and put her face up next to his. And she said, Chester, I've always loved you. I always will love you no matter what you've done, or no matter what you ever will do, Chester, you are my son and I love you with all my heart as a very little boy, Chester, I loved you as you grew and became a lad. I loved you as you grew into adolescence. I loved you as you grew in a young adulthood and manhood. Chester, I loved you and my love will never cease. 1900 years ago, the human race was doomed to death. We were a race of criminals. And God's beloved son came down and on Calvary as it were, he placed an arm of love around our guilty frame And his countenance marred by blood up close to our guilt ridden countenance. And he said, I've loved you with an everlasting love. There's nothing that you can ever do that'll cause me to cease loving you. And then he turns and he said, look, now that you are forgiven and cleansed, and if drunk in of my love, I want you to spread abroad everywhere you go. The fabulous tender love, the everlasting kindness, the courteous love, the tender hearted, the pitiful love of the one who loved you and gave himself for you. We love him because he first loved us. Dear Lord, in heaven, I'm sorry for the many times I've gotten my eyes off of Calvary and the love of Jesus. This media was brought to you by Audio verse, a website dedicated to spreading God's word through free sermon, audio, and much more. If you would like to know more about Audio verse or if you would like to listen to more sermons, please visit www.audio verse.org.

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Series

Path to the Heart

9-Jesus Loves

Parent Series

Sponsor

Other Teachings in Series

1-Jesus Only

26m

2-Enamored With Jesus

27m

3-Jesus Prepares You

27m

4-Jesus, The Argument

33m

5-Jesus, Not Condemnation

26m

6-Witnessing for Jesus

27m

7-Jesus Inspires Hope

27m

8-Jesus Quickens Faith

26m

9-Jesus Loves

27m

10-Jesus the Magnet

25m

Sound Doctrine