Love From a Pure Heart — Bill McLeod

The song our brother just sang reminds me of something that happened years ago in the States. The King of England was visiting in the States and Chief Whitefeather, a great gospel singer, was asked to sing the song he sang.

Americans were horrified. They couldn't stop him. And he's a great singer, you know. And he sang right through. And when he was through, the King spoke up and said, Thank you, I believe as you believe.

And that relieved the tension somewhat, you know. But I think it took a lot of courage, that chief, you know, to sing that kind of a song in that kind of a situation. Like it says, you know, God has servants everywhere.

I have a little thing called Shepherd's College, and I train young people that maybe don't feel comfortable going to Bible school or seminary, and we have a number of them in full-time ministry now. Jeremy Shumlack is in Humboldt, Nebraska, and he's got quite a thing going there.

Personal Testimony and the Need Beyond a Sermon

There's a penitentiary in the area, and he has two days a week, two days a month to get in there. So when I was there with him visiting, we got into one of the services there. I prepared a sermon. We got there a little early, and men were struggling in, so I got to talking to someone and moving around the crowd.

There was about 50 altogether finally. And it suddenly dawned on me they didn't need a sermon. They needed something else, and the Lord showed me exactly what to do. So I said, you know, I came from a broken home.

Mom and Dad didn't, and their heads were going up and down like this, you know. They belonged very well, and they left. And I told them about the times when there was no mother in the home, and some of the guys were nodding their heads.

And then I told them about things later on, poverty on the farm, had it not been for rabbits in the park who would have starved to death, and more heads were going up and down. And then I told them about a time when I rode freight trains looking for work in the dirty 30s, and more heads were going up and down.

Yes, and I shared an occasion when I did something for a guy, and it was crooked. I didn't know it was crooked. I had a question mark about it. I wasn't a Christian at the time, but I did it anyhow, and then discovered it was crooked and got in trouble, and a lot of heads were going up and down.

A simple gospel message, and gave an invitation, and there were 11 men. People don't need a sermon. I want to take us from 1 Timothy 1 .5, end of the commandment. I'm going to use a different, putting it, one or the other translation.

I'm not even sure which translation it is, but it goes like this. I mean, the end of the commandment means that, too. I remember a guidance counselor telling me one day, he said, you know, there are 40 ,000 different professions you can train for.

We never tell the kids that because they couldn't handle it, so we tell them there's 400 ,000 of them. We're not talking about those kind of things now. We're talking about the goal of Christian instruction.

The Goal of Christian Instruction Is Love

Why are we teaching kids? Why are we teaching adults? I mean, what is the goal that we have in mind? Well, we want them to know about the flood and some of the great miracles in the Bible and something about the apostles and Jesus and sort of all kinds of ideas as to why we're training people.

But our text says, the goal of our instruction is that people might wind up being loving. From which some, not aiming at, have turned aside to vain jangling. One translation says they've turned aside to empty talk, and another one says they've turned aside to a willingness of words.

In 19, it talks about some people who ran their ship on the rocks. So, you know, if you're shooting at a target and you miss the bullseye by one inch, then you shoot at the moon, and you miss the moon by the same incidence, you'll miss it by 8 ,000 miles.

Which is to say, if you don't have the right goal, the further you'll go down the road, the further you'll get away from the truth. In training people, in teaching people, there are 12 places, is made the ascetest of reality in the Christian life.

12 places. He that dwells in love, dwells in God, and God in him. Father of God, and everyone that loves is born of God and knows God. He that loves not, knows not God. For God is love. And we need to be, from time to time, thundering that message out.

In person. If you are not, then likely you have not been born again. Well, in 1 Peter chapter 1, seeing you have purified your souls and obeying the truth through the Spirit, unto, unto what? The Greek word there, unto ice.

Unto what? Unto love. That's what it says. I thought to myself, would it be possible to go back in time? I know it isn't, but go back in time and just creep into one of those meetings where Jesus taught the 12.

There's a book on that subject, which is a classic. It's a great book. But I was just thinking that way. Then reading in John 17, I came across a verse that tells me what he taught them. We call that a high priestly prayer.

He was praying. And here's what he said. I have declared unto them your name. With you have loved me, maybe an eye in them. That's what he had in mind. The same thing in mind, it can be vain jangling in the wilderness of words or empty talk.

Or maybe even people wind up running their ship on the rocks. Leave that to a side for a few moments. Think of a few texts, which were increased in love in 1 Thessalonians chapter 3, were to abound in love in Philippians chapter 1, were to be rooted and grounded in love in Ephesians chapter 3, were to know the love of Christ, which passes knowledge, in order that we might be filled with the love of God, or filled with the fullness of God.

Not filled with the Spirit of God. Because the Spirit of God, in Romans 5, 5, pours into our soul. And there's something wrong if love is not there. 1 Corinthians 16, 14. We're taught of God to love one another.

Precept, command, example. Precept, we quoted a moment ago, tell us of God and everyone that loves knows God. That's a precept, a teaching. Command, and this is His commandment, that we should believe on the name of His Son, Jesus Christ, and love one another, as He gave His commandment.

Notice something, why didn't He say these are His commandments? He said this is His commandment. You can't divorce the one from the other. Believing in Christ, and loving one another, they go together.

We don't do it that way, or preach it, or teach it that way, often we should though. Example, 1 John 3, 16. Hereby we perceive the love of God, because He laid down His life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren.

Example, we're taught of God, to love. Ephesians chapter 4, our hearts are to be knit together in love. It says in Colossians chapter 3, we're to put on love, Galatians 3, 14. We're to speak the truth in love, Ephesians 4, 15.

We're to labor in love, as we see in 1 Timothy 1, 3. Directed into love, into love by God, in 2 Thessalonians 3, 5. Love works no ill to anyone, Romans 13. We owe love to all men, Romans 13, 8. Not giving us a spirit of fear, 2 Timothy chapter 1, but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind, a disciplined, healthy mind.

That's the spirit that lives in us as Christian believers. Then the Bible speaks about the love of the spirit, in Romans 15, 30. It's the only place in the Bible you find that phrase. The love of the spirit, then Colossians 1 speaks about our love in the spirit.

The Spirit of God and the Love of God

Spirit, you know, when Moody had that dramatic experience of being endued to the spirit, walking down the street in Chicago, many years ago. He said, I was so filled with the love of God, I thought I would burst.

Went to a friend's home, asked for a room, and stayed in that room for hours, while the baptism of God's spirit, the love of God poured over him. What did Finney say? He had a very remarkable experience, such as Moody had.

Only he said, he'd never ever heard of anything like that. Not a thing. He had just been converted out in the bush, that day, and came back, he was a lawyer, to his law office, sat down by the fire. And suddenly he was overwhelmed with the spirit of God.

He said, I felt as if I were being fanned by gigantic wings of love. And the next day, every person he spoke to was converted. Her husband down at the front, he didn't want to come. When they got there, after I was through counseling some people, she said, speak to him.

He's a backstabbing preacher. If I hadn't have come forward, she'd give me a lot of problems at home. But I'm not ready, he said. So I turned to her and said, are you a Christian? Of course I'm a Christian.

Are you filled with the spirit of God? Yes, she said. I speak in tongues 30 minutes every day. I said, I didn't ask you if you spoke in tongues, I asked you if you're filled with the spirit. Well, it's the same thing.

I said, it isn't the same thing. You may speak in tongues 30 minutes, or 40 minutes a day, and still not have a loving heart. And he was looking, going like this. I just pursued it, and finally she said, well, I have a few little problems.

Well, tell me about your problems. Well, she said, I have a horrible temper, and he was going like this. I have a horrible temper, she said, and sometimes when I lose my temper, I curse, and you know, sometimes I've even cursed God.

You're not filled with the spirit of God? And finally she got on her face, on the floor, and cried to God, and got her life straightened out. If you're filled with love, you're not filled with the spirit of God.

And don't let others kid you either. Love, unfeigned, it means a genuine love, 1 Peter 1 .22. Sincere love, 2 Corinthians chapter 8. Sincere love. Love is the only thing that never fails. Galatians 5 .13.

Keep that in mind, I mean, all the time. If we miss it, we're missing, we're missing the heart of the whole thing. I declare them your name, and we'll declare it, that the love, wherewith you who love me, may be in them, and I in them.

So he saw the need, and he was doing the same. That's where the apostle got it from, you know. But notice something, people say to me, I pray constantly to be filled with the love of God, nothing changes, you know.

What do you mean nothing changes? Well, I'm just the same afterwards, you know. People tell me they pray for weeks and years even, to be filled with the love of God, nothing ever changes, you know. Okay, let's look at our text.

A Pure Heart, a Good Conscience, and Genuine Faith

It's love, rising out of a pure heart. Do you have a pure heart? If you don't have a pure heart, you won't have this love. You can't divorce it, you see. It's love, rising out of a pure heart. Instead of a pure heart, for they shall seek God.

So we need to seek for a pure heart. And the problem is right here, for most people, they haven't seen this. They've been taught this, I don't know what it is. They just don't know it. It's love, rising out of a pure heart.

The Life Action Ministries in Michigan, I've worked a lot with them, and one of their men, he was not on the road preaching, but he was one of their men. They have a lot of people that support them, and work with them.

And he was a multi-millionaire, I guess, and had a great business and all. He came to me one day and said, you know, I just want to be honest, he said. I've got a polluted mind, he said. If I see a rusty tin can sitting in the ditch, or a cardboard box blowing in the field before a wind, I think something evil right away.

He said, it happens all the time, he said. Could you bring a message on that text, blessed with a pure heart, so I can now tell you, I really prayed, the whole group. And the day or two later, he came running, and he said, rising out of a pure heart, and then, love rising out of a good conscience.

Before, I don't know, some of you have heard it, I'm sure. But I was in Chile, and they brought this guy, and he was acting, he didn't know any English, the interpreter told me, so we could talk quite freely.

And the interpreter said, he says he's got a bad conscience, and he wants you to pray for him, that he'll have a good conscience. And I said, well, tell him this, in Hebrews chapter 13 it says, pray for us, for we trust we'll have a good conscience, in all things willing to live honestly.

Tell him I can't pray for him, until he has a good conscience. So tell him to go home, and get his conscience straightened out. Whatever's troubling his conscience, deal with it, you know. So he told this guy this, and I just walked away, because the guy was starting to cry, you know.

He wanted me to pray for him. On that night, fell on his face, spent hours crying to God, and opened up his heart, and God cleaned his whole life out. And the next night, he was back, the interpreter, talking so fast, he had to slow him down.

He couldn't get all the guy was saying, in Spanish, you know. But, yeah, he had a good conscience. So if your conscience is troubling you, what are you waiting for? All you want, God can't fill you with his love, on top of a bad conscience.

We've got to deal with it, and go back as far as God leads us. I've had to do that kind of thing. It isn't always easy. Sometimes it's quite embarrassing. What you have to do, is God leads you. I remember Gordon Bailey, what he did, before his family, set all his kids up, and his wife, set a chair here, asked them, each one to forgive him, for being such a poor father, and such a poor husband.

I'll never forget, when he told me, he said, it was the hardest thing, I ever did in all my life. He had a herd of black Angus cattle, working in the barn, and he said, suddenly, God filled me with a Holy Ghost, and I never even tried, to win a soul to Christ.

In the six years, he'd been a Christian, and the next nine months, he led 30 people to Christ. Then he went to an Indian village, a Sioux Indian village, not far from his farm, and he led about 35 Indians to Christ.

Then churches began inviting, he only had a grade A education, but boy, he could preach. Churches were having him come, and great things were happening. Then American churches, began to invite him, and then God took him home, by a heart attack.

Now, his ministry was over, but I'll never forget that. Happened. Well, you know, twice we're told, in James 4, and 1 Peter 5, that if you humble yourself, unto the mighty hand of God, he will exalt you, in due time.

He'll lift you up. Now, before that happened, in Psalm 102, God just put this verse in my mind, and it fits in, I don't know exactly how. You have lifted me up, and thrown me down. That's what it says.

Ever happen to you? Given something great, made great progress, and all of a sudden, you trip and stumble somewhere, you're down in the mud. Don't be surprised, that happens. If you humble yourself, unto God's hand, asking you to do, lift you up, and lift you up, of a good conscience, of a genuine faith.

See, these three things, you have to consider, before you can expect to be filled, with the love of God. I just, I can't quite think of his name, it'll come to me somewhere, maybe now, or a hundred years from now.

A Preacher Transformed by the Love of God

A preacher, an evangelist, in the States, he preached occasionally, in the Maritimes, many years ago. Nothing was happening, in his meetings. He went to a place, and he prepared twelve sermons, and here's what he said, I filled them with barbed wire, and cactus, and everything I could think of, and saltpeter, and everything I could, and I hit them, bang!

And nobody stirred. Eleven of these sermons, and nobody stirred. So he said, I took the twelfth sermon, and I worked it over. I put a lot more junk in, rocks and cement, and everything I could think of, you know.

And I threw it to people, and our soul stirred. Then that night, he said, God, what in the world is wrong, with those people? And God said, nothing, but there's a lot wrong, with you. And he said, you know I cry sometimes, when I preach, yes?

God said, it's water off an iceberg. And then he saw God, at two o 'clock in the morning, he was filled with what? He was filled, with the love of God. And before he died, a hundred and fifty thousand people, found Christ, as their personal savior.

Destruction is love, rising out of a pure heart, and out of a good conscience, and out of a genuine, aiming at, a swerved aside, into what? Empty talk, a wilderness of words, but before, a ship on the rocks.

Forgiveness That Demonstrates the Love of God

Of course, where am I at? A couple, he's a doctor, and she, and they're both, very godly people. They used to live in Meadow Lake, I'm not sure where they are now. They left their children, with her dad and mom.

And there's four children, one dad, the grandma, and grandpa. They took the kids out for a walk, along this road, in the country, little ways. A drunk teenager, ran into them. Now grandma died, and the grandpa died, the next day.

Now they had trouble, finding this couple in China. And my son-in-law, Danny Hay, had their funeral. I knew this couple, very well, I mean the couple that died. I knew them very well. I remember seeing him, in revival meetings, one time, where he literally ran, to the altar.

Mom and dad, they killed my mom and dad. Oh he's in jail. So she went to the jail, and asked if she could see, this young man. They were quite surprised, but they left. This is what she said, basically.

You killed my mom and dad, and I miss them very, very much. But I know they're in heaven. And I just came here, to tell you that I forgive you. And I want you to know, how wonderful, Jesus is. And she led him to Christ.

Had we done that, in a similar situation, that would have been difficult. The love of God. God just let her, she did it. And then one other story, which might help. In China, during Mao's era, people were given the right, to go through the country, and kill anybody, that was religious, or wealthy, or an intellectual.

And they killed thousands, of people, until the thing got out of hand, and then they stopped it. Many, many Christians, in that time, in some cases, burst into homes, with clubs, and beat everybody, to death.

And they did that, in one case. And they beat everybody, to death, and walked away, and left them, but their mother lived. And some years later, this mother discovered, that the young man, who led the group, into her home, and murdered her family, was living about two blocks, from her place.

So she began, to pray for him. Then she heard, he had a son, that wasn't well. And he couldn't afford, to go to a hospital. And so, she went to him. He didn't recognize her, of course. She didn't say anything.

She just said, I heard about your son, being ill, and I know you need to work, and you can't look after him. His wife was gone. And so she offered, to nurse him back to health. And she did. And took him back.

And then she told, this guy, who she was. On his face, on the floor, began to weep, and to Christ. Can we do things, like that? Well no, we can't, on our own strength. But in the power of God, we can.

Walking in Love as the Christian Calling

People listen. This is a goal, of God's instruction. Not just Paul's. This is God's goal, for your life. You say, I'm not that type. What do you mean, you're not that type? What kind of a type are you?

Aren't you a human being? People give me, those kinds of answers. I'm not, I don't have an outgoing personality. What kind of personality, do you have any personality? That's got nothing to do with it.

Every Christian, every Christian, is supposed to be rooted, and grounded in the love of God. And we're supposed to know, the love of Christ, which passes knowledge, in order that what? That we might be filled, with all the fullness of God.

And you can't have it, apart from the love thing. We can. I'd like to get into a shouting meeting, where they're praying much, and shouting much, maybe, and hope something will fall on me, you know, that way.

It means we have to be, a hundred percent honest, before God. Take whatever time it takes. Make whatever has to be made right, make it right. Humble yourself before your family, perhaps, or others, whatever.

You know, you're clear. Then cry to God, to fill you with the Holy Spirit, and the love of God. And He will do that. So the goal of our instruction, is love. Love. Teaching kids, Bible camps, whatever it is, you know.

It's got to be the same everywhere. Not just special occasions, you know. We should be, what He knows, will not flake, when a bad thing happens. It's wonderful, if and when you get to that place, where you can just move, with the flow of God.

You're doing, you're moving, it's because God is moving, and doing. And it's always, you know, in Ephesians 5, it says, walk in love. We think of love, as being something special, we put on, when some, you know, some relatives are coming, we don't particularly care for, and you have to put up with them, maybe for a weekend, or maybe even a whole week.

And so, I think I told you about it, a couple of, you know what they did, they were having some relatives come, they couldn't really stand, and so they practiced, smiling in the mirror, for a whole week, you know.

No kidding. You know, it's to be, a hymn, is written, died, or drowned in a ship, or something, and he heard about it, and wrote this song, it's well with my soul. He knew where they were. That's what makes a difference.

Prayer for Spiritual Power and a Loving Ministry

I don't have anymore to say, so if I say anymore, it'll be too much. Pray for a moment, for the clear, clear teaching of the word, away from it father, help us to run to it, to get on our face, and fast, and pray, those father, himself, across his father's grave, and said, God, I'm not leaving here, until you touch my life, so I can preach the gospel, with power.

Three days, and three nights, years he'd been preaching, he never won a soul to Christ, in the very first meeting, father, 18 people were saved. Last time I saw him, I wasn't preaching in his church, but, the church had 95 ,000 members, but he said, frequently, I remember this father, how he said, frequently, when he felt the power wasn't there, he fasted, and prayed again, and so father, you taught him, Lord God, teach us too, we can't all have a big ministry, but any ministry is big, if it's with God.

Bless these dear people, every one of them Lord, and fellowship the people, to be noted for our love.