This sermon emphasizes the importance of sacrificial love, highlighting the need for genuine love that involves sacrifice and blood, not just superficial affection. It explores the transformative power of Christ's love to heal and cleanse, leading to a life of victory over sin. The sermon also delves into the profound prayer life of Paul, showcasing the significance of having a prayerful and Christ-centered mindset in overcoming challenges and living a life that reflects God's glory.

All things without murmurings and without disputings, all things, however offensive, however against your taste. I don't believe Jesus liked lepers. He did more than like them, he loved them. And it's difficult to get away from some of our affections. We've kept seeing, Martha and I talking about a hymn this week, have thine affections been nailed to the cross. You know, I was in a meeting not long ago, a guy came up, gave me a bear hug, he said, brother I love you. I said, you what? I love you. Nonsense. He doesn't know me, how can he love me? A lot of this sloppy mush going into a church, you give everybody a hug, there's nothing in it. Love has blood on it, love has sacrifice in it. You cannot have love without sacrifice, you cannot have love without blood. And this man loved. He says, God loved the world, Christ loved the church, but he loved me and gave himself for me. And so he goes after all, the barbarian, the Greek, the Scythian, the bond, the free, it matters not. I'm a debtor to that man to tell him that while he's a leper, there's one who can heal him and cleanse him from his moral leprosy. There's one who can save to the uttermost, not merely cancel your past sins, but he can take the root of sin out of you. It doesn't mean you never sin again, it means that you live in victory. You see, lots of people get the devil out of them, but they don't let the spirit in and they become seven times worse. I've seen people who've backslidden, who've had a worse vocabulary after they were backslidden than ever they had before it. Why? Because seven other spirits come in. The Holy Ghost is not indwelling, he's not in control. But here's a man who's mastered by his master. Here's a man who is a slave, he says, I'm the bond servant of Jesus Christ. He won't give the devil credit anywhere. He never once says, I'm in prison because of the devil. He doesn't say, I'm in prison because of Caesar. He says, I'm the prisoner of Jesus Christ. He didn't write Romans 8, 28. It's a kind of nice bit of poetry. He says, all things work together. I'm in this stinking prison. God's going to get glory out of this. There's no way of getting into the palace. But he got into the palace, if not in person. They said, we've never had a prisoner like this. And all the palace was talking about him. That's what he says in this first chapter. And then the fourth chapter again, he says there that there were saints in Caesar's household. Well, how did they get there? Paul was the one that went. And he rejoiced that he lost everything to gain everything. He says, you can't lose in this life. If I live, I gain because I have Christ in me. If I die, I gain. I win whichever way. I'm tossing up with a coin with two heads on it. You can't lose in this game. God doesn't reward us here, he rewards us hereafter. Well, I know some of you wonderful preacher fellows, you've got it all fixed out. I haven't. I'm sure you'd be very happy to stand at the judgment seat right after Paul, wouldn't you? I've talked about his preaching. I've talked about his passion. What about his praying? I'm not concerned whether a man teaches 50 people on Sunday or 5,000. No man is greater than his prayer life. I don't care who he is. I told that to hundreds of preachers twice this year. I talked to 500 or 600 at a time. No man is greater than his prayer life. And Paul is not only the prince of preachers, he's the prince of prayers. Doesn't he say in the ninth chapter, I could wish myself a curse, my brethren. I'm willing to be rejected, cut off. One translator says, he says, look, I'm willing to be damned if need be. Madame Guillaume said this, I've so reveled in the beauty of Christ, in the glory of Christ, in the sweetness of Christ, in the majesty of Christ on earth, that if there's no room in heaven, well, put me out and let me go to hell. She said, I'll enjoy hell. All that I've had in this life, the memories in hell will outdo. I don't think she was right, but I know what she means. My love is so great. I'm so soaked in him. Come on now. I know you talk about, do you walk in the spirit? He says, this body, if we go into the second chapter, I skipped some things there. He says, let this mind be in you. That's part of your body. We don't have the old fashioned watches like we had when we were youngsters. It used to be like turnips, big things, you know, and you open them and good night. There were more wheels in there than you've ever seen in your life. And you go to the watchman and say, my watch needs some help. And he'd take the cover off and you see all these wheels there. When I give the man my watch, I give him the works, I give him the hands, I give him everything. And he says, he wants your body, which contains your will, contains your emotions, contains your intellect. But he says, let this mind be, see why this blessed man overcame? He had the mind of Christ. He says, let this mind be in you. And he knew it himself. He says, writing to the Romans, chapter six, the love of Christ constrains me. You see, all self had been removed and he's Christ centered. He has a heart of love. He has the heart of God. He has the will of God. He has the mind of God. And that's normal Christian living. I don't like to make a tirade against TV, but I'm quite sure it's robbed thousands of people hours they should have spent. In fact, women used to get together for coffee and talk in the morning. They don't now. They watch a TV show and get secondhand kicks. But if you're going to walk in the spirit, you must read the word. You must have the wisdom from the word. You must have the spirit to inspire the word. You see, as I say, I'm embarrassed when I think of my terrible limitations. I know so little, I've done so little for God. I'm challenged again by this man this week with one page of the Bible that's been going through Siberia in terrible poverty and hunger, and everywhere he goes he's radiating blessing. I told you about Solzhenitsyn the other day, lying on a bed of rotting straw in a concentration camp, and he found God. Because a man across there in the stink and the urine was taking little papers out of his ragged clothes and uncurling them and reading them and relaxing. And he said they put burdens on that man greater than anybody else. They made him suffer. They gave him intense privation, and he didn't crack under it. He never whined. He radiated something. I said, well, hey, what is it? What are those bits of paper? He said, they're the promises of God. I stuffed them in my clothes, and I put them back carefully every night. And he said that man walked about that camp. There were 3,000 men there, and he was the most prominent man in the whole group. There were doctors, philosophers, lawyers, politicians. But this man was a marked man. He bore something of the, we say, Lord, we've borne the image of the earthly so long, we need to bear the image of the heavenly. But you know, Paul doesn't say, wait till you die. He says, I want the glory of God in my life now. The life which I now live in the flesh, I should live as though I were already wired up to a wire the world hasn't seen. And that pulsates into my life, his love, his compassion, his grace, his joy, his peace, and his power. God never intended we should be spiritual cripples. He never intended the church should be where it is now. But there's going to be an awakening. I'm absolutely sure of that. Well, now, I'd like to preach another hour, but I won't. So, let's sing a verse. And if you have to leave, you can leave. Let's sing, There is a fountain filled with blood as we go to our knees. There is a fountain.