Joseph Carroll emphasizes that Christianity is fundamentally a personal relationship with Jesus Christ, rather than merely a set of doctrines or a means to an end. He challenges the audience to reflect on their understanding of Christianity, urging them to cultivate a deep love for Christ that transcends mere attendance or ritualistic practices. Carroll warns against the dangers of complacency and self-centeredness, encouraging believers to fully commit their lives to Christ and prioritize their relationship with Him above all else. He stresses that true love for Jesus will manifest in one's actions and desires, ultimately leading to a fulfilling Christian life. The sermon concludes with a call to repentance and a heartfelt plea for genuine devotion to Christ.

Shall we turn again to Revelation chapter 2, reading from verse 12. Revelation chapter 2, from verse 12. And to the angel of the church in Pergamos write, These things saith he, which hath the sharp sword with two edges, I know thy works, and where thou dwellest, even where Satan's seat is. And thou holdest fast my name, and hast not denied my faith, even in those days wherein Antipas was my faithful martyr, who was slain among you, where Satan dwelleth. But I have a few things against thee, because thou hast there them that hold the doctrine of Balaam, who taught Balak to cast the stumbling block before the children of Israel, to eat things sacrificed unto idols, and to commit fornication. So hast thou also them that hold the doctrine of the Nicolaitans, which thing I hate. Repent, or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will refight against them with the sword of my mouth. He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches. To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the hidden manna, and will give him a white stone, and in the stone a new name written, which no man knoweth, saving he that receiveth it. On one occasion, Winston Churchill was asked his opinion of a certain man. He gave a very interesting answer. He says he has no sense of history. This man cannot be a leader, because he has no sense of history. And therefore, having no sense of history, he hasn't learned from history how to live in the present. It's a very discerning answer. If I asked you this evening, what is Christianity to you, what would your answer be? What would it be? If you only have a sense of history, you have to know the underlying principles governing the activities of men, unsaved men, and the stratagems of Satan using these instruments down the centuries to bring mankind low. So let's begin at the beginning. If I asked you this evening, what is Christianity to you, what would your answer be? What would it be? If you have no true knowledge of what Christianity really is, you can have no sense of Christian history, and you can have no true appreciation for how you are to live now. What is Christianity to you? Christianity to some people is a fire escape. You're going to escape hell by becoming a Christian. It's a fire escape. And that is what it is to them from the day they believe they were saved until the day they die, and invariably they're in for a great shock. What they thought was a fire escape was not what they thought it was. But that's all it is to a person, some people. It's a fire escape. To some people it is that which enables me to experience the favor of God upon my life. Now I'm a Christian, God's going to bless me. I've put myself in the position now where God can bless me. I'm a favored person. It's Christianity to that person. What is it to you? What is Christianity? Let me tell you what it is. It is a love relationship with Jesus Christ. That's what it is. Is it that to you? Oh, I say my prayers. What kind of prayers do you say? And why? You can tell by a man's prayers if he even begins to understand what Christianity is. God is faithful by whom you are called if you are a Christian unto the fellowship of his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord. You are called to an intimate fellowship, an intimate communion with the Son of God. That is Christianity. And everything else depends upon your cultivation of that and that alone. That's the foundation. Is that what it is to you? If it's not, I tell you what you are. You're a Sunday morning glory. That's what you are. You're going to come and you're going to worship Sunday morning. Why? You're scared not to. You're afraid not to. Why? God might not bless you. That's why you come. That's why. I want the blessing of God, so I'll go Sunday morning, I'll worship Sunday morning, live the rest of my life, the rest of the week on my terms. Of course, expecting God's blessing. Is that what Christianity is to you? You know what Sunday morning glories are, don't you? You know those little flowers that bloom in the morning and they look so beautiful, and by the evening they've faded, they're dead. That's a Sunday morning glory. If you love a person, you want to be with them, and you want to be with the people that love that person. Because you have a fellowship, you have a kinness, you have a oneness of spirit. What is Christianity to you tonight? My dear friend, whatever you do, you be honest. You be honest with the Lord and honest with yourself tonight. Christianity is not a set of doctrines, it's not knowledge, it's not living by a manual, it's knowing a person. That's what Christianity is. It's knowing a person. Therefore, Christianity is a life. Now, I've said again and again from this platform that Christianity is a person. Christianity is a person. Knowing that person makes you a Christian. Loving that person proves you are a Christian. Is that clear? Knowing that person makes you a Christian, not knowing about him, but knowing him makes you a Christian. Loving that person proves you are a Christian, and nothing else proves it but that, ultimately. Because that love will determine your conduct, as love always determines conduct. What happens when a young man marries a young woman? He forsakes all loves to be her love. Of course, we say this is only proper. It's only proper that when a person becomes a true Christian, he forsakes all else to love Christ with all his heart. Are you a Christian? Are you a Christian? Is love for Christ the dominant desire of your heart? Is it? To know him, to love him, to serve him, to be with him ultimately forever, as the ultimate experience of your life in eternity, is that the desire of your heart? It's not a set of doctrines. It's not a matter of knowledge. It's not a matter of praying. It's knowing a person. That's when you become a Christian, when you know him. Paul said that I may know him, the power of his resurrection, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, that I may win Christ, that I may win him. He's a Christian. Who put that desire in his heart? The Holy Spirit put it in his heart, and he'll put it in your heart. He'll put it in your heart. All you have to do is ask, who does your life terminate with, you or Christ? That's all you have to ask. Who am I occupied with, me or my Lord? That which satisfies me, or that which gives him pleasure? That which is for my satisfaction, or that which is for his? That's all you have to ask yourself. See, what we are doing, of course, we're living in a Laodicean age. Undoubtedly, we're in the Laodicean age, when you know what the problem was with Laodicea. If I'm doing the right things, I must be right. Well, it depends what you consider the right things to be. Depends what you consider the right things to be. A married man is a total failure, as a married man, or as a husband, can say, well, I'm doing all the right things by my wife. I came home, I give her sufficient money to run the house with, I look after her, she's got a nice car, and I look after the children. He gives her everything but himself. He hasn't given her a thing. He hasn't given her a thing. Not one thing has he given that woman. He hasn't given her himself. And he wonders why his marriage falls apart. I'm dealing with it all the time. Unless you give yourself to Jesus Christ, you can say, well, I give to the missionary society, and I give to missions, and I pray for missionaries, and I attend church, and I do this. Forget it. Have you given yourself to Jesus Christ? I mean body, spirit, soul, every atom of your being. Have you done it? Have you done it? Don't play games. That's what our brother prayed tonight. Don't play games with God. He doesn't play games. An American ambassador to the court of St. James, which is the court that the American ambassador goes to in London, as he is there to represent the United States, and he has close association with the Prime Minister of Britain. And the Prime Minister of Britain happens to be a lady, Mrs. Thatcher they call the Iron Maiden. And there was a certain man, perhaps a little loose in his speech, who needed to be taught a few things by the ambassador, but he was going to meet Mrs. Thatcher. And he had come to speak to Mrs. Thatcher about a very important matter as an emissary of the President of the United States. So the ambassador took him aside and he said, I want you to know something about this woman. She doesn't suffer fools gladly. She doesn't suffer fools. Period. Does the person suffer fools gladly, you know, just pass them by and just suffer them until they get out of the way? She said, listen, she doesn't suffer fools. Do you think God's going to play games with you? Do you think you can come to God with the same spirit that dominates the age in which we live? It's the get-by generation. It's the generation of our time. It's the get-by generation. Nobody wants to study, but everybody wants a degree. They don't study. Nobody wants to work, but he wants a raise at the end of the year. It's the get-by generation. It's the I-want-it-the-easy-way generation. That's the generation in which we live. And the generation in which you live always penetrates the church. And you find that in the church. It's the get-by generation. Near enough is good enough. Near enough isn't good enough. It's either or. Yes or no. Black or white. Heaven or hell. You really love the Lord or you do not. You love yourself. And you're just using the Lord in the hope that because you have some attitude toward him which is better than the man in the street who's an atheist, then he's going to bless you. He doesn't know such a thing. You're a lost soul. What is Christianity? Christianity is loving a person. That's what it is. And therefore the first thing that must be understood is that you are not to permit anything to interfere with or lessen the cultivation of and the protection of and the nourishing of that love for Jesus Christ. Now is that foremost in your life as a professing Christian? Is it? You don't go any further until you come right there. It's very significant that the letter of our Lord to the churches, the first letter is to Ephesians, to the Ephesian church. Now if you don't get by that, you don't go anywhere. If you don't repent when it comes to that, you don't go anywhere else. Because the very foundation upon which all else depends is not there. I was asked a question the other day. We've been giving a series or two, a message or two on marriage. Well of course we know that Christ in his church is the great type that's used in scripture to reveal to a man what his responsibility is in the marriage relationship and what the woman's responsibility is in the woman's relationship in marriage. And what do you come to? Well you come to this, that it can't work unless there is a hundred percent commitment on both sides. It's just not going to work. Do you think the Lord Jesus Christ can go to a cross and he can die on that cross for you and in loving you he gave himself for you that he might redeem you by his own precious blood and you think you can get away with anything less than a total commitment to him of your love in response to his love for you? Do you think God's going to accept that? Listen, it's not a matter of what you believe but who you have committed yourself to. And that's what marriage is all about and that's what Christianity is all about. It's not a matter of what you say you believe. The belief leads to something, it leads to a commitment. It's who you've committed yourself to and who you've committed yourself to is going to be revealed in your life. If you've committed yourself to yourself you're going to be a selfish person, self-centered person with the Lord always on the perimeter waiting to be called in at your beck and call and command to meet your need and when he's met the need you can dismiss him. Is that so? You're deceived, my friend. You're deceived. Christianity is knowing a person and you prove that you know the person by loving the person. I was asked in one of the lectures by a discerning girl well, how can you get love for a person that's unlovable? Well, the only way you get love for anybody is by loving the Lord and then he loves them through you. Your love for others will be in direct proportion to your love for Jesus Christ. Direct proportion. Your spiritual health depends entirely upon your love for Jesus Christ. Why? Because love always elevates, it always lifts you. True love always lifts you. True love fills a man with joy, fills a man with a sense of security in the love of the other person. Where does your security come from? I put my finger on this verse, forget about the verse. Your security comes from the witness of the Spirit of God with your spirit and that witness comes when you give yourself to Jesus Christ to love him with all your heart. Oh, I remember when I signed a decision card why I've said from this platform if you brought the devil into this place and you said to him, devil, devil, do you believe in God? He'd say, sure I do. Devil, are you a Christian? Sure, I carry my decision card with me, here it is. Signed it 15 years ago and it's named a verse of scripture underneath it. Sure he'd say it. And that's all some people can say. Devil, do you love Jesus Christ? No answer. You're going to avoid that one. Next question, please. There is no other next question. There is no other next question. Who do you love? Who do you love? You will worship the one you love and you will serve the one you love and no other person. If you love yourself, tonight you're serving yourself and you're living for yourself and you're occupied with yourself and you're planning for your own life. Your own little life. But you are in the center. Now if you're in the center, you must acknowledge it and by the grace of God, before you leave this place tonight, you take yourself out of that center. You're sitting on a stolen throne. You're sitting on a stolen throne. You do not have a right to yourself. That's the problem. Men live as if they had a right to themselves. You have no right to yourself. You were created by God. You're sustained by God. You've been redeemed by the blood of His Son. You belong to Him. And not to acknowledge that and yield to it is to be a rebel against the government of God. And that's not very wise. Several years ago, there's a certain famous chair in Westminster Abbey. And on that chair, the king or the queen of England is crowned. She sits on that chair and underneath a very, very famous stone. I won't go into what the stone means. It's a very famous stone. So there were some Scottish rebels who got into Westminster Abbey and they stole the chair and stole the stone. Well, there was an uproar. There was an uproar throughout all of the British Isles. That old beaten-up chair and that stone is somewhere. And one policeman almost got the two men who stole the chair and the stone and unfortunately, he didn't look in the boot. He looked inside the car and examined. There it was in the boot of the car, but he didn't look in there and so away they went with the chair and the stone. Finally, it got back to Westminster Abbey, but there was a tremendous uproar all over the British Isles, every newspaper, every policeman's on the watch, roadblocks, you name it. Everything we've got, we've got to get that chair and stone back. One of the national treasures, if not the national treasure. Nobody seems to get upset if a person who says he's a Christian sits on the throne of his life. He's sitting on a stolen throne. But nobody seems to get disturbed about it. Here's a moth-eaten old thing that a king who's going to die and go into eternity sits on to get crowned. Everybody's in uproar. Why shouldn't we get in uproar if we see a young person beginning to turn aside from the Lord or an older person beginning to turn aside from the Lord and losing their first love for Jesus Christ? Why shouldn't there not be an uproar in their own hearts? Oh, there's an uproar. Why? Because it's Laodicea. Well, I'm doing the right thing or I'm doing close enough to the right thing so I can't be too far out. That's a dead giveaway, my friend. Dead giveaway. It's very significant. And in the Lord's word to that church, if any man hear my voice, any man, no matter who he is, it's going to be hard to hear his voice. If you can hear my voice, if you can hear my voice above and beyond all your false concepts, above all the lies that you've heard from Satan and you've believed, above all the lies that you've sometimes heard from pulpits or read in so-called Christian literature, if you can get above all the noise of that, you can hear his voice. But until you do, you won't. You go out of this place tonight, say, well, it's all right, sounds all right, but I'm all right. I'm all right. Are you? Who said you're all right? Did God say it? There's a man in a certain city, I was speaking to a person who knows him very well. He's living in adultery and he becomes sometimes intoxicated. He says, I know that I'm a Christian. Oh, is that so? He that believes shall not continue in sin. He's been living in adultery for years. I know that I'm a Christian, I know the day I became a Christian, I have perfect peace in my heart, I'll go to heaven. Is he wrong? Well, of course he's wrong. Bible says he's wrong. But he's a very intelligent man, a very intelligent man. He believes he's saved. One's saved always saved, yes, if you're saved. That's true, if you are saved. But don't think the devil is a clumsy forger, he isn't. He isn't. He can give you a substitute that is so like the real thing that only the Spirit of God can give you discernment concerning that individual. Because only the Spirit of God knows. He is the great deceiver. He can appear like an angel of light. Who wouldn't fall for an angel of light? Well, it's the devil! He's not a clumsy forger. So what do we come back to? We come back to the first things. What is the first thing? Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thine heart. That's the first thing. And until you accept that, you're not going to love your neighbor as yourself simply because you don't love yourself. But the only person who really loves his neighbor is the one who loves the Lord with all his heart. With all his heart. So what is the first thing we learn? Well, the first thing we learn is from the message to the church in Ephesus. It doesn't matter how busy you may be, it doesn't matter how much knowledge you may have, it doesn't matter how earnest you may be, if you have not cultivated and maintained and sustained and has as the chief object of your life your love for Jesus Christ, you are fallen tonight and you need to repent. Now, can you face that? Can you face it? If you have not made love for Jesus Christ the supreme thing in your life... That's a strong word. The supreme thing in your life. Now, if I ask you tonight, and you were honest, can you say, for me to live is Christ? And in saying for me to live is Christ, for me to live is to be all that he would have me to be to him for his sake. Now, can you say that? What is life to you? Well, if you're one of the categories we mentioned earlier in this evening, life to you is going to mean what? I want God to bless me. And what do you mean, God to bless you? Well, I want to live a life that is satisfying and fulfilling. And I believe that's why he put me on this earth. He wants me to be happy. I know a young girl, she used to attend these meetings and she was married to a man, she didn't like her marriage, so she said to me, well, I'm living with this other man, but doesn't God want me to be happy? The devil wants you to be deceived. Doesn't he want me to be happy? I'm not happy with this man. He doesn't make me happy. So she went up in a bar with this man who makes her happy. You'd think he'd crawled out of a sewer by the look of him. I don't know how he could make her happy. Doesn't God want me to be happy? He wants you to be fulfilled. And the only way you can be fulfilled is by loving his son. And once you've experienced communion with his son on the highest plane, nothing else will really matter. Everything else will then fall into line. But you will not be occupied with yourself. You'll begin to understand yourself. And the closer you get to the Lord, and the more you love the Lord, the more you're going to despise yourself. Yes, you are. You come in here tonight thinking that you're somebody. I say to you, my friend, you are not a lover of Jesus Christ. You can't love Jesus Christ and think you're anything but what Lewis said, a little black spot on the face of the earth that has no right to be there. The closer you get to a brilliant light, the more you see the flaws. The further away you get into the darkness, the less you see the flaws. For me to live is Christ. Some of you might have to say tonight, well, for me to live is my wife. For me to live is my husband. Yes, you are to have a love for your wife and a love for your husband, but you will never love your wife the way God wants you to unless you love Jesus Christ supremely. Because He will give you the love and He alone can give you the self-renouncing love that you must have. And the wife will never submit to the husband unless she has submitted to Jesus Christ supremely. It cannot be done. It's impossible. You might say, for me to live, and some people say this, for me to live is my children. And this is so. For me to live is my children. Very often where there's disappointment in marriage, this will come in and the child will take the place of the husband or the wife even as the husband or the wife or the children can take the place of the Lord. Be honest. Whatever you do tonight, my friend, be honest. You be honest with the Lord. What is life to you? What is life to you? Is it Christ? I remember in London many years ago there was a Sunday morning meeting and this young mother came. She was a blonde girl, about 23, 24, came down the aisle. She almost ran down the aisle with a little baby in her arms. She dropped on her knees in front of the church, the little baby. I remember the little baby was crying. I suppose it sensed that the mother was upset because the mother was crying. Tears rolling down her cheeks and after the meeting she said, this child has displaced Jesus Christ in my heart. Thank God she came. Thank God she came that morning. You see, for me to live is my child or for me to live is my children and I'm going to be a Christian and I'm going to pray and I'm going to do the right thing because I want God to bless my children. What a motive. Why don't you live for his sake? Love never considers itself. Anybody who knows anything about love or has any experience of love knows this, that if you love another person you do not think for one moment of what that person can do for you. Now I'll stand by that. You might think you've been in love but I want to tell you this, that anybody who knows anything about it and has written anything about it who knows what he's writing will tell you this and it's true in scripture that if you really love a person there's no thought whatever of what that person can do for you. There's none. You are taken up with what you can do for the person. That's your life. What can I do for that person? That person whom I love? There is no thought of what the person can do for you. Now, do you love Jesus Christ? Do you love him? That's the test, isn't it? Are you taken up with what he can do for you or are you taken up with what you can be to him? That's the big test. Where do you stand on it? Where do you stand? Now let me say again, my friend, God's not going to play games with you. Near enough is not good enough. We heard last evening here a definition of repentance by C. H. Spurgeon, the great C. H. Spurgeon. Man whom God blessed possibly above all preachers of the last century. That is, the last century in this, halfway through in this. What was the key to his life? Well, of course, he loved his Lord. But he brought out very clearly in this matter of repentance and again and again and again in these letters to the seven churches you have this word repent. You also have Satan in there again and again and again and you have repent, repent, repent, Satan, Satan, Satan. Satan is the deceiver. Now these are our Lord's words to his church. And as you study church history you see how his words are so essential to be understood down the centuries if the church is to be what he would have it to be. And again and again you have this word repent, repent, repent, repent. Now, there is no such thing as a partial repentance. You either repent or you don't. You either repent or you don't. You may have half a dozen vipers in your breast tonight, you can get rid of five and still be killed by one. It only takes one viper to kill you. All the vipers must go. All the false concepts must go. You've got to get off the stolen throne. I mean get off completely and away from it and let Christ sit on that throne and fall down before him and worship him and live for him and nothing else, and nothing less than that will satisfy God. And let me tell you something, nothing less will satisfy you either. Because God won't let us satisfy. And so we have this tremendous letter to the Ephesian church, very busy, but the losing of that first vital love for Jesus Christ, the doing had displaced the love. Therefore there wasn't that cultivation of that love and so the Lord says you must repent. In other words, you must come aside from everything else and you must make this central and everything must be in subordination to this. Everything must be in subordination to this. Now, one of the traps that the enemy can get people into is saying, well, I'm too busy. Well, what sort of a childish argument is that? Do you mean to tell me if God gives you a command to love him with all your heart that he's not going to enable you to love him with all your heart if you walk in his will? Well, of course he will. It is God that works enough both to will and to do of his good pleasure. If God's telling you to love his Son supremely, he's going to enable you within his will to love his Son supremely. And that's going to mean taking time alone with his Son. And yet people come with a paltry, puerile excuse that I don't have time. Listen, you never will have time. You have to take it. Don't you think the devil is going to fight you on that? I don't have time. That is a lie out of hell. And all it is, is a little excuse you're trying to make for your backslidden condition. Because a man who talks like that is backslidden. He's a backslider. If I said to a man, do you love your wife? Yes, I love my wife, but I don't have time to be with her. He'd say, the man's crazy. Well, you can say the man's crazy who says, I don't have time to cultivate my love for Christ. Listen, Daniel was the prime minister of a mighty empire. Three times a day, he comes aside. Let the empire go. Let it run itself. Three times a day, he's before the Lord. He's before the Lord. Why, a Muslim, he'll come aside five times a day. We say, that fellow, he's in darkness. He doesn't know God. He doesn't know anything about God. He prays five times a day. Yes, he does. He's up early in the morning to pray. And if he can do that in his darkness, what should you be doing in the light? What should you be doing in the light? He's up early in the morning. Yes, he is. And he doesn't care where he is. He doesn't care who's there. Down goes the mat and down he goes. Oh, he doesn't know God. He's just ignorant. Is he ignorant? I tell you, he's committed. Now, it may not be a hot commitment, but it's some kind of a commitment. I don't know what it is, but there it is. Now, if he can, what I'm saying is, if he can do that, what should we be doing? What should we be doing? Don't have time. David, seven times a day, he calls on the Lord, seven times. He's a great king. He got a nation on his hands, difficult nation to govern, if ever there was one. Seven times! These men were men of discipline, they were men of commitment, they were men with a sense of God in their midst and what he desired of them. And they didn't play games. Don't come with the paltry, puerile, childish excuse that you don't have time. There's a dear woman, I speak to her occasionally, call her on the telephone. One of the boys whom she's very fond of, he's up in the mission field today. Every morning, whether she likes it or not, she's up at 4.30 to milk cows. Now, whether she feels like it or not, she's got to get up. Whether she goes to bed in time or not, she's got to get up to milk cows! Can't you get up to meet the Lord? Isn't it more important than a few cows? I mean, how foolish can we be to think that we can get away with half-heartedness? You cannot get away with half-heartedness with God. Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thine heart. Thee will I love. That's what we're saying tonight. Now, all right, what are you going to do? If you're going to love him, you're going to commit yourself to love him. If you don't, you won't. Again and again, I've warned you from this book, but don't you dare get a general impression and think that's the real thing. No. The real thing is when truth is revealed and you commit yourself to the one who spoke to you through the truth. It's a commitment to a person. A commitment to love him with all your heart. Have you ever committed yourself to that? Have you? You've committed yourself, not only your time, but yourself. You see, sometimes we speak to youngsters and they say, well, I had some quality time with this person. Yes, why? Because the person gave them themselves. And they were conscious of it. The person gave me undivided attention as if I were the only person in all the world and he had all day to talk to me. He gave me himself. That's what I'm speaking about when you commit yourself to love Jesus Christ. You give yourself to him. I mean every part of you. Everything. To what? To learn to love him. To learn to love him. And in giving yourself, you give yourself to him for his sake, not thinking of any reward that you may receive in return, but the rewards are great. You can't out-give God. You can't out-give him. You give and he will give back to you pressed down, shaken together, running over. You give him your little love and he'll flood your heart with his. Flood your heart with his. But what is the problem? The problem is this. You don't want to lose your life. You don't want to lose your life. You want your own little life for yourself. Now, if you're going to love the Lord with all your heart, you're going to have to lose your own little life, my friend. If you lose it, you'll save it. If you keep it, you'll lose it. You don't want to lose your life. You don't want to place the sentence of death upon your life in this world. You want something for yourself and you want Jesus to help you get it. Well, you'll never love the Lord with all your heart. You give yourself to him. You give him all that you are, your life you give to him for his sake and his satisfaction and his glory. Period. Seeking nothing but his satisfaction because he gave his all for you, you give your all to him. Nothing less will please God and nothing else will satisfy your heart. Nothing less. Oh, you go away. Well, I'm a believer. Who said you're a believer? Does the Spirit of God say you're a believer? If he doesn't say it, you're lost. I don't care how many decisions you've made. I don't care what you're doing. I don't care where you think. Well, how much more can God require from me? That's what people say by many of their attitudes. How much more does he expect me to do? You talk like that and it's a dead giveaway. You never think of what you're doing for somebody you love. You never think of it. It doesn't enter your head. And when you have love for Jesus Christ, you will never think for one moment that you're loving him enough. What's he going to do for you? Forget it. It doesn't enter your head what he's going to do for you. Because for the first time you've gotten rid of self-love. For the first time in your life you're delivered from self-love. What is Christianity? Christianity is a person. Loving a person. Well, as John Stockwell said, a great Bible scholar of our day, Christianity is a love relationship to Jesus Christ. And he's right. We know that. Is it that to you? If so, what time do you set apart each day to cultivate your love for him? That's a big question. Who are you occupied with? Whose satisfaction are you occupied with? Yours or his? Yours or his? Marriage, the type, in the scriptures, speaks to us, union with Christ. Love in a marriage must be selfless. Once it becomes selfish, there's trouble. When you love a person, when you truly love a person, you'll never think for one moment of what that person should be to you. Do you love Jesus Christ? Do you love him? Or do you love yourself? I should love the Lord, my God, with all my heart. All right, shall we pray? Father, give us grace not to play games, not to hide behind words, and not to be deceived by experiences, but to face the ultimate issue. Do we love your Son supremely? We ask for grace for those that are in thy presence to face reality. Lord, don't let them escape. Don't let them go out of this place into the night air and talk about something nonsensical. That will distract them and give the enemy the opportunity to snatch away the seed. However painful it may be, give them grace to face it, Lord. Lest they go down to hell in their sin. Let them not hide behind some past experience or some knowledge about, rather than experience with. Lord, be merciful. We beseech thee to such. Undeceive them and give them grace to say, as they've never said before, my Lord and my God. But give them grace to say, Lord, first. They've been saying that you are their God all their life and you've never been Lord in their life at all. Give them grace to say for the first time, even as Thomas said, my Lord. You are my Lord. I'm your servant. I'm yours wholly, fully, totally and reservedly yours to love you for your sake. And this we pray in Jesus' name. Amen.