FOUNDATION STATEMENT: Violating the commandment of love is not free and it is not cheap, it costs you something. You have to ask yourself am I willing to pay the price to violate the commandment of love? Because the price is this: It will cost you the Word, the anointing, and the victory in your life. (Matthew 22:36, 1 John 4:18)
I. What is the cost of violating the Commandment of Love?
A. If love’s not working, then the Word isn’t working
1. The Word depends on this commandment to work (Matthew 22:36-40)
2. 1 step outside of love (one negative comment, one act of disobedience, one negative thought not dealt with) is 1 step into the Word not working in your life
a. Prosperity, healing, the anointing, protection, the blessing, none of these things can work for you b/c you are outside of the boundary where these things work
b. All of those things work inside the boundary of love and outside that boundary things don’t work the way they’re supposed to work
c. When you stepped out of love you had to leave all the promises and blessings in love because those things don’t go and work outside of love
3. That was the cost; it cost you every promise, every blessing, and every empowerment that was bestowed upon you the day you got born again
B. When love is not being perfected fear is present (1 John 4:18)
1. Fear will connect you to oppression (Isaiah 54:14)
a. When you are oppressed you are being overpowered or conquered by the devil. He’s taking things from you that he has no right to take, but he’s doing it to you through your violation of the commandment of love
b. You can’t have fear w/o the oppression and you can’t have oppression w/o fear
1) Satan’s way into your life is through the avenue of you violating the commandment of love
c. In order to be oppressed you have to operate in fear, if you do not operate in fear you cannot be oppressed
2. Perfected love casts out fear
a. AMP There is no fear in love [dread does not exist], but full-grown (complete, perfect) love turns fear out of doors and expels every trace of terror! For fear brings with it the thought of punishment and [so] he who is afraid has not reached the full maturity of love [is not yet grown into love’s complete perfection].
b. Cast (ballo) – to throw out, put out, set out, sent out,
1) The love of God throws fear out, puts fear out, sets fear out and sends fear out and consequently the love of God throws the oppression out
c. The Love of God is working in my life to keep me out of fear and to keep me from being oppressed (Psalm 91, 1 John 5:18)
3. The moment love stops being perfected fear begins to work and you immediately become accessible to be oppressed
a. Perfected love is love that is growing, developing, and maturing on a daily basis
b. We are constantly in the process of perfecting love and it’s a commitment to the process that will keep us out of fear and away from oppression
4. That’s the cost: One step out of love is one step into fear and one step into fear is one step into oppression
C. Renew your mind to what it costs you to violate the commandment of love because if you know the costs, you probably won’t be willing to pay the price
II. Set the boundary of love and absolutely refuse to cross it (2 Corinthians 5:14)
A. As a believer you have to set up a love line boundary for your life and make a decision to absolutely refuse to cross that line come hell or high water. (2 Corinthians 5:14)
1. Constrains (synecho) – to cover, to crowd against, to guard, to hold in custody, to compel, to urge on, held, keep in, stops, throngs
a. The love of God covers me and guards me
1) It keeps the word working, it keeps me out of fear, and it keeps me away from the oppression
b. The love of God holds me in custody
1) Sometimes I would like to get out, but love is holding me in custody
c. The love of God crowds me
1) Like a car that is crowded in a traffic jam can’t go anywhere, love has me crowded so I can’t go anywhere
d. The love of God compels me
1) It forces me to stay in love because of its functions; It has left you no choice
e. The love of God urges me on
1) It urges me to stay in love and not violate that commandment of love
f. The love of God stops me
1) It stops me from saying things I shouldn’t say, thinking things I shouldn’t think, and doing things I shouldn’t do
2. The Apostle Paul is saying there’s a love fence that I’ve established in my life and it keeps me from thinking things that I shouldn’t think, saying things that I shouldn’t say, and doing things that I shouldn’t do
a. To think that or say that or do that I would have to cross the love fence and get out there where nothing works
b. There’s a toll to cross that love fence that I’m not willing to play – You cannot cross the toll way if you don’t pay the price
c. The Love of God works in my mind like a filter and if it’s not love I don’t think it, say it, or do it because it’s a love filter that filters anything that’s not love
B. Everything that we do we do in love (1 Corinthians 16:14)
1. (AMP) Let everything you do be done in love (true love to God and man as inspired by God’s love for us).
2. Everything I do is done in the sphere of love b/c outside that sphere nothing works
a. I do all my talking in love. I do all my thinking in love. I do all my acting in love. I do all my faith in love. I put on the armor of God in love. I sow my seed in love. I drive in love. I eat in love. I pray in the spirit in love.
3. Philippians 2:3 – Do nothing outside of love
C. You got to root yourself, ground yourself, and take your stance in the Love of God and absolutely refuse to come out (Ephesians 3:14)
1. I’m rooted in this and I ain’t coming out of it
III. God’s commandment was a love letter from Heaven
A. God gave us a commandment and said, “Look now I’m commanding you do to this. I want you to do regardless of how you feel and regardless of how you’re treated. This commandment is going to keep the Word working in your life and it’s going to keep you from being oppressed. So do it don’t violate it and you’ll experience life on the highest level.”
B. The purpose of the God’s command
1. God never does anything without purpose
a. He is the most purposeful being to ever & everything He does has purpose
b. God does not give us commandments to keep us from having fun or to usurp authority over us
2. This is the creator of life in His overwhelming desire to see us get the most out of life, giving us instructions (love letters) that if you do this you’ll experience life better than you’ve ever imagined
a. EXAMPLE: Ford knows how to get the most out of Ford Trucks because they created the truck, so they wrote a manual of instruction so that you could get the most out of the product that you paid for. For best results do these things.
b. God the creator of life knows how to get the most out of this product of life that he created. So He wrote a manual of instruction so that you could get the most out of the product of life that Jesus paid for and gave you.
3. Do you want to experience the best life? Do you want the Word to work for you? Do you want to live free from oppression?
a. Then keep the commandment of love. It’s got nothing to do with your feelings and everything to do with the result that you want to get.
b. Work backwards: Chose your harvest and then sow the appropriate seed
4. God gave you the commandment of love to keep you from being oppressed and to keep the Word working in your life, so shut your mouth and do it.
a. The operation of every benefit obtained for us by Jesus Christ on the cross at Calvary hangs on this commandment of love.
IV. The way of love will lead you to a life that is absolutely greater than anything you could have ever imagined or dreamed
A. The love commandment is the pathway to the abundant life (Mark 10:17)
1. Life (Zoe) – live that is filled with vitality, the God-kind of life, unrivaled, unequaled, matchless, incomparable, richly loaded, and overflowing life
a. The life force that removes all evil. It flowed out of Peter’s shadow, Jesus’ hem, and in Jesus’ words with the fish and bread.
2. Luke 10:25 – Same question, Same answer
a. To inherit zoe and walk in it, you have to keep the commandment of love
b. The lawyer was tempting Jesus and Jesus knew it, so he gave him little to no time
c. The rich young ruler fell on his face and was great desiring with all of his heart to walk in zoe and Jesus knew it, so He was going to show this guy specifically where he is missing it where the commandment of love is concerned
1) The rich young ruler loved money and things, more than he loved God
3. The whole idea of the commandment of love is this: When you walk in that commandment you are totally sowing yourself and your life to God and the harvest off of the seed of your life is the God-kind of abundant life
B. Keeping the commandment of love is the key to seeing manifestations of the way, the Word, and Zoe in your life (John 14:21)
1. Jesus is the Word, Jesus is Zoe (John 14:6)
a. You might have these things, but if you’re not seeing manifestations of them in your life the commandment of love will bring about manifestations
2. Getting rid of form, but no results and now we’re getting manifestation of the Word and Zoe and love got us there
a. Manifesting Zoe
3. When the Word and Zoe is manifested in your life, you’re in a good place
C. Keeping the commandment of love will bring Heaven to the Earth (Deut 11:13-21)
1. To live a life submitted to this commandment is to live as the ultimate sower – you’re constantly sowing towards the prosperity of others
a. You can’t be in the commandment of love and not be sowing towards the prosperity of others
b. It’s to live a life in constant sowing mode and when you are constantly sowing, you’ll be constantly reaping
2. When you are constantly sowing towards the prosperity of others, you will reap 100 times that sowing towards your prosperity
D. It’s a big fat set up; I’ll command them to love and I’ll make it the first and great commandment so that they’ll keep it. Because I’m commanded it surely they won’t argue with me about it or give me an excuse of why they are not keeping it. Because it’s a commandment they’ll just do it. And surely if a say it’s the first and great commandment it will be important to them and they won’t violate it. I’ll even reveal to them that all the law is fulfilled in that commandment and simplify it for them so they only have to be conscious of this one. And I’ll command them to do it and surely they keep my command because they love me and have submitted to me. And in that will come the best life that my children could have ever possibly gotten and that’s my hearts desire.
1. You can hear the heartbeat of God in this