Welcome to a firm foundation presented by Princeton Ministries with Dr. Ken Smith. This is Carol Smith, Ken’s wife. Please enjoy.

It’s early in the morning, and the sun is just rising on the Roman horizon. You are a Christian in a room with 25 others. All night long you have heard the sound of others who have been brought out into the arena. They’ve been called one by one, name by name. A centurion walks into the dungeon. He calls your name. He says, come with me. Before you go out into the arena, I have this word of instruction. He tells you; I’ve been at this trade a long time. I’ve seen a lot of people die. I know what it’s like in that arena. You’ve never gone before. I have one word of instruction for you. That is when you walk out, walk slowly. And when you get to the center of the arena, stand still.

And when the lions are set free, one thing I know about lions is they’re very frightened. And if you should start to run, or if you should even start to attack at the lion, he’ll run away from you, no matter how hungry he is. Now, my suggestion to you. Go into the arena, and when the lions are let loose, quietly and slowly raise your hands and beckon the lions to come. Now, if you don’t do that, the lions will run. The crowd is going to be displeased because the lion kills in a way that is very pleasing to the crowd. Now, if you don’t beckon the lion, we will be forced to send in the bears. Now, the bears come for you whether you run. And they play with you like a cat plays with a mouse.

And it literally takes hours for you to be killed. And the thing that we’re concerned with is that the crowd not be displeased. And the crowd does not like to see death by the bears. So, you understand you want to die quick, just beckon the lions. If you want to die slow, then we’ll send in the bears. And then the big wooden door opens, and the crowd is jaded from all that they’ve seen. And you quietly walk out to the center of the arena. And as you stand there quietly deciding, will I run, or will I stand and beckon? From another door, a pride of lions come prancing out, eyeing the arena. And suddenly they see you, and you decide, I will beckon them. And as the lions begin their prey movement, and they are coming with ever faster step.

And you stand there beckoning quietly, calling them suddenly from the stands comes a father with his young son. You look. He places his son over the fence into the arena. The sun walks between the oncoming lions and your beckoning movements. And the sun begins to beckon the lions, and they attack. They kill the sun. And the crowd is pleased. And the crowd begins to yell, free him. Free him. Free him. And suddenly, where you were, in the center of the arena, ready for death, you are now escorted out of the arena, and you are on the street. And the first man that comes out of the arena, you run up to him and you say, do you know that man who came with his son? Who was he? That boy saved my life. The man says, I’ve never seen anything like it.

It’s the first time in my life of sitting in the arena that I ever saw anyone give their son as a sacrifice. Who was it? Who was it? I don’t know. I never saw him before. That, in a very real way, is exactly what has happened for anyone who is in Jesus Christ. Scriptures tell us that Paul was compelled by love. One of the things that most disturbed me before ever coming to being a Christian was sitting in a church and hearing every sermon end with love. I never knew what they were talking about. I did not understand the love because it was amorphous. It was a kind of love that I thought I had experienced. It was a confusing kind of love, something that people might do for you or to you.

But it was not a love that was grounded in Jesus Christ. And I knew not how to get my hands on that kind of love. And that love never compelled me to do anything. It was only in understanding Christ that suddenly in my life I was compelled to do things that I had never even considered doing until I came to Christ. And that’s what I want to talk with you about today. Being compelled by love, the love of Christ, and for each of us to consider how appropriate it is for us to be compelled by the love of Christ. Why should any of us love Christ? I think that’s a fair question to ask. What is the reason? Well, I think one reason that the scripture clearly teaches is that we should love Christ because his father loves him.

And anything that God the Father loves, we should also treasure, and we should adore. And it is fitting just simply to know that God the Father was pleased with his son, Jesus Christ, that we, too, should love him and be compelled by that love. That when Jesus was brought in that great council in the beginning of time, as the world was fashioned and Jesus was there with the Father and the Holy Spirit, and the world was created, God the Father was well pleased with what his son was doing, and because he was well pleased, we should be well pleased. And God the Father was well pleased when he saw Jesus suffering in this world. He looked upon the suffering and it brought sorrow. But it also brought great joy that God the Father knew that his son was totally obedient.

It pleased God when Jesus Christ died on the cross as a ransom for our sin. And God was greatly delighted at what his son was doing. It pleased God when he saw his son in that battle, back and forth, that battle to follow his will. Its pleased God when he saw his son, Jesus Christ, in victory, being raised from the dead and sitting on his right hand. And if that brings joy to God the father, how fitting is it that as we would sit here today as christians, that this would bring joy to us, and that if there were no other reason in all the world for us to be compelled by love, the love of Christ, it would be enough for us to know that it pleased God the Father, that his son was obedient to him.

But also, why should I love Christ even though God loves him? We are told in scripture that not only God the Father loves Christ, but the angels love Christ. They loved him from the beginning when he was ushered into this world and was wrapped in swaddling clothes. He was brought. And great hosannas were sung by angels who sang, glory to God in the highest, peace on earth, goodwill towards men. Angels were greatly pleased at Christ. It was angels who ministered to Jesus in the wilderness as he battled with Satan. At the end of those 40 days, angels came and ministered to him. It was angels who were greatly delighted to see Jesus die for the sins of his people. And it was angels that came down and rolled away that massive stone.

And it brought great joy to angels that Jesus Christ came into this world. And when Christ was ushered to heaven to sit at the right hand of God, I think it is fair to say that angels delighted in singing great hosannas because he was risen from the dead and now had ascended to that place, that special seat at the right hand of God the Father. And if there were no other reason taught to us in scripture, I think it is enough for us to be compelled by the love of Christ to know that God the Father delighted in Christ, and to know that even angels delighted in him. But these angels had no physical body. They had no kinship with Christ. But you and I, who were made of flesh, have kin with Christ.

He was a man, as you and I are men, and as a man, he was tempted, and as a man he conquered and was victorious. We have a special relationship with Christ because he is a son of man, equally the son of God. And if it brings delight to angels that Jesus Christ came into the world, I think it is fair for us simply to be compelled to love Christ, simply because God the Father loved him, and even angels loved him. But why should I love Christ? I think another reason is that as I look to Christ, I find in him a person who is incomparable to any other I have known. I enjoy reading biographies.

And one of the things about reading biographies is the longer you read, the clearer it is that all men and all women have feet of clay, and that if you study any life long enough, you will find the tarnish of sin. You’ll find the canker, you’ll find the truth that almost overwhelms you, as your greatest hero suddenly becomes human and is tempted. But unlike Christ, we fall and we do sin. Napoleon, who lived the last part of his life studying religions of the world, when he came to Jesus Christ, he came to this conclusion. I know men, and I tell you, Jesus Christ was no man. His conclusion was that Jesus Christ was not to be compared in any way to any other man that has ever lived. Is it enough that God the Father loved Christ?

Is it enough that angels even love him? Is it enough that he’s incomparable to any other person who has lived in the world? I must be honest in saying for myself I am far too coarse in my sin to be affected by the argument that God loved his son, I am still too coarse in sin even to be impressed with the fact that angels loved Christ. And I am certainly too coarse with sin as I look to compare Christ to any other man that has lived. And deep inside of me there is a sense that even though God saw Christ as fitting for honor, even though angels ushered him in, even though in comparison to any other man, Jesus is not to be compared, that none of that has allowed me to be compelled by the love of Christ.

What is it that really compels us to the love of Christ? I believe it is this, not that I loved him, but that he loved me. That is what compels me to love him. That is what causes me to look on God the Father and to say, if God the Father cherished Christ, then I treasure him. If angels would sing hosannas to Christ, that is enough reason now for me to sing hosannas. And if he is not comparable to any other man, then that is enough reason but only because he first loved me. He first loved you. And when I consider what we have done with Christ, how before knowing that he loved us, we used his name as a curse. How we looked on the activities of the church with a snicker, and we mocked the gathering of those who loved Christ.

As I consider that there was a time in my life when someone would knock at my door and say, I’d like to share with you the love of Christ, that I would turn them away in a flippant attitude. It was not until I learned that he first loved me. That he first loved you. Jesus Christ is the cornerstone of our gathering this day. Jesus Christ is the cornerstone of any life that would claim to have success. Is Christ compelling you to do anything for his sake? Christ calls all of us to be moved by his love and to do those things which we are called to do. If you were to die right now, would it make any visible difference to the earthly kingdom of Christ? I pray the answer is yes.

But if the answer is no, then, my friend, consider being compelled by the love of Christ to do the things that you know that we ought to be doing. For there is no greater incentive when this earthly tent passes away and you and I stand before Christ, all of our wealth, all of our health, all of our prosperity, all of our promotions, all of our business, all of our family, all of our acquaintances, as we stand before the judgment seat of Christ, the only thing that will make one difference is what has been done for Christ by you. Compelled by love. In one sentence, if you were asked to construct the purpose of God showing his love in this world, what would it be? I have studied poetry and never have found such a sentence.

I have looked to the artists and never seen captured on canvas that one thought. I have studied philosophy and have not found in volumes of all of man’s knowledge that one cogent sentence that compels me to understand the purpose of God. And I believe that if I were to go to the very presence of God at this moment and be ushered into his presence, and after all of the introductions that would occur and after all that would happen, and he says, do you have a question? I would say, yes. One question. Is there a sentence that would compel any man or woman to do what we are supposed to do? I believe God would say, there is such a sentence. There is such a word. This is it.

For I have loved the world so much that I sent my only begotten son, Jesus Christ, that whosoever would believe in him would not perish but have everlasting life compelled by love, compelled by the love of Christ. I pray that each of us is constrained and compelled by that love, for we ask this in Jesus’s name. Amen.

Thank you for listening to a firm foundation presented by Princeton Ministries. This programming is supported by you, the listener. You may go to our website, princetonministries.org, or send your donation to Princeton ministries Post Office box 21 71, Princeton, New Jersey 8543. That’s Princeton Ministries Post Office box 21 71, Princeton, New Jersey 8543. The Lord bless you and Dr. Smith looks forward to hearing from you. We would like to thank Rones web development company for making this webcast possible. You can find their link at the bottom of our website, princetonministries.org.