Love Must Be Sincere

Written By Adam Dragoon

Sermon Summary

In a world where morality is often inverted and the church is pressured to either compromise or withdraw, the challenge is to love people as God loves them, while refusing to celebrate or affirm what God calls sin.

Romans 12 marks a pivotal transition in Paul’s letter, moving from the deep doctrines of salvation to the practical outworking of the gospel in our daily lives. The call is clear: in light of God’s mercy, our lives must be transformed, our minds renewed, and our relationships shaped by the love and truth of Christ. The heart of this transformation is captured in the simple but profound command: “Love must be sincere.” This is not a sentimental or superficial love, but the agape love of God—self-sacrificial, honest, and without hypocrisy.

In a world where morality is often inverted and the church is pressured to either compromise or withdraw, the challenge is to love people as God loves them, while refusing to celebrate or affirm what God calls sin. True love does not mean uncritical acceptance of all behaviors; rather, it means valuing every person as made in God’s image, while also being honest about the destructive power of sin. Just as a loving parent draws boundaries for their children, so too must we, as God’s people, draw clear lines between what is good and what is evil.

This sincere love is not passive. It requires us to “hate what is evil” and “cling to what is good.” Hating evil is not about hating people, but about having an intense aversion to the things that destroy lives and dishonor God. Tolerating sin—whether in ourselves, our families, or our church—devalues the sacrifice of Christ and undermines the call to holiness. Yet, if all we do is hate evil, we risk becoming angry and bitter. The balance is to be glued to what is good, to actively pursue and celebrate what is pure, lovely, and true.

Jesus modeled this perfectly. He loved notorious sinners, but never affirmed them in their sin. He called them to repentance and new life. The same Spirit that raised Christ from the dead empowers us to live free from sin and to extend both truth and mercy to others. This is not easy, and it comes at a cost—sometimes even the cost of relationships. But the call remains: to be people of courage, conviction, and compassion, reflecting the heart of God in a broken world. In doing so, we become agents of reconciliation, praying and believing for prodigals to return and for revival among those most lost.

“Tolerating sin—whether in ourselves, our families, or our church—devalues the sacrifice of Christ and undermines the call to holiness.”
— Pastor Adam

Watch/Listen

Message Study Guide

Youtube chapters

  • [00:00] - Welcome

  • [00:48] - Surprising Impact of Romans 12:9

  • [03:16] - The Pivot from Doctrine to Practice

  • [04:51] - Love Must Be Sincere in a Confused World

  • [06:23] - Acceptance, Boundaries, and Parental Love

  • [11:19] - Valuing People Without Affirming Sin

  • [13:12] - Truth That Hurts and Sets Free

  • [16:14] - Agape Love vs. Hypocrisy

  • [18:38] - God’s Judgment and the Reality of Sin

  • [20:08] - The Necessity of Warning and Self-Denial

  • [23:33] - Hating Evil: The Church’s Responsibility

  • [26:34] - Clinging to What is Good

  • [28:12] - Discernment in Speech and Influence

  • [31:17] - Jesus’ Model: Mercy and Repentance

  • [35:30] - The Power of the Cross to Cleanse

  • [38:47] - Courage to Stand for Truth

  • [44:22] - Counting the Cost and Pursuing Holiness

  • [47:05] - The Call to Be Salt, Light, and Agents of Healing

  • [50:11] - Closing Prayer

Key Takeaways

  1. Sincere love is honest, not hypocritical. It values every person as made in God’s image, but refuses to affirm or celebrate what God calls sin. This kind of love is willing to speak the truth, even when it is uncomfortable or costly, because true love seeks the ultimate good of others, not just their approval. [06:23]

  2. The call to “hate what is evil” is a call to active moral discernment. Indifference or tolerance toward sin—whether in ourselves or others—undermines the seriousness of Christ’s sacrifice and the holiness God desires for His people. Hating evil means refusing to make peace with anything that destroys lives or dishonors God, even when the culture demands otherwise. [23:33]

  3. Clinging to what is good requires intentionality and courage. It is not enough to simply avoid evil; we must be bonded to what is excellent, pure, and true. This means making daily choices to reject corrupting influences, whether in speech, media, or relationships, and to pursue what builds up and honors God. [27:14]

  4. Jesus’ example shows that love and truth are inseparable. He welcomed sinners, but always called them to repentance and transformation. To love as Jesus loves is to offer mercy without compromise, to extend acceptance without affirming sin, and to believe in the power of God to change any life. [33:00]

  5. Living out this calling will cost us—sometimes in the form of broken relationships, misunderstanding, or even rejection. Yet, the pursuit of holiness begins with ourselves, and our willingness to stand for truth in love can become the very means by which God brings healing, reconciliation, and revival to those around us. [44:22]

Bible Reading

  • Romans 12:9 (NIV) Let love be sincere. Hate what is evil; cling to what is good.

Observation Questions

  1. In Romans 12:9, Paul gives three short commands. What are they, and how are they connected?

  2. According to the sermon, what does “sincere love” mean, and how is it different from the world’s idea of love? [06:23]

  3. What examples did the pastor give to show how a loving parent draws boundaries for their children? [06:23]

  4. What does the sermon say is the difference between hating evil and hating people? [23:33]

Interpretation Questions

  1. Why does Paul connect genuine love with hating evil and clinging to good? What does this reveal about the nature of Christian love? [16:14]

  2. The sermon says that tolerating sin “devalues the sacrifice of Christ.” What does this mean, and why is it important for believers? [41:27]

  3. How does Jesus’ example show that love and truth are inseparable? What does it look like to offer mercy without compromise? [33:00]

  4. The pastor mentioned that living out this calling can cost us relationships or bring misunderstanding. Why is this cost worth it, according to the sermon? [44:22]

Application Questions

  1. The sermon says, “True love seeks the ultimate good of others, not just their approval.” Can you think of a time when you had to speak a hard truth to someone you care about? How did it go, and what would you do differently now? [13:12]

  2. Are there areas in your life, family, or friendships where you have been tolerating sin or “making peace” with something you know is wrong? What would it look like to draw a clear line, as the sermon suggests? [20:08]

  3. The pastor described “clinging to what is good” as being intentional about what we allow into our lives—our speech, media, and relationships. Is there something you need to let go of or something good you need to pursue more actively this week? [27:14]

  4. Jesus loved notorious sinners but never affirmed their sin. Is there someone in your life who needs both your love and your honesty? How can you show both this week? [33:00]

  5. The sermon challenges us to be people of courage, conviction, and compassion. What is one area where you need more courage to stand for truth in love? What is holding you back? [44:22]

  6. The pastor prayed for broken relationships that resulted from standing for truth. Is there a relationship in your life that has been strained because of your convictions? How can you pray for healing and reconciliation, while still holding to what is right? [48:32]

  7. The sermon says the pursuit of holiness begins with ourselves. What is one specific step you can take this week to “hate what is evil” in your own life and “cling to what is good”? [41:27]

  • Romans chapter 12. So I want to show you an image as we start tonight. Oh, you got it over here. There is—I was surprised about a sermon that was preached across our pulpit approximately three years ago. And it was a sermon that was based on this particular scripture, Romans chapter 12, verse 9. And if you want to show that for me.

    So this is a list of sermons that we have posted on our church's podcast. And, you know, we put sermons up there without even thinking, not even knowing what, you know, what's going to happen to them or who's going to listen to them. But as you can see, this sermon that was posted about three years ago is more close to double the closest competitor. And only in about two years' time. So that was in 2023 that that was preached. And in two years' time, it has outpaced every other episode in our church history. Somehow it's gotten some traction.

    And it was totally surprising to me that this message went anywhere. That it's very rare for any sermon that we post to get more than 100 views or even a couple of hundred. But this is over 10,000 listens on our church's podcast. And so that tells me something. It tells me that there is a hunger in God's people to hear this truth. It tells me that there is a world that wants to know what the church thinks about this particular issue.

    And so this is a message, since it happens to coincide with our series in the book of Romans, I came back to this message and I've updated it and added a few things tonight. So I want you to pay attention tonight as we look at the scripture, Romans chapter 12.

    Now, as you know, the book of Romans is a letter written to the church in Rome by the apostle Paul. And for the first 11 chapters, Paul has outlaid the incredible doctrine of the gospel of Jesus Christ—the good news that God saves sinners. Is that good news tonight? That all throughout we read about the incredible things that God has done to save sinners. And it's mostly a theological book going through chapters 1 through 11.

    But in chapter 12, there's a transition in this letter. It begins with the phrase, therefore, brethren, and that therefore marks a pivot point from doctrinal thesis to practical application. In other words, now that we know all these amazing things, what should we do? And we've been looking at these last few verses with that thought in mind—that now, with knowing the incredible truth of the gospel, what are the implications? How should our lives be transformed? How should our minds be renewed? How should our relationships be affected?

    And here, beginning with verse 9, Paul is going to give us a series of short, very punchy exhortations—almost like the book of Proverbs—that describe what the love of God and what the Spirit of God should produce in God's people. This is far from abstract ideas, but now these are going to be commands rooted in gospel reality.

    And so, we're going to begin with the first one here in verse 9, very short, and I'm reading from the New International Version. And it says like this, Romans 12, verse 9:

    **"Love must be sincere."**

    Father, I'm asking you to help us tonight. I'm asking you to speak, Lord, according to your word and your truth tonight. Lord, that our hearts would be open, that your truth would speak louder—Lord—than just my words alone, that your Spirit, God, would ring true in the hearts of your people, that we would be equipped to live for you in these last days. And we give you glory for all that you're going to do, in Jesus' mighty name. God's people would say, amen.

    Let's begin with that thought: love must be sincere. In the world we live in, Pastor Dave preached on Sunday morning that we are living in crazy times—that we have come to find ourselves in a world that truly, the Bible predicted, has come true—that evil has become good and good has become evil. And while things have been tempered in the last few years, still we are living in a time where morality has been flipped on its head.

    And we are living in a time where morality has been flipped on its head—the world that lives in debauchery and in sexual deviancy. So many people not only demand to be accepted as they are, but if you as a believer do not celebrate with them, often it is viewed as rejection or hatred or phobia of some kind.

    How many have heard the slander? "The church is just homophobic" or "transphobic" or "we are afraid of a lot of things." Well, I'm here to declare tonight: we are not afraid. We are not afraid. God did not give us a spirit of fear.

    And we are here tonight not to make enemies, but to show the true love of God. And I want to encourage you tonight to receive what the word of God says. The first sentence in this scripture is these words: "Love must be sincere." Say the word sincere. That means that love cannot be hypocritical.

    Now, love includes acceptance, right? If you don't accept me, then I might link that to maybe you don't love me. Parents accept their newborn child, but there are some things that are unacceptable. Is that right? A good parent is going to mark out and notice and begin training very early on—that, yes, I love and accept this little life in my house, but there are some things that are unacceptable.

    Even as soon as a child is brought home, one of the first things we do is start cleansing and washing and changing dirty diapers. You know who doesn't change dirty diapers? Bad parents. If you're a bad parent, you don't care when your kid is doing something unacceptable. But good parents—they care. Because I love you, because I don't want you to have a rash, because I don't want my house to stink to high heaven, I am going to do away with the things that are unacceptable.

    Very early on, we start changing diapers right away. And then, not only do we change dirty diapers, but we begin to train—how do you use the potty on your own? So that eventually, when we have to change the dirty diapers, you can make the dirty smells on your own time. That is one of the very first things we begin doing.

    In addition to that, we begin training character. This is why, as a parent, you have to learn the word "no." I heard an amen. You have to learn the word "no." The word "no" is a powerful word. It is drawing a line in the sand, and you begin to train your child very early on—what is acceptable and what is not acceptable.

    And when you use the word "no," you know what the first, the first time you use the word "no," you know what you're going to get? You're going to get tears. You're going to get cries. You're going to get a blow-up. But if you hold the line, if you don't negotiate with the terrorist, if you stay on the "no," then your child will figure it out pretty quick—that if Dad, Mom says "no," they mean "no." That means that is not acceptable.

    And that only begins to be refined over time. You know, I would die for my daughters. I love them with all of my heart. That doesn't mean I put up with foul breath—brush your teeth. Right? Worse than that is foul attitudes. Don't have to say "amen." It's okay. We don't accept foul language that stinks up the environment of our home. We don't allow it.

    If we put on a show, we have a filter in our house to keep foul mouth speech out of our home. And so, the wicked world around us doesn't get this. The world around us believes that if you don't accept all of my behaviors, then that means you don't accept me as a person. And that is not true tonight.

    The truth is that our position should be the same as the Lord's. You know what the Lord's position is? I love you, but I hate what you're doing. And that is the position of the faithful Christian church.

    Now, there are many churches, many pastors, many Christians today who don't get that and feel pressured by the world, feel pressured by family members, loved ones, friends, co-workers who are living in sin and making a demand: "If you love me, you have to accept all the things I'm doing." And many Christians, unfortunately, have been swayed by that.

    But the truth is, we can love the sinner without loving, embracing, and celebrating their sins.

    Spurgeon said it like this: "He who winks at sin, makes light of it, or excuses it under the name of charity, is no friend to the sinner." If you think you're going to change somebody by loving them in their sin, it's not going to help. That is the kind of love that Paul is not talking about.

    Paul is talking about a love that must be sincere, a love that must be honest, a love that must not be hypocritical. Love will demand and defend the humanity of every person.

    And so tonight, when we look at people who are in their sin, you know who we see? We see our previous selves. We can still value people. We can still love them the way God loves every sinner. And we should. We should give value to people because what? They were made in God's image just like you were.

    And we have value even with people who dye their hair and pierce their face and all kinds of crazy things, right? But we can identify because they were made in God's image just like we were.

    So every member of the LGBTQ+ community, every member of that spectrum of different people out there, they are made in the image of God. They have value and worth. And I am convinced, beloved, I am convinced that the next revival to go across the land is going to be among that people group.

    I am convinced that just like the hippies back in the late 60s and early 70s—just like that was an outcast group of people from most of society—and they began getting saved in droves, millions and millions of people. Some churches couldn't take it. Some churches couldn't accept what God was doing in the hippies. They missed the wave of revival.

    Our fellowship, Pastor Mitchell, saw those hippies getting saved and said, "There's potential with their long hair and their long beards and their guitars and their no shoes and their no jobs." And God started saving them. And Pastor Mitchell said, "I can use that."

    Now, I'm preaching this message tonight because we can't—**not** wink at the sin, but we must value the sinner.

    Shame on anyone who professes to be a Christian but gives the impression through word or action that God doesn't love people who aren't like you. Jesus died for such as these.

    So our love must be sincere. It is because I love my children that I tell them the truth, even if it hurts sometimes. And if you are a child of God, you know, sometimes God will say things to you that have a sting to it. The truth will set you free, but it will often hurt.

    That's a mark of someone who loves you, who can speak truth into your life—even when it hurts. That if we love a Christian brother who is thinking about divorcing his wife, or a Christian sister thinking about divorcing her husband, that we are called as believers to say, "Excuse me, check the scriptures before you go through with that. Let's really examine this."

    If I love my brothers, then I want to see restoration. We don't just tolerate wickedness in our midst.

    The word love in our scripture, when it says "love must be sincere," this is no less than the very same kind of love that God demonstrates toward you. It's called agape. It is the self-sacrificial, unending love of God that is willing to go to regions. It is the love of the Father that, when he sees the son returning home, doesn't think about the past but overwhelms him with incredible love.

    That's agape. How many have received the agape love of God? Even when you don't deserve it, especially when you don't deserve it.

    And so, the love that Paul commands to his church—remember, he's speaking to a church that is centered in the city of Rome, filled with pagan practices, filled with pagan temples, with false gods and prostitution—and he's saying to God's people in that place, your love for them should be the same as God's love for you.

    But he says that love... love must be sincere. In the New King James, the translation is "love must be without hypocrisy." And that means that I don't just have an appearance of love. I don't just say the words of love, but I'm willing to demonstrate.

    See, we think sometimes of love as what Hollywood portrays—as lovey-dovey or romantic comedies. We think of flowers and rose petals and romance. But that's not what agape is.

    Agape is willingness to go to great lengths to help somebody else. Agape is what you feel for those that you would die for. It can't be faked. It has to be genuine.

    True love requires honesty. Warren Wiersbe said that "truth without love is brutality, and love without truth is hypocrisy." And so, for the Christian to say, "I love my homosexual brother," that is love without truth. It's insincere.

    We can say, "I love my brother," and that is a homosexual, but I do not love his homosexuality. I actually hate it. And that's where we're going next.

    Because the truth is, about the world we're living in, that we are called to make a judgment against sin. The church is supposed to be in opposition, an embassy, an outpost for righteousness in this broken and lost world.

    Listen to Romans chapter 1, verse 22: Paul says, speaking about this broken world, "Professing to be wise, they became fools. They changed the glory of the incorruptible God into an image made like corruptible man."

    And verse 24: "Therefore, God also gave them up to uncleanness, in the lusts of their hearts, to dishonor their bodies among themselves, who exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen."

    "For this reason, God gave them up to vile passions: for women exchanged the natural use for what is against nature. Likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust for one another, men with men, committing what is shameful, and receiving in themselves the penalty of their error which was due."

    "And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a debased mind to do those things which are not fitting."

    Now, that whole chapter—that's still in my Bible. I would dare venture to say that that chapter has not been read in many Christian churches in the last 5, 10, 15, 20 years. It's one that some Christians wish they could tear out and hope that it never came back.

    Here's my question about that tonight: does God love those people? Did Jesus die for those people? He did. But because God's love is sincere, he cannot endure their sin, and he gives them over to a debased mind.

    Think of this for a moment: God will drag no one to heaven kicking and screaming. If people want to live in sin, God is going to let them. And you can't "nice" somebody into righteousness. You can't be nicer than God.

    Some Christians think they can. If I'm just nice, if I just placate, if I just show people kindness—and look, I'm all about kindness—that's a gift of the Holy Spirit, right? So we don't go out of our way to be mean or judgmental.

    But when it comes to the issues of sin, we must reflect the heart of God, the love of God, which is accepting but not of sin.

    Ephesians 5:5: "For you know that no fornicator, unclean person, or covetous man, who is an idolater, has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God."

    Revelation 21:8: "But the cowardly, unbelieving, abominable, murderers, sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars shall have their part in the lake which burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death."

    Now, think for a moment: how can I claim that I love somebody if I don't tell them about that? If I don't warn them? If you continue in your sin, there is judgment ahead. That would be wrong of me if I truly care about somebody—to not tell them the truth.

    John Stott says that "the gospel is not a call to self-affirmation but a call to self-denial." We are called to carry a cross, not to construct a pedestal.

    This is what many churches intend to do—to make the goal of salvation easier so that more can come in. That's not what God does, and that's not what we should do.

    What should we do about evil tonight? This is not foreign. This is not strange—this is Bible. Our scripture says, "Love must be sincere." What does that mean? It means that we should—

    The next phrase: "hate what is evil." Say the word hate. Hey, strong word, right? Hate what is evil.

    I looked it up in the Greek. You know what it means? It means hate—an intense aversion.

    See, the problem is that when we don't hate what is evil, when we endure what is evil, when we are apathetic about evil around us—that's not right. That's what leads to the situation I preached about a couple of weeks ago with the guy Michael Tate from the band Newsboys.

    It's because there were Christians around him that did not hate the evil that he himself did not hate—that was happening in his midst. It's what happened in the church in Corinth, in chapter 5, where there was an affair happening between a man and his mother-in-law. And the church didn't think about, "Hey, maybe there's a problem here." They were just happily going along—"Let's go on outreach, let's sing another worship song, let's have a Bible study."

    You can't have a Bible study when there's evil in the midst. He says, "You're puffed up. You should have been mourning, and this deed should have been taken away from you."

    It's like if you went to a restaurant and you ordered a bowl of soup, and out the waiter came and set it in front of you, and right there, staring back at you from your bowl of soup was a little cockroach—a little cucaracha. Are you going to be okay with that? Are you going to leave a one-star review on Google? You're not going to come back to that place because there is so—that shouldn't be there in your soup.

    Can I tell you, when sin is tolerated in the church, it's worse than a cockroach in your soup. It's far worse.

    True love demands that we hate evil. Did you hear what I said? True love demands that we must hate. It is the strongest word that the Greek has to offer. It means to detest utterly—not just to merely dislike.

    It's a general term for evil tied to moral corruption. Love does not mean indifference. Love does not mean tolerance when it comes to sin. Love means we love what God loves and we hate what God hates.

    God does hate a few things. Is that in your theology tonight? Because it's in the word.

    1 Corinthians 13:5: "Love does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, and thinks no evil. It does not rejoice in iniquity but rejoices in the truth."

    True love does not participate in the darkness of this world. Listen: Ephesians 5:8: "For you were once in darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light, for the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness, righteousness, and truth. Finding out what is acceptable to the Lord, and have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather expose them."

    "It is shameful even to speak of those things which are done by them in secret. But all things that are exposed are made manifest by the light, for whatever makes manifest is light. Therefore, he says, 'Awake, you sleep; arise from the dead, and Christ will give you light.'"

    Now, I've been speaking tonight mostly around the issue of homosexuality and sexual sin, but that's only one category of evil that is tolerated in the house of God. Many times, unfortunately, there's all kinds of sin that have crept in and have not been hated.

    There is greed, pride, ego, false religion, false doctrine. There are wolves who parade in sheep's clothing. You know what wolves do? They like to eat the sheep. They like to devour the sheep. But when they dress up like a sheep, it makes it easier for them to find lunch.

    And unfortunately, the church has endured many of these. We are not called to endure, but to bring judgment. We hate what is evil.

    But finally tonight, we also must cling to what is good. And I would say that these two go together. If all we do is hate evil, you know what we become? We become angry.

    But that's not the end of Paul's message. He says, "Hate what is evil, but also cling to what is good." The word in Greek is koleo. Think of collagen. It means to glue, to cleave, to join closely.

    It's the same word that Jesus used about marriage in Matthew 19. Cling. Be married to what is good. Be united to the things in this life that are intrinsically good—good in nature and good in effect.

    The believer then, we as God's people, are not called to float between good and evil. But to be glued, to be bonded to what is excellent, to what is pure, to what is lovely, to what is true.

    True love cannot support and celebrate wickedness. Rather, what we are called to do is hold fast to what is good. And I want to tell you, this is not as easy as it sounds. Because in order to reject evil and cling to what is good, that means we have to make judgments about what is good and what is evil.

    You have to make judgments about words that are spoken—words that are good and words that are evil. How many ever had somebody puke all over you one time with their words? Maybe when your kids were tiny. That one too. I remember when Jaylee was born, I had little vomit stains on this shoulder.

    But, you know, people do that with their words. Some people come around to you, and all they want to do is backtalk, gossip. All they want to do is talk bad about everybody and their mama. You know, as Christians, yeah, there's probably a time for us to have a listening ear of concern. Let some people vent a little bit.

    But you know what? You shouldn't let people puke all over you. Save that for somebody else. I don't need that in my head, please. If you would think of it as vomit, then that would help you. Say, "I don't want to listen to evil speech." Maybe we should pray about it. Let's take it to the Lord.

    Let's focus on what's good. You know, somebody at work maybe begins telling dirty jokes or has a television with inappropriate content. Man, I have been in situations—I was at the barbershop one time. I was at the barbershop getting my hair cut.

    And up on the screen, they're showing some movie. And right in the middle of this movie is like an all-out perversion sex scene—worse than rated R. I'm looking around this barbershop. There's children here. And I'm sitting there getting my hair cut. You know, I don't want to be the odd guy out, the weird one.

    But I'm watching this. I'm trying not to watch this. And there's skin up there on the TV screen. And I'm like, "Hey, does anybody else see this?" And so I tell the guy, "Hey, can you change the channel? Is there another? Can we put on anything else than that right now?"

    And at the risk of me being the weird one, being the preacher guy, you know, I've got a testimony to uphold. People there know that I'm a preacher. Is the preacher going to sit there and watch the nude scene and not say anything? God forbid.

    We have to hate what is evil and cling to what is good. You don't have to turn it off. Put on the news. Put on the weather. Put on the sports. I don't care. But don't be showing nipples off in the middle of the day. Seriously. What's wrong with you?

    Fathers with their sons, mothers with their daughters—running around. The culture wants to pull you off of this. Wants you to put up with evil and not cling to what is good.

    A.W. Tozer said that we must learn to measure our comfort not by the world's standards, but by the rewards of heaven. Jesus modeled this, didn't he? Jesus loved sinners. His most faithful followers were the most notorious sinners. They were people like Mary Magdalene—she was a prostitute and filled with demons.

    They were Matthew, the tax collector, who became an apostle. Many, many of those who follow Jesus were notorious sinners. But you know what Jesus did not allow? He did not allow them to keep sinning.

    If you're going to follow me, it means you're going to change. To the woman caught in the act of adultery, Jesus showed the most mercy of anybody else, right? The crowd of Pharisees brought her to Jesus and said, "We caught her in the very act of adultery. The law says, kill her. What do you say, Jesus?"

    Jesus dissipated the crowd by saying, "The one who is without sin should cast the first stone." Now, who's the only person there that didn't have any sin? It was Jesus. Did Jesus have the right to stone her to death? Would he have been right to do so? According to the law, yes.

    But when Jesus comes to that woman, he says, "Where are your accusers?" They all dropped their stones and walked away. And Jesus said, "Neither do I condemn you."

    Now, most of the church world is right there. "I don't condemn you, dear. Come and be accepted with the brethren." Thank God. But Jesus didn't stop, did he? He finished the statement. What was the rest of that? "Neither do I condemn you. Go and sin no more."

    Stop sinning. Stop acting like a fool. Stop inviting God's judgment. If you're going to do what's right, it means you have to stop sinning. The church world, the religious world—too many Christians have become casual about sin.

    Tim Keller said, "Jesus loves us too much to leave us in our sin."

    Matthew 9:10: "Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. Go learn what this means: I desire mercy, not sacrifice; for I came not to call the righteous, but sinners."

    The most loving person who ever lived was Jesus, but he never once affirmed people in their sins. He called them to turn from sin, to live new lives, to be born again in Christ. You know why? Because when you're born again, you get a new nature—a new nature that no longer desires sin—a Holy Spirit that gives us resurrection, life, and power to be free from sin.

    Thank God. We don't have to live like that anymore.

    Sometimes we just need to be reminded of some simple spiritual truths. Love—true love—has to be honest. It hates evil, and it clings to what is good. This is the model that God gave us. And this should reflect our lives in a broken and a lost world.

    I'm not saying it's easy, certainly not easy, but it is possible. And it is our call tonight.

    Let's bow our heads. We close our eyes for just a moment. As we bring this service to a close, I simply want to reiterate tonight the love—the unending love of God. The love of God is sacrificial. The love of God is what sent Jesus to the cross. It is the love of God that compelled Christ to die for you because without his death, without his sacrifice, we would never be saved. Our sins would never be forgiven.

    It is the love of God that leads us to salvation. And maybe you've come here tonight, and you realize that your sin is not something to wink at. Your sin, your rebellion against God, is not something to tolerate, to play with.

    Sin is a killer, and it will destroy you if you allow it to continue. I have good news for you tonight: sin can be defeated. It has been defeated. The power of sin was defeated at the cross of Calvary. The blood of Jesus can wash away every stain.

    All your brokenness, all of your history—the blood of Jesus. Oh, he is here by his Spirit. Spirit, tonight, he wants to wash and cleanse someone from the stains of their sins. Before you leave this place, you can be a new creation in Christ. Old things can pass away. Everything can become new.

    You can have a new nature, as I mentioned, in Christ—a nature that no longer wants to rebel against God, but the kind of nature that wants to live for him, to live clean, to pursue holiness.

    And I want to tell you that life is an exciting, abundant, fulfilling life. The life of pursuing sin is empty because it always leaves you needing more. It's like a drug. You know, the drug dealers—they always give the first one for free. Why? Because they know the first one is not going to fulfill. You're going to come back for more.

    The devil knows that too. He tempts us into sin because he knows that sin will never fulfill you. Your lust, your pride, your greed, your anger—they will never leave you feeling satisfied. But Jesus, if you will allow him to cleanse you of sin, if you'll believe in your heart and turn from your sin, trusting in Jesus, you'll repent tonight, then the Bible says that we can live a life that is ultimately fulfilling.

    You can have eternal life—more than you ever asked for, more than you could ever imagine. If you would simply turn from sin, I'm not saying all of your problems will be solved, but I am saying your sins will be forgiven.

    And if you need that before you leave here tonight, I want to pray with you. Would you just lift up a hand—somebody here being honest with the Lord? Love must be sincere. It's because I love you. It's because the Lord loves you that he has to tell you: your sin is destroying you. But you can turn from sin today and trust in Jesus.

    And if you do, there is a new life with God waiting for you. Yes, no longer will he condemn us, but we have to stop sinning. Is that someone here tonight? God's dealing with you. The Spirit of God is convicting you. And before you leave this place, you need a new life in Christ.

    Let me see a hand quickly. You lift it up—I want to pray with you. Anybody here unsaved or backslidden in your heart—you need Jesus to forgive you. Is that anyone here? Quickly, quickly tonight. Thank you.

    Then I want to pray for believers. At this altar, we're going to open up this altar as a place where God's going to deal with us. And I want to pray for some specific things tonight.

    There are Christians here that you are cowering in the face of what the world is demanding. Maybe you have friends, loved ones, family members—even, that are living alternate lifestyles, alternate moralities—and they have sway over you. They have forced you. You feel manipulated tonight because they are making demands.

    "If you don't accept me how I am, then that means you don't care about me. You don't love me." Or they're threatening, "If you speak bad about my lifestyle, then I'm going to cut you off and I'm not going to have a relationship with you anymore."

    It's a high price to pay for righteousness. And so, there are those here tonight, you need courage to hate what is evil and to cling to what is good.

    There are those that are tolerating evil, maybe subconsciously, but you've grown comfortable with sin in your life. There are areas of rebellion—you’re saved, but there's an area of your heart where Jesus has not touched yet. And it's time to bring that evil. I'm not going to tolerate it. I'm not going to play with it. I'm not going to continue. Lord, you need to convict me and change me in this area of my life.

    If those are you tonight, you say, "Lord, I want to, I want to fulfill that command. I want to hate what is evil and cling to what is good. I need my love for God to be honest and sincere."

    If those describe you, if you just need to pray this evening at this altar, I want to open it up.

    Let's stand up to our feet. We're going to bring this service to a close, but let's come and ask God to transform our minds and our hearts on this issue.

    Lord, I don't want to think the way the world thinks about evil. I want to think, God, according to your word and your way. Amen.

    We're going to worship God together, but if you need prayer, would you come? Would you come join us for a few moments as we pray and lift up our hearts to the Lord?

    Let's begin to cry out to the living God. Listen, it's good to be nice to people. It's good to be kind, but not at the expense of truth and righteousness.

    Oh, church, let's begin to cry out to the Lord for a few moments. Oh, we need courage tonight. We need courage. Oh, we need courage. Oh, we need courage. Oh, we need courage. Oh, we need courage. Thank you.

    We need courage and strength. Oh, Lord, help us tonight to speak the truth and speak it in love. Oh, we thank you, Lord, for your Spirit. Let's cry out to the living God. You pray for a few moments here at this altar.

    I want to say one last thing tonight, and that is simply this: that righteous living—right living and doing right—there's a cost involved. And yeah, you got to count the cost. We don't enter into this without an expectation that to do right, to live right, to speak right, it is going to have a cost.

    You're going to pay a price—first of all, in your flesh. You got to be able to judge evil in you, right? I didn't get any amens—that's called crucifying the flesh. And even Jesus sweat great drops of blood as he considered the price he was about to pay to judge sin.

    And listen, when we don't hate evil, what we're doing is we're devaluing the sacrifice of Jesus himself. We're saying it wasn't that important. Why did Jesus have to die? Because sin is evil.

    So it begins with looking at me—the pursuit of holiness. Sanctification is our first and primary ministry. Lord, help me judge the evil that I see in the mirror.

    But then also, when it comes to living in this broken world, you have family members who love you, and you love them, but they're involved in evil. And you can't tolerate that.

    There are family traditions that get passed down. In my family, there was a tradition of divorce—unfortunately—started with my great-grandparents, then grandparents, then parents. And you know, sometimes that gets awkward, right? On Thanksgiving, we've got to visit four different places.

    Lord, help us. And we have to make a stand. We have to cling to what is good. And I love you, but I don't agree with what happened. And so I don't want to talk too much tonight. I want to minister in the Holy Spirit. And I believe that there's people here that the one thing you need more than anything else is courage.

    God does not want us to be powerless, but to have the strength and the courage of our convictions. Let's pray together. Let's lift up our hands. And I just want to lead you in a prayer tonight. You say these words with me:

    "God in heaven, thank you for the blood of Jesus that washes away every stain of sin. And I thank you for making me your child by the blood. I'm adopted into your family. And now, Lord, you've called me to be your ambassador, to be your representative in this broken world.

    There are people that care about me, and I care about them, but I've been tolerating some evil. I'm asking you now: give me clarity to speak truth and speak it in love. Let me reflect your heart that loves the sinner but hates the sin. Don't let me get that mixed up. Don't let me blur the lines.

    But Lord, I thank you for the opportunity to stand for righteousness. Give me the strength and the courage in the Holy Spirit, in Jesus' mighty name. Amen."

    Come on, let's give him praise one more time. God, we need you. Oh, we thank you. We praise you tonight. Oh, God, we need you desperately, God. We need you.

    As I was praying, I was thinking about Acts, the book of Acts, in chapters 7 and 8, and that whole account where Stephen is called upon to preach to the Pharisees—that would be pretty tough. He's preaching against their traditions. He said, "You, you, you hard-hearted people, you are the ones who killed the prophets, and the blood of Jesus is on your hands."

    No wonder they killed him. There was a price to pay, but he was speaking the truth, and he was speaking it not because he hated them, but because he loved God—and ultimately, he loved them, didn't he? Somebody had to tell them the truth.

    And I want to encourage you tonight. Yeah, maybe this is a bit of a heavy message, but really what God wants is freedom. The truth—Jesus said, "The truth will make you free."

    And don't you want your family members to be free? Don't you want your coworkers or your classmates? Sometimes you are the only Christian they know. You're the only Bible they read. It could be you're the only person praying for them.

    And it is a critical thing that God's people would step into that role of being a speaker of truth. What do we do when we tolerate sin? We just make it last longer. We just make more room for it.

    I challenge you and I charge you tonight: let us be people of light, people of salt. Oh, salt—sometimes a little irritating, but it brings healing.

    And I am believing God tonight that there are some relationships right now—there are some relationships that need healing in Jesus' name. I feel a witness right now in my spirit. I want to pray specifically for broken relationships.

    And I believe there's somebody here that you have stood for truth, and there is a sore area in your life because of that. There is a broken relationship because you did speak, and maybe you didn't do it all correctly. But God wants you to know: He can heal that. He can use it for His kingdom.

    I just want to pray for that need quickly tonight.

    Lord, I thank you for people of righteousness who are in love with your truth and who have spoken your truth in love to others, but it has led to a broken relationship. There are people here who are estranged from loved ones, Lord, and that brings pain to our hearts.

    But Lord, it also brings pain to your heart because you are a God of reconciliation and healing. But that healing must be done correctly—not through toleration of sin, not through winking or excusing behavior that will bring judgment.

    But Lord, I pray tonight for supernatural, miraculous reconciliation—reconciliation from family members and friends. That you would bring that to pass, not through the bending of righteousness, but through the softness of heart and humility—that people would come to the knowledge of Christ, turn from sin, trust in you, and come back and make those relationships right again.

    That there would be prodigals who return. Oh, that there would be those living in uncleanness and sin, but Lord, we are praying tonight and agreeing together—that they would come to the end of the enjoyment of that sin. They would look into that pigpen and see the mess that has been made, and they would turn back to the Father's heart tonight. They would come running in Jesus' name.

    We pray, God, for this generation that is lost in sexual sin, lost in trans ideology, lost in homosexual desires. Lord, we pray for revival—that you open the heart of your church to receive those who are so confused and so bound. Lord, that they would fill our congregation, that they would be saved and transformed, and become new creations in Christ.

    And that we would rejoice with them, and that we would receive them the same way that the church in the book of Acts received—the apostle Paul, when he was still Saul, the Christian killer. Oh, God, I pray the Spirit of the living God would give us courage and conviction in Jesus' name. Amen.

    Let's give him praise one more time. Lord, we thank you. Thank you, Jesus. Hallelujah. Amen. Thank you tonight. We appreciate you being here. Amen.

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Written with Love by Pastor Adam Dragoon

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Adam Dragoon
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