Let's open tonight's service
with hymn number 53 in your hardback timbrel, number 53. Let's all
stand together. Number 53. you How sweet the name of Jesus sounds
in a believer's ear. It soothes his sorrows, heals
his wounds, and drives away his fear. Dear name the rock on which
I build my shield and hiding place. My never failing treasure
filled with boundless stores of grace. Jesus, my shepherd, brother,
friend, my prophet, priest, and king, my Lord, my life, my way,
my end, accept the praise I bring. Weak is the effort of my heart,
and cold my warmest thought. But when I see thee as thou art,
I'll praise thee as I ought. ? Till then I would thy love
proclaim ? ? With every fleeting breath ? ? And may the music
of thy name ? ? Refresh my soul in death ? Please be seated. Good evening. We're going to
be in 1 Corinthians chapter 13 for our scripture reading tonight.
1 Corinthians 13, very, very familiar passage. Kaylee and Seth have their baby
today, a little afternoon. So August Phoenix, right? Congratulations, Pam. How many
does this make now? Five. All right. They're doing well. Also, I spoke with Angus this
afternoon, and he is home. He was gonna go to Kentucky with
Todd and Lynn, but he left here on Monday morning and flew back
to Australia, so he wanted me to express to you his love and
his sorrow for not being able to be here with us. He was so
looking forward to being with everybody, but Lord does what's right and what's
best, and he knows that, so. He said that the worst thing
he has now is a bad cough, but I think he had pretty much full-blown
flu. He was pretty sick, but he's
doing better now. All right, you have your Bibles
open to 1 Corinthians chapter 13. Let's just read the first
few verses, beginning at verse 1. Though I speak with the tongues
of men and angels and have not charity, I am become a sounding
brass or a tinkling cymbal. And though I have the gift of
prophecy and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and though
I have all faith so that I could remove mountains and have not
charity, I am nothing. And though I bestow all my goods
to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned and
have not charity, it profiteth me nothing." The Lord's telling
us that if we could speak eloquently in every language, answer all
questions and make all arguments accurate doctrinally, and do
it while rejecting all material wealth and taking bow poverty
and ultimately give your life as a martyr. If you did all of
that without love, without love, you'd be nothing. Love is the principle thing. Let's pray together. Our Heavenly Father, We pray that you would send your
spirit and power and that you would shed abroad in our hearts
the love of Christ. Lord, that you would speak hope
and comfort to your people, knowing that it is your love that sent
your son to die for us and to save us. Lord, we can only understand a small
portion of your infinite love. Lord, we ask that you would cause
us to believe what you've revealed in your word about your love. and that we would see the full
demonstration of it in the sacrifice that the Lord Jesus made in laying
down his life. Lord, open your word, speak to
our hearts and comfort us in Christ. Lord, we thank you for the miracle
of life. Thank you for little Austin,
August, Lord, we pray for your hand of strength to be upon him
and give Kaylee recovery and or just for the rejoicing of
seeing the miracle of life that we know comes from you. We're
thankful we ask it in Christ's name. Amen. Number 352, let's all stand together
again, 352. Jesus lover of my soul, let me
to thy bosom fly. While the nearer waters roll,
While the tempest still is high, Hide me, O my Savior, hide, Till
the storm of life is past, Safe into the haven guide, O receive
my soul at last. Other refuge have I none, hangs
my helpless soul on thee. Levi, leave me not alone, still
support and comfort me. All my trust on thee is stayed,
all my help from thee I bring. Cover my defenseless head with
the shadow of thy wing. ? Thou, O Christ, art all I want
? ? More than all in thee I find ? ? Raise the fallen, cheer the
faint ? ? Heal the sick and lead the blind ? ? Just and holy is
thy name ? I am all unrighteousness. False and full of sin I am. Thou art full of truth and grace. ? Plenteous grace with thee is
found ? ? Grace to cover all my sin ? ? Let the healing streams
abound ? ? Make and keep me pure within ? ? Thou of life the fountain
art ? ? Freely let me take of thee ? ? Spring thou up within
my heart ? ? Rise to all eternity ? Please be seated. All right, let's open our Bibles
to the 11th chapter of John, John chapter 11. Very familiar story. Begins in verse 1 and goes all
the way through to verse 46 and I think maybe for the next several
Wednesday nights we'll stay in this miracle. But for tonight,
I want us to just look at the first three verses of John chapter
11. And I've titled this message,
He Whom Thou Lovest is Sick. He Whom Thou Lovest is Sick. Verse one, now a certain man
was sick named Lazarus of Bethany, the town of Mary
and her sister Martha. It was that Mary which anointed
the Lord with ointment and wiped his feet with her hair, whose
brother Lazarus was sick. Therefore, his sisters sent unto
him, saying, Lord, behold, he whom thou lovest is sick. The first thing we notice in
this petition that Mary and Martha send to the Lord is that asking
for the Lord's help was based completely on the Lord's love
for Lazarus. Mary and Martha could have sent
to the Lord and said, the one, our brother who loves you, you
know he loves you, and he did, is sick. They could have said, they could
have pled for the Lord's help based on the fact that Lazarus
had been so faithful. And we find him and Mary and
Martha several times in the Gospels. Bethany is just a few miles outside
of the city of Jerusalem, on the Mount of Olives, and the
Lord would often retire there with the disciples, and Mary
and Martha and Lazarus would take care of all of them. And
could have very easily said, you know, Lord, he's been so
faithful and so generous, and he's sick. He had been faithful and he had
been generous, but they did not use that as the ground of their
petition. They could have said, Lazarus,
who has trusted you and believed in you is sick. No, the only reason that they
gave for the Lord to help them was the Lord's love for Lazarus. And we see in that our own petitions
every time that we go before the Lord for whatever it might
be. The ground of our hope that he will help is never based on
anything that we've done. It's based on what's in him.
Our plea for the Lord's mercy is all in him. It's in his covenant
promises. It is in his faithfulness. It
is in his mercy. It is in his love and it is in
his grace. And it's based upon his work.
We would never dare come before God and say, but Lord, we've
done many wonderful works in thy name. Those who are cast from his presence
in the day of judgment bring that plea. All of our petitions for salvation
and for daily sustenance and help in whatever problems we
have must be based on who he is and what he's done. The second thing I notice in
this prayer, and it is a prayer, Lord, behold, he whom thou lovest
is sick, is that they did not presume to tell the Lord what
to do. They just laid out their need. They didn't know the solution.
They knew what the problem was. And they knew who held the solution. They knew who was the solution,
Lord. They just, what a comfort it is for us to be able to lay
out our petitions before God, believing that whatever he does
is right, and not only right, but best. We know the questions,
but we don't know the answers. We know the problem, but we don't
know the solution. Might we, in faith, trust him
to provide in whatever way he sees fit? The third thing we see in this
story is that Lazarus is a picture of all of us. Now, there are
two Lazarus mentioned in the Bible. The other one, you remember
the rich man and Lazarus? And in that story, Lazarus was
a poor beggar that the dogs licked his wounds. What a contrast between
the Lazarus that's mentioned in Luke chapter 16, who ends
up in the bosom of Abraham, having received his reward, and this Lazarus who on all accounts
given was not poor at all, he was a man of means and yet his
name means whom God helps and their needs were the same even
though their physical condition was drastically different The
spiritual needs that both of these Lazarus had was the same. And so it is with each of us.
It doesn't matter our circumstances. Doesn't matter where we come
from. Doesn't matter what we've done or what we haven't done.
Our need is the same. That God would help us. That he would be our help in
our time of need. John, under the inspiration of the
Holy Spirit, writes his gospel around seven miracles. The first one was the miracle
of changing the water into wine at the Feast of Canaan. And progressively,
he reveals more and more of the glory of Christ through each
of the miracles that he has been led to give us in his gospel. He concludes his gospel with
many other works did Jesus that are not recorded in this book
but these have been recorded in order that you might believe
that Jesus is the Christ and that believing you might have
life on his name. So the Holy Spirit gives us these seven specific
miracles progressively Until we get to this one, Lazarus. He's gonna die from this sickness
and he's gonna spend four days until his body begins to stink
and decay. And then the Lord's going to
miraculously raise him from the dead. Not only does the Holy
Spirit lead John to use seven miracles to write his gospel,
but he also leads him to use seven IMs. And the last of the
seven IMs is here in, well, it's not the last one actually, but
one of the IMs that the Lord gives us of the Lord Jesus is
here in this chapter. I am the resurrection and the
life. There's a verse in the book of
Proverbs chapter four, verse 18, that says the path of the
just is as a shining light that shineth more and more unto the
perfect day. Now what the Lord is telling
us is that the revelation of Christ is progressive. And we
see that in our own lives. As we grow in grace and grow
in the knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ, we learn so much
more about him and we know him so much better as he reveals
more of himself to us. The path of the just. is as a
shining light that shineth more and more unto the perfect day,
that perfect day when we'll see him in the fullness of his glory
and be made like him. We look through a glass darkly
now, don't we? But then face to face, face to
face. Four points I'd like to try to
make quickly. And I'm going to mention them
and then we'll take them in reverse order. The first point is that
love, or the last point, is that love is the meat of the gospel.
The third point is that love is the first cause, I mean, is
the fulfillment of the law. The second point is that love
is the first cause of our salvation and the first point is that love
is the nature of God. Love is the very nature of God. Turn with me to 1 John chapter
4. 1 John chapter 4. And we'll begin reading in verse
seven. The one whom thou lovest is sick. The Lord said, the well need
not a physician, but them that are sick. I came not to call
the righteous, but sinners to repentance. This Lazarus represents
the condition that we're in because of our sin and the need that we have for
him to do for us what he did for Lazarus. So the question
is, what reason do I have to hope that the Lord might do for
me what he did for Lazarus? Well, it's his very nature. Love
is his very nature. You know, there are attributes
of God, there are characteristics of God, there are actions of
God and then there's the nature of God, the very nature. And
here the Lord gives us one of those things that he reveals
as the essence of his nature. In 1 John chapter 4 verse 7,
Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God. And everyone that loveth is born
of God and knoweth God, and he that loveth not knoweth not God,
for God is love. God is love. And this was manifested the love
of God toward us because that God sent his only begotten son
into the world that we might live through him. Hearing his
love, not that we love God, we don't measure the nature of God's
love based on the nature of our love. Our love is so inconsistent. The only consistent thing about
our love is the love that we have for ourselves. Otherwise, our love is so fickle,
isn't it? We didn't read on in 1 Corinthians
chapter 13, but the definition that God gives of love in 1 Corinthians
chapter 13, that's every believer's desire that their love might
look like that. But that's a picture of God's
love. It's a picture of His love. Hearing is love, not that we
love God, but that he loved us and what's the proof of that
love? What's the greatest evidence of that love? And gave his only
begotten son as a propitiation for our sins. God so loved that
he gave. There's the evidence of God's
love. Beloved, if God so loved us,
we ought also to love one another. Verse 11, no man has seen God
at any time. If we love one another, God dwelleth
in us and his love is perfected in us. The evidence of God's
love is the love that he puts into his children's hearts for
one another. We have a love for one another
that we can't have for those outside of Christ. whereby know we that we dwell
in him and he in us because he has given us his spirit. This
fellowship of the spirit that we have in Christ. We can't have
that with a non-believer. Only believers that have the
spirit of God are able to fellowship in this kind of love. And we
have seen and do testify that the father sent the son to be
the savior of the world. Whosoever shall confess that
Jesus is the Son of God, God dwelleth in him, and he in God. And we have known and believed
the love that God hath to us. God is love. Here's the second
time that the Lord has told us about the essence of his nature. God is love, and he that dwelleth
in love dwelleth in God, and God in him. Herein is our love made perfect,
that we may have boldness in the day of judgment because as
he is, so are we in this world. We saw that Sunday when the heart
is turned to Christ and the veil is removed and we look into that
mirror and we see the reflection of his glory and his glory has
changed our, the only way we can see ourselves as God sees
us is to look to Christ. And what we see in Christ is
what God sees in all of his people. This is our boldness in the day
of judgment. This is the hope that we're going
to be able to stand in the presence of a holy God. Verse 18. There is no fear in
love, but perfect love casteth out fear. God's love is the only
perfect love there is. Except we can't measure love
by the evidence of our love. We can't use it as a judgment
of state. God's love is perfect love. And the perfection of his love
is on full display at Calvary's cross. When the Lord Jesus laid
down his life, greater love hath no man than this, that he laid
down his life for his friends. But perfect love casteth out
fear. There's no fear of wrath, there's
no fear of judgment. This is what Mary and Martha
are saying, the one whom thou lovest is sick. The hope that
we have is not our love for you, but your love for us. Fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect
in love. We love him, yes, we do love
him. But we love him only because he first loved us, and our love
for him is so small in comparison to his infinite love for us. If a man say, I love God and
hated this brother, he is a liar. For he that loveth not his brother
whom he has seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen?
And this commandment have we from him. that he who loveth
God loveth his brother also. God is love. And the greatest evidence of
that is the cross God gave. And if there's any evidence of
love in our lives, it will be It will be giving. It'll be giving to God the praise
and the glory that He so rightly deserves in our worship. It'll
be, the Lord said, freely you have received. Freely you have
received, freely give. Freely give. He who was rich
for your sakes became poor that we through his poverty might
be made rich. The Lord Jesus laid down his glory and suffered the cross that we might
be made rich in his grace, able able to give to him, to give
to our brethren. This love that is at the very
nature of our God. Scripture says that the Lord
Jesus is our high priest who is able to be touched with the
weaknesses of our infirmities. His love is not just demonstrated
at the cross. His love is demonstrated in that
he suffered the contradiction of sinners and went through this
life and suffered all the things that you and I suffer that we
might be able to come to him with boldness knowing that he
is touched with the feelings of our infirmities. He's acquainted
with grief. He is our refuge and our strength.
He is a very present help in our time of need. The Lord tells us, when your
burden is heavy, come unto me, take my yoke upon you. Learn
of me, for my yoke is easy and my burden is light. We come boldly before the throne
of grace in order that we might obtain mercy and find grace to
help in our time of need. The one whom thou lovest is sick. Oh, let us never doubt the nature
of our God's love. His love is perfect. Perfect
love casteth out fear. What is it that causes us to
be slow in coming to the throne of grace? Is it not fear? Perfect love casteth out fear. Martha and Mary had no fear in
sending that message to the Lord Jesus and giving him that petition,
the one whom thou lovest is sick. Lord, we know that you love him.
We know that you'll provide whatever it is that he needs. You remember when Mary went to
the tomb and met the risen Lord there. And the Lord asked her,
woman, why weepest thou? And you might read that and think,
well, the Lord was rebuking her, but I don't think that was the
case at all. He was drawing her to himself
to bear her soul to him. to express to Him why it was
she was weeping. And so it is when we come before
God. Why are you afraid? What's wrong? Tell me. And it's
not a rebuke. It's the Lord encouraging His
children to express themselves to Him. all their weaknesses
and all their fears and all their sins in order that he might say to them what he said to Mary
at the tomb, Mary, Mary. He spoke her name and she fell
at his feet, all rubbed bone-eye and she clung to him, she didn't
want him to leave. The Lord Jesus said to her, don't
cling to me, Mary. And he wasn't rebuking her there
either. He was saying to her, don't depend
upon my physical presence for your comfort. I must go to my
father. And it's expedient for you that
I go away. For if I go not away, the comforter
will not come. But when the comforter comes,
when the comforter comes, he's gonna reveal me to you. so that
I will never leave you nor forsake you. What believers have post
Pentecost is so much better than what they had before Pentecost. You know, we think that the Lord,
that the disciples walked with the incarnate Lord. They saw him, they spoke with
him, they handled him. And yet the Lord told them, it's
going to be better for you after I go away. Because right now
you can only, you can only relate to me in time and in the little
bit of space that we have. But once I go to be with my father,
then I'll always be with you. The one whom thou lovest is sick. The nature of our God's love
is perfect love. Let us lay our petitions before
him. Lord, I'm sick. Lord, it's my
sickness that has caused all this. And just trust that his
love is a perfect love. We're reluctant to express ourselves
to someone that we're not sure loves us. But if someone loves
us, we can be open with him. No one loves us like he loves
us. And there's no one we can be open with like we can be open
with him. The second thing we see about
God's love is that his love, and turn with me to Jeremiah
chapter 31. Jeremiah chapter 31, that God's love is the first
cause of our salvation. Paul tells us in the book of
Romans, those whom he foreknew. Now that word to know is an intimate
knowledge. It's seen all the way back in
Genesis when Adam knew his wife and she conceived and brought
forth a child, a son. So, it's not just having, when
Paul says, they whom he foreknew, he's not just talking about cognitive
knowledge, he's talking about those whom God loved. That's
the first cause of our salvation. Them who he foreknew them he
did predestinate to be conformed into the image of his Son and
all that he did predestinate he called and all that he called
he justified and all that he justified he glorified. So we
see that the very first cause of our salvation is the love
of God. Before anything else it was his
love. Look in Jeremiah chapter 31 Verse three, the Lord hath appeared
of old unto me saying, yea, I have loved thee with an everlasting
love. Before redemption, before predestination,
before justification, well, we're using these terms before. In
God, time is eternity, but the Lord's telling us here, it was
my love. Yea, I have loved thee with an
everlasting love, therefore with loving kindness have I drawn
thee. I drew you to myself because I loved you. Turn with me to Romans chapter
8, Romans chapter 8. Look at verse 33. Who shall lay
anything to the charge of God's elect? It is God that justifieth. Who is he that condemneth? It
is Christ that died. Yea, rather, that is risen again,
who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession
for us. Who can bring a charge against
anyone that Christ died for? When the Lord Jesus said it is
finished, he fulfilled the law. He satisfied all of God's holy
justice. And the Lord's saying his resurrection
is proof that God was satisfied with what he accomplished on
the cross. And so the Lord's saying, no one can lay any charge
to God's elect. And it is the Lord Jesus that
is seated at the right hand of God. ever living to make intercession
for us right now. And then in verse 35, who shall
separate us from the love of Christ? Who can separate us from
the love of Christ? Shall tribulation or distress
or persecution or famine or nakedness or peril or sword? Is there any
circumstances that's able to separate us from the love of
God? As it is written, for thy sakes, we are killed all the
day long. We are counted as sheep to the slaughter. In other words,
we're going to suffer these things in the flesh, but none of these
things that we suffer in the flesh can separate us from the
love of Christ. You know, isn't that the first
Unbelieving thought that creeps into our minds whenever things
are not going like we want them to go. Peril or sword or persecution
or distress. Where's the love of God? That's
exactly what the Lord saying. Yeah. In the flesh, we die as
a result of these things, but none of these things have changed
his love for us. Yea, we are more than conquerors
through him that loved us, for I am persuaded, I am persuaded,
that neither death nor life nor angels nor principalities nor
powers nor things present nor things to come nor height nor
depth nor any other creature shall be able to separate us
from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. None
of these things can separate us from him. Oh, perish the thought
and we do have them. We think that we've been forsaken,
we think that we've been, that, you know, when we're not as keenly aware
of His presence as we sometimes are, it in no way means that
He's withdrawn His presence. I'll never leave you nor forsake
you. Nothing can separate you from the love of God, which is
in Christ Jesus. Mary and Martha believed these
things. And so they were able to just lay a very simple petition
before the Lord Jesus. He whom thou lovest is sick. We don't know the answer, we
only know the question. We don't know the solution, we
only know the problem. But we're confident that you
have the answer and that you have the solution to our need. The third thing that God's word
teaches us very clearly, and we're in Romans, so just turn
over a few pages to Romans chapter 13, is that love is the fulfillment
of the law. It's the fulfillment of the law.
It was love that brought the Lord Jesus from heaven. It was
love that caused him to be born of a woman under the law. to
redeem them who were cursed by the law. It was his love for
his father that caused him to fulfill everything in God's law,
every jot and every tittle. Romans chapter 13 at verse eight,
we read, oh no man anything but to love one another, for he that
loveth another hath fulfilled the law. This love of Christ
is the fulfillment of the law. For this, thou shalt not commit
adultery, thou shalt not kill, thou shalt not steal, thou shalt
not bear false witness, thou shalt not covet. And if there
be any other commandment, it is briefly comprehended in this
saying, namely, thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. You
don't kill somebody you love. You're not gonna murder somebody
you love, you're not gonna slander somebody you love. You're not
gonna be unfaithful to somebody you love. See, love is the fulfillment
of the law. Love worketh no ill to his neighbor,
therefore love is the fulfilling of the law. Turn with me to Galatians chapter
five. Galatians chapter five. We'll
begin reading in verse 13. For all the law is fulfilled
in one word, even in this, thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. But if you bite and devour one
another, take heed that you be not consumed one of another.
This I say then, walk in the spirit and you shall not fulfill
the lust of the flesh. For the flesh lusteth against
the spirit and the spirit against the flesh. And these are contrary,
the one to the other, so that you cannot do the things that
you would. But if you be led of the spirit, you're not under
the law. The spirit of grace, the spirit
of Christ, the spirit of love. The law has been fulfilled. This
is the law written on the heart. Now the works of the flesh are
manifest, which are these, adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness,
idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath,
strife, sedition, heresies, envians, murder, drunkenness, revelry,
and such the like. Of the which I tell you before,
as I have also told you in times past, that they which do such
things shall not inherit the kingdom of God, but the fruit
of the Spirit." And notice that the word fruit is singular. And the way I understand this
passage of Scripture is the fruit of the Spirit is love. That's the fruit of the Spirit.
It doesn't say the fruits of the
Spirit, it says the fruit of the Spirit is love. And where
love is in the heart, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness,
goodness, faith, meek temperance, Against such there is no law.
Are not these the things that come out of love? James calls love the royal law,
the royal law, the law of liberty. Can only come, can only come as a result of looking at his
perfect love. When we read in 1 John, we love
him because he first loved us. Lord, behold, the one whom thou
lovest is sick. And finally, love is the meat of the gospel. The
meat of the gospel. Turn with me to Hebrews chapter
five. You know, I can remember a time when we were, I'll speak for
myself, proud that we had discovered the doctrines of grace. Total depravity, unconditional
election, limited atonement, irresistible grace, perseverance
of the saints. Oh, we have discovered these
deep, dark, not dark, but deep, unknown secrets of the gospel. And we even called them in-house
debates among believers as if these are the meaty matters of
the gospel. These are the things that only
mature Christians can talk about. Only those who walk on a higher
level can enter into. And we thought that those things
were the meat of the gospel. In fact, Those things are the
milk of the gospel. Every babe in Christ believes
those things. Maybe they can't debate them,
maybe they can't even define them, but when they hear them,
they know they're true. It's their experience. That's just the milk of the gospel.
Every baby drinks that milk. Let me show you that. Look at
Hebrews chapter five, verse 12. But when for the time you ought
to be teachers, you have need that one teach you again, which
be the first principles of the oracles of God and are become
such as have need of milk and not of strong drink. We'll have
to convince you over and over and over again that you're a
sinner. Now we declare that we're sinners
and we rejoice that God has made us to be a sinner, but if I have
to prove to you that you're a sinner, then you haven't drank the milk
yet. We declare the unconditional
election of God, but if I have to prove to you that God elects
a people according to his own will and purpose without any
consideration of man, then you haven't even really understood
the milk yet. See, Paul's rebuking this Hebrew
church. He said, you should be teaching
these things and you're having to be taught them. You should
be eating meat and you're still having to drink milk. For everyone that useth milk
is unskillful in the word of righteousness. He's a babe. If
I have to prove to you that the atoning work of Christ on the
cross was only for God's elect and show you in scripture over
and over again and have to convince you of it because you're not
thoroughly convinced, then you haven't really drank the milk
yet. If you have to be, if you have
to be told that grace is irresistible. No, we preach these things, but
we declare them without apology because they are the gospel.
And we, and we rejoice in them. You don't have to prove them
to a believer that they've drank that milk. But strong meat, now what's he
talking about? Strong meat belongs to them that
are of full age. Even those who have by reason
of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil.
The strong drink is those who can discern the difference. They
can rightly divide the word of truth. And by the exercise of
their faith, they know the difference between the holy and the profane,
between that which is right and that which is wrong. And look
where he goes in chapter six. Therefore, leaving the principles
of the doctrines of Christ, those things that we were so proud
of, those things that we thought were so deep and mysterious and
only for the high and mighty and for the mature Christians,
we weren't even babes when we were priding ourselves in being
so So sure of ourselves. Self-righteous. Looking down
at those Arminian brethren who didn't understand these things.
That's what's happening right now in the church. Between Calvinism
and Arminianism. I've been there. The Calvinists
think that they've eaten the meat of the gospel because they've
got the doctrines of grace and they look down their nose at
their Arminian brethren when in fact both groups are lost.
Now, I don't know how to say that any clearer. Neither one
of them have eaten the meat. They're still trying to drink
the milk. Leaving the principles of the
doctrine of Christ 6.1, let us go on to perfection. Not laying
again the foundation of repentance from dead works and faith towards
God, the doctrines of baptism laying on of hands and the resurrection
of the dead and eternal judgment. He said we don't preach these
things and we don't believe these things. We don't have to lay
the foundation again and again for a believer. That foundation
has been laid. That foundation's in Christ.
That's the milk. That's the essential elements. That's the basic principles of
the gospel. Every believer knows these things.
If you have to debate them, you're talking to an unbeliever. If
you have to prove them, you're talking to an unbeliever. This will do if God permits,
God will give us these things. For it is impossible for those
who were once enlightened to have tasted the heavenly gift
and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost and have tasted the
good word of God and the powers of the word to come. They shall
fall away to renew them again unto repentance. They can't fall
away. If they've believed these things,
if the Lord has given them faith in Christ as the foundations
of these things, they're not gonna fall away, it's not possible.
It's not possible. Seeing they have crucified to
themselves the Son of God afresh and put them to open shame. You
can't crucify Christ again. For the earth, which drinketh
in the rain, that cometh oft upon it, and bringeth forth herbs,
meat for them, by whom it is dressed, receiveth the blessings
from God. But that which beareth thorns
and briars is rejected, and is nigh unto cursing, whose end
is to be burned." If you're having to prove these things to somebody,
you're talking to someone who's briars and thorns. When the rain
of the gospel comes down, it waters the earth, it produces
fruit. But beloved, here's what I wanted
to get. Now look at this. Love is the meat of the gospel. Those things that we thought
were meat were milk. But beloved, we are persuaded
better things of you and things that accompany salvation, though
we thus speak, for God is not unrighteous to forget your work
and labor of love, which you have showed toward his name and
that you have ministered to the saints and you do minister. There's
the meat of the gospel. The foundation has been built. Now the meat is love, is love. It's the very nature of our God. It's the fulfillment of the law. It's the first cause of our salvation. And it is the meat of the gospel
so that whatever our need we can do what Mary and Martha did. Lord, behold, look at me. I'm sick. All right, Tom. 158, let's stand
together, number 158. ? Come Holy Spirit, heavenly dove
? ? With all thy quickening powers ? ? Kindle a flame of sacred
love ? ? In these cold hearts of ours ? Look how we grovel
here below, fond of these earthly toys. Our souls, how heavily
they go to reach eternal joys.