Welcome to Reign of Grace. This
program is brought to you by Reign of Grace Media Ministries,
an outreach ministry of Eager Avenue Grace Church in Albany,
Georgia. It is our pleasure and privilege
to present to you the gospel message of the sovereign grace
and glory of God in the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ. We pray that today's program
will be a blessing to you. Thank you for listening. And
now for today's program. Welcome to our program today.
I'm glad you could join us. If you'd like to follow along
in your Bibles, I'm going to be preaching from 1 John 5, and
I'm gonna start at verse one. I began this verse last week.
I intended, actually, to go further, but I had so much to say on the
first part of this verse, on whosoever believeth. The title
of today's message is Whosoever Loves. Last week, whosoever believeth,
and this week, whosoever loves. Now, what we're talking about
is what John had been talking about reaching back over into
chapter 3 when he talked about the love of the brethren, those
who truly love God, who love Christ, and love the brethren. And that's a special God-given
love that proceeds out from faith, God-given faith. So look at verse
one of 1 John 5. He said, whosoever believeth
that Jesus is the Christ is born of God. Talking about the faith
that comes as the result of the new birth, which is the work
of God, sovereign work, powerful work, invincible work of the
Spirit, to bring a sinner to faith in Christ and repentance
of dead works. See, faith is the gift of God.
It's not the product of the free will of man. Because man's will
is in bondage to sin. And left to our own wills, we
will not believe the gospel. Faith is the gift of God. I quote
Ephesians 2, 8 and 9 all the time. For by grace are you saved
through faith, but that's not of yourselves, it's the gift
of God, not of works, lest any man should boast. And we saw
last week in John 1 and verse 13, that those who are born of
God, they're not born of blood, that is physical birth. They're
not born of the will or the works of the flesh. And they're not
born of the will of man, they're born of God. and the new birth
comes under the preaching of the truth. Christ dealt with
that in Matthew 7 where he talked about an evil tree cannot produce
good fruit. The evil tree there is a false
gospel that puts people on the broad road that leads to destruction. And he says there's no good fruit
that's produced out of that evil tree. The new birth, salvation,
does not come under the preaching of a false gospel. A good tree
brings forth good fruit. It's only under the preaching
of Christ, who is the tree of life, and the good tree that
people are, that the fruit of the new birth comes. And so he
says, whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ is born of
God. Now, look at the next part of
this verse. And everyone that loveth him, That is, loveth Christ. Loveth him that beget, loves
God. Who does the begetting? You see,
that's the issue. When we're talking about being
born from above, born of God. You see, you don't beget yourself.
You didn't beget yourself in your physical birth, did you?
Obviously. Well, you don't beget yourself
in the new birth. That's what I said, it's not
of the physical birth, it's not of the works of the flesh, and
it's not of the will of man. You're not born again because
you believed. You believe because you're born
again. And that also means that you
were chosen by God before the foundation of the world if you
believe the truth. the gospel of Jesus Christ, wherein
the righteousness of God is real. That gives evidence of a lot
of things. It gives evidence that you were
chosen by God before the foundation of the world. You know, Paul
told the Thessalonians, he said, I know your election because
the word, the gospel came to you, not just in word only, but
in power. The new birth, you believed it.
And he says, also, believing in Christ as he's presented in
the gospel, the truth, the word of God, it's an evidence that
you've been adopted into his family. It's an evidence that
you are justified in God's sight. Wow, what a, to be justified,
to be forgiven of all my sins because of the blood of Christ.
to be righteous in God's sight based upon the righteousness
of Christ freely imputed to me. How do I know his righteousness
is imputed to me? Well, you believe that Jesus
is the Christ. Whosoever believeth, last week's
message. And then it's an evidence that
you've been regenerated by the Holy Spirit, born again. How
do I know I've been born again? Well, what did he say? Whosoever
believeth that Jesus is the Christ is born of God. That's the evidence. And then it's the evidence of
being born of God. He says, and everyone that loveth
him, that beget. If you love God, you love the
truth of God, what the Bible says about God. When the Bible
talks about God's sovereignty, you love that. If you love God,
God predestinated a people to be conformed to the image of
Christ. I've had people tell me, I don't believe in that predestination.
Well, you don't love God then, because he's the one who did
the predestinating. He foreknew, he foreordained,
the scripture says, everything that comes to pass. He chose
his people. He sent Christ to die for those
people alone. And he saves those people from
their sins. Do you love that? I do. Because I know this, if
that weren't the case, none of us would be saved. We'd all perish.
We'd have been gone a long time ago. You say, well, I don't love
that. That sounds unfair to me. God
is a just God, my friend. He doesn't do anything wrong.
Read Romans 9 on that issue. There's your answers. And that's
the only answer the Bible will give you. Who are you to reply
against God? You think you can argue with
God? You think you can debate with Him? Job tried it. God said,
well, where were you when I formed the earth? When I put Leviathan
in the sea? Where were you in all that time?
See, you don't have any right to do that. He's the potter,
we're the clay. And what we're to do is because
of what God has told us in His Word, we're to seek Him. We're
to find His truth. That's what we ought to be doing.
Not just settling into religion, but seeking His truth. Wherever
we go, I want to be where God's truth is preached, where the
Bible is preached, where God's Word is preached. Not just where
I feel good, or where I've got a bunch of friends, or where
they've got a lot of activities. I want to be where the gospel
is preached. And that's the issue. So think
about that. All that is evidence. And he
says, and everyone that loveth him that beget, loveth him also
that is begotten of him. That's love of the brethren.
And that's those who abide in the doctrine of Christ. Go back
to 2 John. I read part of this, or one verse
of this last week. This love of the brethren is
so misunderstood Sad to say, it doesn't mean that believers
will always get along in every way. We see that in the New Testament.
Paul had to exhort two ladies in the church at Philippi to
get along, quit arguing and fighting and fussing with each other.
He had to deal with them in Galatia, Corinthians, a church with many
problems. Believers are not always gonna
get along. Now, and that's to our shame.
We should strive to get along, to edify one another, to preserve
the unity. And we do that in the truth now,
not just, if any love or unity compromises the truth, throw
it out. It's no good. We don't compromise
the truth for anybody. But amongst believers, there
is a true fellowship and brotherhood that cannot be broken because
it's of God, And it means that we will always bond together
in the truth. Now, we may not be getting along
in other areas. We may differ in opinion on other
areas, but in the gospel, we're together. And that's what he's
talking about. He that loves him who begets.
He who loves God, who is the author, who is the source of
salvation. Christ, who is the author and
the finisher of our faith. God who is the first cause of
the new birth in the Spirit, but through Christ. He who loves
that God, loves the one who's been born again and are in the
faith. And that's how we know this.
Over in 2 John chapter, or just one chapter, or one chapter,
but 2 John 9, now listen to this again. He says, whosoever transgresses
and abideth not in the doctrine of Christ, hath not God. If a
person comes to me claiming to be my brother or my sister in
Christ, but they don't abide in the truth of Christ, in my mind, I'm to understand,
they don't know the true and living God. They don't know the
same Father, the same Savior that I know. But he says, he
that abideth in the doctrine of Christ, he hath both the father
and the son. Those who believe the gospel
that God teaches us in his word, that's my brother or my sister
in Christ. And listen to verse 10. If there
come any unto you and bring not this doctrine. Do you read that? They come to you. And they come
to you not in the doctrine of truth, the gospel of God's free
and sovereign grace, conditioned on Christ who fulfilled those
conditions and secured the salvation of his people, but they bring
you another doctrine, salvation conditioned on the sinner, the
sinner's will, the sinner's works, the sinner's baptism, the sinner
doing this or doing that. That's a false gospel. So if
they come to you and don't bring this true doctrine, receive him
not into your house, neither bid him Godspeed. Now the house
that he's talking about there is not talking about your individual
houses, your homes, and claiming that you're not to have any visits
from an unbeliever. That's not what this is talking
about. This is talking about the fellowship of faith in the
household and family of God, the church. And so if anybody
comes into your church or tries to get into the fellowship of
faith, not believing the truth of Christ, the glory of His person,
the power of His finished work, why He did it, where He is now,
then you're not to count them to be your brother or sister
in Christ. There's no bond of fellowship
there. There's no bond of unity there. There's no bond of truth. And he says, don't embrace him
as a fellow believer, as a child of God. Don't bid him Godspeed. Don't say, I hope you're successful.
All right, that way. I have people call me up all
the time, and they want to, there might be an evangelist or a missionary,
and they want to come here and preach in the church. And I start,
the first thing I do is I start asking them about their doctrine.
And most of them get offended. They don't like that. Well, what
difference does that make? I had one tell me one time, you
know, I'm going all over the world doing this, that. Listen,
you're going all over the world preaching a false gospel. And
I said, no, you can't be in this pulpit. You don't believe the
gospel. And I don't bid you Godspeed
in your work because your work is guiding people into the broad
road that leads to destruction. Do you understand that? And it
says in verse 11, for he that biddeth him God's speed is a
partaker, a fellowshiper, a partner of his evil deeds. Now what are
the evil deeds here? Not abiding in the doctrine of
Christ, preaching a false gospel, Now, if you embrace that, if
you claim to be a believer in the truth, but you embrace those
who don't believe this truth and bid them Godspeed, you're
participating in their evil. That's what he says. Now, everyone
who, back over in 1 John 5, everyone that loveth the true and living
God, And how do we know we love him? It's not because of the
degree of our love or the perfection of our love. Our love is yet,
even a believer who loves Christ and loves the people of God,
our love is yet imperfect. That's why salvation is not conditioned
on our love for Christ or our love for our brethren. It's conditioned
on His love for us, which is perfect. Hearing His love, not
that we love God, but that He loved us, sent His Son to be
the propitiation for our sins. Don't ever forget that. But the
only way we know that we truly love God at all, that we've been
given the gift of love, because by nature we don't love God at
all, not the true God. We love a God of our imagination,
but the only way that we know that we love God at all, that
we love Christ, is as we believe His truth. And we unite and embrace
the others who have been born again, who believe His truth.
So whosoever loveth, Now let's go to verse two of 1 John 5.
He says, by this we know that we love the children of God,
when we love God and keep His commandments. You know, it's
sad that when most people read verses like that, they go immediately
to the 10 commandments. And they say there, if you're
not keeping the Ten Commandments, you don't love God. That's not
what this is talking about. You know there was a man who
came to Christ, this is recorded in Matthew 19, and in the other
Gospels too, Mark and Luke. That a young man, a rich young
man, a religious young man, came to Christ and asked the question,
good master, what must I do? What good thing must I do that
I may inherit eternal life? and so that I may have eternal
life. And Christ knew, Christ being God manifest in the flesh,
he knows the hearts of men. And he addressed this man on
the ground of what this man came to him, claiming to be a law
keeper, to keep the Ten Commandments. And the first thing he showed
this man was the fact that his standard of goodness was way
too low. You know, that's the problem
with all of us by nature. We think of goodness, but it's
a low standard of goodness. It's goodness on a human level.
It's not goodness on a divine level. That's why Paul wrote
in Romans 3, there's none good, no not one. That's goodness based
upon God's standard of goodness, which is way too high for us.
So when the rich young man in Matthew 19 came to the Lord and
said, good master, here's what the man's problem was. He came
to Jesus of Nazareth not believing that Jesus is God manifest in
the flesh. He didn't believe in the deity
of Christ. And Christ recognized that. And so when he came to
him and said, good master, the first thing the Lord confronted
him with was his low standard of good, that man's low standard
of goodness. He said, why do you call me good?
There's none good but God. In essence, what the Lord was
doing there in Matthew 19, he was showing that man, look, if
you don't believe that I'm God, why are you calling me good?
There's none good but God. So what he's doing here, and
see the wisdom of this. He's showing this man that his
standard of goodness was way too low. And so right after that,
he told the man, he said, but if you would have eternal life,
keep the commandments. Now what are the commandments?
Keep his commandments. Well John has already told us
that. And it's to believe on Christ. Remember he said back in verse
one, whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ. The commandments
that Christ is talking about here is the gospel. It's not
the 10 commandments. It's not the law of God. Because
if that's the case, and here's where we gotta come to, friend.
If that's the case, none of us love God. None of us love one
another. None of us keep the commandments.
That law, the Old Covenant law, the Ten Commandments and all
the other laws with it, that was given to expose the sinfulness,
the depravity of the people that were under it. And to show them
the impossibility of attaining goodness, righteousness that
God requires for fellowship with Him. By works of the law shall
no flesh, by deeds of the law shall no flesh be justified. So if he's talking about the
10 commandments here, I'm gonna tell you something. If that's
what he's talking about, we can close the book. Go home and just
sorrow. He's talking about the gospel.
Keeping his commandments to believe on the son, to believe on he
whom God hath sent and repent of our dead works and our idolatry. But going back to the young man
who came to Christ, Christ, right after he exposed the young man's
low standard of goodness, he said, but if you will be saved,
if you will have eternal life, keep the commandments. Well,
do you remember how the young man responded to him? He said,
well, I've kept these from my youth. He said, which commandments?
And Christ began to read him off what is known as the second
table of the 10 commandments. He didn't name off the first
four because that's love to God, but the next six have to do with
love for human beings, love for our neighbor. And he read them
off, you know, thou shalt not commit adultery, thou shalt not
do this, thou shalt not do that. And the young man had the audacity
to say, well, I've kept those from my youth up. I've always
kept those. I had an unbelieving Jewish man
tell me one time, he said his hope was to keep the Ten Commandments.
And I told him, I said, well, my friend, that's a hope that
will not be realized because you're a sinner. I'm a sinner. There's only two types of people.
Sinners lost in their sins, sinners saved by grace. So the young
man said that. He said, I've kept these from
my youth up. And he said, what do I like? What more can I do?
And Christ told him, he said, go sell everything you have,
give it to the poor, and follow me. And the young man turned
away in sorrow. He had much riches. Christ was
not telling him that in order to be saved, you've got to do
this or that. He was telling him that he did
not keep those commandments because all those commandments are summarized
in love God perfectly and love your neighbors yourself. And
that young man didn't love perfectly. And he went away sorrow. The
disciples, when they saw it, they said, well, this man's not
saved, who then can be? And the Lord told him, he said,
well, what's impossible with men is only possible with God. So back over in our text, 1 John
5, verse 2, by this we know that we love the children of God when
we love God and keep His commandments. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ,
whosoever believeth, whosoever loveth. And he says in verse
three, for this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments,
and His commandments are not grievous, burdensome. Well, what
is the commandment now? Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ,
repent of dead works and idolatry, follow Him. And what he's saying
here is that's the message, that's the commandment that God uses
in the power of the Spirit in the new birth to set sinners
free. It's not a burden. That doesn't
mean that we don't have a battle within as far as loving Christ
and loving his people. We still have the flesh. And
the flesh motivates us in evil. to love ourselves. And we know
that we should love our brothers and our sisters as ourselves. We should love God perfectly.
And so we have a struggle within, but the struggle is an evidence
of the grace of God in our The burden that he's talking about,
the grievous burden, is any law that is put upon a sinner that
he must keep and maintain in order to be saved, in order to
be made righteous. Because that is a burden, a grievous
burden that you cannot bear. You may be like that rich young
man who thinks you can bear it, who thought he could bear it,
but you can't. The law was given to show us
our sin. By deeds of law shall no flesh
be justified. And once the gospel comes, there's
freedom. There's liberty. It's not freedom
to sin. It's not liberty to sin. It's
freedom to serve God in the assurance of God's grace based upon the
law keeping of the Lord Jesus Christ. Based upon His blood
to put away all my sins. based upon his righteousness
to make me right before God, accepted in the beloved Christ. For Christ is the end, the fulfillment,
the perfection of the law for righteousness to everyone that
believe. And that's a liberty. I can now
serve God, as Paul wrote in Romans 7, in newness of spirit. that
is in the spirit free, not trying to save myself, not trying to
earn my way into God's favor, but because I have a sure and
certain hope and assurance of that in Christ. Christ is the author and the
finisher of my faith. And his commandments are not
grievous. When God gives us faith in the new birth, we run to Christ. embrace Him, plead His righteousness
alone, His righteousness imputed to me, and follow Him. And we struggle within ourselves
because of sin, because of the flesh, but we're free, we're
at liberty. Where the Spirit of the Lord
is, there's liberty. And he talks about in verse four,
overcoming the world. We'll talk about that next time.
But that's the issue. We were slaves to sin in the
sense that the burden of sin was upon us in our natural state,
in our thoughts, in our unbelief, and we could not get above and
beyond it in any way, shape, form, or fashion. But having
been brought to Christ by the Spirit of God to believe in Him
and to love Him, we're now servants of righteousness. We're free
to serve God. Motivated by grace, not law. Motivated by love, not law. Motivated by gratitude, not law. That's the Spirit of God. That's
the way we serve God in the faith. That's the way we keep His commandments.
We're not perfect. We always fall short. But we're
in Christ, washed in His blood, clothed in His righteousness.
We have the life of Christ within given to us by God in the new
birth. And our whole outlook on life has changed now because
now we have the assurance of His grace, the assurance of His
mercy, the assurance of His love. No sin can be charged to us.
Nothing can separate us from the love of God in Christ. We
cannot be condemned because we have His righteousness imputed
to us. We believe in Him and love Him. Hope you'll join us
next week for another message from God's Word. We are glad you could join us
for another edition of Reign of Grace. This program is brought
to you by Reign of Grace Media Ministries, an outreach ministry
of Eager Avenue Grace Church in Albany, Georgia. To receive
a copy of today's program or to learn more about Reign of
Grace Media Ministries or Eager Avenue Grace Church, write us
at 1102 Eager Drive, Albany, Georgia. Contact us by phone at 229-432-6969
or email us through our website at www.TheLetterRofGrace.com. Thank you again for listening
today and may the Lord be with you.