In the course of our verse-by-verse
study through the letter of Paul to the Church of Ephesus, Lord's
Day Mornings, we came last week to the beginning of the second
major paragraph in chapter one, in which the Apostle Paul records
for us the substance of that for which he prayed on behalf
of the Ephesians. And he introduces that paragraph
by telling them that he prays for them along certain lines
with particular intensity and fervency since he received a
report of their continued and growing faith in the Lord Jesus
and their love to all the saints, Ephesians 1.15. And in the opening
up of that passage of scripture last Lord's Day morning, I extracted
the principle and sought to apply it in various ways that Continuous
faith in the Lord Jesus and continuous love to the brethren are the
two great indispensable evidences of the genuineness of grace received
and grace growing and developing. Of all the various gifts and
graces of God to the Ephesians, the Apostle Paul singles out
these two as standing head and shoulders above all others. their
continuous faith in the Lord Jesus, their continuous growing
love one to another. We concluded then in our study
last week by emphasizing the inseparability of these two things. There can be no love to the saints
as fruit without faith in the Lord Jesus as root. And the great
problem in our day with all the talk about love, and everybody
ought to love one another, and what the world needs is love,
sweet love, is that men would divorce it from its only root,
which is faith in the Lord Jesus. The fruit of the Spirit is love,
and the Spirit's work is bound up with faith in the Lord Jesus
Christ. But conversely, we need constantly
to remind ourselves that if we profess to be growing in the
faith of Christ, in our understanding of Him and His work on our behalf,
growing in our confidence in Him, the proof of that will be
our love to the saints growing and developing. Now, in my own
contacts with you as an under-shepherd in the past weeks, There has
been a growing conviction that we desperately need to have some
facets of this biblical concept of brotherly love opened up,
enlarged, and applied to our consciences with some degree
of particular emphasis in certain areas. And so, since the theme
was suggested in our study last week, I'm going to digress from
the exposition of the next verses in Ephesians under what I trust
is a genuine pastoral sensitivity and pastoral concern. And I say
to you, young men, aspiring to the ministry, If time proves
that God has equipped you for the ministry, beware of these
schemes that map out your preaching for weeks and months ahead, and
then you commit yourself to it with a rigid inflexibility. You
must seek to be sensitive to the present state of the flock
of God in which the Holy Ghost has made you an overseer, and
to bring the strands of emphasis which are needed at any particular
time, for there is not only the general ministry of the Word,
which meets the needs of the general spiritual health of the
people of God, but just as one alters his diet in terms of physical
illness, in terms of particular physical pressures, so there
must be that flexibility to alter the diet of the people of God
in the light of particular needs. Now, I am not inferring that
we have a Corinthian situation on our hands where there are
overt expressions of the absence of love or positive expressions
of the presence of hatred or bitterness or jealousy. No, but
there have been sufficient indications so that I do not feel I'm using
the pulpit as an excuse to give counsel to one or two. These
things have developed to a sufficient degree as to warrant a public
treatment from the Scriptures. And so we're going to consider
over the next few weeks, I don't know how many, some of the leading
emphases of Scripture relative to the theme of brotherly love. Now remember, and I say this
particularly for the benefit of visitors amongst us who perhaps
would not be aware of this, that whatever is said from this pulpit
about brotherly love is couched in the context of the biblical
concept of love. Love that is never divorced from
truth on the one hand and holiness on the other. Whatever is said
about love is said in the Joannine mentality. And I refer, of course,
to John's words, such as we find in his second epistle, in which
he says, The elder unto the elect lady and her children whom I
love in the truth. And not I only, but also all
they that know the truth. So whatever we say of love, it's
put in the context of the truth of Scripture by which alone love
can be known and within which context love is to be expressed. Now what I wish to do this morning
is first of all to confront you with the supremacy of the grace
of brotherly love. What place should brotherly love
hold in the thinking and the experience of the people of God?
Well, it ought to hold the place in our thinking and in our experience
that it holds in Scripture. And so if we're to know the place
that it ought to have in our own lives, we must sense something
of the supreme place it has in Scripture as the queen of all
Christian graces. If you were to list all of the
graces that ought to adorn the Christian, standing as head above
all the others is the grace of brotherly love. Now, I had a
tremendous experience this past week when in trying to figure
out how to attack this subject and how to lay out the lines
of truth, I speed-read all of the areas in the epistles in
which there is exhortation to Christian duty. And the impression
was a profound one upon my own spirit, as in book after book
after book, epistle after epistle after epistle, the apostles and
the biblical writers come back again and again and again and
again to this theme of love of the brethren as the queen of
all graces. And so that you might catch something
of the impression which I received, I'm going to do something that
is rarely done in this pulpit. But it's going to be done, for
there are no rules against it, and I've not received an edict
from any powers that be that it cannot be done. I'm going
to ask that you buckle your seatbelt and take a quick trip with me
as I read, starting in the 13th chapter of John, from many portions
in the New Testament without comment. Now, it's going to be
difficult, but I'm not going to make any comment. I want you
to catch the overriding thrust of one thing. the supremacy of
the grace of Christian love, so that if you don't get anything
else this morning, when you go out those doors, that you'll
be overwhelmed with this tremendous fact, this grace stands head
and shoulders above all others. Beginning then in the thirteenth
chapter of the Gospel of John, and I will simply announce the
passage, give you a moment to turn to it, and read it without
comment. And so for the next ten minutes
or so, you'll be hearing nothing but Scripture without comment. John 13, verses 34 and 35. A new commandment I give unto
you, that ye love one another. even as I have loved you, that
ye also love one another. By this shall all men know that
ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another." Romans
chapter 12, verses 9 and 10. Let love be without hypocrisy. Abhor that which is evil, cleave
to that which is good. In love of the brethren, be tenderly
affectioned one to another, in honor preferring one another. Chapter 13, verses 8 through
10. O no man anything, save to love
one another, For he that loveth his neighbor hath fulfilled the
law. For this thou shalt not commit adultery, thou shalt not
kill, thou shalt not steal, thou shalt not covet. And if there
be any other commandment, it is summed up in this one word,
namely, thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. Love worketh no ill
to his neighbor. Love, therefore, is the fulfillment
of the law. And then I need not repeat a
reading of 1 Corinthians 13. I simply remind you of that pivotal
chapter which we've read, the supremacy of love over all knowledge,
gifts of utterance, gifts of performance. Love stands supreme. Then turning to the epistle to
the Galatians, Galatians chapter 5, verses 13 to 15. Galatians
5, 13. For ye, brethren, were called
for freedom. Only use not your freedom for
an occasion to the flesh, but through love be servants one
to another. For the whole law is fulfilled
in one word, even in this, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. But if ye bite and devour one
another, take ye that ye be not consumed one of another. Galatians 6, 1 and 2. Brethren,
if a man be overtaken in any trespass, ye who are spiritual,
restore such a one in the spirit of meekness. Look unto thyself,
lest thou also be tempted. Bear ye one another's burdens,
and so fulfill the law of Christ. Ephesians chapter 4, verse 1. I therefore, the prisoner of
the Lord, beseech you to walk worthily of the calling wherewith
ye were called, with all holiness and meekness, with longsuffering,
forbearing one another in love." Chapter 5, verses 1 and 2. Be ye therefore imitators of
God as beloved children, and walk in love. even as Christ
also loved you and gave himself up for us and offering and a
sacrifice to God for an odor of a sweet smell. Philippians
chapter 2 verses 1 and 2. Philippians 2 verse 1. If there is therefore any exhortation
in Christ, if any consolation of love, if any fellowship of
the Spirit, If any tender mercies and compassions make full my
joy, let ye be of the same mind, having the same love, being of
one accord, of one mind." Colossians 1, verses 3 and 4. Colossians 1, verse 3, we give
thanks to God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, praying always
for you, having heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of
the love which he had towards all the saints. Chapter 3, verse
12. Put on, therefore, as God's elect,
holy and beloved, a heart of compassion, kindness, lowliness,
meekness, longsuffering, forbearing one another and forgiving each
other. If any man have a complaint against any, even as the Lord
forgave you, so also do ye. And above all these things put
on love, which is the bond of perfectness." And now over to
1 Thessalonians chapter 3, verses 11 through 13. 1 Thessalonians
3, 11. Now may our God and Father Himself
and our Lord Jesus direct our way unto you, and the Lord make
you to increase and abound in love one to another and toward
all men, even as we also do toward you, to the end that He may establish
your hearts unblameable in holiness before our God and Father at
the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ with all the saints. But concerning love of the brethren,
ye have no need that one write unto you. For ye yourselves are
taught of God to love one another. For indeed ye do it toward all
the brethren that are in Macedonia. But we exhort you, brethren,
that ye abound more and more." 2 Thessalonians chapter 1 verse
3. 2 Thessalonians 1 verse 3, We are bound to give thanks to
God always for you, brethren, even as it is meat, for that
your faith groweth exceedingly, and the love of each one of you
toward one another abounded. 1 Timothy 1 verse 5, But the end of the charge is
love out of a pure heart, and a good conscience, and faith
unfaithful. Philemon, verse 4. Philemon,
verse 4. I thank my God always, making
mention of thee in my prayers, hearing of thy love and of the
faith which thou hast toward the Lord Jesus and towards all
the saints. Hebrews, chapter 13, verses 1
and 2. Beginning to get the impression
that I got? I hope so. Hebrews 13, 1 and 2. Let love
of the brethren continue. Forget not to show love unto
strangers, for thereby some have unentertained angels unawares. James 2, verses 8 and 9. How be it if ye fulfill the royal
law according to the Scripture? Thou shalt love thy neighbor
as thyself, ye do well. But if ye have respect of persons,
ye commit sin, convicted by the law as transgressors. 1 Peter 1 verse 22, seeing ye
have purified your souls in your obedience to the truth unto unfeigned
love of the brethren, love one another from the heart fervently. Chapter 3 verses 8 and 9. Finally,
be ye all like-minded, compassionate, loving as brethren, tender-hearted,
humble-minded, not rendering evil for evil, or reviling for
reviling, but contrary wise blessing. For hereunto were ye called. Chapter 4, verses 7 through 9. The end of all things is at hand.
Be ye therefore of sound mind, and be sober unto prayer. Above
all things queen of graces above all things, being fervent in
your love among yourselves, for love covereth a multitude of
sins, using hospitality one to another without murmuring." And
then, of course, into the book of 1 John, chapter 3, beginning
with verse 14. Chapter 3, verse 14, we know
we have passed out of death into life because we love the brethren? He that loveth not abideth in
death. Whosoever hated his brother is a murderer, and ye know that
no murderer hath eternal life abiding in him. Hereby know we
love, because he laid down his life for us, and we ought to
lay down our lives for the brethren. But whoso hath this world's good,
and beholdeth his brother in need, and shutteth up his compassion
from him, how doth the love of God abide in him? My little children,
Let us not love in word, neither with the tongue, but in deed
and in truth. Chapter 4, verses 7 and 8. Beloved,
let us love one another, for love is of God. And every one
that loveth is begotten of God, and knoweth God. He that loveth
not knoweth not God, for God is love. Chapter 5, verse 1. Whosoever believeth that Jesus
is the Christ, is begotten of God, and whosoever loveth him
that begat, loveth him also that is begotten of him. In 2 John,
verse 5, And now I beseech thee, lady, not as though I wrote to
thee a new commandment, but that which we had from the beginning,
that we love one another. Now, in the light of this selective,
and it was by no means exhaustive, I deliberately excluded many
passages. Now, in the light of this selective
reading, what conclusions can we make, just on the surface
of things, with reference to the supremacy of the grace of
brotherly love? Well, I believe at least four
conclusions are warranted. Let me give them to you very
briefly. He who is not loving his brothers and sisters is guilty
of gross and heinous sin. If it were known this morning
that one of you had picked the pocket of one of your brothers
here, you had been guilty of thievery, and this became known
to the assembly, you would be looked upon as one who had grievously
sinned against your brother. And I think it would be relatively
easy to convince you that you had been guilty of grievous sin. For the scripture says, let him
that stole steal no more. And yet I fear that we do not
feel the same sensitivity with reference to the clearly established
duty of exercising love one to another. When is the last time
you were shocked when you found in your heart either the absence
of love to the brother or sister or the presence of a disposition
terribly contrary to that. You see, a sin is measured, if
we're going to make degrees of sin, by the amount of importance
that God attaches to that specific duty. And if God has said that
brotherly love is the queen of all graces, then failure to love
the brethren is the queen of all sins amongst the people of
God. And I believe that conclusion
is warranted in the light of the supremacy of this grace as
seen in the passages which we have read together. He who is
not loving his brothers and sisters is guilty of gross sin. He who is not growing in love
to his brothers and sisters is not growing in grace. A man may
think he's growing in grace because, boy, he's really increasing in
his knowledge. But remember Paul's word in 1
Corinthians 13? If I had the sum total of all
knowledge, touching every field of human understanding, he says
what? If it's devoid of love, I'm nothing. Some of you think you're growing
in grace because you're giving out more tracts and more books,
right with God. But my friend, if you should
actually give up your body to be burned, and you're not growing
in love, you're not growing in grace. For if I give my body
to be burned, but have not love, it profiteth me nothing. 1 John
4.20 is very clear. He that saith, I love God, but
loveth not his brother, John says, how can a man say he loves
an unseen God when he doesn't love a visible brother? He says,
impossible. It's a moral and spiritual impossibility. So the second conclusion we draw
is this. He who is not growing in love
to his brothers and sisters is not growing in grace. Third conclusion.
The presence or absence of brotherly love is demonstrated in the concrete
realities of my actual dealings with my brethren. Let us not
love in word or in tongue, John says, but in what? Deed and in
truth. All of the descriptions of love,
all of the exhortations of love, what is the context? In all of
these passages you will notice that love is not commanded or
described in the context of great and astounding deeds. We're not
called upon to demonstrate our love by great deeds of heroism.
Rather, we're told how love works, and follow closely, in the midst
of sinful men and needy, sinful brothers and sisters. To quote
one Careful commentator, Paul does not picture love in ideal
surroundings of friendship and affection where each individual
embraces and kisses the other, but rather he describes love
in the hard surroundings where distressing influences bring
out the positive value and the power of love. You see, if love
is to suffer long, there's got to be people that make it suffer.
and make it suffer long. If it's to bear all things, there's
got to be things to be born. If it is not provoked, there's
got to be things that would naturally be a source of what? Of provocation. If it speaks no evil, it does
not take account of evil, then there must be evil which you
could take account of. You see, Paul's description of
love is not in the idealistic. It's in the real gutsy level
of where you have to live with me and I have to live with you.
And we live close enough to see our imperfections and our shortcomings. And so the presence or absence
of this Queen of Graces is demonstrated in the concrete realities of
how you react to your brethren where they are, right here, in
all of our dealings with one another, in which words pass
between us, in which actions pass between us. in which there
are these dealings with real men, with real imperfections
in the real circumstances of life. I say that's the third
conclusion that is warranted from these texts, and the fourth
is this. The growth and expression of brotherly love do not come
automatically. If these things grow like the
whiskers on my chin, then there's no need for all these exhortations.
I never read an exhortation saying yet, let the whiskers grow on
your chin. They just grow. Much to the bother of some of
us who feel because of our particular circumstances we can't give vent
to our desire to grow a beard. Those of you who can, some of
us envy you. But no effort. Why? Just a natural
thing. Well, you see, if this grace
of brotherly love just growed like Toxie, why all the exhortations? No, exhortation is the means
by which God stirs up the growth of love, and secondly, there
needs to be specific explanation as to what love will do. Paul
doesn't just say, walk in love, he says, walk in love, and by
that I mean, forbear with one another, forgive one another,
be patient with one another. So I say the fourth principle
is warranted from these passages indicating the supremacy of this
grace of love, The growth and expression of brotherly love
do not come automatically. There must be exhortations stirring
us up to the duty of love, and there must be explanation showing
us the direction of love. And at the very outset, this
should give us to understand very clearly that biblical love
has little to do with the emotions associated with infatuation. You can't command the emotions
in the realm of infatuation. Tell a young man, you get a crush
on Sally. You get a crush on Mary. You
get a crush on Henrietta. Well, he can't do that. He says,
look, I just can't push a button and get a crush. You see how ridiculous? And yet
God says love one another. And immediately, you see, it
is out of the realm of that part of us which is captured with
infatuation, and it lies primarily in the deliberate choices of
a renewed will in Jesus Christ. That's why there can be exhortation
directing us to the duty of love. Exhortation is addressed to the
will. That's why there can be explanation telling us what love
will do, because explanation is addressed to the mind. So
the growth and expression of brotherly love has to do primarily
with the understanding and the will, not that area of the affections
that is caught up with infatuation. Now, in the light then, of this
reading of these many passages trusting, I hope, have given
this tremendous impression of the supremacy of brotherly love.
In the light of these four conclusions, what I wish to do today is begin
to focus upon some of the specific areas where I feel as a congregation
we need some pointed exhortation and some very pointed explanation
as to the duty of brotherly love. This is not arbitrary, it has
been deliberate and prayerfully selective, and I want to speak
this morning on this first area. Love in the presence of my brother's
and sister's sins. Love in the presence of the sins
of my brother's and sister's. And our text is 1 Peter chapter
4 and verse 8. For this is precisely the circumstance
contemplated by Peter in this text. Above all things, now Peter
says, I've told you a lot of things, I've told you a lot of
duties, I've set before you a lot of graces, I've set before you
goals, but above all of them, above all in importance, above
all as a canopy, lending its protective and sheltering influence
to every other grace, above all things, he says, being fervent
in your love among yourselves, for love covereth a multitude
of sins." Now the first thing I want to point out from the
text is the major assumption of this text. If you missed that,
you missed the whole point. And what is the major assumption
of this text? Well, let me illustrate. Suppose
the coach is in the locker room and he says to the guys in the
halftime now, fellas, let's get out there in the second half
and hit hard. Let's play good, basic football, blocking, tackling. Let's take that ball over the
goal line and let's win it for the dear old alma mater in the
second half. Well, you see, if he's giving exhortations like
that, it's assuming certain things. The basic assumption is there's
a ball game going on outside the locker room and that there's
going to be a team out there lined up whom they're going to
have to block and tackle, that there's a goal line. All that
is assumed. Take that exhortation of the coach out of that context
and it makes no sense. Peter's exhortation, above all
things have fervent love among yourselves, for love shall cover
a multitude of sins, has a basic assumption which, if not clearly
understood, makes the meaning of the text fall to the ground.
And the basic assumption is this, that in any group of saved men
and women, there's going to be a multitude of sins. That's the
basic assumption. His exhortation is directed to
that assumption. Now, who's he writing to? An
outfit like you had at Corinth with all those problems? No.
You read the first chapter, and he says, These are a people elect
according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, who've come
into obedience and sprinkling of the blood. And he speaks of
their relationship to Christ, whom having not seen, ye love. They dearly love the Savior.
Their love to the Savior was actually bringing persecution,
and so He directs them what to do in suffering. The great theme
of 1 Peter is the Christian in the midst of suffering. Here
are people who dearly love the Savior, who are pressing after
holiness. Chapter 1, verses 15 and 16,
He which hath called you is holy, so be ye holy, redeemed by the
blood of Christ, verse 19 and 20. And yet He says, in the midst
of that body of God's people, As they share their common life
together, there will be a multitude of sins. Because Peter didn't
have the higher life definition of sin. He had the biblical definition
of sin, which is most beautifully expressed in the Shorter Catechism.
What is sin? Any lack of conformity unto or
transgression of the law of God. Well, if that's the standard,
perfect conformity to that law which demands perfect love to
God and perfect love to my brethren, in any group of believers there's
going to be a multitude of sins falling short of the standard
of perfect love to God, perfect love to the brethren. There are
my sins as a pastor, as a preacher, my sin of not being perfectly
balanced in my application. forgetting at times to apply
the truth to some of you whose life circumstances aren't mine,
and it's hard for me to think of how the truth applies to you.
I'm sure I sin many times when I'm preaching by the imbalance
of my application. In the very act of preaching,
I'm sinning. If I perfectly loved all of you, I would have perfect
balance in my application. So I sin even in my preaching.
There's my sin of perhaps being impartial in my dealings with
you. Some of you I allow my natural
affinity for you to cut me off from others to whom I don't have
a natural affinity. That's sin. If I loved you all
perfectly, I would naturally and gladly be as open and free
in my counsel and directives. That's my sin. I'm sure that
I sin in not being as sacrificial in my prayerful concern for all
of you as I ought. That's the multitude of my sin.
There are your sins, your sins of failure to show balanced appreciation
of one another, to be perfectly thoughtful of one another, to
be perfectly kind, to be perfectly gracious. There are times when
in your dealings with one another there is an edge of sharpness
in the words you may speak. There is a sensitivity that is
run over roughshod. These are the sins, brethren,
the multitude of sins that are in our nets. And listen, they
will be there till Christ comes. A multitude of sins is going
to be there. All those failures, all those
mistakes, those weaknesses, those faults. Now, is Peter excusing
them and calling them something other than sin? No, neither am
I. What is the standard of holiness set before every Christian? 1
Peter 1, 15 and 16. As he which hath called you is
holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation." Look at chapter
4, verses 1 and following. He says, look, your time past
was enough for you to fill the lust of your flesh. Put them
off. You've died with Christ. He that
suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin. No, no. Peter's not
excusing sin. He's not saying, oh, well, we
ought to just sit back and say, well, all of us have got a lot
of sins. Nothing. Don't do that. Peter
isn't doing that. He starts out by saying, press
after holiness. Arm yourselves with this mind
that you're going to be done with sin. But Peter knows. Peter
knows. that as long as we are in this
imperfect state of sanctification amongst the most mature, advanced
body of believers, there's still going to be a multitude of sins,
as long as you accept God's standard of what sin is. The sin is not
excused. The sin is not overlooked. The
sin is not called anything other than sin. But while we are yet
in the flesh and not loving God perfectly and not loving one
another perfectly, there's going to be a multitude of sins. Now,
if you don't like that, you go on out and start a church in
your own home and live with your own sin. The starry-eyed, unrealistic
perspective that's saying, well, I'm going to find a church where
everything's perfect. Well, when you find it, don't
you get into it, because you'll spoil it. Alright now, having established
this basic assumption of Peter's, here's the question. What do
we do while those sins yet remain and when we see them in each
other? Suppose you sit there and you feel my sin of not being
balanced in my application and you feel excluded. You say, pastor's
always got something for the married couples and always something
for, but he doesn't have something for me. What are you going to
do when I sin against you that way? It's not deliberate sin,
but it's sin. I acknowledge that's sin. If I'm not balanced in my
preaching, it's sin. But what are you going to do
with my sin? What am I going to do with your sin? When you
go out of here week after week and never even say thank you
for the ministry of the word. When I've literally labored and burned
sometimes the midnight oil to try to have sermons that are
structured clearly and have freshness and are true to the Word, and
I never so much as even get a thank you from you. That's your sin
of ingratitude. What am I going to do with it? What are we going
to do with one another's sins? That's the question. Well, the
wrong thing to do is intimated in this text. In the absence
of fervent love, we can see each other's sins. And then we can
begin to mark them in our minds. Let them cause distance between
us and our brethren. Let them be the father and mother
of suspicion, of hurt, of friction, of hostility, and a host of other
things which in turn will grieve and quench the Holy Spirit. In the absence of fervent love,
we'll look carefully to discover the sins of one another. Then
we'll mark those sins. Then we'll broadcast those sins.
And what's the result? Well, I want you to look at two
texts in the book of Proverbs. Proverbs 10, 12. And Proverbs 17, 9. What do we
do with this multitude of sins? Well, the wrong thing to do is
what we're describing. And when we do that wrong thing,
look at the tragic results. Proverbs 10, 12. Hatred stirreth
up strifes, but love covereth all transgressions. You see,
where the sins are not covered, then hatred begins to do its
work and strife begins to be the result. One of the things
that has been most precious in the fellowship of this assembly
in the nine plus years that I have been with you has been the absence
of strife. Ah, but listen, unless we have
fervent love among ourselves, as our family grows and the multitude
of our sins becomes bigger, There is more potential aggravation.
Now we can allow hatred to be the result, and its child will
be strife. Look at another result in chapter
17 and verse 9. Chapter 17 and verse 9. He that covereth a transgression
seeketh love, but he that harpeth on the matter separateth chief
friends. What happens? Some brethren have
been dwelling together in unity. They've had the love that has
covered their faults, but someone comes along who's zeroed in on
the fault, and just like a man plunking on one string on the
heart, they keep plunking on it, plunking, plunking, plunking,
plunking, plunking, until what happens? The mind of that brother
or sister is disaffected to the other brother and sister, and
chief friends are separated. Chief friends are separated.
Chief friends are separated. What are we going to do with
this multitude of sins that we see in one another? Well, the
thing we don't do is to mark them, broadcast them, harp upon
them. The right thing to do, Peter
says, is this. Have fervent love among yourselves. The word fervent means earnest
and constant. It's the word used in Acts 12,
5. Peter's in prison, and it says prayer was made of the church
fervently, continuously. That's the word in the original.
It was prayer that was earnest, prayer that was persistent. Peter
says, have fervent love among yourselves. Love is an active,
abounding, growing, constant principle. Have fervent love. And then he uses that word agape,
that love which is utterly impossible apart from union with Christ.
A love that lies, as we indicated earlier, far more in the judgments
of the mind and the dispositions of the will. As Lenski, the Lutheran
commentator, emphasizes again and again wherever this word
occurs, it's a love of intelligence and a love of purpose. It sees
the need. It sees the sin. It sees the
failure. But it says, that's my brother.
And the same Christ who has forgiven and received me and bears with
me has forgiven and received him and bears with him. Therefore,
I purpose that I shall not speak evil of him. I purpose that I
shall not mark his sin, that I shall not broadcast his sin,
that I shall not read in motives to his sin. I purpose that I
shall not harp on this matter. Have fervent love among yourselves. Why? Peter says, here is the
great activity of love in the face of my brother's sins. Love
covereth a multitude of sins. Now it's interesting that that
word cover, in its noun form, as the word translated in 2 Corinthians
3, Moses had a veil upon his face. What does love do? It cast a veil over the sins
of my brother. I begin to get close to him and
I start seeing his ethical and spiritual warts and whens and
moles. And what does love do? Instead
of going over and rubbing them and picking on them until they
fester and begin to bleed and irritate, what does love do?
It casts a veil over them. That's what love does. It casts
a veil. Love covereth. It's the same
verb used when it says that the waves came and inundated, they
covered the ship. There as it was tossed about
in the Sea of Galilee, Matthew 8 in verse 24, So fervent love
will weave a mantle to cast over the multitude of the sins and
failures and shortcomings of my brothers and my sisters. And
notice, that's an operation primarily in me. I have no power to remove
the sin as far as its guilt is concerned. Only God can do that.
And He does that by the blood of His Son when my brother or
sister confesses his sins. If we confess our sins, He is
faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us
from all unrighteousness. My disposition to cover my brother's
sins does not remove their guilt. If he's an unconverted person,
I can't justify him by seeking to cover them. If he's a brother,
I cannot restore any ruptured fellowship that may be there
because of sins that he is not dealing with, so that the covering
is basically something that is done in my mind and in my attitude
to my brother. Let me illustrate this way. One
of the reasons I'm longing for that first snow, and I do each
year, is that I always see the things that I could have done
out in the backyard that I didn't get done in the fall. I see some
of the weeds still there in the garden area that I should have
pulled up. They're ugly looking because they're, you know, weeds
can be pretty when at least they're green, but when they're all brown
and dead and drooping over. And then I see some stakes that
were put out there by some of the fellas to mark out a football
playing area that never got pulled up, and I see some leaves that
didn't get raked up. And what's lovely with that first
good blanket of snow is it covers a multitude of the imperfections
in my backyard. Now, it doesn't remove them.
They're still there. And unless someone's hand goes
out and pulls up the stakes and pulls up the weeds, but as far
as I look upon them, they're covered. They're put out of sight.
That's what Peter's saying. Have fervent love! For love will
do what? It will cast that mantle of white
over the sins of my brothers and my sisters. Love has that
peculiar capacity to cover a multitude of sins, so that when I see my
brother, I don't think of that sharp word that sticks out like
an ugly weed. Love has covered I don't remember
perhaps his careless reaction to my little signals about my
need. I don't remember his lack of
sympathy to me. I see him as my brother in Christ,
on his way to glory, struggling with the world, the flesh and
the devil, and we're going together, and we need one another, and
we want to love one another so the world will know that we're
his disciples. Above all things, have fervent
love among yourselves. For love shall cover a multitude
of sins. Let me break this down a bit
and show how love will cover the sins in my mind, in my affections,
in my tongue, and in my actions. In my mind, I've already hinted
at it. When I see my brother or sister, I do not bring into
account all of those wrongs that I've noticed. I refuse to let
my mind retain them. We'll study that, God willing,
next week. Love taketh no account of evil. It's a legal term from
the accounting world. Love doesn't go around with its
ledger saying, now, what can I put in the debit side? And
every time I meet the brother, oh yes, M.A., oh yes, oh yes,
there's this, this, this. Some of you are doing this. God
have mercy on you. You're remembering little picky-oom
things that somebody did to you, and you're nursing your wounds.
Oh, my dear sister, my dear brother, may God make you feel as unclean
and wicked as though you'd gone out and butchered someone in
brutal murder. Because it's gross sin, grieving
and quenching the spirit. In the mind, it works so that
the mind does not retain my brother's failings. Secondly, it will work
in the realm of your affections. What I feel when I see the brother
or sister, I'll not allow rancor and bitterness and suspicion
to rise up in the realm of my affections. No, no. Love will
cover the multitude of sins so that I'll be conscious of my
attachment to him in the bonds of Christian love. It will express
itself in my tongue, what I say about the brother more often
than what I refuse to say about him. My tongue will reflect that
I've covered the multitude of sins. I won't be harping on the
matter. And when someone speaks a praiseworthy
word, what a subtle thing, and we say, ah, yes, that's true,
but love has not covered the multitude of false. No, no, love
hasn't covered the multitude of false. When someone speaks
well of the brother or sister, and instead of saying, yes, thank
God for those graces, we have to say, yes, but then the imperfections
are drawn out. Love will cover a multitude of
sins. The covering will be shown in
the tongue as well as the affections in the mind, and it will be shown
in the actions. And if there seems to be clear
evidence that my brother has wronged me, I'm not going to
wrong him. I'm going to act towards him
as though the wrong were never done. I'm going to love him for
Christ's sake. Ah, but someone says, Pastor,
what about Matthew 15? Matthew 18, 15 says, if thy brother sinned
against thee, go tell of his fault between thee and him alone.
That fits into this framework. Follow me now. If it's the kind
of sin that demands specific reproof, the reason you go to
your brother is not to retaliate within the framework of a scriptural
justification. The reason you go is you know
that that sin is of such a nature it's hindering his fellowship
with God. And you love him enough to go
and point out his fault that he might deal with the sin that
he might no fellowship with God once again. And what do you do?
The scripture says you go and tell him his fault between thee
and him alone. Why? You want to keep it covered.
You don't want it dragged out before others. You don't go to
another brother or sister and say, you know that so-and-so
did this to me, or so-and-so didn't do this to me, and I think
we ought to pray for him. That's an abomination. It's open
disobedience. And some of you are guilty of
this. Because I get it. You come to me and say, Pastor,
so-and-so did this, and I wish you never told me. Now I have
to deal with that thing and pray for fervent love that will hide
it. You should have gone to them,
dear ones. If they sinned against you, go
to your brother and sister and tell them it's all between thee
and him alone. Don't come to your pastor. Feed
my mind with your complaints. Go to your brother. Go to your
sister. And if it's not of a sufficient
nature, then cry to God for the love that will blot it out of
your mind. It's no easy thing. You have to look out into the
faces of people. Someone's told you this, and someone's told
you that. Beloved, no. No. You go. You go. Go in love. If they're older than you, entreat
them as a father, as a mother. But go. Go to them. You say,
but I'm not perfect. Yes, I know that, and they know
it. But go to them. If they've sinned against you,
go in love. Go with a motive that they might
be restored. And if they won't hear you, then
you come to the pastor and the elders. Nobody else. Take with
thee two or three, Matthew 18 says, and you disclose it to
us. Uncover it only as much as is
necessary and as far as is necessary to deal with it. So Matthew 18
is not a contradiction of 1 Peter 4. It's just an amplification
of how this disposition of love will work. In closing, let me
exhort you this morning to some very practical things as to how
this can be done by God's grace. And the first thing you must
remember is this fervent love that covers a multitude of sins
is a fruit that never grows on unblessed Adamic stock. The fruit
of the Spirit is love. And my dear friend, perhaps the
biggest revelation that some of you have never been born of
the Spirit is your inability to love. I don't know. It could be. The fruit of the
Spirit is love. And there are many careful commentators
who believe that all the other things that are mentioned are
but aspects of love's working in relationship to other men. So you must be born of the Spirit
before you can have this love. That's why Peter said, having
fervent love among yourselves. He says, having been born again,
not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible. He says, unless
you're acquainted with the power of the new birth, you'll never
know the presence of this kind of love. But assuming that I'm
speaking primarily to those who are born of the Spirit, may I
give you three suggestions to help you to have this fervent
love that will cover the multitude of sins? The first one is this. Live with a constant sense of
your own sins and failures. What is one of the integral parts
of our daily prayer life? Jesus said, after this manner
pray ye. And we're not to live a day without
crying out, forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors. You
know what I'd like to do with some of you who are so hypercritical
of others? I'd like to bring you right up to the front of
the church and say, now will you just please tell everybody how wonderful
and how perfect you are? Because you seem to assume such
a degree of perfection that you can become chief critic of all
the saints of God and all their imperfections. You must really
have attained a place of tremendous stature and grace. You wouldn't
do that, would you? No? But oh, dear ones, how easy
it is to forget the man who carries around in his own bosom The sense
of his own failure and sins is the one who will find it not
easy, but will find most grace to have fervent love that covers
a multitude of sins. When you know a little part of
the multitude of your own sins, you're neither shocked nor hurt
when you see part of the multitude made up by someone else. Remember,
it's the Pharisee who draws his robes around him and says, My friend, when you get to the
place where you've attained such degrees of holiness and perfection
that you don't need the patient forbearance of the people of
God, then you let us know, will you? And we'll put you in a glass
case and take you around to all the churches in the world as
a museum piece, something that's never appeared on the scene before.
You say, Pastor, you're being facetious. No, I trust it's a
sanctified use of irony to make some of you feel the sting of
a terrible sin, of an attitude that marks the sins of your brethren
instead of covering them. Remember your own sins and failures. Secondly, remember the magnitude
of God's forgiveness to you. Matthew 18, you remember the
parable? Here's the man, the master forgave him a great debt.
He goes around and finds his servant who owed him a little
bit and grabs him by the throat and says, come on, buster, pay
up or else you have it. And when the master heard about it, he
says, you take that wicked servant. You bring judgment on him. And
Jesus said, so shall my father do to every one of you, if he
forgive not every man his brother from the what? From the heart. Why? Because any man who's drunk
of the spirit of divine forgiveness must have a forgiving spirit
to his brethren. And if you don't, it's evidence
that you're a stranger, if not to the reality, the present awareness
of the magnitude of God's forgiveness. And then thirdly, remember how
you wish to be treated with all of your imperfections, Matthew
7, 12, as ye would that others do unto you, even so do unto
them, for this is the law of the prophets. When you're guilty
of the sins of infirmity and weakness in which you don't show
the proper measure of love in the tone of your voice and the
rest, what do you want others to do? Do you want them to mark
that in their ledger and every time they look at you to bring
it? No. What do you want? Do you want them to say, They haven't quite made it, but
neither have I. Isn't that what you want your brethren to do?
Isn't that what you want them to do? Isn't it? As you would
that others do unto you, even so do ye also unto them. So the next time you're ready
to mark the sins of your brothers and sisters, and begin to try
to keep account of the multitude of those sins, you just ask yourself,
is this what I want at the hands of my brethren? Personally, I
find these three things most helpful. I didn't get these out
of a book. I dug them up out of my own heart. And I make no
apologies for that. Because the more one stands in
a place of leadership and in the public eye, the more he's
exposed to all kinds of crossroads. And if he doesn't learn how to
deal with injustices and sins and failures of others, because
he touches many more others, his spirit will become sour.
And the fragrance and the freshness will be gone. Well then, what
does love do in the presence of the sins of its brothers and
sisters? It doesn't excuse them, it doesn't
call them virtues, but it has fervent love which covers the
multitude of sins. And where the sins are of such
a nature, that in your judgment they demand a confrontation. You go to your brother or sister
alone. You don't come to your pastor.
You don't go to another believer. And I know in this place today
there's some of you who've got some confessing to do to God
and to others because you've blabbered the faults and sins
of your brothers to people and you haven't gone to them. And
you're the one who's harping on a matter that is going to
cause division among chief Oh, dear ones, I'm not pushing panic
buttons, no, but I'm seeking to administer a stiff dose of
spring tonic that God may keep us from the crippling effects
that will be our portion unless we have fervent love among ourselves,
that love that covers a multitude of sins. I know, as I indicated
when I started with myself, There isn't a Sunday I stand before
you that there is not some measure of sin in my very ministry. I
trust you have love that will cover those sins. I trust that
God will give to me, to all of us, fervent love among ourselves
that covers a multitude of sins. Oh, may God help us to cry to
him for this love and then subject ourselves to the disciplines
by which that love may be cultivated and increased. For without it,
should all of us attain to such measures of knowledge that we
would make John Owen envious? Should we attain to such degrees
of eloquence and fervency in gospel witness that Whitfield
would envious? Should we attain such degrees
of self-sacrifice in the spread of the gospel that martyrs would
envious? and attain all of these things
and have not love, it would profit us nothing. Oh, may this Queen
of all Graces be the dominant characteristic of this body of
believers, so that by this all men shall know that we are His
disciples. Throwing out truth? No. Loving
one another? In the truth. Throwing out holiness? For love is the fulfilling of
the law, and what is holiness but conformity to that divine
law. So may God help us in that context to press on, and by his
grace to be marked as a people who love one another not in word,
but in deed and in truth. Love that is constantly weaving
a veil to cast over the multitude of the sins of our brothers and
our sisters. Brethren, until we get to heaven
and we're like him, We're a bunch of imperfectly sanctified sinners
going in the same direction. It'll make the journey a lot
happier if we love one another. Let us pray.