Good morning. Let's open this morning's service
with hymn number 186 from the Hardback Tymnal. 186. The church
is one foundation. Let's all stand together. 186. The church's one foundation is
Jesus Christ, her Lord. She is his new creation by water
and the Word. From heaven he came and sought
her to be his holy bride. With his own blood he bought
her, and for her life he died. elect from every nation, yet
one for all the earth, her charter of salvation, ? One Lord, one
faith, one birth ? ? One holy name she blesses ? ? Partakes
one holy food ? ? And to one hope she presses ? ? With every
grace endued ? Mid toil and tribulation and tumult of her war, she waits
the consummation of peace forevermore. Till with a vision glorious her
longing eyes are blessed, And the great church victorious shall
be the church at rest. ? Yet she on earth hath union
? ? With God the three in one ? ? And mystic sweet communion
? ? With those whose rest is won ? ? O happy ones and holy
? ? Lord give us grace that we ? Please be seated. Good morning. That's a really good hymn. I
don't know anything about the man that wrote it, but he obviously
had some understanding of the gospel and what an encouragement
it is to be able to sing that with some understanding. Let's open our Bibles to 1 Thessalonians
4. 1 Thessalonians 4. We left off last time at verse
9, and I want us to look this morning at verses 10 through
12. Let's ask the Lord's blessings. Our merciful Heavenly Father, what great encouragement and
hope and love we have in knowing that the Lord Jesus Christ is
the church's one foundation. And that everything that you
are doing in this world is for the good of your church. Lord,
we ask that you would forgive us for We're losing sight of your grace
and of your glory as we've walked in this world. Lord, we've been
so easily distracted by this world. We pray that in this time
this morning that you would turn us, Lord, that you would cause
us to seek thee and that you would cause your face to shine
upon us. Lord, that we would be reminded,
taught by thee, that this world is not our home. And that the glorious truth of
that hymn that we just sang is our hope. to be made the church at rest
in glory. Lord, give us rest now. Rest
from our labors. Rest from the rigors of the law. Rest from the guilt and shame
of sin. Enable us to set our affections
on things above where Christ is seated at the right hand.
Our advocate. our Redeemer, our successful
Savior, in whom we have all our life. For it's in his name we
pray, amen. You have your Bibles open to
1 Thessalonians chapter four, and we will begin reading at
verse nine, but As touching brotherly love, you need not that I write
unto you for you yourselves are taught of God to love one another. Now the title of this message
is brotherly love. And what the Lord is telling
us there is that we are taught of God to love. Verse 10, and indeed you do it
toward all the brethren which are in all Macedonia. The second point of this message
on brotherly love is that we're not to be selective in who we
love when God teaches us brotherly love is toward all the brethren. That you may increase more and
more that this work of grace that God does in the heart might
grow more and more and not stop growing as we learn to love Christ
and love one another. Verse 11, and that you study
to be quiet and to do your own business. Oh, What interrupts brotherly
love more than when we don't pay attention to our own business
and get involved in one another's business? Mind your own business,
what the Lord's saying here. And to work with your own hands
as we commanded you, that you may walk honestly toward them
that are without and that you may have lack of nothing. Now, we could admonish one another
this morning to love each other. And if that's all we did, our
efforts caused by that admonishment would last just a little while.
We might find ourselves attempting to love one another and manipulate some outward appearances
of love for one another. But the way the Lord introduces this
admonition to love one another is that we are taught this of
God. And so my question is, how does
the Lord teach us to love one another? And the answer to that
question is that he shows us his love for us. Christ is all and he's in all. And if we try in any way to separate
our attempts to love one another from God's love for us in Christ,
then we'll just be pretending to do something that doesn't
really come from the Lord. Everything that the Lord teaches
us has to be vitally connected to the gospel. All that the Lord
admonishes us to do and all that he admonishes us to abstain from
must be understood in light of the gospel. All that the Lord tells us to think about in reference
to who he is and who we are and how it is that, you know, let
this mind be in you, which is also in Christ Jesus. Finally,
my brethren, whatsoever things are good and pure and holy, think
on these things. They must all, our thoughts,
not only our actions, but our thoughts must be understood in
light of the gospel. You see what I'm saying? We,
we, otherwise we attempt to do something in the power of our
own flesh and we might put on a good show for a little while,
but it won't last. And it's not really of God. It
has to be understood in light of the gospel. Paul says to these
believers in Thessalonica, I admonish you to love one another, but
I really don't need to teach you that because the Lord's taught
you. He's taught you in light of his love for you. How we should speak or how we
should worship must all be understood in light of the gospel. For the
gospel is the power of God. The person and the work of the
Lord Jesus Christ is the cause of everything. Being able to love is the result
of being loved. Same as forgiveness, isn't it? Being able to forgive is the
result of being forgiven. If we attempt to love or we attempt
to forgive, apart from our understanding of what God has done to love
us and what he's done to forgive us, then we're going to find
ourselves relying upon the arm of flesh and attempting to do
things to impress others and to salve our own conscience,
and it's not going to be something that's been taught of God. You
see, this love has to be taught of God, doesn't it? In Acts, The apostle admonishes us that
it is more blessed to give than to receive. And in the context,
he says, remember the words of the Lord Jesus Christ, that it
is more blessed to give than it is to receive. But that really
in the context is he's talking about our relationship with one
another. Because in terms of our relationship with God, we
can only give what we have received. You see my point? We can't give anything that we
haven't already received. And so it is with love. So when
the Lord says, love you one another, And you need not that I rebuke
you on this point or that I even teach you because you're taught
of God, what love is. His love for you overflows in
your love for one another. Turn with me to 1 John chapter
four. 1 John chapter four. Talking about brotherly love,
and I don't want us to leave here with some sort of rebuke or even admonition. You need to love one another
better. Let's look at what the Lord has
done in loving us, and it'll be easy to love one another.
1 John 4, look at verse 16. And we have known and believed
the love that God hath to us. For 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. And we just sang about our union
with Christ and here's the demonstration of God's love for us that he
has put us in the Lord Jesus Christ so that as he is so are
we. This is the evidence of God's
love toward us and this is our boldness in the day of judgment.
How are you and I as sinners going to be able to stand in
the presence of a holy God and be sure of our acceptance? Well, to be found in him as a
result of his love for us. This is our boldness in the day
of judgment. This is our This is our courage, this is our boldness
to come in the presence of the Holy God is to know that as he
is, so are we. Look at verse 18. There is no
fear in love, but perfect love casteth out fear. Now your love
and my love is not perfect, but his love is. and his love cast out fear. It cast out the fear of retribution,
it cast out the fear of wrath, it cast out the fear of judgment.
It enables us to look in faith to the Lord Jesus Christ as our
sin bearer, having suffered the wrath of God so that we have
no fear of God's wrath. We can come boldly before the
throne of grace and find help in our time of need without fear. Perfect love casteth out fear. Because fear hath torment. And
he that feareth is not made perfect in love. We love him. because he first loved us. If a man say I love God and hated
his brother, he is a liar for he that loveth not his brother
whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen?
And this commandment we have of him that you, that he who
loveth God, loveth his brother also. We love him only because
he first loved us. You see the connection though? When the Lord is admonishing
us to love one another, he's reminding us that we've been
taught this of God in the gospel, that he has loved us. Herein is love, not that we love
God, but that he loved us and gave his Son to be the propitiation
of our sins. What manner of love the Father
hath bestowed upon us. that we should be called the
sons of God. We cannot separate. Why is it that we hesitate or
have a problem with love? Is it not because We're afraid
it's not going to be reciprocated or we're afraid it's not going
to be received or we're afraid it's going to be abused. People that have been severely
hurt in their lives by other men oftentimes have a hard time
putting themselves out there and loving someone else in fear
that that might happen again. But here's the truth of the gospel.
Here's the truth of the gospel. If you are drawing your love
from an inexhaustible source, then you need not fear in letting
that love out, whether it be received or whether it be rejected
or whether it be abused or whether it be, you see, A wise financial advisor would
tell you don't invest in a long shot unless you can afford to
lose that investment. Don't invest in a long shot unless
you can afford to lose that investment. Well, the only way that you're
going to love without fear is if you have no fear of losing
that investment. because you have an inexhaustible source
to draw from. You see? We can't learn anything
about our love for one another until we have some understanding
and some belief in God's love for us. That's why it's more
blessed to give than to receive. You just keep giving because
because there's no end to you receiving. We can't separate this thing
of loving one another from the truth of being taught of God. If all we are is taught by our
conscience or taught by our culture or taught by our peers that we're
supposed to be loving, you know, that's a feigned love. It's a
fake love. It's not a love that you have experienced
from God You don't have to worry about, just keep loving. You're not gonna, you're not
investing in something. Yeah, you may be investing in
a long shot by loving someone, but it's okay because you can
afford to lose that investment. You can afford to lose it. What a, Would a billionaire worry
about putting a few thousand dollars into some long shot investment? No. If he loses it, so what? I've got an inexhaustible. You
see, if you swim in the ocean of God's love, you don't have
to worry about drowning in a pond with another man. That's just the truth. And so the Lord says, you don't
really need me to tell you about this much because you've been
taught of God. It's more important that I teach
you about God's love for you than it is that I admonish you
to love one another. Because if you ever grasp just
a sliver of God's love for you, You won't have any trouble loving
one another. Learn the gospel. Don't look for something lovable
in others. Just consider how unlovable you
were when God poured out his grace on you. Don't wait for your love to be
appreciated or to be rewarded or to be affirmed. Just consider
how ungrateful you were when God loved you and how little
you affirm his love as you ought. You see? And so the Lord says, I don't
have to tell you much about this because you've been taught of
God. You've been taught of how much God's loved you in spite
of yourself. Turn with me to Romans chapter
8. Romans chapter 8. Here it is, brethren. We read it already in 1 John
chapter 4. Love, this kind of love, casteth
out fear. In other words, if you're not
loving someone, Because you're afraid that that love's gonna
be abused or that love's gonna be rejected or something, you're
holding back. Why? Because you're afraid. Perfect love casteth out fear. Casteth out fear. Child of God,
you've got an inexhaustible source A well spring of living water.
You know, we have springs here in Central Florida. We like occasionally
going up to Blue Springs. 100 million gallons a day, every
24 hours, boiling up out of the ground, never changes, never
stops. It's coming from an inexhaustible
source of the aquifer that you can't see. There it is. That river never has to worry
about drying up. Why? Because it's coming from
a spring of living water. Romans chapter 8, look at verse
37. Nay, in all these things, in all these challenges and all
of these disappointments and all the things that he mentions
before that, we are more than conquerors through him who loved
us. Here's the message. It's his
love for us. Oh, if we ever get a hold of
that, we won't be worrying about loving. He's just, you know,
just keep putting it out there. Let's be like that spring, that
spring doesn't worry about pouring out more water. Why? Because
it's coming from the aquifer. For I am persuaded, I'm persuaded
that neither death nor life nor angels nor principalities nor
powers nor things present nor things to come. nor any of my
difficult experiences that I've had in life, where my love has
been spurned, or where it's been rejected, or where it's been
abused, none of these things, nor height, nor depth, nor any
other creature shall be able to separate me from the love
of God, which is in Christ Jesus. That's glorious. That's glorious. Nothing can separate me. Oh, we can afford to lose our
investment. Oh, the riches of God's grace
in Christ are inexhaustible. These keep coming. They keep
coming. This is how we're taught of God
to love. God teaches us to love not by some feeling or experience
toward another person. If we're waiting for that, we'll
never love anybody. Or we may love just one or two
people or just a handful of folks in our whole lives. In that while we were yet sinners,
Christ died for us. Be kind, tenderhearted, forgiving
one another, even as God, for Christ's sake, hath forgiven
you. You see, you can't separate these things. Christ is all and
he's in all. Set your affections on things
above and forgiveness and love and grace will all flow from
that fountain. From that fountain. Never seen anybody down at Blue
Springs with a pump trying to get water to come up out of the
ground. It just keeps coming. This love is the meat of the
gospel, it is the fulfillment of the law, it is the high calling
of God, and there's never a time when we're more like God than
when he enables us, for Christ's sake, to love one another. And notice he says in our text,
go back with me to 1 Thessalonians chapter 1, that in verse 10, and indeed you do
it toward all the brethren which are in all Macedonia. Now, you know this to be true,
time does not permit us, any of us, to have close, intimate
relationships with a whole bunch of people. It just doesn't. We are limited by time as far
as the depths of our relationship in terms of knowing people. Even the Lord was limited by
that same time when he was here in the flesh. He had an inner
circle, Peter, James, and John, and he spent more time with them
than he did with the other disciples. Did he love them more than the
other disciples? No, but the restraint of time
caused him to have to limit his time to certain people. And that's true for every one
of us. That having been said, though we may not have the time
that we would like to have to spend with everybody that we
love, if God's done a work of grace in our hearts causing us
to love him because of his love for us, we're gonna love all the brethren
whether we, you see, sometimes we get We get jealous if someone
gets more of someone else's attention than we get or whatever. The disciples did. The disciples
got jealous of Peter, James, and John. They fought together for his
attention. Why? Because they were afraid
they were going to get left out. They were afraid they were going
to be left behind. Perfect love casteth out fear. They didn't
have an understanding. This is why we are taught in
this passage of scripture to grow in this grace more and more
because we all fall short, far short of having perfect love. Child of God, We are few and far between. I have a love for God's people
that I can't have for, I mean, I've got an affection, I've got
a bond, I've got a union with God's people that I can't have
with anyone else. And all of God's people, I meet
brand new believers. New to me, believers that I've
never met before, I meet them for the first time and within
just a few moments my heart is knit together with that person
more than it is with my own blood family who don't know Christ. Is that not true? What we have in Christ makes
all other differences not just fade away and not just insignificant. It makes all the other differences
that we might have irrelevant. It makes them irrelevant. We
have a bond in Christ that the world can't understand and they
can't enter into it. Now, Trish and I have been together
a long time and pretty much everybody she knows I know and everybody
I know she knows. But if someone was to come up
to me and say to me, I'm a friend of Trish's that I've never met
before, immediately that person is my friend. I don't have to ask any questions.
I trust anyone that my wife has received into her friendship
will automatically become my friend. I don't have to interrogate
them or figure out, you know, why are you my wife's friend?
You're my wife's friend, you're my friend. How much more true that is of
our relationship with Christ. You're a friend of Christ. You
love Christ. Oh my, I don't find many of them. And immediately our hearts are
knit together. And thirdly, the Lord tells us to increase more
and more. Never stop increasing. You never
achieve your goal. You're always striving to love
better. Don't you want to love Christ
better than you do? Don't you want to love your spouse better
than you do? Love your children? Love each
other better than we do? Sure we do. You see, this is
never something that we achieve in perfection. Only the Lord's
love is perfect. But his perfect love casteth
out fear. You don't have to be afraid to
love, not if you are loved. You've seen that with children,
haven't you? You show me a sheepish, angry, insecure child, I'll show
you a child that is not sure whether they're loved. You show me a child that's free
and happy, willing to take a risk with other people. I'll show
you a child that has no question in their mind about how much
they are loved by their mom and dad, by their family. You see,
it just does that. Perfect love casteth out fear.
It casteth out fear. So let's not leave here thinking,
well, we need to love each other better. Yeah, we do. We do. And we will, by God's grace. Let's put our attention on how
much God's loved us. And that river will flow natural.
It'll flow right out into the St. John's and it'll go all the
way out to the ocean of God's grace. Swim in the ocean of his
love. You won't drown anywhere else. Lord, teach us to love. John said, I must decrease and
he must increase. Well, that just applies to everything,
doesn't it? Applies to everything. And finally,
in our text, go back with me to 1 Thessalonians 5, if you're
not there. Verse 11. And that you study, and that
word means to strive, make it your earnest desire and your
ambition. Strive to do this. Make it your
study, your discipline. To be quiet. What does that mean? To mind your own business. That's what it means. Now, I'm
gonna give you some unsolicited advice. Don't. What are you talking about, preacher?
Don't give unsolicited advice. Don't do it. Be very careful
about it. Be very cautious in giving advice
to people who are asking you for your opinion. Because it's
always received as criticism. Somebody gives you unsolicited
advice. How do you hear it? How do you hear it? You hear
it as criticism, don't you? And the walls go up. And it becomes
a barrier now. Study to be quiet. Make it your ambition to mind
your own business. Hold your peace. Don't offer
your opinion when you're not asked. Bite your tongue. Because
all it's gonna do is create a division between you and the brother or
sister that you love. Turn over just a few pages to
1 Peter chapter four. 1 Peter chapter four. This is amazing that the Lord
would connect these things together. It's amazing to me, but this
is God's word. And this gives us a window into
God's heart and shows us a little something of what he thinks.
Look what he says in verse 15. But let none of you suffer as
a murderer, as a thief, as an evildoer, or as a busybody. Can you believe that God would
connect being a busybody with being a murderer? He just did. What does that tell you? This
thing's so important. Strive, study to be quiet. And ask for advice, don't give
it. You know, be a person that's
always seeking the wise counsel of others and, you know, ask
questions instead of giving your opinion all the time. Oh, what a difference that'll
make in New Year. You see why the Lord put this
with this thing about loving your brethren? Because this matter
of being a busybody is the thing that divides brethren. God hates those who sow discord
among the brethren. You know, we just... Behold, David said in Psalm 133,
how good and how pleasant it is when brethren dwell together
in unity, in unity. We need this, don't we? I need
this. Proverbs 31 is the proverb about
the virtuous woman, which is really a proverb about the church,
the bride of Christ. And in verse 27, the Lord said,
She looketh well to the ways of her own household, and she
eateth not the bread of idleness. She looketh well to the needs
of her own household, and she eateth not the bread
of idleness. Much slothfulness, Ecclesiastes
10, 18, and the building decayeth, and through idleness of hands
the house droppeth through or falleth apart. It will be that
thing that breaks down brotherly love, idleness. Ain't it true? Oh, may God enable us to speak
words of encouragement. Not words of correction, words
of encouragement. Not your place. And I'm not,
you know, I'm just, I don't want to be a brow-beating preacher. I don't want to be that way.
I want to just tell you what God says. And I'm not here to
use the pulpit to bully anybody or to try to correct or change
anybody. If that happens, it's the Lord
doing it. It's the Lord taking his word
and applying it to the heart. And I know if somebody gets mad
at me, for having talked about this or anything else like this,
it's because my voice is the only voice they heard. That's
true. They weren't taught of God. They'd
been taught of God, they just said, thank God. The Lord spoke
to me through that audible voice. At one crying in the wilderness,
the Lord spoke to me. Thank you, thank God. All right,
let's take a break.