with hymn number 20 in your Spiral
Gospel Hymns hymn book number 20. Let's all stand together.
? Before the world was made ? God
chose to save me by His grace ? And blessed me in my covenant
hand ? With every blessing of His grace ? In Christ my surety
was found ? A ransom for God's chosen one Deliverance was then
proclaimed, and God's great work of grace The due time my Savior came to
do His Holy Father's will. A body was prepared for Him that
He might righteousness fulfill. When Christ had righteousness
brought in, He took my awful load of sin. Dying for me upon
the tree, my Savior put away my sin. Though I was born a child
of wrath, depraved and helpless, dead in sin, and though I chose
the rebel's path, despising God and love, My Savior's love could
not be quenched. He sought and found me by His
grace. Awakened by His Spirit's call,
I'm saved, I'm saved, my sovereign. Amazing free and sovereign grace,
in love Christ Jesus took my place. Chosen, redeemed, and
called by grace, to Christ alone I give all praise. I only hope, I only hope, Please
be seated. Good morning. Let's bow together
in prayer. Our Heavenly Father. Thank you that. Salvation is
all of grace. Thank you Lord that. Your dear
son. Our Savior. Provided everything
that you required. For our redemption. For all of
our salvation. our sanctification, our glorification. Father, what great hope we have
in knowing that what he did, he did perfectly. Lord, what comfort we have in
knowing that you are not looking to anything that we do for our
acceptance before thee. We ask, Father, that you would
send your Holy Spirit in power We pray that you would enlighten
the eyes of understanding. Pray that you would increase
our faith. Pray, Lord, that you would increase and cause the
love of Christ in our hearts to abound more and more toward
the and toward one another. We ask it in Christ's name. Amen. that glorious hymn that we just
sang, every believer, regardless of how young or how old they
are in the gospel, would believe every word of that hymn, every
word of it. Perhaps a brand new believer
would not be able to express in proper improper terms, the
truths of predestination and election and particular redemption
and total depravity. But when they hear it, their
hearts rejoice and respond with, amen, that's my experience. If
God had not chosen me, I never would have chosen him. If the
Lord Jesus Christ was not successful in redeeming me and in redeeming everyone that he
died for, I have no hope. You see, these glorious truths
of the gospel that we just sang, some would suggest that they
are the meat of the gospel. It's not true. They're the milk
of the gospel. Every babe in Christ knows these
things by experience. And when they hear them declared
from God's word and they have an opportunity to join their
voices together in song, they rejoice in them. They rejoice
in them. Some would suggest that these
are complicated theological concepts that can only be understood by
the spiritually mature. That is not true. That is not
true. These things are the milk that
every babe drinks. And That having been said, what
is the meat of the gospel? Because the scriptures speak
of the meat of the gospel. The title of this message is
The Meat of the Gospel. What is the meat of the gospel?
If those glorious truths of salvation and grace are believed by every
child of God, then what does the Lord say the meat of the
gospel is. Because I want to grow in grace
and in the knowledge of Christ, and I wanna mature beyond these
foundational truths, or from them to the meat. Turn with me
to 1 Peter chapter four. I hope we can answer this question.
1 Peter chapter four. Peter is writing, we've been
studying the book of 1 Peter on Wednesday nights, and I feel
like the Lord has met with us and blessed us. Was particularly
encouraged last Wednesday night when we considered verse seven
in chapter four. Particularly in light of the
home going of our dear brother. Peter's writing to believers.
that are being persecuted for the gospel. Some of them are
being put to death for the gospel. And so when he writes to them
under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit in chapter four at
verse seven, it is a word of encouragement to them. What the
Lord is saying to his children, what he's saying to me and you
is, hold on, it's almost over. The end is near. This is not
a rebuke for the child of God. This is a word of great encouragement. Look what the Lord says, but
the end of all things is at hand. Be patient, continue to look,
continue to rest your hope in Christ. Life is a vapor. It is truly a vapor. And it doesn't
matter how old you are, there's not much time left. I was, Jeff
Taubenheimer and I were talking about the other day and I said,
Jeff, yesterday I was your age. Yesterday I was your age. And
now I'm almost three score and 10. And it just, the end of all
things is at hand. What a word of encouragement
that is. Be therefore sober. Be sober-minded
about yourself, be sober-minded about God, be sober-minded about
the world, think clearly, think the way God thinks on these things. And then in verse 8, he gives
us the meat of the gospel. The meat of the gospel. And above
all things, have fervent charity among yourselves, for charity,
love, shall cover a multitude of sins. Turn back with me a few pages
to Hebrews chapter five. Hebrews chapter five. I believe
we can show this from God's word, how that love is the meat of
the gospel. Hebrews chapter five, verse 12. For when for the time you ought
to be teachers, you have need that one teach you again, which
be the first principles of the oracle of God and are become
such as have need of milk and not of strong meat." The first oracles, the foundational
truths of the gospel, they were needing those things to be proved
to them again. They were needing those things
to be taught and impressed upon them again and again and again. For everyone that useth milk
is unskillful in the word of righteousness, for he is a babe. But strong meat belongs to them
that are of full age, even those who by reason of use have their
senses exercised to discern both good and evil. So the Lord is
telling us that the strong meat of the gospel is having some
understanding of God's word so that you can discern good and evil. Therefore, chapter six, verse
one, therefore, Leaving the principles of the doctrines of Christ, the
doctrine of Christ, let us go on under perfection, not laying
again the foundation of repentance from dead works and faith towards
God, of the doctrines of baptism, laying on of hands, the resurrection
of the dead, the eternal judgment. This we will do if God permit. The Lord's pleased to show us
these things. These are the, you see what he's
telling us now is these are the foundational principles of the
gospel. Yes, the entire building is built
on this foundation and nothing is more important in the building
than the foundation. But the Lord's telling us these
are foundational truths. This is the milk of the gospel.
These are the basic things. Verse four, for it is impossible
for those who were once enlightened and have tasted of the heavenly
gift and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost and have tasted
the good word of God and the powers of the world to come,
those who have heard the gospel, those who have understood the
gospel, those who have believed the gospel, if they shall fall
away to renew them again under repentance, seeing they crucify
to themselves the son of God afresh, and put him to open shame. For the earth, which drinketh
in the rain that cometh oft upon it and bringeth forth herb, meat
for them by whom it is dressed, receiveth blessings from God.
But that which beareth thorns and briars is rejected and is
nigh unto cursing, whose end is to be burned." The Lord's
saying, if the seed of the gospel has has been planted by God in
the heart and it is growing, it will produce fruit. It's impossible. It's impossible
for those who have heard the gospel to fall away. Verse nine. But beloved, we are
persuaded better things of you and things that accompany salvation,
though we thus speak, for God is not unrighteous to forget
your work and labor of love, which you have showed toward
his name and that you have ministered to the saints and do minister.
You see where the Lord's showing us the difference? By this, they shall know that
you are my disciples." By what? Your ability to argue and prove
the foundational doctrines of the
gospel? I trust those things are precious
to us. I trust that we are thoroughly
grounded in them. But being able to argue those
things or prove those things is not what the Lord said as
to how they will know that you are my disciples. He said, they
will know that you are my disciples because of your love for one
another. your love for one another. This is the meat of the gospel. Turn back with me to 1 Thessalonians
3. Verse 12. And the Lord make you to increase
and abound in love, one toward another and toward all men, even
as we do toward you, to the end that he may establish your hearts
unblameable and holiness before God, even our father at the coming
of our Lord Jesus Christ with all of his saints. The Lord tells us that love is
the fulfillment of the law. It is the first cause of our
salvation. Turn back with me to our text. First Peter chapter four, verse
eight. And above all things, above all things, most importantly,
this is the This is the highest, the highest thing above everything
else. Have fervent love among yourselves
for love shall cover the multitude of sin. What was it that covered our
sin? Herein is love, not that we love God, but that he loved
us and gave his son to be the propitiation of our sins. Greater
love had no man than this and he laid down his life for his
friends. The Lord Jesus said, I've loved
them. I've loved them to the end. You see, election and redemption and regeneration
began in love. It began in love. I've loved
them with an everlasting love. Never a time, never a time that
God did not see his people in Christ. And the Lord makes it
clear in John chapter 17 that he loved his people even as he
loved Christ in the same manner. And this is our confidence in
the day of judgment that as he is, so are we in this world. Love covers a multitude of sin. You know, when you love somebody,
it's easy to overlook their faults and their offenses, isn't it?
It's like they can do nothing wrong. Even though they're not
perfect and they do things, you don't see them, why? Because
love covers a multitude of sins. And the flip side is that if
you don't love somebody, everything they do aggravates you. You find
fault in everything that they do if you don't love somebody.
Isn't that true? Love covers a multitude of sin. The evidence of love is forgiveness. That's it. The evidence of God's
love toward us is forgiveness. That he laid down his life for
us is the evidence of his love. For God so loved the world that
he gave his only begotten son. It was the love of God that brought
Christ to this world. It was the love of God that brought
the Lord Jesus Christ to the cross. It's his love for his bride. This is the meat of the gospel. This is the maturing of those
foundational truths that are so critical and so important,
but if never gone beyond that, you know, if nothing's ever built
on them, then we're just doing what the Lord warned us of there
in Hebrews chapter five. having to lay again the foundation
over and over again. Love that is not founded in the
truth is nothing more than sentimental, fleshly, emotionalism, false piety, Whatever
love that's true from our hearts to one another is born out of
our understanding and our experience in God's love for us. Never are
we more like God than when the love of Christ in our hearts
causes us to forgive one another. Be ye kind, tenderhearted, forgiving
one another, even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you. Is there any higher evidence,
greater evidence of love than forgiveness? Set aside our rights. That's what it is to greater
love hath no man than this. They lay down his life for his
brethren. Lay down your pride, lay down
your sense of entitlement, your sense of rights, and forgive. Forgive. I don't have an agenda
in this message. We're going verse by verse through
1 Peter chapter four. Someone might be thinking, well,
I wonder what this message is about. Is there a problem somewhere? No, I'm just telling you what
God says about his love and about the love that he's put in the
hearts of his people and about the meat of the gospel. And my
hope and prayer is that we will be mature, not babes tossed about
by every wind of doctrine and holding a fence toward one another. You know, most things, I've been around religious people
that think every time an offense is done, however minor it is,
there needs to be repentance. There needs to be, you know what,
the majority of offenses just need to be overlooked. Just overlook
them. Just figure, you know what, I've
done the same thing to other people. I've said the same thing.
Don't wait for every time someone says something to come to you
and apologize for it. They may not even know they said
something wrong. How many times you've said something, you didn't
know you said something wrong. Most things just need to be overlooked.
That's love, that's laying down your life for your friend. Isn't that true? If we We hold every word that's
spoken and everything that's said and done against our brother. We'll never, but that's what,
that's middle school mentality, isn't it? That's what children
do. They get their feelings hurt
and they get all puffed up. You see where this is the meat
of the gospel? How many times Lord Peter said,
should I forgive my brother seven times? I forgive my brother,
I'm going to be real spiritual if I do it seven times, right
Lord? Lord looked at Peter and said, Peter, seven times 70. And he didn't mean 490. He meant
you just keep forgiving. You just keep forgiving. If your
brother comes to you seven times in a day and says, I'm sorry,
I repent, forgive him, forgive him. Just be ready to forgive
always, always. Nothing more God-like is there. This is what God has done for
us. Peter responded, so what did
Peter say when the Lord told him that? Lord, you're gonna
have to increase our faith, because I'm not capable of that. Somebody keeps offending me over
and over and over again, I'm gonna give up on them, I'm gonna
write them off. Lord, you're gonna have to give
me more faith. And then in Matthew chapter 18,
the Lord tells us about a king or a rich man who canceled the
debt of a servant who owed him a debt that he absolutely could
not even begin to pay. And then that servant went to
one of his servants who owed him hardly anything and pressed
on his servant to pay him and would not forgive his servant.
You see the picture there. You and I are servant number
one, and God's the rich man who has forgiven us our debt. And
if we turn and not forgive another, what happened to that servant?
The scripture says he was tormented until he paid the full debt.
Is there anything that torments the heart more than an unforgiving
spirit? Again, I don't have an agenda. I'm not thinking in particular
about any issue. We're looking at God's word and
we're talking about, you know, this is what the Lord says the
meat of the gospel is. It's love. And love is never so demonstrated
as it is in forgiveness. It's the evidence of God's love
toward us. Above all things have fervent
love, not a feigned love, not a pretended love, not some sort
of false religious piety love, you know, some sort of syrupy,
you know, emotionalism and trying to prove yourself to, no, a fervent
heartfelt love. Where did I get that from? from your own forgiveness. This is the very character of
God. The Lord tells us in 1 John chapter four, he said, brethren,
love one another for love is of God. And he that loveth is
born of God and knoweth God and he that loveth not knoweth not
God for God is love. Now, there are a lot of attributes
of God and character traits of God, but now the Lord is telling
us what the very nature of God is. His very nature is love. There are a few things in the
scriptures where the Lord tells us what his very nature is. And this is one of them. Turn
with me to 1 John, 1 John chapter four. Look at verse 16. And we have
known and believed the love that God hath to us. 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 the world. Herein is our love made perfect. This is what gives us boldness
in the day of judgment. What is going to give you courage?
What is going to give you hope? What is going to give you comfort
in standing before God? Here it is, as he is. So are we. He's loved me. He's put me in Christ. And he
sees me in Christ. How can I not love my brother?
There's no fear in love. No fear in love. But 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 any man say I love God and
hates 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?
In this commandment have we from him that he who loveth God loveth
his brother also. The Lord said a new commandment
I give unto you, that you love one another. By new, he doesn't mean that
it's new in its origin, but it's new in its revelation. It's new in the demonstration
of God's love for us. Love is the result of being loved. Forgiveness is the result of
being forgiven. It is God's very nature. His
very nature is love. That's who he is. As I said earlier,
there's a few places in scripture where the Lord tells us something
about his nature. One of them is God is light and
in him is no darkness at all. He's perfect light, perfect truth,
Perfect radiant, everything that he says and is and does is in
the light. There's no shadow of turning. There's no shadows in heaven.
There's no need for the sun in heaven. Why? Because the lamb
is the light thereof. He is light. We're going to live
in an environment where there's no, the light is coming from
every direction so that there's no shadows whatsoever. It's the nature of God. He is
light. God is one. He's one here. Oh, Israel, the Lord, our God
is one Lord. All the three persons of the
triune God head. are one together. All the nature
and attributes that apply to the Father apply to the Son and
to the Holy Spirit. They have different parts in our salvation in that
the Father elected a people and the Son redeemed them and the
Holy Spirit regenerates them, but they are one. This is a great
mystery, but we know that our God is one. He's one in nature,
he's one in purpose. And the Lord tells us in John
chapter four that God is spirit, he is spirit. God is spirit, the Lord told
the woman at the well. Or no, yes, I think it was the
woman at the well. He that worshiped him, yes, it
was. He that worship him must worship him in spirit and in
truth. So if we're going to approach
God, we have to have the spirit of God to enable us to come into
the presence of God. These are the very nature of
our God. God is love, he is light, he
is one, he is spirit, And God is holy, holy, holy, holy is
the Lord God of hosts. And here we see in this, in this,
in this three repetition of holiness, the father, the son, and the
Holy Spirit, the father's holy, the son's holy, the Holy Spirit's
holy. Psalm 99 verse eight, the Lord our God is. Holy, he is holy. Let's go back to our text for one moment
before we close. Verse seven. The end of all things
is at hand. Brethren, there's no time left
to be wasting it on frivolous, childish things. Scripture tells us redeem the
time. It's very brief. The end of all things is at hand.
Be therefore sober. Be sober minded about these things
and watch in prayer. I mentioned to our folks Wednesday
night when we looked at this verse, we all know and love Robert
dearly. And Robert has always been a
very hardworking man all his life. And like a lot of men,
like most of the men, Get a sort of sense of our purpose out of
what we're able to contribute In in our work, that's just part
of the nature of a man And I've seen it on many occasions at
the end of life men Get depressed they get discouraged because
they're not able to do anything And I told Robert in the hospital
the other day I said Robert What you have to contribute now is
more than you've ever contributed in your whole life. Your whole
life. There's nothing more important
than for you right now to spend the time you have to pray. And
his face lit up and he was encouraged and he said, well, I have been.
Thank you. I will, I will, I'll pray for
the brethren, I'll pray for you. Is there anything more important?
You spend any time around a dying believer and they're gonna wanna
talk about two things, prayer and love. And if that's what's on the heart
of a child of God, who's about to enter into glory, Ought not
that to be the thing that's most important on our hearts? And
that's what our Lord's telling us here. That's what he's telling
us. Watch and pray. And above all
things, above everything else, have fervent love among yourselves. For love covers a multitude. of sin. Oh, what a blessing. The world knows nothing about
these things, brethren. They know nothing about it. They
can't enter into it. They can't experience it. They
can fake it. But this is a work of grace in
the heart done by God for his children, might we eat strong
meat, strong meat. All right, let's take a break.