Alright, brethren, Ephesians.
We're going to begin now in Ephesians 5. Let's read verses 1 and 2. Be ye therefore followers of
God as dear children, and walk in love as Christ also hath loved
us, and hath given himself for us an offering and a sacrifice
to God for a sweet-smelling savor. My subject is as Christ loved
us, as He loved His people. Beholding how Christ loved His
people, how He loved us. That's how brethren learn to
walk in love toward one another. Beholding how He loved us. We
don't learn this by looking to the letter of the law. We learn
this by looking to our Redeemer. He's light. All Scripture gets
its light from Christ. It all redounds to the glory
of His light. And this is where we're going
to learn all things, looking to the Lord Jesus Christ. Walk
in love as Christ also hath loved us. Now, in order to see how
Christ loved His people, first thing we're going to have to
see is what we were when He first loved us. We were fallen in Adam. We were
conceived in sin. God's elect were ungodly. And yet Christ loved us from
eternity, knowing the end from the beginning. He loved us. Look over at Romans 5. Romans
chapter 5. Look here in Romans 5, 6. He
loved us when we were ungodly sinners, brethren. Romans 5,
6. When we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the
ungodly. Scarcely for a righteous man
will one die, yet perventure for a good man someone even dare
to die. but God commendeth his love toward
us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Look over at 1 John 4.10. 1 John
4.10. Look here, and hold your place
in 1 John 4, mark it, we're going to come back here at the end.
But I want you to see here, 1 John 4, 10. Herein is love, not that
we love God. Now mark that, not that we loved
God, but that He loved us. And sent His Son, the propitiation
for our sins. When the Word of God teaches
us to love one another, Perhaps we think of our brethren loving
us and doing all the right things toward us. We have this ideal,
you know, of how the church should be. We have this ideal of how
it will be to love our brethren. But in that ideal, we see a perfect
church and we see our brethren doing all the right things. Brethren,
there has never been a perfect church. Every church in the New
Testament had problems. If you look at the children of
Israel as they were walking through the wilderness, brethren, they
had problems from the beginning. And all God's elect were called
out of sin and united together. We're sinners still. And you're
going to have problems and you're going to have troubles. Our sin nature is only evil.
Do you believe that? You know, Paul said, when I would
do good, this is a sanctified, holy, born again in the new man,
a holy man. But he said, but when I do good,
evil is present with me. I know he's saying that as a
saint regenerated because he said, what I would do, I have
a will to do what God says. No sinner unregenerate has a
will to do what the true and living God says. You got to be
born of God to have a will to do what He said. But he said,
when I would do good, evil is present with me. Always. That's my nature. That's my sin
nature. What I got from Adam. And the
things that we are to put off, the things He tells us right
before this to put off, brethren, that's how we were when Christ
came and laid down His life. Look back up there at verse 31,
Ephesians 4.31. This is the only thing we were
when Christ loved us and laid down His life for His people.
Look, verse 31, "...let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamor,
and evil speaking be put away from you with all malice." That's
the only thing we were, the carnal mind. And we were these things
toward God. The carnal mind is enmity toward
God. And as Paul said in Titus, he
said, We hated God and we hated one
another. That's so. What do you think all the problems
are going on in the world? You know, we blame this cause,
and that cause, and the other cause, and you know, and when
it comes down to it, what it is is just, it's just hate, it's
just a sin nature of hateness, hatefulness in the heart. That's
how we were, toward God, toward the Lord Jesus Christ. And yet
He came forth and laid down His life for us. Then when we were
born and we were dead in our sins, and the whole time we were
dead in our sins, that's all we were toward our Lord. And
yet He still loved us, and sent the gospel to us, and sent the
Holy Spirit, regenerated us, and gave us repentance and faith
to believe Him. Well brethren, it's still what
we are in our sin nature. Yes, we're to put those things
off, but we sometimes are guilty of those things. As a child of
God, as one of God's saints, have you been guilty of any of
those things? I have. Let's just be honest about what
we really are. I have. Why is Paul saying put
that off? Why is he telling the Ephesian
church, brethren, saints, chosen of God, redeemed by Christ, born
of God, all the things he said about them in Ephesians 1. Why
is he telling them to put off bitterness and anger and clamor
and evil speaking? Because they sometimes forget
those things and they needed to put it off. So do we. So what
am I to do if one of God's saints is acting that way toward me?
You see, the Scriptures is not telling me, they're not saying,
well, this is what your brother ought to be doing to you. No,
they're saying, when your brother is acting this way toward you,
he had put it off. Maybe he has in the past and
he's been very kind, but all of a sudden one day he's just
full of bitterness and clamor and going around slandering What
are you to do then? What did Christ do for us? That's
what we were. Look here, Ephesians 4.32. Here's
what you're to do. Be kind one to another. Tender hearted. Put yourself
in their shoes. Try to think. Something has really
hurt my brother. Something has just really hurt
him. Put yourself in their shoes.
And look at this, forgiving one another, even as God, for Christ's
sake, hath forgiven you. Why does He tell us to forgive
one another? Because there's a whole lot of
things about you and me that we're going to have to forgive.
That's why. So what's the motive of the new
heart to forgive? Well, my brother's treating me
this way and it's bitter and he's evil speaking. He's going
around talking about me. Stirring up clamor and all that.
Why am I to forgive him? Why am I to be kind and tender
hearted? Now let me ask you something. Some people will tell you, don't
be kind and tender hearted to him while he's doing that. Was
Christ kind and tender hearted to you while you were doing that?
Sure was. Loved you when you were ungodly,
when you were a sinner. He loved you to himself. That's how he drew you. In loving
kindness have I drawn you, he said. Why does he say that? Or what's
the motive of the new heart to forgive? What's the motive of
the heart to forgive? Even my brother's doing me that
way. Look at verse 32, "...forgiving one another, even as God, for
Christ's sake, hath forgiven you." I preached on that passage
when they brought the woman caught in adultery to the Lord. The
Pharisees said, "...the law says, Stoner, what do you say?" And
our Lord stood between her and the law. He stood between her
and those Pharisees. And when he got through, they
all went away. And he turned around and he said, does no man
condemn you? And she said, no man, Lord. And
he said, neither do I condemn you. Go and sin no more. And I preached a message and
I titled it, The Discipline of Forgiveness. Where do you get that, Clay? There's no greater discipline
than forgiveness. You know where I get that from?
Listen to Psalm 130 verse 3. If thou, Lord, shouldest mark
iniquities, O Lord, who shall stand? But there is forgiveness
with thee, that thou mayest be feared." When the Lord has made
you to see that if He just marked just a thought you had, you couldn't
stand before Him. Not to mention just the host
and He's shown you just how sinful you are. And He's drawn you to
Himself and He's brought you to pour out your heart to Him
and confess your utter nothing to Him and your sinfulness to
Him. And He makes you know in your
heart He's forgiven you for Christ's sake. That works reverence in
your heart for Him. That makes you... Nothing makes
you want to serve Him and honor Him and adorn the Gospel like
knowing He has, for Christ's sake, God's forgiven me all my
sin and remembers them no more. And especially when you're in
a place where you see your sin and He makes you to know that,
that's what makes you reverence Him. Remember when He first made
you know that? How it just endeared your heart
to God? And that's what Paul, you know,
he's right through the Ephesians. And he told them they had left
their first love. And all through this letter in
Ephesians, he talks about God's love toward us and about loving
one another. They were doing a lot of good
works in the letter to the Ephesians. He said they still were doing
a lot of good works. But what was this first love
they left? That first love you had when you knew all you are
is the sinner. And yet God, for Christ's sake,
forgiven you all your sin. Remember that? That's the first
love. That just, when you weren't so
wise and you didn't know all the doctrine and you didn't have
it, but you just knew, I'm a sinner and He is my Savior. He has saved
me from everything. And you just was like a little
child. That first love. I'm telling you, brethren, Nothing
will help your brother when they're being bitter and they're falling. Nothing will help them like reminding
them of our Redeemer, reminding them what He's done, and letting
them know you're there for them. We're not going to come and condemn
them. You're trying to help them. You're trying to restore them.
You're trying to help them to behold Christ and follow Him. The whip of the law won't do
that. The whip of the law, judgment begets judgment. Stirs up wrath. Kindness, being tender hearted,
forgiving one another. That's what's going to help one
another. Let me show you something now. Luke 6. Go with me to Luke
chapter 6. I said that we do this for one
another when our brothers and sisters are not lovable. They
are just not acting lovable. And yet, you try your best to
love them. Let me show you here why. Luke
6.27, the Lord Jesus said, I say unto you which hear, love your
enemies, do good to them which hate you. Bless them that curse
you, and pray for them which despitefully use you. And unto
him that smiteth thee on the one cheek, offer also the other.
And him that taketh away thy cloak, forbid not to take thy
coat also. Give to every man that asketh
thee, and of him that taketh away thy goods, ask them not
again. And as you would that men should
do to you, do you also to them likewise. For if you love them
which love you, what think have you? For sinners also love those
that love them." You see that? If we're just loving one another
because our brother is being so loving to us, that's good. But sinners that don't even know
the Lord do that. Look here. And if you do good
to them which do good to you, what thank have you? For sinners
also do even the same. And if you lend to them of whom
you hope to receive, what thank have you? For sinners also lend
to sinners to receive as much again. But lovely ye your enemies,
do good and lend, hoping for nothing again. And your reward
shall be great, and you shall be the children of the highest. For he is kind unto the unthankful
and to the evil." He said, Artaxas, love one another as dear children.
He said, if you love like this, even those that aren't lovely,
even those that hate you, that would take from you, if you just
love them and do for them, not expecting anything from them,
he said, you'll be children of the highest. Why? For he is kind
unto the unthankful and to the evil. Now here's the word. Be
ye therefore merciful, as your Father also is merciful. You
see, all of that is what he's calling being merciful. It's
to love your enemies, do good, lend, hope for nothing again.
See that? So if we love as Christ loved
us, then we're going to love even when we don't receive love
in return. even if we receive hate and evil
speaking. Now, secondly, I want you to
see, it says, love one another as Christ loved us. How else
did Christ love? He loved His people willingly.
He loved His people willingly. Look at verse 2 there, Ephesians
5, 2. And walk in love as Christ also hath loved us and hath given
Himself for us. He did that willingly. He entered
covenant to save all those God chose freely by His grace. And
He didn't have to be compelled to enter into that covenant.
He didn't have to be promised a reward to enter into that covenant.
He did it because He loved His Father and He loved those the
Father gave to Him. Loved us freely. And then in
the fullness of time, think of how rich the Son of God was.
He had need of nothing. You know the grace of our Lord
Jesus Christ, though He was rich, we can't even enter into that.
Yet, for our sake, He became poor that you through His poverty
might be made rich. The Son of God, in the fullness
of the time, He came down and was made in the likeness of sinful
flesh like unto His brethren. without sin, walked in serpents,
made Himself under the law to do for us what we could not do. What does the Scripture say? If you obeyed the Lord, what
are you giving to Him? And what I'm saying is He did
that for us, not expecting anything in return. We couldn't give Him
anything in return. Everything is His. And if we were righteous, we
just did what we should have done and we couldn't do that.
But he come down and was made under the law to fulfill his
own law for us. He restored that which he took
not away. If they take your cloak, give
me another one also. He restored that which he took
not away. We took away. We tried to take His glory, we
tried to take Him off His throne by our sin and our rebellion.
And He came and gave us His cloak. He came and covered us in His
righteousness that He worked out for His people. He did that
willingly. He said, therefore does my Father love me because
I lay down my life that I might take it again. No man takes it
from me, but I lay it down of myself. I have power to lay it
down. I have power to take it again. This commandment I received
from my Father. When that hour came, our sinless
substitute willingly gave himself to bear the sin of his people.
And he wasn't a helpless victim going to that cross. He went
there willingly. Somebody said it wasn't the nails
that nailed him to that cross, it was his love for God, his
Father and for his people that nailed him to that cross. He
did it willingly. He didn't go as a reluctant victim.
He went in perfect faithfulness to bear the sin of his people
and bear the curse for his people. He took all the sin of His people
and then bore the fierce, just wrath of God in place of His
people. Listen, that gives some new meaning
now. That gives all meaning to Galatians
6.2. Bear ye one another's burdens
and so fulfill the law of Christ. Will I set a limit to my brother's
offenses? We will, won't we? Sadly, we
will. We'll set a limit. We set a limit
to God's grace. God's grace has no limit. God's
forgiveness has no limit. When Peter said, how often should
I forgive my brother? Till seven times? The Lord said,
I say not till seven times, till 70 times seven. That means without
limit. He said, I'm God and I change
not, therefore you sons of Jacob are not consumed. He never ceases
loving His people. All we like sheep have gone astray
and we've turned everyone to His own way. And the Lord has
laid on Him the iniquity of us all. He took all the iniquity,
all the vile sin of His people and laid it on Christ. And Christ
willingly went to that cross, the spotless Lamb of God, to
bear what we are. to declare God just, to declare
His righteousness. And He bore that just fury of
God's wrath that we earned. He didn't earn it, we earned
it. And He took our place and bore that for us. Doesn't that
give some... That's all the meaning to bear
ye one another's burdens. We're never going to bear one
another's sin like He did ours. We're never going to bear one
another's burdens like He did ours. But that's the love of
the law that we're under is the law of Christ. It's the law of
faith and love, faith constrained by love, motivated by love. When
a brother is condemned by men and men are condemning him, if
you really, you know, we have this thought, we've got to really
show our I stand for the Lord and boy, we'll just chime in
there right with them and start condemning somebody. You really
want to show how much you believe God and trust the Lord Jesus?
You stand between the brother and the condemner. You know something about that. You stand between him and the
accuser. You say with Paul what he said of Onespius to Philemon,
whatever he owes you, put that on my account. And Christ bore the burden of
the fierce fury of God's just wrath. He did that for me. He
did that for all His people. You want to really show how you
trust Him and really show and love as Christ loved you? Stand
between, like He stood between the Pharisees and that woman. But she was guilty. She was caught
in the act. That's how Christ loved us. Weren't
you guilty, caught in the act? Every one of us, if he should
mark iniquity, we couldn't stand. And yet he stood between us and
that fierce fury of holy justice and satisfied that justice on
behalf of his people. Christ has redeemed us from the
curse of the law being made a curse for us. Oh, He surrendered Himself,
brethren. He went to that cross and He
bore that curse that He might deliver His people from it. He
couldn't give more than He gave. That's another way He loved us.
He didn't just give a little. He gave everything He had to
give. They couldn't have given more
than He gave. And less would not have redeemed us. Less would
not have satisfied justice. He gave all He had and nothing
less would have satisfied. The God-man. His faithfulness
to God's everlasting covenant was His constraint. His love
for the Father was His constraint. His love for His people was His
constraint. That was his motivation. He was
oppressed and he was afflicted. It wasn't pleasant. How did he
love us? He bore some suffering for us.
Scripture tells us to be long-suffering. That doesn't mean just put up
with it a long time. That means suffer as you put
up with it a long time. He was oppressed and he was afflicted,
yet he opened not his mouth. He could have opened his mouth
and justified himself and condemned every one of us. And that's why he didn't open
his mouth. He would not condemn his bride. He kept his mouth
shut and he bore it. He was brought as a lamb to the
slaughter, as a sheep before his shearers is done, so he opened
not his mouth. And he was taken from prison
and from judgment." Oh, this is not right. It's just a principle. It's not right. And they're not
doing what's right. He was taken from prison and
from judgment. Do you think anything men did
in their kangaroo court was just? Nothing about it was just. They
came looking for false witnesses. Who shall declare His generosity?
He was cut off out of the land of the living for the transgression
of My people was He stricken. As Christ loved us. Love one
another as Christ loved us. You know, when you behold the
perfect love of the Lord Jesus Christ, dare any of us, dare
any of us boast of our love for our brethren Now listen to what
I'm about to say. How do we do that? How do we
most boast about our love for our brethren? By being critical
of how somebody else loves. When you're critical of how somebody
else loves, you might as well be standing up saying, I love
like I ought to be loving. That's what the Pharisee did
in the Lord's parable. That's what he was doing. He
was boasting that he did have being critical of that publican. That kind of bitterness, brethren,
and that's all that is, is bitterness. It's evil speaking. That lands you in legal bondage.
It doesn't do you any good. It puts us in legal bondage.
to be critical of others. We end up in bondage, in bitterness. That's not the spirit of the
Lord, James said. That's sensual spirit. It's devilish. That's our old nature. Stand
fast therefore in the liberty where Christ has made us free.
Be not entangled again with that yoke of bondage. Brethren, look
at Galatians 6. I just want to read this to you
because I want you to see it. Just a couple pages back. Galatians
6. in verse 1. Brethren, if a man
be overtaken in a fall, and that means sin. I mean, he's fallen. He just fell. The brother has
fallen. You which are spiritual, restore such a one in the spirit
of meekness. Spirit of meekness now. Meekness
is trust in the Lord, number one. You know Moses called the
meekest man on earth? Why? Because every time he was
opposed, every time trouble came, every time they were murmuring
against him, what did Moses do? He hid his face and cast it all
on the Lord. Every time. Except for that time
he got mad and smoked a rock twice. So in the spirit of meekness,
trust in the Lord, consider thyself, consider thyself, lest you also
be tempted. In other words, watch your own
self, because if you're not careful, you'll be right back falling
in the same sin. Or worse, self-righteousness.
Bury ye one another's burdens, so fulfill the law of Christ.
For if a man think himself to be something when he is nothing,
he deceiveth himself. See what the Lord says there
in His Word that we are nothing. And when we think we're something,
we're deceiving ourselves. Now lastly, it's Christ's one
offering, brethren. Now first, remember what we are. We were the ungodly when Christ
loved us. Secondly, Christ loved us willingly. That's how He loved
us. So love one another willingly. He loved us completely. He gave
Himself entirely. And now lastly, remember this. To love is Christ's love. We
need to remember this. It is Christ's one offering.
It's His one sacrifice in place of His people that made His people
righteous before God. Now read it again. Walk in love as Christ also has
loved us and has given Himself for us. That's substitution right
there. Gave Himself for us. That's for
His elect. But look, He gave Himself an
offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet smelling savor. Christ, when He walked this earth,
He said the fulfillment of the law is love. Christ Jesus is where we see
that love. He loved God His Father in such
perfection. He loved His brethren in such
perfection. And here's how He loved us. He
gave himself to be forsaken of God. He was left alone of those
he was dying for. But he did it to satisfy justice
for us. He became the least, the absolute
least, made a curse for us to declare God just. and to carry
God the justifier and save His people, to glorify His Father
and save His people. Now that's the perfect love that
is the fulfillment of the law. You and me are never loved like
that. Not this side of glory. Our love's going to have some
sin mixed with it. But that's the perfect love that made us
righteous, brethren. He's the one foreshadowed in
the burnt offering. The Scripture says, Exodus 29,
18, where Paul's getting this from, he said, Thou shalt burn
the whole ram upon the altar. It's a burnt offering unto the
Lord. It's a sweet savor and offering
made by fire unto the Lord. Our Lord Jesus Christ took the
fire of God's wrath and Whereas in the offering the fire came
down and consumed the sacrifice, our Lord consumed the fire. and
put it out for His people. There's therefore now no condemnation. And that perfect love toward
God and that perfect love toward His people was a sweet smelling
savor unto God. And He's accepted that sacrifice
and He's pleased with that sacrifice and He's satisfied with that
sacrifice. And that's the only offering and sacrifice whereby
God's elect have Honored the law in every jot and tittle in
perfection and and I'm trying to say it's not just abandoned
in the letter and it is it's that love of Of what Christ did
at Calvary's cross. That's the fulfillment of the
law That's why you and me can never make our boats that we
have done it ourselves. We can't make our boats We've
loved in any way as so as to fulfill the law when Christ said
Great love hath no man in this, the man lay down his life for
his friend." That's Christ pre-eminently. He's the one that did that. And
He did it perfectly. And that's the sweet smell and
savor that God's pleased with. Now let's end by looking back
over at 1 John 4. That sweet smell and savor to
God means Christ justified His people. He entered into the holy
place having obtained eternal redemption for us. And therefore,
God is going to send the gospel to each one for whom He died.
He is going to give them life and faith and repentance just
like He did to you sitting here today. God is pleased with that
sacrifice that Christ made. One offering to one sacrifice.
So let's end by looking at 1 John 4 now. We read verse 10. I want to read it again. Here
in this love, not that we love God, but He loved us. and sent
His Son. The propitiation for our sin,
the sin expiating sacrifice that made us accepted. Look here.
Beloved, if God so, and that word so means after this manner. When you read John 3.16, Really
that word so, for God so loved the world, that word so means
after this manner. And Christ was telling Nicodemus
how God loved His people. He said, you must be born again.
That's how God loves His people. He sends the Spirit and gives
you a new birth. He said, we speak that we do
know. God loves through the gospel. He said, as Moses lifted up the
serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted
up. That's how God loves. He loves through Christ Jesus
the Lord who laid down His life for His people. For God, after
this manner, loved the world. How does He love? Whosoever believeth
on Him, He saves through faith. That's in His Son. His Son does
the saving. And right here, it means after
this manner. Beloved, if God, after this manner, loved us,
we ought also to love one another after this manner. That's just
what it means. How did He do it? Not that we loved God, but
that He loved us and He sent His Son. That's number one. He loved us when we didn't love
him. So number one, let us love even when we're not loved in
return. Number two, God loved us by giving
the best he could give. He gave his only begotten son. Let me tell you how you're going
to show the greatest love you can give. Show somebody is give
them the best thing you have to give. And you know what that
is? It's the gospel of God's only begotten son. When your brothers are falling,
or they need strength, or they're down, or they're treating you
ugly, whatever it is, don't go and try to just speak it back. Just remind them what the Lord's
done for us. Remind them what the Lord's done
for us. How He loved us when we didn't love Him. That's how you restore your brethren.
What do we restore? It's like restocking the shelves.
You restore them with the gospel of Christ. God gave the best
He could give. He gave His only begotten Son.
That's the best you've got to give too. I guarantee it. Love that wing. And let us remind
one another continually of Christ. And then God the Father loved
His people. Here's how He loved His people.
Now get this, what He's saying there, He trusted us to His Son. That's how He loved us. He trusted
His Son from eternity and sent Him forth. I trust you, Son,
go save them. Well, let me tell you how you're
going to have to love your brother. You're going to have to trust Christ.
Trust them to Christ. That's how you love them. What
do you mean by that, preacher? Well, the only way we can truly
love is through faith in His Son. That's the only way we can.
What serves as not a faith is sin. The only way you can love
is trusting Him. Now listen, when the Lord told
Peter, Peter, forgive without limit, how are you going to do
that without trusting that Christ has already put away the sin
of your brother And God remembers this sin no more. The only way
you can really forgive is through faith in the Lord Jesus. That's
the only way you can. If you don't believe Christ,
you can't forgive your brother. Why? Because I'm going to have
to believe that however my brother's acting, I'm going to have to
trust. I know he's, I've seen that in myself, in my sin nature. But I know Christ has died for
him. I know he believes the Lord.
I'm going to trust the Lord and I'll forgive him because God
doesn't remember sin anymore. I'm not going to remember it
either. And then the only way we can be forbearing and long-suffering
And forgiven is trusting Christ is the master who's able to make
him stand. That's the only way. You can't
make another brother stand. You couldn't give him faith.
You can't grant him repentance. You can't change another person's
heart. All you can do is pray for him and trust him to the
master. But he's the master able to make his servant stand, and
he will. And you've got to believe God to do that. You've got to
believe Christ to do that. To wait on the Lord and trust
the Lord. We can't love without faith in Christ. God the Father
trusted us to his son. You're going to have to trust
your brethren to his son. That's the only way you can love.
So you go to Christ and you pray for one another. You go to Him
and you beg Him, Lord, please protect them. Hedge them about.
Save them. I really think sometimes we don't think that's doing anything.
That's doing more. I pray, you pray. Pray for me because that's doing
more for me than you can do for me in any other regard. Christ's gonna meet the, He's
met our need at Calvary's Cross. He's gonna meet our need as we,
to make us walk by faith. You just, you can bank on that.
Christ loved us by bearing our sin, by standing between us and
the law, by covering our sins so that God remembers it no more.
So love one another by bearing one another's sin, bury one another's
burden, and so fulfill the law of Christ. What is Proverbs 10,
12? Hatred stirreth up strifes, but love covereth all sins. That's what God, who is love,
that's what he did for us, covered all our sins in the blood of
Christ. Remember that woman with the
alabaster box ointment? Christ said, her sins, which
are many, are forgiven. Therefore, she loved much. And
He said, to whom little is forgiven, the same loveth little. I'm going
to tell you something, when you know something about how great
our sins are and yet how merciful God's been to us, how gracious
and how much He's forgiven us our sins through the blood and
righteousness of Christ, that's what will make you love. And
I tell you, we lose sight of how sinful we are. The Lord will
let you fall on your face. He'll let you need mercy. He'll
let you need forgiveness. And then He'll shower you with
it. And I'm telling you, like I said to someone, you come fresh
out of that trial, that's when you want to just be compassionate.
You want to be merciful. Whatever I do to help, I want
to help. I want you to seek Christ. I want you to know Him. I want
to forgive you. And then we'll go a little while
and we'll forget. And He'll have to remind us.
But He's going to keep us knowing. You know what we're doing in
all this? We're laying down our life for our brethren. In a little
small way, not even anything like what Christ did, but in
a little way. But remember this now. Paul said in Galatians 6,
let every man prove his own work. Then you'll have rejoicing in
yourself alone, not in another. What he's saying is, you mind
your business, you mind your business, you mind your business,
you mind your business, you prove your own work and you'll have
rejoicing between you and the Lord alone. And that's opposed
to the Pharisees who try to make a fair show in the flesh, and
so they constrain you too, and you can put anything in the place
of circumcision, they just want to constrain you. Why? That they
may glory in what they made you do. God saved us out of that religion.
I don't want to take you back in it. So you prove your work. Because Scripture doesn't tell
me how you are to be treated. It tells me how I am to treat
you. It doesn't tell you how I am to treat you. It tells you
how you are to treat me. In other words, let us each prove
our own work. Do you get what I am saying?
We are not to be critical and going around, well I don't think
they are doing it. If we just all focus on making
sure we're serving one another like the Lord teaches me personally
to serve you, then the Lord will take care of me, I can trust,
the Lord will take care of you, you're His, and we'll just get
along so well because we're all looking to Christ and trusting
Him. And I go to 2 Corinthians 5.14.
I was going to preach 30 minutes and I've gone 9 minutes over.
Alright, I'm done. One scripture left. 1 Corinthians 5.14. I think this
goes right along with Paul said they constrained you to be circumcised
to make glory in your flesh. He said, God forbid that I should
glory saving the cross for our Lord Jesus Christ. And that's,
look here now, here's our motivation. It's not the constraint of men.
I'm not going to come around trying to constrain you to do
one thing, brethren. I want your faith to stand in
the power and wisdom of God, not because I forced you into
doing something. So I preach Christ to you, I
pray for you, and I wait on Him to give you the grace to do it. And it's His love for us that
is our motivation. Circumcision avails nothing,
uncircumcision. It's faith which worketh by love.
Amen, a new creation. But look at this, when that happens,
Verse 14, the love of Christ constraineth us, 2 Corinthians
5 verse 14, the love of Christ constraineth us because we thus
judge, if one die for all, then we're all dead. And that he died
for all, that they which live should not henceforth live unto
themselves, but to him which died for them and rose again.
Wherefore henceforth know we no man after the flesh. That's
so important, brethren. He was talking to people judging
after the appearance Look, you can act a lot of times like you
don't even know the Lord. I can act like I don't even know
the Lord. But we're not judging after the flesh anymore. I've
heard you speak of the Lord. I've heard the Spirit you have
toward Him. I trust you believe Him. And
when you fall, you stumble, I'm just going to try to remember,
there's a new man in there. In that believer, there's a new
man that loves the Lord, knows the Lord. I need to strengthen
him. And the only way I can help do
that is preach this gospel, this bread from heaven, pray to the
Lord to do it. So we don't know each other after
flesh anymore. Our religion is spiritual. We're
not trying to put on a show, brethren. I know what you are. You know what I am. So love one
another. Paul said, let us not be weary
in well-doing. In due season we'll reap if we
faint not. We have therefore opportunity.
Let us do good to all, especially unto them who are the household
of faith. Do it with a constraint of Christ's love, what he's done
for us, as Christ has loved you. So love one another. Amen.