Alright, Romans chapter 9. The love of God and the truth
of God made Paul truthful. That's why he was so truthful.
He says in verse 1, I say the truth in Christ, I lie not. My conscience also bearing me
witness in the Holy Ghost. And it was knowing that his countrymen
were perishing in unbelief that made Paul's heart heavy, made
him have continual sorrow. He says, verse 2, I lie not that
I have great heaviness and continual sorrow in my heart. And the love
of God in Paul's heart made him willing to lay down his life
for his He says, verse 3, For I could wish that myself were
accursed from Christ for my brethren, my kinsmen, according to the
flesh. The Apostle Paul once wrote to
one of the churches, Watch ye, stand fast in the faith. Quit you like men and be strong. And if ever there was a believer
who lived those words, it was the Apostle Paul. He was very
courageous for the faith. He was very zealous for the faith
to risk his life and to be willing to lay down his life to carry
the gospel to perishing sinners. He was zealous for the Lord.
Very zealous. And Paul actually ended up dying
a martyr. He literally gave his life for
the preaching of the gospel for brethren. That's why I find it
so offensive to people like Paul and to these other saints we
read about in Hebrews 11 who gave their life for the furtherance
of the gospel. It's so offensive when men say,
well, you don't have to hear the gospel to believe. You realize
what a slap in the face that is to men who gave their life
because it's necessary to preach this gospel? In 1 John, we've
been learning about the love of our brethren, how it is that
God brings us to love our brethren, and it's by believing on Christ.
That's how we love our brethren. It's by believing on the Lord
Jesus. It's by continuing to abide in
the doctrine of Christ, continuing under the preaching of the gospel
with our brethren. And it's by being fellow helpers
together to the truth, being together united to send the gospel
into the world. And all of this requires that
we lay down our life. There may be You have to lay down your way
and your rights and your rathers and all these different things
because we have to keep this thing together and we have to
be fellow helpers to the truth. We have to continue in Christ.
This is what faith does. Now I often ask myself the question,
has Christ given that heart to me? Has He given me this heart
as I ask myself, do I long for perishing sinners enough to forfeit
my comforts and my ease, my money, my time, so that I can take the
gospel to perishing sinners? Am I willing to keep the door
open even after sinners persecute me? These are the things we see
the Lord work in the Apostle Paul. I want that for you and
I want that for me. I want us to follow this example
we have here in the Apostle Paul. Am I willing to not only believe
on Christ but to suffer for His sake? You know that's what He
calls us to do. He said that in Philippians chapter
1. Let me read it to you. He says in Philippians chapter
1, Verse 29, unto you it is given in the behalf of Christ not only
to believe on Him, but also to suffer for His sake. We are called
not only to believe on Him, we are called to bear His cross
and suffer for the sake of the gospel. Because men hate it.
They hate it. Paul here said, I could wish
that myself were accursed from Christ for my brethren, my kinsmen
according to the flesh. I could wish that myself were
accursed from Christ for my brethren, my kinsmen according to the flesh.
Now, Paul is not saying that he wanted to be separated from
Christ in hell for eternity if that would mean the salvation
of his people. That's not what Christ is saying. That would
be totally against the scripture. Totally against the scripture.
He's speaking of a temporal death by the hand of Christ. That's
when he says from Christ, he doesn't mean separated from Christ,
he means a temporal death by the hand of Christ. by the hand
of Christ. John Gill gives this interpretation
and this is true. He says, what he's saying is,
I could wish that my dear Lord and Master would appoint and
order me to die might this nation of mine but escape the ruin and
destruction I see coming upon them. I could be content to die
the most accursed death and be treated in the most ignominious
manner might they but be saved. Paul understood the prophets
and the prophets declared that because of Israel's unbelief,
God was going to destroy them forever. And in ten years from
this time that Paul's writing this letter, that's exactly what
the Lord did. And Paul saw this, he saw what
was coming upon them and he said, I would rather die that death
they're going to die if it would mean my brethren, my kinsmen
after the flesh would be spared. That's exactly what he's saying.
Brethren, that's the heart of Christ. That's the heart of Christ
that he puts in his people. That's my subject this morning,
the heart of Christ. When God gives His child the
heart of Christ, it makes us willing to lay down our lives
for perishing sinners that they might hear the gospel and live. I want to show you Paul's truthfulness,
where it came from. I want to show you Paul's heart,
where it came from. I want to show you Paul's willingness. And then lastly, a few words
for us to take home. First of all, Paul's truthfulness. Now, the love and truth of God,
the love of God and the truth of God, when it's put into the
heart, that's what makes sinners truthful. And that's what happened
to Paul. He said in verse 1, I say the
truth in Christ. I lie not, my conscience also
bearing me witness in the Holy Ghost. When the love of God is
put in a sinner, when the truth of God is put in a sinner, it
makes that sinner truthful. Now, I don't know if I've said
this to you on Sunday or not. I think I may have, but I'm going
to say it again because this is so amazing. I preached this
on Thursday going through our study in 1 John, but I found
this so amazing. Look at John 17. The perfect love that He puts
in us, His people, is the love wherewith He loves Christ. That's
amazing to me. The love that God puts in the
heart when He creates a new heart in His people, the love of God,
it's God's love. And the love of God that He puts
in our hearts is His love for Christ. We don't love perfectly
because we have sin mixed with all we do. But that's why John
spoke of being perfected in love. It's because the perfect love
of God is His love for Christ. That's the love He puts in us.
That's what makes us love Him. Look here, John 17, 26, Christ
in His high priestly prayer to the Father said, John 17, 26,
He said, I have declared unto them thy name, and will declare
it, that the love wherewith thou hast loved me may be in them,
and I in them. Isn't that amazing? The love
wherewith God loves Christ He's in His people. God's perfect
love that John said casts out fear, that perfect love that
casts out fear, that love that gives us boldness for the day
of judgment, John said it's because as Christ is, so are we in this
world. And what he was talking about
in the context was as the Father loves Christ, so the Father loves
us in this world. Look at John 17, 23. I in them and thou in me that
they may be made perfect in one and that my elect throughout
the world might know that thou hast sent me and that thou hast
loved them as thou hast loved me. This is the love that God
puts in the heart. That's when John said we know
and we believe the love that God hath to us. That's when we
know. That's when we believe the love
that God hath to us. And the result, John said, is
we testify, we bear witness that the Father sent the Son to be
the Savior of the world, of His elect all over the world. We
become truthful then by this love of God put in us. We become
truthful. We begin to declare the truth
of God and be a witness for God. It's the love of God put in our
heart that did that. And it's also the truth of God
put in our heart. Look at John 17 and verse 17. He said, sanctify them through
thy truth, thy word is truth. And Christ is that truth. He
said in verse 19, for their sakes I sanctify myself that they also
might be sanctified through the truth. Everything about our sanctification
is by the truth. It's through the preaching of
the gospel in truth. The subject is Christ the truth. We're guided by the Spirit of
truth. And it's all sent from the God
of truth. Everything about our separation
and our holiness is of the truth. It's by the truth. And when we're
sanctified like this by the truth, that's when we're made to receive
the love of the truth. Remember Paul said those in Thessalonica,
he said those that perish, perish because they receive not the
love of the truth. When the love of God is put in
the heart and the truth of God is put in the heart, that's when
we receive the love of the truth. That's when we're made truthful.
And so that's what happened to Paul. The love and the truth
of God made Paul truthful. He spoke the truth and he wanted
his hearers, especially his countrymen, to know that what he was saying,
what he was about to say and all of this was true. He wanted
them to know it's true. I don't mean to... I don't want
to be... be presumptuous and I don't want
to be proud, but I'm telling you brethren, what I preach to
you, I know it is the truth because it's directly from the word of
God. It's exactly what God is saying
and I know it's true. I know it's true. I want you
to know that what I'm telling you is true. That was Paul's
heart. That's the heart he puts in his
people. When you speak to your loved
ones, you want them to know that you're being truthful with them
and you want them to know the truth. And you're assured by
what you believe because you see it in God's Word. You know
that what you believe is the truth. John said, you have an unction
from the Holy One and you know all things. I'm not writing to
you because you don't know the truth, but because you know it.
And you know that no lies are the truth. That's God's people. This is this unction He gives
you where He makes you truthful. Now secondly, let's look at Paul's
heart. This was his heart for perishing
sinners. It's the heart of Christ. It's
the very heart of Christ that he puts in his people. Look at
Romans 9, 2. He said, I have great heaviness and continual
sorrow in my heart. Now Paul didn't have this heart
by nature and neither do you and I. This heart is Christ's
heart which Christ puts in His people. This is Christ's heart
for perishing sinners. Look at Matthew 23. Paul is speaking
here about Israel, about Jerusalem, about His countrymen after the
flesh. Listen to Christ and what He spoke about the very same
people. They were perishing, they perished
in unbelief. Listen to what Christ said about
them. Matthew 23, 37. He said, O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, Thou that killest the prophets,
and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often would I
have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathers her chickens
under her wings, and ye would not. You see that? The same heart that Paul had,
Christ had. Christ said in 2 Chronicles 36.15,
the Scripture says, The Lord God of their fathers sent to
them by His messengers, rising up at times and sending because
He had compassion on His people and on His dwelling place. But
they mocked the messengers of God and despised His words and
misused His prophets until the wrath of the Lord arose against
His people till there was no remedy. Now please don't misunderstand. There is no such thing as common
grace. There's nothing common about
the grace of God. God's grace is distinguishing
grace toward His people alone. That's fact. And God's love is
everlasting love in Christ alone. That's His love that saves. We
just saw that. Paul just declared nothing should
separate us from the love of God in Christ. But God takes
no pleasure in the death of the wicked. That's no pleasure to
God. His pleasure is seeing sinners
turn from their way to the Lord. Listen to this from Ezekiel 33,
11. Say unto them, As I live, saith
the Lord God. You see, God Himself makes an
oath just like Paul did here. He says, As I live, saith the
Lord, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked. but that
the wicked turn from his way and live. Turn ye, turn ye from
your evil ways, for why will you die, O house of Israel? You
see, God's not doing anything to stop sinners from coming to
Christ. And because He's not doing anything
to stop them from coming to Christ, it shows you just how defiled
and depraved the natural heart is in that with all the light
that God gave Israel, they wouldn't come to Christ. He sent messenger
after messenger after messenger to them and they would not come
to Christ. Until eventually, then God did
turn them over to reprobation. He did make it so they couldn't
come to Him. But the fault is their own because
they would not come to Christ. Christ puts this heart in His
people. to where you don't have any delight
in seeing people perish. It causes you heaviness, it causes
you great sorrow continually. You know, your whole body can
be fine and be in good health and nothing wrong with it and
you have a little finger that you've hit it with a hammer or
something and it's bruised and all you can think about is that
little finger. And that's how it is in the local
church. The whole body can be found. The whole body of Christ
can be found and you have one brother who's aired from the
faith and all you can think about is that airing brother. It's
on your heart continually and it's heavy. I've told my mom
and dad, they're in the church with Brother Darwin and I've
told them, I said, one, don't absent yourself from the congregation. I can guarantee you that troubles
Darwin. Every time he sees you absent,
it troubles him. And two, let him know that there's
no problem. If you have to be out more than
a day or two, let him know. and because it is troubling.
You just walk around with this on your heart and on your mind
and especially when you see folks walk away from the gospel. That
is so troubling and it's so heavy on the heart and it affects everything. It affects the whole congregation.
Scripture says whether one member suffer, all the members suffer
with it. It's a great It's a great suffering
that takes place. It affects you preparing to preach
because, you know, when you come to Scripture, you have to tell
what the Scripture says. You have to preach the truth.
You don't want to offend, but it's going to be offensive. You
know, if we didn't preach the truth because it's going to offend
somebody, if we didn't do that, every time it's going to offend
somebody, we would never preach the truth. because somebody is
going to be offended all the time. The devil would win if
that was the case. So it's troubling and it causes
heavy sorrow and it makes everything difficult. And rather than I
say the truth in Christ, I do. My conscience bearing me witness
in the Holy Ghost. Those that err cause me great
heaviness of heart. And no matter what I'm doing,
it does not matter. I can try to get my mind off
of it. I can take up some project at
home and be working on it. And it's a continual sorrow in
my heart the whole time. And I call God the witness. That's so. I'm telling you the
truth. That's the heart God puts in
His people. You know that heart. You feel that heart. You know
that heart too. You know it for your perishing
children. You know it for your loved ones,
your friends, your family members. You know that. You felt it. Here's
the third thing. Let's look at Paul's willingness.
Having this heart of Christ makes us willing to lay down our lives
for perishing sinners. Paul said in verse 3, I could
wish that myself were accursed from Christ for my brethren,
my kinsmen according to the flesh. Now Paul knew that he could not
be the substitute for his brethren. He knew that. He knew, he's speaking
here by the inspiration of God, but he had a willingness and
that came from knowing Christ and knowing that Christ did that
very thing for him. Go to Galatians 3. This is where
our willingness to lay down our lives for our brethren comes
from. Galatians 3 verse 10, As many as are of the works of
the law are under the curse. For it is written, Cursed is
everyone that continueth not in all things which are written
in the book of the law to do them. But that no man is justified
by the law in the sight of God, it is evident. For the just shall
live by faith, and the law is not of faith. But the man that
doeth them shall live in them." And that's an impossibility.
You can't do the law and live by the law. That's what he's
saying. But look at this good news. Christ hath redeemed us
from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us. For it's written, Cursed is everyone
that hangeth on a tree, that the blessing of Abraham might
come on the Gentiles through Jesus Christ, that we might receive
the promise of the Spirit through faith. Christ willingly, willingly,
gave Himself, nobody took His life from Him. He willingly gave
Himself to be the sin bearer for His people. To take all the
sins of His people on Himself so that God would be just to
pour out justice on Him and make Him a curse for us so that we
might be saved and might have eternal life. And He was accursed. Our Lord Jesus could do that
because He's the sinless, spotless Son of God. He was fit to be
the sin-bearer because He knew no sin. You and I can't do that
because we are only sin. We're not fit to be a sin-bearer.
We can't justify ourselves much less justify our brethren. But
our Lord Jesus Christ is the sinless, holy, spotless Lamb
of God and He was fit to bear the sin of His people. And he
did. He was really accursed from the
God he loved. He cried out, My God, my God,
why hast thou forsaken me? They said Martin Luther read
that and studied that and said and thought about that and he
slammed his fist down on the desk and said, God, forsaken
God, who can understand that? But he was accursed and that's
love. That's great love. And that was
the heart of Christ for His people. And so, He promises us now that
we have eternal life. Everybody that believes on Christ
shall have eternal life because Christ has redeemed His people.
He said, I'm the door. By me, if any man enter in, he
shall be saved and shall go in and out and find pasture. That's
the word of Christ. He said, Whosoever shall call
upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. My Lord tells me to
tell you, turn ye, turn ye from your evil ways, for why will
you die? That's what the Lord tells me
to say. That's what He said to His equals. You tell them this.
Turn ye, turn ye. Why will you die? Why will you
go on in unbelief? Why will you go on perishing?
God has no pleasure in the death of the wicked. You can't blame
God. God's righteous. He's righteous
and His people are going to take sides with God and say, God's
righteous. We're not going to compromise
this gospel because we know God's righteous. If we're saved, God
gets all the glory. If we perish, it's nobody's fault
but our fault. God's judgment is righteous of
the reprobate. It's always. It's always. So why will you die? Turn and
believe on Christ. Turn from your evil ways and
turn to Christ the way. Now brethren, that is why Paul
had this heart. He knew he could not be the substitute
of his people. He knew that he could not die
that they might be saved. But he was willing to. He was
willing to. He said, let me go back over
there to Philippians and read this to you. Listen to this. Listen to this, brethren. He said, For me to live is Christ and
to die is gain. For me to live is Christ but
to die is gain. But if I live in the flesh, this
is the fruit of my labor. Yet what I shall choose, I know
not. I'm in a strait betwixt two.
I have a desire to depart and to be with Christ, which is far
better. Nevertheless, to abide in the flesh is more needful
for you. And having this confidence, I know that I shall abide and
continue with you all for your furtherance and joy of faith,
that your rejoicing may be more abundant in Jesus Christ for
me, by my coming to you again." That was his heart for his brethren. He was willing. He said, I don't
count my life dear to myself. He said, I'm willing to go bound
to Jerusalem to preach the gospel. I don't count my life dear to
myself. There are sinners perishing. They need the gospel. So brethren, let me end with
this. Let us follow Paul's example. The Spirit holds him up here
as an example to follow. The Scripture says this, John
said, Hereby perceive we the love of God because He laid down
His life for us and we ought to lay down our lives for the
brethren. He laid down His life for us
and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren. But are
we to only love those who love us? Are we only to lay down our
lives for those brethren who love us? Paul's countrymen here
were lost sinners and they hated Paul. They hated Paul. They considered Paul an apostate
and they hated Paul. When Paul would be preaching,
they would come around. We have people that come in,
and you don't see it, but I've had this happen many times. People
be sitting there while you're preaching, and they'll just make
the ugliest face at you while you're preaching, because they
hate what you're preaching. Now, you don't see that, but
the preacher sees it. But I've at least not had anybody
come around and stir up a riot while I was preaching. That's
what they did to Paul. They would literally stir up
the people into a riot while he was trying to preach. They
threw him in prison, put him in prison for preaching the gospel
and beat him. Beat him. They accused him of
being anti-law. Remember that time at Jerusalem
when they grabbed him and they began to say, men and brethren,
this is the man that preaches everywhere against the law. That's
what they do to us, don't they? They say they're antinomian. They bound themselves with an
oath to kill Paul. That's how much they hated him.
They bound themselves with an oath to kill the apostle Paul. And eventually, that's exactly
what they did. They killed him. But Paul was
willing to be martyred. He was willing to be martyred
to carry the gospel forth for perishing sinners. That's only
by the grace of God. That's only by God putting the
heart of Christ in His people. That's what Christ did for us.
In this, by this we see the love of God. He laid down His life
for us. We ought to lay down our lives
for our brethren. Herein is love, not that we love
God. Paul did this for people that
didn't love him. Herein is love, not that we love
God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation
for our sins. Beloved, if God so, after this
manner, loved us, we ought also to love one another after this
manner. They don't have to love you for you to love them. If
we really, now listen to this carefully, if we really consider
ourselves the chief of sinners, that's what Paul said, I'm the
chief of sinners. That's why he wasn't offended
by them hating him and by the things they said about him. And
if you and I really consider ourselves the chief of sinners,
we won't find it difficult to forgive those that transgress
against us. We won't. It's the self-righteous
that can't forgive because they feel like they ought to be treated
differently. How dare you treat me, somebody as holy and righteous
as I am. How dare you treat me that way.
But if you know you're a maggot, you don't have a problem forgiving
your brethren. Whatever they've said about you,
they could have said a whole lot worse. Isn't that how you
feel? If you're the chief of sinners,
you do. We won't cut off sinners when
they misspeak and when they offend us if we're truly the chief of
sinners and feel that way about ourselves. We'll lay down our
lives for them. We'll lay down our wants and
lay down our rights and lay down our rathers for their spiritual
edification. The Pharisee separates himself
from those that don't measure up to Him. You know what the
word Pharisee means? Separate ones. It's who our Lord
spoke about when He said, they say, stand over there, come not
near me, I'm holier than thou. And the Lord said, there's stench
in my nose. But if you're a sinner, if you're
really a sinner, if you know yourself to be the chief of sinners,
you won't have a problem forgiving your brethren. you'll continue
with them, you'll overlook their sin, you'll bear their burden,
because you know that God's doing that to you constantly every
day for the sake of Christ. Isn't that right? Isn't that
right? It was not that I loved God but
that He loved me. How then can I not love those
who mistreat me? How can I not? When you meet
opposition from the lost, Always remember what God told Samuel.
He said, they have not rejected you, they've rejected me. You declare somebody the truth
and they reject you and they reject what you're saying. Just
know this, they're not rejecting you, they're rejecting God. If you're telling them the truth,
that's so. They're not rejecting you, they're rejecting God. So don't meet opposition with
opposition. Meet it with, thus saith the
Lord. And do so in love, not trying
to be offensive. The gospel is offensive enough. Love most the sinner who hates
you the most. Love most the sinner who hates
you the most. Now, for you that are preaching,
And this goes to every one of us because we all at some time
or another are preaching the gospel to somebody. Especially
you that stand in the pulpit. Preach like you're speaking to
your dearest loved one. And they're just a few breaths
away from meeting God in eternity and they don't know the gospel.
How would you speak to them? I think we'd be as clear as we
could possibly be. I think we'd speak urgently.
I think we would speak pleadingly. I think we'd speak with feeling.
I don't think we'd waste time getting into splitting and trying
to slice and dice doctrine. I think we would just be as truthful
and as clear with them, preaching Christ and Him crucified to them.
Don't you? to preach with a hunger for your
hearers to know Christ. You want them to know. You don't
want them to just simply try to impress them by something
that you know and all that. You want your hearers to know
Christ. That's Paul's heart here. That
was the heart of Christ. That was the heart Paul had been
given. He wanted his hearers to know
the Lord Jesus Christ. If we preach indifferently, if
we don't have any heart in our preaching, we preach indifferently,
we'll teach sinners to be indifferent. Brother Henry used to say, as
goes the pulpit, so goes the pew. And that's true. If I just
stand up here and give you a dry, cold essay every Sunday. Y'all been in that. Y'all told
me about that. Some of you were sitting in that
where men would get up and just read practically an essay every
Sunday. And it'd just be cold and dry
and no feeling in it and no heart in it and no love in it. And that doesn't leave you comforted.
That doesn't leave you looking to Christ. I don't ever want
to preach like that. I don't ever... I told brother
Rob the other day that every time I've ever thought I found
something that nobody's ever said, I came across a preacher
that said it better than I said it 300 years ago. You're not
going to find anything new that hasn't been said. We're not supposed
to preach anything new. The only thing Brother Scott
said, the only thing original with you and me is sin. And that's
it. I want to preach with a live
coal from off the altar on my tongue. That's how I want to
preach. That doesn't mean that you're necessarily going to be
the loudest. That doesn't mean that you're necessarily going
to come across as always necessarily coming across as having the biggest
heart and the most love. Paul said, I was with you with
fear and much trembling. What was it that made it to be
a demonstration of the power and Spirit? He preached the truth.
He didn't back up from the truth. He preached the truth. That's
what makes you know. That's the power and the Spirit
of God makes a man stand up and preach the truth. Preach the
truth with a heart for those he's preaching to. That's what
Paul had. When I stand up to preach, I
always do this before I get up to preach. I try to put myself
in the place of that father and that mother whose heart is breaking
because their child does not believe the gospel. And it's
not too hard for me to put myself in that place. For you who have a spouse that's
lost or sons or daughters or mothers or fathers or co-workers
or neighbors, love them to Christ. Love them to Christ. Do you see
the love in Paul? Do you see the love in his heart
for his countrymen? Remember the love of Christ toward
you when you didn't love Him. And love them to Christ. We're
debtors, brethren. We're all debtors to Christ to
preach the gospel. Go to Romans 1. And I'll close
with this. Romans 1 verse 14. I'm a debtor. Can you say this? Because of the grace and love
of God towards you and what Christ has done for you, can you say
this? I'm a debtor, both to the Greeks and to the barbarians,
both to the wise and to the unwise. So as much as in me is, I'm ready
to preach the gospel to you that are at Rome also. For I am not
ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God unto
salvation to everyone that believeth, to the Jew first and also to
the Greek. For therein is the righteousness
of God revealed from faith to faith, as it's written, the just
shall live by faith. I'm a debtor. I have to go preach
the gospel. I have to preach to you. I can't
settle on just Just anything. I've got to bring you a full
meal when I come here. I want the table to be set. I
want to be something in the message that you're going to be blessed
by. Somebody here is going to be blessed by it. And it doesn't
matter how late you have to stay up. It doesn't matter how hard
it is on your body or what lengths you have to go to. It's necessary.
And that's so with traveling and preaching and going where
God would have you to go to preach. And that's so for you and I.
We have a tendency to think, well, I'm not going to speak
the truth because that's just going to offend my co-worker, that's going
to offend my neighbor. The truth is the only thing God's
going to bless. What if you spoke the truth and
God just broke their heart and gave them a heart for Christ?
You'd be glad you spoke the truth then, wouldn't you? But most
of the time, we're not willing to suffer what we're going to
have to suffer if we say the truth. Say the truth. Speak the
truth. I want to be like those that
the Revelation says that they overcame by the blood of the
Lamb and by the word of their testimony because they loved
not their lives unto the death. They loved not their lives. I
pray God will bless that. Amen.