It was my intention tonight to preach
from Romans chapter 3 on the law given by Moses at Mount Sinai. I was going to show you to whom
it speaks. what it says and what its purpose
is. But this message will help us
when we get back to Romans 3. This will help us to understand
that passage a little better. But something happened this week
that was greatly disappointing to me and saddened me. Wherever God grants repentance,
there will be a broken and a contrite spirit instead of the flesh being
puffed up in knowledge. That's just guaranteed. If he's
granted repentance, given a new heart, there's going to be a
broken and a contrite heart. A man will be turned from being
puffed up by his knowledge and so-called and what have you.
Where God creates a new spirit, there will always be love for
brethren. There will not be this holier-than-thou
legal mean spirit. God creates a new heart. He gives
a new heart, a heart of love. There'll be no more divisive
spirit. Now, after Judas, the Lord was
in a room with all his brethren, and after Judas went out and
he left, the Lord Jesus said this to his 11 disciples. And
this applies to all His true disciples today. A disciple is
simply a student of the Lord. Someone the Lord is truly teaching.
This is true of all His disciples today, the same as it was true
of His 11 disciples there with Him. John 13, 34. A new commandment. That word is a synonym of a new
law. A new law. A new commandment
I give unto you. that ye love one another. As I have loved you, that ye
also love one another. By this shall all know that ye
are my disciples. Now listen to this. If ye have
love one to another. Now Christ is the Savior of His
people. The Lord Jesus is the Savior
of His people. He shall save His people from
our sins. That's why His name is Jesus,
Savior. He is the Savior of His people.
But our Lord Jesus Christ is also the Lord of those in whose
hearts He dwells. He is the Master over those who
He has sanctified in regeneration. He's the Savior and He's the
Lord. Now you and I are creatures.
We've been created by God. Now what that means is we're
going to always be under some law. You and I are going to always
be under some rule. Romans 6 is so clear about that.
We're either going to be the slaves of sin under the law,
under the prince of the power of the air, or we're going to
be made willing bondservants under grace, under the power
of our Lord Jesus Christ. Now there's no middle ground
on this thing. We either are one or the other. All men are either under the
rule of sin and the devil or they're under the law of Christ
and they're His servants. One of the two. One of the two. Christ Jesus himself, right here
in this passage, Christ himself says, all his disciples are under
his new law of love. That is our rule of life. This is it, right here. I've
titled this Christ's New Law. Christ's new law. We get scared
of the word law. We shouldn't be scared of the
word law. We are not in any way under the law. We're not under the law. We need
to find out what that means to be not under the law. We're not
under the law of Moses given at Mount Sinai. We're not under
the law of works. but we are gladly under the rule
of Christ. Gladly. Now, I want to show you
three things here that our Lord states. We shouldn't try to add
to this or come up with some divisions when the three things
He states are so profound right here. First of all, why does
our Lord call this a new commandment? He says there in verse 34, a
new commandment, I give unto you that ye love one another. Now why does he call that a new
commandment? Secondly, we'll look at the new motive of this
new commandment. There's a new motive. He says
there in verse 34, as I have loved you, that ye also love
one another. And then thirdly, How does our
Lord say that all shall know that we are His students and
taught of Him? He says in verse 35, by this
shall all know that you are my disciples if you have love one
to another. Now first of all, why does the
Lord call this a new commandment? Why does He call this a new commandment?
It sounds, and there's a lot of folks who think it's just
the same, it's the law of Moses. It sounds a lot like it, and
a lot of people think it's the law of Moses, and he's just quoting
that. If that was the case, he wouldn't
call it new. It's a new commandment. It's a new commandment because
of who gives it, number one. It's a new commandment because
of to whom it's given. It's a new commandment because
of what is given. And it's a new commandment because
of how it's given. Read this with me, verse 34.
A new commandment I give unto you that ye love one another. Turn to John chapter, or back
to John chapter 1, just a moment. Now, we're going to compare and
contrast here just a minute. The old commandments at Mount
Sinai, which is what the, when you read the New Testament, in
a lot of places when it's talking about us, well, in all places
when it's talking about us not being under the law, That's what
it's talking about, the law given at Mount Sinai by Moses. Now, all those commandments,
there was over 600 commandments given at Mount Sinai. Moses gave
those and he was a sinner. He was himself in need of Christ
saving him. He was a sinner. That's what
Paul's getting at over there in Galatians, I believe it's
Galatians 3, when he said the law was given in the hands of
angels through a mediator. He says, but a mediator is not
a mediator of one. He's not representing one party.
But he says, but God is one. In other words, Moses was a sinner
just like those children of Israel to whom He was taking that law.
But God, He's the other party and He was offended by everybody
involved, Moses included. That's why He gave it through
the hand of angels and God didn't come anywhere around them. He
was showing that they needed to be reconciled and He was showing
them they weren't going to be able to do it through the law.
But you see, Moses was a sinner. He wasn't a fit mediator. He,
in a lot of ways, pictured Christ a mediator in that because he
went between God and men, but he was only a man. He wasn't
a God-man. He couldn't reach God and reach
his people. So he was a sinner. But look
here, this one who gives this new law is Christ, the Word made
flesh, God with us. Look at John 1.14, the Word was
made flesh and dwelt among us. And we beheld His glory, the
glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace
and truth. And in our text right before,
He tells them to love one another. He speaks of His glory and about
being glorified and the Father glorifying Him. Now, that's the
first thing of who gave it. Moses was a sinner who gave that
law. This new law is new in that it
was given by Christ the Word Himself. And then Moses gave
the law only to the Jews. He only gave it to the Jews.
He gave it to the outward flesh of man. He gave it to sinners,
guilty and unholy in their heart, incapable of keeping the law.
That's who He gave the law to. Christ gives His commandment
unto His friends. He gives His commandment to His
disciples, Jew and Gentile. He gives His commandment to those
He's reconciled unto God by His precious blood and those in whom
He's created a new spirit. Look here, John 1.16, and of
His fullness have all we, His disciples, of His fullness have
all we received and grace for grace. You see, the way in which
this is given and to whom it's given is altogether different.
That's why it's new. Moses only gave the letter of
the law written on tables of stone. Christ gives the law in
spirit written on the new heart that he's given. Look at John
1 17. For the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth The
gospel came by Jesus Christ. You see, this is why it's new.
This is why it's new. It's new just like you say a
new song is a more excellent song. Or a new covenant is a
more excellent covenant. This is a more excellent rule. Christ gave it. Christ writes
His new commandment of love not on tables of stone, He writes
it on the fleshly tables of the heart. A new heart, a new spirit
that He's given in the new birth. And we believe on Christ by this
work He does. This is how He gives you faith.
Is faith... Is faith... Paul calls faith
in Romans 3 the law of faith. Is it necessary? Absolutely. This right here is the law of
love. It's absolutely necessary. Christ said this is His commandment. A new commandment I give unto
you. And so we love, we believe the
Lord by His work in the new spirit and in that new spirit is where
we believe the Lord. Our flesh contributes nothing.
And in this new spirit we love God and our brethren with unfeigned
love. Go to 1 John 3 and let's look
at John, hear John say this to us over here. 1 John 3.23. This
is His commandment. When you hear the Lord talk about, let me see here,
look back up at verse 7. Look at verse 10, I'm sorry.
In this the children of God are manifest, the children of the
devil. Whosoever doeth not righteousness
is not of God. When he says there, doeth not
righteousness, he's talking about believing on Christ. I'm going
to show you this. He says, neither he that loveth
not his brother. Now look down at 1 John 3.23.
Here's why, because this is His commandment, that we should believe
on the name of His Son Jesus Christ and love one another as
He gave His commandment. You see the two things right
there together? We establish the whole righteousness of the
law through faith in Christ because He established it for us. That's
what faith lays hold of. Christ, our righteousness. And
because of this work in the heart, we love one another. Read on. He says, And he that
keepeth his commandments dwelleth in him, and he in him. That's why I'm showing you that
this is by being born again, being born anew of God. And hereby
we know that he abideth in us by the Spirit which he hath given
us. Look back up at verse 14, 1 John 3.14. We know that we've passed from
death unto life because we love the brethren. He that loveth
not his brother abideth in death. Whoso hateth his brother is a
murderer, and you know that no murderer hath eternal life abiding
in him. But you see that last phrase,
eternal life abiding in Him? That's why you and I who believe
the Lord, that's why we believe and why we love the Lord and
our brethren. We have eternal life abiding
in us. Christ our life. Look at 1 John
4, 7. 1 John 4, 7. Beloved, let us love one another,
for love is of God. And everyone that loveth is born
of God, and knoweth God. He that loveth not knoweth not
God, for God is love. Look at 1 John 4, 12. No man hath seen God at any time. If we love one another, here's
why we do it. God dwelleth in us, and His love
is perfected in us. Hereby know we that we dwell
in Him, and He in us, because He hath given us of His Spirit. You see, before that, all we
were were flesh, and we didn't love our brethren. We didn't
believe Christ either. How come we do now? He's given
us of His Spirit. That's the only way. Look now,
and we've seen, and we do testify that the Father sent the Son
to be the Savior of the world. Whosoever shall confess that
Jesus is the Son of God, God dwelleth in him, and he in God. 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. Look at verse 21. And this commandment have we
from him, that he who loveth God, love his brother also. Whosoever believeth that Jesus
is the Christ is born of God. And everyone that loveth him
that begat, loveth him also that is begotten of him. This is not
a possibility. This is just how it is. Christ,
He does command us to love all men. As much as possible, you
live peaceably with all men and you love all men, but right here,
what we're talking about, in John 13 and right here in 1 John,
2 John, we're talking about brotherly love. We're talking about loving
our brethren. This is what we're talking about
here. Everyone that loveth him that begat, loveth him also that's
begotten of him. Every one of them do. Every one
of them do. We believe on Christ and we love
God and our brethren because in the New Spirit, God the Holy
Spirit has created the fruit of faith and love. I read Galatians
6 to you. Galatians 5.22 says the fruit
of the Spirit is love, and you give some other things and you
read on and it says, and faith. That's the fruit of the Holy
Spirit. Where does faith come from? Where
does love come from? It's the fruit of the Holy Spirit.
Fruit of the Holy Spirit. For God has not given us the
spirit of fear. Little s spirit. Remember Christ
said, I'm going to give you a new spirit. It's a little s spirit. That new man is indeed Christ
in you, but you have a new spirit. He's given you a new spirit.
And it's in that new spirit that you believe and love one another.
And God has not given us that little s spirit of fear, but
of power and of love and of a sound mind. Christ doesn't give His
new command in the letter. He doesn't give it in the letter
for us to obey in the flesh in our own strength. He doesn't
do that. If He did that, that would be to be under the law.
We're not under the law. We're not under the law. We're
under grace. And this is what it is to be
under grace. It's to be taught affectionately by God in our
spirit. Go to 1 Thessalonians 4. It's
to be taught of God Himself in the heart by the Holy Spirit. 1 Thessalonians
4 and verse 9. Paul was going to preach to the
Thessalonians in this letter about brotherly love. But then he remembered. And he
said this, 1 Thessalonians 4, 9, But as touching brotherly
love, you need not that I write unto you. For ye yourselves are
taught of God to love one another. That doesn't mean that God just
merely wrote it down and said you ought to love one another.
He's saying in your heart, effectually, you are taught of God to love
one another. And that same way we begin is
how we increase and abound in love. Look at 1 Thessalonians
3.12. He says, The Lord make you increase and abound in love
one toward another and toward all even as we do toward you. The Lord make you increase and
abound. You see why Christ calls this
a new commandment? What did the law give when Moses
gave the law? He didn't give any of this. You
had one sinner given a letter written on tablets of stone to
other sinners who had nothing but their flesh and could do
nothing. And the law won't give you anything. The law won't teach you how to
love. The law won't give you the spirit of love. The law won't
affectionately work in your heart. The law won't do any of that
for you. We're talking about a new commandment.
A new commandment. Entirely new commandment. It's
given of Christ and it's only given to those He's reconciled
by His blood. It's only given to those in whom
He's created a new spirit. And it's in that new spirit.
It's the fruit of the Holy Spirit. This is what it is to be under
grace rather than law. You're not under the law, you're
under grace. This is why He says sin shall
not have dominion over you. It's not because We still have
an old man of flesh that is sin. That's how come we can't fulfill
the righteousness of the law ourselves. Everything we do is
mixed with sin. We have to have Christ to fulfill
the righteousness of the law. We have to have Christ to be
the holiness of that new man dwelling in us. Just like He
came into the tabernacle and His presence, His Shekinah glory
in that tabernacle sanctified the whole tabernacle. When Christ
enters in, In that new spirit that He's given, He sanctifies
the sinner within, makes us holy within. We have to have Him to
do that. But in that new man, in that
new spirit now, you have a new love that wasn't there, where
you love the Lord and you love your brethren the same as you
have faith that wasn't there before. Now you believe on Christ
and trust Him for everything. Are you with me? You follow me? Now, do you and I have a heart
to obey Christ? When we hear this, this is what
we should say. Do I have a heart to obey Christ?
Do I want to obey Christ? Do we care whether or not we
obey Christ? Now, obedience to Christ matters
greatly to every sanctified child of God. Obedience to Christ does
matter when you've been sanctified in the heart. Because Christ
doesn't fail. The Spirit of God doesn't fail.
God our Father does not fail to teach His people that it matters. And He does teach His people
in the heart that obedience to Him matters. But it's crystal
clear to us in those scriptures we just read in John that the
one who will reject this new commandment and the one who will
say that this does not apply to believers It's the man who
hadn't been born of God. Didn't He say that? He that does
not love his brother abideth in death. That's why. He that's
going to say, well, that doesn't apply to believers. Don't tell
me how to live. I'm not. But the one you claim
to be righteous by is. That's Christ Jesus. And He's
going to tell His people, we're going to be under a rule. It's
just out here. We're going to be under root.
Now true noma in the Greek means law. And a true antinomian, anti-law
is somebody who says, I'm not under the law of Moses and I'm
not under the law of Christ either. That's a true antinomian. We're
not an antinomian. We get accused of that because
we insist believers are not under the law. But you see how Christ
is saying this is such a A better commandment? He's leading us. He's teaching us. Now secondly,
let's look at this motive here. The motive Christ yields makes
his commandment new. It's a new motive so it makes
this commandment new because it has a new motive. Now what's
the new motive? Verse 34, he says, a new commandment
I give unto you that you love one another. Now here's the new
motive. As I have loved you, and you also love one another.
Now, like I said, there's a lot that insists that this is just
the law given by Moses. But this is not. You've heard
people say that, people that call us antinomian. They often
say, well, the law of Moses is quoted all through the New Testament. This is not the law quoted by
Moses. Listen to this, Leviticus 19.18,
it says, this is what Moses gave, Thou shalt not avenge nor bear
any grudge against the children of thy people, but thou shalt
love thy neighbor as thyself. I am the Lord. Well, if I'm going
to love my neighbor as myself, I can do a lot with that. I can do a lot with that. I can
I can not love you very much. If somebody says something, I
say, well, that's just how much I love myself. But I can't do anything with
as Christ has loved me. That's just how that is. I can't
touch that and alter that and do one thing to that. That's
different. That's not love your neighbor
as thyself. That is saying to his He is,
brethren, as I have loved you, you also love one another. That's
a new commandment. That's got an entirely new motive
right there. As I have loved you. That's the
new motive, brethren. That's the new example. We learn
everything we need to know by looking to Christ. As I have
loved you means we're going to have to look to Christ to find
out how to love. Isn't that right? That's the
difference between law and grace. Moses' law didn't give you an
example. Grace does. Grace says, as I've
loved you, that's how you're going to learn how to love. Look
to Christ. Look to Christ. Follow Christ.
As I have loved you, that's the motivation. You know what? The
thing that makes something law or grace is the motive. What's
the motive of the heart? That makes it law or grace. The
motive. I cut the grass outside and I
try to do any of the hard, you know, heavy lifting and things
around the house that needs to be done and Melinda does the
inside work and the laundry and the floors and whatever, inside
stuff like that. Now, there are people who get
paid to do that stuff. And when you're getting paid
to do that, you do that like it's work and like it's a job. But I love her and it's not a
job to me at all because I love her. If she loves me, it's not
a job to her. You see how motive of the heart
changes whether it's law or grace? The motive of the heart is where
it all is. If I'm trying to add to Christ
and indebt God and exalt myself and I'm trying to get a better
reward in heaven over somebody else, that's all legal mercenary
fleshly motives. The world operates on those same
principles. There's no difference how the
world operates. The love of Christ for His people is the motivation
under grace. Listen, the love of Christ constraineth
us. I had somebody ask me, you keep
saying constrain, that's not in the Bible, what does that
even mean? It's 2 Corinthians 5.14, the love of Christ constraineth
us. It means Christ's love for us
is our motive. that moves us and rules us. The love of Christ constrains
us because we thus discern that if one died for all, then we're
all dead. When Christ died, our old man
of sin died. That's good news. He came and
now through the law, by Christ obeying the law and going to
the cross, I am dead to the law. That curse is removed off of
me. and that He died for all that
they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves but unto
Him which died for them and rose again. The love of Christ constrains
us to live to Him and for Him because of what He did. How did
Christ love us? He says, as I have loved you,
so you love one another. How did Christ love us? I can't,
we could spend a lifetime on that question. So I can't dare
answer it all tonight. I won't even scratch the surface.
But let me give you a few things. First of all, he loves us without
end. He loves us without end. Look
at John 13.1. It says, Before the feast of
the Passover, when Jesus knew that His hour was come, that
He should depart out of this world unto the Father, having
loved His own which were in the world, He loved them unto the
end. Christ knew that His hour was
come. Now you think about everything
that must have been on His mind. He knows what He's fixing to
go do. He's about to go to the cross.
He's about to be made sin. He's about to be made a curse.
He's about to be rejected by His brethren. He's about to be
rejected by God. He's about to be whipped and
beat and spit upon by men. The devil is about to come and
try to tempt Him in every way possible. He knows all of this
is about to come to pass. When you and I have some great
job that we're facing and we're surrounded by, that's all I can
think about. And our love for our brethren
gets put on the back burner, not Christ. Having loved His
own, He loved them to the end. He loved them to the end. Charity
never fails. The love of God never fails.
That's what the scripture says. His people are members of His
body and He's the head. How could He not love His own
body? And brethren, as He loved us,
so we ought to love one another. We are members of that body. We're members in particular.
You that are born of God and believe God, you're members of
the body of Christ of which He's the head. And every one of these
brethren you see in here are a member of that body, a member
of your body. How could we not love our own
body? How could we not love our own brethren? Whether one member
suffer, all the members suffer with it. And if one member rejoices
or is honored, all the members rejoice with it. Don't you find
that to be the case? If you have a brother or sister
who's going through something sad and sorrowful, doesn't it
hurt you? You trade places with them if
you could. And when they're honored and
they rejoice, do you get envious? Are you jealous of that? No. It's like, do you get jealous
of your children? When they're honored, you rejoice
about it. That's how we are about our brethren. Well, that's one way. Christ
loved those the Father gave unto Him in divine election by laying
down His life for us under the shame of sin and under that unmitted
fury of God's justice. He laid down His life for us.
This is, look at John 15, 12. John 15, 12. This is my commandment,
that you love one another as I have loved you. Greater love
hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. He illustrated it in John 13
when he washed the disciples' feet. You know in those days,
they traveled and they were walking around in sandals in the sand
and their feet would get nasty, get really dirty. And so when
you came into somebody's house for dinner, it was customary
that you wash their feet. But you had the lowest servant,
that was the lowest job in the house, was the servant who washed
the company's feet. Because it was a dirty job, and
who wanted to bow down and wash some traveler's nasty, dirty
feet? Stinking feet. That's what Christ did. He, God
in human flesh, literally bowed down and washed the feet of His
disciples. That's amazing love and condescension. But it's nothing compared to
the love and condescension He was teaching us and illustrating
to us by doing that. Look there at John 13.4, "...he
riseth from supper, and laid aside his garments, and took
a towel, and he girded himself." The Son of God, being in the
form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God, but made
Himself of no reputation and took upon Him the form of a servant,
and was made in the likeness of men, and being found in fashion
as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient unto death,
even the death of the cross. That's what He's illustrating
by that. He took off that, He laid aside His garment like He
laid aside His glory, and He made Himself totally unknown. And He just kept making Himself
the least, the least, the least, the least, until He died the
death of the cross. That's what He was illustrating
by washing their feet. Look at John 13, 5. And after
all that, He poureth water into a basin. Our Lord Jesus poured
out His life's blood for maggots like you and me. And He began
to wash the disciples' feet. Christ purged His people from
our sins, justifying us on the cross. He washes us in regeneration
through the Holy Spirit. And because He's our advocate
with the Father, Scripture says when we come to Him, confessing
our sins, God's faithful and just to forgive us of our sins
and to cleanse us from all iniquity. Look here, "...and he began to
wipe them with the towel wherewith he was girded." Christ robes
us in His own righteousness, just like He took that towel.
It didn't mean He took the towel off and He was naked. He had
something else on, but He took the towel off and He girded them
with it. And He was just illustrating
the fact that it's by His own garment of righteousness that
He robed you and me. Christ says, now you love one
another as I loved you by laying down my life for you. Philippians
2.1 Paul said, if there be therefore any consolation in Christ, any
comfort of love, any fellowship of the Spirit, any bows and mercies,
fulfill ye my joy that you be like-minded. Having the same
love, being of one accord, one mind, and let nothing be done
through strife or vain glory. I could tell you exactly what
that looks like. I could name names. Don't do anything through
strife or vain glory. Nothing. Look at this. But in lowliness of mind, let
each esteem the other better than themselves. Look not every
man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others.
And He is saying to us, let this mind be in you which was also
in Christ Jesus. This was the mind of Christ.
He said in Romans 12.10, Be kindly affectioned one to another. Kindly
affectioned one to another in brotherly love, in honor, preferring
one another. preferring one another, wanting
another to be exalted, wanting another to be lifted up, wanting
another to get the praise and the glory. Prefer that, He said. Prefer that. That's what Christ
preferred. And then Christ loved us and
He continues to love us by forbearing with us in our ignorance. He loved us when we were totally
ignorant and we didn't know Him at all and even now that we do
know Him, He still forbears with us in His long suffering with
our ignorance. He bears it. I hear men claiming
that believers have to know this doctrine or that doctrine and
they have to believe every word of God or they cannot be saved.
Do you really want to stand before God and be judged on that? Do
you want to be judged by God on how much of God's Word you
know and you believe? Would you? I wouldn't want to. I wouldn't want to. There's far
more of God's Word that we do not even understand than that
we do. Do you realize that? There's
far more of God's Word that we've never ever even learned than
we have learned. There were things Christ didn't
even teach His disciples because they couldn't bear them. And
they were saved. Did you know that? He said, I've
got much to say to you but you can't bear it now. But they were
already saved. How slow are we to learn and
how quick are we to forget what He's already taught us? Honestly. Think about that. He told the
apostles repeatedly, my kingdom is not of this world. They kept
on wanting to know. They were just like end time
prophecy people that think he's going to come and establish a
kingdom on this earth. They kept interpreting all those
Old Testament prophecies that way. When are you going to establish
an earthly kingdom? And Christ would say, my kingdom
is not of this earth. And so he comes and right before
he ascends back up to heaven, he tells them, now you go back
to Jerusalem and you wait on me to pour out the Spirit. And
they said, are you going to restore the kingdom now? He said, Philip, he said, how
long have I been with you and you still don't know me? You see, Christ loves us for
bearing with our ignorance, suffering long with us, even as believers. Like as a father pitieth his
children, so the Lord pitieth them that fear Him, for He knoweth
our frame. He remembered that we're just
dust. That's all we are is dust. I
believe every bit of God's Word because it's God's Word. But
I don't dare claim that I understand all of it. or even have learned
all of it. There's scriptures I don't know. There's probably scriptures I've
never even read before. And if any man think he knoweth
anything, he knoweth nothing yet as he ought. For now we see
through a glass darkly, but then face to face. Now I know in part,
but then shall I know even also as I'm known. So I dare not love
my brethren any less because they have trouble with some truth
in God's Word. I dare not love my brethren less
than that. If I do the problems my own,
knowledge puffeth up, charity edifieth. And then Christ loves us by keeping
us united in Spirit. Scripture says, Behold how good
and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity. It
cost God our Father, His only begotten Son, to bring all His
elect from the separation that sin caused and make us one, united
in the Spirit. It cost His Son to do that. That's
why He hates those who sow discord and divide brethren. These six
things that the Lord hates, seven are an abomination unto Him,
a proud look, a lying tongue, hands that shed innocent blood,
a heart that deceiveth wicked imaginations, feet that be swift
in running to mischief, a false witness that speaketh lies, and
He that soweth discord among brethren. Christ says through
the Apostle Paul, love as I've loved you by endeavoring to keep
the unity of the Spirit and the bond of peace. Did y'all listen
to that message I preached at Crow on Sunday? On walk worthy
of the vocation. You ever notice that? Ephesians
4.1, he says, walk worthy of the vocation wherewith you are
called. A vocation is a lifelong work
that requires absolute dedication. And our vocation, that had been
called into Christ, our vocation is to use every single gift God's
given us so that we ourselves can hear the gospel preached,
support the preaching of the gospel, and send the gospel forth
into the world. I don't care what it is in your
life, your home, your money, your gifts, whatever it is, it's
all to go toward this one end. This is our vocation. And he's
saying, this is the vocation wherewith you were called. In
other words, But there was a handful of believers that God had already
called down there in Taylor, Arkansas. There's only a couple
of them still left there that y'all got to see. Kelsey knows
them. And they were hard-working farmers
and factory workers. And they saved and just didn't
live the high life so that they could support the gospel being
preached in that place. And through that vocation, that's
the vocation wherewith I was called. And so now He tells me,
what's that worth to you? Walk and show how valuable that
is to you. Worthy of that vocation. What's
it worth to you that Christ called you through the preaching of
the gospel? That's what he said. So, the first thing we're going
to do is we're going to have to endeavor. He says, with all
lowliness and meekness, with longsuffering for bearing one
another in love and endeavor to keep the unity of the Spirit.
He says, put away wrath and clamor and all that and be kind one
to another, tender hearted, forgiving one another even as God for Christ's
sake has forgiven you. And be followers of God as dear
children and walk in love as Christ loved us and gave Himself
a sweet smelling savor unto God. Walk in love. This is what we're
going to have to do. Because see, if we start biting
and devouring one another and we get into big spats, we won't
have the vocation at all. We won't have our gospel at all.
So we won't be able to hear it, we sure won't be able to support
it, and we won't be able to send it forth anywhere. So we overlook
everything for this vocation. And it's worth something to you
if you were caught by it. Now lastly, I've kept you too
long. This is how Christ says you're
going to know, men are going to know you're my disciples.
Look here. By this shall all know you're
my disciples. Is it by being so dogmatic that
once you think you've grown to know more than the brother who
taught you the gospel that you push him away and call him a
heretic? Is that how? Is it by separating ourselves
from brethren who sacrifice to give us the gospel to the point
that we imagine we're the only one left preaching the gospel?
Is that how men are going to know I'm taught of Christ? That's
how men are going to know you're an idiot. No, Christ says, by this shall
all men know that you're my disciples if you have love one to another. If it wasn't so sad, it'd be
comical. Men who think they're really
taking a big stand for the gospel are exposing themselves as having
absolutely no love for God. And the only ones that don't
know it are them. That's sad. That's sad. I won't let you go. Let's stand together. Father, thank You for Your Word.
We pray that You would bless it. Put love in our heart. Put increased love in our heart. Help us to protect this love.
Help us to endeavor to truly put forth the effort and guard
it. Make sure, Lord, that we keep unity. You've given it. We thank You for it. We pray
You keep it here. And Lord, be with those where
they don't have it. Be with those where there's some
just suffering because of it. And Lord, cause them to truly,
truly find out what it is to have unity, to love, brethren. Forgive us, Lord, our sins. Keep
us and bring us again. We ask it in Christ's name. Amen. All right, Brother Eric.