Alright, 1 Peter chapter 4. We've been looking at this passage
of Scripture and Peter is encouraging his brethren in the midst of
great suffering, in the midst of great trial. A trial that
we really can't imagine in our day. Trials where believers were
persecuted unto death and tortured killed in cruel, cruel ways. But Peter tells us here in verse
7, the end of all things is at hand. Be ye therefore sober and
watch unto prayer. And we looked at this last time.
And then he tells us here in verse 8, this will be our text,
above all things have fervent charity among yourselves, for
charity shall cover the multitude of sins." Fervent love. It means intense, continual love. Zealous love that continues. And he says here, I want to just
divide this verse into two. He says, above all things, that
will be our first division. And the second, he says, for
love shall cover the multitude of sins. Now, he says above all
things, have fervent love to one another. Intense, never-ending,
unceasing love to one another. When we think about love, Brother
Donnie Bell this morning has an article in his bulletin. It
came across my email as I was preparing this message. And he
said, the one word, love, is abused more than any other word,
no matter what language it's spoken in. And that's true. Love that the world calls love
is no love. It's not love. It's love that,
as Brother Donnie pointed out, men and women live together because
they say, unmarried, because they say they love one another.
God calls that fornication. He doesn't call it love. A man
and a woman will get married and And they love each other. They make vows to stay with each
other to death do us part. And then it ceases to be love. That's not God's love. That's not how God loves. We
owe everything to God's love. We didn't have love. We didn't
have any kind of love in us. Not the love God gives. We didn't
have it by nature. We don't have it by nature. 1
John 4, in verse 19. We love Him because He first
loved us. The verse says in 1 John 4, 9,
And this was manifest to the love of God toward us, because
that God sent His only begotten Son into the world that we might
live through Him. Herein is love. Not that we love
God. but that He loved us and sent
His Son, the propitiation, satisfaction for our sins. Romans 8, 7 tells
us that the carnal mind, that mind we're born with, is enmity
against God. We didn't love God. We hated
God. That's what's in every man, what
we call sweet. A man may say I love God and
I love my brethren, but until God does something in the heart,
what we call love is not sweet, it's bitter. We don't have love
towards God. The carnal heart's enmity against
God. And look at this in Titus 3. And this is the love we had toward
one another. Titus chapter 3. Titus 3.3, we ourselves also
were sometimes, until God's grace, we were foolish, disobedient,
deceived, serving different lusts and pleasures, living, now here's
our life, this is it, living in malice and envy. hateful and hating one another. Hold your place right there and
let me show you something. Look at that envy. That was our
life, hating one another. That's the opposite of the love
God gives. Let me read this to you. This
is the love that God gives. Love suffereth long and is kind. It envieth not. But what we are
by nature is all envy. We hate to see somebody else
prosper. We hate to see, we envy the glory
that belongs to God. And we envy that glory God puts
upon another by his gift to another. That's what we are in ourselves.
That's the opposite. This love is the opposite of
what we are by nature. Charity vaunteth not itself.
It's not rash, it's not puffed up, it doesn't behave itself
unseemly. It seeketh not her own. That's all we do by nature, seek
our own. It rejoiceth not in iniquity,
but rejoiceth in the truth. Paul said, if I had a voice like
an angel to where I could speak so eloquently that you were so
impressed, but I don't have love, I don't have that love which
will make me deny myself and stand up and preach the glory
of God in the face of Christ Jesus. It's not love at all. And true love doesn't rejoice
in iniquity, and that's the highest form of iniquity, is speaking
half-truths about God. Love doesn't rejoice in that.
He rejoices in truth, in truth. If I could lay down and give
all my goods to the poor and even give my body to be burned,
make great sacrifices to try to please God, that wouldn't
please God if I have not love, love that lays down at the feet
of Christ and trusts Him to be my only sacrifice to God. That love, that love. We rejoice in truth and love
beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things,
endureth all things. Now look there back in Titus
3. But that's not how we were by nature. We were living in
malice and envy, hateful and hating one another. But after
that, the kindness and love of God our Savior toward man appeared,
not by works of righteousness which we've done, not because
we were doing any benevolent deeds to earn any love from Him,
but according to His mercy. He saved us by the washing of
regeneration and renewing of the Holy Ghost which He shed
on us abundantly, abundantly through Jesus Christ our Savior. God loved without a cause in
any of his objects of love. He sets his affection on whom
he will because he loves. The scriptures tells us that
God's love is particular love. It's distinguishing love. He
said, Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated. The Lord Jesus
Christ said, I pray not for the world. I pray for them which
thou hast given me out of the world. He said, they were yours
and you gave them to me. And I've kept them. I've kept
them and I pray for them. Somebody asked Will Hacker, Brother
Don's grandson, they said, does God love everybody? Does God
love everybody in the world? And he said, no, he doesn't.
And he said, I'll give you two simple reasons he doesn't. Number
one, he said plainly, Jacob have I loved and Esau have I hated. And number two, if God loved
everybody, there would not be a hell. Because God's love saves. That's so. That's exactly right. God's love is particular, and
God's love is in Christ Jesus. Ephesians chapter 1. We're very
familiar with it, but I like to look at this verse and see
it. It seems like everything that
we look at, we can see it in this passage of Scripture. We're
talking about the love of God. Where is it? Where is it? Ephesians 1.4. It tells us that
verse 3 says, He blessed us, the God and Father of our Lord
Jesus Christ, blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly
places in Christ, according as He hath chosen us in Christ,
that's where His love is, before the foundation of the world,
that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love. You see, before God made any
of the objects of His love in time, He made us in Christ Jesus,
His Son, so that when we came forth sinners in Adam, He could
yet look upon us in His Son with a perfect love, because He loved
us in His Son. He loved us in His Son. This
is the love of God. This is why we owe everything
to God's love. God's love is everlasting. That's
why, because he put his people in Christ Jesus, that's why his
love never changes. It was from everlasting and it's
to everlasting. because he put his sons in Christ
and loved his sons in Christ, the son of his love, he says,
therefore me and you who are trifling Unloving, unlovable
sons of Jacob are not consumed because his love does not change. It's unchanging and it's unchangeable
because it's of God in Christ, the immutable God who changes
not. And Christ came and he died for
us because of this love. Look at Romans chapter 5. If we're gonna understand why
love is so important, we gotta understand what love is. That's
what we're trying to see here, is what true love is. True love is not based on any
love in the object. He loved us, we didn't love him.
We were all together unlovable. But true love is distinguishing
love. You husbands love your wives.
Don't you? Because they're your wives. It's
distinguishing love. You love your children. They're
your children. It's distinguishing love. It's
love which is in Christ. this love of God. It's love which
is everlasting. It's love which caused Christ
to come forth and lay down His life. Look at Romans 5 verse
6. For when we were yet without
strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. For scarcely for a righteous
man will one die. Yet peradventure for a good man
some would even dare to die. But God commendeth his love toward
us in that while we were yet sinners." This is how God commendeth
his love toward us. How it's magnified. This love
we see that is saving love. While we were yet sinners, Christ
died for us. Much more than being now justified
by His blood, we'll be saved from wrath through Him. I'll
read 1 John 4 to you again. Listen to this. Herein is love,
and this was manifested, the love of God toward us, because
that God sent His only begotten Son into the world. that we might
live through him here in his love. Not that we love God. We
were ungodly. We were haters of God and haters
of one another, but that he loved us and sent his son and made
satisfaction for our sins. So you see, we owe everything
to love, to God's love. And so then John says, beloved,
my beloved, my brethren, whom I love. If God so loved us, we
ought also to love one another. Now, this is why love is so important
above all things. We owe everything to love, to
God's love. And when he calls us, that's
one more thing I forgot to tell you. And he draws us in love. He said, I've loved you with
an everlasting love. Therefore, in loving kindness,
have I drawn you. He brings everyone that He chose,
everyone He redeemed, to Christ to behold the love of God for
such unworthy, unloving, unlovable sinners as we are. He does all
that. So we owe everything to love.
We owe everything to His love. And when He does that, we're
born of His Spirit. God who is love, born of His
Spirit. He's put His Spirit in us. Let me go back over there to
1 John 1 verse 4. Verse 13, Hereby know we that
we dwell in Him, and He in us, because He hath given us of His
Spirit. Look down at verse 16, And we
have known and believed the love that God hath to us. God is love,
and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him. Verse 19 says we love him because
he first loved us. His love is manifested to us
because of how he loved. And then this love is in us.
Now what will this love do? This is the second thing. Peter
points out here, this is why, above all things, this love is
so important among us, brethren. First Peter 4.8, for charity
shall cover the multitude of sins. I'll tell you what I cherish
the most. I cherish the love of you, my
brethren, toward me, who loves me, And even though there's so
much in me not to love, a multitude of sins, this is what love does. This is what the love of God
did. This is what the love of God in Christ did. It covered
the multitude of our sins. Can you say that's what you delight
in? Is that what you cherish most? If we know what we are,
we do. If we know the multitude of sins
that's yet in us, if we know the awful, awful sin that's in
us, and the awful inconsistencies that are in us, we cherish love
that loves us, not because of anything in us. I cherish God's
love, because that's how He loved me. And I cherish the love of
my brethren, because that's how they love me. That's how they
love me. Now let me tell you what this
doesn't say. It doesn't say that by benevolent deeds to one another
we're going to pay God for our sins and He's going to blot out
our sins. He's going to cover up our sins because of some benevolent
deeds we do. That's not, that's what, that's
what all Mankind's trying to do in religion. Pay God for something
and get their sins blotted out. It doesn't say that we hide our
own sins from God. That's not what is said here.
We don't hide our own sins from God. If we confess our sin, He's
faithful and just to forgive us, give us our sins and cleanse
us of all unrighteousness. Here's what it says. Look at
Proverbs 10. Proverbs 10 verse 12. We're looking at two opposites,
two opposites right here that are as opposite as oil and water,
as fire and ice, as black and white. Hatred, verse 12, Proverbs
10, 12. Hatred stirreth up strifes, but
love covereth all sins. Hatred stirreth up stripes. Hatred
is looking for sin. Of course, it's for the glory
of God, so we can correct one another and make each other straighten
up and fly right. But it ends up covering up, stirring
up stripes. Paul said, you have liberty,
brethren. He said, only use not liberty
for occasion to the flesh, but by love serve one another. Because all the law summed up
in this one word, love thy neighbor as thyself. But, he said, if
we bite and devour one another, we'll be consumed of one another.
That's what hatred does. That's what the flesh of man
is. But here's what love is. Love
coverth up sins. All sins. The multitude of sins. Look over at Proverbs 17, 9. Proverbs 17, 9. He that covereth a transgression
seeketh love, but he that repeateth a matter separateth very friends. I want to show you the example
in Scripture given to us here in Genesis chapter 9. Genesis
chapter 9. of Noah and his sons. Genesis
9, verse 21. After the flood, they came out
of the ark. Now you think after that, after
Noah was given grace by God, in the eyes of God, not because
of anything in Noah, because God loved him. Because God put
him in Christ. That God, when He was pouring
out judgment on the earth, He put Noah in the ark. And He saved
him by His grace in his household. You think when he comes out of
that ark now, he's going to be absolutely free of sin. Here's what Noah did. These are
the... Noah began, verse 20, Noah began
to be a husbandman. He planted a vineyard. And he
drank of the wine, and he was drunk. and he was uncovered within
his tent. That's what sin does. It uncovers
us. It makes us naked. It makes us
unseemly. It's not good. It's not good. There's no justification for
it, especially considering what Christ has done for us. But look
what these sons did. And Ham, He's the father of Canaan. He saw the nakedness of his father. This is Noah's son, his youngest. He saw the nakedness of his father
and he went out and he told his brethren. He saw it and he didn't
cover it. He went out and said, come in
and look at this. Come in and look at this sin.
This is what we do brethren whenever we say, Let me tell you this
little story about Eric, what he did. Oh, he's forgiven for
it. It's over with. But let me tell
you about it. It's the same as what Ham did
right here. It's uncovering. It's discovering shame. It's defaming the honor of another,
of a brother. It's uncovering the nakedness.
But now look what the other two sons did. And Shem and Japheth
took a garment and laid it upon both their shoulders and went
backward and covered the nakedness of their father. And their faces
were backward. They saw not their father's nakedness. You know what Christ did? He
took the garment of our nature. He wouldn't look upon our sin.
He wouldn't have anything turn him from the work set before
him. He set his face like a flint.
And he went backward. He went backward in the sin,
made sin for his people to put away our sin. But He robes us
in the garment of His righteousness, and He covers our nakedness. And God said, and your sins and
iniquities, I will remember no more. That's what love does. It covers, forgives, and forgets
all our sins. That's this love we're talking
about towards one another. And look at this, verse 24, we'll
close with this. Noah awoke from his wine and
knew what his younger son had done unto him, and he said, Cursed
be Canaan. A servant of servants shall he
be unto his brethren. He said, Cursed is Ham himself.
No one else to blame for what Ham did but Ham himself. If you and I have hatred and
you and I are stir up strife and sow discord among brethren
and seek to divide brethren from the chief friend who is Christ
and that's what these things do. There's no one to blame but ourselves. Nobody else to blame. But look
at this. And he said, Blessed be the Lord
God of Shem. He gave God all the praise and
all the glory for this love that was in his other boys. He said,
Blessed be the Lord God of Shem, and Canaan shall be his servant.
God shall enlarge Japheth, and he shall dwell in the tents of
Shem, and Canaan shall be his servant. That is, brethren, If
you and I, let's go back to 1 Peter 4, if you and I have this love
in our hearts, we have nobody to blame, nobody to praise and
glorify but the Lord God who has done all this for us by His
love. That's right. And that's what
Peter gives some, he gives some ways that this love is shown,
using hospitality one to another without grudging. As every man
hath received the gift, and everything we receive is a gift from God,
even so minister the same one to another as good stewards of
the manifold grace of God. That's what we have. If any man
speak, Let him speak as the oracles of God. If I have love, that's
what I'm going to do. I'm not going to come as a tinkling
cymbal and a vain jangler and start talking about man and man's
will and man's work and man's fulfillment of the law. Speaking
of things I don't understand, I'm going to lay down my life,
even though it might mean persecution, even though it might mean being
defamed and rejected by men. I'm going to tell you Christ
is all our salvation. A to Z. Speak as the oracles
of God. If any man minister, let him
do as the ability which God giveth." Now here's Peter says the same
thing Noah said when he saw what his sons had done. That God in
all things may be glorified through Jesus Christ. That's who we have
to praise. That's who we have to give all
the glory and honor to. God, through Jesus Christ, who
shed this abundant grace on us, abundantly, when we were yet
without strength and sinners and ungodly and unloving. To
whom be praise and dominion forever and ever. Amen.