Good morning, everyone. Turn
with me again to John chapter 15, if you would. Last week, we looked at that
blessed verse found in verse 16. You have not chosen me, but
I've chosen you and ordained you that you should go and bring
forth fruit and that your fruit should remain that whatsoever
you shall ask of the Father in my name, he may give it. You
know, God's electing love is the foundation for all that we
owe God. And we do owe Him. We can never
repay Him. We owe a debt that we can't pay,
but my, what a honor to serve Him. We've not chosen Him. Christ
tells us plainly here, but I have chosen you. And I'm so glad that
He did because I never would have chosen Him. When He sought
us, we were lost and dead. And there was nothing apart from
our misery to awaken His compassion. What comfort lies for the believer
in those words, I have chosen you. That's just so comforting
to me. Because if He's chosen me, He
loves me and He'll never leave me nor forsake me because He
loves me with an everlasting love. Turn back a page or so
to John chapter 13 again, look at verse 34. Our Lord says here,
a new commandment I give unto you that you love one another
as I have loved you, that you also love one another. And by
this shall all men know that ye are my disciples if you have
love one to another. Back in John 15 here, verse 12,
the Lord says, this is my commandment that you love one another as
I have loved you. And do you know what I think
that I've learned? I've learned that we need one
another. We need one another. And not
only that, but our love for one another proves God's love for
us. Turn with me to 1 John. We'll
come back to John 15, but turn with me to 1 John 3. Same writer
here, John the Beloved. 1 John 3, look at verse 13. 1 John 3, verse 13. John writes, Marvel not, my brethren,
that the world hates you. We know that we've passed from
death into life because we love the brethren. And he that loveth
not his brother abideth in death, and whosoever hateth his brother
is a murderer. And you know that no murderer
hath eternal life abiding in him, and 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. We should love
one another so much that we would be willing to lay down our lives
for one another. And I can't say that I've arrived
at that. Even the believer regretfully
confesses that they love themselves too much. So if we haven't arrived
at the willingness to lay down our lives for our brother and
sister, have we arrived at what's found in verse 17? Look at it.
But whoso hath this world's good, and seeth his brother have need,
and shutteth up his bowels of compassion from him, how dwelleth
the love of God in him? Love says, if you're in need,
what I have is yours. Did you know that it's our responsibility
as believers to see that everyone in the family of God has their
needs met? Now, I'm not talking about greeds.
It's because a brother or sister wants a new car. That's not what
that's talking about, but we're talking about needs. We're to
do so not grudgingly, not because God commands us to do so and
that we're trying to merit His favor, no, but rejoicing that
we have the privilege to glorify God and His grace in that way.
Verse 18, my little children, let us not love in word, neither
in tongue, but in deed and in truth. Look, you may not have
to turn the page, 1 John 4 verse 7. It says, beloved, let us love
one another for love is of God and everyone that loveth is born
of God and knoweth God. And if we don't love God's people,
John says we don't love or know God. Those are strong words.
Someone who has no interest in worshiping God with the people
of God, God, the Holy Spirit says they don't know God. And
that's very concerning to me because to be honest with you,
I don't love God's people the way I should. Oh, it's easy to
love our brothers and sisters when they love us. And again,
I'm so glad that my redemption is not based on my love and upon
my faithfulness, aren't you? But on Christ's love and Christ's
faithfulness in our room and in our stead. And I'll tell you
that I'm ashamed at how short I fall, I really am. Verse eight,
he that loveth not knoweth not God, for God is love. Lord, I
love your people, but help me to love them when they're not
lovable. Lord, I know your people love me, but help them to love
me when I'm not lovable. Lord, help us to love as you
love. And how is the love of God manifested
to us? John tells us right here in verse
nine. 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. Now there it is right there.
It's just what I'm talking about. There we have it. God loved us
so much that he sent his only begotten son into the world.
Why? That we might live through him.
that we might love like Him, that we might forgive like Him,
that we might be gracious like Him, that we might be merciful
like Him. But even better than that, that
we might love through Him, that we might forgive through Him,
that we might be gracious and merciful through Him that loved
us and gave Himself for us. And again, it's called substitution.
Christ doing for me what I cannot do for myself and what I cannot
do for you. I want to love you. And in Christ,
I love you perfectly and vice versa. Now, does the whole world
live through Christ? No, only those that he loves
and only those that love him. And the only reason that we love
God, you know the answer is because he first loved us. Verse 10,
look at it. Herein is love, not that we love
God. People want to talk about their
love for God. That's not it. Herein is love, not that we love
God, but that he loved us. And he sent his son to be the
propitiation for our sins. Now, let me tell you, that's
true, genuine love right there. It's not that we loved God, but
that he loved us. And how do we know if he truly
loves us? How do we, do we want to know? Do we really want to know how?
Well, the answer God gives is this. You'll have an interest
in Christ. You'll love him. You'll have
a love for him. You'll have an interest and a
love for the one that God sent to be a propitiation for your
sins. You'll love the one who suffered
to expiate your iniquities. Why, if someone laid down their
life for me in this life, in this world, well, I'd be forever,
eternally grateful. How much more so Christ who loved
us and suffered to put away our sins. So the conclusion of the
matter is love. Verse 11. Beloved, if God so
loved us, we ought also to love one another. That's just the
bottom line. Verse 12, no man has seen God
at any time. If we love one another, God dwelleth
in us and his love is perfected in us. If we claim to love God
who we cannot see, should we not have love for one another
who we can see? Since God loves us, we ought
to love one another. Why? Well, he tells us because
God dwelleth in us and God's love is perfected in us. How
do we know that we dwell in God? How do we know that God dwells
in us? Verse 13, hereby know we that we dwell in him and he
in us because he hath given us his spirit. He saved us by his
grace. That's how I know he loves me.
How serious and crucial is this matter of loving our brethren?
Well, it's life and death serious. It's life and death crucial.
Let me say it again. It's not our love for God or
our love for one another that saves us, but it is our love
for God and one another that proves that God has saved us.
That's what God's Word teaches. And we see and we know and we
testify that God sent the Lord Jesus Christ to be our Savior. And that's exactly what verse
14 says. And we have seen and do testify
that the father sent the son to be the savior of the world,
meaning his people in the world. Verse 15, 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. And according to verse
17, it's in this that our love is made perfect. And that word
means complete, accomplished, finished, and fulfilled. And
our love is complete and perfected because Christ perfected it for
us. And he says that we may have
boldness in the day of judgment. Now you think about that, having
boldness in the day of judgment. Creatures as we are having boldness
to come into God's presence on the day of judgment? Yes. How
can we have this boldness? How can we have this confidence,
this assurance in the day, that day when we stand before God?
It tells us right here, look at it. Because as He is, so are
we in this world. That's the gospel. That's the
most beautiful and wonderful truth in all this world. As He
is, so are we. Not someday going to be, right
now in this world. When God sees me, He sees His
Son. And He says, I'm well pleased. Boy, you get a hold of that,
you've got a hold of the truth. Verse 18, there's no fear in
love. What does that mean? Well, no
fear of judgment, no fear of condemnation, no fear of wrath,
no fear of hell. Why? Because Christ's perfect
love casteth out fear. That's what it says right here.
Christ's perfect love casteth out fear because fear hath torment
and he that feareth is not made perfect in love. We all still
have fear. Fear of death, fear of the unknown.
And all fear brings torment. It just does. But Christ's perfect
love for his elect people should cast out our fear, shouldn't
it? It only proves that our fear is not yet made perfect in love.
Not until sin is totally done away with, a day that we're glorified
and there's no longer any sin. That old man is put to death
forever. And it should for no other reason
than the simple reason found in verse 19. We love him because
he first loved us. Verse 20, if a man say, I love
God and hate his brother, he's a liar for he that loveth not
his brother whom he has seen, how can he love God whom he hath
not seen? And this commandment have we
from him that he who loveth God love his brother also. Love,
the love of Christ. What a glorious subject that
is. Now, back in John chapter 15,
again, let's just review a few verses here, beginning in verse
13. Greater love hath no man than
this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. He said,
you are my friends. If you do whatsoever, I command
you. Henceforth, I call you not servants,
for the servant knoweth not what his master doeth, but I've called
you friends. For all things that I have heard
of my father, I have made known unto you. We touched on that
last week, but I've been thinking about that a lot. We deal with
friends different than we do other folks, don't we? We confide
in them. We tell them things and we want
their prayers, you know, and to think that I'm the friend
of God. Verse 16, you've not chosen me, but I've chosen you
and ordained you that you should go forth and bring forth fruit
and that your fruit should remain, that whatsoever you shall ask
of the Father in my name, He may give it to you. These things
I command you that you love one another. And that word command
there in verse 13, means to urge, it means to persuade, to admonish,
to entreat, exhort, to instruct. We have to be taught these things
by the Holy Spirit. Thank God that He's long-suffering
and patient with us. May He help us to be long-suffering
and patient with one another. But in the next verse, there's
another great lesson for us to learn. Now, the Lord here had
been speaking to His own, and He had been speaking of His own,
But now he begins to speak of the world. He just declared that
his disciples were his friends, but now he turns the subject
to describe his and their enemies. He sets forth the truth of his
love. And then in contrast to that, he warns his people of
the world's hatred. To be hated is a hard thing. It's a hard and bitter ingredient
in all affliction. It just is. It's a hard thing
to know that someone hates you. Therefore, the Lord here faithfully
prepares his disciples for the experience of hate so that they
might not be surprised at the world's hostility and stumble
because of it. We need to know that the world
does not love us. John, again, wrote in 1 John
3, I read it a moment ago, verse 13. Marvel not, my brethren,
that the world hates you. Don't let that surprise you.
And here in our text, the Lord graciously proceeded to warn
his disciples against the storm of persecution, which he knew
would soon come upon them after his death and departure. There
was a time when I, like the rest of the world, was a child of
wrath, even as others. Paul, very clear about that in
the book of Ephesians. I acted according to the lust
of the flesh and lust of the mind. fulfilling all its desires. But God, the scripture says,
who is rich in mercy, wherewith He loved me, even when I was
dead in sins. When I was dead in sins, had
no interest in God, He loved me and was rich in mercy toward
me. And He quickened me together
with Christ. And by grace, I was saved. And
I'm telling you, things changed. Not so much in me right away,
but those whom I had a fairly good relationship with became
indifferent real quick. I had a good friend tell me one
time that he liked me a lot better before I was saved. I bet he
did. The world will hate you, the
Lord said. This religious world will hate you. The Lord said,
if it hated me, it hated me before it hated you. But I think you
can find some comfort in this, I really do. And we all need
some comfort. Because our redemption and love
for Christ has caused some in our own family to hate us. Now
they might not come right out and say that they hate you, but
deep in the recesses of their heart, they hate your Savior
and your God. And it's not you that they hate,
they hate your Redeemer. They hate God's sovereign grace
in Christ. You see, they love their free
will decision to make Jesus Lord, but they hate the God who has
mercy on whom He will and compassion on whom He will. And they hate
the God that hardens those whom He will, that passes by those
whom He will. They don't like that. They don't
like that God. And that's really a shame because
that is God. You preach human righteousness.
You preach salvation by the cooperation and effort on the part of the
sinner, and they'll love you. But you give God all the glory
and the credit for your salvation, they'll hate you because they
hate you're just God and Savior. That's why. They hate the thought
of being sinners, first and foremost. Men and women just can't bring
themselves to believe that from the sole of their feet to the
top of their head, there's no soundness, no goodness in us.
None. Absolutely none. And I say it
all the time, but how many times have you heard folks in this
world say it? Well, I'm not perfect, but I'm not all that bad. I'm
just as good as those people down there at Bible Baptist Church. By nature, we have no righteousness. We have no morality. We have
no goodness. We have no soundness in us. None. There's none righteous. No, not
one. That means exactly what it says.
We're nothing but open running sores. I know that's graphic. People don't like that, but that's
what God says. Open running sores that have
not been bound up or mollified with ointment, with medicine.
Just wounds, bruises, and putrefying sores. And not just one here
and one there, from the top of our head to the soles of our
feet. That's how God, a holy and righteous and just God sees
us. When God looks upon us, he sees
worms. That word means maggots. There's
nothing more disgusting than a maggot to me. But that's what
God sees. If we're not in Christ, he sees
us as lepers. In our flesh dwells what? No
good thing. No good thing. God sees our deadness. God sees our corruption, the
rottenness of our human flesh. Every man and woman in God's
sight has a heart that is evil and only evil continually. Is
that too hard? Is that too graphic? Is that
too disgusting and repulsive? I don't think it's hard, graphic,
and disgusting enough, really, to really describe us as we are
by nature. Not when you consider what God
in this book says. If God doesn't, in mercy and
grace, reveal Christ to us, we'll die in our sin. Because of our
deadness and sin, we have not come to Christ that we might
have life. Isn't that what the Lord said?
You will not come to me that you might have life. But God
makes his people willing in the day of his power. And when he
does, chosen and saved sinners, they'll reach out. They'll reach
out out of need and desperation for a savior. I'm still reaching
out. And I pray that I always do.
I need thee every hour. I go around the house singing
that because I do. Lord, I need thee every hour.
Every hour I need thee. Pass me not, O gentle Savior.
You know, sometimes we can become so prideful in our humility that
we just miss it. We reach out only because God
gave us life and showed us our need. Zacchaeus reached out. That woman with the issue of
blood, she reached out. She crawled on the ground and
said, if I can just touch the helm of his garment. She reached
out. You better believe she did. Blind
Bartimaeus reached out, didn't he? He reached out with his voice.
Jesus, thou son of David, have mercy on me. They said, be quiet,
you blind beggar. He said, he cried that much louder. He reached out. That woman, the
Lord called a Gentile dog. She reached out just for the
crumbs from the master's table. If God saves you, you'll reach
out too. Look at verse 19 and I'll finish
for today. And I want you to think about
these things until we come back to these verses the next time.
Our Lord says, if we were of the world, the world would love
his own. But because you are not of the world, but I have
chosen you out of the world, Therefore, the world hated you."
Now, why does this world, religious and non-religious, hate you?
You ever thought about it? First of all, because you're
not of it. You're in the world, but you're not of it. God has
chosen you out of it. Therefore, the world hates you.
They hate you because they hate your Lord and your Savior. And
everybody loves those that are like them. The world loves those
that are going to hell with them. They don't so much care that
they're going to hell as long as somebody's going with them.
This religious world loves those that exercise their free will
and with them made a decision to let go and let God save them.
Men hate God's electing grace. That's the bottom line. Isn't
that what our Lord said here in verse 19? He said, I have
chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you.
Now there's proof that men hate God's electing grace right there.
They hate you because I chose you out of the world. Nothing
stirs up the enmity of the carnal mind and heart as much as to
hear about God's absolute sovereignty. The message of God choosing some
and passing others by men, by nature, don't like that. They
hate that and they hate you for believing it. You tell folks
that God has compassion on whom He'll have compassion, and He
hardens those whom He'll harden, and the veins in their neck will
pop out and look like a garden hose. You expound the truths
of divine election, and they'll hate you. Even your family will
hate you. But really, they hate your God.
They hate your Christ. Paul told Timothy that those
that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution. Why are we surprised? but blessed
are those who are persecuted for righteousness sake. So if
you're being persecuted, the Lord gonna bless you for theirs
is the kingdom of heaven. That's what he said. Blessed
are ye when men shall revile you and persecute you and say
all manner of evil against you falsely for my sake. That's when
you know you're blessed. Rejoice and be exceedingly glad
for great is your reward in heaven. for so persecuted they the prophets
which were before you." It's nothing new. We're not experiencing
anything new. We may find out before it's all
over with what true persecution is. We haven't really experienced
it. Not like the prophets of old
did and not even those two and 300 years ago that stood for
the cause of Christ. There are a lot of men that we
read today that were burned at the stake for what they believed.
I hadn't suffered much persecution for Christ's sake, I'll be honest
with you. But if I live long enough, I may, and may God give
me the mercy and grace to do so for His glory and honor. Well,
I pray that God may comfort you and I with these gracious truths.
We need one another. I need you. I do, I need you. We got enough enemies, don't
we? We need friends. May God enable me to be the kind
of friend that you need and you be the kind of friend I need,
because we certainly need one another.