Thank you. Well, it gave Stoniker. Pray you come and preach the
gospel of Jesus Christ to us. Magnify his name, his work, his
person. So we can eat. Won't be fed. I'm fetus brother. Good morning everyone. I've had
such a wonderful time being here. I need that. I'm so thankful for the opportunity. I'm so thankful to Brother Fred. I brought one. I am truly grateful to have been
asked to come here. I'm so thankful to all of you
for hosting this. Anybody who's ever hosted a conference
knows it's a lot of work. And I'm really thankful for everything
you all have done. Thankful for all the food and
just all the hospitality, and I'm so glad to be able to see
the congregation here and know the congregation here. So thankful
for that song. It's beautiful. So thankful for
you, Brother Fred. I'm so thankful for your piano
player. Really. I've never preached with Clay
and David specifically in a meeting before, and I'm thankful to preach
with these two men. Many people don't know it, but
decades ago, Clay and I worked for David Edmondson. He was our
boss. And he had a business called
American Thermal Systems. And as you can see, things didn't
pan out for us in that career. But when Fred told me that we
were the ones he'd ask, I said, you realize what you've done.
You just scheduled an American Thermal reunion. I'm honored,
though, just honored. Yesterday I was listening to
both of them preach, and it just really occurred to me. We have
one message. We have one message. And we just
tell it at the mouth of two or three witnesses. We tell it over
and over and over and over. Pray the Lord will enable us
to tell it again today. Turn with me, if you would, to
Matthew chapter 5. Matthew chapter 5, and let's read from verse 17
to verse 20. Our Lord said, think not that
I am come to destroy the law or the prophets. I am not come
to destroy, but to fulfill. For verily I say unto you, till
heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise
pass from the law till all be fulfilled. Whosoever therefore
shall break one of these least commandments and shall teach
men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven.
But whosoever shall do and teach them, The same shall be called
great in the kingdom of heaven. For I say unto you that except
your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes
and Pharisees, you shall in no case enter into the kingdom of
heaven. Now, this is what our Lord just
said. He said, I did not come to destroy the law. which is
a revelation, was a revelation to me. Our Lord told that Gadarean
man, you go tell how great things the Lord has done for you. And
that's what I want to do today. I want to tell from my own perspective. I used to think, how is it that
God's people get a pass and the law doesn't apply to them? You
know, the law convicts everybody, but not God's people. Why? Why? Why are they just get swept under
the rug and all their sin? Why? Well, our Lord said, I didn't
come to destroy the law. He said, not one dot of the I
or cross of the T will be excused from the law. Every speck of it must be fulfilled
in order to enter into the kingdom of heaven. He said, whoever breaks
the holy law of God and sins against the holy commandments
of God is going to be dealt with." And he said, your righteousness
and your perfection, your goodness, your deeds, your worthiness had
better exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees
or you're not going into heaven because they're not going into
heaven. What they're doing is not good enough. It better exceed
that because it's not good enough. That's pretty strict, isn't it?
But that's so. That really is so. What our Lord
said right here is so. How perfect does a person have
to be to get into heaven? Yeah, we've been told this for
decades. As good as God. How good will
the people in heaven be? As good as God. As holy as God. able to stand
with God. That's just amazing. You know, people think that in
order to go to heaven, you just have to be better than you used
to be. What people think. I've heard people tell me so
many times, man, you won't believe what I used to be. I probably
would. Because I was and am too. I still am what I used to be.
I just realize it more now. Some people believe you've got
to be perfect from here on out. That was that. But starting now,
it's got to be perfect now. No, no. You can't have one speck
on your record ever at all from eternity past, eternity future.
Nothing. Nothing on your record. The law
says that the wages of sin is death. And if sin has ever been
committed by a person at any point in his or her life, it's
death for that person. That's the strictness of the
law. Now, here's the absolute truth. God is holding a record
of everything we are doing. God is keeping a record of every
word we say, every thought we think. And when judgment comes,
that record book is going to be opened. And every I is going
to be dotted and every T is going to be crossed. Everything that
the law sentences to us for what we deserve, it's going to come
to us. And I can go ahead and tell us
What we deserve and what we've earned and what's owed to us
is not good. It's just not good. Now let's take the Word of God
and let it tell us what we are and what we deserve. Let's see
it with our own two eyes here. Go with me if you would to Romans
7. Romans 7 verse 1. This is the Apostle Paul describing
himself. He's speaking on his own behalf
and he's describing me and he's describing all of us. He's describing
every man and woman on this earth. Romans 7 verse one, he said,
no, ye not brethren. For I speak to them that know
the law. How that the law hath dominion over a man as long as
he liveth. as long as he's alive. The law
has a true reign over us. We are under the law. Verse 7,
what shall we say then? Is the law sin? You know, it's
kind of like you refer to the law like that's the law. Is the
law sin? God forbid. Nay, I had not known
sin, but by the law, For I had not known lust, except the law
had said, Thou shalt not covet. He said, It wasn't until I heard
the law that I was convicted over what I was. You don't know
you're speeding until you pass the speed limit sign. Oh, I'm
speeding. It was the law that revealed
to me that I was a sinner against God. That's what he's saying.
Verse 12. Wherefore the law is holy, and
the commandment holy, and just, and good. Was then that which
is good made death unto me? God forbid. But sin, that it
might appear sin, working death in me by that which is good,
that sin by the commandment might become exceeding sinful. For
we know that the law is spiritual, but I am carnal, sold under sin."
Just sold to it. Verse 15 says, for that which
I do, I allow not. That means I don't know why I
do it. You ever do that? You ever do
something knowing I shouldn't be doing this and you just keep
doing it? You're like, why am I doing this?
I know better. Paul said, that which I do, I
don't know why I'm doing it. Verse 15, for what I would, that
do I not. But what I hate, that I do. That reminds me of John Newton. Tis a point I long to know. Oft
it causes anxious thought. Do I love the Lord or no? Am
I His or am I not? If I love, why am I thus? I'm the problem. I'm just going
to tell you I'm the problem. Why this dull and lifeless frame? If you have gotten a hold of
God's redeeming love in the blood of Him killing His own Son for
you, why do we sit here and let it go over our heads as though
I heard that before? Why this eternal redemption from
eternal condemnation and death and suffering? And we just let
it go in one ear and out the other. I'm talking about me. Paul's talking about him. I'm
talking about me. John's talking about himself. If I love, why
am I thus? Why this dull and lifeless frame? Hardly sure can they be worse
who have never heard His name. I'm no better than they are,
as we say. Could my heart so hard remain? Prayer, a task and
burden. Have you ever struggled to pray? I'll start praying, and I'll
say, I'm sorry, Lord, for veering off on that, and then I'll try
to start in on it again. I'll say, I'm so sorry, Lord.
Could my heart so hard remain? Prayer a task and burden prove.
Every trifle out there give me pain." Don't I know that these
things are in providence? Don't I know that He orders these
things? Everything that comes, it's like,
oh, no! Well, is God sovereign or not?
Yes! Who did it? He did! He's saying, why do I do that?
Every trifle give me pain if I knew a Savior's love. Every
time I turn my eyes within, all is dark and vain and wild, filled
with unbelief and sin. Can I deem myself a child? If
I pray or hear or read, sin is mixed with all I do. If I preach,
sin is mixed with all I do. You who love the Lord indeed,
tell me, is it thus with you? This is what Paul is saying right
here, verse 16. If then I do that which I would
not, I consent unto the law. It's good. I'm breaking the law,
and the law is good, and I'm bad. It's right, and I'm wrong. Verse 17, he said, it's no more
I that do it. That's speaking of the new man.
He said, it's that old man that I'm still living in. Verse 18,
I know that in me that is in my flesh dwells no good thing.
He went on down to say in verse 24, Oh, wretched man that I am. Oh, wretched man that I am. He
said, The law has clearly revealed to me that I'm a sinner against
it. And being a sinner against it,
I see the punishment that I'm owed. I see it. I see the death
that I deserve. He said at the end of verse 24,
who shall deliver me from the body of this death? That's the
conclusion he came to. I'm going to have to be delivered
from the body of this death. And he said, who shall deliver
me? The answer to that question is
the gospel. That's the gospel. And it's the
declaration that our Lord made in Matthew 5. Our Lord was declaring
the gospel in Matthew 5. Turn back over there with me.
Matthew 5. Listen to this glorious announcement. Matthew 5, verse 17. He said, Think not that I am
come to destroy the law. or the prophets. I am not come
to destroy. But to fulfill. Do we realize
what that means? Honestly, do we realize the glory
of what our Lord is saying right there? This is what he's saying. This is the heart of the message
right here, OK? For God's chosen people. God
has a chosen people. And for all of God's chosen people,
every single thing that God requires of them, God provides for them. We heard two men say that yesterday. Everything that God requires
of his people, God provides for His people. He has chosen a particular
people to show mercy to them and to show grace to them. If you look at Matthew 5 verse
1, it says, Seeing the multitudes, there were multitudes there.
He went up into a mountain, and when He was set, His disciples
came unto Him, and He opened His mouth and taught them. He
was speaking to them. God has a particular people that
He's chosen to show mercy to and to give His grace to. And
He has shown His mercy and His grace to them. Everything that
God has required of them, God has provided for them. If we honestly want to know the
beauty of the gospel, that's it. That is it. Turn with me
to 1 Thessalonians 5. First Thessalonians 5. We just heard this quoted verse
24 says. Faithful is he that calleth you. Who also will do it? What a verse that is. Faithful
is he that calleth you who also will do it? All of mankind was
condemned in sin by the holy law of God, all of mankind. But
God chose a people to save. And even though they were condemned
by the law, just like everybody else, same as everybody else,
God provided a remedy for them. God provided a fulfillment for
them in love and in grace and in mercy. God provided to them
everything he required of them. everything. God's people could
not satisfy God's holy law. I can't do it, you can't do it.
So Christ said, I'll go satisfy it for them. Why did Christ come? He came to satisfy God for his
people. They could not satisfy God. So he came and satisfied everything
God required, every demand, every requirement, every perfection. He said, I'll do it for him.
Faithful is he that calleth you who also will do it. Now, here's
the glory of the gospel. Everything God has required,
God has provided. Turn with me to First Corinthians
chapter one. If I could go tell men and women
how great things the Lord has done for me, this is what I tell
them. Everything God has required of me, Christ has provided. 1
Corinthians 1 verse 30 says, but of him, of God, are you in
Christ Jesus? I used to wonder that growing
up. How do you get in Christ? Of God, are you in Christ? Of Him are you in Christ Jesus,
who of God is made unto us wisdom and righteousness and sanctification
and redemption. What that means is everything
we need to know, He knows it for us. People love to spar knowledge. You get people who want to call
and, you know, check doctrine with you and spar knowledge,
and as soon as they do that, I dumb down. I get really, really
dumb. I am dumb, so it's easy to do. He's our wisdom. Everything I
need to know is in that one man right there. That's it. Everything
we need to do. He has done it for us. Everything we need to be inside
here. He is that for us. Everything we need to pay. He
has already paid it for us. He paid it all. All the debt
we owed. Sin had left a crimson stain.
He washed it white as snow. Now when it comes to what we
need to know concerning God and religion and salvation, Christ
is the only answer we need. Whatever question is asked of
you, just say Christ. Christ, that's the only answer
we need. Solomon said, of the making of many books, there's
no end. Much study is a weariness of the flesh. He said, here's
the conclusion of the whole matter. Fear God. Worship Christ. Hear Him. Paul told Timothy, men are ever
learning, but never coming to a knowledge of the truth. Why?
They're missing Christ. They get a little bits and pieces
of Calvinism, but they end up missing Christ. Paul said, I studied under Gamaliel.
He said, I learned about all the Jews religion, all their
doctrine, all their theology. But he said, now I throw it all
away and I count it all done. Why did you do that, Paul? That
I might know him. Oh, that I might know him. He's
my knowledge. He's my wisdom. When it comes
to righteousness and sanctification, perfect in deed and perfect in
being. Righteousness is our goodness
without. Sanctification is our goodness
within. When it comes to all of our perfection. And we read
in this book what we must do and what we must be. This is. This is where the Lord brought
peace to me. I'm telling you, this is where the Lord brought
peace to me. I grew up believing in election because it was the
only thing I was ever told. My dad was preaching election by
the time I could learn anything. I believe God was sovereign.
I believed he hated sin. I believed all were sinners.
I believed all that. And I was self righteous in the
fact that I believed all that. Well, we at least we know that.
They don't, we do. There was my self righteousness.
But then the time came where I got old enough to live a little
and realized, I think I'm more of a sinner than I thought I
was. And then I started reading and
seeing in this word everything that he said, you better not
do that or you're not going in. I'd read that and think, I'd
do that. And if you don't do this, you're
not coming in. I think I don't do that. How is God going to have mercy
on me? How can God possibly have mercy on me? And then He revealed
substitution to me. And all of a sudden He showed
me Christ came and did it for me. Christ is that for me. And when He showed me that, I
felt a whole bunch of relief. I felt a whole bunch of relief.
I tell this story all the time because I love telling it. A few years ago, I was talking
with some brethren who had come out of a hard bondage religion
and progressive sanctification. You know, they're just, man,
just trying to be what... Anyway, I was talking to this
young man and we were talking about sanctification and Christ
being our sanctification. He's made unto us wisdom, righteousness,
sanctification, redemption. I was explaining to him, which
he was already getting it. I wasn't telling him something
for the first time, but he was already understanding these things.
I was saying, when the demand is, be holy. Christ is my holiness. Whatever the requirement is,
you're going to have to look to Christ for that. When the
question is asked, what gives you the right to walk into glory
itself? You're going to have to ask Christ
that question. I'm just looking to Him and just
relying on Him. He's my holiness. I don't have
any. All I have is Him. You just look
to Him. You go talk to Him. And this young man, he was just
pondering off into thought. thinking about all that, and
he finally said, Isn't that so relaxing? I said, Yes. Yes, it is. That is so relaxing. He's my spotlessness before God. He's my righteousness before
God. That's what this book is telling
us. Christ is that for us. Christ is that for us. You just
read Romans 10. The first four verses of that,
Paul's saying, my heart's desire and prayer to God for Israel
is that they might be saved. They have a zeal of God. Here's
where they're missing it, Paul said. They're trying to establish
their own righteousness before God, and they've missed the one
God provided. Christ is the end of the law
for righteousness. Just look to Christ. Just look
to Christ. Don't look to yourself. And that's
where we get so down. You know, I just I'm not seeing
it right here. You never will look to Christ. Just look to the Lord Jesus Christ.
Our Lord said, you come to me, all you who are labored over
your sin and heavy laden because of what you are, all your sins,
I'll give you that. He does. He does every time.
He says you can stop trying to perform your works of the law
to satisfy God. And you can rest in my works
that I have accomplished to satisfy God. I love the old poem that
says. Run run the law demands. But gives me neither feet nor
hands. The Gospel bids me sweeter things. Bids me fly. and gives me wings. Christ is our wisdom. Christ
is our righteousness. Christ is our sanctification.
Christ is our redemption. He's our blood sacrifice payment
to God to pay for all that sin that could not be swept under
the rug. He is that for us. Turn with
me to Genesis 22. I'm done here. I'm almost done. Genesis 22, verse 1. It came to pass, after these
things, God did tempt Abraham and said unto him, Abraham, and
he said, behold, here I am. He said, take now thy son, thine
only son, Isaac, whom thou lovest, and get thee into the land of
Moriah, and offer him there for a burnt offering upon one of
the mountains, which I tell thee of. That's the law. That's the
demand. Do that. Verse 3. Abraham rose
up early in the morning and saddled his ass and took two of his young
men with him, and Isaac his son, and claimed the wood for the
burnt offering, and rose up and went unto the place of which
God had told him. Then on the third day Abraham
lifted up his eyes and saw the place afar off. And Abraham said
unto his young men, Abide ye here with the ass, and I and
the lad will go yonder and worship and come again to you." We're
going to go worship. and come again to you. And Abraham
took the wood of the burnt offering and laid it upon Isaac his son.
And he took the fire in his hand and a knife, and they went both
of them together. And Isaac spake unto Abraham
his father and said, My father. And he said, Here am I, my son. And he said, Behold, the fire
and the wood. But where is the lamb for a burnt
offering? And Abraham said, My son, God
will provide himself. a lamb for a burnt offering.
So they went both of them together and they came to the place which
God had told him of. And Abraham built an altar there
and laid the wood in order and bound Isaac, his son, and laid
him on the altar upon the wood. And Abraham stretched forth his
hand and took the knife to slay his son. And the angel of the
Lord called unto him out of heaven and said, Abraham, Abraham. And
he said, Here am I. And he said, Lay not thy hand
upon the lad, neither do thou anything unto him. For now I
know that thou fearest God, seeing thou hast not withheld thy son,
thine only son, from me. And Abraham lifted up his eyes
and looked, and behold, behind him a ram caught in a thicket
by his horns. And Abraham went and took the
ram and offered him up for a burnt offering in the stead of his
son." Can't you imagine Abraham's elation the moment
he saw substitution? Can't you imagine Isaac's elation
the moment he saw substitution? God's provided lamb. ram with thorns in his head. Abraham laid hold of that ram,
look unto me and be ye saved. I can see him laying hold of
that ram and throwing it on top of his son and slaying that thing
and the blood running all over his son, all over the altar.
Substitution. Everything that God required
was found in the substitute for sinners. He is redemption. He is the payment. Verse 14 says
Abraham called the name of that place Jehovah Jireh. As it is said to this day in
the Mount of the Lord, it shall be seen. He said the Lord God
Almighty will provide. He will provide. If we want to get to the glory
of the Gospel, honestly, the heart of the message of this
Word, it's this. Everything that God requires,
God has provided in the person of His Son. To Him be all glory,
all praise for everything He's done. And let me just leave you
with this. Because this, again, I've already told you, this was
my concern. Am I included? All right? I knew that God did this for
His people. But am I one of them? I want
to leave everybody with this. Did God do this for me? Did God do this for me? If He
did, He will cause you to cast your all on the Lord Jesus Christ. If you have cast your all on
the Lord Jesus Christ, He did this for you. If you can say
in your heart, there is a holy God that I cannot please, but
Christ did. And there's a holy law that I
cannot keep, but Christ did. There is a perfect righteousness
that I cannot earn, but Christ did. There's a convicting record
of sin that I cannot erase, but Christ did. There's a great judgment
I cannot endure, but Christ did. And there's an eternal death
that I cannot rise from, but Christ did. If He can cause us
to say that, then He will raise us up with Him at the last day.
We belong to Him. God has provided for us. Brother
Fred, thank you for the opportunity to be here. Thank you for that. That was
a good hymn. Clay Curtis, come and exalt our
savior. Thank you all so much for this
weekend. It's frightening when you have
your first meeting in your new building. You don't know Everything's
new, and y'all have done just a really good job. Everything's
going smoothly, and I know it was a lot of work, but thank
you. You know, it's one time a year,
and it's like having guests to your house, you know, and you
get to entertain them and provide for them, and they can just sit
and enjoy it, and then you can go to somebody else's house and
get to enjoy it later. But you've done such a good job,
Thank you to all the musicians and the hymns you've sung have
been so good. Just really thank you. I was thinking as Brother Gabe
preached that message. Thank you, Gabe. He talked about
how the Lord carried us out. He carried us out of bondage
from the law. He carried us out of the bondage
of our sin nature. He carried us out of the bondage
of the grave. and He carried us into glory.
The Scripture says we arose with Him and we sat down together
with Him. And I was thinking about whenever
the Lord appeared in the Mount of Transfiguration. And there
He was in His glory. In His glory. And there's Moses
glorified. And there's Elias glorified. There's Moses the Law glorified. There's Elias the Prophets glorified. There's Christ glorified. And
they're talking about the deceased, the exodus that he should accomplish
at Jerusalem. That's what they were talking
about, that exodus he would accomplish. And you know Romans 3.21 says,
Now the righteousness of God is manifested. That's that glory. That righteousness of God is
manifested being without the law, without our doing the law.
And it's witnessed by the Law and the Prophets. There's Moses
the Law, there's Elias the Prophet. Everything the Law and the Prophets
said was bearing witness of Christ and His glory, His righteousness. Being witnessed by the Law and
the Prophets. Even the righteousness of God
which is by the faith of Jesus Christ. His obedience. And listen,
and it's unto and upon all them that Believe. Here's why. For we have all sinned and come
short of what? The glory of God. That glory that was in that mount. That glory He gave the law. That
glory He gave the prophet. That righteousness. We all came
short of that glory. But here's the good news. In
John 17, the Lord said, Father, the glory You have given Me,
I have given them. He's given you that righteousness,
that glory you have to have to enter into glory with God and
be as righteous as God is righteous. That's what He's given you. That's
what He's given all His people. Let's start there this morning.
John 17. John 17. I want you to see right
here where He says that in verse 22. He says, John 17, 22. And the glory which thou gavest
me, I have given them, that they may be one even as we are one. Now here's what I want you to
focus on. I want you to focus on this love. Alright? Watch what he says here. I in
them and thou in me. He's praying to the Father. I
in them and thou in me that they may be made perfect in one. And that the world, that's His
elect scattered throughout, that they may know that Thou hast
sent Me and hast loved them as Thou hast loved Me. Now, He says down at verse 24
at the last phrase there, For Thou lovest Me before the foundation
of the world. Now get this next verse. or down
to verse 26, And I have declared unto them thy name, I have declared
to them thy name, and will declare it, that the love wherewith thou
hast loved me may be in them, and I in them. It's through the
declaration of God's name that He's going to put His love in
us when Christ is formed in us. Now, my text is John 15. Let's
go back to John 15. I just wanted you to see that
because what we're going to read here in John 15, our Lord Jesus
is declaring the name of the Father so that the love wherewith
He loves us will be in us and we'll love one another. Listen
to what He says here. He says, John 15, verse 9, As
the Father hath loved me, so have I loved you. Continue ye in my love. He says down in verse
12, this is my commandment, that ye 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. You are my friends. If you do
whatsoever, I command you. That's not a condition, that's
a promise, that his children shall do whatever he commands. And whatsoever he commands has
the essence, at its essence is this, love one another as I have
loved you. Now listen, henceforth, this
is declaring his name, now listen, henceforth I call you not servants,
for the servant knoweth not what his Lord doeth, but I have called
you friends. For all things that I have heard
of My Father, I have made known unto you. You have not chosen
Me, but I have 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. These things I command you."
That is, everything He just said about how we didn't choose Him,
He chose us. He ordained us. All these things
I'm commanding you. The Gospel is a command. And
He's commanding us to love as He loved. And He says, and these
things I'm commanding you so that you love one another. I'm declaring the Father's love
to you. I'm declaring His name to you
so that that love will be in you and you'll love one another.
The Lord had been the target of the Pharisees' enmity. The religious folks' enmity.
He'd been the target. Now He's leaving and this is
the night He's betrayed and He's leaving and He's going to the
Father. Once He's gone to the cross, He's going back to the
Father. He knows when He's gone, His apostles and all His disciples
from then on are going to be the target of the Pharisees.
He knows that offenses are going to arise between brethren. He
knows that unbelief is going to arise. He knows that some
are going to sin and some are going to be puffed up. He knows
this. He knows that some are going
to like one preacher over another preacher and they're going to
try to be divided over this. He knows these things. And in
fact, He's riding upon all of these trials as our sovereign
Redeemer ruling over it all. God's saints are sinners who
Christ has saved, is saving, and shall yet save. And our Lord
Jesus here, knowing these things, He's teaching us to love one
another, and He's teaching us how He has loved us. That's what He's teaching us.
That's what He's teaching us. Now, Peter and the others, they loved the Lord. They knew
the Lord. They loved Him. It's like when the Lord calls
you and He reveals Himself to you, this is the love of God
He puts in the heart. He makes you to see how He loved
you. And they loved Him. And they
loved one another. But they didn't love one another
as they would love one another. Not at all. And one of the ways the Lord
is going to teach us to love one another He's going to teach
you and me that we have absolutely nothing in us for which for Christ
to love us. He's going to show us, and we're
going to see this more and more as we go through this life, that
there's nothing in us to make God love us. There's much in
us to make God not love us. And yet, Christ loved us, and
He continues to love His people. This is how, one of the ways
He grows us in love. The more you see that, the more
you see how Christ loved you. So, I'm sure they had all been
saying, they had all been sitting there saying, Peter had said,
these all may be offended. Our Lord said, you're going to
deny me, Peter, and you're going to depart from me. And he said,
these all might do that. I won't do it. And they all said
this. They all were saying, they were
boasting of their love and their commitment to Christ. These might
do that. We won't do that. So you can
just imagine, as they're hearing our Lord say this about loving
one another, about abiding in Him, about doing whatsoever He
commands, I kind of suspect they're thinking to themselves, Peter
just made this post and I suspect Peter's thinking, that's how
I love you. I will abide in you. I will do
whatsoever you've commanded. And our Lord, shortly after this,
He takes the restraint off the devil and He allows the devil
to sift Peter. And Peter denied the Lord three
times. And he left the Lord alone. And he went back to his fishing
boats. And he led the others with him
when he did this. And the Lord came to Peter and
restored him. And Peter learned just a little
bit better. He learned a little bit better
that the Lord didn't love Peter because of anything in him. Our Lord told the Israelites,
speaking of all His elect, He says, the Lord did not love you
because you were greater than any other people. You were the
least of all people. The Lord loved you because He
would. Peter's learning that. And when
he learns that a little more, he's learning to love his brethren
as Christ loved him. Not because of something in you.
The cause is Christ. The cause is Christ. Peter learned
that it wasn't Peter. Peter said, I'll lay down my
life for you, Lord. Peter learning it was not him
laying down his life for the Lord. It was the Lord, even after
Peter denied Him, who went to the cross and laid down his life
for Peter. And so it was just because the
Lord Jesus justified His people when He went to the cross. And
as Romans 6 tells us, your body of sin is dead. The Lord, when
He was crucified on that cross, believer, look to the cross and
behold yourself and your sinful body of sin being crucified on
the cross. And when he went into that grave,
your old body was buried in the grave. And when he came out,
your new man came out. And because that's the case,
it was just. In fact, it was the only just
thing to do for the Lord to go to Peter and restore him after
he fell. Brethren of sin and they'll do
something and we start acting like we never heard of grace. Well, something's got to be done
about it. Something has been done about it. Christ went to
the cross and laid down His life and justified His people from
all our sin. What needs to be done is to remind
our brethren of that. So Peter's learning a little
bit more that when his brother sins, to love his brother as
Christ loved him by beholding his brother as righteous in Christ. And be merciful and restore him. Now Peter knows everybody knows
about this. He knows all the brethren know
about his fault. The apostles knew about his fault.
Everybody in the churches knew about this. And you think about
whenever Peter would sit down to write to the churches, or
when he would preach, and he's going to write about loving brethren. Do you know how that humbled
his heart? To know, I didn't love my Lord
as I ought, and yet, He loved me. And because that was the
case, Peter wrote to them, and he told them to love as brethren. He said, be pitiful. Be courteous
to one another. Don't render railing for railing. Love one another. Love as brethren. And in that fifth chapter, I
think it's 1 Peter, that fifth chapter, this is what he learned. All of you be subject one to
another. Be clothed with humility. Because our Lord resists the
proud. Peter found that out. That's
what took place when Peter was humbled. The Lord was resisting
that pride of saying, ah, they might do it, but I won't do it.
He said, be clothed with humility. Submit yourself under the mighty
hand of God and cast all your care on Him for He cares for
you. And be diligent, be vigilant,
be sober, because the devil's going about his roaring lion,
seeking whom he may devour. And there's one way to resist
him, and that's steadfast believing on the Lord Jesus Christ and
trust in Him. And as you do that, he said,
know this, just like the Lord's working it in you, just like
He's humbled you and just like He's shown you your sin and how
there's nothing in you for the Lord to love, and yet the Lord
loved you and He's brought you down to His feet and asked mercy
and forgiveness and He's shown it to you. Just like He's worked
that in you, that brother that's offended, He's going to work
the same thing in him. He's accomplishing these same
things in all our brethren. And this is what Peter learned
too. He said, and the God of all grace
who's called us to our Lord Jesus Christ, He said, after you've
suffered a while, He'll strengthen you. He'll settle you. He'll comfort you. He'll keep
you looking to Him. Know that. about yourself and
about your brethren. So Peter, he learned this, and
every time he had to write anything about love, don't you just know
that was on his heart? That's what he thought about.
How Christ loved him. You see, you can't speak the
Word in love until you see the passage you're going to preach
or read or speak to a brother, and you are the sinner in that
passage. and you behold how Christ has
loved you when there was nothing in you to love. If we don't enter
into that when we're going to preach or read or speak the Word
to somebody, especially if they've offended in some way, somebody
or us or whoever, if you don't enter into that, you're not going
to speak the Word in love. You're going to speak it at them.
Exalting self as if I've never sinned like that. But Christ keeps showing us there
is nothing in us to love, and yet He's loved us. Peter learned,
I didn't choose the Lord. The Lord chose me. You know how
he learned that? Because when it came time for
him to say, yes, I know Him. He's my Redeemer. He's my Savior. You know what Peter chose to
do? cuss and say, I don't know the man. And he learned, I didn't
choose the Lord, the Lord chose me. And he learned too by the
Lord praying for him that his faith failed not, that's why
his faith didn't fail. He learned this too, that he's
not the one producing his own fruit. Christ had just taught
him, I'm the vine, you're the branches. I chose you. You didn't choose me. And I ordain
that you should go forth and bring forth fruit and your fruit
should remain. And that's the only reason Peter's
faith had failed. And so Peter's learning to love
his brethren as Christ loved him. Pray for them that Christ
will sustain them and make them stand. See, we've got to go through
these troubles. We've got to go through these
troubles to learn so we can fail. That's why. And we can learn.
The Lord loves us, not because of anything in us. Think of the
Apostle Paul. The Apostle Paul, he wrote so
many Scriptures. Colossians 3, where he says,
Put on, as the elect of God, vows of mercies. Forgive one
another. Feed longsuffering. If any man
have a quarrel against any, even as the Lord's forgiven you. And
above all, he said, have fervent love for one another, and above
all, put on charity, which is the bond of perfectness, and
be at peace amongst yourselves. And you know when he wrote that,
he wrote that thinking, I didn't do this for Brother
Barnabas. And there was brethren that knew
he didn't do that with Brother Barnabas, and there was brethren
that used that against him. He rebuked Peter because Peter
got up from the Gentiles' table and went over and sat down at
the Jews' table. And this is what it was. Paul said, he walked
not according to the Gospel. And not long later, Apostle Paul
did the exact same thing. He went to Jerusalem and James
says, here's a good idea. We can show these Jews you're
not against the law. Why don't you come under a vow?
and be at charges for these men. And Paul did it. But the Lord
stopped him. The Lord showed Paul how He loved
him. He showed him how He loved him
when there was nothing in Paul to love. He stopped him. He had
them close the door. He couldn't do that now. Why? Because Christ is the end of
the law for righteousness to everyone who believes it. And
He had already accomplished the fulfillment of the whole law.
And He wasn't going to let Paul do that. And He had Paul arrested. Why did he do that? To show him
how much he loved him. He sent him with an armed escort
with wrong foot in the bill to carry him to Caesar's house and
Paul's preaching the Gospel the whole way as he goes because
Christ had some elect in Caesar's household and they're going to
be called out. And all the brethren knew about this in all the churches. If you heard one of the preachers
was in prison, we like to talk. And just imagine the rumor mill
going on and how that would end up and what would end up being
the charge on that. You know, if you play telephone
and go around the room, you know how it ends up when it gets to
the other end. Well, Paul said, all that be
in Asia have forsaken me. But most of the brethren didn't
have anything to do with Paul. He said, I've been charged as
an evildoer. And he said, but the Lord stood with me and strengthened
me. What was the Lord teaching him?
He was teaching him how that Christ loved Paul when there
wasn't anything in Paul to love. so that Paul would learn to love
his brethren as Christ loved him. And Christ used a brother,
Brother Onesiphus, who sought Paul out diligently and refreshed
him and ministered to him while he was in prison. The Lord did
that through that man. To show Paul how He provided
for Paul because He loved Paul when there wasn't anything in
Paul to love. This is what the Lord will show
us because this is the only way we're going to love our brethren. Look at Ephesians chapter 3.
So then whenever Paul hears that the Ephesian brethren are leaving
their first love, he sets down and he writes to
them. And here's what he writes to
them. Ephesians 3. For this cause I, Paul, the prisoner
of the Lord, beseech you that you walk worthy of the vocation
wherewith you are called, with all lowliness and meekness, with
longsuffering, forbearing one another in love, endeavoring
to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond. of peace. How did
he learn that? What made him want to do that?
Christ loved him when he was acting like he didn't even know
him. And Christ showed him that. You notice all those things there
with lowliness, with long-suffering? If there's long-suffering involved,
that means you're going to be suffering. Christ is not teaching
us to love one another just when everything's good. He's teaching
us to love one another when we're not lovable. And the way that
He's going to make His children do this is by teaching us He
loves us when we're not lovable. He suffered long with us and
still suffers long with us. All of these things of forbearing
and endeavoring, these are words that mean it's not going to be
easy. It's not going to be pleasant.
Everybody can love when they're being loved. But what about when
we're not being loved? What about when we're being hated?
Just think of this. The carnal mind is enmity against
God. That's all that we were in our
flesh, was nothing but hatred against God. And the Lord set
His love on His people from eternity, not because of anything in us,
because He loved us. And He chose us in the Lord Jesus
Christ. And Christ came forth and laid
down His life for us. We couldn't give Him anything.
We didn't have anything to give Him. You know the grace of our
Lord Jesus Christ that though He was rich, He's God, He's equal
with God, and yet for your sakes, He became poor that you through
His poverty might be made rich. That's what makes us... When He declares that name to
us and declares this grace to us, This is what constrains His
people to love even when we're not being loved. Because that's
how He loves us and keeps loving us. But we've got to suffer some
things to learn it, don't we? We've got to suffer some things
to learn it. Well, let me talk a little bit about this text.
Now go back here to John 15. He said, greater love hath no
man than this, than a man laid down his life for his friends. Our Lord is calling you and me,
who He's chosen, His friends. Now, if you know somebody famous,
or somebody rich, or something like that, and you say, you've
met them a few times, you've talked to them a few times, and
you say, they're my friend. Well, you may run into them,
and they don't have a clue who you are. But now, if that person
says, you're my friend, that means something. And Christ Jesus,
God, our Savior, is saying to His people, you are my friends. And you want to know if He's
your friend? He said, greater love hath no man than this. And
He's speaking about Himself than a man laid down his life for
his friends. Well, they've offended me and
it's not right It was right for Him just to
stay where He was in glory with all His reputation and all of
His riches and all that He had. And He forwent all His rights
and came down to this place where we are. Have you ever thought
about the fact that everybody our Lord came in contact with
hated Him? Everybody except those he gave
a heart to love him. Everybody he came in contact
with hated him. And even those that he gave a
heart to love him still had that old sinful flesh and doubted
him. Philip, you know, show us the
Father, Lord. It will suffice. I won't believe
unless I can stick my finger in the nail prints. Everybody
he came in contact with didn't believe Him and those that He
gave faith to believe Him just barely believed Him. You know,
just didn't know much. And we think of Him, and it is
Him laying down His life on the cross, but everything from Him
being formed in the womb of the Virgin, taking that body, coming
forth an infant, growing up, His entire life was Him laying
down His life for us. It was Him fulfilling all righteousness
for His people. And then He goes to the cross
and the law has no claim on Him. He's sinless. And He goes to
the cross and lays down His life for a bunch of God-hating rebels. And so thoroughly pleased God,
so thoroughly justified His people from our sin that the only thing
to do is be merciful to us. And He tells us here, He says,
He tells us of His love here, not only because He laid down
His life for us, but because He's made us to know this Gospel. He said in verse 15, Henceforth
I call you not servants, for the servant knoweth not what
his Lord doeth, but I've called you friends. For all things that
I've heard of my Father, I've made known unto you. We come
into this world sinners bound, with no knowledge of God, and
we were servants. Now, we were heirs of all things,
but we didn't know it. Just like Paul told the Galatians.
Because God had chosen us in Christ and made us joint heirs
with Christ before the foundation of the world. But we come into
this world servants in bondage to our sin nature and to the
law, trying to come to God by something we did, and we had
no idea we were heirs of God. And then the Lord Jesus came
and taught us and made us to know. That's what John said,
1 John 5. He's come and given us an understanding
that we may know Him that's true and we're in Him that is true.
This is the true God and eternal life. He's come and made us know
Him. That's how He loved us. He laid down His life for us.
when we didn't know Him, when we didn't love Him. Not that
we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the
propitiation for our sin. And laid down His life for us.
And then He came and made us know it. And here's how He loves
us. He says in verse 16. Now, here's
the point I want you to get in this. He's making them know all
of this trouble He knows is going to come about He's making them
to remember, you didn't choose Me. Verse 16, I've chosen you. Now if they had done the choosing,
listen to me, anybody that wants to do the choosing, if you did
the choosing, when the trouble comes, and the opposition comes,
and you've denied the Lord, and you've gone and come under a
vow, and all the different things that we see the early church
doing, if you did the choosing, that's bad because How are you
going to choose again? You know what I mean? You're
going to be lost. But if you didn't do the choosing, if it
was all of God's free and sovereign grace, His grace never changes,
and that is encouragement, that's comfort, that's strength to know
no matter what comes about, His grace is not changing. That's
how He loves His people. Oh, that we could remember that
about one another. anytime you see anything in one
another that's not lovable. God didn't look upon me and choose
me because of anything in me. Just because He loved me. And
He tells them, and I've ordained you. That's the same word as
foreknowledge. I've foreknown you. I've loved
you before. I've ordained you. I've made
the prognosis of what's going to come to pass. You're going
to go forth and bring forth fruit, and your fruit shall remain."
This is what Peter learned, that he didn't produce the fruit,
and he didn't sustain the fruit. And this is not just personal
fruit. It is personal fruit, but it's not just personal fruit.
He calls converted believers firstfruits. And he's telling
them, you're going to go forth and preach my Gospel and I'm
going to produce some fruit. I'm going to produce some children
of God that are going to believe in me and they're going to remain.
They're not going to be lost. I wouldn't want to go forth preaching
if I didn't know He was going to do that. If I thought it was
up to me, I wouldn't want to go forth preaching. It's all
up to Him. He's going to do this. All of this is encouragement
because this is how He loves His people. And here's what else.
When our Lord, when you fail, and you fall, and you stumble
around and act like you don't know Him, our Lord is a compassionate
high priest on a throne of grace. And He says to you and me, come
to my throne of grace that you might find help in time of need. Look here. He says at the last
part of verse 16, I've done all this that whatsoever you shall
ask of the Father in My name, He may give it you. Think about when He first called
you to Him. He made you know your sin. He
made you know your guilt. And you came to the Lord. humbled
and bowed down, seeking mercy. And you found out that He delights
to show mercy. He showed you mercy. He showed
you everything I accomplished, everything I did. I did it for
you, my child. And here's my righteousness.
It's yours. It's free. Well, do you find
that the older you, the longer you go in this thing of faith,
Do you find yourself more and more throughout the day going
to Him with a broken heart and asking Him, Lord, have mercy
on me? And do you not find that when
you go to Him asking mercy, He gives you mercy and forgives
you? It's going to Him Offending Him
seven times in a day, and seven times in a day having your heart
broken and going to Him and asking mercy, and Him forgiving you
and giving you mercy, that will make you love your brethren the
same way. That's the only way. You think about it. Our Lord
said if a brother offends you seven times in a day, think about that. If a brother
offended you seven times in a day, And then seven times he'd come
with a broken heart saying, would you please forgive me? You know what we're prone to
do? You've got to quit doing this. The Lord, when you go to Him
with a broken heart, He forgives you. And you think about this, when
they brought that woman caught in adultery and those men were
so mean and they're going to accuse her And they rang her
and she's guilty. That's just all there is to it.
And the Lord stood between her and the accusers. And He said,
whichever one of you is without sin, cast the first stone. And
when they all went out and there was nobody left, He turned to
her and He said, Woman, where are your accusers? No man can
condemn you? Neither do I. Do you know there's
people in the past that would not preach from that passage
because they said, He didn't, this was that woman. And if we
preach that, folks are going to think they can go out and
just commit sin. without any repercussion. I beg
to differ. He disciplined her with the greatest
discipline there is. Forgiveness. That's the forgiveness. Lord, if thou should mark iniquities,
who could stand? There's forgiveness with thee
that thou mayest be feared. That is the discipline. That's
the discipline of grace. Forgive her. All right, I'm done,
but the point is, brethren, This is how Christ loved us. This
is how He keeps loving us. And all these things, He said,
I've commanded you that you love one another. And so He tells
us now, you're my friends if you go and do what I've commanded
you. I pray He'd make us friends. I thank you for loving me and
I thank you for showing me you'd love me this weekend and for
putting me in a nice place and giving me good meals and taking
me golfing And it's just been fun. One time Jack Shanks was
golfing with somebody, and the fella he was golfing with hit
a hole in one. And that fella said, I wish that
somebody was here to have seen that. And Jack said, well, ain't
I somebody? Fred played the best game of
golf he's ever played Friday. And I wish there had been somebody
there to see it. I sure appreciate y'all. Thank
you. Love you. What a message. Every time I think of my sins,
I think of that passage in Song of Solomon where the husband
comes to that shulamite bride and he said this, thou art fair,
my love. Look inside and tell me you see
that. You say that about yourself. He can say it about you because
he accomplished it and gave it to you. That's love, friends. You know what she said? Come,
oh north wind, south wind, prosperity or persecution, as long as you're
there. She loved him because he first
loved her. And this love does teach us to
love one another. Would to God there be no division
among God's people. And Lord, help us if there is.
We can love one another as he loved us. Teach me.