If you will, open your Bibles
to Romans chapter 12. I pray the Lord will be our teacher
today and we can learn something. Paul gives us in this chapter
and these upcoming chapters, he exhorts us and he exhorts
us and he exhorts us and he exhorts us some more. He keeps telling
us, In light of those first 11 chapters, what those results
of redemption are, what we ought to do out of that debt of love,
debt of gratitude, seeing what Christ has provided for us, how
we ought to walk in this world. I pray we can take heed to it.
I hope tonight, I've got a pretty long text. We're going to go
from verse 9 to the end of the chapter. I want to go through
it twice. But if someone were to just pick
up verse 9 and start reading, and it says, let love be without
dissimulation. That's a preset, isn't it? It's telling us to do something.
And so there's a law, there's a rule, let's just do that. Don't
let love be without dissimulation. Here's how love's going to be,
here's your cookie cutter, here's your rules, here's your guidelines.
We have to understand where that love comes from, don't we? I
pray that we can see Christ, our walk in this life in light
of Christ, and that we can see Christ again. But we know from
those first 11 chapters so clearly, Paul tells us we were ruined
by the fall. All of mankind, born of Adam, we fell in the
garden, we fell in our conception, we fell in our birth, we fell
every day of our lives that we've been breathing. This old flesh,
that's all it does, falls. And we see that we're redeemed
by the blood of Christ. The only hope that we have, us
fallen, sinful men and women, is that Christ was our substitute. His blood was shed for us. He
bore our sin, He bore our guilt, and He gave us His righteousness. That's our only hope. We won't
perish in our sins. And it clearly tells us that
the Holy Spirit comes to us, regenerates us, puts that seed
of Christ, that incorruptible seed in our hearts. quickens
us, makes us alive. That's where our true life is.
We happen to be alive on this earth, but our life is not in
this world, and it's not of things of this earth. Our life's with
Christ who saved us. We saw so clearly there when
we went through 1 John, God loved us. He loved a people in Christ,
and when He loved those people, He loved them forever. And after
we found out about it, the Holy Spirit comes to us, does a work
of regeneration in our hearts. We're born again. Born anew. New spirit. New man in us. We
love God who first loved us. That's why we love Him. He first
loved us. And once we love Him, we see
His love for us, then we love our brethren. Our love goes to
our brethren. So Paul tells us here in verse
9, he says, let love be without dissimulation. Dissimulation
means hypocrisy. Don't let your love be fake.
You can fake love for quite a while. You can act like you love somebody. But Paul said, let your love
be sincere. Sincere, earnest. How could I
have sincere love? I sure don't feel like I have
it most of the time. Ask the Lord for it. Lord, give me a sincere love
for Christ. Allow me to see your sincere
love for me in Him and give me a sincere love for my brethren.
Ask the Lord for it. And I don't want to just have
it in words. It's so easy for us to live our
lives and say, I love you. I love you. You ever go off the
phone with somebody? I almost did it with the pizza
man. Alright, love you, bye. That's how easy we just throw
it around. We don't just need to do it in word, we need to
do it in deed. Look here in 1 John 3. 1 John chapter 3. We get in verse 18. Apostle John writes, my little
children, that's a good way to love, isn't it? Barking orders, he says, my little
children. That's tender. My little children, let us not
love in word, neither in tongue, but in deed and in truth. Let us love in deed and in truth,
in our actions. He's not limiting us saying we
can't tell our brothers and our sisters in Christ that we love
them. Of course we can. Let's show them. Show them. If we ask the Lord, Lord, give
me the ability to love my brethren. And give me the ability to show
them that I love them. Give me arms that will hug them.
Give me ears that will listen to them. Give me feet that will
go to them when they're sick, when they're tired, that will
help them. Look there in verse 4, I'm sorry, 1 John 4, verse
7. There's a reason that we have
this, a source, this motivation. 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. In this was manifested the love
of God towards us. Here's our love. 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, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation
for our sins, to be the bloody sacrifice, the sin-atoning, acceptable
sacrifice that we could not provide for ourselves. Verse 11, Beloved,
if God so loved us, if after that manner of giving Himself
for us, We ought also to love one another out of a debt of
gratitude. Sincerely, without hypocrisy,
love one another. Love one another. Sometimes we've,
I've been an offense. I've offended brother and sister
on more than one occasion in the past. And down the road,
I realized they were long sufferers. They forbore me. And I thought, oh, I've offended
them. And I felt horrible about it. Oh, I was sorry. I really
was. Just tore all to pieces. That's the thinking, isn't it?
What's to do something about that? Tell them you're sorry.
I'm sorry. I see that I offended you. I
shouldn't have. And I'm sorry. Is that the right
thing to do? Look back just a couple pages
there in James. James chapter 5. James 5 and verse 16. Confess
your faults one to another and pray for another that you may
be healed. He's not telling us to sit down
in a quiet room and I'm going to tell you everything bad I've
ever done in my life. That room might overflow, but
I ain't got enough time for that. But whenever you're wrong and
you've offended a brother or sister and it weighs on you,
tell them. Say, I'm sorry. Confess your faults to one another
and pray for one another. Pray the Lord to be with you.
Give you that love to bind you that you may be healed. That
love for Christ. If two believers, if they haven't
offended each other, they will at some point. Whenever they
have a trial, they have a strife between them, let's sit down
and pray together. Father, forgive us for our sin. We're just sinners. Lord, be
merciful to us. If we can truly have a heart
that earnestly, without hypocrisy, in love, praise to our Master
who saved us those things, what else could get in the way? Everything
else is gone. There ain't nothing here worth
fighting over. You know what? I'm sorry. Let's
just worship Christ together. Let's support that gospel. And
it says there, the effectual, fervent prayer of a righteous
man availeth much. Be a child of God, one that Christ
has made righteous, robed in His righteousness, to effectually
and fervently, passionately pray to Him. It avails much. He doesn't
ignore us. He gives, He teaches, He provides
for us. So that's the way we are, to
love. Now back in our text there in Romans 12, he says in verse
9, let love be without dissimilation. Let there be no hypocrisy. Let
it be sincere love. Abhor that which is evil, cleave
to that which is good. Abhor that which is evil and
cleave to that which is good. That makes sense, don't it? Don't
like evil things and cling to good things. Cleave to the good
things. That makes sense. But how do
we apply that? I need to apply that in myself. We need to apply
that in ourselves. Turn from the evil that's in
me and look to Christ that dwells in me. Stop looking at myself. I abhor my sin as David did,
as Job did. I hate the sin that I am. But
it's so easy to just stare at that sin all the time, isn't
it? And if you look into that sin, you're not looking to Christ.
When we see it, we have pain with it. We abhor it. But cling
to Christ. Look to Him. We need to abhor
evil and cleave to that which is good in our brethren. If you want to find something
that's evil in me, you ain't going to have to look long. It
won't take much digging. You'll find out a whole lot. evil things, sin, wickedness,
horribleness. But in our brethren, we shouldn't
look for the evil things, should we? We say, oh, look at our fathers,
got drunk, and then they're naked in his tent. Be like Ham, scoped
tail on him. Get your blanket, walk in backwards.
Cover the sins of your brother. Somebody says, do you hear about
so-and-so? I don't want to hear it. Don't tell me. I want to know nothing among
you save Jesus Christ and Him crucified. Boy, that ends a lot
of strife, don't it? And we need to abhor evil and
cleave to that which is good in this life that we live on
this earth. Does that mean quit going to
rock and roll concerts? No. Look to Christ, not the world. There's so much. You've got plenty
of evil. Your head would spin. You never would stop looking
at it. That's all that's out there. And we dig like a shovel
in loose sand, don't we? As hard as we can dig, trying
to find something. All you're doing is moving sand.
Sand of evil. Cling to that which is good.
Look there in verse 2. Chapter 12, verse 2. Be not conformed
to this world, Be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind
that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect
will of God. Be ye transformed that you might
prove the Lord's will. Does that prove it to him? No,
that's prove it to us. How am I going to have this love
that's unfamed? How am I going to have sincere
love for Christ and sincere love for my brethren? How am I going
to abhor evil and cling to that which is good? The will of God
must take place. He has to do it for us, doesn't
He? It says there in verse 10, Be
kindly affectioned one to another with brotherly love, in honor,
preferring one another. We just looked at it recently.
We have one spirit. Paul says our brotherly love.
We have one spirit. We have one body. One hope. One Lord. One faith. We have
one baptism. It makes us related. We're the
whole family of God. Children of God. We put up with
our earthly families, don't we? My earthly family has things
I've put up with that I wouldn't put up with in any stranger walking
up down the street. That's my family. You bury them. You suffer long with them. That's my family. And that's
how we should be with our spiritual families. Long suffering with
them. Who am I to love? The whole family.
The whole body of Christ. How am I supposed to love them?
Sincerely. Look there in 1 Corinthians 13.
All the characteristics of love. Love suffers long. It doesn't
fail. Love doesn't envy. Just before
this, Paul was showing us in Ephesians 4 about those gifts
of the Spirit. The Lord gives us gifts, gives
us duties, dispensations that we're to do. I shouldn't look
at my brother and say, well, why are they getting to do that?
Or my sister, well, how come she's getting to do this? How
come she knows that? Be thankful for them. Rejoice with them in
hope and happiness, don't we? I'm not envying them. That old
illustration, I don't know who said it, but it said, if two
angels came and the Lord is going to send one to rule the earth
and one to sweep the streets, it wouldn't make a difference
to them two angels which one did what? Sincerely love one another. Sincerely love Christ. Prefer
one another. I was talking to Brother Cody
Henson today. And he was preaching out of this
and I was preaching out of this. We was talking about it a little
bit and I said, all right, well, I prefer you. I do. Each one of you said,
I prefer you. I may have brothers and sisters,
the Lord hasn't called yet, walking around this county. I don't know
who they are. I trust he'll call them. But
for you that are here, I prefer you. A lot of stuff happening in our
country today. I know the fella on TV. I've been in his company
for a good while. A couple weeks. I prefer your
company over his. I prefer them. You know why that
is? Sheep need sheep. Somebody lost sheep in this world,
and whenever the Lord calls them, what does he do to that sheep
that's lost? Leaves ninety and nine, what does he do to that
sheep? He goes and gets it. And he brings it back, that poor
defenseless sheep that has no defenses, has no instincts, don't
have any smarts, any ability to comprehend this stuff, and
he puts it with other sheep. And they herd together. Stay
close. That's where they're safe. Because
they prefer one another. If you had dogs and sheep in
a field, that sheep's going to go to the sheep. It prefers the
sheep. How can two or three walk together
if they are not in agreement? They prefer one another. Be not
unequally yoked in this world. If we are unequally yoked and
that happens, we have that in our families. We have that in
our occupations. We have that all around us, in
our neighbors. There's unbelievers around us.
People that blatantly hate the gospel. And a lot of hardship
can come from that. But we don't pursue what they
pursue. We don't conform to the world. I'll pass you that example one
time. If one of your children was doing heroin and you wanted
to help them, you wouldn't go down there and do heroin with
them to try to get them off of heroin. If one of my siblings or a loved
one or a friend is going to a false church and says blatantly wrong,
I won't go to church with them to try to get them to come out
of that church. Just declare the gospel to them. And then
go be with the sheep. Go be with those that you prefer.
It says in verse 11, not slothful in business, fervent in spirit,
serving the Lord. Now in our given occupation,
what the Lord gives us in our hand to do in this earth, whether
that's the job we have, our career, or if that's You retired folks, you do a lot
of stuff to keep busy. We should do that unto the Lord,
physically in this earth. If we're sweeping floors or we're
running a company, do it unto the Lord. If you have someone
ruling over you, serve them as if you're serving the Lord because
He put that ruler over you. And if He wants to take that
one away, He will. Boss or manager or whatever it is. But especially,
that's physically, but especially spiritually in serving the Lord.
We should do that in love. Those offices that we're given,
whether that's to minister, or that's to preach, or that's to
teach, or exhort, whatever it is, we should do that unto the
Lord, fervently. Fervently unto Him. It says there
in verse 8, "...for he that extorteth on extortation, he that giveth
let him do it with simplicity, he that ruleth with diligence,
he that showeth mercy with cheerfulness." If we've been given the gift
to show mercy, how can we be given that gift? Mercy has had
to be shown to us. Let us do it cheerfully. Let
us do it cheerfully unto the Lord, fervently. We have the
opportunity to show mercy. I know what mercy is. That guy
was mean to me. I want to be merciful. The Lord
was merciful to me. He's cheerful about it. It says
in verse 12, rejoicing in hope, patient in tribulation, continuing
instant in prayer. We're to rejoice in hope of Christ,
His love for us. It's everlasting. What's our
hope? Christ is our hope. How long
will He be? Until we're with Him. We see Him face to face. We should
rejoice in hope with our brethren. when we're wounded, when we're
offended, when we're hurt. That's not a scrape, that's a
deep cut sometimes, when we're really wounded. Let's rejoice
in Christ together. Let's praise Him together. Let's
sing a song together. Let's pray together. That will heal that
wound, won't it? Patient and tribulation. How
can I be? Look at this world. Look at the
news. Look what's going on around me. How can I be patient with
all these trials going on? And these heavy trials. There
are a lot of believers in this nation right now that are hurting.
And I mean heavy trials. How can I be patient in that
tribulation? Look to Christ. Look to His love for us. Look
at His patience towards us. Remind and be reminded by our
brethren. Those sheep are hurtled together.
We're shepherded together. One gets low, another one's having
a good day. Remember who saved you. Look
to Him. And then when I'm down, you tell me. Remember who saved
you. Oh, you're in His hand. No man can take you out of His
hand. patience and tribulation, and continuing instant in prayer. Does that mean we pray 24-7 just
rocking back and forth and chanting a bunch of stuff? Of course not.
No. That means effectually fervent, like James was telling us. Earnest,
diligent, and attend to prayer. Earnestly pray, diligently pray,
and attend to prayer. There's times in the evenings
I sit down at the dinner table and I think, Lord, have I even
prayed to you today? Lord, in your love, give me a
heart that prays earnestly. Verse 13, distributing to the
necessity of the saints, given to hospitality. I don't know much how to expound
on that. A brother or sister, someone
that Christ died for needs something, and that's all it is, is things,
whatever it is. Why wouldn't I distribute to
them if I had? I used that illustration with
a friend of mine. I tried to help them in something
they needed help in, and they didn't want to take it. Nobody
wants to take nothing, do we? We want to contribute. Well, let
me do this for you. I have a hard time receiving.
My friend had a hard time receiving. I said, you know, if we was at
mom's house, and she made a big old plate of biscuits, and I
put two biscuits on my plate, and you put one biscuit on your
plate, and you wanted another biscuit, do you think you could
have one? And I said, well of course, I
knew I was being silly, wasn't I? Anything that I need or my
brother or sister needs, my Heavenly Father will provide. If He's
provided for me, how could I not just freely give to those around
me that's in need? Giving to hospitality, giving
in love, that loving spirit that's hospitable, that wants to serve,
wants to help. Verse 14, Bless them which persecute
you, Bless and curse not. Bless those that persecute you.
Bless and curse not. Paul learned this from our master
and he said it there in Matthew chapter 5. Let's turn over and
look at it. Matthew chapter 5. Again in verse 43, Matthew 5,
43. Ye have heard that it hath been
said, thou shalt love thy neighbor and hate thine enemy. But I say
unto you, love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do
good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully
use you and persecutes you, that ye may be the children of your
Father which is in heaven. For he maketh the sun to rise
on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just
and the unjust. For if ye love them which love
you, what reward have ye? Do not even the publicans the
same? Well, I love my children and
they love me. Dictators love their children.
Evil people, don't they do the same thing? And if ye salute
your brethren only, what do ye more than others? Do not even
the publicans so? Be ye therefore perfect, even
as your Father which is in heaven is perfect. That's what we're
given to do. How could we do that? How could
a person, and how could I do that? How could I love my enemies,
those that persecuted me? Those that just spit in your
face if they have the opportunity to. Crack you upside the head.
How could I love them? I see how I persecuted Christ. I see how I forsook Him. How
I was thankless. And I see His patience and kindness
towards me. Now all of a sudden it's possible.
Maybe I ain't as mad as I thought I was. Back in our text there
in verse 15, Rejoice with them that do rejoice, and weep with
them that weep. Be long-suffering, don't envy.
Love doesn't envy. And weep with the saints, those
that are hurting. Let them know you know they're
hurting. And if you're hurting, tell your brethren, so they know
to pray for you, they know to weep with you. Those trials that
we go through, you'll both see Christ at the end of it, I promise
you. Verse 16, be of the same mind, one towards another. Mind
not high things, but condescend to men of low estate. Be not
wise in your own conceits. What does that mean? Be of the
same mind. Let this mind be in you. Meek
and lowly. We're just sinners saved by grace,
aren't we? These are the high doctrines. We don't need to talk
about that with everybody. No. That's one doctrine. The
doctrine of Christ, isn't it? We're all the same. It says,
condescend. Share the gospel with those poor
in spirit. Whether they're an enemy or not, share with them.
Mind not. Avoid those high doctrines. Paul
deals with this in the next couple of chapters as we get to it.
Those that just grew into faith longer and spent more time and
have a greater understanding how they're to deal with our
brethren that just heard the Gospel, how they're supposed
to deal with it. And be not wise. Don't let your
own wisdoms in the things of this world. And when you interpret
Scriptures, look to Christ when you interpret them. And the lie
to Him. Verse 17 says, Recompense no man evil for evil. Provide
things honest in the sight of all men. I have a great struggle
with that. Recompensing no man evil for
evil. Those that are mean to me, that's my instinct, isn't
it? And what's worse is my other instinct is that I'm pretty honest
inside all men. I think so. I don't know which
one I'm more deceived on. Turn another cheek, our Master
said in Matthew 5. Solomon told us, he said, Say
not thou, I will recompense evil, but wait on the Lord, and He
shall save thee. Someone wants to slap one cheek,
and I turn another. The Lord sent that hand to my
cheek, didn't He? If I love Him, trust Him, and look to Him, we'll
remember these things. This is the love towards potential
brethren, those that walk up and down the streets that we
don't know, the Lord hadn't called yet. People at the grocery store. Backed into your car. Should
we be nice to them? Absolutely. Turn the other cheek if they're
mean to you. But this love and grace, it looks to our Lord in
the same way whenever our brethren do this to us. But it says, provide
things honest in the sight of men. In all of our dealings,
we're to be honest. You got a business, you're buying
a vehicle, whatever you're doing, be honest in it. Be upright,
be honest, but especially spiritually in the gospel. Someone says,
well, let go and let God. Don't you agree, Kevin? I couldn't
say something like that about my God. Maybe that's your God. You think you can let Him do
something? That's sharing the truth with
Him. We can do it kindly to Him. If it be possible as much as
life in you, live peaceably with all men. The first thing I used
to think of before I did something evil was, today ain't a day that
it's possible. It's not in me today to live
peaceably with these folks. How foolish I am, isn't it? Justify anything. How can we
live peaceably with all men in an unpeaceful world? So much
division. Christ is on his throne. Do I
remember that throughout the day? Do I remember that when
I turn the news on or when I turn it off because I'm upset? When
I hear reports of what's happened with her brethren? Christ is
risen. He's on His throne. Oh, shouldn't
that just make us calm the sheep? You upset about that? Shouldn't
be, should I? And just live peaceably with all men. Verse 19, Dearly
beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath.
For it is written, Vengeance is mine. I will repay, saith
the Lord. Therefore, if thine enemy hunger,
feed him. If he thirst, give him drink. For in doing so, thou shalt heap
coals of fire on his head. Years ago, I used to read that
and I thought, and that's true. If you've got an enemy, someone's
against you in this world, and you're just sweet as sugar to
them. Kind, you don't get flustered, you don't get fuzzled. Sweet
to them. Giving, you want something to
eat? You need something to drink? That heaps hot coals on their
head and boy, they get mad, don't they? That used to be a game
to me when I was a young child, see who I could be the nicest
to. But physically, if we do this, if we truly do, if we truly
had an enemy, and in love, that's not love doing that out of spite,
is it? But in love and understanding, unfeigned love, if we feed them,
look after them in this world as we would like to be looked
after, that may give them some fiery coals in their minds to
think about, wouldn't it? Why are they treating me this
way? Why are they being so gracious? Why are they being so kind? And
that's just physically. Spiritually, we tell them the
truth of Christ. If your enemy is really hungry, someone's just
been mean to you for decades, and they said, I don't know what
I'm going to do when I die. I don't have any righteousness. Christ is that living bread.
There's something to eat. Thirst. What am I going to do
when I meet the Lord? Christ is the living water. There's
something to drink. And maybe, just maybe, if the
Lord's pleased to do so, He may heat that fire of the Holy Ghost
in them. Baptize them. It says in verse 21, Be not overcome
with evil, but overcome evil with good. Let this mind be in
you. Keep our thoughts and affections
on things above. Now I've got to hurry. I hope we saw Christ coming into
this. This is the reason Paul's given us these exhortations.
That's what He's preached to us in those first 12 chapters.
And this is how it applies to us. This is how it fits our shoe
leather on a daily basis. This is our Master. If any of
these things are required of me, I don't fulfill them the
way I want to. I don't fulfill them the way
I ought to. People say, well, I don't know if... Todd Knopper
said that, I think it was today. People said, well, I just don't
know if I'm loving enough. He said, let me answer the question
for you. You don't. If any of this is required of
me, I can't fulfill it. Who can? Our Master did. I'll go quickly. Look here in
verse 9. Let love be without dissimulation. Abhor that which
is evil. Cleave to that which is good. Decross love and sincerity. Did he just say that he loved
his people or did he prove it? He came and died on this earth
for his people. Greater love hath no man than
this that he lay down his life for his friends. That was an
action. That's love in action, isn't
it? Did He abhor evil and cling to good? The whole time He bore
our sin. And that shame and guilt of it,
He looked solely to the Father. Constantly. Verse 10. Be kindly
affection one to another with brotherly love in honor preferring
one another. Crossed our elder brother. He
preferred his sheep. He preferred his people. And
he was ridiculed for it. He was mocked for it. He said,
look at him. He eats with publicans and sinners. The wine bibber
down there, having a glass of wine with those harlots. What's
wrong with him? That lady washed his feet. He
said, what are you letting her touch you for? He preferred his sheep,
didn't he? He preferred his brethren. Verse
11, not slothful in business, fervent in spirit, serving the
Lord. Our Master said, I must be about my father's business.
He was not slothful in business and the business he was sent
here to accomplish, was he? Did he accomplish it? He said, I
have finished the work you gave me to do. Verse 12, rejoicing
in hope, patient in tribulation, continuing instant in prayer.
That's the enduring of the cross right there. Our Master looked for that hope
of His Father. He patiently dealt with the tribulation
that was laid on Him. and the whole time praying earnestly,
praying fervently to His Father in perfect holiness. Verse 13,
distributing the necessity of saints given to hospitality.
We had a necessity, didn't we? It was necessary for Christ to
come. Verse 14, bless them which persecute you, bless and curse
not. Each one of Christ's sheep were
born cursing Him, persecuting Him, and oh, how He blessed us. He didn't curse us, He blessed
us, didn't He? Forgive them, Father, they know
not what they do. Verse 15, rejoice with them that
do rejoice, and weep with them that weep. My master wept. He
sent her Martha Mary. In front of Lazarus' tomb. He
was touched with the feeling of our infirmities. I get emotional
sometimes. My eyes well up. Can't keep from
it. Can't hardly talk. I start crying. My master wept. He wept with long suffering with
those brethren. Look at verse 16. Be of the same mind one towards
another. Mind not high things, but condescend
to men of low estate. Be not wise in your own conceits. Our master condescended all the
way to us, all the way to man. He thought it not right to be
equal with God, but made of himself of no reputation, took on him
the form of a servant. became a servant, and was made
in the likeness of man, and being found in fashion as a man, humbled
himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of
the cross." It says, be not wise in your
own conceits. He prayed in Luke 22, Father,
if thou wilt be willing, remove this cup from me. Nevertheless,
not my will, but thine, be done. Verse 17. Recompense to no man
evil for evil. Provide things honest in the
sight of all men. He recompensed to us good for
evil. All of my iniquity, He recompensed
righteousness to us because He bore it. Our enmity was met with
His grace. And it says, Be honest in the
sight of all men. Even Pilate said that. I washed my hands
of this man. I find no fault in him. He was
honest in his dealings. Verse 18, If it be possible,
as much as life liveth in you, live peaceably with all men.
Thank God Christ is the Prince of Peace. He is our peace. Do
you have any rest? Do you have any peace? If I have
Christ, I do. When I look to Him, I do. He
is my peace. Verse 19, Dearly beloved, avenge
not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath. For it is written,
Vengeance is mine, I will repay, saith the Lord. In Isaiah, it
says, Like a sheep done before his shearers, he opened not his
mouth. Verse 20, Therefore thine enemy
hunger, feed him. If he thirsts, give him drink.
For in so doing thou shalt heap coals of fire on his head, but
be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good. Our
Lord said, If any hunger and any thirst for righteousness,
they shall be filled. Plumb for them. They truly hunger
righteousness. You come to Him. Lord, I have
no righteousness of my own. I need righteousness. I thirst
for it. I'm hungry for it. He said they
shall be filled with His righteousness. If any man thirsts, let him come
unto Me and drink. He that believeth on Me, as the
Scripture has said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living
water. When He feeds and He gives us
drink, He comes with the fire of the Holy Spirit. That's what
John the Baptist was saying. He said, I may baptize you with
water, but there's one greater than I coming. He'll baptize
you with the Holy Ghost and the fire. The fire of the Holy Spirit. That's who Christ is. These exhortations we're given.
In the light of Christ, here's what we ought to do out of a
debt of gratitude. This is who He is. This is what He did. He
accomplished these things. That's how He lived on this earth,
and that's His character. What a loving character. Once
we see Him, and we see Him, He is all the motivation a believer
needs to want to be made just like Christ. to want to be conformed
to His image. Not when we hear Him. Not just
when we read these words and we hear a little bit about Christ,
but when we see Him, when He reveals Himself to us. That's
what Isaiah was saying, in the year that King Zio died, I saw
the Lord. I'd heard a lot about Him. Now
I see Him. I am lifted up on His throne. See in our Lord,
we have a heart to be made like Him for eternity. Oh, I want
to be like Him. And I want to be like Him now.
I won't be the way I want to be. No, I won't be the way I
ought to be. But boy, I want to. I desire
that. I want to walk upright in this
world and honor Him and not bring a reproach on the gospel. I pray
the Lord to let us have our love and our walk in this world be
without dissimilation, without hypocrisy and sincerity. Look
into Him. Amen.