Come save me, to rescue me. O love divine, how can it be? How can it be? How can it be? God should love a soul like me. Oh, how can it be? You may be seated. If you, from your heart, ask
that question, if you can truly ask that question
with any then I believe perhaps the Lord
has begun that work in you. Only someone who sees their worthlessness
can admire and appreciate the love of God, the mercy of God,
the grace of God in Christ, the substitutionary work of Christ. Only a guilty sinner can truly
appreciate that. And we're made to cry out just
like everyone we see in the scriptures whom God showed his matchless
love to. We're made to cry out. How can
this be? Who am I? Who am I? Do you know what it means to
be a Christian? I want you to turn back to 1
John chapter 3 with me. 1 John chapter 3. What it means to be a Christian
means to be like Christ. I'll illustrate that very simply.
My name is Mahan. I am a member of that Mahan family
by birth. I was born into a family called
the Mahan family. I bear that name. I have the privileges, all of
the privileges that belong to the Mahan children. I bear the
Mahan looks. I look like my father, my mother,
my brothers and sisters, and the rest of my family. I have
the characteristics and traits of my family. That makes me a
Mahan, doesn't it? Well, in the same sense, that's
what it means to be a Christian, a son of Adam by nature. is made a member of God Almighty's
family by a new birth. We're born into that family. Born into that family. Our Lord
himself spoke of that in John chapter three. We are born into
that family. It's a supernatural birth from
above. It's not man's decision. It is
not man's work. We're not born of blood. That
is by because mama and daddy was a Christian. We're not born
of the will of the flesh or the will of man, but of God. God gives birth to his children
just like we do ours. And we have been given to be
a son of God, to be a Christian. We are given all of the privileges
that sons of God have, all of the privileges that go with being
members of that family, just as you have privileges in your
own family. Then we take on the likeness of our father and our
brother. our elder brother, the Lord Jesus
Christ. We begin to look alike. We begin
to look like him, a son of God. And then we take on the characteristics
and the traits, characteristics and traits of the son of God
himself. And the greatest of these is,
look at 1 John chapter 3 verse 1. The greatest of these characteristics
and traits is love, of which our Lord himself spoke of more
than anyone, and as much about as anything else, love. Verse
one, Behold what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon
us. that we should be called the sons of
God. That word, behold, means stop
and consider. Stop and behold this. Stop and carefully think about
this. What it took to make you and
me sons of the Most High God. have really stopped and considered.
If we did, we would be full of gratitude and praise and thanksgiving
constantly. God's love, you see, is unlike
our love for our children. God's love for us is not like
our love for our children. We love our own, don't we? We care for our own because they
are ours. They are our own. We love our
children when they are born. We love our families. We love
those closest to us because they are ours. Are you with me? Are
you with me? We love people that are ours,
right? We love children that are ours
out of constraint, out of necessity, out of the law of nature. We
love our own. Behold what manner of love the
Father hath bestowed upon us. We are not His by nature. We are not he is God Almighty
loved a stranger. A total stranger and a bad one
at that somebody else's illegitimate child that soon God has loved
a vagabond a wretch a rebel a vile and a worthless criminal. A thankless, worthless, wicked,
thieving, conniving, sneaking sinner, a bad apple, and every
other bad adjective you can use to describe us by nature, that's
who God Almighty chose to love. Not his son by constraint, his
son, but a stranger. A stranger, there's nothing in
us, you see, that could cause God Almighty to love us. Nothing
in us that could cause God Almighty to love us, because we are totally
unlovely by nature. We were before God dealt with
us, we are now, and we will be until God Almighty gets rid of
this sinful man. Right? Nothing in us. that would
make God love us. God had to make himself love
us. He had to make himself love us. He had to say, as the scripture
says, I will love them freely, not conditionally. Or that is,
he loved us without a cause. There's no cause in us. There's
nothing lovely. There's nothing admirable, there's
nothing that would arouse his affections for me. What about
you? If you know yourself, you know
it's so. God says, I will love them freely, without constraint. And he said, I'll do it eternally.
I'll do it eternally. God says, I'm going to love that
sinner. I'm going to love that old boy
or that old girl. or that old bird, and I'm going
to make them love me in time. They don't love me, but I'm going
to make them love me." He has to do that, doesn't he? He has
to make himself love us. But once he does, once he sets
his affection, see, God's love is unconditional. Unconditional. And that is, there's nothing
in us to make God love us, and there's nothing in us that could
cause God to quit loving us. It's unconditional. And it's
sovereign. He bestows that upon whom he
will. This world likes to say that
God loves everybody. That means His love is not sovereign,
doesn't it? but his love is sovereign, it's
discriminating love, and he sets it upon whom he will. He must,
Rick, because there's no one worth loving. Man is not a pitiable
creature. There's nothing in mankind that
is deserving of the pity of God. No, we by nature have obstinately
rebelled willfully, rebelled and sinned against the Holy God.
It's not that we did it ignorantly. We did it wantonly, willfully. Did we not? Do we not? Even now? Sure we do. And God has to say,
I'm going to love that old boy. I'm going to love him. And once
he does, you're loved throughout eternity. And all that that means
for God to love you. All that that means. You see,
if I can illustrate the condescension of God Almighty's love. It can't, it can't be done, really.
But he says, behold, what manner of love the Father has bestowed
upon us, and we'll not know, we'll not know until that day. We'll never fully appreciate
and enter into the love, the condescending Sovereign, discriminating
love, electing love of God Almighty until that day. Until that day,
when we see those who were maybe better than us in character.
Those of us who were close to those who were close to us, our
friends, our brothers, our sisters, our family, our cronies being
cast into hell. When we stand before the holy
God accepted in the beloved, then and then only, John, I believe
we'll be able to see and enter into that love of God, that sovereign
love. But it's like this. It would
be like us going down to a prison and finding the worst thief,
murderer, rapist, pick the worst man or woman you could find on
death's row, a drug addict, drug dealer, and taking that person
into your home. Setting them free, taking them
into your home, bathe them personally, I mean literally, with your own
hands, bathe them, clean them up, feed them, clothe them, and
then begin loving them. Just freely loving them. All the while you do that, behind
your back, Or right under your nose, they are robbing you blind,
stealing from you, spitting in your face, and thankless. On top of that, even demanding. Give me what's coming to me,
bud. Can you picture this? Go down
to death's row and pick out the worst hardened, vile, wretched,
tattoo-laden criminal down there. who deserves to be slaughtered
like an animal, and take him in your home, bathe him, clean
him up, feed him, clothe him, start loving him, giving him
everything all the while he's spitting in your face and ordering
you around, give me this, give me that. That's the love of God Almighty
for us wretches. Behold what manner of love. Right? God Almighty reaching down to
the lowest of low, the vilest of vile, the worst of sinners,
and loving them and taking them in and washing us and clothing—not
them, us—and washing and clothing us and feeding us and nursing
us. And though we're still rebellious
and wicked and thankless all the time, He loves us anyway. That's why we were yet sinners
Christ died for. But eventually, now, here's where
the parallel stops. Here's where the tide stops.
Eventually. Eventually, you see, God's love
is sovereign love. God's love is all-powerful love. God, when he loves, something
happens, you see. It's not just some affection
that God shows for people. It's action. on his part. Something
happens when God moves, when God sets his affection upon somebody,
when God sets his love upon somebody, God sheds abroad in their heart
that same love. He fills them up and eventually
this sovereign love of God Almighty begins to fill this heart of
this sinner and begins to break that old hard heart. And that
is when that old sinner begins to sing songs like that. How
can it be? There was a time when you thought,
just like every Arminian blasphemous heretic thought, God loves everybody. He ought to. That's just what
God's for, isn't it? We thought the same thing by
nature, didn't we? But there comes a time when God reveals
to you his sovereign, discriminating love. and shows his electing
love that he chose you. And you begin, and your hard
heart begins to soften. And you begin to cry out, how
can this be? God begins to open your eyes and open your ears,
open your eyes to see what you are. Open your ears to hear his
word that tells you what you are and tells about him. And
he fills you with love and gratitude to God Almighty for doing that
to you. And you feel like the most worthless
recipient and object of that grace on the top side of God's
earth, don't you? You know, the reason we sit unmoved
and unfeeling in the presence of even messages like this is
because we don't realize the love of God toward us like we
should. We don't realize the condescension of God. We don't
realize the mercy and grace of God. Eventually, that sovereign love
wins you over, and God, in His grace, God, in His grace, did
all of this that I just typified for you. He did all of this in
the personality, or the person of a man. God Almighty had to
do this, literally, had to do all of these things for us, take
us out of prison, clothe us, feed us, bathe us, and so forth. Literally. And he did this, God
Almighty condescended, he incarnated, he came down in the body and
the personality of a man, and his name was Jesus. He's called the Christ. Jesus. The Christ. Now turn over with
me to 2 Corinthians chapter 8. 2 Corinthians chapter 8. And he said, John says, Behold
this. Behold, what manner? God's manner
of love. Behold this. What if you went
down to that same prison? What if you went down to that
same prison? Now, this is the manner of God, of love. John
3.16, you may remember our brother Ken Wymer, a missionary to Africa,
coming over here and preaching from that passage and expounding
ably upon that verse, John 3, 16, for God so loved the world. Now, the emphasis is not on the
word world. The emphasis is on God so. How so? Well, John 3, 14 says,
as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must
the Son of Man be lifted up. Right? that everyone which looketh
to him, everyone that believeth on him, might have everlasting
life. For God so, this is the way God loved the world, in such
a way, in this manner of love, lifting up his Son. And this
is, this is the way, this is the manner of God's love. Suppose
now you go down to that same prison and go a little bit further,
go one step further, one step farther, and take that prisoner,
that at wretched, vile, wicked. You've seen them on death row. Take that man, take that woman,
and trade places with them. Now, this is the manner of God's
love. Trade places with them. Not only
take them out of prison, but you go in yourself. You see,
God will by no means clear the guilty. Every sin must receive
a just recompense, must receive just punishment at the hands
of this just God. He's first a just God and a Savior. And sin must be punished. The soul that sinneth, it must
surely die. Now, here's the matter of God's
Son. Think about this and put yourself in this place. Suppose
you took that man out of prison. And you went in and took his
place on death's road. And you went in there in the
midst of all those vile and wretched criminals. You know what goes
on in It's not fit for mixed company to mention all that goes
on inside the prison. You've got the worst, some of
the worst of mankind. Mankind at his worst. turned
over, reprobate, beast, bestial in these cages just like animals. And their lust and their hatred
and their perversity knows no bounds. Put yourself in there. Take that man out and you go
in the midst of that bunch of perverts. And take everything
they dish out. And turn that man loose. And take his chains, take his
solitary confinement, take his bars, take his miserable stay,
and eventually go to the electric chair, the gas chamber, and take
his death. While all the while, he goes
free. Scott free. You remember that
illustration? Scott free. He goes home and
lives in your home. He wears your clothes. He eats
your food. He enjoys your privileges. That's God's manner of love.
Behold it. Think about it. Consider it.
That's God's manner of love. Look at 2 Corinthians 8, verse
8. I speak, or verse nine, I'm sorry, you know the grace of
our Lord Jesus Christ, if so be that you have tasted the Lord's
grace. Everyone in here, I don't believe,
knows this grace, but some of you do, by God's grace and by
his mercy. You know the grace of our Lord
Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, I wish I could preach this like
it ought to be preached, though he was rich. You've heard of
Rags to Riches story? The gospel starts with a riches
to rags story. Riches to rags. Though he was
rich, he took on rags. Though he was rich, infinite
splendor. Ed, this is the reason this can't
be preached like it should be. We can't enter into the splendor
of God Almighty, the Son of God, how he dwelt with the Father
in the beginning, enjoying total happiness. Total happiness, complete
love, fellowship, contentment with his heavenly Father and
all the adoring angels, and perfect bliss and peace and happiness
and love and joy and fellowship. Perfect, total happiness. All honor, John, tribute, praise. Glory with the Father. Paradise. He left paradise to live in the
ghetto. And he did it willingly. How
can this be? Behold what manner of love. He says, yet he was rich yet
for your sakes. For your sake and your soul. Who? Who's the worst one in this bunch
here? I believe I am, but just leave
me out of this. Who's the worst one in here?
For your sake. He, the matchless Son of God
Almighty, was rich, yet for your sake. Now can you behold what
manner of love for your sake, not poor creatures. What I say,
men aren't, men and women are not poor creatures of circumstance. Is that what you were saying
when you were growing up? A poor creature of circumstance, you
couldn't help the things you were doing. Huh? Is that the
way you are now? I just can't help it, I'm just
a sinner. John, don't you love God with
all your heart and mind, soul and strength? Always serving
with every fiber of our being. We're wretched, vile creatures,
that's why. There's none that do us good. No, not one. There's
none righteous. No, not one. There's nobody loving and serving
God from this man down. Right? We're not poor creatures
of circumstance. Oh, I'm just a sinner. I can't
help it. Yeah, we can. Yeah, we can. No, God loved a criminal. We're
criminals. Nancy Parks, you're a criminal.
You look good. You know yourself, though, don't
you? A criminal. A God-hating, vile sinner by
nature. That's what we are, still, except
by the grace of God. Yet for your sakes, your sakes,
it says, he became poor. He became poor. left his father's
throne, he went from splendor to squalor. From splendor to
squalor. I don't know if any of you have
been to these poor third world countries or Mexico or anywhere
like that, but I have. Where they live, they live in
grass huts and dirt floors and cook over an open fire and live
amidst roaches and scorpions and what have you.
I have. What if, Manny, what if we left
the comfort of that nice home over on Avon Street with its
air-conditioning and plush carpet and traded places with Rutilio
or somebody down in Mexico? So you take my house and I'll
just live down here. Go ahead, I insist. That's what
Christ did. Behold what manner of love. He
left splendor to live in squalor. Squalor. He left majesty to live
in misery. He left happiness. Now, we're
in sadness most of the time. What if we had total bliss and
happiness? Would you trade it? You wouldn't trade it. That's
man and woman's continual quest, isn't it, for happiness. We're
trying to be happy. And when we find a moment of
happiness, whatever it may be in, we rejoice in it, we relish
it. Christ left it, put it down,
knowing he was going to live from the cradle to the grave
for thirty-three and a third years in sadness. Total, unspeakable
grief and sadness. from glory, from infinite glory
to infinite grief, from love to utter sonne, not loveless,
sonne, utter odiousness, despicableness. He was despised and rejected
of men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief, and we
hid, as it were, our faces from him. He was despised and we esteemed
him not." Spit in his face. He didn't have to take that. He didn't have to do that. He
could have stepped on this human race like a maggot, which is
what we deserve, isn't it? But he didn't. Behold what manner
of love the Father hath bestowed. Now, this is the Father in the
person of his Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. But he didn't do this
as a poor, helpless martyr, an example, that men might feel
sorry for him, and by this wonderful, affectionate act of his, and
wonderful, kind benevolence on his part, men might feel sorry
and feel ashamed of themselves, and therefore be compelled to
love him. He did it because he had to. If he was going to save
a people, he had to. He became, and this is the gospel
word of all gospel words, he became a sacrifice, a substitute,
a sin offering, a bloody piece of meat, because that's what
sin requires, doesn't it? A burnt offering. burnt under
the wrath of God Almighty. Surely, and Isaiah goes on even
further, surely, you see, he was a man of sorrows and acquainted
with grief, and we hid as it were our faces from him. We despised
him, esteemed him not, but we're not to feel sorry for him, because
surely he hath borne our griefs, so that we don't have to live
in eternal grief and sorrow and hell's misery, and carried our
sorrows. You're talking about sorrows.
The sorrow we experience now is nothing compared to what it
would be to be separated from God eternally. Surely he hath
borne our griefs and carried our sorrows. He was wounded,
you see, for our transgressions. He took my weapon, everything
that was coming to me. wounded for our transgressions,
bruised, I mean brutally beaten to a pulp, for our iniquities. That's what you deserve, Rick
Williams, Charles Ross, isn't it? Steve Parks, that's exactly what
you deserve. That's exactly what I deserve,
isn't it? We've lived all of our lives
as thankless, demanding criminals. receiving the glory to ourselves,
not giving all glory to God, taking credit for what we are,
what we do, what we have, haven't we? When by the grace of God
we are what we are, we have what we have, we can do what we can
do, and we take credit to ourselves, thereby spitting in the face
of God. God who? But almighty ought to bruise
us with that big fist of his, ungrateful ingratitude. The chastisement
necessary for our peace was laid upon him, the stripes it took. And it wasn't forty stripes saved
one that we deserve. It's forty infinite zillion saved
one. The chastisement, the beating
that was necessary for our peace, the chastening, the punishment
that was necessary for us to obtain peace with an offended
God was laid on him. And by his stripes, I mean bone,
flesh-tearing, bone-ripping stripes, we're healed. We don't have to
take a wound. Just get a hold of me. Look at
verse 9 again, 2 Corinthians 8, verse 9. For your sakes, yeah,
you, sinner. You know, we say that, we take
that term, I'm a sinner. We ought to say it with our,
with hands, with our hands cut like lepers, you know. Unclean,
unclean. I'm a sinner. for your sakes by our wretched
sinner, he became poor, that you through his poverty might
be rich." You through his poverty. See,
he was rich in righteousness. There's no sin in him. You know
what he's full of? Righteousness. Holiness. Full of it. When Satan came to
him, he tried him. Didn't make a dent in that armor.
Full of righteousness. He could find nothing in him
but righteousness. Nothing to appeal to him. There's
nothing on this earth that would tempt him. Full of righteousness. Full of mercy. Full of grace.
Full of truth. Full of righteousness. We're
full of sin, he said. Here's two glasses. One's full
of muddy, putrefying, sickly water, not water, a cesspool,
sewage. All right? Here's another glass
over here, full of crystal clear, pure, spotless, life-giving water. Water. That's Christ. That's
us. OK? We had none, so he gave us his. Somehow or another, these glasses
swapped substance. He said, The cup which my Father
giveth me, shall I not drink it? That glass of sewage? Can you imagine? Taking a glass
of raw sewage? Huh? That's what Christ did when
he took our sins upon him. Taking that glass of raw sewage
and drinking it dry. Every drop. and in filling us
full of righteousness. Righteousness, imputing, infusing
his righteousness into us. He was rich in love, full of
it. Full of love. We're full of hatred. Hatred, not only for God, but
for other people, for everything and everybody but me. Right? So he sheds it abroad
in our hearts. He was rich in honor and glory. Rich in honor and glory. We are altogether dishonorable
and shameful creatures. Yet clothed in his righteousness,
filled with his righteousness, clothed, we are put in our right
minds, and we grow in grace and in glory in Christ's likeness. And though he was rich, yet for
your sakes he became poor. He gave his righteousness to
us and took our sin upon him. He gave all his love to us and
he took the hatred of God Almighty due to us. And he became poor that you through
his poverty might be rich toward God. Rich toward God. Having the righteousness you
need. the traits of Christ you need.
All right, now look back at 1 John chapter 3 again. Behold what
manner of love. Does that put it in a little
better perspective? If I can't do it, we've looked at scriptures
that are sufficient to the task. I can't expound this or preach
this as it should be preached, but the scriptures itself, if
God takes one word out of it, behold, we take that one word,
behold what manner of love. Just stop and think about it.
in light of these illustrations and examples. Behold, what manner of love.
Verse 2, Beloved, now we're the sons of God. Me? Yeah, now. You? Yeah, you. Oh, it does not yet appear what
we shall be. We don't even, we don't feel
like we bear the slightest resemblance to a son of God, do you, John? But you are, before God Almighty. You are. Now we're the sons of
God. Now. Right now. Not going to
be. Right now. And it does not yet
appear. Not yet. It doesn't appear what
we shall be. But we know, we know that when
he shall appear, we shall be like him. Those two words struck me. Like
him. and he shall appear, Paul Mahan
is going to be like Jesus Christ. Can you imagine that, Rick? Rick Williams, like Jesus Christ? Buddy, I'm the farthest thing
in the world from him now. It says I'm going to be just
like him. Just like him. And we'll see him as he is. David
said, I'll be satisfied. That's when I'll be satisfied.
When I awake with his likeness. Be just like him. To be a true
Christian. Christian. Look like him. Talk
like him. Live like him. Act like him.
Love like him. Like Christ. What does it mean
to be Christ? That's what I started this message out by saying. What
does it mean to be a Christian? It means to be made, being conformed
to the image of Christ. It means to be in Christ. It
means to be Christ's, belong to him, represented by him. He is your substitute, your mediator,
your intercessor, your surety, your high priest, all of these
things. And it means to be like him,
to be being molded and made and conformed to his blessed image.
When he shall appear, we'll be like him, Christians, not John
Davison's. anymore. Christians. John Davis
died. John Christian. I like that. Much better. Just
like him. Verse 3, Now every man that hath
his hope in him purifieth himself, even as he is Do you have this
hope in you? If this, if the slightest bit
of interest and desire is sparked in you, do you have this hope
in you to be like Christ? Huh? That's what this is all
about. Not to just have a legal status of Miss Hale. Not just
to have somebody that paid your sins so you can live like a devil.
No, that's not, that's antinomianism and that person will go to hell
with their Calvinism. It's not to have a fire escape
from hell. A Calvinist is no different than
an Arminian in that respect, if that's all he desires. Right? Everybody has this hope in him
to be like Christ, purify himself just like he's pure. Imitates
his master. How do you purify yourself? Peter
said, seeing you have purified your souls and obeying the truth.
First of all, you believe Christ. OK. Without faith, it's impossible
to please God. But then it goes on, faith without
works is dead, doesn't it? Huh? Whatsoever is not of faith
is sin. OK? Whatsoever is not holy, lean,
trusting, looking to Christ and Christ alone for salvation is
sin. It's self-righteousness. God
won't accept it. All right? But whatsoever stays in just
a head knowledge without works that reveal and manifest that
faith is dead. Dead, cold, dry doctrine. It'll damn you just like self-righteousness
will. Imitation. Have you heard the
saying, imitation is the sincerest form of flattery? Have you heard that saying? Sure
you have. Everybody's heard that. Imitation is the sincerest form
of flattery. Herein is the Father flattered,
glorified. How? How, Nancy? How does the
Father glorify it? That you bear what? Go ahead
and say it. Much fruit. Imitation is the sincerest form
of flattery. Whosoever, look at verse four
and five together, whosoever commit a sin, that is a continual
course of life. Every one of us commits sin,
but if you live in it as a course of life, that's the present tense
of that verb there. Committeth. Committeth. Live in it. Committeth sin. Transgresses also the law. Sins
the transgression of the law. And you know, you ought to know
this, he was manifested to take away our sin. In him is no sin,
is no course of life like that. No sin. He was manifest, Rick,
he came to put it away. Not only the penalty of it, is
this not true? Not only the penalty of it, not
only the guilt of it in our conscience, but the power of it, the reigning
influence of it, right? By all means. Verse six, whosoever
abideth in him sinneth not. Now this has a dual meaning.
and they're compatible. Whosoever trusts, believes, looks
to Christ, is in him by faith, he's righteous, he's holy, as
holy as God's Son. And whoever really lives in Christ,
loves Christ, doesn't continue in a course of sin, in a life
of sin like that. Whosoever sinneth, or that is,
lives in that course of life, hath not seen him, even known
him. Little children, little children. Let no man deceive
you. Don't let anybody tell you that
it doesn't matter how you live. Let no man deceive you. He that doeth righteousness is
righteous. He that does the works of Christ is a Christian. Even as he is righteous, he committeth
sins of the devil. Well, let's go on. Look down
at verse 14. This is very...no, verse 10. This is vital. Verse 9 and 10. I can't leave that out either.
Whosoever is born of God does not commit sin. Now, whoever
has been born from above has been created a new creature in
Christ, the seed of Christ. That old man is crucified with
Christ and he rises with Christ to walk in newness of life. Or
in other words, and this is hard to explain. But this is a new
birth, a new creature in Christ, a new man. The old man is dead,
is dead. He no longer exists. He's been
crucified. And now there's this new creature,
new creation, a new person in Christ Jesus, a Christian, who
is growing in grace and more like Christ. All right? Born
of God. He doth not, that new creature,
it is impossible for that new creature to commit sin. Impossible. just as it is impossible for
Christ himself. Why, because his seed remained
within him, the incorruptible seed is in this man, and he cannot
sin. He cannot sin. He's born of God.
Christ couldn't sin. Why? Because he is God. He is
God. And in this, now, it also means
that that person cannot, does not, and cannot live continue
in a life or a course of sin like they once did. You can't
do it. You'd be as miserable. You'd be like a fish out of water.
If put back, Rick, if you and I were put back in that cesspool
where we came out of, we'd be just like a fish out of water. Oh, because of some indwelling
sin or propensities to sin, the flesh, you know, the lust of
the flesh that would creep up at times, oh, we might find a
little bit of enjoyment there, but it wouldn't last, would it?
We couldn't live in it, could we? We couldn't continue in it. We'd be like lot vexed. with
it. I can't get somebody help me,
get me out of here, until we killed ourselves or somebody
took us out. That's the same sense also. He
cannot see and he cannot live in this life of sin. He's born
of God. He's a new creature, like Christ. In this, the children
of God are manifest. Now, look at it, verse 10. And
the children of the devil. Whosoever doeth not righteousness
is not of God. Now look at this, this is what
I wanted to get to, lastly. Neither he that loveth not his
brother. John links love for the brethren
right up there with holiness and righteousness and godliness
of life, doesn't he, Vicki? That's the message you've heard,
he said, from the beginning, we should love one another. And
we should love one another. Listen to me, and I'll quit.
I'll hurry. Please. Polly, Christ proved his love. Christ proved that he was Christ
by laying down his life for you, if you're one of you. Christ
proved he was Christ by coming and doing what he did. Behold
what manner of love the Father bestowed upon us. that he'd send
his son down here to take your place. He who was rich for your
sakes. Who? Polysigma? Who in the world
is that? Who is Christ? Why, he's the
altogether lovely one. He switched places. He switched places. He proved
he was Christ by doing that. We prove we are Christians by
doing the same thing. by doing the same thing. Don't
we? Verse sixteen, "...hereby perceive
we the love of God, because he laid down his life for us." We
see his real love, and we ought to lay down our lives for brother.
"...whoso seeth his brother have need, and shutteth up his bowels
with compassion." How do I have to love a guy? Little children, let's not love
in word or in tongue, but in deed and in truth. I want you to turn to one more
scripture before we go, OK? 2 Corinthians, turn back to 2
Corinthians chapter 8 and 9. Do you remember Matthew 25? Do
you remember what our Lord said in Matthew 25 about the goats
and the sheep, one on his left hand and his right hand? Oh,
do you remember? Do I remember? Huh? He said to the sheep, come,
I into the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the
world. I was hungry. You gave me meat. Thirsty. Stranger. Naked. You clothed me sick. You
visited me in prison. You came unto me. And then the
righteous shall say, When did we do these things? They were
unaware of it. They did it. Barbara, they did
it. But they weren't aware of it.
They took no cognizance. They weren't. They took no credit
for it. They just did what came naturally. from this new nature within.
And then he said to the ghost, depart from me. You curse it.
In the everlasting fire, prepare for the day. I was hungry. You
gave me no meat. I was thirsty. You gave me no stranger and so
forth. And you took me not in. Naked you clothed me not. And
they shall answer, when did we not these things? Well, we did
these things. Or when didn't we do that? Well,
I gave my tithe. Look at 2nd Corinthians 8, verse
8. 2nd Corinthians 8, verse 8. He says there, prove now the
sincerity of your love. I speak not by commandment, but
by the occasion of the forwardness of others to prove the sincerity
of your love. Verse 11. Now therefore, perform
the doing of it. There's a readiness to will,
the willing to do it, do it. Now that first must be a willing
mind. Verse 12. It's accepted according
to a man hath. Not according to that he hath
not. And I mean not that other men be eased, and you be burdened,
but by an equality. But that at this time your abundance
may be a supply for other people's wants. Verse 24. Show you to them, and before
the church is the proof of your love, and our boasting on your
behalf. Where are you, Blount? Central
Baptist. Tell me about it. Oh, they're a loving group of
people. They love the gospel. They come out all the time. They'll
be there. Same amount of people be there
on Wednesday night. They're on Sunday night. Why? They love
the gospel. I boast like that. I boast like that. Well, they
love one another. They like to be around one another.
They like to visit one another. They like to help one another.
Show it to them. That's what he said before the
churches. The proof of your love and our boasting on your behalf.
Look at chapter nine, verse one, touching the ministry of the
saints. It ought to be superfluous to me to write to you. It ought
to be needless. It ought to be needless. It ought to be second
nature, shouldn't it? Second nature being the new nature.
The new nature. Verse six. I tell you what, he
which soweth sparingly shall reap also sparingly. He which
soweth bountifully shall reap also bountifully. How much you
getting out of this thing? How much you getting out of this
gospel, this fellowship here, this church, the gospel you're
hearing? How much you getting out of the
preaching, the services and all? He said, oh, not much. How much
you putting into it? Huh? He says, you sow sparingly,
you'll reap sparingly. What if you put a couple of beans
in a row in your garden? Just a couple of beans. What
would you reap? Maybe one bean sprout. The other one might not
grow. If you sow, if you sow bountifully,
you have a big harvest. Same principle applies to the
things of God. He says, cast your bread upon
the water. Cast it upon the water. Verse
7, Every man according as he purposes in his heart, so let
him give, not grudgingly or of necessity. God loveth a cheerful
giver. God loveth. Behold what manner
of love the Father hath bestowed on us. Now, Joe, he was rich. I was poor. He became poor, and
I might be rich. God may be trying us right now. Like I mentioned, begin with man, wife, and eight children
coming to us to hear the gospel. I don't know. The Lord's in this.
It may just be a trial. Right? It may just be a trial. Well, let's try this central
Baptist bunch. Right? I was telling a brother,
I said, you know, if we don't open up... I believe this. that perhaps if we do not open
our doors to others, to one another, to
others, God may close these. He will. And who knows, we might be the
ones packing up our babies and children and going around to
find a place to hear the gospel. And we sure hope down the end
of the road somebody will receive us. Don't say this don't say what
they're going to do. What they're going to do. Don't
say that let me coin a phrase by John F. Kennedy. That's not
what your country can do for you. That's what you can do for
your country. That's not what other people
can do for you. That's what you can do for them.
We ought to be asking what not what are they going to do. What
can I do. Right. You remember when Peter
said that about John? You remember when the Lord was
giving examples to the disciples of what was going to happen and
all? And Peter, getting antsy, the Lord told him he's going
to have to die. He said, what about John there? You remember that? You remember that, Steve? The
Lord told Peter he was going to be crucified. Why me? That's
what he was thinking. Why do I have to do this? What
about John there? And the Lord looked at him and
said, what's that to you? That's none of your business. That's
the Lord's business. Now, if I will that he tarry
till I come, what is that to thee? You follow me. You do what
you can. You do what I tell you to do.
What can I do? Lord, when did we do these things?
Come, you blessed of my Father. I was a stranger. You took me
in. Does it apply? Right now? Sure it does. All right, stand with me and
I'll dismiss this and pray. Dear Lord, would you enable us
to put our faith where our feet
are? in love, and not just in word
and tongue, but in deed and in truth. May this gospel mean something.
May we truly be able to behold the love of God toward us, wretched
sinners, that Christ, though He was rich, yet for our sakes
He became poor, that we might, through His poverty, become rich.
Lord God, would You impress us with that? Enable husbands to
love their wives as Christ loved the church. That's sacrificial
love, that caring, forgiving, giving love. Enable wives to
love their husbands. Enable children to love their
parents. Parents to love their children. Church members to love
one another as Christ loved. Behold, may the Lord enable us. Just take these few words. Forget
the rest, this man said, and take these few words and impress
them upon our hearts. Behold what manner of love the
Father has bestowed upon wretched worms like us. And then tear
up our hearts and our playhouses and make us show forth that love.
Shed it abroad in our hearts and make it overflow toward others. Blessed are the merciful, they
shall obtain mercy. In Christ's name we pray. Amen.