John chapter 15. Start at verse 9, read down through
verse 16. John chapter 15. As the Father hath loved me,
so have I loved you. Continue ye in my love. If ye keep my commandments, ye
shall abide in my love, even as I have kept my Father's commandments,
and abide in His love. These things have I spoken unto
you, that my joy might remain in you, and that your joy might
be full. 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. He told us the friends he laid
down his life for. You are my friends. You are my
friends. No greater love hath a man than
this, that he lay down his life for your friends. Next thing
he says, you are my friends. If you do whatsoever I command
you, and he just commanded us to love one another, 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
you love one another." Now I want you to look with me back over
now in 1 John chapter 4, 1 John chapter 4. You remember John told us how
to try the spirits and whether they be of God or not. And we
know that the Spirit of God and everybody who has the Spirit
of God confesses that Jesus is the Christ, that He's the Son
of God. That he, that's what Simon Peter,
you know, and they said, now Lord, ask him, who do men say
that I the Son of Man am? And they said, some say you're
Elijah, some say you're Jeremiah, or one of the other prophets.
But he said, but who do you say I am? Well, thou art the Christ.
You're the Son of the living God. Oh, blessed art thou, Simon
Bar-Jonah. Flesh and blood didn't make you
understand that. My Father did that for you. And so we know, we believe that
Jesus Christ is the Son of God, that He came in the flesh, and
He came in the flesh to be our representative, to put away our
sin, make us acceptable to God, give us His righteousness, and
go into the grave and bear our sins away, never to be held against
us again, and ascended to glory and sits at God's right hand.
And now He takes up our case and cause before God, takes us
up personally before the Lord, and bless His name for that.
And He says this in verse 4, He said, You are of God, little
children, and have overcome them. Overcome the Antichrist, overcome
the false prophets, overcome them that hate God, overcome
them that don't know what sin is. We've overcome them. Because
He, greater is He, the Holy Spirit that's in you, that abides in
you, than he that's out there in the world that's preaching
another gospel. And that's what he's saying.
They are of the world, and therefore speak they of the world, the
world hears them. Here's what that means. That means that preachers
find out what their hearers want to hear. And when they find out
what they want to hear, even if it changes from one time to
another, They'll preach that, and the world hears them. The
world hears them, just like the Pharisees heard the Pharisees.
The Sadducees heard the Sadducees. But our Lord said, he that's
of God, heareth God. He knows the doctrine of God
when he hears it. So they go about, and these fellows
of the world, these fellows that's preaching another gospel, said
they're speaking a gospel that that changes as people change.
And people is not going to be satisfied. You got to be doing
something all the time to satisfy the flesh, to keep the flesh
pumped up if you want to do it. And he said, that's why the world
hears him. But he says, but here we are, we are of God. We are
of God. He that knows God hears us. Here's us apostles. Here's men
who know the truth. Now he that's not of God, here
is not us. I told Shirley yesterday afternoon,
there's a couple people that they turn on these religious
stations every time they come over there. Every time they come
over. And I've done made up my mind, the next time they do that,
I'm gonna tell them. I'm gonna walk up and say, you
know that fella right there is a false prophet. That's a false
prophet there that you're listening to. That's why I'm gonna tell
them. And that's gonna start a conversation. And I mean to
do that. I just can't, in a good conscience,
not do it anymore. Because they know I'm a pastor.
They know I'm a preacher. They know where I preach at.
They know what I pastor. And I just cannot abide, listen
to that any longer, without telling them that they're listening to
a false prophet. And I don't want to be ugly about it. I'm
not going to try to be mean about it. I'm just going to say it.
And then I'm going to walk away and go about my business. You know,
they're nice people, but But that's what he said, we are of
God. And we're going to find out in
a minute how. And he that's not of God, he
don't hear us. Don't listen to us, don't understand what we're
saying. Hereby know we the spirit of truth and the spirit of error.
We know the spirit of truth and the spirit of error. And so,
and here's what I want to deal with tonight. Verses 7 and 8. Beloved, let us love one another,
for love is of God, And every one that loveth is born of God,
and knoweth God. He that loveth not knoweth not
God, for God is love. Now John, he'll deal with doctrine,
he'll deal with the doctrine like the false Christ and the
Antichrist. And God is light. He'll deal
with the new birth. He'll deal with what we are,
sons of God. Deals with our fellowship with
the Father and with the Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. And he
keeps coming back to this one theme though, this theme of love.
How many times? Two times already he's come to
this theme of love. But here he goes into detail
about it. He goes into great detail about
it. And he goes on here to tell us about God's love and Christ's
love. And behold, he said in verse 1 of chapter 3, Behold,
what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we
should be called the sons of God. But he keeps coming back
to this one theme. Brotherly love he keeps coming
back to that look over here, and I think it's in first John
chapter 1 verse 9 and 10 He says this He that saith he is in light
and hateth his brothers in darkness even until now He that loveth
his brother abideth in the light, and there's none occasion of
stumbling in him And then back over here then in verse chapter
3, he starts out with God's love for us. We're now the sons of
God. And then look what he says about
down here in verse 11 of chapter 3. For this is the message that
we've heard from the beginning, that we should love one another,
not like Cain. Don't love like Cain did, who
was of that wicked one slew his brother. Why did he slay him? Because his works were evil and
his brothers were righteous. And he says in verse 14, we know
we've passed from death unto life because we love the brethren.
He that loveth not his brother, he abides in death. And he says,
and he said, we perceive the love of God because he laid down
his life for us. So he deals with doctrine, but
he keeps coming back to this theme, the love of God, this
brotherly love. He deals with our fellowship
with Christ, our sonship with the Lord Jesus Christ. And if
we are in Christ and we are the sons of God in Christ, through
Christ, and we have fellowship communion with the Father, what
in the world can hurt us or separate us from that love and that fellowship? What can do it? What can do it?
And but he goes to say here in verse seven, beloved, let us
love one another. And he continues the theme of
love till he gets all the way down to chapter five in verse
one, and then he goes right back to doctrine again. Whosoever
believeth that Jesus is the Christ is born of God. He goes back
to doctrine, then he goes right back into love again, the love
of God. We love God, we love the brethren. So he deals with this subject
very much and goes into great detail here. And he has mentioned
this, like I showed you already. And you know, he's called the
apostle of love. And you know, he was that disciple
whom the scripture says, that disciple whom Jesus loved. That's how he's described. But
Paul really defines what love is. He defines it in 1 Corinthians
13. That's the definition of love,
is in 1 Corinthians 13. That's the real definition. But John talks about the love
of God here. And he says here in verse 7,
or verse 8, excuse me. He that loveth not knoweth God,
for God is love. He just makes the statement,
God is love. In chapter 4 and verse 8. And
then in verse 16 of chapter 4, he says, we have known and believed
the love that God has to us. God is love. God is love. He mentioned God is love twice.
And then he says this, everyone that loveth in verse seven is
born of God and knoweth God. He that's born of God loves,
you know why? Because God is loving. How can
you be in God? How can you have God in you and
the Spirit abiding in you and you abiding in God and Christ
abiding in you and you abiding in him? And he says twice, God
is love. And what he's saying is this
is how in the world can you be a partaker of the divine nature?
and be a child of God, be born of God, and not love. That's
what he's saying. He that loveth is born of God. He's regenerated. And our Lord,
and I read it there in John 15 tonight, our Lord commanded us
to love one another. He said, in the world, in the
world, you're going to have trouble. In the world, you're going to
have tribulation. In the world, you're going to have heartaches.
You're going to have sorrow. But you know how the world's
gonna know that you're one of my disciples? You know how the
world's gonna know that you belong to me? Because you'll have love
one toward another. That's how they're gonna know.
The world don't know nothing about this. But he says, you
know, he said, you know how the world's gonna know you're mine?
Because you'll have love one toward another. And that's why
it says how you know you're my disciples. And I'm going to make
a statement here, and I'll tell you, I'm not sufficient for this. Just pick me a brain of mine
dealing with this subject tonight. I'm not sufficient for it. There's
no way in the world I can. But it's there in front of us.
And I hope I say the right things, and I hope I say it in the right
spirit. But this would be the ultimate test of our faith. The
ultimate test of our faith. Love in one another. Love in
one another. That's the ultimate test of heart.
Now I know, I know we have to have the correct information.
We have to know the truth. We can't trust Christ, know Christ,
have a relationship with Christ without truth. Without knowing
who Christ is and Him being described. He just dealt with that. We believe
that Jesus is the Christ and that He's come in the flesh.
And then it comes down to the love. We know we have to know
the truth. We must believe the truth. I understand that. We know Christ, we trust Christ,
we know the truth about Him, and God's taught us these things.
But it's possible, I know it and you know it, it's possible
for a person to be absolutely correct, absolutely correct,
and yet correct in their doctrine, correct in what, you know, even
call themselves a theologian and enjoy theology, and be correct,
have all their T's dotted and all their I's eyes dotted and
all their T's crossed, and yet not be a believer. I've seen
it happen. You have too. And yet, you know,
be correct in these things, and yet not know God's grace, and
not have the love of God in their hearts. I know men right off the top
of my head that's in that condition. But John in these two verses,
without going any further, he goes more deeply and more certain
and goes in and did this love deeply, and gives us more certain
of where we really are. This right here will let us know
where we really are. That's why he says, Beloved,
let us love one another. And everyone that loveth, and
listen to it, is born of God. Born of God. And not only that,
but he knows God. And he that loveth not, knoweth
not God. For God is love. That's that
contrast again we was talking about. And it's more of a thorough
test of our relationship with Christ and God than anything
about it, more than the exercise of faith. And I believe I can
show you that in the scriptures. Will you look with me in 1 Corinthians
13? This is exactly what Paul says when he defines charity,
when he defines love. You know, it's more of a thorough
test and exercise in faith. Now, faith is glorious. I'm not,
oh, thank God for faith. Thank God, it's God's gift to
us. Yet without love, without brotherly love, yet without love
for one another, what would make we think that we have faith and
we're born of God? And that's what he says. And
this is exactly what Paul, though I speak with the tongues of men
and angels, and have not charity, have not love, I'm become as
a sounding brass and a tinkling cymbal. I have the gift of prophecy
and understand all knowledge, and though I have all faith,
so that I could remove mountains, and have not charity. What does
he say? I'm nothing. So he makes love
to be the ultimate test. of us, whether we're believers
or not. Love. Now, all of us can't preach.
All of us can't give like we want to. All of us can't pray
like we'd like to. All of us can't do things that
we'd like to do. But I do know one thing all of
us can do. All of us can love. We all can
love. And look what he goes on to say.
And he says, boy, listen, though I give all my goods to feed the
poor, though I give my body to be burned and have charity, It
don't profit me nothing. It absolutely profits me nothing.
And so back over here in John, he goes on to say this, and I
say faith. Oh, thank God for faith. We're
justified by faith. But what is this love that the
apostle's talking about? What is this love that he's talking
about here? What is it? What is it? And he's talking, first of all,
we know this, he's talking to believers. He can't be talking
to the world. He can't be talking to the Antichrist.
He's talking to us. And it's almost a pleading. He's
talking to believers. He exhorts us and pleads with
us to love one another. To love one another. And back
over here, and look what it says about charity. In verse 5 and
6. Talking about charity. You know,
charity suffers long. It puts up with an awful lot
of stuff. And charity is kind. Charity's not envy. It doesn't
envy another person. It doesn't envy any gifts, any
power, any wealth, anything that another's got. It doesn't puff
itself up. It doesn't vaunt itself. It doesn't
make itself, it doesn't put itself out there. It's not puffed up.
It does not behave itself unseemly. Seeketh not her own, is not equally
provoked, thinketh no evil. Rejoices does not rejoice in
sin, but boy, it rejoices in the truth. And you know what?
It bears all things, believes all things, hopeth all things,
and endureth all things. Charity won't never fail, but
preaching will fail. Tongues will fail. Knowledge
will vanish away. We know in part and we prophesy
in part. But that's the definition. So
what is this love He exhorts us and pleads with us to love
one another? Now, when I read these words and read over there
in 1 Corinthians, if you're like me, when I read that, I feel
condemned. I feel like I'm a million miles
away from that right there. When I read, you know, charity
suffereth long in His kind, varneth not itself, not easily puffed
up, Loving one another. I'll read those words and you're
probably like me, you feel condemned. Loving one another is to love
like that. That's what the Apostle is saying
right here. Not just to happen to like somebody, but even those
that we dislike. Our Lord said it like this, if
we only love those that love us, what thing have we? Anybody
can do that love those that love you but to love those that you
dislike and those that you have a problem with and And we know
we aren't perfect. We know we aren't perfect in
this flesh. We know we aren't perfect There's
things about all of us that irritates others. I don't want to be a
irritant I don't want to irritate people, but I know I do that's
just Old Scott said one time, he said, if you love a man, you're
going to have to love him with his warts and everything about
him. And that's the truth. And you
know, there's things about us that irritates others, and God
forgive us for it. We wouldn't do it deliberately.
We may not even know we're doing it, but I'm sure we do. And there's
things about us that shouldn't be. There's things about us that
shouldn't be. We shouldn't be impatient. We
shouldn't be hasty. We shouldn't be rash. We shouldn't
fly off the handle. We shouldn't get real angry real
quick. We ought to think things through. We ought to think before
we speak. And there's things about us that
shouldn't be, but they are. And you know what it calls for?
It calls for patience. Patience with other people. Patience
with one another. It calls for sympathy. Sympathy
with one another. It calls for understanding of
one another. And this is what John means when
he says to these people, love one another, to bear with one
another, not to be antagonistic to one another, not to become
irritated by what somebody else is doing. And this love one another,
it means that if you see a brother at fault, be patient with him,
be patient with him. You have to be patient with me,
you're very patient with me. Be patient with him, pray for
him, pray for him. Try to help him. Be sorry for
him. Instead of feeling like it's
something that's hurting you, feel sympathy and sorrow and
understanding and patience with that person who seems, instead
of hurting you, you start looking at it that way. And this is what
love means. To think like our Lord Jesus
Christ did. Love them as something that not
only hurts you, but consider how Christ loves us the way we
are. Not the way we should be, not
the way we ought to be. The way we are today, the way
we are at this moment, the Lord Jesus Christ, in our imperfections,
with our faults, how does he love us? And that's what he says,
brethren, love one another. And so let me give you three
little points here about this if I can. He says in verse 7,
Beloved, let us love one another. For he that loves is born of
God and knoweth God. And he makes this distinction
that he that loveth not knoweth not God. And he says God is love. Now who is sufficient to really
talk about the love of God? God is love. God is love. John doesn't say God loves us
or that God is loving. He says God is love. And he also
said something about God here in John. He says God is light.
And so when God manifests Himself, He manifests Himself as light.
If you know anything about Him, He says He that He dwells in
the light that no man can approach unto. And God is light, and in
Him is no darkness at all. If we walk in the light, then
we don't walk in darkness. And so then he says, God is love. And if we gonna know anything
about love, God's gonna manifest that love to us. We wouldn't
know anything about the love of God. We wouldn't know that
God is love. We wouldn't know that God loved
us eternally. We wouldn't know that God loves
us as we are. We wouldn't know what it means
for God to love us as sinners. We wouldn't have a clue what
the love of God is had not God manifested Himself as love. As love. Then, oh, God is love
because He says God is love. We ought to love one another.
And he gives three reasons, and let me give them to you. He gives
us three reasons. The first reason is this, love
is of God. Love is of God. And this love
that he's talking about, and the ability to love one another,
comes from God. It comes from God. It's not a
natural love that he's talking about here. It's not a natural
love. And I can say this honestly.
I can say this honestly before God. That I have a much, much
closer relationship with my brethren in Christ than I do my natural
flesh. I have a much closer relationship
with you and with some of my preacher brethren than I have
with my kinfolk after the flesh. And I have a greater, deeper
fellowship and union with you than I do with my own brothers
and sisters. And that's true. Ain't that true? Ain't that the
way it is? I have a greater relationship with you than I do with my children.
Because it's based on a different thing. It's based on a different
principle. It's founded on a different relationship altogether. And
this is not natural love. Apart from God's love for us
in Jesus Christ, we wouldn't know anything about love. We
wouldn't know anything about spiritual love. And he says,
you know, first, the reason why we love one another, because
this love comes from God. It comes from God. It's shed
abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost. And what a blessing, what
a privilege, what a blessing, what a privilege to love one
another, because if we do, it comes from God. It's not natural
to us. It's not natural. And look at
the second reason. Love is the evidence of the new
birth. He says this there in verse 7. Beloved, let us love
one another. First reason, love is of God.
It comes from God. And the second reason is, he
ever warned that loveth is born of God. Love is the evidence
of the new birth. That's what makes us believers,
being regenerated. We know we've passed from death
unto life, from death to life. Why? Because we love the brethren.
And here's what proves you're born of God. And that's what
He says, you know, He that loveth is born of God. We've been partakers
of the divine nature. And only those that are born
of God can love like this. Nobody else can. Nobody else
can. And those that's born of God,
if I understand the Scriptures, if I understand what God says,
those that are born of God must love one another. They can't
help it. They can't help it. God is love. And this, the principle
of love, is in us. That God put in us. And it has
to come out. It cannot not come out. It's
like faith. Once He gives you faith, you
cannot not believe. And once He puts this principle
of love in you, you cannot not love. You cannot not love. That don't mean that you can't...
I already said we're not perfect. We irritate one another. We aggravate
one another. We get on one another's nerves.
And we do all those things. But we overlook one another. We sympathize with one another.
We understand one another. We pray for one another. There's
not a person in this building, and I'm sure that you do it for
me, there's not a person in this building that I go over everybody
in and pray for them. Pray for them. And I tell you
what I can do. I can give thanks. First thing
I can do is give thanks. I can give thanks. And so to
be unloving, to be critical, to be unkind, to be a whisper,
pleased to hear something against another, what John is saying,
you pronouncing and letting everybody know that you're not born of
God, not born of God. And it's a grievous thing, it's
a burdensome thing. And the third reason is not only
that it shows that we're born of God, but here's the third
reason he gives us. To love one another gives evidence of spiritual
knowledge. Look what he says here. Everyone
that loves, in verse 7, is born of God. We've been regenerated,
been born again. And that love of God is put in
our heart. It's not natural to us. God puts
it in there. Love is of God. It comes from
God. And it comes through Christ. And God loves us in Christ and
gives us His love in our hearts and souls. And not only that's
born of God, but look what he says. Not only is he born of
God, but he knows God. He knows God. He didn't say he
knows some things about God. And we all could sit here tonight
and we could go over a lot of the attributes of God. We could
talk about what God is. God is spirit. God is holy. God is righteous. God is sovereign. God is immutable. God has all
power. God has all rights. God is a
God of decree. God of predestination. God of
purpose. God of righteousness, God of
holiness. And we could go on with the things
about God, but he says if a man is born of God in love, he knows
God. And that's why Paul said, when
I was a child, I spake as a child. I understood as a child. But
when I became a man, I put those childish things away. And I looked
through a glass darkly, but then face to face. He said, my knowledge
began to grow. And as our knowledge begins to
grow, it's not things that we want to know things about God.
We want to know God Himself. A man can declare the sovereignty
of God and never know the God who is sovereign. I want to know
God. And that's what he says here.
He that loveth is born of God. And he has this spiritual evidence
that he knows God. He knows Him. You know how I
know that most, you say, how can I know God knows me? Or how
can I know that I know God? Here's the first, I think this
is the best way, is that you know He knows you inside and
out, and you wouldn't change Him for 10,000 worlds like He's
right here. You're just open and naked before
Him. And you say, I want to know Him
that knows me. I want to know Him that knows
me and that loved me anyway, saved me anyway, put His love
in my heart anyway. I want to know Him. that would
come so far in His blessed Son, and bear my sins in His own body
on the tree, to show and prove to me and commend His love toward
me, and that while I yet a sinner, Christ died for me." That's what
John said. Beloved, let us love one another,
for he that loveth first, love is of God. It's not natural. God loves. The love that comes
to us comes from God. It's the love of God in us. Secondly,
we know it that we've been born again. Why? Because we love.
We're begotten of love. It's begotten of love. And thirdly,
you know, is that this gives us the spiritual knowledge born
of God. And oh, how do I, I want to know
God himself. Well, how can I manifest my knowing
God? How can it, how can it be told?
Beloved, let us love one another. because that's what it is to
know God. Oh, what a blessing, what a privilege
that God gives us. People so different, with so many views and so many
personalities and so many different likes and dislikes, and yet God It gives us this
blessed privilege, this glorious power to love one another in
spite of all the things that's wrong with us. It's an amazing
thing. That's why we know it's of God.
That's why we know we're born of God. And that's why we know
God. Oh, bless His name. Bless His
name. Our Father, oh, our blessed,
blessed Savior, Lord, this subject is just so
overwhelming. I don't want to speak of it glibly
or in an unrighteous or unholy way. Oh, Lord, to speak of your
love in such a way. Oh, Father, forgive us of everything.
Everything is unlike you. Thank you for loving us, loving
us, and allowing us to love one another, allowing us to care
for one another and pray for one another and uphold one another.
bear with one another, be kind to one another, be sympathetic
to one another, be understanding of one another. Lord, I thank
you. Bless this gospel. Bless these
blessed truths. Keep your dear people for Christ's
sake. Amen. Amen.