Now, our subject of the lesson
this morning is love. That's something that in the
time I've been teaching a class here, we've dealt with several
times. And we've dealt with it several times because this subject
of love is dealt with in practically every epistle. The epistles that
we go through verse by verse. Paul deals with it in pretty
much every epistle he writes. The Apostle John dealt with it
in his epistles. Peter dealt with it in his epistles.
James did in his epistle, he talked about the royal law of
love. It's a very, very important subject, must be dealt with so
frequently. Now, I know this about men by
nature. Love is not in men by nature.
Self-love is, that is real good, we got that part down, self-love.
But love for others, love for God certainly, is not in man
naturally. Titus, when he described the
unregenerate man, described him as hateful and hating one another. The opposite of love. And I know
that the lack of love in a person reveals false religion. That's
what our Lord talked about in the last days. The lack of love
will reveal false religion. Look over in Matthew 24. Before
we look at our Texas one, I want us to look at a couple of scriptures
dealing with this subject of love. In Matthew 24, verse 8, our Lord says, All these
are the beginning of sorrows. Then shall they deliver you up
to be afflicted, and they shall kill you, and you shall be hated
of all nations for my name's sake. And then shall many be
offended, and shall betray one another, and shall hate one another. And many false prophets shall
rise, and shall deceive many. And because iniquity shall abound,
the love of many shall wax cold." That's the effect of false religion
and human nature run amuck. The love of many shall wax cold. Apparently it was fake love because
real love does not wax cold. This is love of pretense, but
it waxes cold. And if you look over in 1 Corinthians
12, here's the commentary on love. This is a good commentary
really on the part of Romans 13 we'll be dealing with this
morning. At the end of 1 Corinthians 12,
verse 29, Paul talks about the different gifts that the Lord
has given the church. He says, Are all apostles? Are
all prophets? Are all teachers? Are all workers
of miracles? Have all the gift of healing?
Do all speak with tongues? Do all interpret? Well, no. These
are all different gifts and all don't have them. He says, but
covet earnestly the best gifts, and yet I show you a more excellent
way. Here's the best gift. Though I speak with the tongues
of men and of angels and have not love, I'm become as a sounding
brass or a tinkling cymbal. You can be quite an orator, but
if it's not done in love, you're just making noise. Though I have
the gift of prophecy and understand all mysteries and all knowledge,
and though I have all faith so that I could remove mountains
and have not love, I'm nothing. You can be the greatest theologian
there was. Understand the Bible frontwards
and backwards and don't have love. You're nothing. That's
how important love is. And though I bestow all my goods
to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned and
have not love, it profiteth me nothing. Love, here's the character
now of real love, suffers long. Love's kind. Love envyeth not. Love fondeth not itself, is not
puffed up. Love does not behave itself unseemly,
seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil. Rejoiceth
not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in truth. Love beareth all things,
believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things. Love never fails. That's why
I said that love that waxed cold wasn't real, because love, true
love, never fails. But whether there be prophecies,
they shall fail. Whether there be tongues, they
shall cease. Whether there be knowledge, it shall vanish away.
For we know in part, and we prophesy, we preach just in part. But when
that which is perfect is come, then that which is in part shall
be done away. When I was a child, I spake as a child. I understood
as a child. I thought as a child. But when
I became a man, I put away childish things. For now we see through
a glass darkly, but then face to face. Now I know in part,
but then shall I know even as also I am known. And now abideth
faith, hope, and love, these three. But the greatest of these
is love." Now he's not saying that love is necessarily more
important than faith or hope. But it's the greatest for two
reasons. One, love is more beneficial
to others. We read about it. You can have all faith. and not
be of any benefit whatsoever to people that you know. Love
is what's beneficial to others, people that you know, because
love acts to help them. And second, love is going to
last a whole lot longer than faith or hope. One day, faith
is going to give way to sight. One day, hope is going to give
way to possession. Love will never give way. It
will last through eternity. Faith, hope and love, these three,
they always go together. Always. Where there is true faith
in Christ, there will always be love. And I'm telling you
this, where there's no love, there's no faith. It's impossible.
This week at my job, I talked to a man here locally who's a
preacher. He's very proud of the fact that he's, in his words,
gone round and round with many people in my company. Now, he
said, I've gone round and round with this one, I've gone round
and round with this one, I've gone round and round with this
one, and this week is my turn in the barrel. Every single person
in my company cringes when they have to deal with this man. A
man told me this. Works with me. He said, that's
the most hateful man I know. He's a preacher! What does that
say about his doctrine? This man told me I would never
go hear that man preach. He's always spoiling for a fight.
And a person who's so hateful, I don't know anything else about
this man, but I know this, a person who's so hateful gives no evidence
of knowing the Lord Jesus Christ. Because love is the great evidence
of regeneration. What did our Lord say in John
13? By this shall all men know that you are My disciples, that
you have love one to another." Look at 1 John 3. Love is the great evidence of
regeneration. 1 John 3, verse 14. We know that
we have passed from death unto life, been born again. because
we love the brethren. He that loveth not his brother
abideth in death. He's not been born again. He's
still dead. Look over Colossians chapter 3. Colossians 3 verse 12. Put on therefore, as the elect
of God, holy and beloved, vows of mercies. kindness, humbleness
of mind, meekness, long-suffering, forbearing one another and forgiving
one another. If any man have a quarrel against
any, even as Christ forgave you, so also do ye. And above all
these things, put on charity, put on love, which is the bond
of perfectness. If you put on love, it will enable
you to do all these other things. is the bond that cements us together. It's what knits us together so
that we won't be separated. I said all that as kind of opening
comments for us to understand the importance of this matter
of love. Now, in verse 8 of Romans 13,
here's where we pick up in our lesson this morning. Paul says, O to no man anything
but to love one another, for he that loveth another hath fulfilled
the law. Now, Paul says, owe to no man
anything. He's not talking about borrowing money. If we didn't
go to the bank or some place and borrow money, none of us,
I don't think, could own a car or a house or be in business. The company I work for, it's
our business. If we couldn't borrow money,
we have a line of credit that we pay back on, borrow from,
and we've used to buy that building and equipment and so forth. You
couldn't do things if you didn't borrow money. There's absolutely
nothing wrong with borrowing money. But coming from somebody
who has to collect it when somebody borrows it, please take back
and pay it back on time. Oh, my life would be just peachy
if people do that. Pay it back on time. But what
Paul's talking about here in the context now of the Scripture,
he's talking about fulfilling our civil obligations to each
other, to people we live with and are around. In this last
verse, he said, give honor to whom honor is due, respect to
whom respect is due. You know, we owe people who are
in authority. As we talked about last week,
people in authority owe for us. We owe them respect and honor.
You know, from the police officer, to the judge, to the president,
to the teacher in the classroom, to parents in the home, to husbands,
to pastor. We owe these people the respect
and honor that's due their position. Now, don't get behind in that
payment. That's what Paul's saying. Don't fall behind in it. And
those people who are in authority, have a debt that they owe to
the people who they are in authority over, too. I thought about parents. We owe our children. We brought
them into this world. They didn't choose it, we did.
But we owe them a peaceful home. We owe them an upbringing where
they're taught and instructed, where they're given love, a solid
base, a place they can come to and feel safe. Raising children,
you know, you have authority over them. You know, I tell my
girls all the time, I always want to be the dad. So I brought somebody
around. Raising children, being a father,
is a whole lot more than that. A whole lot more than keeping
them alive until they're 18. It's teaching them. It's giving
them the tools that they need, the instruction that they need,
both secularly and in the Word. Instruction that they need to
go out in the world and live on their own. Husbands have authority,
but we owe our wives respect and love. Above all people deserve
to be cherished and protected. Bosses, the foremen at work,
the people that work for them, a fair, just workplace. Don't
get behind in those payments now. Because this love is not
just to you all. You all are easy in love. He's
talking about everyone that we come in contact with. And whoever
loves, Paul says, fulfills the entire law of God. You see, to love one another
is not optional equipment. You can go buy a car and a sunroof
is optional equipment. You can decide whether you like
that or you don't like that. This is not optional love. It's naturally born in regeneration. It's the law of God. If you've
loved, you've kept the whole law. If we just talk about the
laws of ten commandments, the ten commandments have two tables.
We're talking about two tables of the law. The first table contains
four commandments that all have respect to God. Thou shalt have
no other gods before me. Thou shalt not make unto thee
any graven image. Thou shalt not take the name
of the Lord thy God in vain. Remember the Sabbath day to keep
it holy. Love. If you love the Lord, you're
not going to worship an idol. You worship Him. Nothing could
compare to Him if you love Him. If you love the Lord, You're
not going to take His precious name in vain. Oh, His name's
wonderful. His name is our salvation. The
law takes up volumes and volumes and volumes and volumes of pages.
But all the Lord really requires of us is love. And if you look
back at Deuteronomy 10, you'll see this is not just a New Testament
thought. This is not something Paul came
up with. Look back at Deuteronomy chapter 10. And now, Israel, what does the
Lord thy God require of thee, but to fear the Lord thy God,
to walk in all his ways, and to love him? If you love him,
you'll fear him, you'll walk in his ways, and if you love
him, you'll serve the Lord thy God with all thy heart and with
all thy soul. Look over Matthew 22. You know
this story very well. This is when the lawyer tried
to tempt our Lord in Matthew 22, verse 35. Then one of them, which was a
lawyer, asked him a question, tempting him and saying, Master,
which is the great commandment of the law? Jesus said unto him,
Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart and with
all thy soul and with all thy mind. This is the first and great
commandment. That commandment will satisfy
that first table of the law. The second is like unto it. Thou
shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. Thou shalt take care of the whole
second table of the law. We'll look at here in a second.
On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.
All the law and the prophets hang on love. That's how important
this subject is. Now, Romans 13, back here in
our text in verse 9. Here's the second table of the
law. For this, thou shalt not commit adultery, thou shalt not
kill, thou shalt not steal, thou shalt not bear false witness,
thou shalt not covet. And if there be any other commandment,
it is briefly comprehended in this saying, namely, thou shalt
love thy neighbor as thyself. Love worketh no ill to his neighbor,
therefore love is the fulfilling of the law. Here the whole second
table of the law is Summed up by love. If you love
your neighbor, you're not going to commit adultery with their
spouse. And that's not just the person that lives next door to
you on either side. It's your neighbors, all men
and women that you come in contact with. If you have any compassion
for them whatsoever, you're not going to commit adultery with
their spouse. If you have any compassion, caring whatsoever
for somebody, you're not going to kill them. You're not going
to steal what belongs to them. You're not going to covet the
things that they have. You'd be glad for them that they
have it. I asked my wife if I could use
this illustration. She told me I could. For years,
she's wanted this certain kind of fence to go around our backyard
and, you know, things cost money, but we haven't got it. Well,
our neighbors, very, very good friends of ours, two doors down,
are putting up a fence. Exactly what she wants. I mean,
it's exactly it, you know. And she's been watching that
fence go up and kind of drooling at it. And the girls tell her,
Mom, I think you're covening. They're Canucks' fence. And she
said, no, I'm not covening their fence. She said, I'm very happy
for them that they have something so nice. They've worked hard
for it and they deserve it. I'm very happy. I don't want
their fence. I want one like it. And that
should be our attitude, that we're happy for them. They deserve
it. I'm glad the Lord's blessed them and given them those things.
I'm glad for them. That's the way you feel if you
love them. If you love somebody, you're not going to lie on them?
My goodness sakes. And when you do lie on them,
all you reveal is a heart of hatred. A heart that's void of
love. You don't try to harm somebody
that you love. But real love doesn't just stop
there. It's not that we all just don't want to harm them. Love
wants to give them the best. Love's not envious of them when
the Lord blesses them. And the best example to illustrate
that I can think of is children. That's the way parents feel about
children. When my children have opportunities
I never had, they get blessings I never had, and what every parent
wants for their children is to have things better than you had
it. Well, when they have those things, I'm an envious of them.
Rejoice and thankful. Now, it's easy to feel that way
about your flesh and blood, you know. I guess that's self-love. Real love feels that way about
everyone. I'm thankful when the Lord blesses somebody else and
they have things that they can enjoy. True salvation produces
love and tenderness towards other people. Enables us to serve one
another. And to the man that's been redeemed,
love is the debt we're happy to pay. You know, the electric
bill comes every month. Well, I pay it. I ain't real
happy about it. Wish I didn't have to. But love
is the debt we're happy to pay. You're happy to pay it, and as
much as you pay on it, you'll never discharge it. It goes on
forever. Now, fallen nature hates, and
will go to great lengths to devise mischief against people. That's
why we need millions of laws and subsections and subsections
of those subsections. I go to the office of the attorney
we deal with at work. office is full of books, just
full of them. I ask him, have you read all
of them? He said, well, you know, I look them up if I have to.
You know, I've read parts of them. But if people had a heart
of love, you wouldn't need one of those laws. Not one law would
have to be written on a piece of paper if you had, if men were
born with love in their hearts. If we were born with love in
our hearts, law enforcement and attorneys would be out of business.
But they thrive Because that's not what's in man by nature.
And when we talk about love, I want to be clear about this. I'm not trying to rev us up so
that we generate this ourselves. This takes grace. Now, the Lord
put it in you. It's born in you, but we can
cultivate it. We can pray that the Lord will
give us more grace and cause this love to grow. Because it's
very, very important. But it comes from God's hand.
Now verse 11, And that, knowing the time, that now it is high
time to awake out of sleep. For now is our salvation nearer
than when we believed. Knowing the time, believers know
that today is the day of grace. Today is the day of salvation.
We are not promised tomorrow. Every single person in this room
has plans for tomorrow. I do. I got up this morning.
I was in the shower. and all the things I've got to
do tomorrow?" Well, we're not promised tomorrow. We're not
even promised the rest of today. But today is the day to call
on the Lord. Today's the day the Gospel's
being preached. It may not be Wednesday. It might
not be. I plan to be here, but maybe it won't. Today's the day
God's Word's being read. Today's the day prayers are being
offered. Today's the day to seek the Lord.
But the primary reference that Paul's making here about knowing
the time is to warn God's children not to become indifferent and
complacent about this matter of love and paying our debt to
one another and to God. You know, we read over in Matthew
where false prophets come in and they divert the attention
of people and they deceive many and the result of that is the
love of many shall wax cold. Now that happens to individuals.
Alright, got this from John Gill. He says that happens to individuals
and it happens to entire churches. If you don't think that's true,
go over and read Revelation 2. The church at Ephesus, a mighty
church, did many wonderful things. I mean, they must have been something
else. But the Lord says, somewhat against
you. You left your first love. They did all those things, but
without love, they were nothing. They left their first love. Their
love waxed cold. And knowing the time, the day
of our salvation is nearer than when we first believed. Scripture
talks about us being saved. We are saved, we are being saved,
and one day we will be saved, completely saved. The day of
our complete salvation, body and soul, is a whole lot nearer
than when we first believed. So knowing that, we ought to
live in constant expectation of the Lord's return. There are many signs, aren't
there? You read in Scripture many signs. that he could return
at any moment. These are the last days. It may
be 100 or 200 years. I don't have any idea when the
Lord will return. But I do know this. It's a whole lot closer
than it was when Paul wrote this epistle. I can tell you that.
I can do the math and tell you that. But what would we do if
we knew the Lord will return tomorrow? Well, whatever it is
that just crossed your mind, do it. We wouldn't be quite so hostile.
would probably go tell somebody about Christ. I'd be concerned
how I heard the Gospel this morning. I'd pray that the Lord would
give the pastor a message and that the Lord would give him
the ability to preach it because I sure need to hear it. I'd pray
for the Lord's presence and do it earnestly. Whatever it is,
I mean the list can go on and on. Whatever it is, do it. And
don't be complacent. Don't live in complacency. Because
look at verse 12, for the night is far spent, the day is at hand. Let us therefore cast off the
works of darkness and put on the armor of light. Now just
be aware of what time it is. The world is in darkness now.
The world is full of sin and evil and warfare and hatred and
sickness. It's a dark, dark, dark world. But the sun, the S-O-N is going
to rise soon. I mean, it's on the daybreak. It's on the horizon. And when
He comes, there'll be no more darkness, no more sin, no more
sorrow, no more warfare, no more hatred. There's light and joy
and fellowship. Now, just be aware that the night's
about over. And what Paul's alluding to is
the night's about over. Take off your nightclothes. Cast
off these works of darkness. Take off your nightclothes. Take
off your pajamas and put on the clothes that you wear out in
public. You know, you just don't go to the grocery store in your
nightgown and curlers, do you? Men can get away with that a
little easier. You can take a hot shower. You can put on a bald
cap and a pair of sweatpants and you can run out to the store
to get eggs or milk or, you know, bread or something for breakfast
in the morning. But you don't go to work that way. You don't
go out in public that way, you know. That's what Paul said.
Take those things off and put on the armor of light. Put on
the armor of God. Put on all those graces of the
Spirit that are the armor that protects us. Look over in 1 Thessalonians
5. Put on that armor that protects
us. And a very important part of that armor is love. 1 Thessalonians
5, verse 4. Don't get caught up now in this
darkness and the night, because it's not going to last forever.
But ye, brethren, are not in darkness, that the day should
overtake you as a thief. You are all children of light
and the children of the day. We are not of the night, nor
of darkness. Therefore, let us not sleep as
do others, but let us watch and be sober. For they that sleep,
sleep in the night, and they that be drunken are drunken in
the night. But let us who are of the day be sober, putting
on the breastplate of faith and love, and for an helmet the hope
of salvation." Remember I told you faith, hope, and love always
go together? There they are. The breastplate of faith and
love. and the helmet of hope, faith, hope, and love, these
three. Now, we'll quit here in verse
13. There's 14 verses in there. Paul
says, Let us walk honestly, as in the day, not rioting and drunkenness,
not in chambering and wantonness, not in strife and envying. Janice's
grandmother always said, Nothing good happens after midnight.
What do you want to be out after midnight for? Well, after midnight
comes rioting. drunkenness, chambering, that
means impurity and adultery, wantonness, that means just unbridled
lust. Those things happen in the darkness.
We ought to conduct ourselves all the time like it's broad
daylight, because people conduct themselves better when everybody's
out and can see what we're doing. You conduct yourselves a whole
lot better. A few years ago, I was on the grand jury, and
we heard huge as one bleeds. And one day there's a Russell
police officer, I live in Russell, just a little dinky place. And
that officer was in there describing arresting people and people resisting
arrest and setting up roadblocks, catching people coming across
the bridge from Ironton DUI and people getting out of their cars
and running, having to chase them down and hiding things and
just unbelievable things. And a lady who lives in Russell,
Street behind us was on that same grand journey. She raised
her hand. She said, I've lived in Russell a long time. I've
never seen you. I've never seen these things happen that you
describe. I live within sight of that bridge,
which you're talking about, all these things going on. When do
these things happen? How have I missed it? And his
answer was, ma'am, you and every other law-abiding citizen are
asleep at 2.30 in the morning. And that's when this stuff goes
on, because criminals operate under the cover of darkness.
So conduct yourself like it's daylight, that's what he's saying.
Now verse 14, But put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not
provision for the flesh to fulfill the lust thereof. Put off those
nightclothes and put on the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, we need to
be clothed in the imputed righteousness of Christ. That's the only dress
that God will accept us in. The only way He'll look on us
is dressed in the imputed righteousness of Christ. I'll tell you this,
that imputed righteousness of Christ makes us a whole lot more
palatable to the people that we're around to put it on. And when He says, put on the
Lord Jesus Christ, I hate to say just the imputed righteousness
of Christ. It's putting on Christ. All of
Him. Put it on. And follow His example. Put Him on and wear the attitude
of Christ. Be holy as He's holy. Be forgiving
as He's forgiving. Be loving as He loved. Serve
as He served. Put on the Lord Jesus Christ. People will know what's in your
heart by how you conduct yourself. People will know what's in your
heart by what you wear, if you wear the attitude of the Lord
Jesus Christ. And don't make provision for
the flesh. Now, he's saying don't make excessive
provision for the flesh. You know, my wife says, God gave
you a body and a mind to take care of it. And that's a good
idea. He gave you a mind to take care of it. You're the body of
a believer, and I'm talking to believers here. Your body is
a temporary temple of God. God the Holy Spirit dwells in
you. That makes your body a temple of God. Well, it ought to be
taken care of, shouldn't it? But keep that in perspective.
I read this this week. I wasn't smart enough to come
up with it. No matter how much time we spend taking care of
this flesh, this temporary temple of God, one day it's going to
be the temple of worms. Just keep it in perspective.
And we'd be a whole lot more of a blessing to those around
us if we would keep that in perspective. And we'd be a whole lot more
useful to remember that everything the Lord gives us, our health,
our mind, our intellect, our energy, the physical means He
gives us, the Lord gave us those things to help other people. The Lord gave them to you freely.
Now you give them to other people. Don't just hoard them for yourself
or just get moldy. Be willing to use those things,
whatever it is that the Lord's given you, to help somebody else
and don't waste them on yourself. Because love don't do that. Love
don't waste things on itself. It gives to others, doesn't it?
Alright. That's the example. If you're
going to put on the Lord Jesus Christ, that's a giving attitude. Alright. The Lord bless you.