The object of God the Holy Spirit
in giving us the epistle of 1 John is that all who believe on the
Lord Jesus might have confident hope and assurance of faith,
the assurance of everlasting life in Jesus Christ the Lord. Now I want you to see this. I
want you to see this. This is clearly the object of the Holy
Spirit in giving us this epistle. Turn to the last chapter, 1 John
chapter 5. Whosoever believeth that Jesus
is the Christ. What does that mean? Does that
mean you should say, I believe in Jesus Christ? No. To believe
that Jesus is the Christ is to believe the gospel declaration,
the gospel revelation of the fact that Jesus of Nazareth,
that one who was nailed to the cursed tree 2,000 years ago outside
Jerusalem, was in fact the Messiah promised in the Old Testament.
And the proof being this, he fully accomplished all that the
law and the prophets said that the Christ would accomplish.
He came here, clearly the son of David, born in Bethlehem,
Ephrathah, walking on this earth as a man in perfect righteousness,
fulfilling all righteousness by his obedience unto death,
bringing in an everlasting righteousness. And then, by the sacrifice of
himself, this man, Jesus of Nazareth, away our sins. He put away all
the sins of all his people charged to him by the justice of God
and made to be his. He put away our sins and made
his own the righteousness of God in him. Do you believe that
Jesus is the Christ? Do you trust the Lamb of God
and He alone as the sacrifice by which God is fully, fully,
fully satisfied for all your sins and for you? Bless God,
I do. Do I trust him as I would? No.
Do I trust him as I should? Oh, no. Is my faith in him anything like
perfect faith? My faith in him, Lindsey, is
so wavering you can hardly call it faith. But my only hope before
God is Jesus the Christ. How about you? I have no righteousness,
none, except him. I have no atonement for my sin.
I can offer nothing to God except to you. All right, read on. Whosoever believeth that Jesus
is the Christ is born of God. And everyone that loveth him
that begat loveth him also that is begotten of him. Skip down
to verse 10, verse John 5. He that believeth on the Son
of God Now please notice the ETH ending on that verb believe. It carries with it the idea of
the present continual act. It is not he that believed. Bill Rodley, it doesn't matter
what you experienced when you were a boy or what you experienced
last year or this morning. That doesn't matter. That doesn't
matter. Quit looking back for something that you can lean on
and say, now there, that's the reason I have hope. Whosoever
believeth, whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ is born
of God. He that believeth on the Son
of God hath the witness in himself. the witness of God, the Holy
Spirit, by which we cry, Abba, Father, the witness of the Savior's
love in us. Read on. He that believeth not
God hath made him a liar, because he believeth not the record that
God gave of his Son. Verse 11. And this is the record
that God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in his
Son. He that hath the Son hath life. He that hath not the Son of God
hath not life. These things have I written unto
you, that believe on the name of the Son of God, watch this
now, that ye may know that ye have eternal life, and that ye
may believe on the name of the Son of God, without question
then, The purpose of the Holy Spirit in giving us this epistle
is to give God's people, sinners who believe on the Son of God,
confident assurance of faith and salvation and eternal life
in Christ. Yet, when you pull down the commentaries,
modern or ancient, when you read the sermons, modern or ancient,
when you hear people preach from this book, whether they be will
worshiping fundamentalist or reformed Calvinist. Almost everything
you read or hear from this book leaves you looking in here. And here. For something. That will give you hope. Leaves
you looking away from Christ to your feelings to your love,
to your devotion, to your measure of faith, to your good works,
your righteous obedience. Look to those things. Now, we
believe in Jesus, but if you've got assurance, you've got to
be able to point to this or that and say, now there, that's proof
that I really do believe in Jesus. That's not what the book talks
about at all. I want you to know the Lord Jesus. I want you who know him to be
able to walk before him with confident faith knowing that
you know him. If you trust the Lord Jesus Christ,
if you believe on the Son of God, oh may God be pleased so
to seal his word to your heart that you may walk before God
with an assured confidence of hope in Jesus Christ the Lord. Brother Don, what would it take
to have that? If you would have assurance, real assurance, I'm
talking about assurance that satisfies your conscience. Assurance that satisfies your
conscience. So you lay down tonight when you go to bed and think
about judgment. Think about meeting God in judgment
and have no fear, no quake, no trembling. assurance that meets
the demands of your conscience. And what meets the demands of
your conscience meets the demands of God's word and of God himself. It only requires one thing. Perfection. That's all it requires. Just
perfection. Perfection. God cannot demand
more. and your conscience won't settle
for less. Perfection. Oh, and a preacher,
that's not so. Which of you, which of you looks
at your experience of faith and says, now there, that's good
enough to steady my soul. I'm ready to meet God. Which
of you? looks at your obedience as a
believer and you say now there that's sufficient that gives
me peace I'm ready to die now which of you looks at your love
for your brethren as children of God and you say I love Don
and love him I love him so dearly that that that's proof I'm I'm
satisfied now I'm satisfied now if there's anybody here who honestly
will say so. I promise you stand up and I'll
sit down and let you preach. Anybody? Anybody? Such teaching is foreign to this
book and you know it. You know it. Well, Brother Don,
how can we have this perfection? The Apostle Paul, writing to
the Colossians in chapter one, you don't need to turn there.
He said, I made a minister of the new covenant and I labor
and strive preaching the gospel to you that I may present you
perfect in Jesus Christ. Perfect in Christ. Now that's the burden of my heart.
I want you who hear my voice to hear the word of the gospel
so that I may present you before God perfect in Jesus Christ. The title of my message tonight
is Perfection. Our text will be 1 John chapter
2 verses 1 through 11. You must be perfect and the love
of God must be made perfect in you or you cannot enter into
heaven. You cannot be saved. Now I've
spent a good bit of time looking up how this word perfect is used
in scripture. And I've been mulling it over
now for a couple of weeks. Listen to these things and listen
carefully. The Lord our God is perfect. Perfect. He's perfect in all
his being, perfect in all his ways, and perfect in all his
works. He is the rock. And his work
is perfect, for all his ways are judgment. Not only that,
but God demands that every sacrifice that he accepts, every sacrifice
he accepts, he says it must be perfect to be accepted. Leviticus
22, 21. So that we bring to God our praises. If God accepts your praise, it's
got to be perfect. If God accepts your devotion,
it's got to be perfect. If God accepts your commitment
of your life to him, it's got to be perfect commitment. If
God accepts you, you must be perfect. It shall be perfect
to be accepted. Why was it that no sacrifice
in the Old Testament could take away sin? None were really perfect,
and none had the means, the ability whereby to do so, for the sacrifice
must be a man, a man who's perfect, a man of infinite worth. He must
be a man who is God. The only sacrifice God will accept
is Christ Jesus, the Lord, our perfect Savior. Our dear Savior,
the Lord Jesus, we're told, is a perfect Savior. He was made
perfect, Hebrews chapter 5, Hebrews chapter 2. He was made perfect
by the things that he suffered. Made a perfect Savior. He could
not, David, save us except by the things he suffered. He could
not be a Savior except by the things He suffered. He could
not put away sin except He be made sin and suffer the wrath
of God for sin and rise from the dead having put away sin.
He's made perfect by the things that He suffered. All who are
saved by Christ, every saved sinner, every saved sinner, It made perfect
in Christ. I don't mean they shall be made
perfect. I don't mean that one day we
shall attain perfection. I don't mean that we, by our
works and our obedience and our devotion and our sanctification,
grow and grow until we get more and more holy, until at last
we're perfect and ripe for heaven. All of those things are totally
contrary to Scripture. I do mean that every saved sinner
is made perfect in Christ Jesus. What does the book say? Noah
found grace in the eyes of the Lord and Noah was perfect. Genesis 6 verse 9. Perfect. Perfect. Job. Job. A lot of fellows read the book
of Job and they declare Job was a lost man until they get to
the end of the book. And then then he was converted.
That'd be all right. And that'd make that make it
a whole lot easier to interpret the book of Job and all the difficulties
and all the things that seem confusing in the book of Job,
except for one slight little problem. If one slight little
problem. God said at the beginning of
the book, Job perfect. Job perfect. Perfect. Man that feared God. Eschewed
evil. He said there's none like him in all the earth. God gives
saved sinners a perfect nature. He doesn't repair your old nature.
When God comes in his grace in the new birth, he makes you new
creatures in Christ. giving his people a perfect heart
like Josiah had before God. Causing his own to walk in a
perfect way, Psalm 18 says. He keeps his saints in perfect
peace. He keeps his saints in perfect
peace because their minds are stayed on him. And he, in the
perfect day, brings every heaven-born soul to a perfect end. So chosen redeemed sinners are
made perfect, perfect in Christ, perfected in holiness. 2 Corinthians 7 verse 1, you
come out of Babylon, you deny Free will works religion you
deny all your own righteousness you separate yourself from all
the ungodly Believing on the Lord Jesus and God says I'll
call your father I'll be a father to you and you'll be my sons
and daughters and then he says this is called perfecting holiness
in the fear of God perfecting sanctification in the fear of
God so that when God's love is made perfect in us by the mighty
operations of His grace revealing Christ in us, all His own are
made perfect before Him in the sweet experience of grace. Now,
hold your Bibles open here at 1 John 2, and I want to show
you how John speaks of this blessed perfection God gives to His own
in Christ Jesus. If you would have assurance,
real assurance of salvation, Assurance that will give you
peace in your own conscience. This one thing you must have
perfection. The love of God must be perfected
in you. All right, let's get it. First
one, chapter one or chapter two. My little children, these things
right out to you that you sin not. John's message is crystal crystal
clear, Bob, don't say it. Don't say it. I know that folks
who despise the gospel of God's grace and despise the believers'
free liberty in Christ Jesus accuse us all around the world
of saying we promote licentiousness. We say, see, it doesn't matter.
It doesn't matter how you live, how you behave. Oh, no. Don't
say it. Don't say it. Don't allow yourself to be comfortable
within evil. Don't allow yourself to be at
ease with ungodliness. And I'm not talking about ungodliness
in other folks. I'm talking about your own. Don't
sin. Don't sin. Whatsoever is not
of faith is sin. Seek by the grace of God in all
your ways to live in consistency with the gospel of God's grace
that you profess to believe. Don't sin. Seek in all things
the honor of God, the honor of the Redeemer. Don't sin. You
who are gods, listen to me, young and old, you who are gods, Curtis,
I just caught your eye. There are a good many people,
all they know, about the gospel of God's grace is what they see
in Curtis Hall. All they know about Jesus Christ
is what Curtis Hall represents of him before them. So I don't
want to live with that monkey on my back. That monkey's on
your back. Don't sin. Don't sin. Walk before
men blamelessly. I don't mean by that so that
men won't say bad, so that men won't talk bad. You can't keep
men from thinking evil and speaking evil concerning you. To walk
before them blamelessly is to live in such a way that they
have no just reason to blame you for anything. Don't sin.
All right? That's the first thing. And if any man sin, write that if as small as you
wish. It comes out to when, when you
do sin. We read this morning of David,
iniquity prevaileth against me. If any man sin, the fact is you do sin and you're sinning
in what you're doing right now. And the one talking to you is
too. You know why fingerprints are
so damning in criminal cases? Because you can't avoid leaving
them. Had my fingerprint, what did
I do? The smudge of the dirty oil in
my body is there. Now, I'd wipe it off. so that you
can't see the oil and can't see the fingerprint, but the oil
and the dirt still there. I can't touch anything with these
filthy hands and not defile it. I read this book. And I've corrupted the reading
of it. I speak God's name in prayer. This tongue has corrupted
the name I speak. I seek to proclaim the gospel
of God's grace. I seek, oh, I want you to know
my Redeemer. And my desire is corrupt because
it rises from this corrupt heart. You can't not sin. You can't
not sin. God's children in this world
are sinners still. All right, here's the third thing.
And if any man sin, We have an advocate with the
father. We have one, James, sitting on
the throne of grace, on the throne of righteousness, on the great
white throne with the father, Jesus Christ, the righteous,
our advocate, our advocate. And he always prevails. He always
prevails. He undertakes our calls. He pleads
our calls. He pleads for us for the non-imputation
of sin, even as we perform it. He says, Father, forgive them.
Here's the reason. And God says, blessed is the
man to whom the Lord will not impute sin. There is therefore
now no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus. Who shall
lay anything to the charge of God's elect? It's God that justifieth. Who is he that condemneth? It's
Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again, who's even
at the right hand of God, who maketh intercession for us. All
right, look at our text again. And hereby we do know that we
know him if we keep his commandments. Uh-oh. Uh-oh. Love God with all your heart,
all your soul, all your mind, and all your being. And love
your neighbor just like you love yourself. Is that what that means? He that saith, I know him, and
keepeth not his commandments is a liar, and the truth is not
in him. If we would have this boundless
Assurance of free grace salvation in Christ Jesus this assurance
That's unconditional and unqualified this this assurance of everlasting
salvation We must keep God's commandments
We must keep his commandments turn over one page to chapter
3 and Listen as I read some scripture to you Our Lord in John chapter
6 is speaking to men about faith. And the Pharisees come and they
say, What shall we do that we might work the works of God? What shall we do that we might
work the works of God? And the Lord Jesus answered,
Keep the commandments. That's what it told that rich
young ruler, isn't it? Is that what it said? He said, keep the
commandments. Keep them. Surely, if another
man comes up and ask him the same question, he's going to
give him the same answer. Surely he would. Surely, God
the Son would not say to one man, you keep the commandments
and say to another man, you do something else. No. What shall
we do? that we may do the works of God
or work the works of God. Jesus answered and said unto
them, this is the work of God, that you believe on him whom
he has sent. What? You mean, you mean God
will accept faith instead of obedience? Oh, no, no, no, no. Faith is obedience. Faith in Christ is obedience. Trusting the son of God is obedience. It is keeping the commandments
before God Almighty. Let's see. First, John, chapter
three, verse twenty three. This is his commandment. That
you should we should believe on the name of his son, Jesus
Christ. And love one another as you gave
us commandment, but wait, that's two commandments. No, it's not.
No, it's not. It's one commandment. For wherever
there's faith in Christ, the fruit of that faith is love for
the brethren. This is His commandment. That
you believe on the name of His Son, Jesus Christ. Believe Him,
and you'll love one another. Not you won't to. Not you might.
Not there's a possibility that you will. You'll love one another.
Do we then make void the law through faith? Do we take the
law of God and set it aside so the law doesn't matter? It doesn't
matter that God says, the soul that sinneth it shall die. It
doesn't matter that God says, be holy for I am holy. It doesn't
matter that God says, love God with all your heart, soul, mind
and being. It doesn't matter that God says, love your neighbor
as yourself. It doesn't matter that God says, thou shalt not
covet. We'll just, we'll set that aside. Oh no. Oh no. Do we then make void the law
through faith? God forbid. Yea, we establish
the law. We fulfill it. We bring the law
out to its true pointed perfection and say Jesus Christ God's son
fulfilled the law. He's the end of the law and our
acceptance with God is in his obedience and in him who obeyed
for us. For as by one man's disobedience
many were made sinners so by the obedience of one shall many
be made righteous just as we send and fell and died by what
Adam did. What did you have to do with
that? Which of you took the forbidden fruit? Which of you said, God,
get out of the way, I'm taking over. But Brother Don, I wasn't
there. Oh, yes, you were. You were there
in a representative man. The fifth chapter of Romans says
so plainly. I don't like that. Take it up
with God. That's the way it is. And I'm tickled to death. That's
the way it was. David, we failed in a substitute. We fail without
doing anything. We were lost the whole human
race without us doing one thing. We weren't even born yet. We
were in a representative man. The first man, Adam. That means
there's some hope, maybe, maybe. Since we failed in a representative,
Maybe, maybe there's another representative in whom we shall
be made to live. Maybe there's another man by
whose obedience we shall be made right. The angels fell one by
one, not representatively, one by one, and they're reserved
in chains of darkness to the judgment of the great day. All
the sons of Adam, all the daughters of Adam fell by Adam's transgression. And just as we died in Adam,
in Christ were made alive. By one man's disobedience, we
became sinners. By the obedience of another man,
the last Adam, who was really the first Adam, we are made righteous
before God and made alive. Turn back to Romans chapter 3.
Hold your hands here in 1 John. Romans chapter 3, verse 24. Being justified freely by His
grace. Freely, without a cause. Justified
by His grace. Through the redemption that's
in Christ Jesus. So there's no cause for justification in ourselves.
But abundant cause in Christ Jesus. We're justified by God's
grace through Christ's redemption. Whom God set forth to be a propitiation. That's just what we saw in 1
John 2, isn't it? He's the propitiation for our sins. whom God sent forth
to be a propitiation through faith in his blood to declare
God's righteousness for the remission of sins that are passed through
the forbearance of God. You mean that it's right for
God to forgive sin? You mean it's right? There's
a case going on right now down in Florida I'm sure most of you
are somewhat familiar with it. This fellow, one man shot another
one. And if that Zimmerman fellow
is turned loose because it is found that he was in complete
compliance with the law, that's not forgiveness. That's justice. That's justice. If, however,
they find that he was in complete violation of the law, that he
murdered the man rather than killed him justifiably in a justifiable
homicide. If that's the case and the jury
finds him guilty and the judge says, well, he's been a pretty
good boy the rest of his life, we'll just forget that. That's
an utter destruction of law and justice. That's flying in the
face of law and justice. God doesn't forgive sin like
that. God doesn't pretend it doesn't exist. God doesn't act
as though you didn't do evil. No, no, no. God does this righteously. He does it declaring at this
time his righteousness that he might be just and the justifier
of him which believeth in Jesus. So that it's right for God. It's
right for God to freely forgive all the sins of all who trust
His Son. How can that be? For He hath
made Him sin for us who knew no sin, that we might be made
the righteousness of God in Him. Christ redeemed us from the curse
of the law, being made a curse for us, for it's written, Cursed
is everyone that hangeth on a tree. All right, look back here in
our text. But who so keepeth his word. And that's the same thing he's
talking about when he says keeping his commandments, his word, the
whole revelation of God in this book, who so keepeth his word
in him, barely the love of God is perfected in him, barely is
the love of God perfected. And hereby, that is, by God's
love being perfected in us, we know that we're in Christ. We
know we're in Him. Perfected. The word means brought
to its end. Finished. It's essentially the
same word our Savior used when he said, it is finished. So that God's love finished in
us. God's love is completed in us. It's object, it's in, completed
in us, fulfilled in us. That's what it means perfected.
How can that be? Turn back to Romans chapter 5.
Romans chapter 5. The eternal love of God for his
elect accomplishes its everlasting end when God saves his chosen
by his grace. Romans 5 verse 1, therefore being
justified By faith we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus
Christ, by whom also we have access by faith into this grace
wherein we stand and rejoice in hope of the glory of God.
And not only so, but we glory in tribulation also, knowing
that tribulation worketh patience and patience experience and experience
hope and hope maketh not ashamed. Watch this, because the love
of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost, which
is given to us. When God the Holy Spirit comes
and reveals Christ. Creates life and faith in the
center. He causes the center. To know. He's loved of God. So that that
center who could not before. lift his heart to heaven and
call God his father. Now, believing on the Son of
God lifts his heart to heaven and says, I have a father. God
is my father. God is my father. I know God's
my father because I believe on his son. I believe that Jesus
is the Christ. I'm born of God. I'm born of
God. It is this perfect love, not our love for God, but God's
love for us that cast out all fear. Look in chapter four, first
John. Chapter four. It is this perfect love, God's
love for us that gives redeemed sinners boldness in the day of
judgment. First John 417. Herein is our love made perfect. Now, if you have a marginal translation,
be sure you read it. This is how it's translated.
The translators put this translation in there, suggesting it as an
alternate reading. God's love with us is made perfect. Ah, now that's a different thing.
It's not talking about Don Ranieri loving God perfectly. Don is
talking about God loving you perfectly. Herein is God's love made perfect
in us that we may have boldness in the day of judgment. What? Boldness? So that we stand before
our God and our Savior on that great day with the goats on His
left and sheep on His right and we stand before Him with no fear,
no reason to be afraid, no trembling, just complete Complete confidence. Everything's alright Complete
confidence. Everything's alright. You see
the day the day of judgment is not a day when God's going to
Decide who gets into glory? It's day when God declares to
everybody Universally why and how he saved us by his grace
what makes you worthy of heaven? Let's see because As He is, so
are we in this world. Perfect. Behold the Son of God in heaven,
our mediator, our substitute. You who believe are complete
in Him, may meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints
in lights. All right, look back here in
1 John 2. He that abideth in him ought
himself also to walk even as he walked. The love of Christ
shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost constrains heaven-born
souls to live for his glory in this world. is the love of God
revealed in us, assuring us of God's salvation in Christ. And
it is this that inspires devotion, inspires consecration, inspires
the surrender of our lives to Him, inspires and constrains
us to live for Him who loved us and gave Himself for us. You
see, God's people, God's people are not motivated by promises
of rewards. not God's people. They're not
motivated by threats of punishment, not God's people. Just every
little bit, I'll get a note from somebody who's a preacher who's
read something I've written or heard something I preach and
they say, if you don't preach tithing, how on earth do you
get people to give? If you don't give folks law,
how do you teach folks to live right? The love of Christ constrains
us. The love of Christ constrains
us. How can I illustrate what I want
to say? Let's just suppose that there was a time when I was a
single fellow and I had a household and I found this really good,
hardworking lady who wanted a job. cleaning my house, and preparing
my food, taking care of my clothes, and all those things. And I hired
her for the job. And when I did, I wrote out a
set of 10 commandments. I said, now, these are the things
you have to do every day, every week, every month. Nail them
on the pantry door. You come in, look at that thing
every day. And she did it. She did it. The lady I have in
mind I know would have done a good job, because I've seen her work
for other fellas. And then I got to looking at
her. And I decided, I believe I might
try to make her my wife. And I caught her. And I win her
heart. And now here she is. We're married.
And we've been married a while. And she scrubs floors and cooks
three meals a day. She scrubbed my dirty clothes. Irons them. She irons everything
I wear. Sometimes irons it two or three
times. We'll pack up and go somewhere. She'll iron it before we leave,
iron it when we get there, and then iron it before I put it
on. She won't make sure everything's just right. Well, why does she
do that? Because she's scared to death
of me. You don't know her real well.
Or me. No, no. Why would she do that?
I wouldn't do that for any man. If you ever find one you love,
you will. If you ever find one you love,
you will. And love compels like law never can. Love compels like
promise of reward never can. Love compels like threats of
punishment never can. God's people are not mercenaries. They're all volunteers in the
king's household serving him gladly. We love him because he
first loved us and his love constrains us in all that we do to seek
his honor, to live for his glory, to seek to magnify his name,
to serve his people. Well, if that's the case, then
And he that saith he abideth in him ought himself also to
walk, even as he walked. What? What? Christ is mine. He's revealed himself in me.
He's taught me by his grace, saved me by his mercy. Therefore,
it's only reasonable that I should live for him. That I should live for him. God help me too. God help me
in everything to seek your honor, your will, and your glory. But
how was it particularly that our Savior gave us an example
of his devotion, his consecration, his willing obedience to the
father, his submission in all things to the father's will.
One day he knelt down, took a bowl of water and a towel and washed
his disciples feet. And he said, now I've given you
an example. You go do the same thing. You
go do the same thing. You go wash each other's feet. You go wash each other's feet.
Go serve each other, seeking to benefit one another. Be you
kind one to another, forgiving one another, tenderhearted, forgiving
one another, even as God, for Christ's sake, has forgiven you.
Be you therefore followers of God as dear children and walk
in love as Christ also has loved us and given himself for us an
offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling savor. All right, look at verse 7, 1
John chapter 2. The old commandment of the law
and the new commandment of the gospel is the same. Believe on
the Lord Jesus Christ. And faith in Christ is the evidence
of this salvation that God gives. And brotherly love is the fruit
of that faith. Brethren, I write no new commandment
unto you, but an old commandment which you've had from the beginning.
The old commandment is the word, the whole revelation of God in
this book, the word which you've heard from the beginning. Again,
a new commandment I write unto you, which thing is true in him
and in you, because the darkness is past and the true light now
shineth. He that saith he's in the light
and hateth his brother, Why, he's in darkness even until now.
He that loveth his brother abideth in the light, and there is none
occasion of stumbling in him, no scandal of stumbling in him.
But he that hateth his brother is in darkness, and walketh in
darkness, and knoweth not whither he goeth, because that darkness
hath blinded his eyes. What's John talking about? If you're born of God, if you
have faith in Christ, the natural, that's a strange word for something
supernatural. The natural thing to expect from faith is love
for your brethren. Now, this is not talking about
some kind of a silly, sloppy, sentimental, meaningless, universal
love for men. That's not what it's talking
about. Anytime folks talk about a universal love, they're talking
about universal nonsense. If God loves everybody and some
folks go to hell anyhow, God's love is meaningless. And if you
say, I love everybody, oh, I love everybody. That means your love
ain't worth spit. It don't count for nothing because
it doesn't do anything. There are a lot of folks who
don't benefit by it. And if you love somebody, they benefit from
your love. If you love somebody to do, oh,
yeah, they benefit from it. They're the objects of your heart's
affection. What's he talking about? He's
talking about brotherly love. He's talking about brothers and
sisters loving each other. Loving each other because they're
in Christ and one with Christ so that I was thirsty and you gave me
some water. That's all. That's all. I was
hungry and you fed me. I was naked and you gave me some
clothes. I was in prison and you visited me. I was sick and
you came by my sick room. When did we do that? In as much as you've done it,
for the least of these, my brethren, you've done it to me. Well, why
would anybody love Don Fortner? Why? I can give you one really
good reason. Only one. Only one. I might pretend others, but honestly
compels me. I can give you only one. Really
good reason why Lindsey Campbell ought to love me. I'm one with
Christ. He redeemed me. He bought me. I'm one with him. I give you
one really good reason why Don Fortner ought to just flat love
David Peterson to death. I mean, love it. One reason. If I knew no other, I know this
one. He's in Christ. He won with Christ. And to love
Him is to love Christ. To despise Him is to despise
Christ. To injure Him is to injure Christ. Oh, now we're talking about love. Love for the brethren because
they're brethren. Love that makes a difference.
Love that makes you happy to have the opportunity to invite
your brother or your sister into your house. And you say, here,
how about taking a seat here? Honey, bring him some coffee. Here, let me have those slippers. And make him comfortable because
he is Christ. He belongs to Christ. And to
do it to him is to do so to the Son of God. Oh God, give me grace so to love
my brethren and adorn the doctrine of God our Savior in all things. Amen.