Back to Romans 12. Verse 9, let love be without
dissimulation. That word means hypocrisy. Now, I don't think there's a
day that goes by when at some point I don't say to myself,
you're nothing but a hypocrite. A hypocrite is an actor. What they called the movie stars
back then were hypocrites. All hypocrisy means is to act. Now, wherever you have the genuine,
the counterfeit is right behind it. Paul spoke in the scriptures
of unfeigned faith. And that's the same word, non-hypocritical
faith, non-acted out faith, because there's so much feigned faith. And he spake of unfeigned love
because there's so much acted out love that's not real. And
he says, let your love be without dissimulation. And like I said,
I don't believe there's a day that goes by when I don't fear
this. What if I prove to be nothing
more than a hypocrite? What if I don't really believe
the things I say? Now, I tell you, when I feel
that way is when I'm not looking to Christ. Now, when I'm looking
to Christ, I'm not thinking that, which is, most of the time, I'm
not. I mean, I'd like to say I am all the time, but I'm not.
And whenever I'm not, I fear this thing of hypocrisy, being
nothing more than an actor. And dissimulation is an act.
I think that it's interesting how much the Lord had to say
about this subject. In Matthew chapter 6, when he
was speaking of giving, praying, and fasting, he said, don't do
this as the hypocrites do. They want to be seen of men.
And he said, they have their reward. What kind of reward is
that to impress somebody? It's not much of a reward, is
it? He said, they have the rewards. Now the wages of the hypocrite,
not very good wages. He said, but when you fast, when
you pray, when you give, don't do it to be seen of men. When he talked about the man
who judges somebody else. And I, you know, there's a lot
in the scripture about this. I was reading in James chapter four,
just yesterday or day before yesterday, when it says actually
in the original, you, who are you to judge somebody else? Since when are you able to do
this? And the Lord said to the man
who judges, he said, you hypocrite, cast out first the beam that's
in thy own eye. Then shalt thou see clearly to
take the splinter out of thy brother's eye. Bible has a lot
to say about this thing of hypocrisy. Now, the hypocrite is very careful
about his image and will act like he loves. That's why he
says, let your love be without dissimulation. The word hypocrite
is used to describe those by our Lord who had a disconnect
between their hearts and their words. He said, you draw nigh
to me with your mouth, and you honor me with your lips, but
your heart is far from me, teaching for doctrines the commandments
of men." Now, the hypocrite will flatter, but he's a liar in the
very core of his being. Now, the love Paul is speaking
of when he says, let your love be without this thing of hypocrisy
and acting, The love he's speaking of is a holy, supernatural love. Now there are a lot of kinds
of loves I'm grateful for. I'm grateful for the love between
a man and a woman. What a gift that is. I'm grateful
for the love of a parent to its children. I'm grateful for the
love of a man who's willing to die for his country and stand
up for his principles. I mean, there are so many kinds
of loves that we admire and we couldn't do without. What would
this place we live in be if there was none of this love? I'm thankful
for this kind of love, but this is not the love that is begotten
by the Holy Spirit. Now, once again, I repeat, I'm
thankful for this love, and I love this love, and I want to practice
this love, but this is not the love Paul is speaking of when
he says, let your love be without dissimulation. This is the love
that's the result of being born of God. Turn with me to 1 John
chapter 4. Verse 7, Beloved, let us love
one another For love is of God, and every one that loveth is
born of God, and knoweth God. Now he's not talking about every
mother that loves their child, or he's not talking about every
man that loves his wife. He's talking about whoever possesses
this love that's the result of being birthed of God, born of
God. He that loveth not, he says,
knoweth not God, for God is love. You remember in Galatians chapter
5, verse 22, when Paul spake of the fruit of the Spirit, he
said, the fruit of the Spirit, this is not the fruit of the
natural man, this didn't come from our flesh. The fruit of
the Spirit is love. Now this love is the result of
being born of God. Peter said in 1st Peter chapter
1 verses 22 and 23, seeing you have purified your souls in obeying
the truth through the spirit unto unfeigned love of the brethren. And this is what will happen.
when you obey the truth through the spirit. There will be unfamed,
unacted out, genuine love of the brethren. And he went on
to say, see that you love one another with a pure heart, fervently
being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible by
the word of God, which liveth and abideth forever. In 1 John
3, verse 14, John said, we know that we've passed from death
to life because we love Now, what does that do to me
when I hear that verse of scripture? We know that we pass from death
to life because we love the brethren. He that loveth not his brother
abideth in death. You know, the Lord actually said
in John chapter 13 verse 34 and 35 that the badge and the evidence
of being his disciples is by our love one to another. By this
shall all men know you're my disciples by your love one to
another. Now this love is seen, first
of all, in an unfeigned love to God. Second, it's seen in an unfeigned
love to our brethren. Thirdly, it's seen in an unfeigned
love to men. And fourth, it's seen in an unfamed
love to our enemies. All of these are of critical
importance. Let your love be without hypocrisy,
without dissimulation, without acting. Now, first of all, this
love that he's speaking of, that he's calling upon us to let it
not be an act. And if it's real, it won't be
an act. Now, you say, well, why do you always feel like a hypocrite
the way you talk? Well, because the old man always
does, but the new man really does love. The new man does. The old man, he's always trying
to act out something, but the new man really loves. Let your love be without dissimulation. And first of all, it's seen an
ingenuine, real, unfeigned love to God. And that means a genuine
love to God for who he is. Now, if I start talking about
our love to God, everybody will start becoming mildly uncomfortable
with that. Because you think, when you think
about your love to God, you think, well, I love him more than I
do. And you should, there's no doubt about it. None of us feel
good about our love to God. We all know that we should love
him much more fervently and with much more passion and zeal. And
I want to have that, and you do too. But for a moment, quit
thinking about your love to God. Don't even let it come into your
mind. And let me ask you a few questions. You know, many people will say
they love God, but if you tell them who the God of the Bible
is, you'll find out quickly they have no love for that God at
all. Do you love the one God who is
revealed in three separate persons whom you actually have a relationship
with? God the Father, God the Son and
God the Holy Spirit. Do you love the sovereignty of
God or the God who is sovereign? Do you love the God who stake
the world into existence as an act of his own will? Do you love
the God who is completely sovereign in providence to this extent
that he is the first cause behind everything? Everything. The bad stuff, the
good stuff. Not that we're competent enough
to figure out what part's good and what part's bad. Do you love
the God who is absolutely sovereign in salvation? That means the
salvation, the destiny of every man is absolutely, utterly in
his hands. You don't believe in this foolishness
of man having a free will, accepting or rejecting God. You know God's
in control of everything. And you believe he's absolutely
sovereign. And you love this about him. Do you love the God of election? Do you enjoy that? The God of
predestination who has predetermined all things and made sure all
of His people are going to be perfectly conformed to the image
of His Son. Do you love the God of absolute
holiness and the God of absolute justice who will by no means
clear the guilty? He will not let any sin go unpunished. Do you love God for that? Do
you love the way He is? Do you love the God who never
changes? He's absolutely immutable. Do
you love the God who's infinite? Who never began to be and will
never end? Do you love the God who saves
wholly by grace and delights in mercy? Now I
can tell, not really, I don't wanna say, I'm sittin' around
lookin' and examinin' to see if I can, does that person love
God or that? But let me say this by way of a figure of speech.
I can tell whether or not you really love God. You know how? What do you think of the cross
of Christ? That's what'll answer that question.
What do you think of the cross of Christ? You know, Paul said
the preaching of the cross is to them to perish foolishness,
but unto us which are saved it's the power of God. Now, the cross
is the declaration of who God is. That's what the cross is
more than anything else. It's a declaration of who God
is. All of God's attributes are displayed
in the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ. When Christ died on the
cross, God manifested His hatred of sin, His holiness, but oh,
how He manifested His grace and His mercy and His power to put
away sin. How He manifested His wisdom
that He found a way to be just and justify the ungodly. Every
attribute of God is magnified in the cross. Now, do you know
anything about what Paul meant when he said, God forbid that
I should glory save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. All
I have confidence in, all I glory in, all I rest in, is who Christ
is and what he accomplished. I don't glory in anything about
me. Paul wrote scripture. He said, I don't glory in that.
Paul was brought into the third heavens. He said, I don't glory
in that. Paul had established many churches. He said, I don't
glory in that. You think of how greatly Paul was used, and yet
he says, God forbid that I glory in any of that. I glory only
in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. I find confidence, I
find rest, I find peace only in what Christ did. And it has
nothing to do with anything that I have done. Now, this love,
without dissimulation, like I said, this love to God, first of all.
This love can only be seen in the actions it prompts. John
said, let us not love in word, Neither in tongue, but in deed
and in truth. Now, love demonstrates itself. Turn with me to John chapter
14. I remember these verses as a
young believer used to terrify me because I didn't know what
they meant. Verse 15. If you love me, keep my commandments. Verse 21. He that hath my commandments
and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me. And he that loveth
me shall be loved of my father and I'll love him and will manifest
myself to him. Now that means that if I don't
keep his commandments, I do not love him. That's precisely what that means.
You see, faith worketh by love. And if I don't love him, I fail
to keep his commandments. 1 John 5, 3 says, this is the
love of God that we keep his commandments and his commandments
are not grievous. They're not irksome. Now, if
this is talking about the 10 commandments, nobody in this room saved. Nobody in this room loves him.
Because the fact of the matter is you haven't, and I haven't,
kept his commandments in that sense. And as a matter of fact,
they're grievous to me. Anytime I hear of a commandment
that I have to keep to be saved as far as like God's law, that's
grievous to me. I get troubled. I think I can't
do it. I can't say with regard to God's law that I've kept His
commandments and His commandments are not grievous to me. Now in
Christ, I've kept them. Christ is my obedience. He's
my righteousness before that law. He kept the law and I did
too. But that's not what John is saying.
John is saying we personally, ourselves, must keep these commandments
and that these commandments are not grievous. Now, turn to 1
John chapter 3. Verse 23. And this is His commandment. Here it is. Here it is. That we should believe on the
name of His Son, Jesus Christ. And love one another as He gave
us commandment. Now I want to ask you a question.
Do you keep that commandment? Do you believe on the name of
His Son? Do you really believe that the
name of his son is all that will bring you into heaven? And this
is who you're relying on, the name of the Lord Jesus Christ.
And here's the second question. Do you really love folks who
love him? You can answer that question. Do you really love
people who love him? Now that's the keeping of his
commandments. I love what Peter said, whom
having not seen you love. The love of Christ constrains
us. This is love, not that we love
God, but that he loved us. And this is the love we're so
enamored with. If God so loved us, we ought
also to love one another. We love him because he first
loved us. Now that's love without dissimulation,
love to God. Every believer possesses it.
And like I said, when you start thinking about the strength of
your love, you'll start feeling bad, but when you start thinking
about Him, you just get your mind off yourself and you start
thinking about who He is, all of His glorious attributes, how
He saves, the cross, you will love Him. And not only do we have a love
for God that's without dissimulation, we have a love for our brethren
that's without dissimulation. Grace be with all them that love
our Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity. This is a genuine love for the
brethren. To this extent, now listen carefully,
this is so important. Our love to the person of Christ
is only seen in our love to one another. The Lord said in as much as you
did it to the least of these my brethren. you did it to me. And inasmuch as you did it not
to the least of these my brethren, you did it not to me. Now my love for Christ is only
seen and demonstrated in my love to you. John said Whoso hath this world's
good, and seeth his brother have need, and shutteth up his bowels
of compassions, how dwelleth the love of God in him? Well,
it doesn't. It doesn't. Now, what's this
love look like? You know, there's some beautiful
passages of Scripture in the Bible. I love to read, maybe
you want to jot these down and look at them later. I'm not going
to take the time to look at these, but read Colossians chapter 3,
verses 12 through 14. or read Philippians chapter 2
verses 1 through 5, or Ephesians chapter 4 verses 1 through 3,
but I believe the most beautiful portrait of love is found in
1 Corinthians 13. We went over this in Bible study
about six weeks ago, but it's a place we ought to be at real
often. Turn with me to 1 Corinthians chapter 13. This is what this
love looks like. He says in verse 31 of chapter
12, covet earnestly the best gifts. And you know, don't you
want to have gifts that will enable you to be an effective
witness of Christ? Whatever they are, I want them,
don't you? Covet earnestly these best gifts. There's nothing wrong
with coveting this for the glory of Christ. Covet earnestly these
best gifts. But here's something better than
gifts. Yet show I unto you a more excellent way, though I speak
with the tongues of men and of angels and have not charity.
I become as a sounding brass or a tinkling cymbal. And though
I have the gift of prophecy and understand all mysteries and
all knowledge. When I was reading that, I couldn't
help but think about what Paul said in 1 Corinthians 8 verse
3. He said, knowledge puffeth up. Charity edifies. When all I have is knowledge,
it makes me think I know something you don't know. I'm one up on
you. I've got something you don't have. I've got something that
can advantage me. All that does is puff me up and
swell me up with pride. But charity, what we're reading
about here, charity edifies. You know, I couldn't help also
but think of 2 Thessalonians 2.10. He talked about those who
received not the love of the truth, not just giving assent
to some facts, but they received the love of the truth. Now let's
go on reading. Though I have all faith, so that
I could remove mountains, and have not charity, this gift of
God's grace, that which is called the fruit of the Spirit is love.
I am nothing, and though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor,
and though I give my body to be burned and have not charity,
it profits me nothing. You know, that's something to
think about, someone who actually dies as a martyr for the cause
of God and truth and doesn't have the love of God in their
heart. That's a scary proposition, isn't it? Now look how he describes
this love, verse 4. And wherever you see the word
charity, you could put Christ in there and it would read just
as well, couldn't you? As a matter of fact, we could do that. But
let's read these verses together. Verse 4. Charity suffers long. It puts up with a lot. It's patient. It's not quick-tempered. If you
love somebody, you'll be patient with them. And charity is kind. It's not mean-spirited. It's kind. doesn't strike back. It's kind. And charity envies
not. You know, if you love somebody,
you're not envious of them, are you? If you love somebody, you're
happy when they're promoted. You feel like your children.
How happy are you when your children succeed? You're not envious of
them, are you? You're happy, you want them to
do, that's, well, if you love somebody, you're not going to
be envious of them. If I love you, if you're promoted, I'm
promoted. If you're blessed, I'm blessed. If you have the
Lord make himself known to you, it's like having the Lord make
himself known to me, if I love you. Charity doesn't envy. Charity vaunteth not itself. It doesn't push itself. It's
not a braggart. It's not puffed up. with pride
and conceit. It's not trying to convince you
of how you need to really be impressed with him or it. Charity
doesn't do that. It's not trying to vaunt itself. It's not puffed up, proud and
conceited. Verse five, charity does not
behave itself unseemly. It's not rude. It seeketh not
her own. It's not self-seeking. It's not
easily provoked. You don't have to walk around
eggshells around somebody that you love and that loves you.
There's not a big giant gorilla in the room. No, it's not easily
provoked. Everything's comfortable when
there's real and genuine love because you know that person
you love, you want the best for them and they want the best for
you. That's what love is. Go on reading, verse 5. Thinketh no evil. You know what that means? It means it keeps no records
of wrongs. It doesn't hold a grudge. You
know, I don't know of anything much more ugly than somebody
holding a grudge. Love doesn't do that. It keeps
no records of wrongs. Verse 6, it rejoices not in iniquity. It doesn't rejoice in the fall
of others. It doesn't rejoice in them being
exposed. It doesn't rejoice in anything
like that. Not if you love somebody. It's just like your kids. Do
you want folks to know about the trouble your kids get into?
No, you keep it covered, don't you? If you love them, you keep
it covered. You don't broadcast everything.
You want it covered. Rejoice is not in iniquity, but
rejoices in the truth. That word rejoice means it rejoices
in the joy of somebody else. It rejoices in the truth. Look
in verse 7. It bears all things and that
means it covers with silence all things. Aren't you glad the
Lord's like this? Love covers a transgression.
It doesn't expose it, it covers it. And anybody you love, you're
going to cover with silence all things. You don't want them to
be exposed and no, you want everything to be covered if you love that
person. Because you realize also that if everything was exposed
about you, you would be put to shame and you You love yourself,
you don't want everything... Does anybody here want their
heart to be exposed to everybody so everybody can see it? No,
you don't want people to see that because you love yourself.
You don't want to do that. And somebody you love, you don't
want that to happen to them. It bears all things, verse 7.
It believes all things. That means it believes the best.
It puts the best construction on things. And what it doesn't see, it hopes
for. It bears all things, it believes
all things, it hopes all things. If I can't see it, I'm hoping
for it. Isn't that a wonderful way to be towards somebody? To
just hope the best, have the best attitude. And it endures
all things. It never quits. Charity, verse
eight, never faileth. It's never It never is brought
to inactivity, not this charity. Now, these other kinds of loves
I've talked about, how many men and women have loved one another
dearly and ended up hating one another? It happens. I've heard people say, if you
ever loved, you'd never stop loving. That's not so. You can
love, and you can stop loving. It's happened many, many times,
thousands of times, millions of times. All these other kinds
of loves can be inactive, but not this love, because it's the
gift of God, it's the nature of God, it's the product of the
new birth, and it never fails. Charity never fails, but whether
they be prophecies, they shall fail. Whether they be tongues,
they shall cease. Whether there be knowledge, it shall vanish
away, for we know in part, and we prophesy in part. But when that which is perfect
is come, and I believe that that's talking about the full canon
of the scriptures, then that which is in part shall be done
away with. And you know, they did have all
these gifts he was talking about in the chapter before. And you
know, I'd like to have the gift to heal people. I'd like to be
able to go in the hospital and somebody dying of cancer, and
I could just say, be healed, and they'd be healed. Or I'd
like to be able to somebody giving me a hard time, strike them blind,
like Paul did. You know, just be blind. You
know, it's like Barnard said, good thing I don't have those
powers. But evidently, the Lord knows we don't need those powers
anymore. When that which is in perfect has come, the Word of
God, that which is in part shall be done away with. And he says
in verse 11, 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. Boy, isn't that so? We see through a glass darkly. We don't have all the answers.
We don't have all the reasons. We see through a glass darkly. Really, what I see is not what
really is. And what you see is not what
really is. Do you believe that? We see through
a glass darkly. It's not always going to be that
way, but then face to face. Face to face with Christ my Savior,
face to face what will it be when with rapture I behold Him,
Jesus Christ who died for me. 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, charity, these three. But the greatest of these is
charity. I know why. I know why charity is better
than faith or hope. Because in heaven there won't
be such thing as faith and there won't be such thing as hope.
See, hope has to do with something that you look toward in the future,
but that is going to be turned into experience. That faith is
going to be turned into sight, and those will no longer be,
but charity will continue. Now, love to God, love to our
brethren, and love to men. Love to men in general, if you
can say it that way. Love to men in general. We love
them by preaching the gospel to them. Do you know how I love
men? By telling the truth. By preaching the gospel to them.
If I withhold in preaching the gospel, I don't really love them.
I can talk about love, but I don't really love. The way you and
I demonstrate a true love to men is by telling them the truth
of how God saves sinners by Christ. And you know, we love men by
not making them feel threatened and judged, but loved. I listened
to a message by a guy on this. I get on sermon audio, I've told
you that, and I listened to this message on love without dissimulation.
And this guy was reformed, and he said, now, Your love is hypocritical
if you don't confront your brother about their sin. You need to
point out their sin and expose their sin, or your love's no
good. And I thought, man, I'd hate to have that guy as my pastor.
I mean, it was awful. Awful. You need to expose. If
you're going to be a true friend, you need to confront them about
their sin, if you see any sin in their life. And I'm thinking,
what about you, buddy? What about you? Are you so holy? I mean, have you got the beam
out of your own eye so you can see and get all the splinters
out of my eye? That just made me sick when I heard that. No,
that's that's that is called hypocritical love. That's love
with dissimulation. It's not love without dissimulation.
It's love with dissimulation. When all of a sudden you become
your brother's judge and you're always confronting him. No, I
want men. Oh, I want men to feel comfortable
around me. I don't want them to feel threatened.
I don't want them to feel judged. I want them to feel comfortable
around me the way they felt comfortable around the Lord. Publicans and
sinners drew near to him. Now, here's the one time true
holiness was here. This is true holiness, not man's
phony holiness, but true holiness. And publicans and sinners would
draw near and feel comfortable around him. This man receiveth
sinners and eateth with them. That's the kind of man I want
to be, don't you? I want to be somebody who actually loves people.
I love what was said of Herm Roseboom. I was up in a church
in South Dakota where Joe Terrell preaches, and I was asking this
fellow, I said, how come you, what got you coming here? He
says, the way Herm Roseboom loved me. And I thought, what a, I
want to be that person, don't you? I want to love somebody
so much they want to come here to hear the gospel. And finally, turn to Luke chapter
six, Verse 27 of Luke chapter 6. But I say unto you which hear,
love your enemies. Do good to them which hate you. Bless them that curse you. And pray for them which despitefully
use you. And unto him that smiteth thee
on the one cheek, offer also the other. And him that taketh
away thy cloak, forbid not to take thy coat also. Give to every
man that asketh of thee, and of him that taketh away thy goods,
ask them not again. And as you would that men should
do to you, do ye also to them likewise. For if you love them
which love you, what thank have you? And that word thank is grace.
Same word as grace. If you love them that love you,
what grace have you? For sinners also love those that
love them, and if you do good to them which do good to you,
what grace have you? For sinners also do even the
same. And if you lend to them of whom
you hope to receive, what grace have you? For sinners also lend
to sinners to receive as much as again, but love your enemies. and do good, and lend, hoping
for nothing again. And your reward shall be great,
and you shall be the children of the highest, for he is kind
unto the unthankful, unto the evil. Be ye therefore merciful,
as your Father also is merciful." Isn't that beautiful? Love your
enemies. Let your love to God be. without
dissimulation, without hypocrisy, without acting. Let your love
to the brethren be without hypocrisy. Let your love to men be without
hypocrisy. And let your love to your enemies
be without hypocrisy. Now, you can see that this love
that we're speaking of is a divine love. It's not something a regular
human being could come up with. It's the fruit of God, the Holy
Spirit. But here's what's encouraging.
Remember this, it's the fruit of the Spirit. It's not your
fruit, it's the fruit of the Spirit. The fruit of the Spirit
is love. And I love the way Paul opened
up 1 Corinthians chapter 14, verse 1. Make love your aim. Follow after, pursue, make love
your aim. Let love be without dissimulation. Let's pray together. Lord, we ask that you would give
us this love. And we ask that this love might
be without dissimulation. In Christ's name we pray, amen.