I love that song. Would you turn back to Second
Corinthians, Chapter eight? Verse 24, that one phrase, the
proof. Of your love. Now, the love that he is talking
about when he's speaking to the Corinthian believers is wholly
supernatural. It's the fruit of God, the Holy
Spirit. An unbeliever does not possess
the love that he's speaking of. Now, I'm thankful for the kinds
of love that are in this world as far as love between men. I'm thankful for romantic love
between men and women. I'm thankful for the love of
parents to their children. I'm thankful for the love of
siblings. I'm thankful for love of country. I'm thankful for all the different
kinds of loves, what kind of society would this be? We couldn't
live if we didn't have this. And I'm thankful for those things.
But really, they're all based upon something called self-love.
Self-love. I mean, even the highest form
that we can find, somehow it's self-love. And anything that
comes from self is what? It's got a selfish, sinful nature
to it, even the love of a mother to her child. She loves herself. It's her child. And I'm thankful
for that. I'm thankful for that. But still,
she loves her child. Why didn't she love somebody
else's child like that? The point being that these kinds of love,
we're thankful for them. But that's not what Paul's talking
about when he speaks of the proof of your love. This is the fruit
of the new birth. Everyone that love it. Listen
to the language. Everyone that loveth is born
of God and knoweth God. He that loveth not knoweth not
God. For God is love. This love he's speaking of is
that which only God's elect possess, those who have been born of the
Spirit of God. Turn with me for a moment to
1 Corinthians 13. Paul says in the last verse of
chapter 12, but covet earnestly the best gifts. He'd been talking
about these gifts, but look what he says next. He says, yet show
I unto you a more excellent way. Now, this is more excellent than
any gift that anybody would possess to have this that he's speaking
of now. He says in verse one of chapter 13, though I speak
with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not charity,
I am become as a sounding grass or a tinkling cymbal, no matter
how beautiful my speech may sound. And 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
charity, this God-given gift, the fruit of the Holy Spirit,
I am nothing. And though I bestow all my goods
to feed the poor, that's a noble enterprise, and though I give
my body to be burned, I'm burned at the stake for the cause of
God and truth, so I say. And have not charity, it Prophets,
me, nothing. It's not real. It's hot air. Look in verse 13 of this same
chapter, he says, and now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three,
and this is what we have right now. Faith in the Lord Jesus
Christ is our salvation. I have a hope that I'm going
to stand before God accepted and I have charity. I have love
to him. I have love to his people. But
the greatest of these, he says, is charity. You see, one day
faith will not be needed. We'll see him face to face. Hope,
that hope that I have that I'll be without sin, I'm going to
experience it. It'll be gone. But oh, we'll
still have charity. It's the one thing that remains. Give proof of your love. Your
love to God as He is. Not just saying you love God,
but you love Him as He is. You love Him as He's revealed
in His Word. You love the Sovereign God. The One who is in control
of everything. And everybody's in His hand.
You love His justice. You love His holiness. You love
His wisdom. You love His power because you
love Him. Everything about Him you love. You love the Lord Jesus
Christ. As he is, the Son of God, the
only Savior of sinners, the only mediator between God and men,
the man Christ Jesus. You love him as the way, you
love him as the truth, you love him as the life, his life is
your life before God. You wouldn't look any other way.
You love God's people as they are, you love them as they are
in Christ. I'm looking at some people who are perfect in Christ
Jesus. And you love them as they are
in themselves in the sense that you forgive them and overlook
if you love. You love men. You want them to
hear and know the truth. He says, give proof of your love. Grace be with all them, said
Paul, who love our Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity. And he said,
if any man loved not the Lord Jesus Christ, let him be anathema,
maranatha. Let him be damned upon the return
of the Lord. Now, the one who said that was
a man who was full of love. He wasn't harsh. He said, I could
wish that I myself were cursed from Christ for my brethren,
my kinsmen, according to the flesh. That's how much he loved.
He said, I could willing to be damned if they could be saved.
Well, I don't know if I can enter into that, but Paul did. Paul
did. How he loved people. And yet
he said, if any man loved not the Lord Jesus Christ, let him
be anathema Maranatha. Now, this is what God recognizes.
Turn to first Corinthians, chapter eight. I love this passage of
scripture. Verse one, now, as touching things offered unto
idols. We know that we all have knowledge, we understand that
an idol is nothing, we understand that, but look what he says next.
Knowledge. Puffs up. I know something that
you don't know. I've got an advantage over you.
Knowledge fills one with pride. Knowledge puffeth up, but charity
edifies and buildeth up. And if any man thinks that he
knows anything, he knows nothing yet as he ought to know. My, if you think you've got a
grasp of anything in the Word of God, if I think that, all
we've proved by that is how ignorant we are. That's it. But look what it says in verse
three. But if any man love God. This is what God recognizes.
The same is known. The same is recognized by him
if any man love God. This is the mark of discipleship. By this shall all men know you're
my disciples. These are the words of our Lord.
By this, he didn't say by your doctrinal stance or by your understanding. He said, by this, you all may
know you're my disciples by your love. One to another. This is the great working principle. For in Christ Jesus, neither
circumcision avails anything nor uncircumcision, but faith
which worketh. Faith always works. faith which
worketh by love." This love is the result of having been forgiven
much. He that hath been forgiven much
loveth much, but to whom little is forgiven, the same loveth
little. Have you been forgiven much?
Or have you been forgiven little? What is the one thing the Lord
asked Simon after his fall? Now, Simon had a grievous fall.
He denied he knew the Lord. He denied with cursing and oaths
that he knew the Lord. And he was he was he didn't know
what was going to happen to him. I dare say that he he wondered
if he was even saved or if he really had a work of grace done
in his heart. I know the Lord when he told the Women go back,
he said, you go tell my disciples and Peter, make sure Peter knows
because Peter probably thought I'm not a disciple anymore. Now,
he was in a mess. And what's the one thing the
Lord said to him? He said, Simon, forget about yourself for a moment.
Do you love me? Do you love my person? Do you love who I am? Do you love all my glorious attributes? Do you love me as I am? Do you love my sovereignty? Do
you love my power? Do you love the sufficiency of
my righteousness? Do you love my intercession?
Do you love me? Just forget about yourself. Don't
even think about how much you love. Just stop thinking about
that. Think about me. Think about me. Do you love my
person? Now, in chapters 8 and 9 of 2
Corinthians, the subject is giving. And grace bestowed was seen in
their generosity. Look in chapter 8 of 2 Corinthians. Moreover, brethren, verse one,
we do you the wit. We want you to be informed of
the grace of God bestowed on the churches of Macedonia. And
I love the way he doesn't give a formal definition of what grace
means here. Look what he says. Here's grace. Here's the grace of God bestowed.
Here's God's saving grace, how that in a great trial of affliction,
The abundance of their joy and their deep poverty abounded unto
the riches of their liberality, their generosity. For to their
power, these poor saints who were in such a poor strait, I
bear record, yea, and beyond their power, they were willing
of themselves. They didn't have to be prompted.
We didn't have to try to guilt them and manipulate them. They
were willing of themselves, praying us with much entreaty that we
would receive the gift and to take upon us the fellowship of
the ministering of the saints. And this they did, not as we
hoped, but first gave their own selves to the Lord and then to
us. by the will of God, insomuch
that we desired Titus, that as he had begun, so he would finish
also in you this same grace also, this liberality that he spoke
of. Therefore, as you abound in everything,
in faith, utterance, or doctrine, knowledge, in all diligence,
and in your love to us, see that you abound in this grace also. Make this your desire and your
aim to abound in all graces, but this grace also. Now, speaking
on by commandment, I'm not giving you an order as to how much to
give or when to give or what to give, but by occasion of the
forwardness, the eagerness of others and to prove the sincerity
of your love. And this I know about love. Love
gives. That's the definition. Love gives,
and my giving is what demonstrates the sincerity of my love. I can say I love him, but if
my giving doesn't correspond, what does that say about my speech?
It means it was meaningless. You know, I love you can either
be the most meaningful or meaningless words ever, can't they? It depends
on the actions behind them. Let's go on reading. He talks
about what the Lord gave now. Verse 9, For you know the grace
of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, who can describe
the infinite riches of the Lord Jesus Christ? Yet, for your sakes,
he became poor. Now, true, he became poor in
purse. He didn't have a place to lay his head. He was like
a street person. He didn't have a home to go to
like you and I have a home to go to at night. He became poor
in purse. But more than that, he who was rich in righteousness
became poor in righteousness when he was made sin on the cross.
All that sin is, He was made to be. And God poured His wrath
out upon Him, because that's exactly what He had coming, because
my sin, the sins of God's elect, became His sin. He became guilty
of it. What did He give? He gave everything. For me. For my sake. For the sake of every believer.
You know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though He
was rich, Yet for your sakes, he became poor that you through
his poverty. Might be rich, you know how rich
we are in Christ. Oh, how rich we are. Verse 10,
and herein I give my advice. For this is expedient for you,
this is necessary for you who have begun before, not only to
do, but also to be forward. A year ago, make sure you're
doing and you're willing match up. Well, somebody says it's
the thought that counts. Oh, no. No, it's not the thought
that counts. It's what you do that counts, not the thought.
I think of what James said, you know, if somebody comes up and
knocks on your door and they're in need and they don't have,
they're cold and they're naked and they're hungry and you look
at it and you say, depart in peace, be warmed and be filled. That sounds good, doesn't it?
But what good to do if you slam the door on their face at that
point? It doesn't do anything for them. It's not the thought that counts.
That person had a good thought, didn't they? Be warm, be filled,
depart in peace. But he didn't do anything for
them. It's the actions that counts. And he says, make sure your actions
correspond with your desire. Herein I give my advice, for
this is expedient for you, who have begun before, not only to
do, but also to be forward or willing a year ago, now therefore
perform the doing of it. That as there was, A readiness
to will, so there may be a performance also out of that which you have,
for if there be first a willing mind. I think of what he says in chapter
seven or chapter nine, verse seven, every man, according as
he purposes in his heart, so let him give not grudgingly or
of necessity for God loveth a cheerful. A cheerful giver, someone who
enjoys doing this, we're giving as unto the Lord. For if there
first be a willing mind, it is accepted according to that a
man hath. God doesn't expect you to give
what you don't have. It's accepted according to what a man has and
not according to what he has not. For I mean, verse 13, not
that other men be eased and you be burdened, but by an equality.
that now, at this time, your abundance may be a supply for
their want, and that their abundance also may be a supply for your
want, that there may be equality. Now, what that's talking about
is, here's love. Love wants to do its part. Lack of love says, well, so-and-so's
rich. They can take care of that. I
mean, I don't have any money. Let them take care of it. That's no love. That's what it
says. But love wants to do its part.
It always does. He doesn't want to share its
own part of the load. Love doesn't want to bring everything
on somebody else. That's lack of love. Verse 15. As it's written, he that hath
gathered much had nothing over, and he that had gathered little
Had no lack. Speaking of the man in Christ. You know, in Christ. You have
nothing over to you. Yet you over above him being
saved by his righteousness. In Christ, you have nothing over
and you also have absolutely no lack. You are complete in
him. You have everything in him. Verse
16. But thanks be to God. which put
the same earnest care into the heart of Pius for you. Is it hot in here? Excuse me,
I'm sweating. I'm sorry. At least I'll be comfortable. If anybody can get that one in
the back, go for it. But thanks, verse 16, that thanks
be to God, which put the same earnest care into the heart of
Titus for you. I think that's interesting, that
earnest care that Titus had for them, that desire for their good.
Who put it in his heart? God put it in his heart. Any
proper desire we have, we know that God put it there. For indeed,
he accepted the exhortation, but being more forward of his
own accord, he went unto you and we sent with him the brother
whose praise is in the gospel throughout all the churches.
Now he's talking about now is these men he sent with this gift.
And he makes sure they know that everything he did was above board.
Look what he says. Verse 19. And not that only,
but who was also the chosen of the churches to travel with us
with this grace, this money that they were going to give to the
poor saints, which is administered by us to the glory of the same
Lord and the declaration of your ready mind, avoiding this, that
no man should blame us in this abundance, which is ministered
by us, providing for honest things, not only in the sight of the
Lord, but also in the sight of men. Now, what he's saying is,
is this money? We counted it. Here it is. We
have three men bringing it. Here's what we started. Here's
where we're going to end up. You see, we didn't take any. We're
policing ourselves, is what he's saying. So no one can be able
to accuse us of anything. And that's why it's so important.
Rich puts out that monthly, whatever it is, tells you where every
penny goes. And that's the way it ought to
be. Don't even give anybody any reason to suspect anything. Verse
22, we sent with them our brother, whom we've oftentimes proved
diligent in many things. But now much more diligent upon
the great confidence which I have of you, wherefore, if any do
inquire of Titus, he is my partner, and fellow helper concerning
you, or our brethren be inquired of, they are messengers of the
churches, and of the glory of Christ. Wherefore, show ye to
them, and before the churches, the proof of your love." Now,
regarding showing the proof of your love, somebody says, well,
why do we have to give a proof of it? What's the point? Well,
love that doesn't give proofs and evidences is not real love. Nothing more than hollow words.
The meaningfulness of the words, I love you, are entirely dependent
upon the actions behind them. Give the proof of your love. Now, what is the excellence of
this love that makes us want to give proof of it? Well, first,
because it's divine. This love we're speaking of,
this is not God's the author of it. It's the fruit of God,
the Holy Spirit, the fruit of the Spirit, His love. We love
Him because He first loved us. He's the author of this love. Divine in its origin. And that
love, the love that we give a proof of, it seeds all other loves,
this love that we're speaking of. Now, I want Lynn to love
me, obviously, more than she loves any other man. Obviously,
we've got a problem with some man she loves more than me. We've
got a problem. But, I want her to love the Lord
Jesus Christ more than she loves me. And she wants me to love
the Lord Jesus Christ more than I love her. And you want to say
you want me to love Christ more than I love you. You really if
you love Christ, you do. And I want you to love him more
than I do me. You see this love. We love him
more than our parents, more than our spouse, more than our children,
and we wish them to love him more than they do us. Love us,
thou me more than these. Now, this love that we're to
give a proof of is absolutely vital and necessary. If I don't
have it, the Lord's never done something for me. I've never
been born again. I've not been born from above
if I don't have this love that he tells us to give proof of. And we ought, we ought to be
excessive, extravagant and fanatical and passionate in our love to
him. We can't possibly love him too
much, can we? We can't possibly be too extravagant, too passionate,
or too fanatical. There must be a passion to please
him. And this love is the great moving principle. Faith worketh
by love. Here a man, for the sake of Christ,
you know how much it hurts to be burnt? I mean, I don't know
of anything more painful than being burnt. And yet a man is
willing to be burnt at the stake for the cause of God and truth.
Why? Because he loves Christ. That's
why. You take a man that goes out
in a foreign country, in a culture he has no love for, and he goes
there to preach the gospel to those people and he leaves everything.
Why does he do it? Because he loves the Lord Jesus
Christ. You take the little old widow
casting in her two mice all of her living. She cast in everything.
Why'd she do it? Because she loved the Lord Jesus
Christ. Faith worketh by love. And if it doesn't work by love,
it's not the faith of God's elect. It's not true saving faith. Love performs mighty feats. Now, why should we want to give
these proofs? Why should we want to give these
proofs? Well, because love wants to prove itself. Love wants to prove itself over
and over again. What's the proof that I love
my wife? Well, 25 years ago, I got her a necklace. And if I got to go back, back,
back, there's a problem in there. You want to give the proof of
your love continually. When love stops proving, it stopped
loving. And love does not need a commandment
to give proof. It looks for an opportunity to
give proof. That's what real love does. It's
looking for an opportunity to give the proof of love. And you
know, in giving the proof of this love were a blessing to
other people. Look how the poor saints of Jerusalem
were blessed when they gave the proof of their love in giving
to support them. Now, it's this thing of giving
the proof of our love. Actually, it's only reasonable.
I think of what Paul said. He said, I beseech you by the
mercies of God that you present your bodies a living sacrifice,
holy, and acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. Anything else is utterly unreasonable. And be not conformed to this
world, but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind,
that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect
will of God. Now, how can I prove my love? He said, Give the proof of your
love. How can I prove my love? Well, let me show you something
real concretely. Turn with me to 1 John chapter 3. Now, do you remember how the
Lord said, if you love me, keep my commandments? If you love
my person, keep my commandments. Now, notice he doesn't say, have
my commandments memorized. He doesn't say admire my commandments.
He says, keep them. Keep them. And that's so important. Not just have a high view of
them, but actually obey them where I myself actually keep
those commandments. Somebody says, I was just listening
to you recently and you said all we do is sin and all we do
is break God's commandments. That's true. That's true. I've
never kept one of the Ten Commandments one time. Not really. I haven't, nor have you. Well,
what are you talking about keeping his commandments then? Where
are you coming from? Well, look here in 1 John 3, verse 23. Now, here's the first way we prove
our love by keeping his commandments. Verse 23, And this is his commandment,
that we should believe, that we should rely on the name of
his son, Jesus Christ. I've kept that one. I, right now, am relying on the
name of the Lord Jesus Christ as the only way I'll enter into
glory. I don't come in my own name. I come in His name, relying
on His name, Jehovah T'kenu, the Lord our righteousness, as
my righteousness before God. Now, I am keeping that commandment
right now because I'm believing on His name. I'm relying on His
name. The only reason I'll be brought
into glory is because of the name, the righteousness, the
merits, and the shed blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. I wouldn't
dare talk about my works. They're nothing but filthy rags.
I'm relying on the name. I wouldn't talk about my love.
I wouldn't say, let me in because of how much I love. No, I'm relying
on the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. Are you keeping that
commandment? Every believer does. We keep his commandments. And
here's the second thing. And we love one another. As he gave us commandment. And I do love everybody who loves
him. I do. I mean, Lord knows my heart.
He knows whether I'm being honest or just phony, but I do. I love those who love him. He that loveth him that begat,
loveth him also that's begotten of him. Now, those are commandments
we keep. I give proof by giving. Look back in our text in 2 Corinthians
chapter 8. I remember Henry Mahan used to
always say, if God's got your heart, he's got your pocketbook.
And if he doesn't have your pocketbook, he doesn't have your heart. And
that's so. Second Corinthians, chapter eight, verse eight, I
speak not by commandment, but by occasion of the forwardness
of others to prove the sincerity of your love. Now, who asks for this proof? Prove the sincerity of your love,
who asked for this proof? We'll turn back to John chapter
21. I've already referred to this,
but let's look at it again. You know, let me say this. I mean, he says, show before
the churches the proof of your love. And I want to demonstrate
to you the proof of my love to him. But really, when it comes
right down to it, that's not really what I'm concerned about.
I'm not concerned about showing you the proof of my love. I want
to show him the proof of my love. That's what I want. May God give
us all an ambition for that. Make that our aim, to show him,
him who loved us so well, him who gave himself for us, may
we show him the proof of our love. Verse 15. John chapter 21, So when they
had dined, Jesus saith to Simon Peter, Simon. Son of Jonas. Now, he didn't ask him, are you
sorry over what you did? He didn't ask him, have you repented? He didn't ask him, do you promise
you'll never do this again? He didn't ask him, are you going
to do something to make up for this? He didn't ask him anything
like that. He asked him one question. One question. Simon. Son of Jonas, love us thou me more than these. Now, when he says more than these,
he's not talking about you love me more than the other disciples.
There was a time Simon would have said, yep, no doubt I do,
but they'll deny you. But I won't. There's a time when
he would have said that. But if you look in this passage
of scripture, remember, he said, I go fishing. What he said, I'm
giving up on this disciple business and I'm just going back to the
way it used to be. I'm going back to fishing. It's
over for me. And a bunch of them said, I'm going right with you.
And the Lord looks out at the boats and so on and says, Simon,
do you love me more than these? He saith unto him, Yea, Lord,
thou knowest that I love thee. He saith unto him, feed my lambs. He saith to him again the second
time, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me? He saith unto him, Yea, Lord,
thou knowest that I love thee. He saith unto him, Feed my sheep. He saith unto him, the third
time. Some have suggested he asked
the third time, because there were three denials. Simon, son
of Jonas, lovest thou me? Peter was grieved, because he
said unto him the third time, lovest thou me? And he said unto
him, Lord, thou knowest all things. He appealed to the omniscience
of the Lord Jesus Christ. You know all things. I can't fool you. I can't pretend
before you wouldn't do me any good. You know me all together.
You know all things. And you know, in your omniscience,
you know that I love your person. That's the one question. Do you
love me. And then he said, feed my sheep. Now may we all give proof of
our love to him and each other. That's a scriptural
command. Give proof of your love. Now, I'd like to sing as a closing
hymn, more love to thee, O Christ. Now, there's there's one verse
in there. Let sorrow do her work, sin,
grief and pain, sweet are thy messengers, sweet their refrain,
when they can sing with me, more love, O Christ, to thee. I mean
that, but I'd really rather not sin, sorrow and pain, and I'd
rather just Him give me the grace to love Him more rather than
sending sorrow or pain. So be careful when we sing that. Be careful when we sing that.
But let's pray together and then we'll sing that as a closing
hymn.