Would you turn back to 2 Corinthians
chapter 5? Tonight I'm going to be speaking
from Hebrews chapter 13, where it says, Let us go, therefore,
to him without the camp. What in the world does that mean?
Let us go to him without the camp. And I feel like the Lord's
given me some light on that passage of scripture. I've entitled the message for
this morning, constrained by His love. Constrained by His love. Now, the passage of Scripture
for the love of Christ constraineth us, 2 Corinthians 5, 14, tells
us what a Christian is. You want to know what a Christian
is? He is someone who is constrained by the love of the Lord Jesus
Christ. But isn't faith the main thing
that defines a Christian? Yes. But Paul called it in Galatians
5, verse 6, faith which worketh by love. Faith which worketh
by love. If I'm not constrained by the
love of Christ, if the love of Christ does not have that effect
on me, then whatever else I am, I am not. A Christian is one
who is constrained by the love of Christ. Look at verse 12. Let's see what led Paul to make
this statement. He said in verse 12, For we commend
not ourselves again unto you, but give you occasion to glory
on our behalf. that you may have somewhat to
answer them which glory in appearance and not in heart. Now, Paul is speaking of his
detractors. He had a whole lot of people
who were questioning his authority, questioning whether or not he
was truly an apostle, because if they could put a question
mark on his apostleship, they put a question mark on everything
he said. Look in 2 Corinthians 10. Verse 9, or verse 10, for his letters say
they, these people who were detracting from him, they're weighty and
they're powerful, but his bodily presence is weak and his speech
is contemptible. Let such a one think that as
we are in word by letters when we're absent, such will be also
indeed when we are present. Look in chapter 11, verse 12.
But what I do, that I will do, that I may cut off occasion for
them which desire occasion, that wherein they glory,
they may be found even as we, these people who are detracting
from me, for such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming
themselves into the apostles of Christ. And no marvel, for
Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light. Therefore,
it's no great thing if his ministers also be transformed as the ministers
of righteousness, whose end should be according to their works.
Now, these men that were detracting from the apostle Paul, Paul tells
us they gloried in appearance. They gloried in appearance, they
gloried in how they appeared to other men, that's what they
were concerned about. Remember how our Lord said all
their works they do to be seen of men. When they said, when
you pray, don't don't pray like the Pharisees, for they pray
in a public place that they can be seen of men. And when you
fast, don't be like the Pharisees who disfigure their faces and
they do it so that they may appear to men to fast. The Lord said,
Samuel said in 1 Samuel 16, I think it's verse seven or first, I
can't remember what verse it is, but he said this, man looketh
on the outward appearance. The Lord looketh on the heart. He's looking at your heart right
now. That's why he's not concerned
about what you look like outwardly or what men think about you. He looks to see if you are someone
who is constrained by his love. That's what he's looking at.
And I pray that God will give us the grace to do some true
self-examination this morning to see if we are constrained
by His love. Now, He speaks of these people
who glory in appearance and not in heart. He says in verse 13,
for whether we be beside ourselves, it's to God. Or whether we be
sober, it's for your cause. Now, some accuse Paul of being
insane and fanatical. He's crazy. He's beside himself. He's mad. The things he's saying,
he's crazy. Remember when Festus said, Behold,
Paul, thou art beside thyself. You're mad. Much learning doth
make thee mad. There's some people who thought
he was too fanatical. And then there were some people who thought
he was too cool and sober and logical. He says, well, if we
act crazy, it's to God. And if we act sober, it's for
your good and for your benefit. Four, verse 14, the love of Christ
constrains us. Now, he didn't say love to Christ
constrains us, our love to him, although it does in some measure,
but he didn't mention his love to Christ. He said the love of
Christ. Now, when we talk about love,
this is what we speak of. His love. You know what always
bothers me when I hear somebody describe something and say, well,
they really love the Lord. Oh, well, you know, is that the way
you want to describe something? I mean, I hope they do. But when
we talk about love, I love the way John put it. He said, herein
is love, not that we love God, but that He loved us. That's the love we speak of.
The love of Christ constraineth us. Now, that word constrain
means It confines us. It holds us secure. It holds
us together. It holds us fast. It restrains
us. The love of Christ keeps me from
certain things that I would do if it wasn't for His love to
me. And it keeps me from doing things I would do if it wasn't
for His love to me. And it's got that effect on me. The love of Christ constrains
me. Now that word is translated by
eight other words in the New Testament. It's translated hold. The love of Christ holds me.
It's translated it keeps me. It's translated it presses me.
It presses upon me. It's actually translated sick.
You ever heard the phrase lovesick? Lovesick. It stops me. It puts me in a strait. These
are words that are actually used to translate this one word. It
puts me in a strait. It takes me and it throngs me. Now, I've got a question for
myself and I've got a question for you. Does the love of the
Lord Jesus Christ have this effect on you? The love of Christ constraints
me. Now, let's talk about the love
of Christ. This is what I... This is what I want to emphasize
right now is his love. We can't know anything about
constraining love unless we understand what his love is. Now, what's
he talking about when he talks about the love of Christ? Well,
look in John chapter 15 with me. Verse nine. John, chapter 15, verse nine. As the father had loved me. Now,
how did the father love him? Oh, he loved him with a perfect
love. He loved him because he was lovely,
because he was altogether lovely, because he was perfect, because
he's perfectly righteous, perfectly holy. Let me make a couple comments
about unconditional love. You've heard of unconditional
love. There's no such thing ever under any circumstance. God didn't love his son unconditionally. He loved his son because he was
altogether lovely. And when we talk about unconditional
love, here's what we say when we use that term. Love me in
spite of my behavior. I expect you to love me anyway.
And that is wrong. It's just a wrong attitude. Love
is never unconditional. There's got to be something to
love. Now, look what the Lord says, As the Father hath loved
me, how did the Father love him? What does he say next? So have
I loved you. Now, however, the Father loved
Christ. That's how Christ loves the believer. Isn't that wonderful? The love of the Lord Jesus Christ. Truly, his banner over me was
love. Now, I think of the way the Father
loves Christ. He loves him as his son. His
well-beloved son. He loves him as his friend. He
loves him because he's lovely. Now, that means the love of the
Lord Jesus Christ to me. He loves me because there's something
in me that draws out his love. Now, I know what that something
is. That something is Him. That's me being in Him. But me
being in Him, there's something in me, which is Him, which actually
draws out the love of Christ to me. He sees me as His beautiful
bride, as His perfect bride. He says, there's no spot in thee. Now, that's how the Lord loves
His people. He loves them with a perfect
love. And this love never had a beginning. Jeremiah 31, 3 says,
Behold, I've loved you with an everlasting love, a love that
never had a beginning. Therefore, with loving kindness,
have I drawn thee. His love is immutable. It knows
no variations. It's never hot. It's never cold.
It's always hot and it's never cold. He can't love you any more
than he does. He can't love you any less than
he does. It's infinite, therefore, immeasurable. Turn with me to
Ephesians chapter 3. The love of Christ. Now, Paul says to the church
at Ephesus in Ephesians chapter 3, beginning in verse 17. That Christ, Ephesians 3, 17,
that Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith, that you being
rooted and grounded In what? In love. May be able to comprehend
with all saints what is the breadth and length and depth and height
and to know the love of Christ, which passes knowledge that you
might be filled with all the fullness of God. Now, think of
those four things, he says, that we're to know about the love
of Christ, to know the breadth The length, the depth and the
height of the love of Christ. Now, first of all, that you might
know that you might understand that you might have a perception
of the breadth of the wideness of his love. Now, what about
the wideness of his love? It's important for me to understand
this. Here's how wide his love is. Here's who his love encompasses. Here's who he loves. All of his
elect. all of those who believe. That is the breadth of His love. That's how wide it is. It encompasses
all who believe, all of His elect. Now, in making that statement,
He does not, and listen very carefully, He does not love all
men without exception. Doesn't God love everybody? No. No. And to say he does would
be to make his love meaningless. If he loves people who he sends
to hell, what does love mean? I love my daughter. And if it's
in my power, I'm going to make sure she doesn't go to hell.
I know it's not my power, but if it was in my power, I'd make
sure she did. It's in God's power. Now, to
say that He loves all men without exception, even those who end
up perishing, is to make His love meaningless. The breadth
of His love is this. He loves all His people. John
13 says, Having loved His own, which were in the world, He loved
them to the end. Now, somebody that speaks of
God's love in a universal manner, saying He loves all men the same
without exception, they don't even know the love of God. They
have no idea what it is. They don't know the God whom
they say they know. That's a false concept of the
love of God that makes it completely meaningless. That you might know
the length of the love of God. Well, how long is the love of
God? It never had a beginning. And it never has an end. That's
how long it is. And that you might know the depth
of the love of God. I loved that song when He reached
way down for me. Now, here's the depth of the
love of God. God commended His love toward
us in the while we were yet sinners. Christ died for us. Now there's the depth of the
love of God. Sinners. Now, I don't want to
use that in a generic sense. What in the world is a sinner?
A sinner, I've given you this many times, I'm going to give
it to you again. I love thinking about it. A sinner,
first of all, is somebody who all they do is sin. Would that describe you? Honestly?
Before God? A sinner is someone who cannot
not sin. Would that describe you? A sinner
is someone who has no claims upon God. If God passes me by,
just and holy is His name. There's nothing I can do to recommend
myself to God. I have no claims on God. And a sinner is someone who can't
look down their nose at anybody. Now, would that be you? If it is, you're somebody that
God loves. That's the only kind of people
He loves. People that are better than that,
He doesn't love them. You know, in reality, they're
not better than that. They think they are. But the people He loves,
this is the depths of His love, He loves sinners. And then he speaks of the height
of His love. How high is the Lord Jesus Christ?
He's seated at the right hand of the Father, and every believer
is right there gathered together in Him. The Scripture says we're
seated in the heavenlies in Christ Jesus. Whatever glory the Lord
Jesus Christ has, every believer has. Now, Paul says, I want you
to know this. I want you to know the breadth,
the length, the depth and the height of the love of the Lord
Jesus Christ. Now, let's go back to 2 Corinthians
chapter 5. For the love of Christ constrains
us. I'm going to talk more about
what that means in a moment. But look what he says next. Because
we thus judge that if one died for all, then
we're all dead. I could just as easily read,
and I think this is what it means, if one died, as a matter of fact,
it says it this way, if one died for the all, then the all are
dead. That's simple. If one died for all, then the
all dead. But here's the point. We see His love when we see His
death. Now this is when you see the
love of the Lord Jesus Christ. When you see something about
His death. If one died for all, Well, first
of all, who are the all if one God for all? Does it mean all
men without exception? It's the same all that Paul talked
about in Romans chapter eight, verse 32, when he said, what
shall we say to these things of God be for us who can be against
us? He that spared not his own son, but delivered him up for
us all. That's the all he's talking about.
How shall he not? With Him freely give us all things. That's all He's talking about.
All for whom He died. All of His people. If He died
for all, then are all dead. Now, His death. Why did He die? There's one reason for death. Sin. That's the only reason for
death. The wages of sin is death. Now, you and I both know, I hope
we know, that he never sinned in his person, yet he died. And the reason he died is because
my sin became his sin. so that he at that time became
loathsome to God, bearing our sins in his own body on the tree. And here's what amazes me about
all of this. There's a lot that amazes me
by it, but here's what amazes me the most. He who knew no sin
voluntarily took my sin. It wasn't just that it was placed
upon him. He voluntarily took it. For me. He took my sin and suffered hell
for me, because He loved me. I want you to get a hold of that. You know the grace of our Lord
Jesus Christ, that though He were rich, yet for your sakes
He became poor, that you through His poverty might be rich. Paul said in Galatians 2.20,
I live, yet not I, but Christ liveth in me, and the life that
I now live in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God,
who loved me and gave himself for me. Hebrews 12.2 says, Looking
unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy
that was set before him, what joy? Saving me. Yes, doing his Father's will,
but also the joy of saving me, who for the joy that was set
before him endured the cross, despising, counting as nothing
to shame. And you think of the shame. Think
of the shame that you would feel right now if everything in your
heart was put up on a screen for everybody to see. You'd be
so embarrassed. You'd be so humiliated. You'd
be so, you'd get out of here. He felt much more shame than
that. before his father when the sins of his people became
his. Yet for the joy set before him, he endured all that, counting
as nothing the shame, and is set down at the right hand of
God. And how his love to me constrains
me. It has an effect on me. Now let me give you these words
I've given you briefly already and show you the effect the love
of Christ has on his people. It's translated hold. His love
holds me and it won't let me go. I'm imprisoned by his love
and in reality that is the greatest freedom in it. To be imprisoned
by his love. His love keeps me. His love holds me in and keeps
me in and won't let me go. Paul, in Acts 18, 5, says he
was pressed in spirit, and that's the same word. He was constrained. He was pressed in spirit and
testified. You know, if the love of Christ
constrains you, you'll be pressed in spirit to testify the truth
concerning Him. It's translated, lie sick. It means being lovesick. Have you ever been lovesick?
I dare say you've all been lovesick at some time. That's a hard word
to describe, but that's what the love of Christ does to his
people. It's translated, taken with fear. The love of Christ makes me afraid
of displeasing Him. It makes me afraid of dishonoring
Him. It makes me afraid of bringing
reproach on His name. I don't want to do that. If you
love Christ, you dread the thought of bringing His name and His
gospel and His glory down through your own evil conduct. And you
pray for deliverance from that. The love of Christ takes us with
fear I think this is very interesting. The love of Christ one time is
actually translated. Stop our ears. Stop our ears. You know, when they were listening
to Stephen preach, the scripture says they stopped their ears
and with one accord came on him and ended up stoning. Now, here's
the point. The love of Christ makes me stop my ears to anything
that's contrary to him. You know, some people, listen
to me real carefully. Some people are real tolerant
of that which is contrary to Christ. They're real tolerant
of false religion under the name of toleration and love and charity
and unity and so on. And the fact of the matter is,
is all it is is an absence of love for Christ. That's it. If you can tolerate that which
is contrary to him, there's only one reason. You do not love him. And then it's translated where
Paul talked about, I'm in a strait between the two. It puts me in
a strait. I have a desire to depart and
be with Christ, which is far better. But to abide in the flesh
is needful for you. He said that in Philippians chapter
one. But the love of Christ puts you in a strait in this sense.
Now, I want to depart and be with him. Now, I realize, I understand
this, particularly young people. No young person, for the most
part, wants to die. They'd rather experience certain
things in life, and so on. And I understand that. I mean,
if you haven't been married, you want to experience being
married, having a family, having children, and all those different
things. I realize all that. But that being said, if you love
Christ, you want to be with Him. And it puts you in a strait.
You have a desire to depart and be with Christ, which is far
better. It puts you in straight. It throngs
us. His love to me throngs me. Greater love hath no man than
this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. Now that love constrains me. His love to me, that he lay down
his life for me. That he counts me his friend.
That is so amazing that he counts me his friend. Now, if his love
constrains me, that means it makes me guard his words. If
a man loves me, our Lord said, he will keep my words. He'll
guard them. He won't let them fall through.
He won't let them be changed. He believes them exactly as they
are. He that loveth me not, keepeth not my sayings. That's what the
Lord said. He doesn't watch over him. It's
not important to him. It's not really an issue. Why are you
making such a big deal over it? The Lord said, if you love me,
keep my commandments. If you love me, keep my commandments. Believe my gospel. Love my people. That's what he's referring to.
His love to me causes me to love those that he loves and those
who love him. Now, if you love the Lord Jesus
Christ, I must love you. If you love him, I must love
you. Can't help it. I have to. And His love makes me love men
and want to see them saved. I want to see you come to know
the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. I want
you to know His love. I want you to be constrained
by His love. Now, in our text, Paul said,
For the love of Christ constraineth us, because we thus judge That
if one died for all, then are all dead. Paul had some understanding
of this thing of union with Christ. If the one died, then all died.
Just as in Adam all died, in Christ shall all be made alive.
When Christ died, I died. When he was raised, I was raised.
Verse 15. And that he died for all. That
they which live, should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto
him which died for them and rose again. Now, here's the restraint,
the constraint of the love of Christ. It makes you not live
for yourself, but unto him which died for you and rose again. Now, We have reason to deny ourselves,
but we have no reason to live for self. You believe that? We have reason to deny ourselves
completely, but we have no reason to live for self. Now, that is
such of the constraining love of Christ. It makes you feel
like the only way to live is to deny yourself and live for
him, your life is to be a living sacrifice. Now, the man who lives
only for the glory of Christ is a perfect Christian, isn't
he? If that's all he does. The man who desires to live only
for the glory of Christ, but does so imperfectly, is a sincere
Christian. Now, the first fellow I was talking
about is the one who's in glory right now. The second one are
the believers here. They desire, that's the desire
of their heart, to deny self altogether, to take up my cross
and to follow the Lord Jesus Christ. Now the man who lives
supremely for himself, for his family, for his work, even for
the good of mankind, whatever else he is, he's not a Christian. is one who is so constrained
by the love of Christ that they consecrate their lives to him. If that's absent, I don't care
how orthodox somebody is, it's not real. In reality, they're
not orthodox. They may say they are, but they're
not. A believer is someone who is constrained by the love of
the Lord Jesus Christ. He says in verse 15, he died
for all that they which live should not henceforth live unto
themselves, but unto him which died for them and rose again. Now, I think of his love to me. I think of that love that's described,
nothing shall separate us from the love of Christ. That love,
that saving love, that sovereign saving love that wouldn't let
me go, that voluntarily took on my sin, that voluntarily suffered
all the full equivalence of hell for my sake, because He loved
me. Boy, that's a hard thing to get
hold of, isn't it? The fact that He loved you, loved me like that,
that He would go to hell for us. And that's what He did on
the cross. And what's our response to that? Anything less than self-denial,
taking up your cross willingly, the cross of confessing Him and
following Him daily, anything short of that is utterly
unacceptable. I think of what Paul said in
Romans 12, 1 and 2, I beseech you therefore by the mercies
of God that you present your bodies A living sacrifice, holy
and acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. Anything else is unreasonable,
isn't it? You know that, don't you? Anything short of that is
unreasonable. Turn to John 12 for a moment. Verse 20. And there were certain Greeks
among them that came up to worship at the feast. The same came,
therefore, to Philip, which was a Bethsaida of Galilee, and desired
him, saying, Sir, we would see Jesus. Do you desire that? Do you desire
to see the Lord Jesus Christ as He is? Philip cometh and telleth Andrew,
and again Andrew and Philip tell Jesus. And Jesus answered them,
saying, The hour is come that the Son of Man should be glorified. If you ever see Him, you'll see
Him glorified. Verily, verily, I say unto you,
Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abides
alone. But if it die, it bring forth much fruit. Now, he's talking
about his own death. If I don't die, I'll have my
glory, but I'll be all alone. Nobody will be with me. But if
I die, it'll bear much fruit. The salvation of everybody I
die for. And look what he says next, verse
25. He that loveth his life. What? Shall lose it. And he that hates his life in
this world shall keep it until life eternal. Now, what does
it mean to hate your life? Our passage of Scripture says
if I love my life, I'm going to lose it. And somebody says,
well, I'm pretty happy with my life. I mean, I'm kind of, I
enjoy my family life. I enjoy my children. I enjoy
my work. What are you talking about when
he says we hate our life? Let me give you some help on
this. Look at Luke 14. Verse 26. Verse 25. And there were great
multitudes with him, and he turned and said unto them, If any man
come to me, and hate not, His father, and mother, and wife,
and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, in his own life
also, he cannot be my disciple. Now does he mean that I'm called
upon to hate my mom and dad? And I'm supposed to hate my wife,
and I'm supposed to hate my children? And I'm supposed to despise them? That's the only way I'm... You
know it doesn't mean that. It means, compared with him,
We disregard everyone else. And that's what love to Christ
is. If it's Christ or my mom and dad, my mom and dad got to
go. If it's Christ or my wife, my wife has to go. If it's Christ
or my child, my child has to go. Everything is viewed in relative
disappointment, no importance in comparison to him. That's what it means to hate
your life. When it comes time for you to
die, in one of these days, you're going to know you don't have
much longer. When it comes time for you to die, you reckon you would regret too
much self-denial in your life. I wish I would have lived more
for myself. I made a mistake. It was wrong. I wish I wouldn't
have suffered for the cause of Christ. I wish I would have saved.
You won't be saying anything like that, will you? You wouldn't
even think about think of how think of your priority when you're
dying. You know, you're just going to die soon. What what
would you be thinking about? You know what you'd be thinking
about? And all these things that you're thinking about right now,
you'd see how really unimportant they are, wouldn't you? They're
just not very important. The love of Christ constraineth
us. Back to 2 Corinthians 5. We close
with this. Verse 15, And that he died for
all that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves,
but unto him which died for them, and rose again. Wherefore, in
light of that, henceforth know we no man after the flesh. Now here's the effect of this
constraining love. You know no man after the flesh. Though we have known Christ after
the flesh, yet henceforth know we Him no more. We now see or
judge things according to Him, not according to worldly standards. We're really not impressed with
the flesh. We're not impressed with what
the flesh is impressed with. We're really not. You think of what all the world
considers impressive and desirable and so on. In light of his love
to you. It's nothing. We judge no man
after the flesh, we don't look at men in that light, what the
flesh is impressed with. Some people in that day had seen
Christ in the flesh. And I imagine they were probably
pretty proud of that. I actually saw him in the flesh.
I saw him work miracles. I saw him do these things. I
saw that. You know how much that matters?
Nothing. Nothing. That's just a fleshly
way of looking at things. He said one time we knew Christ
in a fleshly manner, but no longer. No longer. The love of Christ constrains
us. When I survey the wondrous cross,
on which the Prince of Glory died, my greatest gain I count
but loss, and poor contempt on all my pride." Let's pray.