much strife and division among
people who believe grace as I see today. I haven't seen as much
as I see today. Strife and division, discord,
lack of love. And it's caused by four things
Solomon said in Proverbs. Proverbs 10, 12, he said, hatred
stirs up strife. That's what stirs up strife,
it's hatred. Love, he says, covers all sin. Love beareth all things, believeth
all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things. Love never
fails. If you ever loved someone, you
never stopped loving them. If you stopped loving them, you
never did love them. That's just so. Love never fails. Not the
love of God, not the love he gives us for others. Hatred stirs
up strife. He said in Proverbs 15, 18, a
wrathful person, a wrathful person stirs up strife. But he that
is slow to anger appeases strife. Then he said again in Proverbs
28, he that is proud of heart Oh, that's a shot, isn't it?
He that's proud, that's the fellow that stirs up strife. Vainglory,
strife and vainglory. Strife is caused by vainglory.
Hatred, a wrathful person, and he that's proud stirs up strife,
but he that putteth his trust in the Lord shall be enriched. And he says in Proverbs 29, an
angry man. stirreth up strife." If he's
angry, he stirreth up strife. I preached. That's very long
ago in a place where I used to preach quite a bit. And having preached there for
30 years, I've been preaching in that town, that city, for
30 years. off and on, many times, hundreds
of messages, I guess. Used to go there every year.
And I preached there not so awful long ago to a large congregation
of people and looked out over that congregation
and knew most of them. Knew them very, very well. And
over that congregation were so many people that didn't love
each other. They love Christ, they believe
Christ, they believe the gospel. It's like they've had so many
divisions and strifes and divorces. I look over here, there's a man
that I know and love. Over there is his wife. They
don't love each other. They both love me. This is embarrassing.
To stand after a service and people come up and have to stand
off. The other person has to stand
off here while this one comes and hugs my neck and says, glad
you enjoyed your message. Love your gospel. Thank you. Now this one can come because
they're not speaking. There's something wrong with
that, isn't there? Isn't there something dead wrong
with that? And I don't understand it. And
I can faithfully and truthfully say I've met a man who's a great
musician, a great musician like you. We've had so much fellowship
and happy times He's not in church anymore. But he hugged my neck. I said, I love you, called his
name. He said, I love you too. But the man down here behind
me, they don't love each other. They can't worship together. They can't sing together. They
can't attend church together because they disagree on some
point. Paul says here, your hearts need
to be comforted, comforted. And here is, what's the solution? There are two things that will
remedy a situation like that, two things that will remedy a
situation. If there's any, I don't know of any here like that, but
there's two things that will remedy a situation like that.
The first one is given right here, being knit together in
love. That, like he said a while ago,
Proverbs said love covers a multitude of sins, being knit together
in love. And there are three kinds of
love that I would mention to you along this line. Number one
is his love, his love for us, Christ's love for us. That's
what Paul says. If you care to look at 2 Corinthians
5, this is what constraineth me, this is what motivates me. His love for me. In 2 Corinthians
5, verse 14, For the love of Christ constraineth us, because
we thus judge, if one died for all, then we are all dead. That's
not the end of the sinners now, colon there. And he died for
all, that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves,
but unto him which died for them and rose again. His love constrains
us. to love each other. And there are places where I
preached. I can't preach there anymore because I disagree with
them or they disagree with me on a point. And you can't just disagree on
a point because to many of them, if you disagree on a point, you're
not only wrong, you're lost. You're lost because I don't agree
with a preacher. On a particular point, I'm lost.
I don't preach the gospel. There's something wrong with
that kind of thinking. That's wicked, to tell a man he doesn't
preach the gospel, or he's lost because he doesn't agree with
you. You know, over here in Philippians, while I'm on this, let's just
look at this a little bit. Philippians chapter 1. You know,
the Apostle Paul wasn't the most popular fellow on earth, by any
stretch of the imagination. And he says he was in prison
when he wrote Philippians 1. And he says in verse 12 of Philippians
1, I would that you should understand, brethren, that the things which
happen unto me have fallen out rather unto the frethence of
the gospel, so that my bonds in Christ are manifest in all
the palace and all other places. Now, he's in prison, and the
things that have happened to him, the way he's been mistreated
and despised for the gospel's sake and put in prison. He said, but many brethren in
the Lord. Now remember, hang on to that,
many brethren in the Lord. These are saved men, these are
God's men, these are preachers. They're brethren in the Lord,
Paul said. That's what he calls them. Waxing confident by my
bonds, my chains and my imprisonment and my boldness and my courage,
they're much bolder to speak the word without fear. In other
words, the brethren in the Lord, my preacher brethren, see the
things I've suffered for Christ and the way I've been treated
for the gospel, and they're encouraged. They say, well, if Paul can do
this, I can too. If Paul can be faithful even
under death, I can too. They get encouraged to preach.
Some indeed preach Christ, even of envy. Some of them didn't
like Paul. They said, well, he's getting
what he deserves. If he'd kept his mouth shut, he wouldn't be there. They're critical. They don't
know the full story, but we don't always have to know the full
story to give our opinion, do we? So some preach Christ even
of envy and strife and some of goodwill. And one preached Christ
of contention, not sincerely, supposing to add affliction to
my bonds, but the other preached Christ of love, knowing I'm set
for the defense of the gospel. Well, what does it matter? Notwithstanding in every way,
whether in pretense or truth, whether totally accurately or
inaccurately, or whether with the right motive or the wrong
motive, Christ is preached! And I rejoice. They're my brothers. We may not agree on everything.
He and Peter didn't agree on a point or two, and had a conflict. He and Barnabas didn't agree
on a point or two. He and John Mark didn't agree
on a point or two. One time he said, only Luke is
with me. I don't have anybody like-minded
but Luke. But they were brethren. Let me
tell you a story. The church that Charles Spurgeon
pastored in England, was there a whole lot of years before Spurgeon
ever came along. In fact, way back in 1600 and
something, that church was there. Carter Lane, New Park Street,
they named different names as they moved it in different locations.
But Benjamin Keech was pastor there back in 1600 and something.
And then in 1720, They called a young 23-year-old preacher
named John Gill to be their pastor. One of the greatest writers and
preachers that ever lived. Not at that time, but he became
23 years old. And he stayed there until he
died in November of 1771. He pastored that church 51 years,
two years longer than I've been here. I was reading his story
yesterday. Pastor of that church, 51 years. Started at 23, 51 years, and
he died exactly my age, 74. But Dr. Gill got to where he
could hardly preach. He was so weak in body. He preached just one time on
Sunday. That's all he preached. Congregation went down because
it wasn't an effective ministry. They wanted to get a younger
man to come and help him, to get a co-pastor, and he asked
one of them, he said, you ever heard of a co-husband? But anyway, he died, and the
church called a young man named John Rippon, John Rippon, who
was 20 years old. Of course, they didn't live as
long back then, Rod. They started school when they
were four or five and then went to the university when they were
12, but he was 20 years old. Now this great church had Dr.
Gill for 51 years, and they called the young man 20 years old. And
some of the older members said, we're not going to sit under
a 20-year-old preacher, not after we've been listening to that
old man all these years, that old giant, you know, Dr. Gill.
So 40 of them, 40 of the leading older people, left the church. They left the church. But do you know what that young
pastor did at 20 years old? He was so wise, John Ripon. He
got up after they left, those 40 leading folks, older people,
left the church, went down the road and started another church.
He got up and said, Brethren, those people are our brethren,
and we love them. Let's help them build their church.
I don't blame them for leaving. He said, I'm not near the preacher
their pastor was. So I still love them, and we
love them, and let's take up an offer." And they took up over
$500. This is 1771. You know what that much money
is? 300 pounds is what it was. And
I knew you wouldn't know how that weighed, so I changed it
to dollars. They took up $500 and gave it
to that church. And they were so happy, and they
just became real close. And they called the pastor, 19
years old. I think we're so, the things
we divide over we found out they don't amount to nothing. Nothing. They called a boy, 19 years old,
and Brother Rippon preached his ordination ceremony. Oh, isn't
that sweet? So they had two churches then,
but they were just so close. But we can't do that in the year
2000. If you don't agree with me, you're lost. If you don't
agree with me, you don't preach the gospel. If you don't agree
with me, I don't speak to you. There's something wrong with
that now. And I know what I'm talking about. I know these people
I preach to love Christ. I know they do. I know they do. I've known them too long. You
see, I'll tell you there's three things about this. First, it's
his love for me, Christ's love for me. It's our love that motivates
us. His love constrains us, motivates
us, and our love for one another motivates us. To feed his sheep,
be ye kind one to another, and forgive one another, even
as God, for Christ's sake, forgives you. And then the third love is our
love for each other, determines our conduct toward each other.
Let me show you something here. Turn to Philemon 9, Philemon,
verse 9. There's only one chapter in Philemon,
but I want you to look at verse 9. Paul appeals, and this is
what I'm appealing for, and I don't know whether this message will
get anywhere beyond these walls to anybody else, or whether it
will get It will gain any hearing or accomplish any results, but
it's true nevertheless. This young man, this slave, had
run away from Philemon, and we believe had stolen from him,
robbed him. And he left, and he went to Rome. And while Paul was in that prison,
he visited Paul in that hired house, and God saved him. Paul said so, didn't he? He said,
Onesimus has been begotten in my bonds. He knows Christ, he's
a brother. And he wrote the Philemon, and
he sent the letter by Onesimus and told him, he said, you receive
this man now, no longer a slave, but a brother. And you receive
this man as you receive me. Maybe that's what I ought to
tell folks. Receive him as you receive me. We're brothers. But
he said, you receive, now look at verse 9, and he said, verse
8, in verse 8 he said, wherefore I could be bold in Christ, I
am an apostle, he said, I could command you to do this. You know
what he said to Cecil? I could command you to do this,
to receive this brother. Yet, for love's sake, I rather
be secretive. I'm going to put this on this
basis right here. You receive him because you love
him, you love Christ, and you love me. I guess that's a pretty
good reason for love, see. For love, see. I rather beseech ye, being such
a one as Paul the aged, and now a prisoner of Jesus Christ, I
beseech you for my son Onesimus, whom I begotten in my bonds,
who in time past was to be unprofitable, but now he's profitable to me
and to you too. Would you receive him for love's
sake?" I found another verse over here in 1 Corinthians 9,
not only for love's sake, but here's something I would like
to present to all the folks that have difficulty with getting
along with others who disagree with them, or who are different
from them, or who may not see things exactly alike. I'm not
talking about the gospel of Christ now. I'm not talking about the
basic doctrines of Christ. You know what we believe. I'm
talking about where we just don't See, I had an eye on certain
things. But I would beseech like Paul
for love's sake. Now, here's another reason. In 1 Corinthians 9, verse 23. Listen to this. 1 Corinthians
9, verse 23. And this I do, verse 22. Let's read this. To the weak
became I as wheat, that I might gain the wheat. I made all things
to all men. That's Paul's ministry. You don't compromise the gospel
by getting along with people, by loving folks, by understanding
that they're weak and that they're frail and they don't know as
much as you know. They haven't been around as long
as you've been around. They haven't had the experience you've had.
So don't be so high and mighty. Come down where they are. To
the weak, be weak. That's what he's saying. To the
weak, became I as weak, that I might gain the weak. To the
strong, I'll be strong. I made all things, to all men,
that I might by all means save some, and this I do for the gospel's
sake. For the gospel's sake. that I might be partaker thereof
with you. Do you see what I'm trying to
say? For the gospel's sake. For love's sake. For the gospel's
sake. And then the third is 2 Corinthians
4, over just a little bit, is another reason that ought to
motivate us. For love's sake, for the gospel's
sake, to protect the gospel, to adorn the gospel, to keep
bringing reproach on the gospel. Folks, they see this. If people who believe grace can't
get along, why would they have any confidence in our grace?
If it hadn't done anything for us, it wouldn't do anything for
them. That's their attitude. If grace won't keep two married
people together, what can? Why don't us can? God can't keep
them together. If the gospel can't keep them
together, if the grace of God can't keep them together, can't
keep them to love one another, what will? In 2 Corinthians 4,
verse 5, listen. We preach not ourselves, but
Christ Jesus the Lord, and ourselves your servants for Jesus' sake. That's a pretty good reason to
do whatever I do. For love's sake. for the gospel's
sake and for Christ's sake. Well, I said there were two things
that would remedy this strife and discord and division. The first one, over here in Colossians
2, the first one is the love for one another, being knit together
in love, loving one another, loving one another. You love
your children. You don't stop loving them. It
doesn't matter how far out in left field they got. I got a
letter from somebody just not long ago with their daughter's
an alcoholic. She's ruined her marriage and
her life and estranged from her children and attempted suicide. But the mother loves her. Come
on, live with me, darling. I love you, I'll help you, I'll
encourage you, I'll do all I can do for you. I love you." Well,
why can't we love God's children, our brothers and our sisters? But the second thing is here,
is that verse 2 says, "...your hearts might be comforted, being
knit together in love, and all riches." Here's the second thing.
under all riches of the full assurance of understanding and
acknowledgement of the mystery of God, of the Father, and of
Christ. Here's the second thing that will make of us what we
ought to be and who we ought to be, is an understanding and
acknowledgement of the gospel of Christ, the mystery of God
the Father and God the Son. The kingdom of Christ is the
kingdom of peace and joy and fellowship and forgiveness and
is made up of people in whose heart God has shed abroad his
divine love and an understanding of his grace. That's right. An
understanding of his grace. And he describes us over here
in 1 Peter 2. In 1 Peter 2, he describes us
in verse 9. He says this about us in 1 Peter
2.9, you are chosen generation. You're chosen. God picked you
out. God elected you. He chose you. You're special, and they are
too. And secondly, you're a royal
priesthood, king priest. You're royal family, family of
princes and princesses, kings. And you're a holy nation. in
the righteousness of Christ, pure and holy, and you're peculiar,
you're purchased people, a purchased people, that you should show
forward, how? How? In your conversation, in
your conduct, in your attitude, in your walk, in your talk, show
forward the praises of him. who hath called you, who hath
chosen you, who hath made you kings and priests, who hath given
you holiness, and made you a special people, and called you out of
darkness into his marvelous light, which in time past were not a
people, but now you're the people of God. You had not obtained
mercy, but now you've obtained mercy. You know, there's so much
conflict out there with unsaved people where you work. I feel
it when I go out, just go out in public. I feel it, I see it,
I sense it, and I know you fight that battle all the time. But
we don't need to fight it here. We don't need to fight it among
people who know Christ, who love Christ. We don't need to fight
with them. We don't need to be divided.
among ourselves, I don't understand it. I do not understand it. I cannot, I've been just stricken
with this thing since I had that experience. I just don't understand
that. I don't understand it. If we hated the gospel, it would
be different. If we denied Christ, it would be different. If we
didn't believe in God's grace, it would be different. If we
didn't believe in God's sovereign, these people, That message I
personally ever learned came up and said, I loved your message. And they did. I want you to love the object
of the message. I want you to love the object
of the message. If you love Christ, you love
those that are his. Because here's the centerpiece. I told them
that lecture, and then in all these chapters in the scripture,
there's usually a centerpiece. A centerpiece is that bowl of
flowers right in the middle of the table with a little doily
or whatever you ladies put under it. That's the centerpiece. That
gets everybody's attention, the table, my chair, the centerpiece. And all this other is important
and necessary, but this catches your eye. Here's the centerpiece.
In whom? We have an understanding and
acknowledgment of the mystery of God the Father and of Jesus
Christ his Son, in whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and
knowledge. It's all in him. Look down at
verse 9. Here's another verse that's the
centerpiece. For in him, it says the same thing, in whom, in him
dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily. It's all
in him. God's name. He wears the name. Jehovah God. He wears the name Wonderful,
Counselor, the Mighty God, the Prince of Peace, the Everlasting
Father. He wears the name. He wears the
glory. Glorify me with the glory which I had with thee before
the world was. His is the creation. All things
were made by Him and for Him and are held together by Him.
The providence of God, the people of God. He said, Thine are mine
and mine are thine. Thine of mine and mine of thine. It's in him, all of those treasures
of wisdom and knowledge. Now I'm going to close, but I
want to show you this right here in verse 4. These things I say,
and what I've tried to say tonight to you is not so much that you
need it, it's just so much you need it
to understand maybe what's going on around you, to be aware of
it and to be warned about it. But he said, This I say to you,
lest any man should beguile you with enticing words, and take
you away from two things. Now watch this. Beguile you with
enticing words. Where have you seen that word
beguile before? Let's turn over to 2 Corinthians. Chapter 11. Here's where that word beguile
is dealt with another time. In 2 Corinthians 11, verse 1,
With the God you could bear with me a little in my folly. Indeed,
you do bear with me, because I am jealous over you with godly
jealousy. I have espoused you to one husband,
Christ, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ.
lest by any means as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtlety,
your minds would be corrupted from what? The simplicity that's
in Christ. That's the first thing. That's
where they operate. That's where false preachers
and false teachers operate, that simplicity in Christ. In him
are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. In him
all the fullness of the Godhead bodily. and you're complete in
him, and that they don't believe, so they seek to beguile you from
that simplicity of Christ, singleness of Christ. It's all in him. It's all in him. And that's where
these fellows operate, beguiling you, beguiling you. That's deceiving
you, deluding you, deluding you. And here's the second thing.
The simplicity in Christ in verse 5, though I be absent in the
flesh, yet am I with you in the spirit, joying and beholding
your order and the steadfastness of your faith in Christ. As you
have therefore received Christ Jesus, walk in him. These two
things will keep you from being deceived and deluded and taken
away. The simplicity that's in Christ.
The singleness that's in Christ. and the steadfastness of your
faith in him. How did you receive him? How
did you receive Christ? When you first heard the gospel,
first heard the gospel, and I had several people at this place
tell me, you're the first preacher I heard really preach the gospel.
When you first heard the gospel, how did you receive Christ? I and you both received him as
the sole and sufficient revelation of God, right? He still is. That's your only revelation of
God's Christ. Secondly, I received him as my
one atonement, my offering for sin. He still is. Thirdly, I received him as my
wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption. He still is.
I received him as the end and goal of the law. Christ is the
fulfillment of all the Old Testament promises, prophecies and patterns
and pictures and types. He's the end of the law for righteousness
to them that believe. That's how I received him. He
still is. I received him as my sovereign master and Lord, my
great high priest and the fountain of all grace. He still is. And
nothing changed about that. I received him as my resurrection
and life and all my salvation. And he still is. He still is. So walk in him. Be rooted in
him. The trees planted. Now listen
to me, let me tell you something. God, as far as I know, never
transplants one of his trees. It wouldn't be necessary. We're
planted by the rivers of living water. We're the planting of
the Lord. That's what scripture said. We're
the planting of the Lord and we're trees of righteousness.
And there's no reason for him ever transplanting that tree.
He plants it where he means for it to be. He plants it To serve
what he means for it to serve, he plants it to bear fruit as
he means for it to bear fruit for that particular place, time,
and generation David preached to his generation. There's no
reason he didn't pick it up and move it over yonder. He means
be faithful unto death and I'll give you the crown of life. It's
steadfastness. Steadfastness. Singleness of
Christ. Why would I look anywhere else?
All the fullness of God is in Him. All the treasures of wisdom
and knowledge is in Him. All the salvation and redemption
is in Him. Why would I look anywhere else? And my steadfastness, the steadfastness
of your faith in Christ. I've got to read this. I've got
a couple of moments. Verse 7. The roots in me, Joseph, rooted
and built up in him, established in the faith, as you have been
taught, abounding therein with thanksgiving. But don't let any
man spoil you. Here are three things that men
use to spoil one's philosophy. That's human wisdom and human
reason. Human wisdom and human reason, human thoughts, are never
to be introduced into the worship of God or the doctrine of Christ. human reason, philosophy, or
the traditions of men. Traditions of men. Thousands
of infants are sprinkled every year. Millions of dollars have
been raised to get people out of purgatory. Easter and Christmas
have become the focal point and chief religious celebration.
Nowhere in the Word of God are there just traditions of men.
These are traditions. Most of the Jews put their hands
on the Bible and swear that they'll tell the truth, and Christ said,
don't you swear at all. Not at all. Let your yea be yea
and your nay nay. No one even swear by anything
in heaven or earth. Don't you swear at all. You don't have
to. If you're a believer, you tell the truth. But that's traditions
of men. Robes and processionals. Candles
and crosses. Choirs and altar calls. Nowhere
in the scripture. that men and women are spoiled. And you know what that word spoiled
means? It means to take away, to rob
you, to rob you of your liberty in Christ, to rob you of your
freedom in Christ, to rob you of your happiness in Christ,
to rob you of your confidence in Christ. And they do it with
intellectualism, they do it with philosophy, they do it with traditions
of men, and they do it thirdly with the rudiments of the world.
And those rudiments of the world, circumcision, Sabbath keeping,
diets, eat not, touch not, taste not, handle not, feast days,
tithing, all the Old Testament rules and regulations that are
fulfilled by Christ. That's the way they deceive men. In verse 8, let's look at it
again. Beware lest any man rob you. You know, when the old armies
used to come in and capture, they took spoil out. That's where that word comes
from. They took spoil. They raped the town. They just
took everything out of it. That's the spoil. You watch out. You've got a love in Christ and
a happiness in Christ and a forgiveness in Christ. freedom in Christ
and liberty in Christ and peace in Christ. Don't let anybody
come along with philosophy, intellectualism, human thoughts, denominational
traditions that are built upon nothing in the world but inventions
of men, word of God's not in them, or try to take you back.
Christ is not enough. You've got to do this or do that.
You've got to do what Moses said. And he said that's not after
Christ. They do it after the rudiments
of the world. They don't do it after Christ.
For in him dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily. And listen, you're complete in him. You're
complete in him. And what's the conflict? What's
the conflict? Well, we just don't see things
that we don't do things. Well, fine. Love each other,
pray for each other. You know, this thing, I do know
this, I do know that a bad spirit doesn't destroy the person of
whom you feel bad, badly destroys you. That's exactly right. He can go on his way, but you
can't get away from it. Your anger and lack of love is
not going to hurt him. Oh, it'll hurt him, yes, it'll
hurt, it'll hurt, but it won't destroy him, because he can go
on in Christ and in peace. But you've got this thing festering
in here, and it'll destroy you. That's what it does. Well, I
got off, didn't I? But I think it'll bless us. I
got on things that I'm thinking about. I preach what I'm thinking
about. I preach what I'm burdened about.
Preach what I'm burdened about.