The Love and Unity Among Believers

Alright, let's look at Romans
chapter 15 for a few minutes. The subject tonight is the love
and unity among believers. David wrote these words, Behold
how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together
in unity. It is like the precious ointment
upon the head that ran down the beard, even the beard of the
high priest, Aaron, that went down to the skirts of his garment,
the Spirit of God. Now remember, we're talking about
love and unity among brethren. Not among religious people. That's
an impossibility. Our Lord condemned the self-righteous. He said in Matthew chapter 15,
if you care to look over there a moment, in Matthew 15, the
Lord said in verse 10, He called the multitude and said
unto them, Hear and understand. It's not that which goeth into
the mouth that defileth a man, but that, he said in another
place, which comes out of his heart. And then came his disciples and said unto him in verse 12,
knowest thou that the Pharisees were offended after they heard
this saying? These religious Pharisees heard
him say, it's not what goes into the mouth, but what comes out
of the mouth that defiles a man, and they were offended. And he
answered and said, every plant which my heavenly Father hath
not planted shall be rooted up. Let them alone. Let them alone. You can't help them, just let
them alone. They be blind leaders of the
blind. And if the blind lead the blind, both shall fall into
the ditch. So you don't expect a unity to
exist between people who believe in works and people who believe
in grace. It's an impossibility. It can't be done. And then also over in Galatians
chapter 1, Paul said this, in Galatians chapter 1, Speaking
to that church at Galatia, he said, I marvel, verse 6 of Galatians
1, I marvel that you are so soon removed from him that called
you into the grace of Christ to another gospel, which is not
another, but there be some that troubled you and would pervert
the gospel of Christ. But though we or an angel from
heaven preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have
preached, let him be accursed. That's not unity, that's division
over the gospel. As I said before, so say I now
again, Paul said, if any man preach any other gospel unto
you than that you have received, let him be accursed. So this love and unity, spirit
of fellowship, we're talking about in chapter 15, is not with all religious people. It's
with believers. In fact, in Romans 16, right
across the page there, in Romans 16 verse 17, Paul said this, in Romans 16, 17, I beseech you,
brethren, to mark them which cause division and offenses contrary to the doctrine which
you learned, and avoid them." What he's pleading for in chapter
15 is for love and unity and forbearance among those who love
the Redeemer. That's where it starts. You love
Christ and then you love one another. You love the gospel,
you love the Word of God, and then you have unity between yourselves. Before I start with verse 1,
look at Romans 14. We always like to look back a
few verses from where we start. And he says in Romans 14, verse
17, and this is a key statement. For the kingdom of God is not
meat and drink. It's not straightening people
out on all of these peculiarities and differences, meat and drink. But the kingdom of God is righteousness,
and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost. For he that in these things,
righteousness, peace, and joy, he that in these things serveth
Christ, is acceptable to God. You see what he's saying? The
kingdom of God is not to get everybody doing everything like
you do, thinking in every area like you do, and I do. The kingdom
of God has to do with the person and work of Christ, His righteousness,
His peace, and His joy. That's the kingdom of God. And
He, that in these things, serveth Christ he's acceptable to God
and approved of men so let us therefore follow after these
things the things which make for peace and the things wherewith one
may edify another so now chapter 15 verse 1 we then that are strong or to
bear the infirmities, shortcomings, failures of the weak and not
to please ourselves. Now, there's nobody here going
to say, I'm strong. No believer claims to be strong
in himself. The Apostle Paul said, when I'm
weak, then am I strong. And in Galatians 6, verse 3,
he wrote this, Galatians 6, verse 3, he said, if any man thinks
himself to be something when he's nothing, he deceives himself. Well, what's this talking about,
we then that are strong? Well, it's talking about this,
we're strong in the faith of Christ. We believe Christ. We're strong in the gospel of
the grace of God. We're strong in that. We don't
waver on this business of how God saves sinners, how God can
be just and justified. Strong in faith, we believe God.
Secondly, we're strong and sure in this matter of His righteousness
and His atonement. We live by the grace of God.
We stand before God through the righteousness of Christ, through
the blood of the Savior. We're strong in that. And we're
strong and sure in his deliverance from ceremonial religion and
from law and works. That's the strong believer. He's
strong in Christ. He's strong in the gospel. He's
strong in the confidence of the Redeemer. And what he's saying
here, we that are strong ought to bear the infirmities of the
weak. ought to understand and forgive
and bear up with them, those who have doubts and fears and
infirmities and weakness, younger, immature and weak brethren. I tell you, weakness arises from
immaturity and inexperience. That's where you find it most
of the time. You find this weakness in immaturity and lack of experience. Now look at verse 2. And let
every one of us, every one of us, in the grace of God, in the
righteousness of Christ, let us please his neighbor for his
good edification. Now, no part of the gospel is
to be sacrificed to please anybody. Paul said, if I please men, I'm
not the servant of Christ. And we're not even talking about
that. Not talking about that at all. No part of the gospel
is ever sacrificed for peace among men. And no part of the
revealed Word of God is to be denied to keep a weak brother
happy. That certainly wouldn't edify him, would it? But what
he's talking about here is this, in matters of personality, in
matters, in things indifferent. Let's give in. If the gospel
is not at stake, if the word of God is not at stake, if the
future and glory of the Lord Jesus Christ and the church is
not at stake, give in. And don't try to please yourself.
Keep the door open to the brother in order that he may learn the
gospel more perfectly. Understand? Give in. For it says
here in verse 3, even for even Christ. Even our Lord Jesus Christ
pleased not Himself. He pleased not Himself. How patient
and long-suffering He was with those disciples. Let's just use
them as an example. Don't you know His divine nature? rose up against all these failures
and failings and infirmities on the part of His disciples.
Don't you know that? Our Lord looked at them and said
one day, when did you doubt? O ye of little faith, when did
you doubt? Their doubts troubled His soul,
grieved His soul, grieved His nature. He took them out to the
garden there to pray that night and left them. He said, stay
here and watch now, lest you enter into temptation. And he
went a little ways and kneeled and prayed. One of the most critical
times of his entire earthly pilgrimage. And he came back and they were
asleep. And he said, couldn't you watch even an hour? See what
I'm talking about? Let every one of us please his
neighbor for his good to edification. Don't compromise the gospel.
You don't compromise any part of the truth of God. But in things
indifferent and in their weaknesses and doubts and failures and fears,
and these things, be like the master who didn't please himself. Woman at the well. He asked her
for a drink. She said, well, you're a Jew
asking me, a Samaritan, for a drink of water. Oh, he said, if you
just knew. He didn't stomp on her and say,
well, get your own water, you know. He said, if you knew who
the gift of God and who's speaking to you, you'd ask me. And he
just kept talking. Please, not himself. He's talking to the disciples,
and Peter said, these other fellows might lead you, but I won't.
Oh, he said, Peter. Peter, my, my, before the cock
crows three times, you're going to swear you never knew me. And then there in John 14, when
he was talking to them before he went to the cross, he said
to them, he said, don't be troubled, let not your heart be troubled.
You believe in God, believe in me. I go to prepare a place for
you. If I go and prepare a place for
you, I'll come again and receive you unto myself. That where I
am, there you may be also. One of them said, we don't know
where you're going, how can we know the way? But you know that was
like a shot in his eye, an arrow, and the way he said. One of them
said, show us the Father. Oh my, I've been so long time
with you, you don't know. See what I'm talking about? That's what we're saying here.
You that are strong, you that know the gospel and love the
gospel, know Christ and love Christ, bear the infirmities
of the weak. Don't just, don't try to please
yourself. Let every one of us please his
neighbor for his good. Keep the door open so they can
hear the gospel. Keep the door open. For even
Christ our Lord pleased not himself. with patience and long-suffering
and tenderness and kindness, he dealt with these dear men
three and a half years, and put up with all of their weaknesses
and infirmities and doubts and fears." And then it says here,
"...the reproaches of them that reproached thee fell on me."
Our Lord dreaded pain like anyone else, buddy boy. His soul abhorred sin It's indescribable
how His soul rebelled against sin, against bearing sin. But He bore it. He bore it for
us. That's our example. I tell you, you can't motivate anybody to
do anything with a whip of the law. It cannot be done. You do it with Christ. That's
our example, to give as He gave Himself, to love as He loved
us, to forgive as He forgave us. If my Father sent me, I send
you. Everything has to do with Christ.
Believers are not motivated by fear, by reward, or by sense
of duty, or by requirements of the law. Christ constrains me,
His love. That's right. Turn to Philippians
2. Keep your text open back there.
Turn to Philippians 2. This is what we are talking about. Let this mind, this attitude,
this spirit be in you. Philippians 2.5. Let this spirit, attitude, mind
be in you which was also in Christ Jesus. Who being in the form
of God thought it not robbery to be equal with God. But he
made himself of no reputation, took upon him the form of a servant,
was made in the likeness of men, and being found in habit, in
fashion as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient unto
death, even the death of the cross." That's my example. That's my example. All right, back to the text,
Romans 15. Verse 4 says, for whatsoever
things were written aforetime, were written for our learning, for our learning, that we through
patience and comfort of the scriptures might have hope. Now two things
are shown here. He says, whatsoever things were
written aforetime were written for our learning. These examples
were written In the scriptures about men like
ourselves, Abraham, and Lot, and Isaac, and Jacob, and Moses,
and David, and all these other men, how that God Almighty in
mercy, and love, and grace dealt with them. He dealt with them
in their weaknesses. He dealt with them in their infirmities.
He was patient and long-suffering with them. He comforted them.
He owned them. He never forsook them. And that
gives us hope. We learn from that. We learn
from that. We learn the mercy and grace
of God from those examples. But secondly, what's this now?
These examples were for our learning in another area. We don't just use these examples
and God dealing with these men as preaching material or proof
of a doctrine. But we learn from these examples
to show mercy ourselves. See? We learn from these examples
something about showing grace and love and mercy ourselves. If I, your Lord, have washed
your feet, you do it. That's what I'm talking about.
You do it. You'll do it. And if I don't learn from these
examples, something's wrong. If I can read these examples
of God's mercy and longsuffering and grace and patience to others,
be ye merciful as your Father's merciful. Be ye holy as your
Father's merciful. Be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted,
forgiving one another as God for Christ's sake forgave you.
That's what they're there for. See what I'm saying? It's twofold.
Read it again, verse 4. Whatsoever things were written
afore it, Old and New Testament, were written for our learning,
that we, through patience and comforts of the Scripture, might
have hope. I read this and I get some comfort. I get some comfort and some joy
and some peace, but that's not the only thing it's for. Imitate
it. I learned to be like these. I
learned to be like him. I learned to be like Abraham
in believing God, in giving in. Lot said, our herdsman can't
get along. Abraham said, well, take your
choice. And he did. Abraham said, I'll go the other
way. I'm supposed to learn from that. I'm supposed to learn from
that and imitate it. It's not for my entertainment,
it's for my edification. That's right, edification. Alright,
now look at verse 5. Here's where I want us to tarry
for a few minutes. And this is, remember the subject,
we that are strong ought to bear the infirmities of the weak.
Don't please yourself, me either. Let every one of us please his
neighbor for his good, and so forth. You read it. All right.
Now, verse 5. The God of patience and comfort. The God of patience and comfort.
Now, my friends, I know and you know that God is sovereign. God
is just, God is righteous, and God is holy. I tremble at His
Word. If you call God Father, you pass
the time of your sojourn here in fear. God is on the throne,
the Lord thy God reigneth, but it says he's the God also of
patience and of comfort. God is love. God is love. Plenteous in mercy. He delights
to show mercy. David said, Out of the depths
have I cried unto thee, O Lord, hear my voice. If thou shouldest
mark iniquity, who could stand? But there's forgiveness with
thee. I preach the power of God and
the sovereignty of God and the justice and truth and righteousness
of God and the holiness of God and how that men of old feared
the Lord. But I also preach that He's a
loving, gracious, kind, and merciful Heavenly Father. He's a God of
patience and a God of love. God, His love, and a God of comfort. He's been patient with us. He's
borne our sins in His body on the tree. He's heard our confessions. He's healed our hurt. He's forgiven
us 10,000 times 10,000, not 7 times 70. He stood by us in every fall
and received us back after every departure. He's loved us in spite
of all that we've done and said and thought. He's loved us and
been tender and kind and compassionate. Now verse 5, the God of patience
and comfort grant you to be like-minded. That's what he said. Grant you
to be like-minded. That's what we're talking about. Grant you to be like-minded.
Watch it. toward one another. You mean, preacher, you mean
to tell me that I am to love like Christ loved me? Yes, sir. I am to forgive as He forgave
me? Yes, sir. I am to forbear and
show love and mercy and generosity and kindness Even to those who
misuse and abuse me as Christ did for me? Yes, sir. It's impossible. That's what will come back. You're
giving me an impossible assignment. Yeah, if I were giving you the
assignment, it would be impossible. But I'm not giving it to you.
That's not what Paul says in verse 5. He said, now, may the
God of patience And the God of comfort grant you to be like
mine. May He do it for you. No, you
can't do it. But He can sure put His Spirit
in you and do it. That's what it says in it. Oh,
may the God of comfort grant to you the ability to comfort. May God, who is love, grant to
you his love. Shed it abroad in your heart.
May the God of mercy make you merciful. May the God of generosity
make you generous. That's where it's at. It's a
gift. You say, I can't do that. You're
dead right. But he can enable you to, if
he's pleased. Who makes you to differ? What
do you have you didn't receive? Well, you say, I've got a nice
home and a nice car, and I got a nice wife and children, material
things. But God gave you that, didn't
he? Sure he did. But we're talking about spiritual
things here. God gives those too. And they're more precious
gifts than that other stuff you're talking about. I'd rather have
patches on my breeches and know God than to wear the silk of
kings and not know God. That's right. May the God of
comfort enable you to comfort. May the God of patience give
you patience. May the God who is love give
you love. That's what Paul says here. This
assignment back here is impossible. Natural men don't do it, won't
do it, can't do it, don't want to do it. But if you're a true
believer who loves Christ, you want to be like Christ. And Paul
is praying that he'd grant that to us. It's a gift. The fruit
of the Spirit is just that, the fruit of the Spirit. In John
15, he talks about bearing the fruit, but it's not the branch
that bears it, it's the vine. It's the fruit of the vine. Now, verse 5, may the God of
patience and consolation grant you to be like-minded toward
one another according... What's that say? After the example
of Jesus Christ. After the example of Jesus Christ.
Alright. Oh, I like to have that gift,
that grace. I like to grow in grace and the
knowledge of Christ. I don't want to just come to
knowledge of some doctrine and camp there and argue and battle
and fight and war and go through this same old conflict over and
over again. But I want that foundation. You
can't have the building without the foundation. Christ is the
chief cornerstone. But I want to adorn the doctrine
of the grace of God. Don't you? I want to adorn the
doctrine. Be like Christ. in spirit and
attitude. That's where it is. That's the
kingdom of God, is righteousness, peace, and joy. Over there in
verse 13 of chapter 15, Now the God of hope fill you. He's the
fountain. He's the giver. May the God of
hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing. May He do it. that you may abound
in hope through the power of the Holy Ghost. Do our prayers
echo this thing, what Paul is praying? May the God of comfort
grant you comfort, patience grant you patience. Our prayers are
so carnal, they are so fleshly. Meet this need. Take care of
this flesh. Take away this pain. Do all this. God give me love. Faith. Hope, patience, kindness, tenderness,
meekness, comfort. Do this for me and I'll hurt
all right next week, but I want to show the Spirit of Christ.
If any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he's none of His. Look at verse 6. In all of this,
the God of patience, comfort, grant you to be like-minded one
toward another according to Jesus Christ, according to the example
of Christ, that you may, with one mind, and one mouth, and
one heart, and one message, and one song, and one motive, one
objective, and one goal, glorify God. That's the chief end of
man. You know, we read that in our
catechism, what is the chief end of man? To glorify God, enjoy
Him forever. Well, let's do it. You know, to be able to recite
that is wasted time. To be able to live that, now
there's something to that. To glorify God. And to enjoy
Him. Righteousness, peace, and joy. A fellow came to Brother Barnard
one time and said, I want to talk to you. Barnard said, alright.
They went in the room, sat down. Barnard said, what do you want
to talk to me about? He said, I want to serve God. He said, well,
do it. Do it. I want to glorify God. Well,
do it. You see these two verses here,
it says that you may and I may with one mind and one mouth glorify
God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, Wherefore, receive
ye one another. Receive ye one another. Welcome
one another. Embrace one another. Take in
one another. Forgive one another. Love one
another. Receive one another. Receive
one another as Christ received you to the glory of God. How can we glorify God? Alright preacher, take your time
and tell me what you think about that. That's the question. How
can we glorify God? Alright. How can we glorify God? That says that twice here. Glorify God and you receive one
another as Christ received us to glorify God. God is glorified
when the perfections of his nature are recognized. Isn't that true? Our Father which art in heaven,
hallowed be thy name. That's where our Lord taught
us to pray. When I recognize the perfections and attributes
of God, I glorify him. Right? No question about that. That's not the end of it. God
is glorified when the work of his hands is praised, recognized. The heavens declare the glory
of God. Lord, when I behold the sun and
the moon and the stars and the things you've made, what is man
that art mindful of him? Psalm 17, David glorifies God
and is exclaiming over The things God's made. One psalm he talks
about the birds and God providing their food. That's glorifying
God. When the work of His hands is
praised. Thirdly, He's glorified when His mercy and grace in Christ
Jesus is preached. Paul said, God forbid that I
should glory save in the cross of our Lord and Savior Jesus
Christ. You see your calling brethren,
not many mighty, not many noble, not many wise are called. God
has chosen the foolish things that no flesh should glory in
his presence. He that glorieth, let him glory
in the Lord. For he hath made Christ our wisdom,
righteousness, sanctification, and redemption, that as it is
written, he that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord. So Tom,
when we preach the gospel, when we believe the gospel of God's
sovereign, the gospel is called the gospel of the glory of God.
Over there in Timothy where it says the glorious gospel of our
God, it's the gospel of the glory of God. And no Arminian can glorify
God because he preaches another gospel. That's right. Impossible. Impossible. God is glorified
when His grace and mercy in Christ is preached, received, and believed.
Fourthly, our God is glorified, listen to me, when we approach
Him in worship, through the high priest Christ
Jesus in worship, and we offer sacrifices of praise and thanksgiving,
genuine, sincere, honest, from the heart, adoration. It's imperfect because we're
imperfect. Somebody says, just don't worship
God today. I do. It's your fault if you
don't. That's right. If you're talking
about some kind of organized form, no, I don't want any part
of that. Worship's not a place or a form. Worship's a person. It's adoring
the perfection and attributes and work and mercy and grace
and love of a person. I adore Him. I adore Him. And then fifthly, on this subject
right here, God is glorified when our lives and conduct and
conversation are agreeable to His calling. Now the God of patience, verse
5, in consolation, grant you to be like-minded as your God
is toward you. toward one another according
to Christ Jesus that you may with one mind and one mouth glorify
God even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ you glorify God
I remember years ago I just thought
of this the other day when I was looking at this scripture talking
about glorifying God and honoring God and bringing That's right,
joy to the heart of God. With such sacrifices, God's well
pleased. Isn't that what it says? God's
well pleased. I was 12 years old or 13, somewhere in there,
14. I played on a baseball team like these boys do. We didn't
have Little League, but we had teams. And I usually played shortstop. My dad was a baseball fan. He
loved baseball. He loved me. He loved baseball
and he'd go watch me play. And I was a shortstop. But they didn't have any pitchers
this day so they put me in to pitch. And I was doing pretty
well. A whole lot better than I knew
how. And was pretty successful. We were ahead by a little run
or two. My dad was standing over there
on third baseline watching the game. He was kind of special
to me and I was special to him, you know. And I was pretty proud
of myself. I was doing real well. And they pulled around and loaded
the bases. And I bore down. And I pitched to this fella and
he hit the ball a hundred miles. And they just was running around
the bases, crossing home plate. And I got so mad, I stomped my
foot out there on the mountain right in front of everybody,
you know, and took my glove and threw it down. And about that
time I caught a glimpse of my dad out of my eye over here.
And you know, he just bowed his head and walked away and went
home. I'd hurt him worse than I could
have hurt him if I'd have shot him. I was his pride, you know,
and he's watching me perform and I let him down. And he just
turned and walked away. Went home. Embarrassed. Dishonored. And I got home. He never said
anything to me. He didn't have to. He didn't have to. But don't you know that our conduct
so often and attitude way we act displeases our Heavenly Father,
displeases Him, dishonors Him. And you know, you glorify God
by believing the Gospel, I know that, can't without it, preaching
the Gospel, the perfections of His nature and the glory of His
creation. But when we miss out on these
delicate things, righteousness and peace and joy, Comfort, forgiveness,
love, grace. It just dishonors him. It just dishonors him.

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