Additional Perspectives on Brotherly Love

Introduction: The Centrality of Brotherly Love in 1 Peter

0:02 The following sermon was preached on Sunday evening, August 9th, 1998, at the Trinity Baptist Church in Montville, New Jersey.

0:13 Now, most of you who are here this evening were with us this morning as we continued our consecutive expositions through the portion of the Word of God that we call First Peter. And in those expositions, we have arrived at that point in the first chapter where Peter turns from exhortations to the people of God with respect to how they are to live their Christian lives before God, to this central exhortation with respect to how they are to live their Christian lives in relationship to their fellow believers. And the central issue...

0:56 The central issue in that exhortation is the exhortation to love one another. And in the last two expositions, I sought to open up verses 22 and 23 of First Peter 1 under two major headings, the first being the prerequisites to brotherly love. Peter sandwiches the exhortation to love one another between these two descriptions of the spiritual experience, essentially. these elect sojourners in Asia Minor. He describes them as having experienced the purification of their souls in obedience to the truth unto unfamed love of the brethren, and in verse 23, as those who have been born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible by the word of God that lives and abides forever. And having looked at those prerequisites to brotherly love, namely spiritual purification and the divine begetting without which we cannot experience true brotherly love, this morning we looked at the precept mandating brotherly love. We considered the object of that precept, who are the one another who are to love according

2:19 to the context and the analogy of scripture. It is that distinctive love. Of those who are part of the spiritual brotherhood. Those who have shared in this common spiritual experience of the new birth and of the purification of their souls. And then we looked at the fundamental directive itself. It is a directive to love one another. And then we considered the qualifying aspects of that love. Its source is to be out of the heart, and in its very nature, to love one another. And then we considered the qualifying aspects of that love.

2:56 In its very nature, it is to be a love that is intense. You are to love one another out of the heart says Peter, fervently. Now when seeking to prepare for such an exposition, often in the light of the gerns of the principles we heard in the adult class, those of us who are seeking responsibly to prepare in seeking to give an accurate interpretation of just a phrase or a portion of the word of God, we will olvidate the rulers we will often trace out the subject, the word, the phrase in that verse in many other places in Scripture. Believing that to give it a meaning in any one setting that contradicts the overarching teaching of the Word of God is against the mind of the Spirit. And much of that labor often remains in the mind and heart of the servant of God. Perhaps it's put into his computer or into notes that are stashed away. But apart from the indirect benefit that the people of God receive, that's one aspect of the labor of a servant of God that terminates upon the servant of God himself.

4:09 However, there are times when we come to a passage in the Word of God where a very fundamental issue of Scripture is set before us that it's perfectly appropriate. Having expounded that passage in its context, to use it as the springboard for one or more topical sermons addressing the broader teaching of Scripture in that area. And this is what I propose to do simply for tonight to give you some of the fruit of the study that went into the preparation of the ministry for this morning. And because, as we saw, this duty to love one another is so significant, so central in the Word of God, certainly it would not be a disproportionate emphasis to take another message and consider what I've entitled some additional biblical perspectives on the duty of brotherly love. I called it this morning homiletical hash. Hash being the chopping up of good, nourishing food, the meat and the vegetables, and putting them together and serving them all at once. What is this as hash?

The Inseparability of Faith in Christ and Love for His People

5:22 Well, the hash is comprised of some additional biblical perspectives on the duty of brotherly love. We saw that duty from the text in 1 Peter and now some of these additional biblical perspectives, time permitting, we will focus upon three of them. And the first is what I'm calling the inseparability of faith in the person of Christ and love to the people of Christ. The inseparability of faith in the person of Christ and love to the people of Christ.

6:06 Now I want to begin to open up this biblical perspective with a question. Suppose you had a relative, a loved one, perhaps a friend from past associations, not living near you, but in the providence of God, that relationship has been one that you've not been able to slough off. But as you think of that friend, you find yourself praying for his or her conversion. You find yourself praying that God would perhaps even use you as an instrument to bring the gospel or others that they might come to a knowledge of Christ.

6:44 And then word reaches you, either from that person or from someone else who knows that person, that they profess to have come to an experience of God's saving grace. Now if that were so, what would you look for as the primary evidence that they had indeed been brought to a real experience of God's saving grace? What things would you listen for in any reports about that person or in any interaction with that person that with your fallible judgment, none of us can infallibly know for another, but in the light of the scriptures which says, by their fruits you shall know them, and Paul could say of Timothy, unfeigned faith that dwelt in your grandmother Lois, in your mother Eunice, and I am persuaded in you also. What is it that would give us a well-grounded biblical persuasion that such a person for whom we were praying had truly been converted? What in your mind would be the indispensable marks of a true work of grace? Well if you were to ask the Apostle Paul that question, his answer is very clear in his epistles.

8:05 And I want us to look at four passages in Paul's epistles in which he clearly indicates what it is that was most persuasive to his own mind, either that people had come to a real experience of grace, or were continuing in the way of persevering in the grace of God. Look with me at these passages. First of all in Ephesians chapter 1. In Ephesians chapter 1 and verse 15 we read, For this cause I also, having heard of the faith in the Lord Jesus which is among you, and the love which you show to all the saints, cease not to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers. As Paul is about to record what it is he prays for these Ephesians, he first of all indicates that what gave him boldness to pray for them as believers who were truly continuing in the way of persevering grace was two things. First of all, the report of their ongoing faith in the Lord Jesus.

9:28 Their persevering faith in the person of Christ and the love they were showing towards all the saints. In the mind of the Apostle Paul these were the two indispensable evidences of an ongoing state of grace. Continuing faith in the person of Christ and continuing love for the people of Christ. And this is not an isolated incident.

9:59 Turn to the book of Colossians chapter 1. Colossians chapter 1 verses 3 and 4. We give thanks to God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ praying always for you having heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love which you have towards all the saints. What is the report that Paul heard that gave him confidence that the grace of God had come in truth and in power to these Colossians?

10:40 He makes it very evident. He has heard of their faith in Christ Jesus, their faith directed to the person of Christ as revealed in the Gospel, and their love towards all the saints. Again, 2 Thessalonians chapter 1 and verse 3. This church that had been founded by the labors of the Apostle Paul in a relatively brief time.

11:10 A church thrown immediately into the crucible of opposition and persecution and suffering. A church over which Paul had great pastoral concern. He mentions it very explicitly in his first letter. Now he writes his second letter verse 3 of chapter 1 in 2 Thessalonians.

11:31 We are bound to give thanks to God always for you brethren even as it is meet or appropriate for that your faith grows exceedingly and the love of each one of you all toward one another abounds. He gives thanks. Why? Because a report comes to him that they are continuing in the way of faith and though the Lord Jesus is not mentioned explicitly from the analogy of scripture we know that this would be the predominant, the dominant element in their faith and their love to one another is growing exceedingly. To the mind of the Apostle Paul to hear an accurate report that people who profess to have gone out of themselves and cast themselves upon Christ in faith are continuing in the posture of faith and continuing in the disposition of fervent love to the brethren in the mind of the Apostle. These are the two indispensable and inseparable accompaniments of a saving experience of the grace of God. Now to Philemon.

12:51 Chapter 1. The little book of Philemon. We find a similar emphasis. Philemon 1.

13:00 Philemon period. Verses 4 and 5. Only one chapter in Philemon. I thank my God always making mention of you in my prayers hearing of your love and of the faith which you have toward the Lord Jesus and toward all the saints.

13:20 Now this is an unusual construction at first you would think it was faith and love both directed to the Lord Jesus and to the saints. But this is what's called a chiastic construction. In the New Testament we find a number of places where this is true and what Paul is saying is that he has heard of the love the love directed primarily to the saints and the faith that is directed to the Lord Jesus. And then he goes on to exhort Philemon that that love may find peculiar and specific manifestations in relationship to this runaway slave Onesimus.

14:04 So in these four passages the Apostle Paul clearly indicates that in his thinking in his reckoning upon those things that are the indispensable marks of saving grace there is this inseparable relationship between faith in the person of Christ and love for the people of Christ. And this should not surprise us because John tells us in his epistle and here I turn you to one other text 1 John chapter 3 1 John chapter 3 and verse 23 And this is his commandment that we should believe in the name of his Son Jesus Christ and love one another even as he gave us commandment. Here the command of God comes that we should believe on the name of his Son Jesus Christ and inseparably joined to that gracious command is the command to love one another. And this is stated in a setting in which John tells us that the mark of being one who is passed from death unto life is love of the brethren obedience to the commands of God and that command he said

15:32 is that we believe on the name of his Son and that we love one another. Now let me ask you would anyone sitting here say there is any such creature as a true Christian who does not believe on the Lord Jesus Christ? Does any such creature exist? Would anyone here want to raise his hand and say I will defend the thesis that there can be shown from the scriptures that there is such a creature as a true Christian who is either ignorant of or indifferent to Jesus Christ as he is presented in the gospel.

16:11 There is such a thing as a Christian who does not believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. Would anyone here young or old be so foolish as to try to defend such a statement? You say no not I nor I. Now let me ask you according to these passages would anyone be prepared to defend the thesis that there is such a creature as one who truly believes on the Lord Jesus Christ?

16:39 Has faith directed to the person of Christ as set forth in the gospel and yet who does not love the brethren? Are you prepared to separate what God has joined? To say yes we can comply with his command to believe on the name of his son but be indifferent or openly rebellious to his command to love one another. You see if we are thinking biblically we will think as the apostle thought and we will give credit to the profession of faith in another when that profession focuses upon an acknowledgement of need that only Christ as revealed in the gospel can meet and that the individual making that profession says I have cast myself upon Christ and Christ alone in terms of the invitation and promise of the gospel and and I love the brethren. In embracing Christ I have found my heart go out to the people of Christ in the attachment of love to those people and that I am possessed with a disposition that desires that that love should increase

18:07 and abound and be manifested in ways that are according to the revealed will of God in the scriptures. It is for this reason namely the inseparability of faith in the person of Christ and love for the people of Christ that John can speak about in his typical sharp lines of demarcation 1 John 5 and verse 1 whosoever without exception there is no exception whosoever believes that Jesus is the Christ is begotten of God wherever you find true faith in Jesus as the Christ that faith is the manifestation of the divine begetting true faith is not the exercise of some factual faculty that we natively have and we can just direct it at the choice of our will toward Jesus Christ that notion that faith is something we possess and when we choose we can simply place it in Christ no no true saving faith is the result of the divine begetting so John can say whoever believes that Jesus is the Christ is begotten of God there would be no true faith in Christ apart from the divine begetting but then John goes on to say with equal universal emphasis and whosoever

19:35 loves him that begat that is the God who begot him unto life loves him also that is begotten of him wherever God effects this new birth he implants not only faith in Christ but love to himself and where that faith and love are present with respect to Christ and to God there will be love to those begotten of him without exception because of the inseparability of faith in the person of Christ and love to the people of Christ you see how this overarching principle is consistent with first Peter chapter one Peter is consistent to exhort these believers to love one another and yet as we have seen in our previous exposition he sets that exhortation in the context of assuming that they have purified their souls in obedience to the truth tending towards unto unfeigned love of the brethren having been begotten again he expects them to obey the injunction to love one another Peter assumes what Paul assumed

21:04 that where there was true faith in the person of Christ there would be love for the people of Christ the ability to love given by God in his gracious work in the purification of the soul and in the divine begetting and some of us can remember when God was pleased to save us how real these two things became at once to us where Christ had been a household name where hymns and songs about Christ were part of the dawning of consciousness but there was no real trust in Christ and one of the indications that there was no real trust in Christ is that there was no real delight in the people of Christ I can remember so distinctly feeling uncomfortable around the mother whom I dearly loved at many levels but the thing I didn't love about her was her unashamed attachment to Jesus Christ when the parcel postman would come to the door she had a way of engaging him in conversation about his family about this and that but sooner or later I knew she was going to get around to saying something about Christ and about the gospel she was so embarrassed I didn't want him to think I was

22:33 associated with her she was a religious fanatic and one of the most amazing things when God saved me as a senior in high school was I used to gang up with her on anyone that came to the door I found myself loving my mother in the family of God not merely loving her with the love of a son who owed so much to a caring giving sacrificial mother there was some love in the realm of common grace but you see what she was in Christ I hated I had an aversion I was embarrassed by it I felt uncomfortable around it but when God was pleased to bring me to faith in the person of Christ Christ crucified risen exalted on behalf of sinners there was implanted immediately a love for the people of Christ and I found myself loving people with whom I had almost nothing in common white haired old men as a teenager I made a pest of myself what does a teenager whose whole life was nothing but athletics and girls and pursuing

24:02 his own ends what does he have in common with crotchety oh not crotchety but not crotchety that's not a good description but creaking bones guys who couldn't go out and shoot hoops and throw a football with me and knock a baseball with me what did I have in common with them I'll tell you what I had in common with them immediately a common savior a common destiny a common love for a common savior and by this I knew they were brethren because of what they were in Christ because of what they had become by the divine beginning life had an affinity toward life and you see with some of you kids that's the fundamental problem with you and your parents at certain levels you do love them I'd be a fool to try to persuade you you didn't love them but at other levels you hate them you'd feel far more comfortable if they'd be the caring responsible loving stable parents they are if you could just get rid of the Jesus stuff you don't want parents who are at one another's throats you don't want a dad whom you never know on a Saturday night whether he's

25:31 going to be sober or staggering drunk you don't want a dad who beats your mother you don't want a mother who bad mouths your dad who's true to your well being but those distinctive impresses of the gospel upon mom and dad this business of gathering at the table and reading the bible and praying you could do without that very conveniently that gets under your skin and is an irritant you like the fruit of it but when the roots are laid bare and what they are as born of God becomes patent in the way they think in the way they come and in the standards they set those are the things that grind your socks and they'll continue to until you trust in the same savior and are born of the same spirit and are brought into the same family for faith in the person of Christ and love to the people of Christ are inseparable realities in all saving experience do you see it from those passages that's why Peter could speak so naturally as he is addressing this central issue of loving the brethren

The Necessity of Instructing Our Consciences on Expressing Love

26:59 assumes that having experienced the divine beginning having been brought to faith in Christ they will love one another but then the second observation this additional biblical perspective that I want to set before you is this not only to see together the inseparability of faith in Christ and love to the people of Christ but secondly the necessity of instructing our consciences concerning the way in which brotherly love is to be expressed and manifested the necessity of instructing our consciences concerning the way in which brotherly love should be expressed and manifested love is not a self exegeting disposition affection or principle of God's grace it is not self exegeting one of the old writers has very quaintly and helpfully stated that law is love's eyes and without it love is blind love is motivation and volition but love is not direction now granted God has given us some general sweeping principles that help us to know the framework

28:28 within which love operates for example Matthew 7 in verse 12 Jesus said as you would that others do unto you even so do you also unto them for this is the law and the prophets what is a summary of all the ethical demands of the law and the prophets as you would that others do unto you even so do ye also unto them for this is the law and the prophets this is an apt distinct succinct summary of the ethical demands of the law and the prophets however if that were adequate in itself why didn't God give us that in Genesis and forget all these other pages why didn't he just give that to the nation of Israel you know rule of thumb to be applied in many circumstances or take for example another such statement Romans 13 10 love works no ill to his neighbor now that's a good little rule of thumb how will love express itself well it will never cause me to do that which is harmful to my neighbor love works no ill to his neighbor and there are these broad general principles but they are needs to be specific instruction of the conscience

29:55 with respect to how love is to manifest itself. There's a rather humorous expression of this in the book of Proverbs. I pity people who say there's no humor in the Bible. There are times when I'm reading my Bible and I do laugh out loud.

30:09 And I'm not one that tries to find humor where there is none. But surely if there's no humor here, I don't know where it's found. Proverbs 27 and verse 14. I'm using this as an example as to why love for the brethren needs specific education of the conscience with respect to how the love is to be manifested.

30:32 Proverbs 27, verse 14. He that blesses his friend with a loud voice rising early in the morning, it shall be counted a curse to him. Now here's a man, he's got a friend. He loves him.

30:46 He's his friend, not his enemy. He's got brotherly affection. He's got affection for him. And so he wakes up early one morning and he's thinking of his brother whom he loves and he's praying for him.

30:55 Lord, bless my brother John. Lord, do him good. Lord, bless him as a husband. Bless him as a father.

31:01 And as he prays for him, his heart is so warmed, he said, man, I want John to know how much I love him. So at 4.30 in the morning, he gets over to John's house. And he stands outside John's house.

31:13 Everything's dark. And he starts saying with a loud voice, Oh, John, my dear brother. I love you, John. John pleaded with God to bless you.

31:23 And now in the name of the God of heaven, I bless you. He says, the poor brother gets awake, hears this loud voice. He's going to think somebody's outside cursing him.

31:37 Now, you see, there's no cursing in the heart of his friend. He's blessing him. He loves him. But it's a very awkward, inappropriate expression of his love.

31:48 So what Solomon is saying is, it's not enough. That you have true friends to whom you are bound in fraternal affections. That love must find proper expressions. Wait till John wakes up, had his coffee, showered and shaved.

32:04 Then, hit on the phone with him and say, John, I was thinking of you today. I've been praying for you. I wish God's blessing upon you. Then your blessing will be counted a blessing and not a curse.

32:16 Well, similarly, we turn to such passages. And here I want you to look with me at one or two of them. As Ephesians, chapter 5. Trying to establish the principle that there is a necessity for instructing our consciences concerning the way in which brotherly love is to be expressed and manifested.

32:37 Ephesians, chapter 5, verse 1. We looked at this this morning in another connection. Be therefore imitators of God as beloved children. You are part of the family of God by adoption, by regeneration, walk in love, even as Christ also loved you and gave himself up for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for an odor of a sweet smell.

33:07 Well, that should be all that needs to be said. Walk in love with Christ in his sacrificial self-giving love as the pattern. This is echoes of Christ's new commandment. A new commandment.

33:20 I give you love one another as I have loved you. Paul, Paul picks up that theme and sets it before the Ephesians, but he doesn't stop there. This injunction is sandwiched between specific instructions as to how love will and will not conduct itself among the brethren at the end of chapter 4 and in the verses that follow in chapter 5. Look for a moment at verse 25 of chapter 4.

33:50 Wherefore, putting away falsehood, speak truth each one with his neighbor, for we are members one of another. You mean Christians need to have their consciences educated that to walk in love means that my mouth will speak truth to my brothers and my sisters? Exactly.

34:15 This is not put here for filler. Our love needs to have an educated conscience. Be angry and sit not. Let not the sun go down.

34:25 If I love someone and there has been something that has provoked anger, I am to take the return of the setting sun as a reminder. I must deal with that issue before the sun goes down. I must not give myself to subjective feelings and saying, well, I don't feel led to resolve the issue. Let not the sun go down upon your wrath.

34:56 Verse 28. Let him that stole steal no more, but rather let him labor working with its hands. To what end? Not merely to meet his own needs and pay his own bills, but labor in the spirit of love that I will have something to give to the one who is in need.

35:16 Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but such as is good for edifying. Don't say the Lord is leading you in brotherly insistence, sisterly love, to share some juicy tidbit of gossip. That's not love. Love does not let corrupt speech proceed from its mouth.

35:37 You see, love for the brethren needs a conscience educated by the precepts, the specific moral directives of the word of God. And likewise, following that injunction, no sooner does Paul write, walk in love, verse 3, but fornication, and all, uncleanness, or covetousness, let it not even be named among you as become saints, neither filthiness, nor foolish talking, or jesting, which are not befitting, but rather giving of thanks.

36:15 How desperately the two young women needed this passage, who had the gall to get on their knees in the dormitory room of a Christian college and thank God for their beautiful lesbian relationship.

36:31 Had the blasphemous gall to get on their knees for their lovely, beautiful, lesbian, vile, perverse relationship. Having persuaded themselves they were walking in love, when God says to walk in love, you'll avoid all fornication, all porneia, and all uncleanness. It will not be named among you.

37:01 And so the moment any man, any woman, feels the slightest twitch of a relationship, romantic interest towards someone other than his or her spouse, if he or she is married, they know immediately, this is not love, this is base lust, and it must be mortified, taken to the cross, and put to death.

Practical Suggestions for Educating the Conscience in Love

37:27 You find this continually throughout the scriptures. The necessity of instructing our consciences concerning the way in which brotherly love should be expressed, and manifested. May I give you these few practical suggestions along this line? May I urge you to meditate frequently upon the second table of the law, the fifth to the tenth commandment.

37:55 Read over, better yet, memorize the shorter catechism definitions. What is commanded? What is forbidden in this precept of God? Periodically read through, prayerfully and thoughtfully, 1 Corinthians 13, 7 positives, what love does.

38:16 7 negatives, what love never does. It stands out so powerfully in the original. I recently had occasion sitting on the plane to take my Greek text and just circle the structure and the negatives stand out. Love does not do this, not this, not this, not this, not this.

38:37 Love does this, this, this, and this. You see, it's not enough for Paul to say the greatest of these is love. He tells us what love does and what love refuses to do. May I urge you to spend much time in the book of Proverbs.

38:57 It is, among other things, a manual of how love manifests itself in the stuff of real life, where there are weights and measures, and where there is truth, and where there is a shading of the truth in interpersonal relationships.

39:14 But above all, I would urge you to imitate the Lord Jesus. 1 John 2 and verse 6, He that says he abides in Him ought himself so to walk even as He walked. Walk in love as Christ loved. And though the culminating expression of His love was His sacrificing of Himself as a sacrifice unto God, it was not the exclusive manifestation of His love.

39:43 Look at Him in His love to His brethren, accommodating to their ignorance, bearing with them in their spiritual dullness, coming to them where necessary and reproving and rebuking, encouraging, instructing, bearing with them. He that says he abides in Him ought himself so to walk even as He walked. John Brown again has so helpfully collated a number of the injunctions, and notice what he has done in this very relatively brief paragraph. This love that we are to have one to another is to be manifested in, and then he brings together a number of scriptures by just picking out the fundamental directive, putting them into one paragraph. In choosing for our friends and associates, our Christian brethren, joining ourselves to the brotherhood, casting in our lot with them, sympathizing with them in their griefs, rejoicing with them in their joys, Romans 13, communicating to them in their necessities, again from Romans, assisting them in their labors, bearing with their infirmities, bearing their infirmities, admonishing them, reproving them, it may be sharply when they are to be blamed, yet in kindness, loving them too well to suffer sin upon them,

41:10 delighting in their Christian attainments and triumphs as if they were our own, never being ashamed of them, however low their place in society, and however frowned on and persecuted by the world, never ashamed to call them brethren. See what he is doing? He is saying this love will manifest itself, and from his general knowledge of scripture, apart from one or two of these, no quotes are put there, but if you have some acquaintance with the New Testament, you can say, oh, that is from this passage, that is from this passage. Why?

41:39 His mind and conscience were instructed, as to how love of the brethren is to manifest itself in the real world. This is why, turn back to 1 John 5, John can write as he does, a passage that in the past has often puzzled me, but I think I understand it a little better after preparation for this morning's ministry. 1 John 5, 1 and 2, Whosoever believes that Jesus is the Christ is begotten of God, and whoever loves him that begat loves him also that is begotten of him. Hereby we know that we love the children of God when we feel a great ton of fuzzies when we think about them. No, that isn't how we know that we love them. Notice what John says, how can you know you love the children of God? Hereby we know we love the children of God when we love God and do his commandments.

42:41 You see, God's commandments cut the channels of our love for one another. And when we're obeying his commandments, many of which touch upon our relations one to another, we can know that we truly love one another. Not because of what we feel, but because of what we do by the grace of God in the light of the revelation of the will of God for our relationships one to another. It's not all that complicated, folks.

43:10 Do you want to know what God does? Do you want to really know that you love the people of God? How can you know so as not to be deceived? And surely you want to know, since it's one of the marks of being a true Christian.

43:24 Hereby do we know we've passed from death unto life because we love the brethren. It's an indispensable mark of being a true child of God. Surely I want to know, am I self-deceived? Do I really love the people of God?

43:37 John says, hereby do we know that we love the children of God. When we love God and keep His commandments. Many of which cut the channels for our love implanted and nurtured by the Spirit of God within our hearts. It is in the keeping of these commandments that we validate our love one for another.

The Propriety of Repeated Reminders to Love One Another

44:02 Well, then I have a third and final perspective that I want to lay before you. We've considered the inseparability of faith in the person of Christ and love for the people of Christ. Secondly, the necessity of instructing our consciences concerning the way in which brotherly love should be expressed and manifested. But now thirdly, I want to address more briefly the propriety of being reminded again and again concerning the duty of brotherly love.

44:33 The propriety of being reminded again and again of the duty of brotherly love. We have seen from the Scriptures today that love for the brethren is an inevitable accompaniment of the new birth. But we have also seen that it is an oft repeated injunction in the Scriptures. In this one letter alone, 1 Peter.

45:00 Peter gives that command in chapter 1 in verse 22 Love one another from the heart fervently. Chapter 2 in verse 17 Love the brotherhood. Chapter 3 in verse 8 Loving as brethren. Chapter 4 in verse 8 Above all things fervent in your love.

45:23 The only chapter in which he does not command it is chapter 5. These man-made divisions. Four times in one epistle. May I be bold enough to say there is no other Christian duty that receives such press as the duty to love one another.

45:41 Now what is biblical balance? Biblical balance is putting the emphasis where God puts it. Now if God has put with respect to other duties a disproportionate in our perspective emphasis upon love for the brethren do you see the propriety then of being reminded again and again of the duty of brotherly love? You see it is one of the great mysteries of the Christian life.

46:10 Paul could say in 1 Thessalonians I don't need to write to you and say anything about love of the brethren for you yourselves are taught of God to love one another. He said at the end of the day there is no ultimate necessity to write to you and admonish you to love one another for commensurate with coming into a saving knowledge of God in Jesus Christ the Spirit of God has taught you the obligation to love one another. Yet he goes right on in the next verse and says but we exhort you to abound yet more and more. Though he knows the Spirit of God has implanted the basic principle he knows that God is the God who works by means. And if that love is to be increased and abound exhortation and admonition and incentives to perform this duty will be blessed of God as instruments, as means to stir up this grace within the hearts of the people of God. As I said this morning if you and I did not know that the letter of 1 John was an inspired letter written by an apostle we were just told an old Christian brother has written a letter we would think he was beginning to lose it beginning to be forgetful because again and again from one angle and another

47:36 he emphasizes the duty of Christian love. Love particularly among the brotherhood. That distinctive love loving the people of God because they are the people of God and because of what we see of God in them. Loving them for what they are because of God's grace and what they will become because of that same grace.

Love as Validation and Vindication

48:03 And by the grace of God as I have come to this text I acknowledge and I have had to tell God I have not given the degree of emphasis to this Christian grace that I ought to in my preaching. It's not that I've ignored it when I was preaching through Ephesians and that was some measure of comfort and I came to verse 15 many years ago several decades ago I launched off into a topical series on love of the brethren in preaching through 1 Thessalonians when Trinity Church first began it was a note that was sounded again and again but I've had to say it before God Lord I don't believe I've given it the place that you've given it in your word. And could it be that in the light of God's gracious dealings with us in recent months God in a sense is giving us a fresh beginning as a congregation that we might have within our own consciousness as a corporate assembly those priorities which God has set forth as dominant Christian duties and surely at the head of the list with respect to our horizontal relationships none is greater than the duty and privilege of loving one another. In my closing exhortation may I simply remind you that it is this love for one another that is the validation of our experience of the new birth

49:32 1 John 3.14 it is the validation of our identity as the people of God John 13.35 by this shall all men know that you are my disciples if you have love one for another and you see the Lord is assuming that that love will be manifested in concrete discernible observable ways otherwise how shall men know if they cannot see they can't look into our hearts and read them but they can behold our lives they can see the nature of our interaction one with another they can see whether or not we delight in one another respond to each other's needs joyfully and spontaneously even at personal cost they can see if we are loving in word only or in deed and in truth and one of the most sobering passages in the word of God teaches that this love of the brethren is not only the validation of our experience of the new birth the validation of our identity as the people of God will be that it will be no little part of our vindication in the day of judgment you remember Matthew 25 when the Lord separates the sheep and the goats what does he say to validate the fact that the sheep are really sheep not how they became sheep but that they are truly sheep how does the Lord vindicate that separation of one group on the right hand

50:59 who are the sheep and the goats on the left how does he do it you remember what he says Matthew 25 I was hungry and you fed me I was in prison you visited me I was naked and you clothed me then shall the righteous say Lord when did we see you hungry and feed you when did we see you naked and clothe you when were you in prison and we visited you remember Jesus response in as much as you've done it unto the least of these my brethren you've done it unto me they are vindicated as his true people because of the tangible expressions of their love one to another and the goats are publicly identified and validated as goats for what reason in as much as you did it not that's all they're damned for what they did not do that's sobering in as much as you did it not depart from me I never knew you if love of the brethren were in your breast it would not be a dormant principle it would have moved you to put out a hand to clothe the naked to move your feet to visit the imprisoned damned for what they did not do

52:29 in relationship to the brethren whom Christ regards as treatment of himself in as much as you did it not unto these The day of judgment will show you can't separate your relationship to Christ from your relationship to the people of Christ. Your eternity will be a witness to that fact.

Closing Exhortation: Self-Examination and Abounding in Love

52:58 If God summoned you to judgment tonight, would there be sufficient evidence to vindicate that you are truly one of His? That He's brought you to faith in Christ and loving attachment to His people? A love that finds appropriate expressions?

53:18 This is serious business, dear people. I close with what to me was a moving statement by John Owen. I referred to the sermon this morning, the sermon that John Owen preached when two churches united into one. And Owen was recognized as pastor.

53:38 And at one point in the sermon, where he's exhorting these brethren who are now uniting in church fellowship to the duty of Christian love, he said this to them. I declare unto this congregation this day, I witness and testify unto you, that unless this evangelical love be found acted, not loosely and in general, but among ourselves mutually towards each other, we shall never give up our attachment. Nor shall we ever count with joy unto Jesus Christ. Nor shall we ever carry on the great work of edification among ourselves.

54:20 And if God be pleased but to give this spirit among you, this is a moving statement, I have nothing to fear but the mere weakness and sinfulness of my own heart and my own spirit. You see what Owen says? In becoming pastor of this newly formed, he says if God will just cause this spirit of evangelical Christian brotherly affection to abound among you, all I fear is what will come from my own remaining sin and my own weakness as a servant of God. Dear people, as God in many ways has given us a fresh start as a congregation, may we in the language of the Apostle Paul give ourselves to abound yet more and more in this church. Queen of the graces, that which was called the royal jewel in the diadem of the early church. See how they love one another. And may God grant that those of you who are sitting here tonight, you know that you are not born of God because you don't love the brethren.

55:35 Thankfully you are here and we are glad you are here. And whatever motive has brought you here, whatever parental constraints, whatever responsibilities, for mom and dad, but my dear unconverted young man or woman, that will not do. Simply to be externally tied to the people of God by one string or another until you know that internal transformation of grace that binds you in indissoluble bonds that will carry us through grave, the second coming, and the day of judgment, and on into eternity in that world of love. You need to ask yourself, if I had my choice tonight, would I want to spend eternity with the people of God because they are the people of God? Or are your deepest ties with your buddies, with your girlfriends, with your natural relatives, with siblings, with extended family, with whom you share nothing but common blood ties or marital ties, a common womb? Or can you say, no, my deepest ties...

56:46 are with those with whom I share a common heavenly birth, a common Savior, precious blood that has redeemed me, a spirit that has transformed me, an inheritance that awaits me and all of my brothers and sisters? May God grant that you will honestly face that question and give yourself no rest until you can say, by this I know that I too have passed from death unto life because of you. I love the brethren. And may I urge any of you who are members of this assembly, if you've got anything contrary to love to any of your brethren, whether in the rank and file of God's people or in the leadership, don't tolerate it and grieve and quench the spirit. Deal with it before God. And if you need help in dealing with it face to face with the individual, deal with it, that we might, as the people of God, know what it is to have that love and that act of love, and that love in itself where we see God through the witness. Let's pray.

Prayer

58:01 Our Father, we're so thankful for your word that is a lamp unto our feet and a light to our pathway and we pray that as we've considered these various biblical perspectives on the subject of brotherly love that you would help us to reflect upon them by the enablement of the Holy Spirit to internalize them. And we know that the Holy Spirit isラ. 今日は. And we know that when we pray that our love for one another may increase and abound more and more, we need not append our prayer with the words, if it be your will, for you have made it clear that this is your will.

58:39 And we therefore pray in the confidence that if we ask anything according to your will, we know that you hear us. And if we know that you hear us, we know we have the petitions we desire of you. Only with those who have had to see themselves in the light of the word tonight and acknowledge that they do not love the brethren, that this is the real mark of their being yet in a state of nature and not a state of grace, O Lord, have merciful dealings with them that they may have no rest till they know that divine begetting that will cause them to love those who are begotten of you. Seal then your word to our hearts.

59:21 Bless us in the coming of Jesus. In the coming week, as each of us goes to his respective sphere of influence and responsibility, help us, O God, we pray, to be light and salt, to manifest to an onlooking world the reality of our relationship to you, and be quick and ready to give a reason of the hope that is within us. Hear us and receive our thanks for your mercies to us this day, we ask through our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.

59:52 Amen.