[0:00] This message was recorded at Vision Baptist Church in Alpharetta, Georgia. This is the next message in our series on the book of John entitled, Jesus is God.
[0:15] Oh, that that would be our heartbeat. This is not my home and this is not where I belong. Amen. And what a tremendous message that is. Take your Bibles, if you would, and open them to the book of John, chapter 14.
[0:27] I am so glad that we get to look at this passage of scripture. We've been moving through the book of John. We've been watching as the apostle John records the story of Jesus and he has one purpose in it.
[0:38] And that purpose in his book is to say, Jesus is the Christ, the son of God and believing on him. You can have eternal life. Now, today we move into a section where Jesus is leaving this earth and he is going to in just a little while.
[0:55] Now, we're just hours away from him being crucified and he's talking to his apostles and he loves them very much. And they're the foundation of the church. Everything's just really getting started.
[1:06] And he tells them, I want you guys to learn how to love each other and how to express that love among each other. And so we're going to look at that just a little bit today. I don't know how much you have gone through this, but you know, my dad died two and a half years ago.
[1:23] And I can say to you that when my dad died, it really brought our family closer together. We were spending time together when he was on his deathbed agonizing. He was no longer even able to respond.
[1:35] But as we sat there together, as we sat there together, we learned a little bit about him and ourselves and loving each other. Now, Jesus is leaving. He says, hey, guys, wake up, wake up and love each other.
[1:48] That's what he wants them to do. In the book of Romans, I'm just going to read this verse to you. In Romans chapter five, the Bible says, And hope maketh not a shame, because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost, which is given unto us.
[2:04] And so what you have is this. We're saved. How many of you are born again? Say amen. And you know that he lives in us. He lives in us, and he is working in us and through us, and he ministers through us.
[2:17] And so loving each other ought to be a natural, normal response because we're born again. And it ought to be a natural, normal response because he lives in us. It ought to be a natural, normal response because we have his nature.
[2:30] And so this is a fantastic truth. And we're going to talk about how to love each other. The Bible said there in the passage that he commanded them to love each other. If you look in your Bible there at Romans, John chapter 13, verse 34, A new commandment I give you that you love one another as I have loved you and that you also love one another.
[2:52] So he says that's a new commandment. He's getting across to them. I want you to love each other. That's where he starts. We've already talked about that on other occasions. But just let me say this.
[3:02] Hey, if the Lord were here and he were talking to us, he would look at us and say, hey, all of you that are part of my family, all of you that are born again, all of you that are on your way to heaven, all of you that are new creatures.
[3:13] I want you to love each other. I want you to love each other. I think we all know that. But I don't know that we know how to do that. I don't know that we know how to practice that. I don't know that Christians have really learned to love one another.
[3:26] So I want to take just a little bit of time and I want to, if you got your notes there, you'll have things to write down because you'll not remember all this by any stretch. But I want to talk to you a point number two in your lesson about how we are told how to love.
[3:40] We're told how to love. Look at John 13 and verse 34. If you would, John 13, 34. A new commandment I give unto you that you love one another. How?
[3:51] As I have loved you that you also love one another. He said, I want you to love one another and I want you to do it like I do. So I'm going to take here and I'm going to consider how Jesus loves me and how Jesus loves you and how he expresses that to us.
[4:09] The first lesson you ought to learn every time is, man, isn't it good that God loves us that way? I mean, isn't it amazing that God loves us? How many of you in this room would say, I am amazed that God loves me like he loves me?
[4:22] Say, man, you ought to be, you ought to be. But then he says to me, Austin, love your brothers and your sisters in Christ like I love you. And the first way I would like to challenge you to do that is by loving love, by forgiving and asking.
[4:37] Now that goes in blanks. If you got it, I won't be able to tell you every time, but if you keep up, you'll get it. We can express love by forgiving and asking for forgiveness. It's if there is anything about the love of God that ought to resound in our hearts is this, that he has forgiven us.
[4:52] How many of you have something embarrassing in your past, whether great or small? Let's just say you really don't want to announce in the pulpit about some sin or some failure. How many of you have one of those?
[5:03] Say, man, how many of you are glad you're forgiven? How many of you glad that's in the past? How many of you black glad that's under the blood? Say, man. Well, then he looks at me and he says, Austin, you know, you've been forgiven.
[5:14] And buddy, I got more than one thing in my past. I got a lot of things. But if he brings up my thought life, you know, that old video screen, they used to talk video screen. They used to talk to us about when I was little. They used to tell me all the time when you die, Austin, they're going to pop up a video screen.
[5:28] They're going to show every time, every thought you ever had, every word you ever use, everything. Man, I used to think I'll be digging holes. I'll be crawling under benches. I'll be running out of the building. But thank God that's really not for me.
[5:39] That's for lost people. Amen. Because my sins are forgiven. He doesn't remember them anymore. They have been blotted out. They're under the blood. They're nailed to the cross. I am forgiven.
[5:49] Amen. Can you say amen right there? All right. Now watch this. Then he looks at me and says, Austin, I want you to love others like I love you. Look at what it says in 1 Peter chapter 4 verse 8. And above all things have fervent charity.
[6:02] Sincere, earnest charity. I want you to love you. I want you to love you. Among yourselves for charity shall cover the multitude of sins. I just want you to think a second.
[6:13] As you look around Christianity, you've been hurt. You've been hurt by pastors. And you've been hurt by brothers and sisters in Christ. You've been hurt by family members that call the name of Christ.
[6:23] And it is so easy not to forgive. You've been hurt by spouse. You've been hurt by children. You've been hurt by parents. And it is so easy for us to pull all that into our heart. It is so easy for us to remember all that.
[6:35] It is so easy for us to kind of have a tinge of bitterness even about coming to church. Because we've been hurt. You know, I'm not going to ask you to say amen. But we've been hurt. And things haven't worked out the way we want them to work out.
[6:46] And we've been disappointed. And we've been decepcionado. Whatever that is. That's a Spanish word. But we've been deceived. We feel like, hey, things aren't like they're supposed to be.
[6:56] But the truth is we are forgiven. And we are to forgive. Can you say amen? Now there's something we learned a long time ago. Let's see if you can repeat it. The forgiven.
[7:07] Let's do it again. The forgiven. Forgive. And that's how we'll work it in the church. If we stay together as a church long, we're going to have some hurt feelings. If we stay together as a church and we all stay a part of this church, we're going to have some hurt feelings.
[7:22] But guess what we do? Love, charity, covers a multitude of sins. We forgive. That's how you express love. In Ephesians chapter 5 and verse 32, he said, Be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you.
[7:40] Hey, Ephesian church, forgive each other. Ephesian church, forgive each other. Now look at me just a second. Let me just tell you something. If you want to follow the command, man, the world's people, they need to get on the stringer show to bring out all the dirt.
[7:56] They need to get on somebody's show to bring out stuff and say, I still hate my mama. My mama did me wrong. I still hate George or Tom or Sue. I still hate somebody. And I need a TV audience to watch me blow, rant, rave, get upset.
[8:10] But here's what he said about us. Hey, you've been forgiven. I am so glad God is not going to rant and rave about my failures. I am so glad that my sins have been forgiven.
[8:21] I'm so glad they're under the blood. And I'm supposed to love you like he loves me. So I'm going to learn to practice forgiveness. Is there a possibility in this room that you would need to forgive somebody?
[8:32] Is there a possibility that you're holding a grudge against somebody? Hey, Jesus said, I command you, I'm about to leave here. You won't be able to go with me. And you won't be where I am. So I command you to forgive.
[8:44] I command you to forgive. By the way, I know, I don't know if you noticed in the notes, I said in asking for forgiveness, sometimes in our proud, we won't ask for forgiveness, but we ought to. Second thing I want you to look at, we can express love by caring for each other.
[8:57] We can express love by caring for each other. The Bible says in first John three, 16 through 18. Let me read that with you in just a second. But just let me say that this is what's been going on with those of you that have sacrificially been given to help meet the needs of Surama, of Ronald to Pastor Ronald to me as his daughter.
[9:15] You're doing that. This is something that ought to be common in our church. In our church, it ought to be common. It ought to be that as you're walking around and you see one of your brothers or your sisters have need and God has blessed you with a little bit of abundance that you see how you can meet that need and do something kind.
[9:31] I remember pastoring in my first church. I was pastoring and I had worn my shoes out and I had a hole in the bottom and you could see almost all the way through to my sock. I think there was a thin layer of cardboard left.
[9:44] And I remember sitting on a platform and I always sat on a platform back then. I sat there until my wife said, you look so mad and you look so mean when you're up there that you hurt the service.
[9:54] Why don't you quit sitting on the front? That's why I sit on the front row because the back of my head looks better than my face. Say amen. But anyway, thank you, Betty. I love you too. And, and I was sat up there and somehow this guy got a glimpse of my butt, the bottom of my shoe.
[10:06] And so, uh, I was used to getting called. I was a young preacher. I was in my early twenties and I was used to getting called by the old people of the church to come see them. And I get reamed out a little bit here and there.
[10:18] And so this guy called and he told my secretary that he wanted to see me downtown at his store. He operated. And I said, I looked at her and I said, what'd I do? What'd I do? What's he mad at me about?
[10:28] He didn't say he wanted me to come. He's going to buy me a pair of shoes. He didn't say that. So I got down there and I walked in and he said, brother, he said, I want to walk across street with you. I'm going to buy you a pair of shoes. And I was like, I'll take the shoes, man.
[10:39] I have been sweating coming to meet you ever since you call me. But you see, here's what happens. You look at your brother and you see you have a need. That's something the world doesn't do. The world revolves around.
[10:50] I won't. I'm for me. Let's go for me. And church where I was around. I love my brothers. Look at first John three, 16 through 18. Hereby perceive we the love of God because he laid down his life for us.
[11:02] We ought to lay down our lives for the brethren. But who so hath this world's goods and sees his brother have need and shut up his bowels of compassion from him. How dwells the love of God in him?
[11:15] My little children, let us not love in word, neither in tongue, but in deed and in truth. You know that a problem in the early church. It's the same problem going on here. Now we all walk around talking about love, but we don't ever do anything with the love we have.
[11:28] We don't forgive. We don't look at each other and meet needs. If we're not careful of church law, they learn to talk the talk, but not walk what they talk. They don't walk the walk.
[11:38] Can you say amen right there? So here's way. How do we express love? Jesus said, I command you to love one another. Well, one of the ways is you forgive and ask forgiveness. Another way is you care for your brethren.
[11:48] Letter C. We love by serving each other like Jesus showed us as he washed feet. There's something about getting saved and getting a new life and, and God elevates us.
[12:01] If you could think back to the day when he pulled you out of the miry clay and he pulled you out of the sin and the degradation and the place you used to live in. In fact, as you, if you recall all the way back then, you might've been one of those people.
[12:14] If you weren't raised in church, you might've been one of those people thinking, well, if I go to church, the roof's liable to collapse. If I go to church, God's liable to strike me dead because you know, you weren't that good.
[12:24] But then you got to church and along the way, God changed you and you've beat the sins that you had and you're a new man and you live new and you act new. And it's not long before we kind of get an uppity position and attitude.
[12:37] We move from undeserving center to a super deserving Pharisee. And so we walk in the church like I am God's gift to holiness. Have you checked me out lately?
[12:47] You ought to see who I was and see where I am. And I have really moved up in the world. And then we're, we're, we're, we're just too high up. We're just too, too, too super me stuff.
[12:59] And Jesus said, Hey, you want to love? Remember what I did? I took off my suit coat. I wrapped my towel around my waist and I got down at your feet and I washed your feet.
[13:10] We don't come to church to be blessed. We come to be a blessing. We don't come to church to see what we can get out of it. We don't come to church saying, Ed, you better sing songs and bless me.
[13:20] Nursery workers, you better take real good care of my kids. Pastor, you better preach a real good message. We walk in here saying, Hey man, I don't even deserve to be here. I'm just here. Can I wash some feet while I'm here? What's the lowest job I could do?
[13:33] I want to express my love by serving. We love by giving preference. Look, if you would at Romans chapter 12, verse 10, we love by giving preference.
[13:43] In Romans chapter 12 and verse 10, being kindly affectionate one to another with brotherly love and honor, preferring one another. You'll not believe this, but in the Protestant churches of the past, they actually had what they called a pew rent.
[13:59] And that's how you paid the pastor. The fact is, Charles Spurgeon, when he took over the tabernacle, the pastor wasn't getting enough pay. And the deacons had to meet at the end of the year and figure out how to pay him.
[14:10] Because everybody who sat in a seat had to pay X amount to sit in a seat. So, and then, you know, they always had in the churches, they had better seats. They had seats where there was heat.
[14:20] They had seats where there was less smoke. They had seats that were cushioned. They had seats that weren't cushioned. They had things that sat down in the aisle and it was just kind of a flop over and you didn't have a backrest. And every seat had a different amount.
[14:32] And so when Spurgeon took the church, they said, they said, man, we don't know how we'll make you salary, but somehow we'll come up with your salary. Well, he preached the first Sunday. And after that Sunday, the church filled up and he became quite well to do out of pew rent.
[14:45] George Buehler walked into his church and they had the pew rent. And he went in there and he said, man, this is ridiculous. The rich people come in and they got a closed, you know, the pastor was up high and they had a closed in little closet.
[14:57] Their family went in and shut the door. They had their own little heater. They had their own little deal, a little deal in there. And he went in one day while nobody was there. He got rid of all the pews. He said, you want a seat? He just put regular seats like we do today.
[15:09] He said, if you want a seat, you better get here early because the poor people aren't going to have to stand up in the back anymore. He said, he said, James chapter one, we're showing preference to the rich and we're dishonoring the poor.
[15:19] You know what love does? Love looks around the room and says, man, I'm here to serve you. I want to give you the good seat. I preached in a different church last Sunday. I was preaching a missions conference last Sunday and it was really funny.
[15:34] You know, I didn't know where to sit. You know how churches are. You've been sitting in that seat. I mean, it knows your backside. It is used to you. Amen. It's like, that's where I sit.
[15:46] When you sit down to the chair goes, yep, that's the right guy. You know, and so it's really, it's really different. So I'm sitting there. We walked in and I sat down and Betty leaned over to me and says, I think the pastor's wife sits here and some of her people.
[15:59] I said, well, there wasn't any bottles here when we got here. She said, I still think we ought to slide down a little bit. So we slid down and they came into their place. That night when I got in there were Bible spread there. It was like, you ain't sitting here, boy. So I got in another seat and then another family came in and I heard a missionary family look up and say, is this your seat?
[16:16] And they said, no, no, no, but it really was. You could tell it was, you know, they weren't doing that. It's a most godly, one of the most godly church ever been in. So they weren't doing anything wrong. But you understand what happens? It's real, real quick.
[16:27] Like we know where we belong real quick. Like we don't give preference. Jesus said, love like I love. And in Romans 12, 10, he said, be in honor, prefer one another.
[16:39] In first Corinthians, our first Thessalonians 4, 18. He said, we love by comforting each other. We love by comforting each other. Wherefore comfort one another with these words.
[16:50] Now look at this way. Just say, let me show you something. You know, people are hurting this morning. Did you know they're hurting people in this room? Did you know you have brothers and sisters that are hurting? As a pastor, I've often been the guy who rides down the road with the family in the car.
[17:09] And you know how in Georgia, especially in Tennessee where I grew up, when the hearse is coming down the road, the car is all pulled to the side and they wait till you go by. And even the policemen maybe take and salute or somebody takes off their hat and holds it over their heart as you drive by.
[17:24] And it's like, we're going to give you one, one or five seconds or 20 seconds of respect because you lost somebody. But the world moves on. You know, actually, we almost think, my goodness, I hope it's in a long funeral procession.
[17:40] And mostly the world, everybody's all by himself. I mean, if you got some friends, okay. And maybe you got an extended family, okay. But, you know, in the church, that's not the way it's supposed to be.
[17:53] It's supposed to be, you're my brother. And I'm supposed to love you. And I'm going to see what I can do to comfort you. So we comfort one another. You ought to be walking around. I mean, we want to know.
[18:05] In your Sunday school class, you want to know who's hurting. You want to find out ways you can comfort. We love by building up our brother in the Lord. We learn by building up our brother in the Lord.
[18:19] In 1 Thessalonians 5.11, the Bible says, Wherefore, comfort one another, comfort yourselves together, and edify one another, even as also ye do.
[18:31] We're going to edify each other. That's how we love. He said, hey, I command you a new commandment I give to you. Love each other like I've loved you. Would you watch this? Now, listen, tell me if I'm wrong.
[18:43] Do you know what happens with the guy who gets right with God? He comes to church, walks out, gets right with God. And when he walks out the door, as soon as he gets to work tomorrow, everybody at work will do everything in their power to pull him down and put him right back where he was before he made a decision to serve Christ.
[18:58] He will get there and they'll be like, oh, now you think you're a really big spiritual guy. And they will mock him and joke with him. And they will pull him down. Sometimes it's almost easy with us as Christians.
[19:11] We look and say, I don't know. We'll see if you make it. I ain't sure you really got it. Some people we say he was gloriously saved. And others we say, I ain't sure he got saved. And here's what Paul was saying. Let's build each other up.
[19:23] Let's come to church. Hey, man, let's be the mutual encouragement society. Let's get together and say, man, I love you and I respect you and I believe in you. I want to help you serve Jesus. Let me give you some Bible study.
[19:34] Let me pray with you. Let me be there to comfort you. Let me be there to encourage you. That's how we love. We love by building up our brother in Christ. First Corinthians chapter 12, if you would, verse 31.
[19:47] In first Corinthians, which we studied, they were fighting about everything. In the church, they had little groups. And rah, rah, one pastor. And rah, rah, another pastor.
[19:57] And they had sin going on. And then the spiritual gifts came in. The gifts of the Holy Spirit and what the Holy Spirit was doing in the ministry there. Which we'll be getting into in pretty good depth over the next few days.
[20:10] And so they had all this going on. And they were bragging. Well, I have the gift of tongues. And I have the gift of prophecy. And I have the gift of discerning spirits.
[20:22] And I have the gift. And there was kind of a haughtiness. And Paul talks to them and said, wait a minute. Stop. Let me go over what the gifts are so you guys can get in line with what Bible gifts are. But in first Corinthians chapter 12, verse 31, he stops.
[20:36] And he says, but covet earnestly the best gifts. And yet show I unto you a more. Say it with me. More excellent way.
[20:47] I got a better way. Hey, instead of bragging about your gift. Let me tell you what the more excellent way is. Now we call 1 Corinthians 13 the love chapter. But it's sandwiched between the gift chapters.
[20:59] Chapter 11 and chapter 14 are gift chapters. It talks about the gifts of the Holy Spirit. But in the middle of what you do at church, he said, stop. Stop. Stop. It's not about ministry.
[21:11] It's not about who has the gift of preaching or teaching or speaking in tongues or giving money. It's not about that. It's about let's love each other. I have a more excellent way. Love.
[21:22] And then he said this. He said, I don't care what your gift is. I really can care what you. It's worthless if you don't have love. Boy, doesn't this sound like a Joel Osteen message in an independent Baptist church.
[21:34] But the truth is we're supposed to love. We're to love like Christ loved the church. Let me read to you chapter 13, verse 4. Charity. Let me stop and say why it's charity.
[21:47] They use the word charity there because it is a giving without expecting a return. You know, when you give to charity, when you give money away to somebody who doesn't deserve it, your attitude is here.
[22:00] Here's a gift. You're so poor you could never do anything for me. That's charity. And God's looking at us and said, hey, I love you and you can't do anything back for me. And Christians, we're supposed to learn that we have a giving love, not an expecting love.
[22:14] Can I just stop and say most of us love with expecting a return? I'll love you if you love me. I will do for you if you do for me. But we don't say I will love you no matter what.
[22:28] And charity, that word that's being used here is like I don't expect anything. So when we talk about love here, you're going to start and you're going to say, yeah, I wish everybody else in this church would do that. That's not where it starts. It starts with this.
[22:38] I'm not expecting anybody to do this for me. I'm going to do this for everybody else. So he says in 1 Corinthians chapter 13 and verse 4, Charity suffereth long and is kind.
[22:51] Charity envieth not. Charity vawneth not itself. Is not puffed up. Doth not behave itself unseemly. Seeketh not her own. Is not easily provoked.
[23:02] Thinketh no evil. Rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth. Beareth all things. Believeth all things. Hopeth all things. Endureth. Love all things. And we could be here a long time.
[23:13] But let me just give you some brief definitions of what's going on here. And those are right there in your notes if you would. Number one, love, charity suffereth long. It doesn't lose its patience.
[23:26] It doesn't get angry easily. It accepts others as they are. You know, if we love, when somebody walks in that door, we don't decide.
[23:37] You're not dressed right. You don't look right. You got an earring. A nose ring. A tattoo. You're not dressed the way we want you to dress. That doesn't come in. Because we are patient.
[23:50] Somebody comes to church and they're not as faithful as they ought to be. We are patient. Somebody comes to church and doesn't give. We are patient. Somebody offends us. We are patient.
[24:01] Love suffereth long. Love. Love. Charity. Suffers long. Number two, love is kind. Charity is kind or good.
[24:13] It recognizes the needs of others. It seeks to help and better the other person. Do you understand what we ought to be doing at church? Would you look this way just a second? Sometimes we love the church, but we don't love people.
[24:27] We love God, but we don't love people. We love the Bible, but we don't love people. And really, that's all like a, that's like a, hey man, that's like impossible.
[24:39] If you love the church, the church is people. And if you love God, people. And if you love the Bible, people. And our attitude ought to be the whole time. I just love you.
[24:50] I just love you. Man, come on in. This is an environment of love. This is an environment of accepting you and believing in you. This is an environment of love.
[25:01] The next thing is, he said, love envieth not. Charity envieth not. It does not seek to control the other person. It doesn't seek to control the other person.
[25:12] And somewhere along the way, we want to take advantage. And we want people to respond the way we want them to respond. And if they don't do that, we're going to get upset.
[25:22] Love, charity, vawneth not itself. It does not try to impress. It does not always talk about his or herself. It doesn't go around bragging about itself.
[25:34] Our church ought never brag on us. We ought to brag on Jesus. Our church ought not think we're something. We ought not think we're something. We ought to think he is something.
[25:44] Because you know what? He humbled himself. He's been patient with me. And he loves me. Love is not puffed up. Charity is not puffed up. Not just thinking of oneself.
[25:55] Doesn't think that he or she is so important. Doesn't think that everything revolves around him or her. Doesn't think everything revolves around him or her. Love says, hey, I'm here to serve you.
[26:07] Oh, well, you can see that so easily at home, can't you? You remember how, you know, a good mother. Man, she's up often before everybody else. She's in bed after everyone else.
[26:18] And during the night, she's the one that gets up and puts a cold cloth on your forehead. She cares and loves and cares and loves and cares and loves and gets nothing in response. I remember being invited to homes in Peru as a missionary.
[26:33] And I would go in there. You know, I mean, these would be dirt floors and grass mat houses. The walls were made out of grass mats. The roof was made out of grass mats. And I would walk in there. And they would serve me like I was a king.
[26:46] And they would come up. They would fry a chicken. Or they'd fry a couple of chickens, which would be like extremely expensive for them. It'd be like you taking me to one of the most expensive restaurants in Atlanta. And they would fry this chicken up for me.
[26:58] And I would sit down there. And then they would bring out a big old chicken breast for me. A whole chicken breast. And then the other people in the family got little cuts and little pieces of meat. And maybe the husband got another chicken breast.
[27:08] And the wife would take a foot. A chicken foot. Or the lower part of the leg. Just the drum. The little one on the wing maybe.
[27:19] That's all she'd have. And then she would stand after I got through eating. And she would say, preacher, I just want to give you something else. I want to give you something else to eat here.
[27:30] I have saved you a chicken breast. And I said, ma'am, please. I have eaten plenty. Please, you eat the chicken breast. She said, no, no, no. I really don't like chicken breast. You know that ain't the truth.
[27:41] And then the next thing she said, no, I really saved this for you. And the husband said, well, if you ain't going to give it to him, just bring it here. Boy, isn't that the way it works? She ate a little wing drum.
[27:55] The little part of the wing. And he got two chicken breasts. You see, we often think of it revolving around us. Everything in this church revolves around me.
[28:07] Love, charity does not behave itself unseemly. Doesn't have bad manners and doesn't seek to embarrass. Always thinking of the other.
[28:18] Love seeks not our own. Doesn't take advantage. Doesn't take advantage. We are really here to love people right where they are, the way they are, with all the needs they have. We're right here to reach out to our other church members and to love them and meet their needs.
[28:35] Not easily provoked. Love, charity is not easily provoked. Doesn't take everything personally. Doesn't get upset easily. You know, the truth is you'll learn real quickly at church, man.
[28:47] There's some people you don't cut up with. There's some people you don't joke with. You know, so what we want to do, I don't, of course, I shouldn't be embarrassed to them. But you, if you're going to love, you should say, hey, you know what, I'm not, it's not about me.
[28:58] I'm not getting offended. I'm not going to do that because love doesn't get provoked. Love doesn't think evil. Charity thinketh no evil. Doesn't hold bitterness in his or her heart.
[29:09] Doesn't keep count of mistakes. Doesn't rehearse mistakes. Destroys all evidence against the other. You know what we want to do? If we're going to love each other, it's not mom's a word.
[29:21] It's not we'll talk about it when they're not here. It's not that we'll bring this up later. It is there's no evidence of it. I don't remember that ever happening. I'm not bringing that up. And I'm not discussing that because I don't think about the bad things.
[29:35] So many of us are missing so much in life because we nurse all of our hurts. And we nurse all the things that have gone wrong with us. And everybody in this room is going through a lot of mess.
[29:46] That's kind of like it is. That's just life. You can't live without getting hurt. But we don't think on those things. We don't think on evil. We don't rejoice in iniquity.
[29:57] We don't rejoice in iniquity. Love doesn't rejoice in iniquity. That's like making comparisons with the sins of another so that you can feel good about yourself. We don't make comparisons with others.
[30:09] Here's exactly what's going on in our minds right now. Some of us are thinking, well, this is good for me. But I already do a lot better than that. And I'm and you all right now in your mind, you're thinking about George or Sam or or Susie or Pam.
[30:21] And you're thinking, I hope they're getting this message. And it's like we rejoice. Last Sunday, I was at the front and I was talking on another passage. I saw about we don't compare ourselves among ourselves.
[30:32] And I pulled my coat back. I said, hey, I got a weight problem. And this guy on the front row goes, you sure do. But I was telling him, you know, I don't really depends on who I compare myself to is when I got a weight problem.
[30:43] Because I like to find them really big people so I don't have a weight problem. Say, man. And you know what? What tonight? You know what you're thinking? Well, I do love. It's not me needs this message. I'm hoping he listens. I'm hoping she listens.
[30:55] And we compare ourselves as having what we ought to have by comparing ourselves to others that aren't right. Rejoices in the truth, bears all things. No limit to your patience.
[31:09] That's number 12 there. Believes all things. Never doubts. Letter three. Never doubts the other person's integrity. Never doubts the other person's integrity.
[31:20] I believe in you. I believe in you. Endures all things. Will cross whatever obstacle. Love, even when the other doesn't. Love is not about what I get.
[31:32] Love is not about a fair treatment. Love is about what I do for others. We're to love like Christ loved us. Let me just sum this up real quickly and I'll be through. How do you do that?
[31:42] Here it is. You ready? Sacrificing ourselves for our brothers. Did you do? Listen to this. Jesus said, guys, I got a new commandment. I'm leaving here.
[31:53] And I want you to love each other like I have loved you. I want you to love each other like I've loved you. Would you know how you know what love was for Jesus? It was sacrifice.
[32:04] It was. It cost me to love you. It cost me to love you. Because love is expensive. Love is expensive.
[32:15] You know that's true. Do you remember when you looked at her and said we can get married? And you thought to yourself two can live as cheap as one. But only about half as long. Amen. But you know, you looked at her and you said, I don't care what it costs.
[32:28] But see, love is a sacrifice. Anytime we love, it's a sacrifice ourselves for our brothers. And that's what Jesus did when he laid down his life. In John 10, 17 through 18, he laid down his life.
[32:40] Loving like Jesus loved is loving before they love us. Some Christians come to church and they're like this. I'm going to see if they'll love me. And you walk into church and you're kind of looking around and saying, see if he'll love me.
[32:53] If he'll love me, I'll love him back. But that's not how Jesus loved us. Jesus loved us before we ever loved him. He said, y'all go love each other like I love you. And in 1 John 4, verse 19, he said, we love him because he first loved us.
[33:06] It's like, don't wait for somebody to shake your hand. You won't have to wait if you're busy shaking everybody else's hand. Don't wait for somebody to hug you. You won't have to if you're busy hugging everybody.
[33:18] Forgive them like Jesus has forgiven you. You know how Jesus forgave us, don't you? I know I've already mentioned that. But can you remember how he forgave us? He forgot. He forgot.
[33:30] He buried it in the deepest sea. He blotted it out. He covered it with his blood. And after it was finished and paid for and canceled, and he had the canceled ticket, he nailed it to the cross and said, if anybody comes asking about what you did wrong, tell them it's been nailed to the cross.
[33:50] And we are to love like he loved. We're to forgive like he forgave. We love them even when they are unlovely. Don't you think God that he loved us when we were unlovely?
[34:02] How many of you were unlovely when he loved you? Can I just tell you? Thank you for being honest. Let me just say this. Let me just tell you. You didn't find him. He found you. You didn't.
[34:14] You didn't get good enough for him to love you. He loved you when you didn't deserve to be loved. And so what a wonderful picture of how our church ought to work. Now, I'm going to wrap this up, and we're going to get the last verse.
[34:26] But watch this second. Listen to me. You say, why in the world did you take this long to talk about this? Because real doctrine ought to affect the way we live. Real doctrine ought to affect the way we treat each other.
[34:38] The facts are that when people drive by vision, they ought to say, that's a pastor that really loves his people. That's a people that really love their pastor. That's a people that really love each other.
[34:49] Those are leaders in that church that really love. That's one place, buddy. If you want to be loved, just step in there, and it'll be like they swallow you in love. That's what the Bible is saying here.
[34:59] You say, no, it's not. How about reading it with me? In John 13, 35, he said, by this shall all men know that you are my disciples if you have love one to another.
[35:12] Do you understand that there's not much love out there? Do you understand that around us, in our society today, in 2012, there's not a lot of love out there?
[35:27] Oh, I mean, they'll love you if you pay them good. If you go to the funeral home, that guy will act like he really cares, especially if you buy the more expensive casket. Let's be honest.
[35:39] And everybody acts like they love you. But they love you on condition of you paying them. Love is almost unheard of in our society.
[35:51] And the reason is, is because there's only one person knows about love, and that's God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. They're the only person who knows about love. And so here we are. You say, what do you want people to know vision for?
[36:04] There's a lot of things. I want to know we send missionaries. I want to know we preach the Bible. I want to know that we train leaders. But if you'd like to know what I really hope they'll know us for is, man, they love each other.
[36:18] And they will love you too. I want you to be able to go to your friends and say, I want to take you to my church. And I want your friend to say, I ain't going to church. I know how church people are. And I want you to be able to say, that's not vision people.
[36:30] Vision people, they love you just like you are. No, but I got habits. Hey, they'll love you. But I got sin. They'll love you. It's the lovingest place you could ever go. It's a loving place.
[36:43] Because true Bible doctrine will make us loving people. Did you say amen right there or not? We ought to love people. Here's what he said. He said, by this, by your love, shall all men know that you are my disciples.
[37:00] He didn't say by your separation. He didn't say by your exciting church services. He didn't say by your sending missionaries to the mission field. He said, by your love, they will know that you are my disciples.
[37:16] Because ain't nobody else ever been on this planet to just love people. Just Jesus. The world doesn't know how to express love. Most of the time when they talk about love, it has to do with giving to get.
[37:28] But we give without hoping to get. The world will not be drawn to us by our doctrine or our separation, though those are super important. They will be drawn when they see that there is something that affects us that makes our lives completely different.
[37:47] Boy, they shall know that you are my disciples because you love one another. Now, here comes an invitation. First invitation. First point I want to ask you is this. Do you know this love?
[37:57] You see, you can't express this love if you haven't experienced this love. You can't express this love if you haven't experienced this love. If you've never been born again, if your sins haven't been forgiven, if you haven't found out what a wonderful, loving Father we have.
[38:11] If you haven't found out what love Jesus expressed when He died on the cross, you'll have a problem expressing this love. And so today, I want you to know He loves you and He stands ready to save you. It's all done. It's all paid for.
[38:22] He loves you right now. And all you need to do is receive the gift. The gift has been bought and paid for. All you need to do is believe Him and He'll save you. I challenge you to come get saved here in just a second.
[38:33] But then I would like to ask Christians, how many of us in this morning has the Holy Spirit said, no, you're not really doing that part of it. And He's not going to nail everything. He's going to pick stuff out of the, out of the, that He wants to talk to you about.
[38:45] But I mean, really, what's He been dealing with you about? Are you expressing the love? You say, I just can't believe you preach this this morning. Man, we need some Bible doctrine, Bible preaching.
[38:57] And you don't usually do all that love and stuff. Hey, that's where we are in the Bible. That's where we are in the Bible. And here's what He said. I got a new commandment for you. I want you to love each other like Christ loved the church, like I love you.
[39:11] And I want you to know that they will know you're my disciples because of the way you love each other. So this morning, how many Christians would have to say, boy, the Lord's dealt with my heart about some area that I'm failing in in love.
[39:25] Why don't you come tell Him, Lord, I'm going to get up and love. Lord, express your love. Shed your love abroad through me. Help me to love my brother. Father in heaven, I love you. And I thank you for the privilege of serving you.
[39:37] And I pray, God, that you would deal with hearts today. And I pray you'd draw Christians to you and strengthen us and do great things in us. And I will give you great honor and glory and praise for all that you do. I love you and I magnify you.
[39:48] You have been listening to Austin Gardner, pastor of Vision Baptist Church. For contact information, location, service times, or more audio and video recordings, log on to www.visionbaptist.com.
[40:07] Thank you. Thank you.