Turn in your Bibles to 1 Thessalonians 3. 1 Thessalonians 3. Start in verse 8. 1 Thessalonians 3 verse 8. For now we live, if ye stand fast in the Lord. For what thanks can we render to God again for you, for all the joy wherewith we joy for your sakes before our God? Night and day praying exceedingly that we might see your face and might perfect that which is lacking in your faith. Now God himself and our Father and our Lord Jesus Christ direct our way unto you. And the Lord make you to increase and abound in love, one toward another, and toward all men, even as we toward you. To the end, He may establish your hearts, unblameable in holiness, before our God, even our Father, at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ with all His saints. So we looked last time on Sunday afternoon We just kind of whet our appetite a little bit in this last part of chapter 3, and we just talked kind of an overview or briefly about the prayers of Paul. Because we have one here in Thessalonians chapter 3, and it's a beautiful prayer that Paul made for the church here at Thessalonica. But we see all throughout Paul's letters that he would, even in his letter that he would write to them, he would write a letter of a prayer. to God for the people so that they would know, that they would see, that they would have a written down copy of, here is how Paul is praying for us. And it would teach them how also they could pray for Paul, they could pray for others. And so it was God's way of inspiring Paul to do this so that the people would have that, the churches would have that, but also that we would have it still today. That we would have the prayers of the Apostle Paul, and that we would be able to take his prayers and we would be able to model them in our own life. And as a church, that we would be able to model them as a church together. So we have one here in 1 Thessalonians chapter 3 here at the end of this chapter. And we looked just kind of briefly last time at the prayers of Paul. What were the prayers of Paul like? And so we looked how in all of Paul's prayers they were always to God the Father, He was always praying to God the Father, and He was always praying through the Lord Jesus Christ. So in any of our prayers, we're always praying to God the Father, but we know that we are coming to Him not in ourselves, but we are coming to Him through the Lord Jesus Christ. What we're doing is we're acknowledging the Lordship of Christ. We're acknowledging that Christ is the only mediator between God and men. that He stands at the right hand of God and intercedes for us on our behalf. We can't go to the Father outside of the Lord Jesus Christ. Believe me, there's many people out there that pray to God, but they're not praying through the Lord Jesus Christ. They have no mediator. God does not hear their prayers. God is only going to hear the prayers of those who come through His Son, because He is the only mediator between God and man. Man is too sinful to approach God on his own. You cannot approach unto the throne of God. You cannot come before His presence, because you are a sinner, and God cannot allow a sinner to approach unto His throne. So there has to be one that is perfect, and is holy, and is righteous, who will stand there before God on your behalf. And His name is Jesus Christ. So He says, I come to you in the name of the Father, or to God, Himself and our Father and our Lord Jesus Christ So it teaches us the importance of that in our own prayers always thinking about how the Lord Jesus Christ is our intercessor He is our mediator before God so he's always praying to God the Father in the name of Jesus Christ and Secondly, he's always praying for God's people, right? He's praying for the Thessalonians here in Philippi. He's praying for the church at Philippi in In Ephesians, he's praying for the church at Ephesus. And in some of his general epistles, he's praying for all the people of God in every place. And so it teaches us that our prayer life should not be primarily about us, but it should be about the people of God. We should be praying for God's people everywhere, that God will bless them, that God will watch over them, that God will help them. He prayed for God's people. And then thirdly, we looked at what does Paul pray about in his prayer for God's people? We know that, yes, we should pray for one another in our sicknesses. We should pray for one another in our financial struggles. We should pray for one another that we be good employees. We should pray for one another that we be good citizens. We're taught to pray for our president and all those that are in authority that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life. We're to pray for those things, but that is not the primary things that we should be praying about. The primary things that we see Paul praying about in his prayers are spiritual matters of faith, spiritual matters of love and of obedience to God and obedience to the Lord Jesus Christ. Love, faith, hope, these are the things that we're supposed to be praying primarily about for one another. So we pray for all these things for one another that are natural things, but we must much more be like Paul and we must go beyond that and we must pray for spiritual matters for our brothers and sisters in Christ. Father, help them to love you more. Father, help them to be filled with your joy. Help them to be filled with your spirit. Help them in overcoming sin in their life. Help them that they may be more giving in their finances toward you. Pray for them that they might draw closer to you each and every day of their life. Pray for them that they might spend time in the Word and in meditation and in study. This is what we should be praying for one another about. And so we just kind of had a brief overview there. Let's look here at the prayer of Paul for the Thessalonians. So that would be the title. Paul's prayer for the Thessalonians or a prayer for brotherly love. because that's specifically what he's praying about here in this prayer. He is praying for them that they might increase, that they might have excess, and that they might abound in love toward one another and toward all men. So this is a prayer for love to one another. Let's look at three things this morning as we're looking at this text. First, let's look at When we're thinking about Paul's prayer here, let's think about its fervency. Okay? Its fervency. Secondly, let's look at its message. What was the prayer about? And then thirdly, what was his purpose? What was its purpose? What was the purpose or the aim of this prayer? Okay? So its fervency, its message, its aim or its purpose. First of all, this morning, let's be reminded and look at again the fervency of this prayer. Okay, we see it here in verse 10, right? So Paul is saying, Paul has already said, we've gotten the report back. We are thankful to God for the report of your faith and your love and your obedience to Christ. He says, it's filled us with great joy. It's filled me with great joy. He says, we live. We are thriving, we are living no matter what we're doing as long as we got this report that you're standing fast in the Lord, right? We live if you stand fast in the Lord, right? We have joy, we have peace, we have contentment as long as we know you're standing fast in the Lord. So that's what he said. And then he says, you know, based on this, what thanks can we render to God? We can't thank God enough that we have heard of your faith and your love and your hope in the Lord. And he says, for all the joy, wherewith we joy for your sakes before our God. So Paul is filled with thankfulness. Paul is filled with joy in about hearing how the Thessalonians were being faithful and loving and obedient to the Lord and full of hope in him. And so then he says, night and day, praying exceedingly that we might see your face here. Here shows us the fervency of the apostle Paul. Okay, Paul says, I spend night and day. Okay, so that covers just pretty much the whole day, right? Night and day. And so he's saying that throughout the day, okay, throughout the day, night and day, throughout the day, I am praying exceedingly. Okay, the word exceedingly means over and above. Alright, so it isn't just that Paul woke up in the morning, and he had his Thessalonican checklist, And he went through it, and he prayed for all the people there that he knew, and then he moved on to Philippi, and then he moved on to Ephesus, and then he moved on to Galatia, and then he moved on to Corinth. Paul says, no, night and day, I pray over and above for each and every one of you. He didn't just list their name before God, but he prayed for them. He said, this brother, I pray for him. I pray for his heart. I pray for his soul. I pray that his faith might grow. I pray that His love might abound. I pray that His hope might increase. I pray that He will draw closer to you. I pray that His knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ will grow. I pray that He will be able to overcome sin in His life. And He did that for each and every one of them. Paul was constantly in prayer. And you know, part of it for Paul was Paul was one who traveled around, and Paul was one who As he traveled around to each city, he would, yes, be preaching and he would be teaching in the synagogues, but on the other days, when he wasn't preaching in the synagogues and he wasn't going out maybe to the city or a house or something to preach, he had time, right? Because usually they met one day a week in the synagogue, okay? So in his time that he wasn't preaching or teaching, he was spending it studying God's Word and he was spending it in prayer. So I want to say that because not all of us are Paul the Apostle. Not all of us have the time that Paul the Apostle had. We don't want to set up a standard for all of us to try to be like the Apostle Paul. But we need to aim for that, right? We need to strive for that. We might not all be able to have the time, and we might not all be able to have the discipline like Paul the Apostle had, but we can set the bar high, okay? Sometimes we can look at the Apostle Paul and we can just become defeated. I'm not like Paul the Apostle Paul, right? I'm not like him. I'm not like Paul. But you don't have to be like Paul. God hasn't called you to be Paul. God has called you to be you. God has called you to be obedient to His Word and apply these things to the best you can in your life. And so don't look at Paul and say, you know, I just can't be like that and become self-defeated. You can be like Paul. You can spend time in prayer. You can be fervent in your prayers. Night and day praying exceedingly. Over and above. You remember in the prayer of Paul to the Ephesians? We looked at it last time. But he used that same word when he was praying for them. And he was speaking about God. What is God able to do? Why should we be fervent? Why should we Be ardent in our prayers to God because God is able right to do exceeding abundantly above all Right, so we should be fervent We should go over and above because the one that we're going over and above to can go over and above and beyond What we have even the smallest power to be able to do so he said in Ephesians 3 20 Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly abundantly above all that we ask or think according to the power that worketh in us. Okay, so this is, you're praying to one who has all power in heaven and in earth. And he is able, if he so will, to do anything that he wants to do. And so you're praying to him and you're pleading, you're pleading your heart out before this one that he will do this in the lives of your brothers and sisters in Christ. You are going over and above to this One that is able to do over and above and beyond what we even know how to ask or think. So all you've got to do is just plead to this One. Plead to this One. Be fervent in your prayers. I talked about this yesterday, but sometimes we can become too ritualistic in our prayers. Like I said, we can take the prayer guide and we can just go on down through it. And we should take the prayer guide and go down through it. But make sure that as you're doing that, maybe you just take one or two or three a day. And make sure you go deep. Make sure you plead for your brothers and sisters in Christ. And make sure you pray for spiritual matters for them. This is what God wants us to do. And this is what will really impact us in our lives. We need this fervency in our own prayer life. As you look at your prayer life, what does it look like? Do you see any fervency in it? Do you see any plating? Do you see any urgency? Sometimes for me, it's just not there. It's just not there. We need to be like Paul, that we, night and day, pray exceedingly for one another. Because we know that God has all power in heaven and on earth. And if He so will, He is able to do above and beyond what we know how to ask or think. So why would we not go to Him? Why would we not plead to Him? Night and day praying exceedingly that we might see Your face. Paul just wanted to get there. He just wanted to see their face. And he says he just begged and pleaded with all fervency to God, that He would get to see their face. May we do that with one another. He wanted to get there and He was pleading and begging God that He could get there, not just so that He could see them, but so that He could help them. Right? I need to help perfect that which is lacking in your faith. Right? There's some things you need to know. There's some things you don't understand. There's some ways I can help you in your walk with the Lord. God, help me to get there. Not that they might benefit me, but that I might benefit them. You see the fervency in Paul? He wants to get there so that he might help them. That we might see your face and might perfect that which is lacking in your faith. So I want you to think about that this week. Lord, help me. Help my fervency and ardency in prayer to grow. Help me not to be ritualistic, but help me to be real and sincere and to be heartfelt like Paul. Secondly, let's look at what was he praying for? What was he praying about in this prayer? Number one, we have seen already and we see in verse 11 that the first part of his prayer is that Paul might get to Thessalonica, right? Direct our way. Hey, that's a good prayer. It doesn't just apply to Paul here to Thessalonica, does it? You should be praying that in your own life. Lord, direct our way. Direct Bob's way. Direct Kimball's way. Direct Jonathan's way. Direct Lydia's way. Direct Sister Gina's way. Direct our way. Because whether it's we want to get back to church, or whether it's we've got things to do, whether we've got places to go, whether we're traveling, whether it's we're at, like I said, at work or at home, homeschooling, or whatever it is that you do, pray to God that He would direct our way. What Paul is doing here is he is acknowledging the sovereignty of God. He says what? Now God Himself and our Father and our Lord Jesus Christ direct our way unto you. Was it Paul that was going to walk, or Paul that was going to ride on a horse, or was it Paul that was going to be in some kind of vehicle or transportation that was going to go to Thessalonica? Yeah. But he is praying to God, recognizing that it is in his control to allow the circumstances to be such that will allow him to get there. He wanted to get there. He would do everything he could to get there, but he had to depend on the sovereignty of God to allow it to happen. So this might seem a simple thing, but it's not, is it? God wants us to acknowledge our dependency on Him. So we pray, Lord, direct my way to work. Direct my actions when I'm at work. Direct my way home from work. Direct me as I'm with my family at home. Direct my way when I go out into my community and I do something. Direct my way that I might be led to those that are in need. See, you're acknowledging. You have plans to do all this, but you are acknowledging God's sovereignty and that it's God who is the one who is in control. This is found most clearly in James chapter 3. I'm sorry, James chapter 4. There are some who presuppose God's blessings, right? There are some who think that we don't need to pray for these simple things and that God will direct our way. But James says, on the contrary-wise, it's very important that you acknowledge the Lord's will in all things. So James 4, he says to these people, verse 13, go to now. This is just an expression, right? Go to now ye that say, Today or tomorrow we will go into such a city, and continue there a year, and buy and sell and get gain." Okay, so these are business people. These are planners, right? These are people who say that this is our plan for the next year. Or this is our plan for the next five years. Or this is our plan for the next ten years. And all those things are good business decisions. Good business plans, right? You need to think about the future. But you don't presuppose that just because you plan that God is going to bless it or that God is going to be in it. You need to acknowledge His sovereignty. He says this, verse 14, Whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapor that appears for a little while, little time, and then vanishes away. For that ye ought to say, If the Lord will, we shall live and do this or that. That's what we should say. And that's what Paul's saying. If it is the Lord's will, we want to see you face to face again. He says, But now you rejoice in your boasting, and all such rejoicing is evil. Therefore to him that knoweth to do good and doeth it not, to him it is sin. Okay, so Paul says, We ought to say, if the Lord will, we will do this or do that. How about you in your prayer life? Are you making sure that you say that? Lord, if you will, I will do this or I will do that. Pray that for one another as well. Pray for your brothers and sisters in Christ. Lord, if this is your purpose in their life, then help them. If this is not your purpose in their life, help them to see it. Help them to acknowledge that and to turn from it. The Lord will. Okay, so in our prayers, we need to make sure that we're acknowledging God's sovereignty in our life. His Lordship, the Lordship of Jesus Christ, right? Now, God Himself and our Lord Jesus Christ, right? He is the Lord of our life. He is the one who is in control. He is the one who is on the throne. And we need to acknowledge that. And so we make plans We have plans, we have desires that we want for our future, but let's make sure that we are saying, if the Lord will, we will do this or that. So I take that from Paul's prayer here. So that was his first request, was that he might get to go to Thessalonica. But if he was not able to, and he would acknowledge the Lord's will in that if he was not able to, he had a second request, and one that was of utmost importance. One that went far above just this natural quest that He might be with them and that God might direct His way toward them. He says, if you go back to the passage, Now God Himself and our Father and our Lord Jesus direct our way unto you, and the Lord make you to increase and abound in love toward one another, and toward all men, even as we do toward you." So this is something of a spiritual matter. Paul wants them, the Thessalonians, to increase and abound in love. Increase and abound in love, one toward another and toward all men, even as we do toward you. Okay? So Paul is praying for an increase and an abounding in love toward brothers and sisters in Christ, toward all of the people of God, and even reaching out from that and saying, we ought to be showing love to all men, to all kinds of men. Now again, even in this request, he acknowledges the sovereignty of God. He acknowledges that it is God who is going to It is God who is going to make this to be able to happen. What does he say and the Lord? Make you right that's important as you're praying for things in one another's lives Make sure you're saying and the Lord Make this to happen in your life You're not just praying for me that that I will make it happen But that the Lord will make it happen the Lord make you to increase in love one toward another. So it's an acknowledging of God's sovereignty, it's an acknowledging of the Holy Spirit, right? Because it is the Holy Spirit that is within us, that is within you, and He is the one that is going to help you to increase in love through the Word of God, through the reading of His Word, through the meditating on His Word, and through the work of the Holy Spirit, He's going to cause you to increase in love. So you may be loving your brothers and sisters in Christ now, but you can increase. You can abound. It can grow. Sometimes it is weak. Sometimes it is faint. So Paul doesn't go into all the explanations of how this is to happen, but he's simply pleading to God, help them to increase in love one toward another. Now, he's speaking to a church that that loves one another. He's speaking to a people that have already shown him that they love. You remember what he said in chapter 1, remembering without ceasing your work of faith, your labor of love, and patience of hope in the Lord Jesus Christ. Okay, so he mentions that they are laboring in love one toward another. Then go on into chapter 4. Chapter 4 in verse 9, he says, but as touching brotherly love, ye need not that I write unto you. For ye yourselves are taught of God to love one another, and indeed do it toward all the brethren which are in all Macedonia. But we beseech you, brethren, that ye increase more and more." Don't you like that? Increase more and more. Yes, you might have some love for your brothers and sisters in Christ. And you're doing it, but he says, I want you to increase in it. I want you to challenge yourself. I want it to become uncomfortable for you, to reach beyond what is comfortable for you. Maybe you love certain ones more than others. We all kind of have natural tendencies toward different types of people that maybe fit us or like us. But maybe there's those among us that just we don't jive with, we don't gel with, that are different than us. And maybe we have a problem with loving them as much as we should. Let's pray for ourselves that we might increase in our love. Maybe you see this in one another. Maybe you see it in a brother and sister in Christ. Maybe they're talking, always talking about this brother or sister in Christ. Pray for them that there might be an increase of love toward them. that they can get over the petty things, that they can get over the small things, that they can get over those natural tendencies to look down upon others that aren't at the same level of them and help them to increase in love toward them. So this was a challenge. It was a plea, but it was a challenge. Again, the word increase is to make or be more. Super abound. You need to super abound in love one toward another. That tells me that it's something that's not easy. It's not always easy to love one another as we should. Okay, and the commandment is what? That you love one another as I have loved you. Are you loving all of your brothers and sisters in Christ like Christ loves your brothers and sisters? Probably not. Neither am I. But that's what we want. Increase our love to make it like Christ. That it will be a selfless love. Because He says, you're to love your neighbor as you love yourself. Are you loving all your brothers and sisters in Christ as much as you love yourself? Probably not. Neither am I. But we need to increase in love toward one another. May we decrease. You can apply this to your own life. May we decrease and others increase. May I decrease and the Lord increase. Because you are not going to be able to love your brothers and sisters in Christ and all men if you have love for yourself. No man can serve two masters, right? And if yourself is your master, you can't love your brothers and sisters in Christ like you should. So part of this prayer is, If my love is going to increase more and more and be super abundant for others, then I've got to love myself less. And that's hard to do. Because we really, really, really love ourselves. If you don't see that and if you don't know that, then you're blind. We have to acknowledge how much that we love ourselves. We take care of ourselves. We feed ourselves. We clothe ourselves. We make sure that our self is entertained. We do things that are convenient for ourselves. Okay, we love ourselves. We have to that much more love others, love one another. And so for our love to increase and to abound, that means in excess, right? For our love to be in excess or abundant, then we've got to say, Lord, help me to be humble. Help me to think less of myself than I do. in love toward one another. This was a constant theme of Jesus. It's a constant theme of the apostles and the writers of the New Testament, how that we are to love one another as Christ has loved us. All men will know that you're my disciples if you have love one toward another. And Jesus said, I don't give to you a new commandment, right? This is from the Old Testament. Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, strength, and mind, and love your neighbor as yourself. But he says, this I do tell you, you're to love one another as I have loved you. And so that put a whole new level to it right there. If you want to increase in love, then look at the Lord Jesus Christ, look at His life, look at what He did for you, look at what He is doing for you, and then model your life, model your love for one another after that. And you've got some growing to do, and I've got some growing to do. Because we are not there. Paul would say this in many different places. Romans chapter 13, verse 8 is one of them. Romans 13, 8. Owe no man anything. Boy, that ought to be a prayer of ours. Owe no man anything. But this is what you owe. But to love one another. For he that loveth another hath fulfilled the law." Don't owe people money. Owe them your love. That's what you owe them. Love one another. Galatians, you remember what Paul said there? Speaking about how we are free, we have liberty in Christ to live our lives in freedom, in service to Him. He says, don't use that liberty for yourself, right? Don't say, well, I'm free. And so, I'm going to do whatever I want to, to please myself. He says, no, use your freedom to serve one another. Use your freedom to love one another. Galatians 5 verse 13. For brethren, you have been called unto liberty, only use not liberty for an occasion to the flesh, but by love serve one another. For all the law is fulfilled in one word, even this, thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. 1 John, pretty much the whole epistle is about love. But let's look at two passages. 1 John, the epistle, chapter 3, verse 11. For this is the message that ye have heard from the beginning, that we should love one another. Not as Cain, who was of that wicked one, and slew his brother. And wherefore slew he him? Because his own works were evil, and his brother's righteous. Marvel not, my brethren, if the world hates you. We know that if we have passed from death unto life, we know that we have passed from death unto life because we love the brethren. He that loveth not his brother abideth in death." This is a very evidence and a very sign of new life, of new birth, of regeneration. is that you have this love for your brothers and sisters in Christ. That goes beyond just the filial love, but it goes on to that spiritual, agape love. Whosoever hateth his brother is a murderer, and ye know that no murderer hath eternal life abiding in him. Hereby perceive we the love of God, because he lay down his life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren. But whoso hath this world's good, and seeth his brother have need, and shutteth up his bowels of compassion from him, how dwelleth the love of God in him." Wow. This gets down practical to us, right? If you have, and God has blessed you to have, and you have means, and you see others who don't have means, how can you shut up your bowels of compassion? If you're going to increase in love, you have to be willing to sacrifice. Willing to do without. Willing to give up. Time, money, possessions. My little children, let us not love in word only, neither in tongue only, but in deed and in truth. In deed and in truth. That's how we're to love. We're to tell one another we love each other. We're to pray for one another that our love might increase. But we're to love one another in actions. Right? By serving. And then again in chapter 4, He says, Beloved, those that are loved of God, because God has loved you, Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God, and everyone that loveth is born of God and knoweth God. He that loveth not knoweth not God, for God is love. In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent His only begotten Son into the world that we might live through Him." You know, we're going to remember Christ today in our communion. And what we're going to remember is we're going to remember His love. Right? His love. the love of the Father who gave His only begotten Son, the love of Jesus Christ who gave up His life for you and I, that we might have life. What love? There's no greater love than that. Herein is love. Verse 9, And this was manifested, the love of God toward us, because that God sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him. Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we ought also to love one another." There's your motivation. If you need to ask, well, why should I increase in love? Why should this prayer of Paul be important? Because God loved you. And He gave His best for you. And Jesus sacrificed Himself for you. And He continually loves you each and every day. Thankfully, His love doesn't decrease or increase. His love is the same, yesterday, today, and forever. His love is at an all-time high, and it will stay at an all-time high. So, help us to increase in our love one toward another. So we've got a lot of work to do there, don't we? But then it gets really hard, because Paul says, I want your love to increase toward one another. But then He says, toward all men. You have to go beyond just your fellowship, right? You have to go beyond just those that you're comfortable with and who love you. Jesus really challenged us. Because Jesus did hate sin. And He did hate those who were in sin and who hated His Father. But Jesus loved them. There is a way in which Jesus does love the non-elect. It's not the same love that He has for His chosen. But Jesus teaches us that we are to love our enemies. Love your enemies, He said. Matthew chapter 5, verse 43. Paul says, I'm praying for you that your love not only increases toward one another, but I'm praying that your love increases toward all men. That you will do good unto all men, especially to those who are of the household of faith. And this came from the teaching of Jesus in Matthew chapter 5. Because the Jews weren't good at loving anybody besides Jews. It was the Jews and no one else. But Jesus says, you've got to stop that. You've got to stop just loving those that love you and those that are of your own kind. He says, you've got to love the Gentiles. What reward do you have if you just love those who love you? You need to love your enemies, he said. Matthew 5, 43. You have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbor and hate thine enemy. But I say unto you, love your enemies. Bless them that curse you. Do good to them that hate you. and pray for them, which despitefully use you and persecute you." That may be one of the hardest verses in the Bible. "...that ye may be the children of your Father, which is in heaven. For He makes His Son to rise on the evil and on the good, and He sends rain on the just and the unjust." See, this is part of God, as God being the Creator, as God being the the sustainer of all His creation. He does good unto all His creation. He does especially good unto His people. For if ye love them which love you, what reward have ye? Do not even the publicans the same? And if ye salute your brethren only, what do ye more than others? Do not even the publicans so? But be ye therefore perfect even as your Father, which is in heaven, is perfect." So, pray for me, and pray for your brothers and sisters in Christ, that our love might increase for not just our brothers and sisters in Christ, but that our love may increase and abound to those that hate us, to those that we don't like, to those that speak evil against us, to those who make fun of us, to those that agitate us and get on our nerves. May our love for them increase and abound. May we get over our selfishness and our simpleness. May we see beyond the sin and may we see to the heart. And how God has had mercy on us. God has loved us. We are no better than they. except by the grace of God. And we see past those things and we look at their heart and say, they need God. They need the Savior. And I'm going to do everything I can to show them the love of Christ. So we've got a lot of work to do there. And Paul says, I'm not praying for something that I myself haven't done. He says, I want you to increase in love toward one another and toward all the brethren, even as we do right toward you. Paul says, look at me, I'm the example. I am striving to do this as well. I need you to pray for me. So how are you doing in this? In thinking about that, remember the love of the Father and remember the love of Christ toward you, because that is our motive. That is our motivation. If you're struggling with this in your life, just slow everything down. Think about the love of the Father that gave His only begotten Son. Think of the love of Christ that gave up glory to come and to take on the form of a simple human being, yet without sin, who gave His back to the smiters for you and for me. So He is not calling us anything. to do anything that He has not Himself done. So this was Paul's prayer. This was its message. Thirdly, what was the purpose of this? Why was Paul praying for them in this way that they would increase in love toward one another and toward all men? There was an aim in mind. Yes, it would be obedient to the command of Jesus. It would be obedient to what He said that we should do. It would be obedience to the law of God. It would be a proper response to God showing you love. But more than that, if we live like this, if our love increases one toward another like it should, it's going to lead to a holy life. And that's what Paul said he wanted to happen. To the end, verse 13. To the end, or for the purpose of, that he may establish your hearts unblameable in holiness. That they would become more holy. that they would become more consecrated, more dedicated, more sacred. And that that holiness would remain until the coming of Christ. Right? To the end He may establish your hearts unblameable in holiness before God, even our Father, at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ with all His saints. Right? I want your love to just increase and increase and increase and abound toward one another and toward all men Your life is taken. Or, the Lord Jesus Christ comes back. That's His prayer. You just be growing and growing and growing in love, and therefore that's leading to holiness in your life, so no one will be able to bring blame, no one will be able to bring reproach, no one will be able to bring accusation against you because of Christ in you. And you will be unblameable at His appearing. Now the good news is, because we're not going to do this perfectly like we should, we're going to fail. It's not up to us, right? It is God that worketh in you, both the will and the to-do of His good pleasure. And guess what? Although this is the prayer that we have for one another, that our love might increase and therefore it would lead to us being unblameable in holiness, you're already made unblameable. You stand right now before the presence of God, unblameable, unreproachable, and perfect in His sight. And so you're praying for something that God has already done and already is going to do. You just want it to be manifested in the life here and now. You understand that? He says to establish you, that is, to sit fast, to turn resolutely, So you've already been made unblameable in His sight. You're going to be unblameable at His return because you're going to stand in the blood of Christ. But He says, I want you to stand in that. I want you to set resolutely to this calling in your life before God and the Lord Jesus Christ. This is who you stand before. And as you're praying for your brothers and sisters that they may live holy lives, it's not so that they will just live holy lives before one another and before the world, but before God Almighty and the Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of their life. Just a couple of verses and then we'll close. Ephesians chapter 5. May you be encouraged in this. We are called as husbands to love our wives as Christ loved the church. He says in Ephesians 25, Husbands, love your wives even as Christ also loved the church and gave himself for it that He might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the Word, that He might present it to Himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that it should be holy and without blemish. That's what Christ is going to do with you and with me and with His church. He is going to present it to Himself, to His Father, as a glorious church. A glorious rod that has no spot, no blemish. Nobody can bring reproaches against it. Nobody can bring blame against it. No matter how imperfect you have been, no matter how many times you have failed, no matter what sins that you have committed, none of them will come before Him. He's taken care of it. Unblameable in holiness. Does that excite you? Does that stir you up to want to live a holy life? knowing what God has done for you. Colossians 1. Look what Christ has done. Colossians 1.20. And having made peace through the blood of His cross by Him to reconcile all things unto Himself, by Him, I say, whether they be things in earth or things in heaven. and you that were sometimes alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now hath he reconciled in the body of his flesh through death to present you holy and unblameable and unreprovable in his sight." I just can't imagine that. I will stand before the God of all creation, and I will stand before Him unblameable. All I could think about was my shame. Standing before a holy God, all I would think about was my sin that I've committed, and wrath, and anger, and all those things, but he says, you will stand before Him unblameable. No blame. Holy. That means sanctified. And unreprovable. No reproving. Not you've done this, you've done that, you know? Sometimes you have to come before your parents when you've done something bad and they have to say, You have done this. You have done that. Do not do that anymore. But in that day, He will not say that. He will say, not guilty. Not guilty. Holy, unblameable, unreprovable in His sight. That's very exciting. That should give us motivation for living a holy life now. And then lastly, this is a prayer that we can pray. for one another that Jude wrote in his epistle. And this is my prayer for you. Starting in verse 20, But ye, beloved, building up yourselves on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Ghost, keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life. And of some have compassion, making a difference, and others, save with fear, pulling them out of the fire, hating even the garment spotted by the flesh. Now unto Him that is able to keep you from falling and to present you faultless, faultless before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy. to the only wise God, our Savior, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and ever. Amen. Beseech God for one another, because He is the one that will be able to present you faultless before His throne at the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. May our prayers be like Paul. May we pray for one another that we might increase in love toward one another and to all men, and then that will lead to holy living in our lives.