I did print 50 copies of the outline. If you didn't get one, you can go on the Grace Bible Church Facebook page and there's a link there you can press to find the document. Let's open in a word of prayer. Our Father in heaven, we're grateful for this wonderful day, this Lord's day that you've given us. This is the day that the Lord has made. We will rejoice and be glad in it. We thank you for your grace this week, Father. We thank you that we can gather together and worship you today. We thank you, Lord, for this opportunity this morning for teaching. We pray by the Holy Spirit that you would give us understanding out of your word. We pray in Jesus' name, amen. All right, so we've spent the last year working through the 1689 Baptist Confession of Faith. And last week, Jimmy finished us up. So we're finished with the confession and You know, it was good to spend some time to systematically go through theology and doctrine and work through that. It's very important, doctrine that is, it's very important in many ways as it forms the framework of truth on which Christians build their lives. We need that framework. It's important to learn doctrine. It matters for us as to what is the basis of our faith, who it is that we worship, the fallen state of man, The judgment we deserve. The atonement made by Christ for our sins. Of repentance and faith and our justification. Our privileges as the children of God. Of being sanctified and the proper use of God's law. Of the church and the ordinances and what is to come at the end of the age. All of these things the confession dealt with and we talked about them and taught through them through the scriptures. And how we understand these things affects how we live. and how we worship. I pray that the time spent going through the confession was profitable and strengthening to all of our faith. And I hope that it helped us to more faithfully walk with the Lord. It's a foundation that we can stand on, the foundation of God's word. But today we're starting a new study and focusing on the commands in scripture pertaining to how Christians are to live in fellowship one with another. There are at least 47 verses in the New Testament that instruct us in how to treat fellow believers. These are known as the one another commands. Now, God willing, through this study, we're going to learn a lot or at least be reminded of our responsibilities to one another so that we may live in the love and harmony that God intends for all of his people. Now, it's important at the outset to frame these one another's in their proper theological category. Here we are going back to doctrine. If we confuse the proper role of God's commandments we can very easily slip into some heresies that scripture condemns. As Christians we must maintain theological distinctions or else we'll fall into error. One of the most basic distinctions that we can make when interpreting scripture is the distinction between law and gospel. Martin Luther understood this distinction to be a basic He said, hence, whoever knows well this art of distinguishing between law and gospel, him place at the head and call him a doctor of holy scripture. That is those who understand the distinction between law and gospel. Philip Melanchthon gives more detail when he wrote, all scripture ought to be distributed into these two principal topics, the law and the promises. For in some places it presents the law, and in others the promise concerning Christ. Namely, either when in the Old Testament it promises that Christ will come and offers for his sake the remission of sins, justification, and eternal life, or when in the Gospel, in the New Testament, Christ himself, since he has appeared, promises the remission of sins, justification, and life eternal. So both Luther and Melanchthon are giving us this distinction. between law and gospel. In fact, this distinction is in our very Bible, the Old Testament and the New Testament, the old characterized by law and the new characterized by gospel. Zacharias Ursinus, one of the writers of the Heidelberg Catechism, also saw the importance of these basic categories of law and gospel. He said, the whole doctrine comprised in the sacred writings is either concerning the nature of God, his will, his works, or sin, which is the proper work of men and devils, but all these subjects are fully set forth and taught either in the law or in the gospel or in both. Therefore, the law and gospel are the chief and general divisions of the Holy Scriptures and comprise the entire doctrine comprehended therein. As we consider the one and others in our new series, we should know that they properly fit into the category of law. Today, as I set the stage, we will begin to look at the first of these one another commands, which is to love one another. Paul, writing to the Romans, said in chapter 13, referring to the second table of the law, that it is briefly comprehended in this saying, namely, thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. He went on to say that love is the fulfilling of the law. Now sometimes misinformed Christians shrink back at any mention of law, thinking they're in danger of slipping into legalism. But Paul instructed Timothy that the law is good if a man use it lawfully. The lawful use of the law is using it in the ways God has designed for it to be used. John Gill says about the right and wrong uses of the law, he says, For if it is used in order to obtain life, righteousness, and salvation by the works of it, or by obedience to it, it is used unlawfully. For the law does not give life, nor can righteousness come by it, nor are or can men be saved by the works of it. To use the law for such purposes is to abuse it, as the false teachers did, and make that which is good in itself and in its proper use to do what is evil, namely to obscure and frustrate the grace of God and make null and void the sufferings and death of Christ. A lawful use of the law is to obey it as in the hands of Christ, the king of saints and lawgiver in his church, from a principle of love to him and an exercise of faith on him without any mercenary, selfish views, without trusting to or depending on what is done in obedience to it, but with a view to the glory of God, to testify our subjection to Christ and our gratitude to him for favors received from him." We see that Gill understood the difference between using the law as a means of salvation and using the law as a guide for believers and to testify of their love to Christ. He was echoing what Paul said in Galatians 5, verses four through six. It says, Christ has become of no effect unto you, whosoever of you are justified by the law. You're fallen from grace. For we through the spirit wait for the hope of righteousness by faith. For in Christ Jesus, neither circumcision availeth anything nor uncircumcision, but faith which worketh by love. Paul teaches that justification is impossible through the law. We are justified through faith, he says. Nevertheless, he says that faith works by love. In other words, the outflow of our faith is love, which as he said in Romans 13, is the fulfilling of the law. So the keeping of God's laws has a place in salvation, It is the outworking of our faith in love to Christ as we are being conformed to his image in the process of sanctification. And that's important to make that distinction between justification and sanctification. We are justified by faith in the person and works of Christ as God declares us righteous for the sake of Christ. And we are sanctified as this faith works love. And we are made into the image of Christ through obedience to his commands from the heart, from that principle of love that he put into our hearts. Christ did say, if you love me, keep my commandments. And John who makes much of this in his first epistle said, whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ is born of God. And everyone that loveth him that begat, loveth him also that is begotten of him. By this we know that we love the children of God when we love God and keep his commandments. For this is the love of God that we keep his commandments and his commandments are not grievous. So John says that it is those who believe in Christ that are the ones who are born of God, and that in loving the one who gives the new birth means that we can love the children who are born through him or born of him. This is the faith that works by love. We can see in these verses that when Christ commands that we love one another, it is the outworking of our love to him, which is the outflow of the faith that he gives in regeneration. It all has its source in God. To summarize what I've been saying, the one another commands are in the category of law. If we invert the order in which we keep the law, that is, if we seek to love one another, to be acceptable to God, we are fallen from grace and have entered into error. On the other hand, if we love one another as the fruit of faith, as faith works through love, We are rightly using the law and show evidence of the grace of God that is in us. Now, let's consider what it means to love one another. In a real way, all of the one another commands in scripture fall under the heading of love one another. In fact, as Jesus explained, the two great commandments in the law are to love God with all of our heart, soul, and mind, and to love our neighbor as ourselves. He said that these two form the basis of the entire law. It's a summary of the entire law. Thankfully, God gives us much more than a mere summary of our duty and breaks down what it means to love one another. The next several weeks, we'll be getting into all the details that are so abundantly given in scripture as we look at these one another commands. It's interesting how Christ gives this command to love to love one another to his disciples. It's interesting how he does it. It is at the Last Supper. He has made the new covenant with them. He has washed their feet. Judas has left them. He will be giving his life for them on the morrow. He said, a new commandment I give unto you, that ye love one another as I have loved you, that ye also love one another. Just as God gave Israel the law on Mount Sinai at the inauguration of the Mosaic Covenant, Christ gives the law at the inauguration of the new covenant. But why does he say this is a new commandment? In the Pentateuch, God commanded Israel to love thy neighbor as thyself, as we've already talked about. In what way, then, is Jesus' command a new commandment? John explains this in his first epistle when he says, Brethren, I write no new commandment unto you, but an old commandment, which he had from the beginning. The old commandment is the word which you have heard from the beginning. Again, a new commandment I write unto you, which thing is true in him and in you, because the darkness is past and the true light now shineth. That's in 1 John 2 verses 7 and 8. This passage is in reference to brotherly love. And John says that it is not new in one way, and it is new in another way. It is not new in the sense that from the very beginning, and emanating from the very nature of God, and impressed into the image bearers of God, love is foundational to morality. This duty to love was codified in the law of Moses and this is the old commandment that they had from the beginning. But this commandment is new because the darkness of the former times has passed and what was an external commandment in old times has become engrafted into the hearts of God's people. This is why John says, quote, which thing is true in him He is love, and in you, he's put it in us, because the darkness has passed, and the true light now shineth, the true light of the gospel under the new covenant. John Gill, commenting on this passage, says, again, a new commandment I write unto you, he comments, which is the same with the former, the former command of love, considered in different respects. The command of brotherly love is a new one. That is, it is an excellent one as a new name is an excellent name and a new song is an excellent one. It is renewed by Christ under the gospel dispensation. It is newly explained by him and purged from the false glosses of the scribes and Pharisees and enforced by him with a new argument and by a new example of his own, even of his own love to his people. and which is observed by them in a new manner, they being made new creatures, and this law being anew written in their hearts under the renewing work of the Spirit of God as a branch of the new covenant of grace. The Jews expect a new law to be given them by the hands of the Messiah, and a new one he has given, even the new commandment of love, and which is the fulfilling of the law. Paul teaches this very thing concerning brotherly love that has become part of the nature of true believers. He said in 1 Thessalonians 4 9, but as touching brotherly love, ye need not that I write unto you, for ye yourselves are taught of God to love one another. Now this is encouraging news to us. When believers are reminded of their duty to love one another, it is not that they are unaware of this and are not practicing love toward one another, but it is said to stir us up to greater love and good works. As the apostle said in Hebrews 10, 24, let us consider one another to provoke unto love and good works. That word translated provoke means to stir up, to incite, and comes from a word meaning to sharpen, to stimulate, to spur on, to urge. We are to provoke one another unto love and good works. Though we possess the spirit of God and have been regenerated and have this new nature, because of remaining sin, we are prone to let love grow cold. Jesus warned his disciples of this. He says, because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold. It's in Matthew 24, 12. We are encouraged to stir each other up to love because the flame of love begins to burn out if not rekindled and stoked on a regular basis. Our Lord warned the Ephesian church in Revelation 2-4 that in spite of their good works, they had left their first love to him, and this is the danger that we all face. John encourages us to love in this way, reminding us to love one another because it is part of our new nature. He says in 1 John 4-7, beloved, Let us love one another, for love is of God, and everyone that loveth is born of God and knoweth God. He goes on in verses 11 and 12 and gives us reasons we should love one another. Beloved, if God so loved us, we ought also to love one another. He says, no man hath seen God at any time. If we love one another, God dwelleth in us, and his love is perfected in us. He gives us God's own example of love in sending his son to be the propitiation for our sins, and that the proof of God dwelling in us is our love for one another. But how is love manifested? How do we show love? Love always manifests itself in deeds. We don't want to minimize the emotional aspect of love, but it is indeed only part of love. Love is an inner compulsion springing out of our new nature that filters through our emotions. It's not emotionless, but love cannot be corralled just in our emotions. John said, my little children, Let us not love in word, neither in tongue, but in deed and in truth. Love is like a spring of water that has its very source in God. His love is shed abroad in our hearts, and it affects our emotions and continues its outward thrust into deeds of love. Love cannot be contained. within the heart and emotions. If it is indeed true love, it bursts forth with action. It involves our whole being. The deepest recesses of our changed heart moving outward into our emotions and into our deeds. We love through our whole nature. We have a great example of this in 1 Thessalonians when Paul recounts his coming to them. and the manner in which he and his fellow laborers evangelize them. He likens their love for them like that of a mother and a father for their own children. Notice as I read this, the warmth, tenderness, and the boldness of this love. 1 Thessalonians 2, verses 7 through 12. But we were gentle among you Even as a nurse cherisheth her children, so being affectionately desirous of you, we were willing to have imparted unto you not the gospel of God only, but also our own souls, because ye were dear unto us. For you remember, brethren, our labor and travail, for laboring night and day, because we would not be chargeable unto any of you, we preached unto you the gospel of God. Ye are witnesses, and God also, how wholly and justly and unblameably we behaved ourselves among you that believe. As ye know how we exhorted and comforted and charged every one of you, as a father doth his children, that ye would walk worthy of God, who hath called you unto his kingdom and glory. Think about the love that Paul had for the Thessalonians. like a nursing mother cherishing her children. He was affectionately desirous of them. It involved his emotions. He gave them his own soul, as it were, because, he says, they were dear unto them. And then it talks about him charging them as a father, in a fatherly love, charges his children This is how love manifests. This is a love that is well kindled and burning hot with zeal in the emotions and in deeds of goodwill. But the source of love is God himself, who also is the one who imparts love to us. Paul could only love like this because God had given it to him. Remember, before Paul was converted, he hated and persecuted the Christians. God had given him this love. Listen to the psalmist describe the love of the Lord in Psalm 145, verses eight and nine. It says, the Lord is gracious and full of compassion and slow to anger and of great mercy. The Lord is good to all and his tender mercies are over all his works. Now it's one thing for God to love within the divine trinity, the holy trinity, but for him to show favor to sinners, to be full of compassion and mercy, and for his mercy to be described as tender mercies for those who do not deserve it, this is love at its pinnacle. One of the words in the Old Testament often translated compassion can be defined thus, to love. Love deeply, have mercy, be compassionate, have tender affection, have compassion. These are words used of God towards us. God feels this way toward his people. We can see that God has affection for those he has set his love upon. God's love is not some cold, distant, unrelational, disaffectionate thing. His love is warm and he is near unto us. He hears our cries and saves us. out of all of our trouble. The Lord is nigh unto all them that call upon him. To all that call upon him in truth, he will fulfill the desire of them that fear him. He also will hear their cry and will save them." Think of the love of God. But God's ultimate display of love is the sending of Christ to suffer and die for our sins. John 3.16, as we all know, says, for God so loved the world. that he gave his only begotten son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. And this is where the rubber meets the road. If you ever doubt the love of God, here is the proof of his love. It is in the cross of Christ. John said, hereby perceive we the love of God, because he laid down his life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren. That's the great example of our love Jesus himself, as he gave himself as a sacrifice for our sins. So this gives the substance to the command to love one another. We are to love each other like God loves us. It is to be self sacrificial. Think of Christ humbling himself and sacrificing himself for his people. It is rooted in God's love, seeking the good of the ones loved and doing the things needful to demonstrate that love. It is to be warm and kind, compassionate and merciful. Love is forgiving and gracious, thinking the best of one another. It is long-suffering. bearing with the weak and immature, and our love to one another is a witness that we are indeed Christ's followers. Jesus said, by this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another. So I want us to consider ourselves. Has our love grown cold? For some of us, we lack deeds of love. We are selfish and haven't yet cultivated service to our fellow believers. We live for ourselves. For others of us, we serve begrudgingly. The zeal of love has left our hearts and we find ourselves lacking the spiritual energy to serve. Because of this, we may become bitter. in our service and begin to withdraw from the fellowship of the saints. We may need to take time to observe the love of God afresh. We need to be reminded anew of the love of God to us in Christ. We need to fixate on him, to indulge ourselves, to relish, to enjoy, to bask, in his perfect love to us. We need to worship and to sing and to pray. We need to be washed by the water of the word. We need to remember Christ in the ordinances. He said to remember him by these things. We need to cast our burden upon him because he cares for us. Then we may look upon our brethren as the object of God's love. And our hearts will begin again to have compassion and mercy. Our hearts that have grown cold will begin to burn again with heat and zeal. And we will again have compassion and mercy. We may again be long suffering and forgiving. and cease being censorious. And we will serve again with the heat and fervor of the love that comes from God and flows through us and is a blessing to the people of God. Oh, may it be so. Amen.