A New Commandment — Carter Conlon

John chapter 13, beginning at verse 34, John 13, 34, a new commandment I give to you, that you love one another as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this will all know, all will know that you are my disciples, if you have love one for another.

Simon Peter said to him, Lord, where are you going? Jesus answered him, where I'm going you cannot follow me now, but you shall follow me afterward. Peter said to him, Lord, why can I not follow you? I will lay down my life for your sake.

Jesus answered him, will you lay down your life for my sake? Most assuredly, I say to you, the rooster shall not crow till you have denied me three times. Now in this passage of scripture, the one who was the embodiment of the love of God for you and I, Jesus Christ, God's gift of love to the world, for God so loved the world, he gave his only begotten son that whosoever believes in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

You're not saved here today because God felt obliged to save you, you're saved because God loved you. There's a huge difference. If it was only obligation in the heart of God, he would have just folded up the earth and the heavens as he will do one day, he would have folded it up way back in the Garden of Eden, and you and I would be today here without hope, without help, without a future, and most likely without even a past.

But he commended us, those of us who would become his followers, to follow him into the depth of this love of God for others, especially a love towards those who belong to the household of faith. Now he was calling us to an expression of love, it was so deep, it was so far beyond our natural human ability, that it would stand in every generation as an undeniable testimony of the reality of God.

By this, he said in verse 35, all will know that you are my disciples if you have love one for another. It doesn't, that kind of love doesn't mean just affection, or you like each other, which is great, wonderful, but it's something of God.

He says, I will give it to you, it will be manifest in you towards one another, and it's something the world can't produce, no matter how many flowers and chocolates they buy for each other, no matter how much they talk about we are one, join arms, sing their songs, it can't be produced apart from the spirit of God within a people.

In our season of Christian witness, and so many have gone to such lengths to prove the presence of God's power among them, this new commandment is the one evidence that exceeds them all. Tongues can be imitated, you know that.

Gifts of the Holy Spirit can be faked. Prophecy can be of the flesh. People can testify that even absurd manifestations, which we've had in the last 20 years in this country are evidences of God's power within them.

All kinds of people trying to produce an evidence that God is with us, God is with me. All these things can be faked, and they can all be fraudulent, but an ongoing, benevolent, self-sacrificing love for each other cannot be faked, at least not for very long.

It either is there, or it's not there. In Acts chapter five, it was the second time in the book of Acts that the Holy Spirit had come upon after the Pentecost, in Acts chapter four, the people of God, because of the threatenings of that society, threatening Peter and John with physical violence and imprisonment if they continued to preach or teach in the name of Jesus Christ.

And great power was being evidenced through the church. They began to pray, and when they began to pray for strength, courage, for a boldness, and for healing to begin to stretch out through them to the nations, God's Holy Spirit came upon them one more time.

Scripture says the place where they were was shaken. And the incredible evidence of that moment is that there was a sudden love that came into the hearts of God's people one for another. And no one considered anything he owned as if it was exclusively his.

And people began to, there was such a fervency, there was such a baptism of the love of God that at that particular moment in history, people began to sell lands and houses even, and lay it at the apostles' feet so that it could be distributed among the body of believers of that time as people had need.

That was a very unique moment in history. I often wonder in the days that lie ahead, are we possibly going to be invited by the Spirit of God to live in a similar manner? The days ahead are gonna be very dark.

Things as we know them are going to change. Fear is going to be in our streets. But I believe there's gonna be a sweetness, a fellowship, a compassion, a love for one another in the house of God that is inexplicable apart from the presence of God inside of us.

There's gonna be a care one for another. But in Acts chapter five, a couple of people who were part of that moment in history tried to fake it. They tried to pretend they were with the program, that this benevolence of God, this bond of love and unity that had come into the church, that they were actually part of it, but they weren't really fully committed to it.

And so they lied and it cost them their lives. I want to give a word of caution today to those who would take advantage of the generosity of the true believers in Christ. There are people here in this church who have done that.

They come into the church of Jesus Christ where God is really working. And they see it as a place of easy pickings. And when you meet them, the first thing out of their mouths is the depth of their need.

Always, of course, financial. We have had widows taken of their savings. Sad to say, at least one that I'm fully aware of. But I want to give a word of caution to those who come into the church and you're simply using the house of God to your own advantage.

You may run with us, but at the end of the race, a barrier is going to fall down in front of you and you will not cross the finish line. So if you don't mind going to hell and heaven is not your goal, then just carry on the way you are.

Come into the house of God, tell everybody your needs, live off the charity of the church all you want. But I'm telling you, heaven is not your home at the end of your journey. For people here who feel this benevolence of God and you become aware of needs around you and you want to give to others, don't be afraid to ask the leadership of the church.

Our opinion on what you're about to do because we know some things that you don't. And there may not be a witness of the spirit. And no, you're not violating the scripture that says, don't let the left hand know what the right hand is doing.

You're not violating the scripture by going to those that are in spiritual authority and telling us what it is in your heart that you want to do. I feel to take a portion of my savings. I feel to open my home to so-and-so.

Let us know what you're about to do because we've had some situations in this church that could have been stopped if people had done that. Yes, we're to be benevolent, but not stupid. And on the other hand, we'll not let in this church the devil rob us of this God-breathed benevolent love because there are a few who will misuse it.

We're not gonna be robbed of it. It's not gonna be taken from us. I thank God over the years, the Lord has often led Pastor Teresa and I to give to someone a specific need for a reason. But we always knew that that person that we were giving to was a bona fide, genuine, God-fearing believer in Jesus Christ who simply had come upon hard times.

And it's always been a blessing. Every time we've chosen to give, it is true, God does give back more than you can even imagine. Not always in dollars and cents, folks, either. There are things that God will do.

There are blessings that will come into your heart and into your home. Now, the love for each other that Jesus was calling us to is a love that led him to a cross. It's ultimately a love that looks away from its own need and sees the needs of others.

It is, in effect, a love that takes up its own cross daily and follows Jesus. I have had to go through this. I've told this story here before, but I guess it bears repeating. I'm getting old, and one of the blessings of getting older is you can tell the same stories over and over again.

And even if people have heard them, you really don't care. You just tell them again. That's the blessing of age. But I remember years and years ago, when I left my full-time secular job, I had a retirement plan.

And so I technically lost the future of that, but I rolled over a certain amount of money into the bank from a retirement plan, and used part of it to pay off the rest of my mortgage. So we owned our own home when we went into ministry.

And then the other part I put in the bank, and I used to call it my Ananias and Sapphira slush fund. If this whole thing doesn't work out, at least I've got something to fall back on to start over again.

Because it was a real jump off the cliff for me to go into full-time ministry. And then one day, a friend of mine that I knew, a man in ministry, a good man, and a godly man. As a matter of fact, he's in Mexico today, and he's feeding orphans, he and his wife.

Very godly man, and came into my office. Said, pastor, I don't know what I'm gonna do. He said, the engine on my car just blew up, and I don't have any money, and I don't know how I'm gonna get to church.

And of course, he was helping me at the church that we had founded. And so suddenly I got very, very spiritual. I knew I had the money in the bank to buy him a car. And his need was legitimate. He was not one of those schmoozers that come to the church to try to get freebies from the house of God or from their friends.

And I knew it was for real. And so I got very spiritual at that moment. I said, well, let's pray. God owns cattle on a thousand hills, and he's able to provide. Even David's quoted everything. I've been young, I've been old, I've never seen the righteous forsaken.

I've never seen a seed begging bread. And so he's sitting across from the desk, and I bowed my head, and we began to pray. I began to pray, and as God lives, it's as if my mouth was full of peanut butter.

I could hardly pray. And this voice right back here was telling me, you hypocrite. If a man sees his brother have need, and he shuts his bowels of compassion, how can he say the love of God dwells in him?

You know, there's certain times I had wished that I hadn't learned those scriptures because they were there, and they had come back to haunt me, really, at that moment. I'm trying to push it away, out of my mind, as I'm praying.

And I'm just praying, oh, God, just be kind, just provide a car, just, and finally, I just ran out of gas, and said, I have the money in the bank for you. And so I bought him a car. Wasn't a great car, but it was a car, and it was new.

And then, shortly after that, the engine on my car blew up. And I said, well, Lord, I've obeyed you. That's all I can say, I've obeyed you. And we were renovating this church that we had bought in the country, and I was up on a scaffold one day, and I was helping paint the ceiling.

And somebody came in, said, it's somebody on the phone for you, it's an emergency. So I came down, I went into the office, and I said, the gentleman said, is this Pastor Carter? I said, yes, it is. He said, I'm so-and-so, I'm a salesman at a car dealership in the city not far from us.

A gentleman came in this morning and bought you a brand new car, and all you have to do is come in and sign for it. And I asked him, I said, who was the gentleman? He says, we don't know. He declined to give us his name.

But I just thank God. Now, I'm not telling you, if you buy a car for a friend, you're gonna get a, don't, I mean, there are people that will tell you that. I'm not telling you that this morning. It's my story.

The fact is that when we do things God's way, God will be our supply. He will meet our needs. Paul said in 1 Corinthians chapter 13, let me read it to you. Though I speak with the tongues of men and angels, but I have not love, I'm become a sounding brass or a clanging cymbal.

Though I have the gift of prophecy and understand all mysteries and all knowledge. Now, these are bonafide gifts. And though I have all faith so that I could remove mountains but I have not love, I am nothing.

And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, but have not love, it profits me nothing. Love suffers long and is kind. Love does not envy. Love does not parade itself, is not puffed up, does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked.

Thinks no evil. Does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. That's the kind of love that Jesus was inviting the church into of his day and you and I in our day.

He's looking, he's at a table where everybody is going to fail him. Peter longs to be able to follow him, but has not a sufficient strength to do it and Jesus knows that. But the love in his heart is sending him to a cross and in spite of the weakness of our professions and the professions of their day of love and loyalty, this love bears all things, it believes all things, it hopes all things and endures all things.

Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will fail. Where there are tongues, they will cease. Where there's knowledge, it will vanish away. For we know in part and prophesy in part, but when that which is perfect has come, then that which is in part will be done away.

When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child. Now, the essence of childishness is selfishness. Me, that's mine, give it to me. No, this is the essence. And Paul is saying, when I was a child, this is my reasoning, this is how I live, this is my understanding, but when I became a man, I put away childish things.

For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. And now I know in part, but then I shall know just as I also have known. And now abide faith, hope, and love, these three, but the greatest of these is love.

Now, Jesus seemingly added a new commandment in John chapter 13, verse 34. He said, a new commandment I give to you, that you love one another as I've loved you, that you also love one another. Now, those sitting at the table must have known or been aware in measure at least, that he was adding another commandment to a series of laws and commandments that nobody could keep.

Peter said in Acts 15 .10, it was a yoke that neither we nor our fathers were able to bear. Talking about the law, talking about these things that people would have to do to be considered godly. He called it a yoke.

Paul made a declaration, and if you read it in Romans chapter six, seven, and eight, that the commands of God and the laws of God only highlighted the hopelessness of our human condition to be godly in our own strength.

Paul, even though he had zealously tried to keep the law, was the man who penned these words. Who will deliver me from this body of death? Who will deliver me from this inward law of corruption that even though I know what to do, and even inside I take a measure of delight in thinking about doing it, I can't do it in my own strength.

It's hopeless. That's what Paul was saying, it's hopeless. Read Romans six, seven, eight, you'll see it. It's the condition of the person who tries to be godly in our own strength. You can't do it, I can't do it.

There's no chance we can do it. I can read these words in John chapter 13, this new commandment, but I can't accomplish it. Now, Peter thought he could. That's why he said to him, where are you going?

He said, where I'm going, you can't follow me now, but you'll follow me later. You don't have the strength to go where I'm going. That's really what Jesus was telling him. He was going to a cross, he was going to be given for frail, fallen humanity.

He was going to endure the failings of those that even declared their love and loyalty. He said, no, you can't follow me there. You can't be loyal, you can't love the way I love you, but you will follow me afterward.

And Peter said, why can't I follow you now? I will lay down my life for your sake, and that's why Jesus' question is actually, has a tinge of sarcasm in it. When you read it in the different texts, he basically says to him, oh, really?

Is that what you will do? Do you think you're that strong? You really will lay your life down for me, will you? But I tell you that before morning comes, you will three times deny that you've even known me.

You don't have the inward strength to lay your life down for another, but you will later. In the next chapter two, when the Holy Spirit came on the day of Pentecost, Peter, the apostle, emerged from the shadows of self-seeking and fear, and he stepped into a place where he had been enabled to follow.

I can't love you, I can't love you the way Jesus commends me to. And you can't love each other either. It's only when the Holy Spirit comes and the victory of Christ becomes our victory and God's heart becomes our heart.

And we open our hearts to him and say, Lord, you come, let this be your temple on the earth and you give me the power that I need to do this because I know I'm not gonna do it. If I'm left to myself, like the Corinthian church, I'm gonna bunch together in the house of God with people that I feel comfortable with, people who speak the same language they live in the same neighborhoods, they do the same things, their skin is the same color, they practice the same things that I do.

I'm gonna bunch myself together and push everybody to the sides of the church. I realize, oh God, that you're calling me to something much bigger than that, but I can't do it in my own strength. Nobody can do it in their own strength.

Only God can do this. Only God has this kind of benevolent love that is able to break down all the barriers and all the borders. And if you and I will open our heart to this love, it can become one of the most wondrous things that you will ever experience as a believer in Jesus Christ.

When those walls are down and there's no program telling you to love somebody, but there's an inward love of God that is being shed abroad in your hearts. And suddenly you're looking out and it's not a program.

You really do care. You really see somebody on the sides of the temple and you're not willing to go home without that person knowing that God loves them, without reaching out to touch the needs of somebody else in the house of God.

Peter stepped out of that place of self-seeking fear and he stepped into a place where he was enabled. He would have known going into the upper room, I can't do this. I wanted to do it with all my heart.

I wanted to love the way Jesus commanded me to love. And it was a command of God, but I can't do it. And he would have prayed. And when the Holy Spirit came on him, suddenly all the bands of his environment and his limitations are broken.

And he steps out into the marketplace, enabled by the spirit of God to be given for others, even those who resist their own salvation in Jesus Christ. And he's led into the compassion and love for one another that could only come from God.

It's truly an amazing moment. Peter said, repent and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins. And you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. This promise is to you and to your children and to all who are far off, as many as the Lord our God will call.

And with many other words, he testified and exhorted them saying, be saved from this perverse generation. Then those who gladly received his word were baptized. And that day, about 3 ,000 souls were added to them.

And they continued steadfastly in the apostle's doctrine and fellowship in the breaking of bread and in prayers. Then fear came upon every soul and many wonders and signs were done through the apostles.

Now all who believe were together and had all things common. And this is the way I see this. It starts with the willingness to say, God, everything you've given to me, I thank you for the blessing, but it's for a reason.

It's for a purpose. And don't let me be blind to the purpose. Don't let me just take everything you've done for me and just use it for myself. Don't let me eat my morsel alone. Don't let me be a person who goes into this enemy's camp to find this great spoil.

And I guard it and guide it with all my life for my own good and my own benefit. Oh God opened my heart. God opened my eyes. They held all things common. They sold their possessions and goods and divided them among all as anyone had need.

And so continuing daily with one accord in the temple and breaking bread from house to house, they ate their food with gladness and simplicity of heart, praising God and having favor with all the people.

And the Lord added to the church daily those who were being saved. When it says having favor with the people, what I believe that says is exactly what Jesus told them in John chapter 13. By this, all will know that you are my disciples.

If you have this kind of love one for another. Now don't misunderstand me. I'm not suggesting today that everybody go out and call a real estate company and sell your house, your apartment, go to the bank and take out your savings and just throw it all to the wind.

I'm not suggesting that. But what I am saying is that God knowing the future knows what we need to hear. Knowing the days that are ahead of us. We are the body of Jesus Christ. We are the church of Jesus Christ on the earth.

I believe that very dark, difficult days are ahead of us. I know in my heart that we're going to go through some of the darkest moments in the history of mankind perhaps, certainly in our history or our generation is going to be 911 times 100.

It's going to be difficult the days ahead. But I believe what Pastor David Wilkerson once told me, the fellowship in the church of Jesus Christ is going to be so sweet. The meals that we eat together, the compassion we have for another.

Is it possible that we're going to have another moment in history when things get so bad that in the church we are going to be asked to give up some of what we have for the sake of others? It's a question that needs to be answered now.

It's something that's got to come into your heart and into mine. There's no chance that we can represent Christ on the earth if we simply become hoarders like everybody else who live outside of the kingdom of God.

Everybody is going to bunker down in their bomb shelters with their cans of beans and try to survive. People will be cruel one to another for the sake of provision and resources. That has happened throughout history and there's no telling when it will happen again.

It might happen in our time. But if it does, the question I'm asking you today on God's behalf is are you and I willing, are we willing to open our homes if necessary to others? Are we willing to give of what we have that the needs of others in the body of Christ might be met?

Remember Paul said to the Corinthian church, because you're not willing to recognize or to examine what it means to be part of the body of Jesus Christ, a spiritual sleepiness and dullness, and even death in some cases, comes upon people who come into the house of God and it's all just about me, myself, and mine.

What can I get from God today? How can I get a bigger slice of the pie? How can I enhance my reputation? How can I advance my career? How can I be smoother, smarter, faster in this society? Oh folks, that brings a dullness and a death.

Those poor people in the days ahead are not gonna know which end is up anymore. They're gonna find out they've got no oil in their lamps when the day gets dark. Oh no, but there will be a church, there will be a people who say, behold the bridegroom.

Look at our fellowship. Can't you see that God is doing something among us that could only be done by the Spirit of God. There's no other way this could happen. He has broken the bonds of selfishness.

He has taken us out of the self-centeredness and the divisions and the angers and the vitriolic speech of this generation where people are cursing one another and demanding their rights and everything else.

There's another people in the house of God that are going to become a testimony to this generation of the reality of Jesus Christ. People will look and say, it is impossible to be like this apart from the Spirit of God.

I've had people walk in this church from outside. They've looked at the people who are sitting here and do you know the statisticians say this can't be done? Did you know that? Do you know those that are into church planting?

We've done everything wrong. We don't even have a parking lot and we have 104 nationalities sitting in one congregation. Some of you sitting here, your countries are at war with each other, but yet you are not at war.

You love your brother, you love your sister. This is the body of Jesus Christ on the earth. This is the testimony of God. Do you to the Lamb of God. By this shall all men know that you are my disciples if you have this kind of love one for another.

Now I've taken this message and I've pushed it right to the ends of the tent because there's a lot of things that you and I have to consider. How are we willing to be the church of Jesus Christ in this generation?

Are we willing? This word begins. God will lead you and tell you what to do, but the question is, are we willing? Are we willing to love one another? We have to go beyond enduring one another. We have to go beyond the testimony of what other people are doing.

It's got to become yours and it's got to become mine. I have to have ownership. Having a desire like Peter had to go the distance that Jesus was going for lost humanity is not good enough. We have to be empowered by God.

Are you willing to open your heart to this? It's the cry of my heart. I prayed today. I said, God Almighty, don't ever ask me to preach something I'm not willing to live. Give me the grace, oh God, that these words, I'll be judged for this folks because I preached it to you today.

I know that. I will stand before God one day and I will answer for what I did with the words that I brought to you today. I have been blessed. There's no doubt about that. But the Lord says, are you willing to let that blessing overflow its borders?

Are you willing to, as David the Psalmist say, thank you, you have prepared a table for me in the presence of mine enemies. You've anointed my head with oil and my cup overflows. Are you willing to have your cup overflow?

Are you willing to be that vessel through whom God will give a drink to somebody who is thirsty, will give food to somebody who is hungry, will give clothing to somebody who's naked, will give shelter to somebody who lives outdoors, who's part of the body of Jesus Christ.

These are questions that we have to answer because the days are coming when these things are going to earmark the true church of Jesus Christ. Instead of being sleepy, you and I will have oil. Oh, thank God.

We'll have fellowship. It does happen once in a while that a freeloader may end up in your house. I just suggest if that happens, just give him the left foot of fellowship. Probably shouldn't have said that, I guess.

Hallelujah. When you open your heart to other people, you run a risk. You know why a lot of ministers back up and become untouchable? It's not that they want to be that way. It's that they've been betrayed so many times.

They trusted, they opened their heart and got stabbed in the back. I have a compassion for ministers now like I've never had in my lifetime. Yes, sometimes it goes bad, but do we let that stop us from being given for other people?

Sometimes people run away and deny they ever knew you, but do we let it stop us from going to the cross for them? People that leaned close to you and said they loved you take off in your moment of need, but do we let it stop us from being given for them?

There's a point as a Christian that we get to because Jesus said, deny yourself and take up your cross daily and follow me. There's a point where people do spit in our face, but we have to keep on loving.

And we can only do it by the strength of God. There's no other way we can do it. So instead of judging, if you're visiting today, instead of judging a pastor who seems withdrawn and mechanical, pray for that man, pray for that woman because you don't know the wounding that person has had and God is bringing them to a place of willingness to be given, fully given, including the betrayal.

There's no way you can take up your cross and escape the betrayal, but the willingness to be fully given for others. You can't follow me now, Peter, but you will follow me later. And he did by God's grace, he did by God's grace.

I've been viciously betrayed more than one time in my life, heartfully betrayed. There've been times where my prayer for weeks has been, God, I can't do this, God, I can't do this. God, I can't do this.

One time, Pastor Teresa said to me, why don't you just forgive? I said, forgiveness is not even on the radar. Not hating this person is what I'm dealing with. It's hard when you're betrayed. And we want to be this scripture.

We want to live what the scripture says. We love one another until we come up with, and we meet the limitations of our willingness, our ability, not willingness. We meet the limitations of our own ability to actually do these things.

And yet you look at it and it says, it's a commandment of God to love each other as I have loved you. That's why it's not optional to forgive somebody. If you've got somebody here who's become an enemy, they've said something about you.

And if they come in on the left, you come in on the right. If they go out by the left, you go out on the right. If they go to this parking garage, you go to that parking garage. You do everything in your power to avoid that person.

It's a commandment, as I have loved you, to love one another. And when we consider what Jesus had to endure, who are we to say that we're justified to turn our back on anybody? One time, an unsaved man came to do some work for me at my house.

I'd like to think I'm smart, but he really took me to the cleaners financially. And so I texted him because I had his phone number and I said, he's not a Christian. I said, as a follower of Jesus Christ, I said, I know you overcharged me, but as a follower of Jesus Christ, I forgive you.

And I said, I'm gonna pray for you that you might become an honest man and lead your children in the way of truth. I felt pretty good about myself. You know, after texting that, and you know, you hit send.

I felt like, wow, I mean, this is very benevolent. I could have sued the guy, I mean, but instead of doing that, I just forgave him. Needless to say, he didn't text me back, at least not yet anyway. And so I went to bed and I was really feeling good about myself, you know?

So only, this is not too long ago. And you know, when we tell stories on ourselves like that, we'd like to give the impression it was years ago and not just a few weeks back or a few months back, but it was quite recent.

So I went to bed, and as always, that voice came. And the Lord said, you did it for an unsaved man. Why can't you do it for your brother? And he brought an instance back to my mind where somebody had done something similar who was a brother in Christ, and I had just more or less in measure written him off.

Why can't you call him and tell him you forgive him and love him? Needless to say, I needed the strength of God, but I did call, only to find my brother crying at the other end of the phone, saying, thank you so much.

A new commandment I give you, that you love one another as I've loved you. And by this will all men know that you're my disciples if you have love one for another. You and I can't do this in our own strength.

We need the strength of the Holy Spirit to be able to accomplish this commandment. I've sometimes referred to it as the 11th commandment. He had already given 10 in the Old Testament, and this was a new one.

But I think it sums up all the rest. You love one another as I've loved you. I want to give a very, very simple altar call this morning. I don't think any of us have arrived at this place that Jesus spoke of.

But if you're willing to make the journey, Peter hadn't arrived, but he was willing to make the journey. You can't do it now, but you will be able to do it in the future. That's what he told him. And so don't be condemned if you're sitting here today saying, like, I've got X amount of dollars in the bank, and there's just no way I'd ever give it away.