God's Supernatural Love: Part 2

The Call to Fervently Love One Another

We'd like to go a little further and look at the supernatural love of God this morning on this Lord's Day. This will be part two, and I'm going to do my best to conclude this. There's much, much more that could be said on the love of God and our love to Him.

There's so many Scriptures you can run through the entire Bible. But we're going to look at the focus of the text this morning, which is really, fervently love one another from the heart. Fervently love one another from the heart.

So please stand with me if you're able. One more time with me this morning in honor of God's Holy Word. Turn with me to the epistle of Peter, if you have not already turned there. This wonderful epistle we've been going through.

This will cover chapter one. Like I said, Lord willing, we'll conclude this chapter today. And as we continue our study here, we're looking at beginning with verse 22 -25. This has been a powerful study for us.

A very powerful study. So hear the word of the living God. I'm reading from the NASB translation. Since you have in obedience to the truth purified your souls for a sincere love of the brethren, fervently love one another from the heart.

For you have been born again, not of seed which is perishable, but imperishable. That is through the living and the enduring word of God. For all flesh is as like grass, and all of its glory like the flower of the grass.

The grass withers and the flower falls off, but the word of the Lord endures forever. And this is the word which was preached to you. Let us pray. Our Father and our God, our prayer this morning is speak, Lord.

Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening. And I pray this in Jesus' name. Amen and amen. You can be seated. Thank you. In these four wonderful yet awesome verses before us, we see that at the center of this text is the command to fervently love one another from the heart.

Fervently love one another from the heart. This is more than just theology. It is rich theology, but it's more than just that. It comes to practical living and acting as a Christian. It is the most important thing we see in this text, is that it is the power to love one another that actually comes through hoping in God.

It comes through hoping in God. And that is by the power of the Holy Spirit, which is in us now by faith. Last Lord's Day, we looked at three important questions before us. And the Scriptures actually gives us the answers to these three important questions.

The first one is, when were believers enabled to love? When were believers able to love? Second, who are believers to love? And third, how are believers to love? And the Scriptures themselves provide to us the sufficient answer to those probing questions.

They are probing, aren't they? When, who, and how are we to love? Well, very quickly, when were believers enabled to love? Well, if you look at verse 22a, the Apostle Peter says, since you have in obedience to the truth purified your souls.

Now, at first glance, this looks like something we do on our part, but it's actually God that does this. There's a purification. Only God the Holy Spirit can purify us. And that is in and through the precious blood of Jesus Christ.

This is at salvation. This happens at salvation. And it's by the Holy Spirit that was given unto us. Then second, who are believers to love? Who are believers to love? Verse 22b, for a sincere love of the brethren.

There it is.

We are to love the brethren. We are to love the brethren. Loving one another is to be sincere. That's a good word. That word actually means, the old King James, I believe, has unfamed love. But the word sincere in the Greek is it's unhypocritical.

And as knowing the danger of hypocrisy, and you know what hypocrisy is. Hypocrisy means play-acting. Externalism, external play-acting. And that's religion. From the lips, we people honor God, but their heart is far from God, as Jesus said.

Paul the Apostle also admonished the Roman believers in Romans 12, 9. Let love be without hypocrisy. Let love be without hypocrisy. So, our loving the brethren should be genuine, and it should be sincere, unfamed.

I like the word unfamed. It means without hypocrisy. It's a powerful point that he's making. Then verse 22 C. And the question is, how are believers to love?

How?

Well, the Scriptures tells us, verse 22 C. Fervently. Fervently. Wow, isn't that potent? Isn't it to the point? The word of God does not beat around the bush. It gets right to the point. Fervently love one another from the heart.

From the heart. Now, as we looked at last Lord's Day, this is an agape love that is expressed and is exercised by our will. Now, it's not within our own willpower we can do this. It's almost as if God takes our will, and our will mingles with His will, and our will surrenders to His will, and then our will becomes His will.

He doesn't take that away, does He? But it's like as Jesus has prayed in the garden, the struggle was there for Him to back away from the cross and going all the way. But as the Scripture says, Jesus went a little further, and He fell on His face, and He prayed three times, three times, Father, not my will, but Thy will be done.

He went all the way, surrendering His will to the Father's will. And this is what we must do, and I'm telling you, and you know this as well as I do, there is no way we can do this unless the power of the Spirit of God comes alongside of us, and gives us that strength from above.

You've been there. To do God's will takes the Spirit of the living God. It's a supernatural love, isn't it? It's not something we can do, because within our own power we don't have that ability. This is a God-made love that comes from the Holy Spirit.

This is the love of God that is shed abroad. I love that word, don't you? Shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit. It has been lavished upon us. And I like the old King James, poured into our hearts.

God has literally poured it into us, supernaturally. How can that be? Well, I don't know. I can't answer that, but it's a mysterious thing. It's as the wind blows, Jesus said. We're going to look at that later.

But by the will, it's exercised by the will, and it's God's power, rather than the emotion. I like to put it this way, it's a love of willing and not a love of feeling. A love of willing, not of feeling.

It's not how I feel. Our feeling cools and warms, and some days we feel more loving, some days we feel less loving. I don't know about you, most of the time I feel quite cold. But I know that what the Scripture says, that the just shall live by faith.

It's by faith we go on, right? And we trust in the living God. And then love of choice here is what he's talking about. It's a choice that we make, and it's against our feelings, many times. You know, a lot of people get into this hyped up feelings, and you ever been to a Pentecostal service?

I'm telling you, they love to hype you up, and it's electrifying sometimes. I was telling Brother Keith, I've been in many worship services there, and a lot of times, yes, I could honestly say the Spirit of God would come in many ways, in many respects, but I think of this quite often.

You know, we're in a comfortable building, and we're worshiping God. It's electrifying, it's feeling good at the moment. And actually, you can literally feel chills run up, down your spine at times. But what about times when someone's in prison, and they're suffering for Jesus' sake, and they're saying, they're looking up, no one's around, there's no hype, there's no electricity, there's no praise, and you know, I believe Brother Keith brought this out last week, about Paul and Silas.

They were in prison in shackles, and they began to pray, and then they began to praise God. And then they started praising God in the worst conditions. Not, you know, in the bad circumstances, and then God broke through with an earthquake.

Now, they didn't expect God to break through, but they started praising God regardless, and they were suffering. They had stripes on their back, they were in pain. And you know, it's in those times when God chose Himself to be God.

It's just not in the good time feelings and in the worship service, right? But love of choice. Paul and Silas, I'm sure they didn't feel like praising God or praying, but they did because they loved their Master.

And it was a sacrifice of praise unto God. It was a sweet-smelling aroma. This is the kind of love that can respond to a commandment. Love fervently from the heart means to stretch out to the very limits.

Don't you love that?

Fervently means to stretch it out as far as you can go. Makes me think of what Jesus spoke of when He taught, you know, when someone is in need, you know, give them your cloak. Give them your coat, in other words.

And go the extra mile. You know, you see this on billboards. It really, to me, I don't like people using this for their businesses, but I saw a car insurance billboard and it says, car insurance, we go the extra mile.

And I said, you know, that's not original. That really comes from the mouth of the Lord Jesus Christ. And He's telling the disciples, you know, that's what we have to do. We have to stretch it to the furthest limits.

And to meet someone's need. Isn't that what love is? And we looked at the parable of the Good Samaritan. That He didn't bypass the Samaritan and the mixed breed. That was a reject and He was hurting it.

And He came by and He took care of his wounds and He took care of his needs. He took him to a place and bought him the place of the hotel and went further. He went to the extra mile. He stretched Himself to the furthest limits.

And that's what we've got to do. It's sacrificial, isn't it? Real love is sacrificial. It reaches out to those that are in need. It reaches out to the orphans and the widows. And it reaches out to those that are poorer.

And now we have to be wise nowadays, right? Because there's a lot of people that take advantage of Christians. I've been there and you've been there. And they're out there and they don't want to work.

And the Bible says, if you're not going to work, you're not going to eat. And especially a person that's very capable and not handicapped. Now I can understand if a person's in a very bad, handicapped way.

And they're not capable of working. And we're to reach out to them. But people that are out there just trying to take advantage of the system. And take advantage of you and me. We need to be wise as serpents.

Tell them, look, the Lord expects you to get out there and get a job. What about people that's out there bumming and they've ruined their record? Well, we need to reach out to them as well. But we need to show them and give them some wisdom.

And, you know, if you need needs. If there's a need that needs to be taken care of, there's a Salvation Army. Now a lot of times Salvation Army will kick them out because they're criminals. You know, and it's really a sad thing, a sad case we see today.

There are a lot of criminals out there that are in a bad way, aren't they? That doesn't mean we're to give up on them, right? We're to reach out. But we've got to be wise. We've got to give them some answers from the Scriptures.

You know, so you have to really discern the situation. I could tell you, oh, multitudes, and you know this. There's multitudes of situations. But God's love reaches out to those that are in need. And especially the beggars that are desperate for God.

Not trying to use God, but they're in need. I think Brother Keith brought out this leper. He was in need, wasn't he? He was in need of cleansing. And he reached out to Jesus. And Jesus touched him and was willing to cleanse him.

God's love is very practical, isn't it? I'm not going to sit. I'm not going to sit. Yeah, right. I'll stand before you today and tell you that this is just a theological manner. It's not. It's a very practical, simple, warm thing that we are to do.

It meets people's needs, others at the point of their need. In other words, it's not fake, right? It's not phony. It's real. And it's genuine. And that's what people, you know, a lot of people out there in the world that's lost.

A lot of times they know when it's genuine.

They do.

They know when it's fake. You know, I like what the Apostle John says in 1 John 3, 16 -18. Listen to the Word of God on this. It says much, much more than what I can tell you. The Apostle John says, We know, we know love by this.

And then he tells us that he, speaking of Jesus Christ, that he laid down his life for us. Who is he talking about for us?

The sheep.

We ought to lay down our lives for who? The brethren. Notice what he says. The brethren. Now that's the kind of love that we are to have. That we are to sacrifice ourselves even to the point that means we are to lay down our lives for the brethren just as Jesus did.

Now think about that.

Search your heart.

Would you be willing to lay down your life.

For the brethren this morning?

Verse 17, But whoever has the world's goods. Listen to where John's going on this. Whoever has the world's goods. In other words, God's blessed you with plenty and sees his brother his brother in need and closes his heart against him.

How does the love of God abide in him? Oh wow. Little children, he says. Let us not love with words or with tongue. Talk's cheap, right? But in deed and in truth. There it is. In deed and in truth. That's the kind of love that we demonstrate as children of God.

And true love is not limited just to supreme sacrifices. Oh no. But it shows up in the lesser ones. It shows up in the mundane. It shows up in the little things. God sees the little things. Genuine love expresses itself in a sacrificial giving to other Christians and the brethren to the household of faith the scripture says.

His brother. It is practical and it finds motivation from a pure heart in helping others, doesn't it? And that's the way we are to love. So where it does not exist can I say this?

It's very questionable.

That God's love is present.

It's very questionable.

We have a right to question it if it does not is present in a situation there. If it is so it is also questionable whether the person is a child of the living God. Now why do I say that? Because love is of God.

Love is of God. And not only is love of God because He is love.

But love.

Is the very fruit of the Spirit. You know the fruit of the Spirit. Love, joy, peace, long suffering. Did you notice. In the divine pattern it's not by mistake love is at the top of the list. It is like the fruit of all the rest of the fruit in which the other fruits come out of like a cluster.

Love is that.

Overall fruit.

The most important I believe all of them is important. But they all come out of love. Love is.

Now.

Where do you think John got this? He got it from Jesus. He got this from Jesus preaching on the Sermon on the Mount in chapter 7 verse 17 through 20. Listen to this. The greatest sermon ever preached.

Jesus.

Made it simple and He made it black and white didn't He? This is what He said in verse 17 through 20 in chapter 7. Almost His conclusion but not quite. But He is getting there.

Now.

In context He is speaking about false teachers.

And He is.

Actually telling us how to have righteous discernment and how we could tell a good tree from a bad tree. Notice what He says. So every good tree bears good fruit.

But the.

Bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot produce bad fruit nor can a bad tree produce good fruit. Verse 19. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.

So.

Then. Here is His point. You will know that word know means you will recognize, you will discern them. Now who is He talking about? Them. He is talking about false teachers. He is talking about He said beware when they come to you in sheep's clothing.

They are wolves. They are ravening wolves. They are false teachers. There is a lot of them today aren't they? They have been around for a while. Well Jesus says you are to judge righteous judgment. You to have discernment.

It is one of the problems of the church today. We don't know how to discern from truth in error. That is sad isn't it? Because what does that tell you? People don't know the word of God. Not only do they do not know the word of God.

I really believe they are not born of the spirit of God. So how can they discern truth in error or truth from error if they are not born of the spirit of God? Well Jesus says you recognize them by the fruit.

What kind of fruit do they have? What kind of fruit? Is it good fruit? Bad fruit? Jesus says there are only two kinds of trees here. There are only two kinds of fruit. Is it bad or good? It is a bad tree.

It is a good tree. I think to myself our Lord made it so simple didn't He? I really believe this. A child can be right there and understand what He is talking about. He made it and so beautifully He goes to the illustration of a tree.

A tree.

Something we can see. Something feasible. And He breaks it down in the spiritual realm. This is speaking of the spiritual realm about false teachers. This is how you can tell a false teacher. You don't have two different kinds of trees here.

I am sorry you do have two different kinds of trees. You have a bad and a good tree and you have bad fruit and good fruit. There is nothing.

In between that.

So not three kinds only two kinds. The genuine or the false. A bad tree, a good tree. What Jesus is saying is you are saved or you are not. You are regenerated or you are not. You are in Christ or you are not in Christ.

You are dead to sin or dead from sin.

Right?

So let's look at the last question today. The last question is why should believers love? Why should believers love? Right? Isn't that a good question? Why? Well scripture tells us.

We should.

Love. Our text gives us the answer once again. Don't you love it? The word of God gives us the answer. The word of God is sufficient. It is sufficient. Verse 23. For you have been born again not of seed which is perishable but imperishable.

That is through the living and endearing word of God. Verse 24. Then he quotes from the prophet Isaiah. For all flesh is like grass and all its glory like the flower of the grass and the grass withers and the flower falls off but the word of the Lord endures forever and this is the word which was preached to you.

Literally that word preached to you means preached as good news to you. It is preached as good news to you. So believers in Jesus Christ are to love one another to the fullest extent because it is consistent with the new life in Jesus Christ.

New life in Jesus Christ. Now this is not going to be something new for each and every one of us here today, right? We all know this. It is ABC's of Christianity but don't we need this? Don't we? I never get tired of hearing this because really be honest with you this is still the problem within.

The church today.

People come within the church they go through the motions they think they've been baptized in.

Water, they've been baptized.

As an infant and they think it's all settled and they're into the kingdom. No, not so beloved. As you well know the text tells us for you have been born again, you have been born again. He's talking to believers here.

In other words they've been regenerated by the Holy Spirit of God literally from the Greek text it means born from above. They have new passions new desires they have a new mind and they're renewing their mind but everything that they have now is a gift from God and God willed it not something that they willed.

We're going to look at this and it's what God has done. Now 1 John chapter 5 verses 1 through 3 says this, whoever believes that Jesus is the Christ, that's important. We've got to believe that he's the Messiah.

We must believe that he is the anointed one from God. There's no other Messiah. He is the Messiah. He is the chosen one. He is the righteous one. He is the anointed one. Jesus Christ the son of the living God Peter says, that's the great confession.

He is born of God. He is born of God. In other words you've got to believe and know who Jesus is. That's why you have other people out there that so-called call themselves Christians and they're not Christians that do not believe that Jesus is the Messiah the son of the living God.

They do not believe that he's God in the flesh. They are anti-Christ what the Bible says. They are false. I don't care if they can say that they're Christians.

Until Jesus.

Comes back folks. It does not make them a Christian. They must believe that he is the son of the living God. He is the Messiah. He is the anointed one. He is the Christ. This is what John says. He is born of God.

You know.

You really.

Cannot be in the kingdom unless we believe that great truth, right? It's a great supernatural truth that is revealed and given to us by the Holy Spirit. It's not a flesh and blood. It's what Jesus told Peter.

And John goes on to say this. And whoever loves the father loves the child born of him. By this we know, there's that we know again, that we love the children of God. When we love God, we observe to do, in other words, his commandments.

Verse 3. For this is the love of God that we keep his commandments. And his commandments are not burdensome. You know, you hear the opposite today. You know, you do not hear definitions of the sort that truly to love God is to keep his commandments.

To keep the commandments of Jesus Christ and then do a study of all the commandments of Jesus.

Wow.

That would eliminate quite a few people,.

Wouldn't it?

You know, what's he talking about not burdensome? For example, what he's talking about in his mind, I really believe this, that John the apostle has in his mind in contrast to the burdensome man-made traditions of the Jewish leaders and scribes and the Pharisees in Jesus' day.

By their traditions,.

What the word of God says, they made the law of God of no effect. Because of the love of God was not in them. That's what Jesus said. The love of God is not in them. He told that to the Pharisees, right?

I know that the love of God is not in them. He knew what was in their heart. That's why he never committed himself to them,.

Right?

Well, but Jesus also says in Matthew 11, 30, His yoke is easy, His burden is light. That doesn't mean he doesn't have an yoke. And it doesn't mean he doesn't have a burden. We are to have the burden of the Lord.

And we are to be yoked up with Jesus. But you know what I love about Jesus? You know, things may hit us hard, externally. But you could go to our Lord and you could know His yoke is easy and His burden is light.

Praise God. We could go to Him and we can rest in Him and know that He gives us rest. And He said that. He said He'll give rest to your souls.

He didn't say physically.

It's going to cost us something physically. But see, the internal strength comes from the love of God. You see that? You ever wonder why a martyr, back in those days, and even today, even today, the modern day martyrs today, that they can lay down their lives for Jesus Christ.

Because their eyes are upon Jesus. Their eyes are upon His sacrifice He made at the cross. And who are we but the creature of God born in His image and born again from God. And then we know that the Son of God, God Himself, came down here and laid His life down for our souls.

Little sacrifice we have.

And that's why Paul says.

You could do all these things. You could give your body to be burned. If you don't have love, you don't have.

Nothing. It profits you.

Nothing. Well, I tell you what, if I'm going to be burned to the stake and if I'm going to give my life, I'm going to make sure I love God and I love the brother. And that's why these men, when they were burning them, getting ready to burn them, they said how can I do any injustice to God and not love Him and love those who, even those who were doing the crime.

As Jesus said, Forgive them Father, for they do not know what they do. What kind of love would do something like that? His yoke is easy. His burden is light. The Pharisees was opposite.

Their yoke was hard.

And their yoke.

And their burden was heavy. Right? I don't want nothing to do with tradition and religion. In our text it's almost as if the Apostle Peter anticipated his readers asking them why they should love. Why should they love?

He had commanded them and therefore he told them that they should be expected to love that way because they have been born again. Now that's key.

Isn't it? That's key. We need to tell our world this.

Folks. This is the point in which we should take them to the cross of Jesus and say look, you must, Jesus said this, you must be born again. You must be born again. Emphasizing that the new birth occurs in the past but it has ongoing results.

Right? It has results it has effects. We see the effects of it in the present. And one of those results is that believers will demonstrate genuine love for one another. One another. And that means sometimes, not always in giving sacrificially, sometimes it means warning our brothers.

Right? Warning them in love. The one that loves me the most warns me the most. You'll hear that a lot here. And that truth is hard. It's hard truth but Paul says speak the.

Truth in love. And he.

Said do it in kindness.

And make sure it's from the heart. And that you pray for them. And you fervently love them. And probably shedding some tears for them. Give them warning. You know you're going down a path here brethren.

And you're going down a wrong path. And it's leading you astray from God and from the brethren. Stop it. Stop where you are and resist that temptation. That's love. That tells me to stop going down a direction that I can't see.

I may be blinded to. And I would appreciate a brother or a sister say hold on pastor. You're doing something here wrong. Let's go to the word of God. And let's take it. What does God have to say about this?

And let's pray about it. You see it's not being mean and harsh and bombastic. But it's in love. Now Jesus blasted the Pharisees pretty hard. But that was love. I say blasted them. But he did this from the heart of God.

But you know there's times it has to be sharper than others. Right?

You know and.

These Pharisees were so engrossed and hardened in their tradition and getting hardened against God. And it took a harder sword, a sharper sword to break through it. And Jesus knew how to temper it. You know you don't see him doing this to the woman at the well.

Even the Pharisee Nicodemus that came to him at night. We're going to look at that in just a minute. Now actually turn there. Turn to John chapter 3. Don't you love this chapter? This is one of my favorite chapters in the word of God.

Oh my. I tell you what. You could just open up John chapter 3 and you could take someone right to Jesus. Right to Jesus and right into his kingdom. Isn't it wonderful we have this wonderful chapter? John chapter 3.

The gospel of John. And you know there's something wonderful about this story. Here's an old religious man. He comes to Jesus by night. I'll just read it. Now there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus.

He's a ruler of the Jews. This man came to Jesus by night and said to him,.

Rabbi,.

He's given some respect now. He's calling him master, teacher. That's the way the teachers were called. Master, rabbi. We know that you have come from God as a teacher. He's already got it wrong there.

This is God that came to teach. But just not as a teacher. But he is the teacher. For no one can do these signs that you do unless God is with him. Now he's already looking at the signs. He's looking at the miracles.

They were barren evidence of who Jesus was. They were manifest evidence. But he really didn't understand or know who Jesus really was at that point. But notice what Jesus said. Jesus by no means was flattered by what he said to him.

Jesus answered and said to him, truly, truly. And as you well know, some translation says, verily, verily. Verily, verily, truly, truly. What he's saying,.

Amen, amen.

Bless his heart. Bless her heart. Ah, bless him. Taking care of a need. Taking care of a need. Only mommy can do, right? Truly, truly, amen, amen. Everything Jesus said, I heard Sproul say this, everything Jesus said was important, everything.

But when Jesus says truly, truly, amen, amen, he gives the amen, amen twice before he makes the statement. This is the truth, the truth speaking. He said we are to pay a special attention to this. Amen, amen.

Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born from above, born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. First he says he cannot see the kingdom of God. In verse 5 he said he cannot enter the kingdom of God.

First you gotta see it, then you enter into it. Nicodemus said to him, now Nicodemus didn't get it, right? Because he's thinking carnal, he's thinking fleshly, he's thinking, he's not relying upon the spirit of God upon this because he hasn't been born.

Again. He sees as.

Everybody else sees. How can a man be born when he's old? He just doesn't get it, does he? No, he cannot enter a second time into his mother's womb and be born, can he? That's what he says. And it's a question, there's two questions together.

How can a man be born when he's old? And he cannot enter a second time into his mother's womb and be born, can he? No. Jesus answered, again he says, truly, truly, amen, amen, I say to you unless one is born of the water and of the spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.

I love how Jesus mentions water and of the spirit because that water is speaking of purification, it's speaking of cleansing. The washing of regeneration, Paul said. The washing of regeneration and of the spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.

First he says, you cannot see the kingdom of God, nor cannot enter into the kingdom of God. You've got to be born again, you must.

A must.

And that which is born of.

The flesh is flesh,.

And that which is born of the spirit is spirit. It's that simple. Do not be amazed, do not marvel, don't be surprised that I said to you, you must be born again. You must be born again. And then he says this, the wind blows where it wishes and you hear the sound of it.

It's the mystery of how this happens, alright? We can't control the wind, can we? Have you ever tried to control the wind? No. Nobody can control the wind. God controls the wind. You know, but there is something Jesus said.