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I am resolved no longer to be girded, shocked by the world's delight. Things that are higher, things that are nowhere to be found. Things that are higher, things that are nowhere to be found. Things that are higher, things that are nowhere to be found. I will hasten to make things so glad and free. Jesus, greatest, highest, I will come to Thee. I am resolved to go to the Savior, be my sin and strive. He is the true one, He is the just one, be at the words of God. I will hasten to make things so glad and free. Jesus, greatest, highest, I will come to Thee. I am resolved to follow the Savior, pray for the truth each day. Be what He's saying, do what He will do, He is the living way. I will hasten to make things so glad and free. Jesus, greatest, highest, I will come to Thee. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. And how's that gonna un good? instruments with a headache. It's gonna be overall turning not good, it's gonna die out, it might be because other things have crept into our hearts. The root of bitterness, worldliness, resentment, these type of things can creep into our hearts and we can actually find ourselves not loving the brethren as we ought to, okay? And the fact that it's being commanded, right? The fact that the bible is commanding us to do this, that Christ commanded us to do this, tells us this is something that you actually have to put into practice. This isn't something that's just gonna come naturally. this. This isn't something that's just going to come naturally, this is something sometimes that you have to actually try to do, right? And obviously that love there, I'm not, you know, that love is, don't be mistaken, I'm not talking about some mushy, gushy kind of fake love, right? It's an unfeigned love. And it's, you know, love that's genuine, that's sincere, you know, behaves itself in a certain way, right? And it's going to manifest in our lives in a particular way. And there's going to be actions that we take that show that we truly love the brethren, and I won't get too far ahead of myself here, we'll get into that. But, you know, in the beginning I just want to again emphasize the fact that the Bible says that we are to do this. This is what we've been called unto. This is what we've been purified unto. We have a work, we have a job to do, obviously it's not the only thing we're called to do. But a big part of the Christian life is learning to love the brethren. To have a love for those that are members of our church, those that are saved, those that love God, you know, desiring to, you know, have those relationships and to be a part of that, to be a part of people's lives essentially. If you would, you can, don't worry about 1 Peter, but go to 1 John 3. Obviously this might be a passage that comes to people's minds simply because this is something where this commandment, you know, is given out in length. There's a very strong admonishment to love the brethren in 1 John 3. Elsewhere in 1 Peter, chapter 2, the Bible says, honor all men, love the brotherhood, fear God, honor the king. So it's right in there, you know, it's love the brethren, oh and fear God, right? These are important commandments. These aren't things we should take lightly. These aren't things that we should just scoff at or think are unimportant. No, you know, would you say the fear of God is unimportant? You say, oh, you know, the fear in God is not that big of a deal if I do that. No, it's huge. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. You know, well, you know, in that same litany of commandments that he gives in 1 Peter 2, before the fear of God, I'm not saying it's given in order of, you know, importance, but he does tell us in the same breath, essentially, to love the brotherhood and to fear God. So you can see that it is important that people learn to love the brethren and to do it, as Peter said, with an unfeigned love and fervently. Not something that is fake, but something that is genuine and sincere, okay? Look there in 1 John, chapter number 3, verse 14. He says, we know that we have passed from death unto life because we love the brethren, right? That's a real strong indication that you're saved if you love the brethren, right? If you look at your brothers and sisters in Christ and you just have no desire to be in church, no desire to have any kind of Christian fellowship, no desire to have any kind of care or concern for other brothers and sisters in Christ, you know, that's kind of concerning. I'm not going to say that you're unsaved, but he does say here that, you know, we know we've passed from death unto life because we love the brethren. You know, a lot of times the same people that I hear from that are doubting their salvation or questioning whether or not they're on their way to heaven, even though they have a testimony of having believed on Christ, but they're just struggling with this, they're struggling with whether or not they themselves know they're saved, and you simply ask them, you know, well, what do you got to do to be saved? Believe on Jesus. Have you done that? Yes. Can you use it? No. I mean, they've got, it's simple, it's easy, they understand, but they themselves believe the gospel, they don't have the peace, they don't have the assurance, and then you find out, well, they're not in church. They're not in church, they don't care about, you know, others in the lost, they're not serving others, they're not, you know, trying to be a part of a local assembly and have this love of the brethren. You know, part of the reason I know I'm saved tonight, you know, other than I know that I believe the gospel, is that I have a desire to be around God's people. I mean, why else would I want to hang around you? But really, when you think about it, I mean, you think about the people that make up our church and other churches, really, the common ground that we have is Christ. And I understand we might have other areas where, you know, we have common ground and things like that, but this is what has brought us together, is the fact that we know that we're saved, and we know that there's commandments that we have to fulfill in this life, and we want to hear the preaching of God's But, you know, that's what's brought us together and caused us to become a local assembly, is because of the fact that we have a love for the brethren, we have a desire to be in church. Right? And that's kind of what he, that's how I take verse 14. We know that we have passed from death unto life because we love the brethren. Meaning without that salvation, you know, we can't love without the Holy Spirit. You can't really love another person without being saved, right? Without having a genuine, or, excuse me, without that salvation, you don't really have that genuine, sincere, selfless type of love. He that loveth not his brother abideth in death. Okay? Look at verse 15. 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 laid down his life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for our brethren. Okay? So, again, let me just recap these, you know, go back over and just review what I've said thus far, is that we have been purified unto unfeigned love of the brethren. That's what we're called to do. That's part of our calling as Christians. That's a Christian duty, to love your brother. Okay? That's why we're commanded to love one another fervently. That's why we're told to love the brethren and to fear God. Right? And then we're told again in 1 John to say, hey, we know we've passed from death and life because we love the brethren. If you don't love your brother, you know, you hate your brother, you're a murderer, and you have not eternal life abiding in you. Right? So the admonishment is to love, and to do so unfeigned, fervently, but then when we get into 1 John 3, this is where we start to see what it actually means to love the brethren. Because, you know, a lot of times people can fake this love. And I'm not saying anyone that behaves in this manner is faking it, but, you know, sometimes you just have people, they just get gushy, if you know what I mean. It's just this mushy, gushy kind of love. And to me, it's just kind of fake. Maybe it's because I'm a dude. I don't know, I'm just not into, you know, just all these verbal expressions. I mean, it's one thing when it's your wife and your children, but, you know, I'm not calling up and texting the guys in this church and just, I love you, man. Just want to let you know how much I love you. You know, I'm just thinking about you, and I love you. I mean, I'll text, you know, when someone's going through something, you know, by the way, pray for brother Elmer. Right? We love brother Elmer. He's going through some hardships with that whole thing right now. Like, yeah, you know, I text brother Elmer and say, hey, if you need anything, let me know. I care about you. I'm praying for you. But I haven't text brother Elmer every single day. It's just, I love you, man. I thought about brother Elmer, been praying for brother Elmer. Right? But I'm not sending him flowers and cards and chocolate, you know what I mean? But does that mean I don't love him? No, it means I do love him, you know, but it's just, it's not fake. It's sincere. It's genuine. Right? So, again, that's the distinction I'm trying to make here. You know, the love that we have is expressed through action and through how we treat the brethren. Right? It's not just this, this verbal, mushy, gushy kind of, I don't know what the word is for it. Just, just kind of just, I don't know. You know what I'm talking about though. Somehow, you know, like all the guys get it. Right? It's not fake. And look, if someone's like that, you know, if there's someone out there that's like, I'm not saying that that's not sincere. Maybe they really are. That's how they just really, they just really want to let you know how much they love you. And just text you at all hours and just constantly reassure you that how important you are to them. Like, okay, that's, if that's sincere, great. But how about this? Maybe just because I don't do that, that doesn't mean I don't love you. Right? In fact, we can tell that other people love us through other things that they do. Right? Not just through these expressions. Okay. I mean, that's what he's getting into in first John chapter three, where he says in verse 16, hereby perceive we, the love of God. How do we know that God loves us? Well, just because he said so. Just because it says for God so loved the world, you know, but that's not where it ends. Right? Yeah. For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son. Right? That's how we know God loves us. You know, that's how we know that God cares for us because of the fact that he sacrificed his only begotten son so that we can become children of God as well. That's what he's saying here. We perceive the love of God. We know that God loves us. We can see God's love toward us because he laid down his life for us. I mean, no one in the room would ever question whether or not God loves them. It's evident. It's obvious. We can perceive it. We can say, I know God loves me because he died for me. Right? And he goes on and says, and we ought to lay down our lives for our brethren. And that's a tall order, by the way. I'd like to get up here and say that I would take a bullet for any one of you, but I don't know. You know, and you say, well, did you really help me then? Well, I mean, would you rather I just get up and say I die for every one of you? How would we ever know? Right? That would be fake. You know, that might not be the, I could say that all day long. Right? Now, obviously we're not called to lay down our lives one for another but I mean, if it was called upon, we might. I mean, you hear stories about men in war throwing themselves on grenades, taking bullets for people because they love these guys that they're serving alongside of. And you know, we might be called to literally do that, but you know, we can lay down our lives in another sense. You know, maybe when we're giving up our time to be a part of the church, to participate in the church, that's in a sense, that's what we're doing. We're giving up a part of our life for the brethren, to be there, to show our support, to participate in the program. Right? I mean, to be perfectly honest, there's things that I've laid down in a sense in my own life because I love the church, because I want to see this church grow. I want to see the people in this church continue to grow and to thrive and for God to prosper them and bless their lives. That's the truth. I don't know if Deacon loves me. I don't know if he likes me or not. Okay, well how about the fact that we moved our family down here so that we could minister to you in this church? I mean, there's other things I could be doing. Don't take this in the wrong way. I don't want this to come across as some bitter, resentful thing. I'm glad to be doing what I'm doing. But it's just, you know, I'm just using it as an example. How do you know that Deacon loves you? Is it because I text you at all hours or just out of the blue and remind you how much I love you because, you know, I get you a sweet card on your birthday? You know, I get you donuts. You know, at least once a month you get donuts. That ain't love. I don't know what it is, folks. Right? Well, how about the fact that, you know, instead of going out and pursuing some worldly career, he put all that on hold and said, well, let's minister to these people. Let's preach the word of God. Let's preach the gospel. Right? That's a laying down of a life, in a sense. Giving up worldly ambition. And look, we all do similar things to a certain degree. You guys could have, you know, some of you could have all been at home today, you know, just, you know, watching the game. Not come to church, not gone soul-winning, not come back tonight. You could have been at home doing everything. But you know what? And there's nothing necessarily wrong in doing those things, you know, unless they're keeping you out of church, then, you know, that is a sin. But, you know, we do those things because we lay that aside because we love the church. We want to be a part of it. We have a love one for another. So, you know, these expressions of love don't always have to be these big, grand gestures. Because it's easy to say that because that's probably never going to happen. Hey, I love you guys. Trust me. I would jump on a grenade for you. That's easy to say because that's probably never going to happen. Anyone got a grenade? Okay, case in point right there, right? So let's prove it, you know. But that's easy to say, just these grand sweeping, oh, I would love you guys so much, I would lay down my life. You know, that's, to me, that sounds fake. But how we know someone loves us is if, you know, they're there for us and they're behaving towards us in a certain way, and we'll get into more about that. But it's through their actions, right? And that's what he's getting into here. We know God loves us because of the action that he took to save us from hell and sacrificing his son. And then, you know, praise God, John here gets a little bit more into the practical. He says in verse 7, but whoso hath this world's goods, excuse me, this world's good, and seeeth his brother have need, and shut up with his bowels of compassion from him, how dwelt the love of God in him. You know, and this, again, this is something that we might not see a lot of in our day and age, because we live in such a prosperous country in such a prosperous time. You know, our, you know, we might come to church, you know, I text brother Adam the other night, is the power out at your place? We went home on a Sunday night and the power was out. You know, that was my big need. Hey, the power's out, man. It's like the Wi-Fi has gone for an hour. What am I going to do, right? I was just checking, hey, is it out at your place? No. Okay, great. Just seeing, like, you know, when it's going to come back on. That's our big, you know, our needs aren't real. We don't have a lot of need today. There's so much help today. But you know, what if we did have the world's goods? You know, we, and we do. And a brother came in here and genuinely had a need. You know, they're destitute. The wolf's at the door. They're, you know, they're going to lose. They can't pay a bill. They're going without, you know, obviously we know that we would step up and help people out in those instances. We'd pull money out of our own pocket and help the brethren. That's, you know, that's a very practical thing, isn't it? But again, even today, that's not something even that we don't have to put in practice today. Although I'm sure, you know, there will probably be a time where we do need people to help us out, perhaps. And he's saying, look, if that happened, if that does happen, and you just say, well, you know, good luck. You know, don't bother me with that. You know, how dwell the love of God in him. The point being that unfeigned love, real love is expressed in action, not just words. It's, it's what people do for one another. Okay. That shows us that they love us. And obviously words do play a little bit in that and we'll get into that a little bit. There is a time and place for that too. But look at verse 18. He says, but my little children, let us not love in word, neither in tongue, but indeed and in truth. Let's not just say we love the brethren. Let's actually demonstrate that love. Let's actually show one another that we love one another. Okay. Through our actions, through what we do. And hereby we know we are the truth and shall assure our hearts before him. For if our hearts condemn us, God is greater than our heart and knoweth all things. Beloved, if our heart condemn us not, then we have this confidence toward God. And whatsoever we ask, we receive of him because we ask, excuse me, because we keep his commandments and do those things which are pleasing in his sight. And this is the commandment that we should believe on the name of his son, Jesus Christ, and love one another as he gave us commandment. So is loving one another optional? Nope. You know, Pastor Thompson was preaching up in Tempe a few weeks ago, and I appreciate something that he said in the sermon. He said, you might not like me, but you got to love me. And I was like, man, that's true. Right? Even if you are particularly fond of a person, maybe you have a little bit of a personality conflict, you're still commanded to love that person. Right? You can't hate that person. You can't treat that person cruelly. You can't shut up your bowels of compassion simply because you don't like their face or whatever it is. You know, like the personality and whatever. And you say that, you know, and we kind of chuckle at that. You know, that's a real thing. You know, we're a smaller church. We don't really experience that as much. But you get in a bigger church, you have more personalities and things get kind of cliquey sometimes. That's just human nature. People will start biting and devouring one another. People will start getting after each other. It happens. And it ought not be that way. We ought to love one another. That's what we've been commanded to do. That's what we've been called unto. That's what we've been purified unto. Unto unfeigned love of the brethren. And, you know, a lot of it is expressed in action. Okay? Now, if you would, go to Matthew 18. Let me show you one big way we know, or one way, excuse me, one major way that we can show that we love the brethren. What's one way we can know that we love the brethren? How can we express this love and put this love into practice? Not just through words. Well, a big one is through forgiveness. It's through forgiveness. Because, you know, people are going to offend. There are going to be trespasses. And if we really love someone, you know, we'll be quick and ready to forgive them. Repeatedly, if needed. Even repeatedly for the same offense. And this sounds simple, but when it actually happens, when you're actually called upon to forgive somebody, sometimes for the same thing repeatedly, you know, that's when we're actually, our medal is tested. And we find out, do we really love the brethren? You know, this is something in a marriage often, I mean, not my marriage, I've never experienced it, but, you know, we haven't had to forgive each other for anything. Ever. Because it's perfect. Right? Wrong. Right? This is something a lot of times, even in marriages, that people have to put into practice often. Probably the wives more so. Okay? Right? Give them a little credit here. But it could be the other way, obviously. You know, we have to forgive one another repeatedly sometimes for the same offense. And why would we do that? Why would we ever forgive someone for offending us or hurting us or doing something? Why would we forgive them over and over and over again repeatedly? Because we love them. And, you know, sometimes the best way to tell if someone loves you is when they forgive you. I mean, that's what we just read in 1 John. Hereby perceive we the love of God. Right? That He gave His Son to die for us. That He laid down His life. That He died for us. What was the purpose behind that death? Forgiveness. He died to, you know, take, you know, our sins upon Himself. That's forgiveness. We know God loves us because He forgave us. Right? And it's the same way with the brethren. Right? And with one another. A lot of times we know someone loves us because they forgive us. And it's something that we're called to do. Right? We're called to love the brethren. It's what we've been purified unto. It's what we're commanded to do. And so how do I do that? Forgive. Forgive and forgive and forgive. That's something you have to put into practice. It's not optional. And Matthew 18 sometimes is one of these chapters in this particular passage where people, they want to use it for almost the exact opposite of what it's there for. They want to use it like a club against a fellow church member. Okay? Let's get into it. Verse 15. It says, More of thy brother shall trespass against thee. Go and tell him his fault between thee and him alone. And if he shall hear thee, thou must gain thy brother. Isn't it great when people can just call up, you know, call one another, get together with one another, just have a conversation and clear the air. It's great. Right? We just resolve things. That's the ideal. But if he will not hear thee, then take it with thee one or two or more that in the mouth of two or three witnesses, every word may be established. You know, and again, sometimes people read this and they use this like, okay, you know, I'm going to go and they just start out because they don't like somebody. And they, you know, words have been said or whatever. And now they're trying to like play this game with this other person. And then they go get their buddies and like, okay, and they all hate this guy. They all don't like the same person. So now you got two or three witnesses that, that are his, you know, impart that are not impartial. And, and it just, things escalate. Okay. I got my two witnesses and all they're trying to do is get the point where they can, you know, come to the church staff, go to the pastor and say, Hey, I got my, I got my witnesses. And this guy said this about me. And this guy said that about me. And I went to him and he wouldn't, you know, repent. And he wouldn't say he was sorry. So I went and got my, and they're just using Matthew 18, like a, like a blunt object to just try to destroy somebody and get him kicked out of the church. You know, believe it or not, we're not on a hair trigger to kick people out of church around here. You know, I'm trying to think, I don't think I've ever had to do it in the 60s we've been here. I don't think I've, you know, 60, and we preach about it all the time. And we're serious. Now I've seen it take place in, you know, in Tempe, you know, it has had to happen. And I, and I, and I'm just saying that, you know, in six years, we actually haven't had to do it. Praise God. And I'm, look, I'm sure there's going to come a time when we do have to. In fact, I take that back. There was somebody one time, people were living in fornication, or I had to tell them, Hey, you can't come back until you get this right. And they didn't come back. Okay. But, you know, people use this and because they don't genuinely, sincerely love their brother, they're not looking genuinely, sincerely love their brother, not looking to forgive. They just want to just, you know, condemn somebody with their buddies. They just use Matthew 18 almost for the exact opposite of what it's intended for. You know, Matthew 18 is to bring reconciliation. Okay. We shouldn't want to bring people before the church. I mean, how embarrassing, how awkward, you know, and, and, and sometimes, you know, we get this label put upon us as we're some kind of unloving church or something, just because we chat, we practice church discipline because we call out sin because, you know, we, sometimes we have to preach sermons that maybe hit a little bit closer to home than we would like, you know, and, and again, but that's, that's proof that someone actually loves you, right? And I'm getting ahead of myself. When people actually tell you the truth, that means they love you. That's unfeigned love of the brethren. When someone will just tell you the way it is and not do this, you know, this fake thing and just ignore it, your faults and ignore offenses and just let things brood and, and, and people get resentful and everything. That's not love. You know, I, I, I, well, I just need to move on here. I was trying to think of an example, but I think everyone gets it. An illustration. I wasn't trying to think of an example of an illustration. But again, people use Matthew 18 the wrong, wrong way. Now there, obviously there is a time and place. Look at verse 17. If he shall neglect to hear them, right, the, the person who's been offended and the two witnesses, who by the way, if this ever came down to it, it should probably be somebody who isn't your best friend or somebody else who also has an ax to grind with an individual, right? It's, that's kind of ironic. That's kind of convenient in those instances and I've seen that. And if he shall neglect to tell, hear them, tell it unto the church. You know, there might be a time where you say, hey, we got to resolve this and, you know, this, we have to have a conclusion here, right? Why? Because we need to endeavor to keep the, the, the bond of peace and the spirit, the spirit of unity, the bond of peace, right? That's something we have to work for in the church. It doesn't just come naturally. We want to have people at peace with another. We want to have unity in our church and sometimes you have to resolve things, right? You have to get things out in the open, you have to get things, clear the air, so on and so forth. That has to happen, okay? So obviously there's a time and place and he says if you neglect to hear the church, let him be unto thee as a heathen man and a publican, okay? Now again, people, they, they take these verses and they want to apply it because somebody said something mean to them. Well, someone was nasty. Someone made a joke at my expense. That's not what this is talking about, okay? It's not for some petty grievance, okay? And I'm saying this because people use it this way. People have some petty grievance. People have, you know, some problem with somebody that, that's doing something that they don't like and they want to, like, they want to go through this process just so they can get that person kicked out of church so they never, never have to see their face again. Well, how, you know, it sounds like you hate that person. How, how dwell the love of God in you if you hate your brother? You know, if we're not wanting to forget, if we want to see somebody suffer and fall, how is that the love of God? It's not. How is that the love of the brother? It isn't. But, you know, obviously if there is a serious offense, if somebody came in here and was ripping off fellow church members, borrowing money, not paying it back, like major offenses that are actually affecting more than just people's feelings. Look, I'm not saying we should be, you know, cavalier with people's feelings or just, you know, flip with people's feelings or not regard people's feelings. Obviously we should. But, you know, if someone's coming here and actually committing real serious offenses, doing things that are, are big no-nos, right, then obviously we need to go through this process. Okay, and that's a whole sermon right there. Obviously 1 Corinthians 5 gives a litany of sins, you know, that are a whole, really can even be applied outside of this process, right. You know, someone has a bad business dealing with another brother in church, they're leaving a, you know, a bill unpaid, they're basically stolen from, yeah, that, that'd probably be something that we're going to have to settle, right, and not go to law before the unbelievers, go to civil court, and let the unsaved judge, you know, there's some things that we should handle in-house, okay, and the Bible tells in 1st Corinthians even to be willing to suffer, to be defrauded in that point, in that instance. That's the kind of thing we're talking about, you know, things that you could maybe even make legal matters, not just, you know, petty grievances, hurt feelings, stuff like that, that's not stuff we're going to drag in front of the church. And Christ says, you know, in those instances where this does have to happen, he says in verse 18, verily I say unto you, whatsoever ye shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatsoever ye shall loose on earth shall be loose in heaven, God in heaven is going to honor the judgment of the church. Look, getting kicked out of church is a big deal, it's a big deal, God honors it. You know, in 1st Corinthians 5, Paul told them to kick that guy out, right, who was committing fornication so much it's not as named amongst the gentiles, he said deliver such in one unto Satan for the destruction of the flesh. It's a big deal to get kicked out of church, God honors it. That's why I'm not on a hair trigger to kick people out of church or to have people kicked out of church, and that's why when I see people who are, you know, just using Matthew 18 like a club, they have their own little interpretation of how it ought to go, and they're just trying to drag somebody and get them kicked out of church, I think, well how dwells the love of God in you? That you're trying to get the wrath of God called on someone's life, I mean it's bizarre. I tell you, people like that, I don't want to be around. I want to keep them at arm's length, because then I'm going to be the next target or something, you know, that we should be wary of those types of people. Now look at verse 21, right, because I love Peter. Peter's always asking those questions that we're all wondering, and Peter pipes up and says, Lord, how oft shall I my my brother sin against me and I shall forgive him till seven times, right, so we all know Peter's limit, right, which, you know, to his credit, is sometimes more than some people. Some people have no forgiveness. They harbor no compassion. They're like, you offend them, that's it, we're done. I mean, to Peter's credit, at least he's given the guy seven times, but Jesus saith unto him, I say not until seven times, but until seventy times seven. I didn't want to do the math, it hurts my head, right, I'd get it wrong. And again, that's not to be taken literally, like, we're going to start going, you know, let me see, how many times has it been now, where's my pen, you know, and get a little tally mark going, okay, that's 448 times, you know, just a few more times more, I'm going to get you, buddy, right. No, obviously, the idea is that there's no end to our forgiveness. There's no end to how many times we're going to forgive those that trespass against us. You know, and Christ taught that even if he come to you and repent seven times in the same day over the same infraction, forgive, forgive, forgive, forgive. And again, that's unfeigned love of the brethren. How do you know if someone loves you, they forgive you. They just forgive. They forgive the offense, they forgive the misdeed, they forgive the cruel word, they forgive whatever it is, and they do it repeatedly because they love you. Because they would rather just restore that relationship than to see someone's life altered. And again, when people want a Matthew 18 someone, whatever that means, and they have no basis, they have no ground, they don't have an understanding of Matthew 18, they just have some skewed understanding of it that they just want to use to their own advantage, you know, I'm more concerned about them than the, you know, the apparent offender. You know, and maybe the person they're going after really does have some issues. Well, you know, maybe they could stand a friend. Maybe they could stand some prayer. Maybe they could stand some counsel. Maybe they could stand a little bit of forgiveness and patience. That would probably go a long way with those individuals. Go over to Galatians chapter number five. Galatians chapter number five. You know, again, loving the brethren is something that's, it's something we have to put into practice and it's not optional. We already read in 1st John that we are to love one another as he gave us commandment. That's 1st John 3. He goes on in 1st John 4 and says, and this is the commandment we have from him, that he who loveth God loveth his brother also. Is the love of God optional? Thou shalt love the Lord thy God. But that's a commandment, okay. It's one of the big 10, right? Well, you know, just as much as we're to love God, we're commanded and we're commanded to love God, we are also commanded to love the brethren, okay. And again, it's not this just fake, gushy expressions, this mushy kind of just dopey, sappy kind of thing. I love your brother, love you so much. You know, and look, I'm all four people where that's how they express, they're sincere in that, great. As long as they're, you know, putting it into practice through their deeds, that's how we really express love. I mean, what good would I do if I told my wife I loved her every day, but, you know, I never did anything for her. You know, I love you honey, we're living in the car, but I love you, you know, won't go get it, won't provide, won't go work, won't put food on the table, won't take care of things, won't ever do anything, we'll never lift a finger. Oh, but I love you so much. You know, I wrote you a poem. I bought, you know, I bought you flowers, she's like, pay rent. You know, you're buying me flowers and chocolate, you know, you filled the room with roses, and, you know, we're getting the bill collectors knocking, and you're just sitting around, you know, writing sweet little some things for me all day. It's like, eh, go get a job, you bum. Show me you love me, right? Again, love is expressed in action, not just through our words, but through our deeds. The Bible says in Romans 13, love worketh no ill to his neighbor. You know, love, if we love our brethren, we're not going to be scheming and plotting and all these things and trying to hurt somebody and bring them down or whatever. That's not, you know, love worketh no ill towards his neighbor, therefore love is the fulfilling of the law, right? If we love, if we love our brethren, if we love our neighbor even, we're not going to be lying and stealing and cheating and coveting and murdering. It's like, yeah, but I love you, man. Reet, reet, reet, reet, but I love you, you know. Something tells me as you're plunging that knife into my chest that you don't really love me. Yeah, but I said I did. You know, love worketh no ill to his neighbor. Look at Galatians 5 verse 13, for ye brethren, excuse me, for brethren ye have been called unto liberty, only use not liberty for an occasion of the flesh, but by love serve one another, serve one another by love. For all the law is fulfilled in one word, even this, thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. But if you bite and devour one another, take heed that you be not consumed one of another. Go over to 1st Thessalonians chapter number four. 1st Thessalonians chapter number four. Hebrews again chapter 13 says, let brotherly love continue. Just another one of those quick commandments. And I love that in Hebrews at least it says continue, not start. You need to, you know, get the, crank the the shaft over on that one. You guys need to get the motor running on this whole brotherly love thing. No, let it continue, you know, keep it running. Another good one report of a church is 1st Thessalonians chapter four, verse nine, but as touching brotherly love, you need not that I write unto you. What a great testimony of a church. You know, it's a great testimony of a church when, when people can come to a church and say, hey, that's a very, you know, the people there love one another. You know, their people are welcoming, they're kind, they're willing to help. You know, we have people that move here, you know, several times over, you know, over the years, and, and I've seen it in action where people have stepped up and, and have helped people move, or people have been in situations where they were really in a desperate need of help, and people have just stepped up and done it. It's great. So again, don't take the sermon the wrong way, and I'm not saying, you know, I, I feel like I kind of, I'm like Paul to the Thessalonians here. I don't even know why I'm preaching this. As touching brotherly love, you have no need that I write unto you, right? You, you got it down. It's always good to have these reminders though, and for, and for you yourselves are taught of God to love one another. He's like, I don't even need to tell you because you know, right? It's obvious, and it is obvious. That's why it's so shocking when you have people that don't do it. When you run into individuals who don't love the brethren the way they ought to, because it's just obvious. Verse 10, and indeed do it toward all the brethren which are in all of Macedonia, but we beseech you brethren that you increase more and more, and that you study to be quiet, and to do your own business, and to work with your hands as we command you, that you might walk honestly toward them without, that you may have lack of nothing. Go over to Romans chapter number 12, Romans chapter number 12. Again, the title tonight is unfeigned love, love that is genuine and sincere. It's not fake, and that's what is being commanded here in Romans chapter 12, verse 9. Let love be without dissimulation, and dissimulation is basically just a concealing of one's thoughts, feelings, or character, or pretense, right? Putting up a pretense. Let love be without dissimulation. Let it be without concealment. Let it be without concealment of one's thoughts, or feelings, or character. You know, we should not be afraid to let the love of the brethren show. You know, it's okay to love your brother. You're commanded to, right? Abhor that which is evil, cleave that which is good. Be kindly affectionate one to another with brotherly love. So again, obviously, and I know I said it several times already in the sermon, you know, real love is expressed in actions, but you know, and we're not trying to promote some kind of just showy love here, where it's just all just feelings, you know, just saying nice things, but you know, he does say here to not let it be, let it be without dissimulation, don't let it be concealed. Don't only be something that we're trying to cover up, you know, like let it, let your love manifest towards the brethren. Be kindly affectionate one to another. You can kind of see how that's tied in there. You know, we should have kind affection for the brethren. I gotta wrap up. Go to Galatians chapter number four, Galatians chapter four. Now again, that's one way in which we can, you know, show people that we love them, right, because love is not just words, it's actions. One way we express and show our love of the brethren is through forgiveness, as we read, you know, to forgive 70 times seven, Peter, right, and to be kindly affectionate and to not shut up the world's, if we have the world's good, and let our brethren suffer if they are, right, to look out for another and take care of each other and help one another. If someone's in need, to offer them helping hand and to, and do all of that. But another way in which people, and I've already alluded this, we express love is through correction, through telling the truth, right, and by telling the truth, I mean telling the truth. Not our perception of truth, not what we think is the truth, but what is the actual truth. Okay, we should not hold that back when it's appropriate. Okay, that's one way to not, you know, to let love be without dissimulation. That's one way to do that, to let it not be something concealed. The Bible says in Proverbs 27 verse 5, open rebuke is better than secret love. Open rebuke is better than secret love. Now how do you know, how do you know the deacon loves you? How do you know your preacher loves you? Because he reproves and he rebukes and he exhorts. But no, he does that because he likes it. No, he does not like it. It's not fun. It's not something I enjoy. It's not something I'm even comfortable with. It is something I've gotten comfortable with just because it's what the job demands and you have to do it from time to time. But the reason why sometimes, you know, you have to get after people or preach something that's going to make people uncomfortable or sometimes without even knowing it is because, you know, you love them. Sometimes you have to go to someone and say, hey, I got to rebuke you on this. I got to call you on this. Because open rebuke is better than secret love. Now I'm just too loving to tell my kids that they did something wrong. Right? I don't want to hurt their self-esteem. Let you hogwash. Right? You know, if we correct and chase in our children, it's because we love them. Right? In fact, the Bible says if we don't chase in our children, we hate them. Open rebuke is better than secret love. Faithful are the wounds of a friend. But the kisses of an enemy are deceitful. You know, sometimes the people that just come to you and just tell you the truth, that's how you know they love you. Because they let love be without dissimulation. It wasn't just, love was not faint. It was an unfeigned love. And sometimes, you know, telling the truth hurts. But if we really love people, if we really love the brethren, that's one way we'll express it, by just telling them truth. Now look, don't get carried away with this. Right? Walk up to some brother and be like, I got to tell you about that tie, man. You know, your tie is terrible. Just go express your disapproval of something, you know, that you don't like, right? Obviously we use discernment, right? There's a time and place. But Galatians chapter number four, look at verse 12. Brethren, I beseech you, be as I am, for I am as ye are. I have not, I have not injured me, excuse me, ye have not injured me at all. He's saying, don't worry about me, I'm not hurt by what's taking place. He said, you know that through the infirmity of the flesh I preached in the gospel unto you at the first. So apparently Paul has this thorn in the flesh, right? He has an ailment of some kind. And because of this passage some people have speculated that it might have been something with his vision, something with his eyes, right? Because he says, you know how through the infirmity of my flesh I preached unto you the gospel at the first and my temptation which was in my flesh ye despised not nor rejected but received me as an angel of God even as Christ Jesus. Where is then the blessedness ye spake of? For I bear you record that if it had been possible ye would have plucked out your own eyes and have given them given them to me, right? So that's why people say, oh he's talking about, you know, them, they want to, hey if we can improve this ailment, this vision problem that you have, we would have given you our own eyeballs and and blinded ourselves in the process, right? Obviously that's not possible. But he's talking about that in past tense with the Galatians, right? And I'm going, the point I'm trying to make here is that, you know, telling the truth can be dangerous because it's not always received well. Open is better than secret love, but it's not always received well. And in fact Paul here, it seems like something must have happened, right? He comes to them as he says in the infirmity of his flesh and he preached unto them the gospel in spite of that infirmity and they saw that temptation, that trial, right? That's what, that's the way that word's being used there, that trial that he was going through. They didn't despise him, they didn't reject him, but they received him even as an angel of God as Christ Jesus and would have even given him their own eyes in order to cure him of this ailment, assuming that's what it was, which I believe it probably was. But notice when he says in verse 16, because, you know, he's dealing with some things and has dealt with them since that time. Since he came and in the infirmity of his flesh preached them the gospel as at the first and they received him with open arms and blessed him, something's taken place where Paul's been ministering to them, dealing with them, and now in verse 16, look, he says, am I therefore become your enemy because I tell you the truth? And that's something we have to consider. If we're going to rebuke, if we're going to tell the truth, even if it's done in love, that doesn't necessarily mean that that love is going to be returned. In fact, it might just make an enemy out of somebody. So maybe don't go tell that brother I was tie clashes or whatever, you know. Don't do that anyway. You know what I'm saying? And again, he's warning about the Judaizers that have been creeping in and bringing them under the law. Verse 17, they zealously affect you but not well. Yea, they would exclude you that you might affect them. So that's what he's kind of correcting in this church. And because he's telling them the truth that this isn't right, you're falling for something. This is bad doctrine. They're zealously affecting you. He's saying, am I your enemy now because I told you the truth? You know, and that's something that over the years, those are words that I've kind of thought about over the years. You know, you preach and you preach hard. You say things and, you know, you have open rebuke and sometimes, you know, you wonder if it, you know, if it's, if people have more than just hurt feelings. If they actually begin to despise you and hate you in their heart. And I don't suspect that's the case but sometimes that's certainly a possibility. I mean, that's what Paul, the Apostle Paul is saying to them. He didn't, you know, he's not just filling it, you know, what so I'm going to put in verse 16, what sounds good? No, he's saying that because that's sincerely what's taking place. Am I become your enemy because I told you the truth? No, the person who's telling you the truth is the person that loves you and sometimes the truth is ugly. Sometimes the truth is not fun but it's the truth. I mean, think about the truths that we tell people. You're going to hell. I mean, that's an ugly truth. Hey, you're a sinner and if you don't get saved, you're going straight to hell. I mean, I don't know how uglier, much uglier you can get to tell somebody that, something like that. I mean, that's something people will say in derision as a curse. Go to hell, right? That's a mean thing to say to somebody. You know, we speak that we don't speak it in that tone but obviously that's what we say to people all the time when we're preaching the gospel. That's what we start with. What's your lead in? Oh, you're going to hell. Right? But you know, is it not true? The unloving thing with me would be like, well, no, no, you're not going to hell. You don't have anything to worry about. You don't even need Jesus. Just be a good person. You're on the right track. That would be the unloving thing to do. Go to 2nd Peter chapter 1. I'll wrap it up there. So, you know, just to review again, what is the sermon about? It's about unfeigned love. How do we see that in our brethren? How do we ourselves express that one another? How do we know that we have that? Well, you know, we know that we have that because we tell the truth. We know we have that when we forgive. We know we don't have that when we, you know, help one another out even in some physical way if necessary. Helping each other out with this world's goods. You know, if someone has need, that's how we know we love the brethren. Why is it important? Because we're commanded to love the brethren. Okay? There's many more passages that we could turn to where we're told to be kind, to love one another with kind and affection, to be tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you. Look at 2 Peter chapter 1, verse 5, and besides all this, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue, and to virtue knowledge, and to knowledge temperance, and to temperance patience, and to patience godliness, and to godliness brotherly kindness. You know, the love of the brethren, that's something you need to add to your faith. This is, you know, all these things are things that we should be working. This is what we've been, you know, purified unto. We've been purified through the obedient, obeying the truth unto unfeigned love of the brethren. It's something you have to add to your faith. It's something you're commanded to do. Here's how you do it. These are just a few examples. Forgiving, telling the truth, and you know, through actions, right? He goes on and says, add to brotherly kindness, brotherly kindness, excuse me, to brotherly kindness, charity, right? This is love, and if these things be in you and abound, they make you that you shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. You know, this is something that should be abounding in our lives. This is something that should be overflowing. This is something that should define who we are. These, all of these virtues that are listed here. And look, one of them, which is no less important than any of the others, is brotherly kindness, the love of the brethren. The unfeigned love of the brethren is something we're called unto. We need to make sure we're putting into practice in our lives. Let's go ahead and close in a word of prayer. Dear Lord, again, we thank you for this church. We thank you for the brothers and sisters that we have in Christ. We thank you for the spiritual family that you've assembled here. And Lord, I pray you'd help us, Lord, to love one another, even as you've loved us, Lord, to be patient and to be kindly affectionate to one another, to let our love be without dissimulation. Lord, to help us to have an unfeigned love of the brethren. And Lord, give us patience and give us charity. And Lord, help us to be an example of your love to those that are seeking it in this world. We ask these things in Christ's name. Amen. All right, we'll go ahead and sing one more song before we are dismissed tonight. All right, if you could please open up your song books, the song number 64. Can you sing the song number 64? Shall we gather up the river in that song number 64? Shall we gather at the river where bright angels meet and try with its crystal fire forever glowing high from above? Yes, we'll gather at the river, a beautiful, a beautiful river. Yes, we'll gather with the saints at the river that flows by the throne of God. On the plaster of the river where the Savior meet we are all one. We shall meet His heart forever, meet the glory of the throne. Yes, we'll gather at the river, a beautiful, a beautiful river. Gather with the saints at the river that flows by the throne of God. Where we reach the shining river, lay we every burden down. Grace, our spirits will deliver and provide our love forever. Yes, we'll gather at the river, the beautiful, the beautiful river. Gather with the saints at the river that flows by the throne of God. Soon we'll reach the shining river, soon our filth will reach the seas. Soon our happy hearts will giver, in the melody of Rachel's song. Yes, we'll gather at the river, the beautiful, the beautiful river. Gather with the saints at the river that flows by the throne of God.