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for us in the King James Bible, and I just pray that you would speak to our hearts through the word of God tonight and through the subject that we're dealing with tonight. In Jesus' name I pray, amen. Now the title of my sermon is taken from 1 Peter chapter number 3, and it's found in verse number 8. The Bible reads in 1 Peter 3. Finally, be ye all of one mind, having compassion one of another, love as brethren, that's the title of the sermon, love as brethren, be pitiful, be courteous. You see, God commands us to love one another as brethren. Well, the Bible says in John 13, I won't have you turn there, but the Bible reads in John 13, 34, a new commandment I give unto you, that you love one another as I have loved you, that ye also love one another. Now listen to this powerful phrase, by this shall all men know that ye are my disciples. Did you hear that? By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples if you have love one to another. Did you get that? Look if you would at 1 John chapter 5. 1 John 5, just a few books after the book of 1 Peter, 1 Peter, 2 Peter, 1 John. Look at 1 John chapter number 5. See, God commands us to love as brethren, and then he says, be pitiful, be courteous, and of course we know what being courteous is, we'll get to that a little later in the message. But look at 1 John 5, 1, and I'm going to read some interesting verses for you. 1 John 5, 1, whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ is born of God, and everyone that loveth him that begat loveth him also that is begotten of him. By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and keep his commandments. Now this is why it's so important, and I'm going to explain this verse number 1 to you, it's why it's so important to just, when you read the Bible, you must hang on every word. Every word is exactly the way that God put it. That's why it's so important to have a King James Bible. You say, well, the other Bible is more easy to understand. I can understand the NIV more. Now first of all, I picked up an NIV the other day, just to disprove something in it, and I looked at it and I noticed the words being used were much more difficult to understand, in fact, than the King James. It replaced the word works with deeds. I was thinking to myself, works is much easier to understand than deeds, if I was talking to somebody off the street, for example. But it's so important that you look at every word here. Notice what's being said, and also you must see the context. He says here, whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ is born of God, and everyone that loveth him that begat loveth him also that is begotten of him. Now if you glance over that, it looks like, well, if you love the Father, you love Jesus Christ. But that's not what it means. And if you read it very carefully, you'll notice that. Now let's get the context. Back up a few verses, and look at 1 John 4 16. And look at the context. 1 John 4 16. And we have known and believed the love that God hath to us. God is love, and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him. Herein is our love made perfect, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment, because as he is, so are we in this world. There is no fear in love, but perfect love casteth out fear, because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love. We love him because he first loved us. Now watch this. This is the context of 1 John 5 1. If a man say, I love God, and hateth his brother, he is a liar. For he that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen? And this commandment have we from him that he who loveth God love his brother also. So we are talking about a person not only loving God, but loving his brother. Now look at 1 John 5 1. Whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ is born of God, colon. Now we are in the same sentence. So whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ is born of God, and everyone that loveth him that beget, loveth him also that is begotten of him. The him also that is begotten of him is the other born again Christians that are born of God because they believe that Jesus is the Christ. Do you see that now? He says, everyone that loveth him that begat, loveth him also that is begotten of him. You say, well I love God. Well, let me see if you love God. Do you love the people that are in this room right here? That's how we know if you love God. By this we know that we love the children of God when we love God and keep his commandments. You say, well how do I know if I love the people in this room right here? And how do I know if I love my fellow believers in Jesus Christ? Well I know because I love God. I love God and I keep his commandments. That's how I know I love the brethren. But he says at the same time if you say you love God and you don't love your brother, you're a liar. He says these two things go hand in hand. If you want to increase your love for God, increase your love for the people that are in this room right here. And for the people that are not in this room, what's the qualifying factor? They believe that Jesus is the Christ. The people that are true believers in Jesus Christ, you ought to love those people. You want to increase your love to God, increase your love to Christians, to the people in this room, to the Christians outside this room. And if you want to increase your love for the people in this room right here, increase your love for God and start keeping his commandments. See a person who's not keeping God's commandments, their love for one another is not going to be maximum, what it could be. Now God says, by this shall all men know that you're my disciples if you have love one to another. Why? Why is that the sign that you're a true disciple of Jesus Christ if somebody can look at the love that you have one for another and say, boy, this is legitimate. I'll tell you why. Because the world has no love. They don't. You say, well, prove that from the Bible. God is love. It says everyone that loveth, everyone that loveth, are you listening? Everyone that loveth is born of God and knoweth God. So before anybody can love another person, they have to be born of God and they have to know God. And those are two different things. Knowing God is something that takes time as you get to know God. God knows you the moment that you're saved, but you don't know everything about God. As you get to know God, you've been born of God, you know God, now once you have known and believed the love that God hath to us, then you can perceive the love of God, as it says in 1 John 3.16, hereby perceive we the love of God that he laid down his life for us and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren. You see that? When you are saved, born again, and then you know God, that's where all of a sudden you have the capability to love another human being. The world's kind of love is not God's kind of love. You ever have friends that are fair-weather friends in your life, where boy, they were just right with you, weren't they? I mean, they would just do anything, wouldn't they? But as soon as you're in trouble, as soon as you are not popular, as soon as you cannot help them anymore, they're gone, just like in the story of the prodigal son. I mean, that story is so true to life, because I've known people that have been through similar experiences. I've been through similar experiences where I've had people turn their back on me. Why? Because the only person on the face of the earth that loves another person is the person who is born of God and knoweth God. And so God says, look, people should be able to look at you and see a love that's legitimate and real and just immediately know you must be a disciple of Jesus Christ or you wouldn't have that kind of love, because that love only comes from God. There's another verse that I was going to have you turn to, but for some reason I didn't write it down. Let me see if I can find it here. Oh, here we go. Look at verse number 20. It was one that we already looked at, but I wanted to emphasize it. I'm sorry. First John 4.20. The Bible says, if a man say, I love God and hateth his brother, he's a liar. For he that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen? Here's what he's saying. There's a tangible way that you can express your love for God. You say, well, I find it hard to love a person that I've never seen, Jesus Christ. Well, he says, here's a tangible way of expressing your love. Love the brethren. Love as brethren, as the Bible said. Love your brother and do something for your brother. And Jesus said, and as much as you've done it unto the least of these my disciples, you've done it unto me. So you say, I want to express my love for Jesus. I want to do something for God. I want to show him how much I love him. Hey, do something for the brethren and you've shown your love to Jesus Christ. Let me show you an interesting statement. Second Samuel, don't bother turning there. I want to hurry through the sermon, but Second Samuel 9.3. David, the man who God said, he said, I've sought me a man after mine own heart. I mean, I've looked up and down until I found somebody that's got my heart. Okay. And he found the man, David, and he raised up David to be King. And of course we see that, that great story where David is just unbelievably meek in his dealings with Saul, where Saul is just out to get him out to kill him. And he has such a Christ-like attitude where he says, I will not lift up my hand against the Lord's anointed. Let God deal with him. He says, I'm going to continue to do right. And I'm not going to take vengeance into my own hands, but I love this. After Saul is dead, listen to this great statement from David, Second Samuel 9.3. And the King said, speaking of King David, is there not yet any of the house of Saul that I may show the kindness of God unto him? And he says, and Ziba said unto the King, Jonathan hath yet a son, which is lame on his feet. And so here he says, is there somebody that's descended from the man who hated me and tried to kill me on more than one occasion? Is there some descendant left from this man, Saul, that I can show him the love of God, the kindness and love of Jesus Christ, this man, so that I can express my love to God by loving my enemies? He said, excuse me, I'm going to pick my enemy. I'm going to try and find one of his children and just show him the love of God. But can you imagine the heart that this man had? And that's why he was a man, excuse me, after God's own heart. But how do we, how do we love our fellow brother or sister in the church and other believers? It's not just a feeling that we have because the Bible says, beloved, let us not love in word, neither in tongue, but in deed and in truth. So he says, it's not just saying, oh, I love you so much. Or, you know, these church where everybody hugs each other and, and I'm supposed to hug somebody else's wife and somebody's supposed to hug my wife. You know, it's wrong. I don't care if you're from the South, no, I don't care if you're from the South or not, it's wrong. Nobody's going to lay a finger on my wife as long as I have anything to say about it. But how do we express our love? That's how the world, the world knows two ways of expressing love with their mouth and it's bogus or just physically. Those are the two ways that the world knows to express love. But how does God say that we can express our love for our fellow brother and sister in Christ? Well, number one, look at Romans 15 and this is a, this is a great scripture, Romans 15. And I would say the first way that we need to express our love for our fellow Christian is number one, we are to receive every believer. We're to receive them. Okay. Let's, let's see what that means in Romans 15, chapter one or verse number one. I'm sorry. Romans 15, one, the Bible says, we then that are strong ought to bear the infirmities of the weak and not to please ourselves. Let every one of us please his neighbor for his good to edification for even Christ pleased not himself, but as it is written, the reproaches of them that reproach thee fell on me for whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning that we through patience and comfort of the scripture might have hope. Now the God of patience and consolation grants you to be like-minded one toward another, according to Christ Jesus, that you may with one mind and one mouth glorify God, even the father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Now watch this next verse, wherefore receive ye one another as Christ also received us to the glory of God. You see that he says the same way that Jesus Christ received us. That's how we're supposed to receive one another. Well, how did Jesus Christ receive us as a sinner? That's how he received us. I mean, he received us in our simple, imperfect condition. I was thinking about Romans five, eight. We were just talking about this before the service. The Bible says in Romans five, six, turn there, please. I don't like to turn to too many scriptures and take a whole lot of time, but there's certain things that I want you to see. There's something about seeing certain things that drives the point home. But look, if you would, at Romans chapter five, verse number six, and I want to show you this. It's so important. And we were talking about the King James Bible before the service. And in Romans five, eight, there's an important word there that is often misunderstood. The word is commended. Now the word commend has pretty much one basic meaning throughout the Bible. There's two meanings, but only one is applicable here. The word commend, if you were to think about this, if I said, brother Dave, I commend you for your faithfulness to church, brother Dave. I mean, I just have to commend you for that. What does it mean? I'm basically lifting him up and saying, let me just glorify brother Dave for a second and say, boy, look at how good he's been in back home. You know, if I, if I gave somebody a letter of condemnation, it's a letter of praise. I mean, it's saying he's done a great job. I mean, if there's a police officer that got a commendation, it means somebody said, you did a fantastic job. You have excelled above your fellow police officers. That's what commendation means. Well, I studied this word. I used to, I used to study a whole lot of foreign languages. I used to read the Bible in a lot of foreign languages. And I've studied this Bible in this verse in many, in German, Hungarian, and Spanish. And all the time it had this word commend, like exalt, you know, put it on another level of superiority. Commending, I'm commending somebody for something well that they've done. Well, look at the, look at the context. You'll see how true this, this, this verse is because the NIV changes this. Commend, it changed it to demonstrate it. It changed it, totally different word. Okay. And I've heard preachers my entire life, King James Bible only preachers say, God commended his love towards us. That means he demonstrated his love toward us. And whenever I heard that, I thought, you know, command doesn't mean demonstrate. That's not what that means. And there's, and I looked it up in every English dictionary I could find. Never has meant that. Never has anything to do with it. You look up the NIV, it says demonstrated, and that's where preachers are getting it. And so you can tell what their reading material is in the study. They're going to the NIV because I've heard, I mean, I've literally probably heard that from 20 people who were King James people, you know, and they said, God demonstrated. I, I went to a church where the gospel tract that they handed out, and I've seen three gospel tracts like this since then, that said, God commended parentheses demonstrated in parentheses. I mean, are these people even proofreading this? I mean, do they understand that they're just taking an NIV word and putting it in here? Look at the context and you'll see why it says command. It makes perfect sense. Look at this, Romans 5, 6, for when we were yet without strength in due time, Christ died for the ungodly. For scarcely for a righteous man will one die. Yet peradventure for a good man, some would even dare to die. But God commended his love toward us. And that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. You see, you see what he's saying? He's saying, you know, our love on the human level, we might die for a righteous man. Or scarcely for a good man, some would even dare to die. I might die for somebody that I love or somebody that I feel is a good person or a righteous person. I might die for them. But the Bible says God commended his love toward us. I mean, his love is on such a different level. He exalts his love above ours. He says, God commended his love toward us. And that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. See, that's the difference between the love of Christ and the love of man. The love of man loves the person that can do something for them. They love the person that loves them. Hey, we love him because he first loved us, we just read. And that's man's love that says, well, I love you if you're fun to be around. I love you if you're physically attractive. I love you if you can do something for me. I love you if we have something in common, if we can have fun together. I love you as long as it benefits me in some way. But God commended his love toward us. See, his love is completely different. God commended his love toward us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. You see, if you're going to receive one another the way that Jesus Christ received us, you're going to have to be able to receive somebody who's a sinner. You're going to have to be able to receive somebody who is imperfect. What do I mean by that? Well, if somebody comes to this church and they don't have it all together, so to speak, of course none of us do, but if they're living in some kind of a sin or they've got some kind of sin that's maybe more obvious than someone else's sin, you know, you ought to receive that person. You say, well, wait a minute, I don't receive them. Sinner, you know, the ungodliness. Hey, look, have the love that Jesus Christ has where you can look past, now don't participate in the sin, you know, don't fellowship with the sin, but look past the sin and can you love everyone who believeth that Jesus is the Christ, as it says in 1 John 5-1? Can you love every believer and receive them as a sinner that they are? I mean, look, when people first start coming to a church like this, I mean, they don't just roll out of bed one day and they're just this hardcore independent fundamental Baptist that goes soul winning every week and reads the King James Bible, you know, five times a day. And you know what? You should read the King James Bible five times a day and live, eat, breathe, sleep, soul winning and all those things. But you know what? Did you know that you weren't that way when you got saved? And it probably took you years to become like that if you're like that, and you ought to be like that. I'm not saying that you shouldn't have very high standards for yourself, but I'm saying you ought to receive one another as a sinful, ungodly person. You ought to receive them and say, you know what? You're one of us. You're part of Faithful Word Baptist Church. You say, well, they're not like us. They're not like us. We're excited about soul winning. We just love the Bible and they're kind of on the fringe. Hey, look, they're one of us. They believe Jesus Christ, the Son of God. They come to this church. They're part of the brotherhood here. We love them as brethren. They're one of us. We need to receive them into the group and say, you are one of us. You say, well, you know, he's a man. He has long hair. He's one of us. You say, well, you know, he's a, he's a, you know, he drinks, you know. Hey, he's one of us. We've got to receive him and, and, and love him as the sinner that he is like Jesus Christ loved and received us and gave us time to grow into the things that are right. But it took me years of being in a church that was an independent fundamental Baptist church to give up my rock music. Took me years, years. But then I, but it's so easy sometimes for me to turn around and say, you're listening. What is wrong with you? You listen to rock music, you wicked sinner. You don't love God at all. Get out of my sight. But see, we're not giving people time to grow. We're not receiving them and saying, first, let me receive you. And then I can help you grow and be edified in the faith over time, just like I was edified and grew over time. So we have to be willing to receive people as Jesus Christ received us. Why was Jesus Christ able to receive us as a sinner? Because his love was on a different level. He committed his love toward us. And that while we were yet sinners, Christ ever, how are you going to get that love? You must be saved and you must know God to have that kind of love. And you say, well, how am I going to love God more? You've got to, it's a circle. You love the brother and more. It makes you love God more and, and, and on and on and on until the cycle continues. Well, so number one, I'd say the best way to love the brotherhood and the best way that you can love your fellow believers is to receive them, accept them as part of the brothering. You know, I've, I've seen so many people who got saved and they, they, I mean, they, they bowed their head and said, I believe that Jesus Christ is the only way to heaven. I'm a sinner. I deserve to go to hell. And I believe that if I, you know, ask Jesus to save me right now, I mean, I'll be saved eternally and it's, it's eternal security. And, and, and I'm trusting Jesus Christ alone. And then that person did not just immediately, all of a sudden, just, they were just living a righteous life. And what do people say? They didn't really get saved. I've seen this so many times. They're not saved. He's still drinking. He's not saying, you know, he's still cussing. He's the same as he was before. Of course, he's the same as he was before. It's called the old man. And he never changes. I'm the same as I was before I got saved. The old man, the reason that I'm looking different right now and talking different right now is because I'm walking in the spirit right now. I'm in the new man. If I got, if I was in the flesh right now, if I was walking in the flesh and every day I have to put on the new man, you know, if I reverted back to the flesh, I'd be the same as I was before I was saved. But see, they, they, they have this attitude of not receiving someone. You think about Paul. Think about Paul when he, when he got saved on the road to Damascus, saw the light and everything, came to town. Ananias preached the gospel to him. He got saved. He got baptized. And then what happened? They wouldn't receive him. You remember that? And, and finally, Barnabas was the one that took him and said, look, this guy's a legitimate bona fide believer in Jesus Christ. Would you receive him please? And then they received him at the testimony of Barnabas. I don't know if you know that story in Acts chapter nine. But you have to understand that you're doing harm to Christians when you don't treat them like a Christian. I mean, I, I can think of so many people who prayed and, and received Jesus Christ their savior, believed on Jesus Christ, and everybody said they're not saved. And it kind of stunted their growth because they thought, well, I'm not one of, I'm not one of you. You know, I'm not a Christian. I'm not in the group or whatever. And it took them years before they just kind of slowly grew into some things. And then they started changing a little and then people would kind of begin to receive them. That is so wrong. I mean, it's wrong. I mean, we'll receive them before they change. Don't, don't sit there and watch them. We're going to watch them and see if we want to receive them. Look, that's wrong. It's a sin. It's ungodly. And it's hurting the cause of Christ. When you treat somebody who confesses with their mouth that they believe what we believe from the Bible and their testimony out of their mouth, and you treat them like they're not saved, or, you know, you know, well, don't talk to them about baptism till we see some changes. No, it's wrong. Baptize them the same hour of the night, friend, like the Bible says. And so we must receive new believers. We must receive people who've been saved for 20 years that have not grown in their Christianity. They're still a babe in Christ. Receive them. That's how they're going to grow. Receive them as a sinner. Say, you are part of this church. I'm part of this church. I'm going to receive you, and you're going to be accepted in the Beloved. And when they get accepted into the Beloved, that's where they're going to grow the most, is when they're hanging around the people who are on fire for God. When they're in the church with people that are on fire for God, that's how they're going to grow. Number two. Number one, receive every believer. Number two, speak kindly to every believer. This is mentioned so many times in the Bible, and I just had a few references on this, but back in 1 Peter 3, where we started, if you turn there, 1 Peter 3, number one, I said, let's receive every believer. Say, well, they're not on board with us and everything. Look, how are they going to get on board with us unless we receive them? And say, permission to come aboard, Captain, permission granted. That's how they're going to get on board with us, is when we receive them onto the ship. But look at 1 Peter 3, verse 8. Finally, be ye all of one mind, having compassion one of another, love as brethren, be pitiful. Look at this, be courteous. Be courteous. Courtesy. What is courtesy? It's being polite. It's being kind to people. Treat people with dignity and respect. We're so flippant sometimes about the words that we use out of our mouth. And we just, we talk to people and we use this, I want to say, this harshness in the way that we talk. And the first thing I thought of when I was thinking about this point was, what's it called? The virtuous woman, Proverbs 31. You know what it says about her mouth? In her tongue is the law of kindness. That's the characteristic of the way that she talks. She talks in a way that's kind to other people, that's polite, courteous, kind. We have to be careful about the words that we say to other people. Continue on in the verses there. 1 Peter 3, verse 9. Not rendering evil for evil, or railing for railing, but contrary wise, blessing. Knowing that ye are thereunto called, that ye should inherit a blessing. For he that will love life, and see good days, let him refrain his tongue from evil, and his lips that they speak no guile. Let him eschew evil, and do good. Let him seek peace, and ensue it. He says, control your mouth. He says, you must learn to speak with kindness to other people. You say, well, they said this rude to me, and blah, bam, just hit them out. You know, it's like, look, your life is not a sitcom. Some people think that their life is like a half hour sitcom with all the one liners. You know, somebody says something and you're real clever with your smart mouth back. There's no glory in that. When somebody says something, something smart to you, somebody says something a little bit rude to you, you know what you ought to do? You ought not render cursing for cursing, and evil for evil, and railing for railing. You ought to just turn around and seek peace and ensue it. I mean, when somebody says something to you that's rude and they're wrong, you ought to have something to say to defuse the situation, and to seek for peace there, and to calm people down. If somebody says something rude to you, don't have your little clever little quip, God's not impressed at all. There's no live studio audience to laugh at you when you have your little smart mouth remark. You've got to have a way to seek for peace and to change the subject. You know what I do sometimes? Sometimes when people will attack me, somebody will say something to me that's just very rude. You know, you're in a conversation where everybody's talking and somebody says something really rude to you, and all of a sudden it just gets silent, and everybody's kind of like, what's he going to do? What's he going to say back? And you know what I do sometimes? Sometimes I just use humor. You know, if somebody says something to me, and this is just a practical thing, if somebody says something to me that's just really rude and just says, well, hey, you know, you're this and that, I'll just kind of turn around and say, well, yeah, I guess I've always been kind of like that, or what have you. Just some kind of a way to just brush it off, like to make it seem like maybe they were kidding. And you can sidestep these kind of things. But you know what? If you don't, if you don't, there's not going to be peace in the church. There's not going to be one accord and one mind if you have this back and forth kind of thing with your tongue. Look, control your mouth. Talk to people in this church like you talk to Jesus Christ. I mean, what kind of language would you use when you're talking to Jesus Christ? What kind of respect would you give him? That's the kind of respect you should have for the people in this church. Love is shown not just by reception, but it's also shown by the kindness of your words. That's a way that you can express love. He says, love as brethren, be courteous. He follows it up right there. He says, love as brethren, be pitiful, you know, be courteous. You express your love for other people with the amount of respect that you use your tongue when you're talking to them. That shows that you love them when you're careful about not saying offensive things to people. Here's another passage. I'll read this for you. Ephesians 4 29, let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good to the use of edifying, that it may minister grace unto the hearers. He's saying, don't let anything corrupt come out of your mouth, only something that's going to help the person that you're talking to. It's going to edify them. And it says in verse 30, and grieve not the Holy Spirit of God, whereby you're sealed unto the day of redemption. It says, look, the Holy Spirit of God is grieved when you use words out of your mouth that are corrupt and that are not for edifying the person you're talking to. It's not to help them. It's not to build them up. It's to tear them down. And God says, you are grieving my Holy Spirit when you use words that tear down another believer in Jesus Christ. He says, you're grieving me. You know, I was thinking of the only other time, and I might be wrong about this, the only other time I can think of, just off the top of my head, that the Holy Spirit is grieved in the Bible. Because it's right here, it says grieve not the Holy Spirit. But then I was thinking about in Hebrews, where he says, wherefore I was grieved with that generation, and said, they do all way or in their heart, and they have not known my ways. So I swear in my wrath they shall not enter into my rest. So when was the last time the Holy Spirit was grieved? The last time the Holy Spirit was grieved that I can see in the Bible was when the children of Israel stood outside the Promised Land and said, we don't believe God. We don't have faith in God to go into the Promised Land. And so we're going to complain and bicker and fuss and moan, and they spake against Moses. You remember? They spake against Aaron. And they said, make us captains and take us back to Egypt. And God said that grieved, and it even said that the Holy Spirit was grieved. And it's in Hebrews chapter 3 that this talked about. And in Hebrews chapter 3, we see the Holy Spirit grieved. What was the result? The people who grieved the Holy Spirit did not get to enter into the Promised Land. Look, do you want to be in the Promised Land spiritually, or do you want to be in the wilderness spiritually? Look, if you want to enter the Promised Land, don't grieve God's Holy Spirit. And God says, the best way to grieve my Holy Spirit is when you let corrupt communication come out of your mouth. He says, that grieves me. And when you don't speak things that minister grace to the hearers for edifying, he says, I'm grieved. And the last time I got grieved, people ended up dying on the wrong side of the Jordan River. They didn't get to go into the Promised Land. This can hold you back in your Christian life if you don't learn to control your tongue. It's so important. And then on in the passage, that was verse 30, the Bible says in verse 31, let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and evil speaking be put away from you with all malice and being kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake had forgiven you. The whole point of this whole thing, the whole purpose of this thing is that people are going to be rude to you. And people, and I'm talking about other Christians, are going to be mean to you. They're going to lie about you. They're going to accuse you. They're going to, to your face, rail on you and curse you. And you have to just decide right now that when somebody curses me, I'm going to bless them. When somebody speaks evil to me, I'm not going to return evil for evil. When somebody says something about me that's not true, I'm going to turn around and do good to that person because I don't want the Holy Spirit to be grieved with the way that I talk to another believer in Jesus Christ. Because I want to go into the Promised Land. I want to be in the land of milk and honey. I don't want to stay in the wilderness for 38 years and wander around and die off in the wilderness. I don't want to do it. I want to be in the Promised Land spiritually. And that's why he says, put away the bitterness. Bitterness. Lest any root of bitterness springing up trouble you and thereby many be defiled, the Bible says. Bitterness will defile many people around you. When you get a bitter attitude, when you look at somebody else and you have contempt and bitterness in your heart, it's going to hurt multiple people, the Bible says. But bitterness is where you have something other than just unadulterated love for your fellow Christian, fellow believer in Jesus Christ is bitterness. Where you can't just look at somebody and just say, anything you've done wrong to me, I forgive you. Anything you've said that I don't like, I'm going to look past it, I'm going to let it go. Any sin that you have that offends me, I'm not going to let it stop me from receiving you. And you know what, I just have nothing but love for you. But then you get that bitterness where you say, boy, I can't believe. I just can't believe what so and so said to me. You know, they're not going to get away with it either. Yeah, that's bitterness. And so the Bible says, be kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you. Again, receive like Christ received us, be kind and forgiving as Christ was kind and forgiving us, which leads me to my third point. Number one was be receiving to every believer. Number two was speak kindly to every believer. And number three is forgive every believer. Forgive every believer. Look, if you would, at Colossians chapter three. Flip back a few books. Colossians chapter number three. And we were here this morning, in fact, Colossians chapter three, verse number 11. The Bible says in Colossians 3, 11, we were here this morning, where there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcision nor uncircumcision, barbarian, Scythian, bond nor free, but Christ is all and in all. Put on, therefore, as the elect of God. Well, we learned that this morning that we are the elect of God. Put on, therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, bowels of mercies, kindness. You see that? Kindness. Put on kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, longsuffering. Longsuffering means you just keep putting up with whatever it is, longsuffering. And then it says, forbearing one another and forgiving one another, if any man have a quarrel against any, even as Christ forgave you, so also do ye. And above all these things, put on charity, which is the bond of perfectness. Now, let me read this for you. Luke 6, 36. I'll just read this for you. Be ye therefore merciful, as your Father also is merciful. Judge not, and you shall not be judged. Condemn not, and you shall not be condemned. Forgive, and you shall be forgiven. He says the way that you treat other people is the way that God is going to treat you. Did you catch that? He says, and forgive us our trespasses, for we forgive everyone that's indebted to us. You see that? He says, forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors, it says in the book of Matthew. Look, God is saying that the way that you forgive other people, the way that you treat other people is the way that he is going to treat you. Now, let me ask you something. Do you want God, when you mess up tomorrow, which you will, which I will, when you mess up tomorrow, do you want God say, you know what, you messed up, and I'm, I just can't look past this. I mean, I'm going to dwell on this, and I'm going to make sure that you pay the uttermost farthing for what you've done. I mean, when you mess up tomorrow, is that how you want God's attitude to be toward you? I'm not talking about salvation, obviously, but I'm talking about the chastisement that comes when you're a Christian. I mean, does my son Solomon, because, you know, I'm God's son, right? Does my son Solomon want me to just watch him tomorrow, and boy, the first little mistake, say, you will pay the uttermost farthing for that one little mistake you made. I'm going to see to it that you pay everything. I mean, you know, I think about a judge in the court of law, he's got a range of sentencing. You know, if somebody's convicted of murder, for example, he could do anything from this many years to the death penalty. He's got a range. And, you know, God says, if you're willing to look past what somebody else does, you know, if you're willing to just not make such a big deal about what somebody else has done wrong to you, you say, well, it's huge. Look, it's not huge compared to the sins that Jesus Christ bore on him. Okay. You can bear the sins that people have sinned against you. You can taste a little bit of the suffering that Jesus Christ tastes when he was on the cross, where he had the reproaches of them that reproach thee fell on me. And he had all that sin on him. Look, you can take the sins of somebody else and put them on you for a little while. But let me tell you something, if you make a big deal out of every little thing that somebody has done wrong to you, or every big thing that somebody's done wrong to you, look, then God says, you know what, then I'm watching you like a hawk, buddy. Since you're Mr., you know, watch everybody else and make sure that they don't wrong you, well, I'm watching you the same way. I want God to kind of let things go a little bit sometimes, you know, hey, overlook the mistakes that I make. So I'm going to overlook the mistakes that other people make. When somebody does me a big wrong, then I can overlook it and say, well, you owe me one guy, you know, hey, overlook it a little bit, you know, cut me some slack. Because, look, God is merciful to us. It's not like God is just chastising us for every sin that we do, everything we do wrong, giving us the full chastisement that we deserve. I mean, he's very merciful to us from day to day. His mercies are new every morning, the Bible says, graze thy faithless. It's of the Lord's mercies that we're not consumed, the Bible says. Then so we ought to have that attitude of a little bit of leniency. Now, I'm not talking about being lenient on sin. Like, for example, I don't believe in the soft attitude toward crime that our government has. I think crimes should be punished. But what I'm talking about is when somebody wrongs you. You know, I'm not talking about being soft when somebody wrongs somebody else and you say, well, I'm going to let that go. Okay. No, that's wrong. You know, you ought to avenge the poor and the fatherless and people that have something done wrong. But I'm saying if somebody wrongs you, you can overlook that. That's what I'm saying. I'm not saying to overlook when somebody wrongs someone else. I'm saying overlook when somebody wrongs you. And God will overlook some of the things that you do wrong. And that's what you want. Here's another verse, Matthew 18, 21. Then came Peter to him and said, Lord, how oft shall my brother sin against me and I forgive him till seven times? Jesus saith unto him, I say not unto thee until seven times, but until seventy times seven. Do the math 490 times. He says, if your brother sins against you 490 times and you I forgive you. 489 to go. I mean, can you imagine? That's I mean, that's a lot of that's a lot of frustration. That'd be like years. That'd be years of almost every day. The same thing. We're ready to kill him. But God says, no, he says, no, he says seven times too easy. He says, make it 490. And and then you'll be like me because he says, I'm kind to the unthankful and evil is what he said in Luke chapter six. He says, I'm kind to evil people. I'm kind to unthankful people. He says, the more kind you are to people that wronged you and do wrong, the more like me, you are. He said that you may be the children of your father, which is in heaven, who make it his son to rise on the evil and on the good and send the rain on the just on the unjust. He says, that's how you could be like me. You want to be like God? You want to be like God the father in your character? You want to be Christlike? Then forgive people because that's what that's what he's all about. Be good to people that don't deserve it is what it is. And then number four. So number one, I said, was receive one another. That's how you can show your love. Number two, speak kindly to one another, every believer. Number three, be forgiving to every believer. But number four, esteem every believer better than yourself. And this is the most important point, I think. Look, if you would, at Philippians chapter two. Philippians chapter number two, esteem every believer better than yourself. Philippians chapter two, look at verse number three. The Bible reads in verse number three, let nothing be done through strife or vain glory, but in lowliness of mind, let each esteem other better than themselves. Don't ever look at somebody else in this room. Don't ever look at somebody else outside this room that's a believer in Jesus Christ and say, I am better than you in your mind. This is what you ought to say. You are probably better than me. That's what I should say. You're probably better than me. I don't know. She knows. She's saying, yeah, she's like, I am better. Okay. I mean, I just have to look at you. I have to look at everybody in this room and just say, you know what? You're probably a better Christian than I am. I mean, that's got to be your attitude. You say that's, look, cultivate that attitude. Maybe that's not your natural attitude. It's nobody's natural attitude, but I just have to look at you and just say, you know what? You're probably a much better Christian than I am. That's got to be that mentality in your mind. Do you think that that would revolutionize the way that you treat other people and the way that you live your life? And I say, you know what? You must be better than me. And so I'm going to, I'm going to esteem you like you're better than me. I'm just going to, yeah, I don't know. So I'm just going to assume that you're better than I am. That's the attitude that God's saying to have here. Lowliness of mind. That's humility, where you say other people are better than I am. I was thinking about 2 Corinthians, chapter 10. Look, look, if you would at 2 Corinthians chapter 10, it's the last place we'll turn. 2 Corinthians chapter number 10, verse number, 2 Corinthians 10, 12, sorry. 2 Corinthians chapter number 10, verse number 12. The Bible says in 2 Corinthians 10, 12, for we dare not make ourselves of that, of the number. For we dare not make ourselves of the number or compare ourselves with some that commend themselves. Remember we learned what command meant earlier in the sermon. People who commend themselves, that's where they're saying how wonderful they are, as opposed to God saying how wonderful his love is, commanding his love. He says, we dare not make ourselves of the number or compare ourselves with some that commend themselves, but they measuring themselves by themselves and comparing themselves among themselves are not lies. See, the mark of a person who commends themselves, I mean, they exalt themselves and say how wonderful they are or they think how wonderful they are, they must be comparing themselves amongst themselves. Because if they were comparing themselves to the Bible, good night, they would not be commending themselves. I mean, if I compare myself to Jesus Christ, you think I'd be commending myself? No, I'd be saying, oh wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from the body of this dead, woe unto me, for I'm a man of unclean lips. As Isaiah said in chapter 6, if I'm comparing myself to Brother Dave, I look great. You know, but if I compare myself to other Christians, my outward viewpoint, because remember, I have the wrong attitude. See, the right attitude is where I say Brother Dave must be a better Christian than I am. I mean, he's got to be. And so if I have that attitude, then I'm fine. But when I have the other attitude where I'm better than Brother Dave, I esteem myself above him, well then I'm going to start comparing myself to him and say, you know what, I didn't do as much soul winning as I liked this week, but I did more than Brother Dave, you know, or well, I didn't read my Bible as much as I liked you today, but I know I read it more than Brother Dave did. Okay. You know, I didn't spend as much time in prayer this week as I wanted, but I know I spent more than Brother Dave. Okay. And then I'm thinking, and then pretty soon, boy, I start coming out looking good. And I start commending myself. And he says, dare not make ourselves of that number, comparing ourselves. He said, compare themselves among themselves. Why? What's the purpose of comparing yourself to somebody else, but to make yourself look good. Now, look, let's say Dave's a good example. And I said, I'm going to compare myself to Brother Dave. Well, either way, it's a pride issue, because I'm trying to measure up to Brother Dave so that I can say, well, I'm good enough. I have attained to the level of Christianity that Brother Dave has. And therefore I am a good Christian. No, I'm not going to set the standard that low. No, I'm just kidding. Anyway, the point is, look, that either way it's pride. It's either, if he, let's say Dave is just a wicked sinner. Okay. Then if I'm comparing myself to Brother Dave, yeah, I'm going to come out smelling like roses because I'm so much better than Brother Dave. It's pride. It's trying to lift myself up, commend myself. Or if Dave's a great Christian and I say, well, I'm going to compare myself to Brother Dave. I'm going to do exactly what he does. And then I'm a good Christian. Then I can lift myself up because, hey, I'm as good as Brother Dave is. He's the example. I'm as good as he is. Look, if you compare yourself to Jesus Christ, it's just going to bring you to your knees. It's going to bring you on your face and say, God, I'm sorry. God, I'm sorry that I don't measure up. I'm sorry that I'm not good enough. Help me to do better. Give me the strength and the power to do better. But don't ever compare yourself to other people. You say, and look, don't get me wrong because I'm all for, I love competition. Me and Brother Dave were talking about this earlier. I love competition. Okay. And I'm all for competition. Well, I mean, if I see somebody else that's excelling in a certain area, I say, well, I want to be excelling like they are. You know, I want to, and it motivates me. I look at somebody else who's having success and boy, I want to do what they're doing and have the success. But that's not how I measure myself. You see what I mean? Like I can let competition motivate me, but I'm not going to let competition measure me. Okay. I measure myself by the ruler that's right here, the King James Bible. This is the ruler. This is how I measure myself. Now I do compete. I run like I'm running a race, like I'm running to win. Like I want to be number one. And so I remember, you know, just different times. I'd noticed somebody in church just growing up, you know, noticed somebody in church when I was a young adult going soul winning more than I was. I said, you know what, if they're going for two hours, I'm going to go for three hours. I'm not going to let them go soul winning more than I am. You know, but it was just, it was just kind of a thing that I was using to motivate me. Like the Bible says that their zeal in second Corinthians nine had provoked many. See when somebody is zealous for God, when somebody says, I'm going to go soul winning more than anybody else is in the church, I'm going to win more people to Christ that will provoke others to say, wow, look what they're doing. I'm going to do it too. I'm going to win souls too. And that's okay. That's healthy. That's healthy competition where I see what somebody else does. And it inspires me to say, wow, look what they've done. I want to do the same thing to the glory of God. Now that's the right kind of competition. The wrong kind of competition is where I say he is a better Christian than he is because he won five souls and he won three souls. Therefore he's a better Christian. That's wrong. That's very wrong. You don't know what you're talking about. You have no clue what you're talking about. You know, well, he read his Bible three times this year. He read his Bible cover to cover one time this year. Therefore he's the better Christian. None of your business. You can't know. You don't know that. You don't know where people are in their spiritual development. You don't know what else is going on in that person. You don't know if maybe that person's excelling in another area right now or maybe they're better in this area. Look, it's not our job. Don't judge other people and worry about how they're doing compared to how you're doing compared to how so-and-so is doing. You worry about how you're doing in accordance with this book right here. You say, well, look, good night. You know, I read the Bible through, you know, four times a year minimum. And this guy is, he's reading once a year. Good night. But it's like, well, wait a minute. You know, is it really an apples-to-apples comparison? Well, some people are faster readers than others, right? If you think about that. Some people read a lot faster than others. I'm a very fast reader. Some people really read slower. Okay. How long have they been doing? You know, some people I've known, some people have read the Bible one time per year, but they did it for, you know, 50 years. Okay. So now they've read the Bible 50 times. Now that's pretty impressive to read the Bible cover to cover 50 times, you know, and, and personally, you know, I'm going to read the Bible more than once a year, far more than once a year, but you know what, can I, am I going to keep that up until I'm 75 or 80 years old? We'll see, won't we? You see what I mean? You can't compare yourself to other people. You can't. It's apples to oranges because God has given to different people, different talents, different abilities, different gifts. He says, you're not wise. You are not wise when you start comparing other people to yourself. When you start comparing other people with one another. If somebody says to me, you know what? I read one chapter in the Bible every day. You know what I say to him? I say, glory to God. Praise the Lord. That's great. You know, now, whether I think that that's acceptable for me to read one chapter a day, you know, that's not the point. If somebody says to me, I read 10 verses a day, I'll say, praise God. Great. Glory to God. I'm glad you read 10 verses a day. Hallelujah. Keep that up. That's great. I'm going to build them up. I'm going to edify them. Now I'm going to preach behind the pulpit. You know, man, read the Bible. Know the Bible. Eat, breathe, and sleep the Bible. Meditate on the word of God day and night. Don't give it some 15 minute little devotion. Hey, get in this book and read it and read it day and night. My eyes prevent the night watches for the longing that I have to thy word. He says, I stay up late. I mean, I picture him. He's got the midnight oil burning. I picture him just in his bed. If you read the book of Psalms, you'll read about this. Psalm 119, in his bed. Everybody else is asleep. He's got the candle out. He's got the lamp out. And he's just trying to read a little more Bible, trying to get a little more Bible because he's longing. He said, I opened my mouth and panting, panted for the longing that I had for thy word. And so that's what I'm going to preach about reading the Bible. But you know what? I'm never going to judge somebody and say, you know what? You don't read enough Bible. See, that's not my business. Whenever somebody tells me how much Bible I read, I just say, that's phenomenal. That is great. That's exciting. Keep it up. Keep reading it. You see what I mean about edifying somebody versus trying to compare yourself and commend yourself? It's not right. Now, I've tried to provoke other people, like especially other preachers or other young men. Well, I try to provoke them and challenge them to read the Bible more and say, you know, let me give you some tips on how you can read more Bible. You know, get the Bible on CD. Alexander Skirby reads the Bible. It's great. And I'll give people tips like that. Hey, you know, I can tell you how to read the Bible 10 times as much as you're reading it right now. Memorize the Bible and you can quote it all throughout the day. You've been meditating on the Word of God day and night. You know, I'll teach people things like that to try to help them. But if you're not helping somebody by just ripping them, you know what I mean? And that's the whole point of the sermon is just be kind and loving to other people. Receive one another. You know, everybody in this room, myself included, has shortcomings. Anybody who's been in this church long enough and been around me, you could find some and say, you know what? This is one of Pastor Anderson's weak points as a pastor. It's one of his weak points as a person. Okay. That's normal. And the longer you're here, you'll probably see other weaknesses. You know, I'll see weaknesses in you. But don't point out the weakness. You know, don't focus on the weakness. Hey, edify, love, kindness, courtesy. You see what I mean? And it's vital. Are you still in 2 Corinthians chapter 10? Look at verse number 13. It says, comparing themselves among themselves is not wise, but we will not boast of things without our measure. But according to the measure of the rule which God had distributed to us, a measure to reach even unto you. For we stretch not ourselves beyond our measure as though we reach not unto you. For we are come as far as to you also in preaching the gospel of Christ, not boasting of things without our measure, that is of other men's labors, but having hope when your faith is increased that we shall be enlarged by you according to our rule abundantly, to preach the gospel in the regions beyond you, and not to boast in another man's line of things made ready to our eyes. See, boasting based on what other people are doing is what he's talking about, as opposed to boasting based on what you've done in accordance with God's word. You know, boasting because you're comparing yourself. Again, but look at the next verse, verse 17. But he that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord. For not he that commendeth himself is approved, but whom the Lord commendeth. See, the person that we're trying to impress, and this is what I said about making the quip, you know, like if somebody says something to you mean and you just quip right back. See, who are you trying to impress? Maybe that impresses man, you know, and they all say, you know, that's clever, that was smart, that was funny. Well, you really told them, you really shut them up. But see, look, God is watching, and like, how are you going to impress God in that situation? Well, God would be impressed if you just eat crow, so to speak. That's when God's impressed. God is impressed when you just take it, and you make your, you let yourself, you say, well, I'm going to look like, I look like an idiot. Great. Then look like an idiot. Look like an idiot like Jesus Christ looked on the cross, when he was a shaman or reproach, and despised and disgusted by people. And people looked at him, and they shot out the lip at him, and they made fun of him, and they mocked him. Hey, how would you like to feel for a few minutes what Jesus Christ felt like when he was on the cross if you were making fun of him? Look, that's how you can be a partaker of Christ's sufferings. Let yourself be made look like an idiot. You're a partaker of Christ's sufferings, because part of his sufferings was being mocked on the cross. And he says, it's the will of God for you to suffer just like Jesus Christ suffered. That's the will of God for your life. And so you say, well, man, are you trying to like rip somebody's face? Not at all. Not at all. This is just an important sermon for all of us. I mean, we could all work on this area. I mean, none of us is kind to other people as we could be. None of us has the love that God has. I mean, not at all. But as we know God, we're constantly increasing that love. And this is something that we all need to think about constantly, something that I need to work on, something you need to work on. It's something that we all need to grow into. It's the bond of perfectness. Charity. Charity is kind. Charity envieth not, does not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own. Rejoiceeth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth. Beareth all things. Puts up with things. Beareth all things. Believeth all things. Hopeth all things. Endureth all things. You see that? Charity suffereth long and is kind, it says earlier in the chapter. You see, charity is the bond of perfectness. You say, well, what kind of a sermon is this on a Sunday night? Is this kind of a lower level sermon for like a new believer needs to hear this? No. This is like advanced. You say, boy, Patrick Anderson, when you're up there ripping on women wearing pants, it's a sin. I'm never going to give in to that. And you say, man, good night. You're preaching that way around visitors. That's the basics. Those are the basics. The standards, the convictions, the preaching on sin. That's basic. It's not that hard to follow the rules, so to speak. I mean, it's not that hard. God said, this is the love of God that we keep his commandments. His commandments are not grievous. Whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world. It's the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith. Hey, look, keeping the commands of God and the standards and convictions and me getting up and ripping on the television, rip the cord out of the wall, throw it out the window. Hey, look, that's great preaching, but you know what? That is more basic. I would put this as more advanced. This is the advanced teaching because long after the television goes out the window and it ought to go out the window, don't resist that at all. Read the Bible. It needs to go out the window. I'll say it again. And long after the last rock music CD snaps in half, and long after the last wicked friend has turned their back on you because they get so tired of you just constantly preaching to them about the King James and about soul winning and about the Bible and Jesus. Hey, long after that, you're still working on what I'm talking about tonight. I mean, you're still working on perfecting your love and you're still working on perfecting your charity, which is the bond of perfectness. I mean, this is the final icing on the cake is what I'm talking about tonight. So take what you've seen tonight in the Bible and meditate on it and dwell on it and just remember the main points of the sermon. Remember these when you're talking to somebody. When you're talking to somebody in this church, when you're talking to people who don't go to this church, because especially when you're talking to people that don't go to this church, you want them to know that you're his disciples by the love that you have one for another. So especially when you're outside the walls of this church, that's the main thing. Remember, you are a better Christian than I am. I'm giving you the benefit of the doubt. That's the attitude to have. That's the big one. You must be a better Christian than I am and let it go. Forbearance, long suffering, let it go. Let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer. Father, thank you so much for the Bible and thank you so much that you received us. And what a blessing that you received me to be your son and that you've received me and that I'm accepted and beloved. God, help me to receive other people, that they be accepted in this church and they be accepted with me. And Father, please just help me to forgive people as you have forgiven me and thank you so much for forgiving me of all the wrong that I've done and the wrong that I continue to do. God, thank you for the forgiveness that you give us and help us to extend that to others. Father, we love you and thank you.