Love Series #14 - Part 2

"…The Father is loving the Son." That’s how They were able to maintain that relationship and for Christ to not sin.

Let’s come over here to John 3:35: "The Father loveth [is loving] the Son…", an active, ongoing love, constantly. "…And hath given all things into His hand." So much so that in the Book of Hebrews it says of Christ that He upholds the universe by the Word of His power. Now you’ve got to have love, and you’ve got to have truth, and you have to have trust in order to uphold the universe by the word of your power. It says "all things." Now we know that Jimmy Jones can’t do that. Now if you’re a football fan and they have the ads, they have this thing with Dion Sanders and Jimmy Jones, right? And Jimmy Jones is sitting up in his office and Dion is out there doing all of his fantastic things. You see the little gods and the demi-gog who runs the little gods. And he sits back in his chair and he says, "Hot damn, if I had eleven men like that I could rule the world." It ain’t going to happen because it’s all put in Christ hands, you see. Everything’s delivered in His hands.

Let’s come to John 5 and notice what this love does, and this is why we are going to have things given to us, brethren, that we can understand. There are a lot things that we don’t understand today. I hope, if we have this attitude toward God He would be gracious to let us understand some of these things. It’s His prerogative and choice to do so. We cannot demand it. But let’s hope that He does. Verse 20: "For the Father loveth [is loving] the Son, and sheweth [I showing] Him all things that Himself doeth: and He will shew him greater works than these, that ye may marvel." So there is that bonding love between the Father and the Son continually.

So let’s come back here to John 15:9. Notice the comparison: "As the Father has loved Me, I have also loved you: live in My love." Now there’s one thing that is true. Have you ever had the desire to love someone but they push away your love? It may happen with your spouse, it may happen with your children. And your desire is to love them. And every time you want to express that love they push it away. That’s why some people have never experienced the love of God, because when Christ comes and says, "I want to love you," they say, "Not this time, Lord." And there are many people pushing away the love of God and they wonder why things aren’t right. That’s why.

Now how does Christ feel when they do that? Well, I don’t know but I know how I feel when that happens to me. You know how that feels when it happens to you. I don’t think that Christ would feel any less when it happens to Him. So that’s why He said: "As the Father has love Me, I have loved you: live in My love. Live in My love as a way of life."

Now verse 10: "If you keep My commandments, you shall live in My love." Put in your margin right there, John 14:15. It ties right in with it. We covered it before earlier today. "If you keep My commandments, you shall live in My love just as I have kept My Father’s commandments and live in His love." Now to use another old saying, "It can’t get any better than that." Right? Yes, it can’t. It just cannot.

Now verse 11: "I have spoken these things to you in order that My joy may live in you, and your joy may be full." Now He’s beginning to transit from faith into hope. Now what is the first extension of love? Love, joy, peace – Galatians 5:22. He’s talked about love, now he’s talking about joy; he’s talked about peace, and we’re going to see that we are to have that joy may be full. "This is the commandment, namely Mine, that you love one another, as I have loved you. And no greater love has anyone than this, that one should lay down his life for his friends." Now this was just before going out to be betrayed and crucified, right?

Now let’s understand this: Christ is your friend, and it’s rare to have a true friend, isn’t it? Now I don’t know about you but I’ve experienced a betrayal by whom I thought was a true friend. Have you ever had that happen? That is the most gut-wrenching thing you can go through, isn’t it? And the first thing you will say is, "I trusted him," right? "How could he do this?" That’s why Jesus had to be betrayed by Judas. Christ is saying, "I’m going to lay My life down for you." How dare anyone say, "Well, Christ, I don’t need to obey You." That is betraying a friend.

"No one has greater love than this, that he should lay down his life for his friends. You are My friends if you practice whatsoever I command you", and that is in relationship to loving Him and each other, and loving the Father as well as the commandments – all of it combined.

Now we transist over into hope and love. So right here at verse 15 I have Hope / Love, as we put in there before as an outline when we began. Verse 15: "I am no longer calling you servants, because the servant does not understand what his master is doing…" Now isn’t that a wonderful thing that you understand the plan of God? I mean think on that, how many billions of people are there on the earth? How many billions have there been? They say there’s what: five and a half, five point seven billion people. Now you know why it’s by grace. Now you know why it’s by selection. That God would call us and open our minds to understand His Word with His plan? That’s something. I mean that just sends chills down my spine to understand that. That should not exalt us, brethren. That should humble us to the greatest depth of love and humility that God would do that.

"…Because I have made known to you all things which I heard from My Father. You did not choose Me, but I have chosen you and ordained you that you should go and that you should bear fruit, and that your fruit should remain…" Now what I want you to do is this: go through every verse and circle "fruit, bear fruit, produce fruit," all the way down, the emphasis on what it’s going to do in your life. God expects us to have an active Spirit filled dynamic production of fruit through Christ. Then go back and circle the words "live in Me, dwell in Me, I in you," all of that it all ties together real closely because that’s how this is going to be accomplished. And this is how it’s going to be done. That’s why every organization of man that sets it up to do the work of God and is not doing this here – it’s going to fail. And if we don’t learn that lesson today with it unfolding in front of our eyes in the greatest magnitude that has ever been witnessed in the church of God, we don’t understand anything.

"…He has chosen us and ordained you that you should go and bring forth fruit and that your fruit should remain…" He wants it to remain unto eternal life. God wants that what we are doing is going to have an eternal effect. That’s something, isn’t it?

Now when I was with Bob and Elaine Hunnicutt, Bob and I were talking and he does construction work, and we were talking about some of the spiritual parallels in building and construction and I told him what I did to build our home and everything, and so forth. And he said, "You know, remodeling is the hardest job." Now think of this spiritual parallel: a physical building you go into remodel you don’t know what’s underneath. You don’t know what the foundation is like, you don’t know what the joists are like, you don’t know what the studs in the walls are like, you don’t know what the electricity is like, you don’t know how the window sills are or the panes are, or any of this, you’ve got to examine that. And then lo and behold I guarantee you, every time you do a repair job something is going to happen to consume your time and take more money. And I’ve done it – I know. Now he’s a little different thing because he’s a contractor so he has to make allowance for it.

Now then, think on this: isn’t it more work to take those who are Christians, who’ve been battered and bruised and need to be healed and remodeled after the image of Christ? Yes, because you have to unlearn so many things and it’s like tearing out the wallboard, and it’s like replacing the wiring. They’ve been running on fourteen gauge wire and you really need twelve to carry the 220, right? So Christ has to rewire us. He has to rebuild us. Now sometimes to get out these lumps and clumps it’s difficult. But He wants it so what we’re building and the fruit is going to remain the same.

Now then in connection with this work of bearing fruit you’re going to do, He says: "…whatsoever you ask the Father in My name, He may give it to you." Now we’ll review tomorrow all those places in the promises that God is going to answer our prayers. Just right here in these four chapters and it is amazing what He says He’s going to do.

Verse 17: "These things I command you, that ye love one another." Now what is the greatest hope that you can have when you’re dealing with brethren? That you know that they love you. And I tell you, after all the cynicism we’ve gone through it is a difficult thing to repair and remold and to get true deep grounded love for God and each other working fully functioning without any impediments, without any suspicions, without wondering, "I wonder what he has in the back of his mind," because you’ve been tripped up how many times? Some of them we’re going to get now are going to be two three four and five times by the time it’s over with. So it’s wonderful to know that someone loves you. Now he says that just before verse 18 to give us some hope.

"If the world hate you, ye know that it hated Me before it hated you." [It’s] the way of telling you don’t worry about the hatred. It’s going to come, but if you love God don’t worry about it. And you go back and you think about how many times Christ had to run and hide, how many times they were after Him, how many counsels were held to get Him, how many schemes were plotted and planned to arrest Him, and yet it didn’t happen until the time that God said, "Now."

Now verse 19, a key verse: "If ye were of the world, the world would love it’s own…" And oh my, what a great verse to never go back into the world. We have a living witness and testimony of what happens when a church of God goes back into the world. "…However because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, this is the reason that the world hates you" (John 15:9-19, paraphrased).

Now let’s go to I John 4 for just a minute, because when you go to the world… Let’s look at it this way: when you are having a difficult time spiritually, either individually as a person or collectively as a group or a church, and the world comes to you and says, "We hate you because you are a cult." Now maybe some of those things we deserve because we didn’t teach the love of God. And so those people then run off to the world and say, "Oh, we’re disappointed, you hate us. What can we do to make you love us?" "We’ll tell you what to do. You become like us and we will love you." Right? Yes.

Now notice I John 4 makes a comparison between false prophets and the true children of God. Verse 5: "They are of the world: therefore speak they of the world, and the world heareth them." Yes. You want a worldly Christianity? My there are a lot of people very willing to help you. And they will be friendly and nice and lovely and kind because Satan can make it that way to pull you away from Christ.

Now notice: "We are of God: he that knoweth God heareth us; he that is not of God heareth not us. Hereby know we the spirit of truth, and the spirit of error [or, deception]" (I John 4:5-6, KJV). Again we come right back to the Spirit of truth that we’ve studied in this section, right. The Spirit of the truth, which comes from God. We are to know it. We are to know their schemes. You see, we’re living in a time when God wants us to understand those things because maybe we’re going to be in the forefront of stopping those things. Think of that.

Now let’s come back here to John 15:19: "If you were of the world, the world would love it’s own: however because you are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, this is the reason that the world hates you. Now remember the word that I spoke to you, The servant is not greater than his master." And that’s the whole predication of foot-washing, correct? Yes. "If they have persecuted Me, they will persecute you; if they have kept My word, they will keep yours also." I remember one time when I first said this (and Betty Leonard will remember this too), people wonder why we don’t have great numbers. Well remember this, Belinda Davis reminded me of it some time ago. She said, "Fred, it’s not wrong to be small." And I remember I made a comment, I think it was our first trip down to Cantonment and I mentioned in the Bible Study that we want the ones that God sends to us. And Betty thought that was kind of a selfish statement. And I didn’t mean it to be selfish. I meant it this way: there are so many people that have so much of the world in them and have so much hang-ups that we want those that really want to be repaired and we can help them so they can listen to us. We don’t want someone who’s just of the world and they won’t hear us. No, we handle those in a different way.

So: "…if they kept My word, they will also keep yours. But they will do all these things on account of My name because they did not know Him Who sent Me." Notice again, everything goes right back to God the Father. Here’s a profound statement, verse 22: "If I had not come and spoken unto them, they would not have had sin…" Now I think in this case He’s talking about sin unto death. "…But now they have no valid excuse for their sin." Now we know two things concerning sin, don’t we? Where there is no law there is no sin; and by the law is the knowledge of sin. Now then, Christ is also saying, to reject Him and not believe in Him is sin. And we covered places where it said all the miracles He did and everything.

Now notice it goes right back to the Father again, verse 23: "The one who is hating Me is also hating My Father." And you see, this gives us hope that if the Father has called us, which He has; and if Christ is in us, which He is; and we are living in Him and He is living in us and the Father is living in us then it doesn’t matter if the world hates us, it doesn’t matter what happens to us. It just doesn’t.

Verse 24: "If I had not done the works among them which no other man had done, then they would not have had sin: but now they have both seen and both hated Me and My Father. And this has happened so that the saying might be fulfilled which is written in their law, ‘They hated Me without a cause.’ " Their own bigoted prejudice. That’s Psalm 35:19. You can put it in your notes.

"But when the Helper is come, which I will send…" Notice "which" and if you look at your King James it does say "which" too. The New King James says "whom" because they’re pushing the Trinity. "…Which I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of the truth, which proceeds from the Father, that one will bear witness concerning Me: and you also are bearing witness, because you have been with Me from the beginning" (John 15:19-27, paraphrased).

Now we’ll just take three verses from Chapter 16. Verse 1: "I have spoken these words to you so that you may not be offended." Because what happens when there is offense? You can get angry. When you get angry you begin to doubt. When you begin to doubt you begin not to trust God. When you begin not to trust God then you can slip over and begin accusing God. And many people have said, "Well God, that is not fair." Well you see, it’s not our judgment to go to God to determine what is fairness or not. He’ll be fair. He’ll do it. But you don’t be offended.

Verse 2: "They will cast you out of the synagogues…" Now for the Jew that is profound. They made it the same way in the churches we are in, right? "If you leave this church you have left God and left salvation." And everyone sits there in church, "Ooooh, I better not go." See, they didn’t read this enough, did they? "…Furthermore, the time is coming that everyone who kills you would think that he is rendering service to God" (John 16:1-3, paraphrased). It hasn’t happened to us yet, but you know I can see that time coming.

Let me just give you a "what-if." I need to see if I can send this letter in one of my next mailings, which was written by Joseph Tkatch Jr., where a man wrote and was protesting his saying that Christians do not have to keep the commandments of God under the New Covenant. He was saying, no they do. And he [Tkatch] warned him with a very severe warning for challenging their doctrine that you don’t have to keep the commandments by saying, "If you insist on keeping the Sabbath and Holy Days remember Weaver and Ruby Ridge; remember Waco, and remember that someone can come knocking on your door at anytime to get you." Now, when I read that wooo, the hair stood up on the back of my neck, and I said, "What kind of tiger do we have?" Who would be the most implacable enemy against those who love God, but those who denied God and betrayed Him, just like Judas?

Now I want you to read Matthew 24, and I’ve been thinking on this, and I’ve often wondered how this is going to happen. Now while we’re turning to Matthew 24 let me mention that I think it is either this week or it happened last week, but sometime, those of you from Atlanta may know they had a ministerial conference up here in Atlanta. And all the ministers who were still in the Worldwide Church of God and who had not left were down there for a seminar. This seminar was to be done to help convince them of the new truth and to deprogram them with cult deprogrammers. [audience comments] Alright, it’s confirmed, [it was] last week. Now then, do they know us? Wouldn’t they make the worst enemies that could ever be? Look, they can find you anywhere if your name has ever been on any church list. They could just run a computer and go [snaps fingers] and know where you are. And if you have moved and turned in a change of address, all they need to do if they can’t find you instantly is call up a credit report. They don’t even need your social security number – just your name and bam up comes your name on a computer just like that.

Now think of this, verse 8: "All these are the beginning of sorrows. Then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted…" It hasn’t happened yet, but it’s a promise it’s going to. It happened to them back then, didn’t it? It’s happened to others down through the ages, hasn’t it? Yes. "…And shall kill you: and ye shall be hated of all nations for My name’s sake." Now do you know what this tells me? This tells me that as we go closer to the end-time God is going to open the door so we are going to make a big spiritual stink in the world. But we’re not going to be able to do that until God heals us and gives us His Spirit and power and love to do so. "And then shall many be offended, and shall betray one another, and shall hate one another" (Matt. 24:8-10, KJV). Yes.

Now let’s go to Matthew 10 for just a minute. Let’s apply Matthew 10 just a little bit differently than we have in the past. Let’s go to verse 32 because it all flows along. We’re dealing with the same thing, because denying Christ will turn into betrayal of the brethren. "Whosoever therefore shall confess Me before men, him will I confess also before My Father which is in heaven. But whosoever shall deny Me before men, him will I also deny before My Father which is in heaven. Think not that I am come to send peace on earth: I came not to send peace, but a sword." Now apply that to the church. Is the sword going through the church today to separate and divide spiritually? Yes. "For I am come to set a man at variance against his father, and the daughter against her mother, and the daughter in law against her mother in law. And a man’s foes shall be they of his own household" (Matt. 10:32-36, KJV). Let’s apply that to the household of the church. That’s something. When I read that letter and I heard those threats I said, "He knows something we don’t know."

Now let’s finish by going to Romans 8. So when trouble comes do you think… Let me just ask you a question here: Do you think with your former affiliation that you would have had strength to resist this kind of onslaught? No, the only way you can is if you really love God. Now then, verse 28: "And we know that for those who are loving God, all things are working together for good…", even if they do these things to you that Jesus Christ prophesied that they would. And I pray and ask God to spare all the senior citizens. And may those of us who are left be strong enough to resist and be faithful to God. "…All work together for good for those who are called according to His purpose." And God has called us to that purpose. "Because those whom He did foreknow, He also predestinated to be conformed to the image of His own Son, for Him to be the firstborn among many brethren." And when we’re on the sea of glass there with Christ, Christ is going to say to the Father, "Behold the brothers and sisters that You have given Me." Therefore He’s not ashamed to call them brethren. "For whom He did predestinate, those He also called, and whom He called those He also justified, and those He has justified He is glorifying." And if you have the love of God and the Spirit of God and Christ dwelling in you and the Father dwelling in you, you are glorified as much as you can be in the flesh and will be glorified at the resurrection with a full spirit body.

"What shall we say to these things? If God is for us who can be against us?" Nothing. "Who indeed did not even spare His own Son but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not grant us all things altogether with Him? Who shall bring an accusation against the elect of God? God is the one Who is justifying. Who is the one who is condemning? Christ is the one Who died, but rather He is the one Who is raised up again [because His resurrection is back to eternal life], Who also sits at the right hand of God Who is making intercession for us." Now that’s wonderful to know, brethren, He’s making that intercession.

Verse 35: "Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? According as it has been written, ‘We are killed all the day long, and we are reckoned as sheep for the slaughter.’ Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him Who loved us." That’s how much Christ loved us. Think what He did for us. "For I am persuaded…" And this is what we need to be persuaded of, brethren, just like Abraham was persuaded: "…that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, not height, nor depth, nor any other created thing shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord" (Rom. 8:28-39, paraphrased).

That’s why Jesus went through and gave this covenant of love for us – to give us the strength, to give us the power, to give us of His Spirit so that when we take the Passover this year… And brethren it is always my prayer, and will be every year that "Lord, please let this Passover be the most meaningful that I have ever experienced in my whole life." And I think if we understand the love of God, and the words of the covenant, and the love story – the love letter from Christ to us, we will have a profound Passover.

Love of God # 14

Scriptural References

1. John 15:1-3 21) John 15:9-19

2. John 13:13-16 22) I John 4:5-6

3. I John 3:1-3 23) John 15:19-27

4. Matthew 8:2 24) Psalm 35:19

5. John 15:4-7 25) John 16:1-2

6. Psalm 12:6 26) Matthew 24:8-10

7. Psalm 19:11-14 27) Matthew 10:32-36

8. Psalm 119:140, 139, 9-11 28) Romans 8:28-39

9. Proverbs 22:11

10. I John 3:24

11. John 15:5

12. Psalm 1:1-6

13. Jeremiah 17:5-8

14. John 15:7

15. Psalm 15:1-5

16. Psalm 23:1-6

17. Revelation 3:8-9

18. John 15:8-9

19. John 3:35

20. John 5:20