“We know that we have passed from death unto life, because we love the brethren.”
1 John 3:14.
So, brethren, if we can say that we love God’s people, as God’s people, because they are God’s people, that is a mark that we have passed from death unto life. Do you love them for Christ’s sake? Do you say to yourself, “That is one of Christ’s people; that is one who bears Christ’s cross; that is one of the children of God; therefore I love him, and take delight in his company”? Then that is an evidence that you are not of the world. If you were, you would love the world, but, belonging to Christ, you love those who are Christ’s, and you love them for Christ’s sake.
Another is you love them for the truth’s sake. We are but earthen vessels, yet there is the excellence of the treasure of God put within us; so, when you can say, “I love that man because of the truth he preaches, I do not care about his talents, but I do care about his gospel”—when you can say, “I love that woman, I delight to hear her speak of Jesus, her experience comforts me because it is full of Christ; I love to read the writings of such a brother, because there is a savor of Christ about every letter that he writes”—that is a mark that you have passed from death unto life. If you love the children, you love the Father, I am pretty sure of that; and if you love Him, it is because He first loved you.
It is another mark of our passing from death unto life when we love God’s people for their own sake, when we wish that we were like them, when we say to ourselves, “I would gladly be the least among them, washing their feet, and filling the humblest place, so that I might share the love which is their joy.” It is a sure token that you are a child of God when you love God’s people even when the world hates them, taking their part, being willing to be reproached with them; when you say, “You scoff at such a saint, do you? I am one of the same family, so give me some of your scorn. If you have any rotten stuff to fling, and you set this Christian man in the stocks, I will stand by his side, and count it a great honor to share the contempt that comes upon a child of God.” If you thus love the saints, you need not be afraid whether you have passed from death unto life.
Life Proved By Love, Sermon 2556, Charles Haddon Spurgeon, 1883.
So, brethren, if we can say that we love God’s people, as God’s people, because they are God’s people, that is a mark that we have passed from death unto life. Do you love them for Christ’s sake? Do you say to yourself, “That is one of Christ’s people; that is one who bears Christ’s cross; that is one of the children of God; therefore I love him, and take delight in his company”? Then that is an evidence that you are not of the world. If you were, you would love the world, but, belonging to Christ, you love those who are Christ’s, and you love them for Christ’s sake.
Another is you love them for the truth’s sake. We are but earthen vessels, yet there is the excellence of the treasure of God put within us; so, when you can say, “I love that man because of the truth he preaches, I do not care about his talents, but I do care about his gospel”—when you can say, “I love that woman, I delight to hear her speak of Jesus, her experience comforts me because it is full of Christ; I love to read the writings of such a brother, because there is a savor of Christ about every letter that he writes”—that is a mark that you have passed from death unto life. If you love the children, you love the Father, I am pretty sure of that; and if you love Him, it is because He first loved you.
It is another mark of our passing from death unto life when we love God’s people for their own sake, when we wish that we were like them, when we say to ourselves, “I would gladly be the least among them, washing their feet, and filling the humblest place, so that I might share the love which is their joy.” It is a sure token that you are a child of God when you love God’s people even when the world hates them, taking their part, being willing to be reproached with them; when you say, “You scoff at such a saint, do you? I am one of the same family, so give me some of your scorn. If you have any rotten stuff to fling, and you set this Christian man in the stocks, I will stand by his side, and count it a great honor to share the contempt that comes upon a child of God.” If you thus love the saints, you need not be afraid whether you have passed from death unto life.
Life Proved By Love, Sermon 2556, Charles Haddon Spurgeon, 1883.
Comments
Post a Comment
Civil and pertinent comments are appreciated. Trolling will be deleted. Thanks.