In this sermon, the speaker emphasizes the importance of seeking after the word of God and its role in guiding our moral duty. He highlights the Ten Commandments as the objective standard of moral duty. The speaker also expresses gratitude for the beauty of nature and prays for harmony and joy in our hearts. He discusses the connection between law and love, stating that love is the fulfilling of the law. The sermon emphasizes the need to find the objective standard of behavior in the scriptures rather than relying on subjective interpretations of love.

Almighty Father, we come before your throne giving you thanks for saving us through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Father, we would express our joy, unspeakable, at the beauties of the world around us. We give you thanks for this beautiful setting here, for what we see of nature, the animals, the creation which you have made. Father, we would pray that in our own hearts we might find the same harmony, the same symphony, the same infinite variation of joy that we see reflected in our world. We thank you for grace through Jesus Christ. Father, we pray, although our bodies are fatigued, that you would strengthen our minds, that you would grant us attention, that we might hear your word, hear the address of your spokesman. Father, we pray that through these messages and our experience and fellowship, one with another here, that you would touch the deepest cords of our emotions, that you would sway our wills, that you would sharpen and prepare our intellects that we might better serve your kingdom. For such an opportunity of instruction, of reflection, of considering your ways in the world, we give you our infinite thanks. Father, strengthen us as our intellects grow, that our hearts should expand to others. Father, we pray that you would grant out of this conference that we would nail within our hearts with nails of gold what you commanded us, that we should speak your truth in love. In the name of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, who loved us and redeemed us, we do pray. We've been considering a very important subject these days, a subject that has many dangers, a subject that has caused many divisions among the choice of God's servants, a subject that has caused me much pain, with someone who I hold very dear. However, it's important that the closer a man comes to see the difference between the law and the gospel, the connection between the law and the gospel, and how they mutually serve each other to establish each other, the closer he is to the Bible. I might say that when I express my own convictions, I'm expressing the convictions of the conference leaders. We have great respect for all the old confessions. We don't worship the confessions, but we find that they're a safeguard. To me, there's confessions, the Heidelberg Catechism, the Westminster Confession, the London Confession of 1689. To me, they're like the guardrail that takes you over the curbs in the mountains. We don't worship them, but they keep you from falling off the side. And I know lots of young men that are dear to me, that if they had observed those guideposts, they wouldn't be where they are today, and they'd be much more useful to God's kingdom and to his people. I believe the Bible would teach us that we should have respect for what the Holy Ghost taught our fathers. We don't worship or wish to garnish the sepulchers of our fathers. But surely the Bible teaches us, when it says he gave some teachers, surely the Bible teaches us that we ought to have respect for what the Holy Ghost taught our fathers. Well, with those comments behind us, I have a text. I have two texts today, and before I read these texts and read from the book, let's bow our heads and our hearts to the God of the book. It's not the book we worship or the books. Some people might worship books. It's not the book or the books. But the God of the book, the God of the book. Join with me in just a word of prayer. O gracious God and our heavenly Father, we thank you that we not only have political fathers, church fathers, natural fathers, but O Lord, we have a heavenly Father. And you've told us to ask, you've told us to seek, you've told us to knock. We do that, our Father. But we also claim your promise in connection with that. You've said if we, being evil, know how to give good gifts to our children, how much more you would give the Spirit to them that ask. And our Father, our greatest need in this hour is for that heavenly dove to come, both to speak and to hear. And therefore we pray that we might know and feel the plentitude of that holy dove. Give thy people discernment, discernment to know that which is of heaven, and discernment to know that which is of man whose breath is in his nostrils. And therefore we pray that you'd take that which is of heaven and seal it to the heart of the understanding of your dear people. And that which is of man, may it blow away like chaff from a thrashing floor. To that end, hear our prayers through Jesus Christ, the only Savior for poor lost sinners. Amen. My text, or text, plural, is 1 John 5, 3, where we have a definition, a biblical definition of love. And Romans chapter 13, verse 10, where we have the same definition of love. For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandment. And his commandments are not burdensome. Oh, the old King James says, grievous. They're not grievous, they're not burdensome. Romans 13, 10. Love does no harm to his neighbor, therefore love is, love is, love is the fulfillment of the law. Now my assignment is God's law and God's love. Those two little words, L-A-W and L-O-V-E, little words, yet most important, maybe the most important words in all the Bible. God's law that sets before us his character and his will for our duty. God's love that expresses his immeasurable concern for the world. God so loved the world. These little words are not only small and important, but I believe they're some of the most difficult words to handle in all the Bible, in preaching and teaching and living. And why do I say that? Because of so many different ways the words are used in the scripture. That is, the many different meanings they have in scripture. It's been pointed out before this week, some of the different meanings of that word law, it's used so many ways. Sometimes the word law means the whole Bible. Sometimes the law refers to the Pentateuch, the first five books of the Bible. Sometimes the word law refers to the ceremonial, those laws which prefigured Christ in old worship of the Jews, which were abrogated, abolished when he finished his work. Sometimes the word talks about those civil duties which were peculiar to Israel as a theocracy, which for the most part are the application of the Ten Commandments in practice. Then it's used, like I'll be referring to it today, the word law refers to the moral duties of all creatures of all times. It's the creator's mandate to his creature. The unconverted man may be cursing and swearing, and you say, well, George, you shouldn't take the Lord's name and say, well, I'm not a Christian. I say, oh, George, but you're a creature, and these are addressed to creatures. Well, as I use the word, therefore, for the most part, if not altogether, in the rest of these moments together, I'll be referring to the summary of the moral duty expressed in the Ten Commandments. We not only have the difficulty with the word law used so many times, but there's so many different kinds of love in the Bible. There is love for God. That's different than love for our enemies. That's a different kind of love. We have love for our neighbors. That's different than love for our enemies. Husbands and wives have a peculiar love that's different than love for their children. It's different than their love for their enemies. And then we have that peculiar love that's known only or clearly in the New Testament. That is that peculiar love for the brethren. That's peculiar. All different kinds of love. And this is why I say these two little words are difficult to handle. And it's one of the reasons why there's so much controversy among the choices of God's faith over the relationship between God's law and God's love. And it'll be my chief goal and effort today, if I can only establish one fact, it'll be this. If you get all this, don't forget this, that the Bible clearly teaches that there is a vital, inseparable, immutable, eternal relationship and connection between God's law and God's love. There is a connection. I don't get it across what that connection is. There is a connection. And I would hate anyone to leave this conference without that pressed on their soul. There is a connection. And if it takes you the rest of your life to find out what that connection is, may God help you to do it. In order for the servants of God, whether they're in a ministry or other servants of God, to live right and work properly, they must not only distinguish between things that differ, but they must join together what God has joined together. And I pray that I will, under God, strike a death blow at that terrible, devastating, damning error of separating things that God has joined together. We say in the wedding ceremony, what God has joined together, let no man put asunder. And I say that in respect to this subject. God has joined His law and His love together, and let no man, no man put them asunder. I pray that no one in this conference will separate what God has joined together. They're never meant to be separated. When God's law and His love are put asunder, there's always error. The degrees of error may differ. When these things are put asunder, there's always error, confusion, legalism, antinomianism, strife, and division, when you separate what God has put together. Just as God has joined sanctification and justification together, there are two different things, but they are inseparably joined together in the application of God's salvation. And most of our errors among evangelical Christians come from that place of not having a proper, seeing the proper relationship, that we cannot separate justification and sanctification. And likewise, God's law and God's love cannot be separated without error and confusion. The books of discussion on this relationship are endless, and the difference among men is not a few but multiplied. This makes my subject a difficult one. And therefore, a proper understanding of this matter calls for your prayers, calls for the plentitude of the Holy Spirit, the only true teacher. I pray that what I will seek to make evident to your minds and understanding, God by His Spirit will make real to your hearts and minds, and that He will give you, give us all that kind of discernment that distinguishes between things that differ and also things that must be joined together. Some of the worst enemies of Christianity are those who divorce God's law and God's love. And many even set up an antithesis, that is a false relationship, a false separation between God's law and God's love. I remember in the mid-60s when the new morality was a big subject, big subject. And I've been a subscriber for Time magazine probably for 35 or 40 years. And I remember picking up my Time magazine during the mid-60s, and I always look at the religious thing. I don't read everything in it, but I do read some. In the religious section of this particular Time issue, it was reporting, Time magazine was reporting of 900 ministers and ministerial students meeting at Harvard Divinity School. And they were considering the subject of the new morality. And the title of the article in Time was this, Love in Place of Law. That immediately sets up an antithesis and makes it appear that it's either love or law, rather than showing the proper relationship. And in that same article, under the heading, We Are Delivered, that was the heading, big words, We Are Delivered. And the article says, and I quote, Inevitably, these 900 people, Inevitably the speakers reached no definite conclusion. You can understand why. They reached no definite conclusion. But they generally agreed that in some respects the new morality is healthy. It's a healthy advance as a genuine effort to take literally St. Paul's teaching that through Christ we are delivered from the law. Well, they didn't go on to ask in what respect we're delivered from law. You see, the people that are motivated by love are certainly not lawless people, if they're motivated by biblical law, that is. The love and the moral ethical standards are kept, are the ones that Christ kept, of course, perfectly. Now, we're not surprised, or we shouldn't be surprised, I should say, we're not surprised at the dangerous, destroying ignorance when we find it among cults who say love, love, love, love. We shouldn't be surprised at the liberals when they say love, love, love, love, love. We shouldn't be surprised at the agnostics. But when Bible-believing preachers use illustrations and teach and preach in such a way as to set up a false antithesis between God's law and God's love, we are shocked, appalled, saddened, and greatly pained. And sometimes I've even gotten mad. One of the most subtle attacks on the Ten Commandments and biblical morality and true Christianity is made by those who set up a false separation between God's love and God's law, and fail to see and establish the proper relationship between God's love and God's law. And that's what I'm going to try to do this morning, to show that there is a relationship. What better definition for love could we find in the Bible, or anywhere else than my text? For this is the love of God, and immediately that we keep His commandments. Does that sound like an antithesis? That sounds like there's some kind of a connection, even if you don't get it. And then it goes on to underscore it by saying His commandments are not grievous. They're not grievous. Jesus, my dear friends, always connected, always connected to God's commandments and God's love. What could be plainer than this? The words of our Savior, He who has my commandments and keeps them, He it is that loveth me, He it is that loveth me. Did He connect them, or set up an antithesis? Again, He who has my commandments and keeps them loves me, and he who loves me will be loved of my Father, and I will love him and manifest myself through him. And the text has already been referred to this week. If you keep my commandments, you shall abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father's commandments and abide in His love. You see the connection? The Lord makes a connection. You are my friend, if you do whatsoever I command you. My friends, these statements should settle forever, forever, that there is a relationship between the commandments of God and the love of God. To emphasize love itself is a command. To emphasize love is a command, and it's consistent with many New Testament passages. Love thy neighbor, love thine enemies, love your wives, love the brotherhood. All these are commands. If there were no other passages in the Bible, it ought to be sufficiently clear to show that there is some, some, some vital relationship between God's law and God's love. Therefore, it besieues us, all Christian ministers. It behooves us to seek to understand that proper relationship, rather than to teach or imply some false separation, should cause us to renounce and reject any teaching, whether it be by clever illustrations or implications, anything like that that would leave people with the idea that there is an antithesis between God's law and God's love. And I'm sure if I don't say anything else, we agree on you're going to use my next statement. And that is, if there ever was a day in the home and in the nation and in the church in which biblical teaching about the commandments is needed, it is now. With this lawlessness rampant, we certainly do not need preachers and teachers who make an improper, erroneous separation of what God has joined together. You know, there's a great deal of Christian, Christianity in our land that sing that antinomian theme song. You know the antinomian theme song? This is it. Free from the law, O happy condition, I can do as I please and still have a mission. That's it. It's not funny. It is funny, but it's not funny because there's a lot of people singing it. They may not use the words I do, but they're singing it. They're singing it. It is a disconnection. It's interesting, though, that it's always the lawless who sing love, love, love and have the love signs. Name of the draft charges and the flag burners, other people have the love signs. During the 60s, I lived within two blocks of a respectable liberal arts college, but it was not the Christians, even though there were some on the campus. There were very few, but it was not the Christians who stood in front of the administration building and the library with love signs. Rather, it was generally the lawless and the rebels with their big love signs. And one was forced to ask, love for whom? Are they talking about love for their family? No, they were a disgrace to their family. Were they talking about love for God? No, they were living in open rebellion against him and his moral precepts. This is love for their country? No, they were burning the flags and tearing up their golf, tearing up not their golf course, but their strap. The enemy of true Christianity. It's the enemy of the Bible, and it's the enemy of the souls of men. Mary Baker, Grover, Patterson, Eddy, that's all they talk about. You know who that is, don't you? That's the name of her several husbands. Founder of Christian science. You get with them, and the first thing you hear is love, love, love, love, love. When Machen and all those great giants left Princeton and left because of liberalism, it was the liberals that charged against them. Their big charge was they don't have love. They don't have love. Well, it's not Bible love at all, because the love of the Bible and God's law are close relatives. Not only are they close relatives, but they are inseparably joined together in the proper application of God's truth. They're friends, not enemies. Let me tell you something. This lawless love, regardless where it comes from, is not Christ-like love. He kept his Father's commandments. And whether a perverted view of love is held, wherever it's held, the true value of biblical love is depreciated. Wherever a perverted view, perverted view of love is held, there's always a depreciation of biblical love. Now, just as it's wrong to try to have love without law, we must remember the other side of the coin. It is equally important to emphasize law at the expense of love. It's important not to do that, because that will lead to legalism and Phariseeism, and that exists in the Christian Church. That exists among Reformed Baptists, Calvinistic Baptists. So a proper understanding of biblical love, however, will keep us both from legalism and antinomianism. You see, holiness must have a standard that is holy. Holiness must have a standard that's holy. And that's exactly what the law provides. A perfect standard of holiness and righteousness. And true love will seek to follow after a perfect standard. I've had lots of people say, and I suppose you have too, Jesus was perfect. Well, how did they know he was perfect? How do you know Jesus was perfect? I'll tell you. There had to be a perfect standard to which he complied and submitted and manifested. And that perfect standard is what the psalmist says the law of the Lord is perfect. Now, in that case, I don't think the law refers to the ten commandments. Now, the Bible is very clear that the gospel of Christ, and I don't want to leave you without this. The Bible is crystal clear that the gospel of Christ breathes the spirit of love. Namely, because love is the fulfilling of all its precepts. Love is the pledge of all gospel joys. Love is the evidence of gospel power. Love is the right fruit of the spirit. The fruit of the spirit is love. Spurgeon says, love is the chief jewel in the bracelets of obedience. You like that? He also said, love to our Lord's person begets love to his precepts. Spurgeon. You see, my dear friends, love has no eyes except the holy law of God. Love gives no safe direction apart from God's law. Paul said, the love of Christ constrains us. Love is a constraining motive to duty, but love does not define that duty. Therefore, we must look elsewhere to find our duty that love is constrained. Yes, love is the only true motive for all worship and duty, but love does not define worship or duty. Hear our Lord's chief apostle, his chiefest apostle in Romans 13. It's already been referred to. Oh, no man anything except to love one another. For he that loves another has fulfilled the law. What law? It goes on to tell us, for the commandments, you shall not commit adultery, you shall not murder, you shall not steal, you shall not bear false witness, you shall not covet. If there's any other commandment, it is summed up in this saying, you shall love your neighbor as yourself. Love does no harm to his neighbor. Therefore, therefore, and when you see therefore in the Bible, you want to look why it's therefore. This is the punchline. Therefore, it is the fulfillment of the law. Love is the fulfillment of the law. You see, to ask the question, is human conduct to be governed by law or love, is not a proper question. That's not a proper question. The question immediately sets up a false separation, sets up a nativity, supposing that law and love are opposite or contrary to each other. Preachers must be judicious in some of these fine points. The connection between God's law and God's love is a truth, not only in the New Testament, but deeply rooted in the Old Testament. This is illustrated when our Lord gave the Decalogue at Sinai. Before he gave one commandment, he said, I am the Lord thy God that brought you out of the land of Egypt. What was that? My friend, if that was not a redemptive act, I don't know what a redemptive act is, that was a loving, redemptive act. And he prefaced all the do's and don'ts with that loving reminder. I am the Lord thy God that brought you out of the land of Egypt. Again, I say that was a loving, redemptive act. And our Lord quoted the very same principle in the New Testament, if you love me, keep my commandments. Love worketh no ill to his neighbor. The Apostle makes very clear, we use that expression, the love of Christ constraineth us. The action which love impels is action which is characterized by fulfilling Romans 8, 13, 8 to 10. It is the love of God that carries into effect the love for God, the law of God. It's the love of God that carries into effect the law of God. Duty, service, obedience are words that still belong to the Christian. However, it's no longer associated with bondage, terror, but those words now are associated with freedom, delight, and love. They'll produce such words as this, I delight in the law of God after the inward man. Why? Because it's holy, because it's good, because it's good for us. Moffat translates, Moffat translates Romans 7, 12, good for us, where it says the law is holy, just, and good. Moffat says good for us. And I've captured that after I saw that in Moffat when I teach little children Bible school wherever I have it. I guess I could use it without adults too, wouldn't be a bad idea. I'm going to use it on you this morning. I teach children sometimes. And I say what would it be like if everyone would love God and worship Him, no one would have idols, and no one would take the Lord's name and thank Him, and everybody would recognize a day for their family and worship when they don't have to work. God made a way for them to be with their family and not work, and they rest their bodies and rest their hearts, less heart attacks. What would it be like if no one would steal? I've asked this, this is an actual fact. What would it be like if no one would steal, no one would commit adultery, no one would murder? I didn't tell them, but the lawyers have a lot of business. We wouldn't need any more jails for one of them. And then I went on down the line, and I'm finished. I say what would be that, I can see some little girl just now, I can picture her in my mind. She put up her hand. She said, that'd be heaven. Now I ask you, is the law good for us? I don't understand people who take an antagonistic view of the law. Yes, love constrains us to do the will of our heavenly Father. But to know what that will is, we must go elsewhere. Love may say, I love my master, and I love his service, and I wish to do his will. But I must know the rules of his house, and what is his service. This divine law, and the divine will, are substantially one. The divine law is an outward manifestation of the divine will. And it's the will of our heavenly Father that we do his will. Not everyone that says to me, Lord, Lord, shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he that, what class, doeth the will of my Father which is heaven. You see, love is the fulfilling of the law, my text says. And that's why I say, law is love's eyes. And without the law, love is blind. This proper connection between law and love will drive us to the scriptures, to find a standard of behavior that the Bible clearly defines objectively. The standard of behavior is not some subjective thing that I call love motivate me. It's not a subjective thing, it's objective. And that will drive us to the Bible, to find a clearly defined, objective standard. Nowhere in the scripture will you find that love dictates its own standard of conduct. What time did I start, Fred? I've got another hour yet. You know, I assign all these speakers, and I emphasize that they only go 55 minutes. And the reason I take those other five minutes off is I know I'm going to need them. Let me emphasize something else. When I'm talking about this standard of righteousness in the commandment, I want to emphasize something. There are not two standards of righteousness in the, there are not two standards of, many teach a serious area at this point. As though the Old Testament believers were directed by law, and the New Testament believers were directed by love. Let me tell you something. The New Testament believers are directed by the same standard of righteousness as the Old Testament saints. The Bible does not, does not, does not teach two different standards of righteousness. It is one holy Bible. Well, you ought to figure that out. If it taught two standards of righteousness, there would be a war in the Trinity. God the Father would have one standard of righteousness, and Christ would have another standard of righteousness. A true Christian does not let his own heart, even though it be a regenerate heart, spontaneously decide what is proper conduct. That is, he does not say, I'm directed by love. Biblical love does not define its own norms, the standard of behavior. This is exactly what we had in the hippie and then, on the van wagons in the college rebels. We had love written all over the vans. I'm sure you've all seen it. Love, love, love written on the van. That's exactly what we had. What standard of conduct did it set for them? The word love written over their sex wagons didn't define any true standard of righteousness. We cannot teach people God's will by holding up love signs. Love, which is the fulfilling of God's commandments, is always operative in respect to doing God's will. You cannot, you must not subtract love from the whole context of biblical revelation. Let me say that again. We must not, we cannot subtract love from the whole context of biblical revelation. The love has, doesn't stand alone, it has some relatives. Another important biblical truth is that should kill this wicked effort to separate what God has joined together, that is, is what the spirit writes on the heart. If you want to know more about this, read Dr. Malone's thesis on Hebrews chapter 8, verse 10 and so on. We do not, I don't, when I say the law is written on our heart, I don't want to suggest that we know the law by reading the inscription on our heart. The teachings of Hebrews 8, 10, 10, 16, among other things, is that there is a, that in a regenerated heart, in a renewed heart, there is an affinity with, and a love to, the law of God. God in order that there may be a cheerful, loving, obedient to the law, not slavish fears. For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments, and they are not greedous. You see, it's not slavish fears. In the heart of every Christian, he'd like to do the will of God, he doesn't make it all the time. And he may, and he stumbles and falls and makes a lot of crooked strips, crooked steps. But let me, let me talk to you about his heart in its best moments. In his best moments, he'd like to be perfect. I've met some people that are, God deliver me. It's something you seek after, it's not something you got, but there is that desire to seek after it. Surely it cannot be different, it cannot be different in principle, from that which was written on Adam's heart, when God created him. And it cannot be written when God renewed what he wrote on Adam's heart, that he wrote on the stables of stone. It can't be different. Shouting love, love, love, therefore will not tell us our moral duty. We need a true, fixed, objective standard of moral duty, and my dear friends, that standard is summed up in the Ten Commandments. I said ten, not nine! It is true of the Christian life. It is not initiated or sustained by commandment or law. Not initiated or sustained by commandment or law. However, Christian duty is defined and directed by law. Let me show you that from just one place. I could show it from more than one, but you may like to turn in your Bible to Ephesians 6, 1 to 3. And here the great apostle is speaking of family relationships, family relationships. The apostle here, this place, introduces the moral law as the foundation of obedience. He introduces the moral law as the foundation of obedience. Children, obey your parents in the Lord. Why? For this is right. Honor your father and mother, which is the first commandment with promise, that it may be well with you, and that you may live long on the earth. Here, writing to those who are in the Lord, not Jews but Gentiles, he demands obedience, honor, in the name of the fifth commandment. Now, surely if any duty might be left to impulse of Christian love, without reference to the law, it would be that of a bleeding child to his parents. If anything could be left to impulse, it would be a child's relationship to his parents. What did the apostle do? He appealed to the fifth commandment. Was Paul then a legalist when he referred the Ephesians to the moral law as a rule of obedience? My dear friends, love, if it's biblical love, never changes what's right. And it's right for children to obey their parents, because it's the fifth commandment. No, love does not change what's right. It may change our relationship with what's right. Love may give us proper motive to do what's right. Love may change our motive even to do what's right. But love never, never, never changes what's right. And the ten commandments are right. Always right. Always right. Turn with me, please, to the last passage I think that I'll be referring to. But I want to have a little bit to say about it, because it's a passage that's been used and always brought up to me when I talk about the law of God, and I talk about the love of God as much as I do the law of God. John chapter 13, verse 34. It's a favored passage of those who have not a biblical view of love, but an unbiblical view of love many times. I want to consider this is a much misused text, and often used to set up that false separation, that antithesis that I pointed out earlier. And I just hear someone say, even in this audience, what about John 13, 34? Where it says, A new commandment I give unto you that you love one another, as I have loved you, that you also love one another. Now let me speak to that. And that's what I'll do for the rest of my time. And I'll be, I'm not quite on third base yet, but I'll tell you when I get there, and then I head for home. This verse, first of all, and we're preachers, so we understand this. This verse is part of our Lord's lesson on servitude. I don't think there's a person here that would disagree with that in John 13. He illustrates servanthood by watching the disciple's feet in the early part of the chapter. I say nowhere, nowhere in the entire chapter is our Lord giving a call for moral conduct or an objective standard of righteousness. This is not our Lord's subject in John 13. Therefore we ask the question from this verse, if we ask the question, what is the biblical standard of morality conduct? We cannot get the answer by saying love. The answer, if we answer the word love, it may sound very pious. But what is love? We defined that at the beginning. Love is the keeping of God's commandment. How does the Christian love act? That's a question you just asked on this chapter. In what direction does love go? How does love manifest itself toward God and man? And I want to tell you there are no answers to these questions in John chapter 13. You could not learn from this chapter that you are meant to worship God. You could not learn from this chapter that you're not meant to steal. You could not learn from John 13 that you're not meant to commit adultery. You could not learn from that that you're meant to honor your father and mother. Our Lord's subject, and I want to say this before I start talking about women, our Lord's subject in John 13 is servanthood. And the key to verse 34 is found in these words, as I have loved you. These words, as I have loved you, take us to the supreme act of servanthood to the suffering servant. That takes us to the cross. And a cross without a broken law is a cross without sin. And without law and sin, the cross is a jigsaw puzzle with the key pieces missing. The base of the cross, ah hear me please, the base of the cross is eternal justice. The spirit of the cross is eternal love. The base of the cross is Christ satisfying divine justice. The verse that's vivid describes this. Maybe it's the verse that best describes our Lord's work on the cross, is Isaiah 42 verse 21. And the Lord was well, I think it's the Messianic verse, and the Lord was well pleased for his righteousness sake. He will magnify the law and make it honorable. Where did Christ magnify the law and make it honorable? Well in his life, but also at the cross. The spirit of the cross manifests his saving love. At the base of the cross manifests the necessity to satisfy divine justice. By this, all men know that you're my disciples. It won't be by holding up love signs. We can run an awful lot of here with a love sign, hold up love signs all over the city of Memphis. Nobody will know you're his disciple. But if men see love expressed in holy duty, men will know that we love Jesus. And men will know that we love what Jesus loved. And he loved his father's law. And if we would be like Christ, we would love his law. Because he was a law-keeping Savior. He was a law-fulfilling Savior. Being like Jesus is loving what Jesus loved, and hating what Jesus hates. Being like Jesus is conforming our conduct to the same standard to which he perfectly conformed his conduct. And he could say to the Father, I am come to do thy will, because holy law is the answer to the will of God. John 13 to 34, let me come back there. A new commandment I give unto you, that you love one another as I have loved you, that you may also love one another. What was new about it? Was the commandment to love new? When the lawyer asked Jesus, what's a great commandment in the law, he said, love the Lord thy God with all your heart and your neighbor as yourself. That was long before this. So love wasn't a new commandment. If you want to go back further, you can go back to Deuteronomy and so on. Well, the question is, what was new about it? And the answer is in those words that I've already pointed out, as I have loved you. Again, the context is servanthood. And in the person of work of Jesus, love is in manifest. Yes, it was personified as never before. I think Pastor Malone said that. It was personified as never before, as I have loved you. It was never, love was never personified before, as it was in Christ Jesus. Our Lord displayed or presented this love in a new form. His love was a superior, was a love superior to its objects. His love was a love that never varied. Our love varies. His love was a love that deemed no sacrifice too great. He gave himself. Greater love has fit no man than this that he laid down his life for the brother. His love was a love that did not subordinate, abrogate, or mitigate the moral law. Christ explained the manifestation, and manifest love. He explained it, and he manifested it, which had never been before. It was never demonstrated. It was never illustrated. It was never personified like it was in Christ Jesus. The first thing, therefore, was new about it was a new manifestation of true biblical love in the person and work of the Savior. Never before was love seen or manifest on the earth as it was in the person of our blessed Redeemer, as I have loved you. As I have loved you. That's what was new about it. And the second thing that was new about it was in respect to the objects. And that's the principal interpretation, I believe, in the text. It was brotherly love. You love one another. Brotherly love is a special kind of love. And that is intended for peculiar characters. It's different. It's different. This brotherly love, this peculiar love is to the household of faith. Now I wouldn't, if I lived with you, I wouldn't love all about you. I'd probably, you'd probably upset me, and I'm sure I'd upset you. But I'll tell you, when I saw all about you that's like Christ, and all about you that's manifesting God. I'd love that. That's this brotherly love. It is affection which is directed toward the excellency of true religion, the delights in holiness and truth. It's loving the image of God as it's reflected in his true sons and daughters. This love attracts the eye and the heart because it is a spark of the divine nature in all those who are born again. And we love it in each other. And if you don't, you're not a Christian. I don't love all your quirks and gadgets and your miserable disposition. I don't love that. God imparts it to his own, a portion of his own loveliness. He makes us new creatures of free, distinguishing grace. All those we love, he loves them. Christ loves them. He calls them his sheep. The Holy Spirit loves them. They love each other. Those who love Christ also love those who are like Christ. My dear friends, this is the place where all distinctions vanish. Name and nation and rank and party and color. All are lost in that common name. Jew, Gentile, born free, rich or poor, one in Christ, one Lord, one faith. It's by this standard that the disciples are to judge themselves brotherly love. We know that we pass from death unto life. Why, class? Because we love the brother. That's the second thing about it. This love, that's what's new about it, is to a peculiar people. And then there's a third thing about this love, expressed in Matthew 13, John 13, 34. The third thing that's new about it, it was designed for a new purpose, an evangelistic purpose, if you will. By this shall all men know that you are my disciples, if you'll have love one for the other. Let me ask you a couple questions, because do you know anything about this kind of love? Love that has been founded on new relationships. You come to a conference like this, somebody brought you, somebody, some wife, some husband. You may not know about this love. You need to seek the Savior. You need to find the Savior. This love is founded on a new relationship. Do you know anything about it? This love was presented in a new form, the person of Christ. This love was divine for a new purpose. And if you're not born again this morning, you know nothing about this love, regardless how religious you are. You know, our dear friend Tom Meadows, I told somebody about the other day, who we miss very, very greatly at this conference. You know, he was ordained in the ministry and wasn't converted. And there's others. And if you don't know anything about this love that we're talking about, it's quite possible your husband might be a real Christian, and you know nothing about this love, or vice versa. Divine for a new purpose. If you're not born again, my dear, you know nothing about this love. And I would close, or would not close, rather, without, if you're sitting here this morning in this meeting, and you are a stranger to heart religion, if you're a stranger of the power of religion, you may know the words of religion, but if you're a stranger to the power of things, you're a lost soul. And you know nothing about biblical love, because you cannot know anything about biblical love until you become a biblical Christian. And I would invite you to Christ. Don't you ever say, I don't give invitations. I'm doing it right now. I'm inviting you to Christ. And he's not down at the front here, floating around like a phantom. He's as close to you as the tip of your finger. He's as close to you. You pour out your heart to him if you're here like that. And you may go where you're saved. Cast yourself in his mercy. Jesus saves and only sinners. She shall bring forth a son. Thou shall call his name Jesus, for he shall save his people. The Son of Man has come to seek, thank God, and to save. That is wrong. This is a faithful save. Christ Jesus came into the world, what for? To save sinners. Oh, seek him if you're not saved, because he's the Savior of all who come to God by him. He's the Savior of sinners. Father of mercy, truly you are the God of all comfort. And you have comforted most of us with the blessed comfort of the blessed gospel. If there are those here who are strangers to that comfort, the comfort of the gospel, give them no peace or rest until they rest in Christ.