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Twin Truths: Fear and Love - Part 2 of 2

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• All right, I want you to open your Bibles if you would today to 1 John chapter 4, and we're going to be reading verses 7 and 8. So I need you to mark this passage because we'll be coming back to it just in a little while. And so notice, if you would, 1 John 4, verse 7. The Word of God says, "Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God, and everyone that loveth is born of God and knoweth God." But note verse 8: "He that loveth not knoweth not God, for God is love."

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• Now, last week, we began the first part of this message on twin truths. And I dealt with fear, and I pointed out fear and love are not only twin truths, they are identical twin truths. Also pointed out that there were concurrent realities in the Bible. A concurrent reality is something that happens simultaneously with something else. For instance, now, the Bible teaches us very clearly that faith and repentance go together.

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• You cannot have one without the other. So he that savingly repents also savingly believes. He that savingly believes also savingly repents. Moreover, faith and biblical works go together. You cannot have real saving faith without having real biblical works. And then I pointed out how preservation and perseverance go together. It is true, the Bible tells us in Jude 1, verse 1, that we're preserved in the Lord Jesus Christ. But however, that preservation comes to light when He enables us to persevere. That is, we continue in repentance and faith and obedience. And of course, perseverance is rooted and grounded in grace.

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• It is not our strength that carries us forward. It is the strength of God and the Holy Spirit that keeps us from falling and failing. So these are twin truths in the Bible. Twin truths may have different names, yet the work or the outcome of the truths is identical. For instance, if I said, "Steve, shut the door, please," and I looked at Dinah and said, "Dinah, will you please close the door?" Well, shut and close are two different words entirely, but the outcome is the same. You'd be shutting or closing the door. So it's the same thing like this: the man that fears God obeys God. And I'm going to show you today, the man who loves God obeys God as well. These are identical twin truths.

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• Now, let me just point out the fact I mentioned last week, we have identical twins, Leah and Laura. And although they have different names, the truth of the matter is they had their children. Leah had a boy and a girl, actually a girl and a boy first. And then Laura also had a boy and a girl. And when those children were small, they looked at Leah and Laura and they just simply called them "the mamas" because they didn't know which one was which. And Laura would be just as comfortable picking up Leah's children and they would know the difference between their aunt or their mother and vice versa. So they just referred to them as "the mamas."

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• So whether you say Steve fears God and Lorraine loves God, the outcome is still basically the same. So last week we looked at the twin of fear. This week we're going to look at the twin of love. Now last week I tried to distinguish for you different types of fear. So there are fears in the Bible that are condemned and there's a fear that is commended. So those that are condemned in the Bible are the hypocritical fear and the servile fear. And that which is commended in the Bible happens to be that which is a biblical fear. Now, I gave you a number of verses, but I want to give you two today that I gave you last week just to refresh your mind and to show you that real biblical fear always issues in obedience. So in Deuteronomy chapter 5, verse 29, God said, "O that there were such a heart in them, that they would fear me, and keep all my commandments always, that it might be well with them, and with their children forever!" So God said, "O that there was a heart in them that they would fear me and keep my commandments." So godly fear always leads to obedience. And then He said

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• it like this in Deuteronomy 6, verse 2: "That thou mightest fear the Lord thy God, to keep his statutes and commandments, which I command thee, thou, and thy son, and thy son's son, all the days of thy life; and that thy days may be prolonged." So the fear of God then always issues forth in obedience. And also, there are a multitude of blessings connected with obedience. So godly fear not only leads to obedience, but generally speaking—not always, it's a general truth, a general principle—obedience usually leads to a long life. So the fear of God includes many blessings. So very quickly, what I want you to do is follow me in the book of Proverbs as I just show you some of the Proverbs relating to the fear of the Lord. So if you will turn then to Proverbs chapter 9, and we'll do this very quickly. But I want you to see not only the truth that is taught concerning the fear of God, but the blessings that are also connected to the fear of the Lord.

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• So in Proverbs chapter 9, if you look there at verse 10, Proverbs 9, verse 10, the Bible says, "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom: and the knowledge of the holy is understanding." So the one who fears God would end up with biblical wisdom and with biblical understanding. So if you look in chapter 10, verse 27, here's another blessing: "The fear of the Lord prolongeth days: but the years of the wicked shall be shortened." So the fear of the Lord prolongs days, but the years of the wicked shall be shortened. If you'd look in Proverbs 13, verse 13—Proverbs 13, verse 13—now may I remind you that I said last week, the one who does not fear God despises him, and the one that does not love God hates him. So here in Proverbs, if you look now chapter 13, verse 13: "Whoso despiseth the word shall be destroyed: but he that feareth the commandment shall be rewarded."

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• Now I'm going to point something out now, and I will reemphasize it later. You really cannot separate God from His Word. So I'm going to show you, to obey the Word of God is to obey God; to despise the Word of God is to despise God. So if you look in Proverbs chapter 14, verse 2, look at this verse: "He that walketh in his uprightness feareth the Lord: but he that is perverse in his ways despiseth him." Now there's the same truth: if you walk in uprightness, that is that which is righteous and obedient, then you fear the Lord. If you walk in that which is perverse, then you despise him. If you look in chapter 14, verse 26: "In the fear of the

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• Lord is strong confidence: and his children shall have a place of refuge." So those that fear the Lord have a strong confidence in Him, and He's always a place of refuge. The Bible tells us very clearly that He is indeed our tower, our rock, our place of refuge. Now, if you look in verse 27, he says, "The fear of the Lord is a fountain of life, to depart from the snares of death." So the fear of the Lord is a fountain of life, and it teaches us to depart from those snares which produce death. Then if you look in chapter 15, verse 16, the Bible says, "Better is a little with the fear of the Lord than great treasure and trouble therewith."

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• I thought about some of these people who have billions and billions. I think of Bill Gates. Think of George Soros. But I'll tell you what, I'd rather have what little bit I have and be saved by the grace of God than to be a multi-billionaire and know nothing of the Lord Jesus Christ. That is for sure. So if you look now in Proverbs 15, verse 33—Proverbs 15, verse 33—"The fear of the Lord is the instruction of wisdom; and before honour is humility." Then if you look in Proverbs 16, verse 6, I quoted this verse last week. This is a tremendous passage: "By mercy and truth iniquity is purged: and by the fear of the Lord men depart from evil." So if there's no fear of the Lord, that is no obedience, there's not going to be any departure from evil as well. So if you look now in Proverbs chapter 19, verse 23—Proverbs 19, verse 23—"The fear of the Lord tendeth to life: and he that hath it shall abide satisfied; he shall not be visited with evil."

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• So the fear of the Lord tendeth to life. Now I pointed out all of these truths last week, basically from the book of Deuteronomy, how the fear of the Lord equals obedience. And I also told you last week that in the New Testament, when the church was said to be walking in the fear of the Lord, that was obedience. You'll find that in Acts 9, verse 31: "Then had the churches rest throughout all Judaea and Galilee and Samaria, and were edified; and walking in the fear of the Lord,

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• and in the comfort of the Holy Ghost, were multiplied." So now, just like there are different kinds of fear in the Bible, some that are condemned and only one that is commended, so likewise, there are different types of love that are mentioned as well. So let me tell you, first of all, there is a fleshly or lustful—I hesitate to call it love, but lust would be the correct word. Then there is what we would call a family or a friendly love.

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• And then there is that which is spiritual. So, first of all, the fleshly lust—the Greek word is eros. It is the word from which we get our English word "erotic." Now the word eros does not occur in the Greek New Testament. However, it does occur in Greek literature. So when you talk about eros, that is the love that just simply takes. The second kind of love that is mentioned in the Bible is from the word phileo. Phileo happens to be a verb; it means "I love." But that is the source of our English word "phileo" and "family." So when you think of filial love or family love, that is the love that gives and receives. And then, of course, there is the love that is known as agape. That is the spiritual love. The verb is agapao. But that is the love that just simply gives and expects nothing in return. That is the word that is used in John 3:16: "For God so loved the world, that he gave." So biblical love gives, because it is true,

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• it is holy, and it is indeed biblical. So I want you to go back in your Bibles now and look, if you would, at 1 John chapter 4 again with this in mind, and look at verses 7 and 8 again. Now I want you to understand the word love. So look in 1 John 4, verse 7. He says, "Beloved, let us love one another"—that's agape love—"for agape love is of God. And everyone that agapes is born or has been born of God and knoweth God. He that agapes not knoweth not God, for God is love." So in this passage, he's actually talking about a spiritual love. So there is a biblical love, and he's not talking about a fleshly lust. Neither is he talking here about a filial or a family love that simply gives and receives. But he's talking about a biblical love that simply gives, that expects nothing in return. So he says this: those who do not have this spiritual love, those who do not have this agape love, do not know God.

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• In other words, man does not originate this love in and of himself. This love is not in our nature. This love, the spiritual love, only comes through regeneration and conversion where God places this spiritual love in our hearts and in our lives. Most of you have read 1 Corinthians 13 many times. That chapter is known as the love chapter. But you'll notice when you read that chapter—and I hope you will read it this afternoon—the word "charity" is in that chapter over and over and over. But the word "charity" there is the word agape; it is talking about biblical love. So charity edifies, love edifies. Charity never fails, love never fails. But every time that is used, it is used there as love.

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• Now, I told you that fear and love are identical twins. We tend to think that fear and love are opposites, but that's not true. So if you look in 1 John chapter 4, verse 18, someone is inevitably going to come up with this passage, and I want you to see it and think about this with me. 1 John 4, verse 18, God says, "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." Now when you look at that, and you say, "But wait a minute, there is a biblical fear and there are unbiblical fears." Obviously, clearly, when the Bible says that perfect love casteth out fear because fear hath torment, he is not referring to biblical fear. He would be referring to a hypocritical fear or a servile fear, but not a biblical fear. Because biblical fear issues in obedience. Obedience does not have torment. Now, "he that feareth is not made perfect in love." So it has to refer then to an unbiblical fear.

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• So let me explain it like this. In hermeneutics, which is the art of biblical interpretation or the science or the knowledge of biblical interpretation, one of the principles that is impressed upon our minds should be this: you can never take an obscure passage and make it contradict other plain passages. Well, verse 18 would be an obscure passage in the sense that we don't know what the word "fear" is. But when we look back at all the other scriptures, "the fear of the Lord is good, enlightening the eyes." Well, clearly it cannot be a biblical fear. It has to be a servile fear or hypocritical fear. Moreover, the principle could be stated like this: if you interpret a passage and your interpretation contradicts other clear and plain passages in the Bible, the Bible is not wrong. Your interpretation is wrong, because God's Word is true.

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• So the point I'm making right now is this: the thrust in the Old Testament and the thrust in the New Testament happens to be that of obedience. So fear equals obedience—that is biblical fear. Biblical love equals obedience because they are identical twins. So let me just try to give you a scenario. Let me give you an illustration. Let's suppose that your children come to you every day and say, "Mother, Father, I love you." Let's suppose they not only do it once a day, but they do it several times throughout the day. And when you hear someone say, "Well, my children tell me 20 times a day that they love me," you think, "Oh, man, those are absolutely wonderful children. I'd love to have children like that." Well, let me go a little further. These children, your children, come up to you 15 or 20 times a day and tell you, "I love you."

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• But—but—but they never obey you. They never listen to you. They never honor you. They never respect you. In fact, they not only slip up and do that which you forbid behind your backs, sometimes they are so bold and brazen, they even do it to your face. And then they say, "Mama, Daddy, I love you." Now, here's my question: would you really believe that they loved you? Even though they said so.

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• You see, this is the situation we've gotten ourselves into in our churches. Because there are many professing Christians that profess to love God and yet their lives are absolutely, totally catastrophic. They disobey Him. They despise Him. They dishonor Him. Men do this incessantly to the Lord. They say one thing and do another. So the truth of the matter is this: those who really do not love God, those who really do not fear Him, they actually despise Him and they turn their backs upon Him.

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• So let me show you. I want you to hold 1 John, but turn in your Bibles to the book of Jeremiah. First of all, to Jeremiah chapter 18, and then we're going to go to Jeremiah 32. But look in Jeremiah chapter 18 first. Let's look there at verse 17. Jeremiah 18, verse 17. Look what God says that He's going to do to Israel. Jeremiah 18, verse 17: God says, "I will scatter them as with an east wind before the enemy: I will show them the back, and not the face, in the day of their calamity." So here's God's judgment. God said, "I'm going to scatter them as with an east wind before the enemy." That is, they're going to be conquered. They're going to be in captivity. They're going to be judged. They're going to be destroyed. And God said, "I will show them the back, and not the face, in the day of their calamity." What's that mean? It means God is not going to listen to them. He's going to turn His back upon them.

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• All their cries and all their misery and all their heartache, they will just have to endure. Why would God do such a thing? Well, I could show you this on numerous times in the book of Jeremiah. But if you will turn to Jeremiah chapter 32 and look in verse 33, you will see the exact same thing said, but this time it is said that which Israel has done to God. So Jeremiah chapter 32, verse 33. Look at it: Jeremiah 32, verse 33: "And they have turned unto me the back, and not the face: though I taught them, rising up early and teaching them, yet they have not hearkened to receive instruction." So what did Israel do to God?

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• He tried to teach them. He tried to give them His Word, His commandments, and they turned the back to Him. They refuse to listen to Him. They refuse to hear Him. So what you see in Jeremiah chapter 18 is known as the lex talionis, which is the law of retribution. That is where God makes the punishment fit the crime. They turned their backs to God and did not give Him the face to listen. Now God says, when He comes your time for judgment, I'll turn My back to you and will not give you My face. I will not hear you in all of your trouble. Now I want you to note something: if they had loved God, their attitudes and their actions would have been different. Why? Because if you love Him, you obey Him. And what He's saying is, they refuse to obey. You can read that in the book of Jeremiah how many times He spoke to them,

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• and they refused to hearken. They stiffened their neck. They would not hear.

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• Now, I want to give you a scripture, and I want to call attention to one word, and I want to give you two quotes. Why don't you listen carefully? This is Exodus chapter 20, verse 6. Exodus 20, verse 6: "And showing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments." Now, that little word "and" is a conjunction. God says He shows mercy to thousands of them that love Him, and keep my commandments. How do we know they love Him? Because they keep His commandments. Now, here's what Matthew Poole said on that verse: "Them that love me and keep my commandments, this conjunction is very observable, both against those that falsely and foolishly pretend or insinuate that the inward affection of love to God is not absolutely and always necessary to salvation, which it is." And then he says this: "and also against them who pretending inward love to God live in a customary breach of God's known commands." In other words, they say they love God, but they disobey.

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• And then Adam Clarke said it like this: "And love is the grand principle of obedience and the only incentive to it. So there can be no obedience without love. It would be more easy, even in Egyptian bondage, to make brick without straw than to do the will of God unless the love be shed abroad in the heart by the Holy Spirit. Love, says the apostle, is the fulfilling of the law."

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• Now, what I did last week is what I want to do this week. I took you through the book of Deuteronomy and showed you where fear of the Lord equals obedience. And then we went to the New Testament. So I want to do the same thing today. I want to take you back to the book of Deuteronomy and show where love equals obedience. So if you will turn back in your Bibles to Deuteronomy chapter 7, verse 9, and we're going to look at a number of verses in the book of Deuteronomy. And I want you to note how love always issues in obedience. So Deuteronomy chapter 7, look if you would please at verse 9. Here it is: "Know therefore that the Lord thy God, he is God, the faithful God, which keepeth covenant and mercy with them that love him and keep his commandments to a thousand generations." So those that love Him keep His commandments. Now look in Deuteronomy chapter 10, verse 12. Deuteronomy 10, verse 12: "And now, Israel, what doth the Lord thy God require of thee, but to fear the Lord

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• —now watch it, he's going to put these two things together—"but to fear the Lord thy God, to walk in all his ways, and to love him, and to serve the Lord thy God with all thy heart, with all thy soul." Well, if you fear Him, you're going to walk in His ways. If you're serving Him, you love Him. But the only way you can serve Him is to walk in His ways. You cannot serve Him by walking contrary to Him. So even in this passage, love and fear are identical.

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• So look in your Bibles now, if you would, to Deuteronomy 11, verse 1: "Therefore thou shalt love the Lord thy God, and keep his charge, and his statutes, and his judgments, and his commandments, always." Thou shalt love the Lord thy God. If you love Him, what are you going to do? You're going to keep His charge, His statutes, His judgments, and His commandments. Look, if you would, in verse 13 in the same chapter: "And it shall come to pass, if ye shall hearken diligently unto my commandments which I command you this day, to love the Lord your God, and to serve him with all your heart and with all your soul." Notice, if you would, what is loving the Lord? It's hearkening diligently unto His commandments, which will issue forth into service out of a heart of love for Him. Wow. Look in Deuteronomy 11 again. I mentioned verse 13. Look in verse 22: Deuteronomy 11, verse 22: "For if ye shall diligently keep all these commandments which I command you, to do them"—here it is again—"to love the Lord your God, to walk in all his ways, and to cleave unto him." So what is walking in His ways?

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• It's cleaving unto Him. How do you walk in His ways? By keeping His Word, by keeping His commandments. Wow. Look, if you would, to Deuteronomy chapter 19, verse 9. Deuteronomy chapter 19, verse 9. Look at this: "If thou shalt keep all these commandments to do them, which I command thee this day, to love the Lord thy God, and to walk ever in his ways; then shalt thou add three cities more for thee, beside these three"—he's talking about the cities of refuge. But note: "If thou shalt keep all these commandments, to do them, which I command thee, to love the Lord thy God." What is loving the Lord? It is obedience, it is keeping His commandments. So, turn right over to Deuteronomy chapter 30. Deuteronomy 30, look if you would please at verse 6. Deuteronomy 30, verse 6: "And the Lord thy God will circumcise thine heart, and the heart of thy seed"—what does that mean?—"to love the Lord thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, that thou mayest live."

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• What did I tell you earlier? The love of God is not in man by nature. Obedience is not in us by nature. By nature, we disobey. It's only in regeneration that God gives us His love that enables us to obey. So in Deuteronomy chapter 30, look now at verse 16: "In that I command thee this day to love the Lord thy God, to walk in his ways, and to keep his commandments and his statutes and his judgments, that thou mayest live and multiply: and the Lord thy God shall bless thee in the land whither thou goest to possess it." But note, if you would, He commands you to love the Lord. What is loving the Lord? To walk in His ways, to keep His commandments and His statutes and His judgments, that we may live. Wow. Now look, if you would please, in verse 20 of Deuteronomy 30: "That thou mayest love the Lord thy God, that thou mayest obey his voice,

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• —there it is, but not stated another way—"and that thou mayest cleave unto him: for he is thy life, and the length of thy days: that thou mayest dwell in the land which the Lord sware unto thy fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give them." Note, if you would, loving the Lord, obeying His voice, it is cleaving unto Him, for He is our life. Now if you would turn right over to the book of Joshua chapter 22, and look if you would at verse 5. Joshua 22, verse 5. Joshua 22, verse 5: Joshua says it like this: "But take diligent heed to do the commandment and the law, which Moses the servant of the Lord charged you, to love the Lord your God, and to walk in all of his ways, and to keep his commandments, and to cleave unto him, and to serve him with all your heart and with all your soul."

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• Isn't it amazing how many times God repeats this over and over and over through different men? Loving the Lord is obedience. Cleaving unto Him is obedience. Serving Him is obedience. You cannot serve Him any other way. Now if you would turn on over to the book of Psalms and look in Psalm 70, Psalm 70, verse 4. And I want you to think with me on this one. Psalm 70, verse 4. Look what he says: "Let all those that seek thee rejoice and be glad in thee: and let such as love thy salvation say continually, Let God be magnified." Now wait a minute. If we love God's salvation, we love Him. If we love Him, we're obedient. Now if we're obedient, we can say, "Let God be magnified," or "Let God be glorified." Well, let me ask you a question: do you think for one instance that while you're stealing, while you're killing, while you're committing adultery, while you're lying, while you're deceiving, while you're defrauding—do you think at that particular point you could say, "Let God be magnified"?

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• Obviously, clearly not, because none of those things magnify Him. He condemns every one of them. So if you're going to magnify the Lord, it means you're going to obey Him. If you love His salvation, you're going to bring your life in conformity to His Word. Now if you look one more time in the book of Psalms, Psalm 119, verse 165. This is one of my favorite verses. Psalm 119, verse 165. Notice what the scripture says: "Great peace have they which love thy law: and nothing shall offend them." Now I'm going to make this statement now, and I will show it to you later in scripture, that you cannot separate God from His law. You cannot separate God from His Word. If you despise the Word of God, you despise God. If you despise God, you despise His Word. He said in Psalm 138 that He's magnified His Word above all His name. So if one loves God, he obeys God. If one fears God, he obeys God. And obedience to His Word is inseparable from obedience to God Himself.

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• So I want you to turn now to the New Testament. If you'd look in Mark chapter 12 to begin with, Mark chapter 12. I'm going to be tying this together for you in a little while, but please follow with me. Look in Mark chapter 12 at verses 30 and 31. Mark 12, verse 30 and 31.

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• Now, you should already have an idea that love issues in obedience.

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• He says in verse 30, "And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength." Now look at this: "This is the first commandment. And the second is like, namely this, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. There is none other commandment greater than these." Note, if you would, love is connected there with the commandments.

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• Now, turn right on over to John chapter 14. John chapter 14, and I want you to look at verse 21. John 14, verse 21. Look at what our Lord says. I don't really see how this could be any plainer, but He says it like this: "He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me: and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him." Our Lord said, "If you have my commandments and you keep them, you love me." And He said, "You shall be loved of my Father." Now skip down to verse 23. Well, let's read verse 22 because Judas asked this question—not Iscariot: "Judas saith unto him, not Iscariot, Lord, how is it that thou wilt manifest thyself unto us, and not unto the world?" Jesus answered and said unto him—here it is again—"If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him." Now look at verse 24: "He that loveth me not keepeth not my sayings: and the

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• word which ye hear is not mine, but the Father's which sent me." So our Lord said twice, "If you love me, you will keep my commandments." And then He said very plainly, "He that loveth me not keepeth not my sayings." So the man then that fears the Lord, that loves the Lord, is an obedient man. The man who says that he fears the Lord and loves the Lord and does not keep His Word, does not obey His commandments—that man's a liar. And I'll show you that from the Bible as well. So our Lord makes it exceedingly plain. Now look in John chapter 15, beginning there with verse 9. John 15, verse 9. Our Lord said, "As the Father hath loved me, so have I loved you: continue ye in my love. If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love; even as I have kept my Father's commandments, and abide in his love." Now, John chapter 15 is a very interesting chapter, and especially this first part, because it talks about abiding in Christ.

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• And so if you look in verse 4, He said, "Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me." Then He says, "I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me..." So this whole thing is about abiding. Years ago, I read—I don't know how many books—concerning what we call the deeper life movement or the secret to abiding in Christ, and all this stuff that is so esoteric in the sense that it's supposed to be a super secret and only a few people attain it and only a few people know what it really means to abide in Christ.

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• Oh, that's hogwash. Because our Lord said very plainly, look in verse 9 again: "As the Father hath loved me, so have I loved you: continue ye in my love." What do you do to continue in His love? What do you do to abide in Him? "If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love; even as I have kept my Father's commandments, and abide in his love." Obedience. That's simple. That's all He's saying: obedience. If you'd turn right over in your Bibles to the book of Romans chapter 13. Romans chapter 13. Look if you would please there, beginning with verse 8. Romans 13, verse 8. Look at this: Romans 13, verse 8. "Owe no man any thing, but to love one another." Here's a tremendous statement: "For he that loveth another hath fulfilled the law."

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• "For this, Thou shalt not commit adultery, Thou shalt not kill, Thou shalt not steal, Thou shalt not bear false witness, Thou shalt not covet; and if there be any other commandment, it is briefly comprehended in this saying, namely, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. Love worketh no ill to his neighbour: therefore love is the fulfilling of the law." So I'm going to say this now. I'll probably say this again. Here's the truth that you really need to grasp: love is not sentimentality. Love is not emotion. Love is obedience. Now, I may never put my arms around Steve's neck and hug him and weep and cry on his shoulder and tell him I love him. But as long as I treat him biblically and I respect his wife and his family and treat him the way God commands me to treat him, I love him. Because love is obedience. This is what it means to love your enemies.

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• Doesn't mean that you're to take them out and buy them a T-bone steak. It just means you're to act biblical toward them. If he hungers, give him peas if that's what you got. If he's thirsty, give him water. You don't have to buy him a latte. You don't have to buy him a frappuccino. No, just give him water. You just act biblically toward them. That's how you love your enemies. It's not that you're emotional over them and you're not this sentimental over them. You're not gushing over them. You're just obedient. So love is obedience. This is what He's teaching us very plainly. Now, let me just tell you this again.

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• When you think about God's law, when you think about God's Word, the totality of it—and by the way, all of God's Word is law, because He gives us His commands, He gives us His promises, He gives us His warnings. It is biblical law. But when you stop and think about God's Word or God's law, what is it? It is the expression of the will of God for our lives. That's what it is.

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• And failure to obey His command is a transgression. It is a sin. Therefore, it is a despising of Him.

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• Now, I said this earlier. Number one, you cannot separate God from His Word. Number two, if you do not fear God, you despise Him. If you do not love Him, you hate Him. There's no in between. You remember the passage in 2 Samuel chapter 12, verses 9 and 10. I'm going to quote them just momentarily. But David had committed adultery with Bathsheba, had her husband Uriah killed with the sword of the children of Ammon, and God charged him with that murder. And here's what God said to him through the prophet Nathan. Listen to what God said to David.

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• "Wherefore hast thou despised the commandment of the Lord, to do evil in his sight? Thou hast killed Uriah the Hittite with the sword, and hast taken his wife to be thy wife, and hast slain him with the sword of the children of Ammon. Now therefore the sword shall never depart out of thine house; because thou hast despised me, saith the Lord." So in verse 9, David despised the Word of the Lord in the fact that he violated God's law. In verse 10, God said, "You've despised me." So you cannot despise the Word of God without despising God, and you cannot despise God without despising His Word. That's why I said earlier, you cannot separate God from His Word. Now interestingly, we have the same truth in the New Testament.

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• I want you to turn in your Bibles, if you would, to 1 Thessalonians chapter 4. 1 Thessalonians chapter 4. I want you to look closely at this passage, because we are dealing with the will of God for our lives. 1 Thessalonians chapter 4, and let's begin reading there with verse 3. Watch: "For this is the will of God, even your sanctification, that ye should abstain from fornication." Now wait a minute. What is the will of God for each one of us? That we abstain from fornication. That's very plainly stated. Here's why: look in verse 4, "That every one of you should know how to possess his vessel"—that is his body—"in sanctification and honour." Okay. Now look at this: verse 5 is a negative, "Not in the lust of concupiscence, even as the Gentiles which know not God"—in other words, not in the erotic sense, not in the lust of concupiscence, even as the Gentiles which know not God. He said, "Don't act like the unsaved." Now look in verse 6: "That no man go beyond and defraud his brother in any matter"—or "in the matter," because we're talking about fornication—"because

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• that the Lord is the avenger of all such, as we have also forewarned you and testified." Here's another reason, verse 7: "For God hath not called us unto uncleanness, but unto holiness." So now wait a minute. Look carefully now. He said, "This is the will of God, even your sanctification, that ye should abstain from fornication: that every one of you should know how to possess his vessel in sanctification and honour; not in the lust of concupiscence, even as the Gentiles which know not God." Don't live like the unsaved. Don't go overboard and defraud your brother in this matter, because the Lord is the avenger of all such. Now, he says, "God has not called us to uncleanness, but unto holiness." This is the Word of the Lord. Now watch this. Look, if you would please, in verse 8.

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• "He therefore that despiseth, despiseth not man, but God, who hath also given us his Holy Spirit." So when you despise the command of God, the Word of God, the truth of God, you end up despising God. This is why I said earlier, you cannot take one attitude toward God and a different attitude toward His Word, or you cannot take one attitude toward His Word and a different attitude toward God. They are inseparable. You remember that passage in 1 Samuel chapter 2, verse 30? The Lord said, "Them that honour me I will honour, saith the Lord, and they that despise me shall be lightly esteemed." In other words, you despise God, God will despise you. It's just that simple. You will be lightly esteemed. Wow.

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• That is the lex talionis. Now, those that practice disobedience and constantly and continually transgress the Word of God are demonstrating, evidencing, and manifesting that number one, they don't fear God, and number two, they do not love God. They are found to be false professors and liars. So let me show you. Turn right over your Bibles to 1 John chapter 2. Now I read part of this last week, but not all of it. So look in 1 John chapter 2 and let's begin reading there with verse 3. Look at this: 1 John 2, verse 3: "And hereby we do know that we know him, if we keep his commandments." Well, how do I know that I know God?

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• Not that I'm earning my salvation, not that I'm working my salvation. No, no, no, no. No, I'm not working for it. I'm not earning it. He said, "Hereby we do know that we know him, if we keep his commandments." In other words, God in His grace and mercy is enabling and empowering and strengthening me to obey Him. That means I fear Him. That means I love Him. So hereby we do know that we know Him if we keep His commandments.

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• Now look at verse 4: "He that saith, I know him, and keepeth not his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him." Hang on. Watch verse 5: "But whoso keepeth his word, in him verily is the love of God perfected: hereby know we that we are in him." Ah, love is obedience. Now he said in verse 6: "He that saith he abideth in him"—I'll go back to John 15—"He that saith he abideth in him ought himself also so to walk, even as he walked." How did our Lord walk? In obedience to the Father. How are we to walk? In obedience to our Father and to our Lord Jesus Christ. So he's telling us very plainly that those who say they love God but disobey Him are liars. No, those who love Him obey Him. Now look in 1 John chapter 5, if you would. 1 John chapter 5, beginning there verse 1. 1 John 5, verse 1: "Whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ is born of God"—in other words, if we really genuinely believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the sent One, it is because God has begotten us—"and every one that loveth him that begat"—that is the Father—"loveth him also that is begotten of him."

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• That is the Son. So we know then, he said, that we are born of God when we love the Lord Jesus Christ and we love the Father. Now look in verse 2: "By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God, and keep his commandments." How do I know that I love each of you? Because I'm obedient towards you in reference to the Word of God. I treat you the way God commands me to treat you. So he says, "By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God, and keep his commandments." Now look at verse 3: "For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments: and his commandments are not grievous." Now biblical love is expressed in three ways in this passage. First, it is expressed by love for the Lord Jesus Christ in verse 1. Number two, it is expressed by love for the children of God. And it is a love that keeps God's law toward those children. And number three, it is expressed by the truth that the keeping of His commandments is not grievous.

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• That is, they are to be a joy and a delight and a privilege. Let me just tell you, I have not grieved. I'm not upset that I cannot lie, cheat, steal, kill, murder, rape. I don't want to do those things. I want to keep His commandments, and His commandments are not grievous. When God has regenerated you and converted you and implanted biblical love in your heart and in your life, you do not want to disobey Him. You do not want to harm or hurt or vex or quench Him. No. So love then, according to the Scripture, is obedience. Fear, according to Scripture, is obedience. So love and fear are identical twins. They both issue forth in obedience. Now, let me try to make some applications and tie this together.

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• So here's the first one. You already know this, or at least you should. It is impossible to fear God and not obey Him. It's impossible. If you really genuinely fear Him, you're going to obey Him. It's impossible to love God and not obey Him. Because if you really genuinely love Him, you're going to obey Him. So fear and love both express themselves in obedience. Now 1 John 2, verse 4, which we just read, makes it clear that those who say that they love God but do not obey Him are liars. So when you read 1 John 2, verse 4: "They that say, I know him, and obey not his commandments, are liars, and the truth is not in them." Either God is lying or they are lying when they say they love Him. And obviously, it's not God who's doing the lying. They're the ones that are doing the lying. Now, I can assure you that God is not the one doing the lying.

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• You cannot continue in sin. You cannot continue in transgression and disobedience if you are saved. Why? Because salvation is from sin. I've heard people ask—I'd say, "Folks, do you want to go to hell?" Well, nobody in their right mind wants to go to hell. The question is not, "Do you want to go to hell?" The question is, "Do you want to be saved from your sins?" See Matthew 1, verse 21: "Thou shalt call his name Jesus: for he shall save his people from their sins." So being saved from hell or being saved from judgment is a byproduct of being saved from your sins. If you're saved from your sins, you're saved from judgment. Okay. Now, hang on. You must

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• remember, the Scripture says that David was a man after God's own heart. And yet we read earlier about David's adultery and David actually committed murder. I want to point something out. That scenario, those sins which David committed at that time, were the exception to his life and not the general tenor of his life. It is true he sinned, and he sinned grievously. And his sins merited the death penalty, but God sovereignly pardoned him. That is a fact.

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• But those acts were the exceptions. David's life was, generally speaking, a life of obedience.

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• Now, the reason I'm telling you that is this. Now, I'm going to show you the Scripture. Each one of us happens to be a sinner. There are no perfect Christians. There are no perfect preachers. There are no perfect pastors. There are no perfect husbands and ladies. There are no perfect wives either. All of us have faults, all of us have sins, and all of us have failings. But those faults and those sins and those failings are the exceptions in our lives. They're not the general tenor of our life. The general tenor of our lives happens to be that of obedience. Now let me show you what I'm talking about.

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• If you look in your Bibles to 1 John 5, verse 18. 1 John 5, verse 18. Look at this verse: "We know that whosoever is born of God sinneth not; but he that is begotten of God keepeth himself, and that wicked one toucheth him not." Wow. Let's see. "We know that whosoever is born of God sinneth not." Oh, Steve, did you quit sinning when you got saved? No, you didn't. Wow. Something's wrong somewhere then.

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• Have you always kept yourself from the wicked one? No. Something's wrong somewhere. This is a passage that a lot of the perfectionists try to use and say, "They don't sin. They're perfect." Well, let me explain this for you, and I will share it with you. I took three years of Greek. The first book that we ever translated was the book of 1 John. Because 1 John is really the easiest book to translate. It really is. And when you look at verse 18 and a lot of these other verses in 1 John, they're what we call a present active indicative. An indicative means it's true, yes. A present active indicative—present means it's happening now and continuing to happen. Now look at this. Look at verse 18 again. Here's what it means—and by the way, "We know that whosoever is born of God is not continually and constantly committing sin. But he that is begotten of God is consistently and constantly keeping himself, that the wicked one toucheth him not."

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• In other words, what he's talking about is the general tenor of one's life, the obedience of one's life. I would hope to say that my life has been a life of obedience. Does that mean I'm perfect? Of course not. Does it mean I haven't sinned? Of course not. But it does mean I'm not going out actively, premeditatedly, and willingly looking to commit sin and continuing to do those things. No, I'm continually trying to keep myself from sinning. The very fact that I fall short, the very fact that I do sin, that I don't want to sin, just demonstrates the fact that I am not yet made perfect in Jesus Christ. So the truth of the matter is this: we're not yet glorified, but we shall be. A saved man is a sinner, but he's not one who is continually and constantly sinning. A saved man is one who is consistently and constantly trying to keep himself from sin and from the wicked one so that he will not displease and dishonor God.

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• So let me tie it together like this. A saved man fears God. A saved man loves God. So the saved man that fears God obeys God. And the saved man who loves God obeys God. Because fear and love are identical twins. If you fear Him, you love Him. If you love Him, you fear Him. So fear and love—identical twins.

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• you

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deepseek | deepseek-v4-pro | clean_readable_transcript | 2026-06-05T23:35:10Z