In the sermon titled 'The One Another's of Scripture (Love in the book of 1st John. Part 2),' speaker Steve Hopkins explores the theme of love as it relates to the various 'one another' commands in the Bible. Hopkins emphasizes that these commands, which include serving, praying, being patient, forgiving, and preferring others, all stem from love and require self-sacrifice. He contrasts the constrained love of an unsaved person with the genuine, heartfelt love of a child of God, who has experienced God's love firsthand. Citing 1 John 3:16, Hopkins explains that true love involves laying down one's life for others, as exemplified by Christ. The sermon also recounts the story of Archbishop Usher and Samuel Rutherford to illustrate the '11th commandment' of loving others as Christ loves us. Hopkins discusses how self-denial and humility are key aspects of this love and how Christians are called to bear each other's burdens, comfort one another, and show preference to others. He emphasizes the importance of prayer in discerning how to support fellow believers and highlights that genuine love for others is evidence of one's faith and regeneration. The sermon concludes with a call to imitate Christ's sacrificial love for humanity by loving and serving fellow Christians.

We took a break from our study of the book of Romans a couple of weeks ago to look at the topic of love in the book of 1st John. And this afternoon I want to take the opportunity afforded by the text to look briefly at the various one-anothers of Scripture because every one of the the one another's commanded the people of God in Scripture falls under the category of love. It is It is impossible to exercise any of the one another's of scripture without love for one another, at least not rightly. And it is impossible to have love for one another unless one has experienced the love of God Himself or Herself. The unsaved man or woman may labor under constraint to serve others, to pray for others, to be patient with others, to forgive others, to submit to others, to prefer others, to esteem others better than themselves, to be at peace with others, and to care for others, and bear the burdens of others.

But the child of God wants to. The child of God wants to. He's experienced the love of God. There's been a change in him. He has been adopted into the family of God.

The love of God has been implanted in his heart. He has experienced God's love. He knows the love of God firsthand and the power of it upon his own life and somewhat of the height and the depth and the length and the width of it and the love of God indwells him. And so the love of Christ compels him. In 1 John 3, 16, John says, speaking by the Spirit, hereby perceive we the love of God.

That is, by this, we know what love is. By this, we've come to understand what real love is, what true love is, because He laid down His life for us. Because Jesus died for us, brothers and sisters, we not only know what love looks like and acts like and lives like, we also know what real love dies like and how we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren. All of the one and others of scripture commanded of God to the people of God require a measure of self-sacrifice, a dying to self. Let's look at some of them and see how this is true.

John 13, 34, we just read, a new commandment I give unto you, that you love one another as I have loved you, As I have loved you, that ye also love one another. Charles Spurgeon tells a story of Archbishop Usher of the Church of Ireland back in the 1600s. The Archbishop had heard of the devotion of Samuel Rutherford. Many of you may be familiar with him, a minister of the Church of Scotland. And so Archbishop Usher has heard about him.

He's heard about his ministry. He's heard about his life and his devotion and his preaching. And so he's traveling and he's traveling to his parish and he's traveling through Scotland and he wants very much to witness this devotion of Samuel Rutherford for himself firsthand. And so as the story goes, while he's traveling to his parish, the Archbishop determined to disguise himself as a poor traveler. And in the words of Spurgeon, quote, at nightfall, he knocked on the door of Mr.

Rutherford's house and was received by Mrs. Rutherford. Here he is traveling and disguising himself as a poor traveler. And he asked if he could find lodging there for the night. To which Mrs.

Rutherford said, yes, because we entertain strangers. She placed him in the kitchen. She gave him something to eat. It was a part of her regular family discipline on Saturday evening to catechize the children and the servants. And of course, the poor man in the kitchen came in among them.

Mrs. Rutherford in the story puts to all of them some questions concerning the commandments of God. And when she gets to him, to this poor man, or who she perceives to be a poor man, she puts the question to him, how many commandments are there? And he answers, 11. Ah, she said, what a sad thing that a man of your age whose hair is sprinkled with gray should not even know how many commandments there are.

For there's not even a child above six years of age in our parish who doesn't know that." The poor man said nothing in reply, said Spurgeon, but He ate his oatmeal porridge and went to bed. Later he rose and listened to Mr. Rutherford's midnight prayer. And he was charmed with it and he made himself known to him. And the next morning, Sunday morning, he borrowed a better coat from him and preached at their church that following Sunday morning and surprised Mrs.

Rutherford by taking as his text that day, a new commandment I give unto you. And by commencing with the observation that this might very properly be called the 11th commandment. By and by, the Archbishop went on his way after preaching this sermon, after he and Rutherford had been, in Spurgeon's words, refreshed together. And then Spurgeon goes on, it is the 11th commandment, A new commandment I give unto you. It is the 11th commandment.

And the next time we are asked how many commandments there are, if we answer 11, we shall reply rightly. But why? Why is it a new commandment? Is it not included in the Ten? You know how the Lord, our Lord approved the lawyer's summary of the Ten Commandments, thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soul and with all thy strength and with all thy mind and thy neighbor as thyself?

How then is this a new commandment that you love one another? Spurgeon answers, it is new first as to the extent of the love. It's new first. It's a new commandment first as to the extent of the love. We are commanded to love our neighbors as ourselves, and that from the Old Testament.

But we are to love our fellow Christians as Christ loved us. And that is far more than we love ourselves. I am to love my fellow Christians even as Jesus Christ who died for me has loved me. This is a nobler kind of love altogether. It is a nobler kind of love altogether in comparison to the love with which we are to manifest to our neighbors.

The love commanded in the Old Testament is the love of benevolence. But this is a love of affinity and of close relationship. And of close relationship and it involves a higher degree of self-sacrifice than was commanded by the law of Moses close quote. To love our brothers and sisters in Christ as Christ has loved us involves self-sacrifice, and self-sacrifice involves self-denial. To love our brethren as Christ loved us requires a daily dying to self.

It requires a measure of self-death of dying to self every day. And this is not a thing that is natural to us. And it is a thing very unnatural to the world around us. In so much that when the world observes this kind of self-denying, self-sacrificial love amongst the children of God, they perceive that we belong to Christ. They perceive that we belong to Christ.

By this, John goes on to say, shall all men know that you're my disciples, Jesus said. Galatians 6 2. Bear you one another's burdens and so fulfill the law of Christ. The burdens of this life are often heavy and many times more than we can carry alone. When I have some of the grandchildren work for me and pay them a little salary, everybody knows I got a bad back, right?

So it's always such a blessing When I'm about to have to bend over and pick up something heavy, and one of those young guys or gals runs over and picks up the other end of that board or the other end of the box, we're to bear one another's burdens. We're to get under the load with that burden for our brothers and sisters, wherever we have opportunity to do so. Christians need each other. We are in the same family and we need to help one another as family members. Christians need each other and the law of love is fulfilled when we share the load with our family members in Christ.

The love of God within us moves us to do so. How many times have you been carrying a burden and a brother or sister noticed and came to your aid? That brother or sister had to take his eyes off of his own burdens or off of her own burdens for a time in order to do that. Now it's my turn. This person had to take their eyes, their concerns, their focus, their energy, their resources, their time away from the burdens of their life and we all have them to take up the other end of that board or weight with me.

Or that weight that is on my shoulders to come and help to lift it off. Now it's my turn. Sometimes we need to just set aside our own things and look to the things of others, especially those of the household of faith. Sometimes, however, that brother or sister who's carrying a burden doesn't make the burden known. And maybe it just isn't is an obvious.

I didn't know. I never knew you were carrying that burden. I didn't I didn't see that weight on your shoulders. I didn't realize what you were going through. Sometimes we just need to make the call and find out.

Sometimes we have to look and search because it just isn't obvious. Sometimes we have to seek them out and their needs when they don't make them obvious to us. One thing that you can be sure of, the Christian can be sure of, if we pray and ask God to show us to show us how we can help bear the burden of another child of God, we can be sure of this, God will show us. If you go to God in prayer, you say, Lord, I want to be there for my brother or sister that's in need. And maybe I just don't know what's going on in the congregation or in the family of God.

I just can you make it known to me, Lord? Can you show me, can you put me in contact with that person who's in need, or somehow let me come to know that they're carrying a burden that maybe I can help with? If you pray and ask God to show you how you can help bear the burden of another child of God, God will show you. You say, how can you possibly say that of assurity? 1 John 5 14.

This is the confidence that we have in Him. You can be confident of this. That if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. And if we know that He hears us whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we desired of him. I can't tell you the number of times where I've prayed for something that is in obvious accord with the revealed will of God in Scripture.

This is what I want you to do. Oh Lord, help me to do that. And God assists and God brings it about. Oh Lord, show me the need in the congregation. You may have to pray for a long period of time and not grow weary in prayer, God will show you.

You seek, you'll find, you ask, it'll be given, you knock, the door will be open. God will show you the needs, if that's your heart. Galatians 6 10 says that we are to do good to everyone, but especially those of the household of faith. So we don't neglect those who are nonbelievers, unbelievers. We pass them on the road.

We see they have a need. Someone's hungry, we feed them. They're naked, we clothe them. They have a need, we try to meet that need. They have a flat tire, we try to stop and help them if we can.

We're to do good to everyone, but especially those of the household of faith, especially the people of God. They are to be our main concern, and we should be seeking the ways in which we can bear their burdens and get underneath the load that they're carrying. The text from Galatians 6.2, I have to note before we go on, begins with an example of another kind of burden in verse 1. Paul says in Galatians 6.1, if a man is overtaken in a fault, those who are spiritual are to restore that person in a spirit of meekness, considering themselves lest they also be tempted. The passage seems to speak of a brother or a sister who is caught off guard and stumbles into sin.

And as every believer is susceptible, every believer should consider himself and not become overconfident. The following verse says in verse 3, for if a man thinks himself to be something when he is nothing, he deceives himself. A note in my Bible commentary says this verse 3 is a warning against overconfidence. It addresses overconfidence, quote, overconfidence in self as a consequence of not finding in oneself the faults of others. Overconfidence in self as a consequence of not finding in oneself the faults of others.

That's another thing sometimes we have to ask God to show us. Show me my faults. We must never come to the place where we begin to think that we are not susceptible to falling. We're to always be on guard against temptation. Watch and pray lest you enter into temptation let him who thinks he's standing take heed lest he fall he only thinks he's standing it's God that's holding us up We're to be on guard against temptation and we are to bear the burden of restoring or help bear the burden of restoring others when they fall in a spirit of meekness.

The Ligonier article puts it very well. The person restoring the sinning brother isn't to approach him as if he were a master over him. But meekly as one who is willing to help shoulder the burden so that the one who has stumbled can get to His feet again. That's love. The precept applies, of course, to all kinds of burdens, not merely the burdens of those who stumble into sin.

Every act of compassion and self-sacrifice on behalf of our brethren is a practical means of displaying the love of Christ and thereby fulfilling the demands of his law." Next one another. Comfort one another. 1 Thessalonians 418. Wherefore, comfort one another, the scripture says, with these words. The words the Apostle has been talking about in this passage speak of the coming of Christ and the future resurrection of believers.

This is a source of comfort for believers that Christ will will one day descend from heaven and on that day the dead in Christ will rise first. And we who are alive at the time will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so shall we ever be with the Lord. These are These are words of comfort. Believers are commanded to comfort other believers with these words.

Comfort one another. Consider, Brothers and sisters, consider what a blessing it will be for you. It would be for you, a dying saint, to have a fellow believer who loves you, close by you, comforting you with these words. Sitting at your bedside. As you're walking through the valley of the shadow of death, a valley that is coming for every one of us in this room and every person on the face of the earth.

A person sitting at your bedside as you're walking through the valley of the shadow of death reminding you as a believer, as a child of God, as one who is in Christ and in whom Christ dwells, of your future resurrection and the glory that awaits you. Let us bless others in this way as the day approaches for us. And not only the dying, but the living who are mourning the dying. Who may be mourning a loved one who is passing or has passed. Romans 12, 15, rejoice with them that rejoice, Weep with them that weep.

Spurgeon comments on this passage. Christ loved his disciples sympathetically. He grieved with them in their grief. He rejoiced with them in their joys. He entered into most intimate fellowship with them in their experiences, in those things.

Let us try to do the same with our brothers and sisters in Christ. Let us weep with those that weep and rejoice with those that rejoice. Nothing tends so greatly to oil the wheels of life as a little loving sympathy. Let us be always ready with a good supply of it wherever it is needed." Romans 12 10. Prefer one another.

Prefer one another. Be kindly affectioned one to another with brotherly love and honor, preferring one another. The ESV says, with brotherly affection, outdo one another in showing honor. Outdo one another in showing honor with love, with brotherly affection. The New American Standard, the translation Paul Washer uses says, give preference to one another in honor.

It is a virtue, brothers and sisters, a Christian virtue, to prefer others before ourselves. But in order to fulfill this, the value that we place upon others must be high. We must hold others in a higher estimation. Estimation has to do with value and the value with which we esteem others, which will be actually in the message next week. Esteem others better than yourselves in the list for next week.

Calvin comments here, the best a faux mentor of love is humility. When everyone honors others. Ephesians 4 2 through 3 forbear with one another, forbearing one another in love. Paul says here, I therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you that you walk worthy of the vocation wherewith you are called with all lowliness and meekness, with long long-suffering, putting up with a lot, forbearing one another in love, endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. How many churches have we heard of, or maybe in the past been members of, that were split apart or altogether disintegrated on account of pride?

On account of the pride of members of that congregation. Jonathan Edwards reminds us that pride is the first sin that ever entered the universe and the last sin that's going to be rooted out of it. In other words, pride's here with us, it's in us. In this passage, we are commanded with all humility and gentleness and with much patience to show forbearance one toward another in love. To forbear, Webster says, is to exercise patience and indulgence.

It is and indulgence. It is quote a ceasing or restraining from action. It holds back the tongue and the expressions and the actions. Forbearance requires humility. Again, Edwards, nothing sets a person so much out of the devil's reach as humility.

To forbear one another in love, according to one translation, is to quote, make allowance for others faults because of our love for them. Do we do this? Are we doing this? Do we, in that daily self-sacrifice and self-denial and dying to self, Do we make allowance for others' faults because of our love for them? A note in my Bible commentary says that to forbear in this sense is to endure, listen to this, pain and annoyance with self-control.

Oh, I like that. To forbear in this sense is to endure pain and annoyance with self-control. Can we say that that's the way that we deal with others in our home, our marriage, our family, and our church? Do we endure pain and annoyance with self-control? Again, patient forbearance pulls the reins on the tongue and actions.

Paul warns us in Galatians 5.15, if you bite and devour one another, take heed that you be not consumed one of another. I think of not only churches, but families, marriages. If you bite and devour one another, take heed that you be not consumed one of another. Patient forbearance pulls the reins on the tongue and actions. In a word, to forbear one another with all lowliness and meekness and with long suffering is to respond with humility and exercise self-control.

To be patient with others is to endure the infirmities and weaknesses of others in the body of Christ. Endeavoring, Paul says, that is making every effort, really working hard at it, to maintain the unity of the Spirit, the bond of peace. To maintain the unity of the Spirit, the bond of peace, to maintain the unity of the Spirit, making every effort to live at peace with one another. Oh, how many churches could be spared disintegration, splitting, how many families. At the onset, I said that every one of the one-anothers of scripture that are commanded of the people of God fall under the category of love.

It's impossible to exercise any of these one another's of scripture without love for one another. And it's impossible to have love for one another and obey the commands of God to exercise love one toward another, unless one has experienced the love of God himself or herself. In our last session, we read, This is His commandment that we should believe in the name of His Son, Jesus Christ, and love one another. Believe, love. You can't separate true love from true faith.

First comes the relationship with God by faith in Christ. Faith is the gift of God. Then love for the family of God just naturally follows and naturally flows. The two go hand in hand saving faith and love for the brethren and where the one is not the other isn't either. No person truly ever truly loves the people of God who hasn't experienced the love of God himself.

John says beloved let us love one another for love is of God and everyone that loves is born of God and knows God. As I said in our last session love for the people of God is evidence it gives us some evidence that our faith is real that we've been born of God. Love to the brethren is an evidence of regeneration John Gill says. In other words those who truly love God's people give evidence that they've been born of God. Remember we looked around and said, is there anyone, do you love the family of God?

Or do you say, I love this person, I love this person, I don't love that person. I can't love that person. That's not a good sign. I can help this person serve that person, help this person serve this person, but I can't help that person serve that person. I just can't.

That's not a good sign. Those who have been born again know God. Calvin says the true knowledge of God necessarily produces love in us. Love for the people of God, love for the family of God. A love like we never knew before.

Christ-like love, which is supernatural, right, In its origin. It's not a thing we're born with, and thus it's a sign, it's evidence that we're truly saved so that what follows is no mystery. What John says follows, he that loves not knows not God. You don't love the people of God, you don't know God. Sometimes it's more difficult to love this person or that person, that's not what I'm saying.

We have difficulty because we're sinners, we still have the remnants of corruption within us. As I said in our last session that's cause for repentance. We go to God and say Lord I just I don't love this person like I ought to. I feel like I can serve this person but I don't feel like I'd serve that person. That's good.

It's a good thing. Be able to come before God and say, you know what, Lord, I need your help. I need grace in this area of my life. I want to love as Christ loved and I want to love as Christ loved me. An unlovable sinner with a whole lot more faults than the person I'm having difficulty loving.

We end it with this. It was manifested, and this manifested the love of God toward us because that God sent His only begotten Son into the world that we might live through Him. By this, God's love was demonstrated to us and that He sent His only begotten Son from heaven into the world that we who were dead and trespassed in sins might live. Herein is love not that we love God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Here in His love, not that we love God, we were unworthy of His love, but that He loved us the unlovable.

Here in His love that His love came first in order before we were ever born. Here in His love not that we were worthy of God's love, we were worthy of God's hatred. But that He loved us before time and sent His Son into the world in time to save us. Here in His love that the justice of God do us was satisfied by the propitiating sacrifice of God's own Son. To satisfy the demands of divine justice and to forever pacify His just anger, to reconcile us to God, to grant us the forgiveness of sins and life everlasting in His presence.

I'll end with 1 John chapter 4 and verse 11. Beloved, if God so loved us, and He did, if He so loved us, we ought also to love one another. If God so loved us that He sent His Son to die for us, unlovable sinners, offenders, should we not also love our fellow Christians for whom He died? Jesus gave Himself for us, should we not imitate Him and give ourselves for them? If God so loved us, should we not also love one another and thereby fulfill commands of Scripture?

We should.