The Gospel of John chapter 13 and verse
34.
A new commandment I give unto you, that
ye love one another, as I have loved
you, that ye also love one another.
By this shall all men know that ye
are my disciples, if ye have love one
to another.
The touchstone of Christianity, the foundation of a
revolution that was begun by the Lord Jesus
Christ himself.
In this you will know that they are
my disciples, in that they have no possessions.
It's not what it says.
In this you will know that they are
my disciples.
They read and carry their Bible.
Doesn't say that.
In this you will know that they are
my disciples.
They will have sound doctrine.
Doesn't say that either.
In this you will know that they are
my disciples.
They traverse land and sea to get our
tract.
Doesn't say that either.
It says there is one major thing that
will cause the world to be convinced that
we are his disciples.
Not the disciples of men, not the disciples
of an institution, not the disciples of an
organization, but his disciples, and it will be
on and on, one toward another.
Love, the kind of love that Jesus had
when he laid his life down for us.
A new commandment I give unto you, that
ye love one another as I have loved
you.
I want you to remember those words tonight.
That ye love one another as I have
loved you.
That's God's standard.
That's what God demands tonight.
That's what the heart of God is crying
for tonight.
That we love one another in the exact
same way that Jesus and that God loved
us.
He is our example.
We can but follow him.
For as it says in 1 John, we
must walk even as he walked.
We could go on and give many passages
of scripture.
Brother Dale has already touched on so many
important phases of love.
Love is always given.
Love is always going.
Going to the other man.
Going to the need of the other man.
Going to bring happiness and health and heaven
to the other man.
It says in 1 John chapter 3 and
verse 16, in this we perceive the love
of God.
Young people have asked me, well how do
I understand the love of God?
How can I know the love of God?
The writer gives it very clearly.
In this we perceive, we understand the love
of God in that he laid down his
life for us.
And what are the following words?
And so we ought to lay down our
lives for the brethren.
We ought to lay down our lives for
the brethren.
Greater love hath no man than this, that
he lay down his life for a friend.
Love is the essence of discipleship.
Love are the walls that surround the disciple.
Love is the roof that protects him.
Love is the ground upon which he rests.
For though I speak with the tongues of
men, though I have all wisdom, though I
make tremendous sacrifices, though I give my body
to be burned, though I give of my
limbs and of my bones and of all
I have, and if I have not love,
I am a sounding brass and tingling cymbal.
Oh that God will deliver us from the
tin bands of the devil.
Sounding brass and tingling cymbal.
Wising sepulchres.
All the outward appearance.
All the outward trimmings.
Living economically.
Living ruggedly.
Very few possessions.
Watching your money.
All the outward trimmings and yet possibly all
white and sepulchre.
The Bible says man looketh at the outward
appearance, but God looketh at the heart.
And the love that God is seeking from
the disciple tonight, the love that God is
seeking from you tonight is a love that
comes from the heart.
It's not an external thing that you can
turn off and on.
It's not something that can be measured with
some kind of a spiritual phenomena, but it's
something that springs from a heart that has
been touched by God.
Most of us, I think, have to admit
we don't know much about really loving people.
Easily during these days here we could become
frustrated and condensed as we realize what a
pack of phonies as we would say across
the water we really are.
As we realize how our hearts have deceived
us so often times.
As we realize how our love is so
often stained, so often tinted by the one
who we're trying to love, by his reputation,
by his ability to like us, by what
we can get out of the whole situation.
How easy it is to love a man
unconsciously, loving him to see what we're going
to get out of the holding.
Paul speaks of unfeigned love, unhypocritical love, love
that shows no partiality, love that is equal
to the queen as to the beggar in
the street.
For Jesus himself said that if we help
the man in prison, if we help the
man who is naked, if we help the
man even by giving a glass of cold
water, it would not go unrewarded.
For Jesus said himself, whatsoever you have done
to the least of these my brethren, you
have done it unto me.
So absolutely revolutionary those words are.
But the question that comes to my mind
tonight, and I think it's coming to many
of your minds, is simply this.
Does it really work?
This thing of loving, this thing of giving
yourself utterly for the other man, this thing
of falling into the ground and dying, this
thing of denying yourself, taking up the cross
and following him, does it really work?
Or will I merely become a frustrating person
on a tangent to some kind of sex
or fanatical religious experience?
Does it work?
If I let go of all my worldly
possessions, if I let go of all the
pride of my heart, all the lust for
power, all the craving for status, all the
desire for recognition and for feeling important, and
for the clatterings and cravings of men, if
I let go of it all, will I
really be able to live a balanced life?
Before I knew Christ, some ten years ago,
I used to go to the football game.
Some of you know in America, we're a
little bit odd.
We play football mainly with our hands, throwing
the ball around.
And I was never very good at it.
I was a little small, because it seems
that they also throw one another around quite
a bit.
And so I really was never of the
right size for that sport.
But I used to love to go to
the game.
And oh, I tell you, I used to
get excited.
I tell you, my team, they were some
of my good friends.
My pride was wrapped up in that team.
That's right.
I had told many an enemy they were
going to get routed on Saturday night.
And if they didn't get routed, I was
liable for routing.
And so my pride was wrapped up in
that team.
And a lot of other things.
And I used to want our team to
win.
I remember when I was in high school,
what you would call grammar school, I went
out into the woods all afternoon to gather
up wood for the bonfire.
We used to have what was called a
pet rally, and we'd get the football players
and give them the biggest dose of ego
juice we could ever find, so that they
would be in top condition for the battle
of pride on the field the next day.
And oh, I wanted these guys to win.
I rallied the whole school together.
I don't know how that happened.
We had hundreds come out to this bonfire,
and we burnt dummies of the enemy.
And we had a tremendous time.
And I used to shout and scream about
what we have to do.
And then when the game time came, I
sat up in the stands, or the bleachers,
or whatever you call them over here.
I'm still so ignorant of the English culture
and have it confused now with the Spanish,
Italian, German, French, Indian, Persian, and Turkish, Russian,
Czechoslovakian, Yugoslavian culture.
But I used to sit up in the
stands, and I used to get a drum,
a big bass drum.
And if I couldn't find the drum, I
remember one time I got a railroad, an
ambulance siren, about so large.
And I would cheer.
I was a cheerleader.
Not an official variety, but unofficially.
Some thought I had perhaps the loudest voice.
And across the field, where the enemy was
lodged in its nest, I would shout very
interesting remarks and beat the drum.
All during the game, until I could hardly
speak.
When I couldn't speak any longer, I just
beat the drum and turned the crank on
the siren.
Our team never won many games at all.
But I was considered perfectly normal.
They elected me as president of my student
body.
I was considered absolutely normal.
What I was doing was not fanatical.
What I was doing was not overboard.
I was the normal American grammar school lad,
concerned about his high school, concerned about the
reputation of the team.
All my friends thought that was so normal.
And after the game, or the next night,
we'd go to the big celebration dance, which
was especially frustrating when you lost the game.
But anyway, we'd try to forget it all.
And we'd go to the big dance.
And I'd come in oftentimes at maybe six
or seven in the morning, absolutely exhausted, absolutely
unable to walk, only to collapse on my
bed and sleep for six or seven hours.
I was considered perfectly normal.
He's an enthusiast, they would say.
He loves his school, they would say.
He's loyal, they would say.
But dare one young man, dare one young
woman become enthused for Christ and begin to
beat the drum of war against the powers
of darkness, and begin to speak out that
which is upon his heart against the enemy.
And he's labeled a fanatic, an extremist, and
many other names that there's no need to
repeat.
How the devil has us fooled!
Excited about the tinsel of the world!
Excited about the poison pills of the world!
And so absolutely blasé about the thrilling message
of the gospel of Christ.
We've been doped or drugged.
That's what Edward R.
Murrow, the great television announcer, said concerning the
American nation, and it could be true of
many nations.
He said we're doped, we're drugged, we're in
a stupor, not conscious of what's happening around
us, not conscious of the world situation and
all of its implications, not conscious of the
critical hour in which we live.
Drugged, doped by the inoculations of an inconsistent
mankind.
But the question is, does it work?
If I become an enthusiast for Christ, if
I give my life to Christ, if I
begin beating my drums for Christ, speaking forth
for Christ, be it in High Park Corner
or in the streets of Italy, will it
last?
Will it work?
Or will I become hard?
Will I become some kind of a special
person and eventually lose even my own well
-balance?
I want to tell you I've studied a
little bit of psychology just to know, or
just enough to know, that the man who
seems most normal on this earth is most
abnormal with God.
Look at the life of Paul, if you
will, for a few minutes, starting, if you
will, in 1 Corinthians chapter 4.
In 1 Corinthians chapter 4, we read these
words, first tense, we are fools for Christ's
sake, but ye are wise in Christ.
We are weak, but ye are strong.
Ye are honorable, but we are despised.
Even unto this present hour, we both hunger
and thirst, and are naked and are buffeted,
and have no certain dwelling place.
And labor, working with our own hands.
Being reviled, we bless.
Being persecuted, we suffer it.
Being defamed, we entreat.
We are made as the filth of the
world, and are the off-scouring of all
things unto this day.
The off-scouring of all things unto this
day.
Every once in a while we have people
who come on OM, who become extremely frustrated
when things don't go well.
They somehow think that we as Christians have
the title deed on getting everything done just
as we want.
The Apostle Paul knew some other road than
this.
The Apostle Paul knew the road of hunger.
Whenever there's a little lack of food in
some of our headquarters, some become extremely worried.
The Apostle Paul knew what it was to
be in terrible hunger, and yet we have
every proof that in the midst of it,
he always rejoiced.
The prime Apostle Paul knew what it was
not only to be hungry according to verse
11, he knew what it was to be
thirsty.
There's little of us that ever have that
problem in this day of such abundance of
water.
How unappreciative we are of the water that
God gives us.
And yet as soon as there's a drought,
as soon as there's a lack of water,
people almost sound cursing God.
Running to and fro, headlines in the newspapers
as we saw in New Jersey and New
York recently when they were lacking water, and
they couldn't water their gardens for more than
twice a week.
Headlines in the paper of the Apostle Paul
knew what it was to be thirsty.
He knew what it was to be naked.
Somehow the feeling that if all is going
well, we'll have all of our needs supplied,
everything we need, and yet what we really
mean is everything we want.
The Apostle Paul, despite the fact that I'm
sure he never wanted to be naked, was
found in times of nakedness, and in times
of being buffeted, and having no certain dwelling
place.
Now they have said, where is our heaven
going to get a proper headquarters?
Poorly organized organization without any proper headquarters.
Now they've moved into an old paper mill.
Harrowing.
The Apostle Paul, according to this verse of
Scripture, knew nothing of a central headquarters.
We have no indication that he even had
a square inch in the Jerusalem church for
a desk.
No dwelling place.
Buffeted, naked, thirsty.
The oft scouring of all things.
Was he not a disciple?
Was he not following these principles that we've
talked about here in these meetings?
Was he not a man following hard after
the Lord Jesus?
Oft scouring.
Fanatic.
Fool.
That's what they called him.
Yet he cried in his heart, yea, yea,
a fool for Christ.
Oh, that God would trip us with the
words of C.T. Studd, who wrote this
little chorus that is often spoke to my
heart.
I must be carried to the skies on
a flowery bed of ease.
Let others fight to win the prize or
sail the bloody seas.
Mark time, Christian heroes.
Never go to war.
Stop and mind the babies playing on the
floor.
Wash and dress and feed them forty times
a week.
Tell them roly-poly pudding, so to speak.
The chorus is also sharp, round and round
the nursery.
Let us ambulate, sugar and spite, all at
night.
Must be on our sleep.
Studd goes on to say, thank the good
Lord, said a fragile white haired lady.
God never meant me to be a jellyfish.
God never was a chocolate manufacturer and never
will be.
God's men are always heroes.
In the scripture you can trace them or
trace their giant foot tracks down the sands
of time.
And the little booklet goes to speak of
Noah, who turned back on all the traditions
of his day.
Who turned back on all the babblings of
men, like you might have to do if
you stand for righteousness as Noah stood.
It speaks of Abraham, who went forth knowing
not where he was going.
Young people apply for O.M. I don't
know where they're going.
We send them our literature, facts about operationalization,
how you're going to be traveling, where you're
going.
Abraham went, never even filled in a questionnaire.
These were God's men.
And then the little book goes on to
speak of men, of men like Moses, turning
his back on the plushest job in all
of Egypt.
He forsook it.
Rather it says in Hebrews, suffering reproach for
the people of God, than enjoying the pleasures
of sin for a season.
And remember it, those of you who are
in sin tonight, it's but for a season.
It'll last only so long.
How many young men, for five minutes on
a lonely night, sold themselves cheap to the
devil, all for a season.
The heartache that comes after it.
Oh, might we realize the way of Moses
is the only way.
Esteeming the suffering for the people of God,
greater than the riches of Egypt.
Men like Nathan, who feared not even the
king, and went to David when David was
in sin, and said with a boldness of
heaven, Ah, Archimandrite, these men of God cared
not what kings, nor queens, nor governments, nor
friend, nor foe, had to say.
They had their ears to heaven.
They knew what God wanted.
They knew what God had said.
And they spoke all for men who will
be free from the praise and the opinion
of others.
Men like Samuel, who was simply told in
unequivocal terms, No more praise.
What did he do?
To his room he went, like a fool
of fools.
Bowed down by the open window.
Anybody with any common sense would have told
him to close the window.
Even the medical doctors would have suggested he
could have caught a cold and could have
had a good excuse for closing.
The window wide open, fell on his knees
and defied the king.
Prayed to heaven.
Some people say, Oh, these are empty, going
behind the iron curtain, shunned her at breaking
the laws of men.
What rubbish!
Every man of God that's ever done anything
has passed through the devil-given laws of
men that were in contradiction to the words
of God or the word of God, which
is quite different from the 30-mile traffic
law that no one seems to bother about.
Oh, that we might treat these iron curtain
countries as Daniel treated the window, and leave
them wide open to take the message of
salvation.
And so they took Daniel, and they put
him in the lion's den.
I don't know what he did.
Perhaps he spent the night tickling the lion's
palate.
But we know the lion never touched him,
because God is with those who will follow
him.
And on and on we could go tonight,
telling of those men who walked with God.
Disciples they were, followers of him.
If you don't like the word disciple, use
another word.
We're not going to argue with you over
vocabulary.
The Bible uses disciple many dozens of times,
so it seems that might be a good
term.
Jesus used it over and over again.
In the book of Acts it didn't say
the number of evangelicals multiplied in Jerusalem.
It didn't say the number of decisions multiplied
in Jerusalem.
It said the number of disciples multiplied in
Jerusalem.
Is not that the burden that God has
for London tonight?
Is not that what's on the heart of
God?
Not another set of hands waved?
Not some more noise, some more motion, but
men of iron walking even as he walked.
Discipline, spiritual, broken, loving, kind, meek, gentle, oh,
oh, how much is involved in this life.
And yet, you know, there's a verse that
secures me in the midst of it all.
It's found in Corinthians and it says, my
grace, my grace is sufficient for thee.
My strength is made perfect in weakness.
Oftentimes when I read the life of Daniel,
I was extremely frustrated.
I knew I was no Daniel.
I read the life of Moses and I
became even more frustrated.
I knew I was no Moses.
I read the life of Paul, his sufferings,
his trials, his lashings across the back.
I became almost frightened by the very thought
of it.
I was no Paul.
Then I come to that verse in the
writings of Paul himself.
My grace is sufficient for thee.
Oh, I want us to dwell on that
word in these closing moments together.
My grace, grace, God's unmerited help, God's
unmerited power, God's unmerited favor.
All that we need is unmerited.
All that we need is grace.
You say tonight, I can't be a disciple.
You know in your heart tonight, some of
you this message is so far from you.
You know that tonight you're living in sin.
That's right.
You know that your life is not in
tune with God.
You've been doing things that aren't even in
the realm of discipleship or out of the
realm of discipleship.
They are blatantly in the realm of sin,
and you're not.
Can a man pray with fire and not
be burned, says the scriptures?
And you will be burned.
I used to think before I was converted
that one could play with sin.
Many a Christian thinks that.
Many a Christian thinks that he can play
with sin only to discover that soon sin
is playing with him.
He that committed sin, says John, becomes what?
A servant of sin.
Is that your case tonight?
A slave to some habit, to some sin,
something that you know is wrong, something that
you know is condemned by God, something that
you know is absolutely contrary to the plan
of God tonight.
And as you hear this message, you feel
frustrated.
You feel uneasy.
You feel that what can God ever do
with me?
I'm so rotten.
I've been a failure all my life.
I've been a poor husband.
I've been a poor daughter.
I've been a miserable son.
I've been unfaithful to my friends.
I've been a liar.
I've been a cheat.
I've been a deceiver in my schoolwork, in
my exam papers.
What could God ever do with me?
I'm no Scott.
I'm no Hudson Taylor.
I'm no Paul Dundas.
Stand against a crowd and go into an
ark?
I can hardly stand against a smallish temptation,
you say.
I want to tell you this hope tonight,
if you're in that boat.
If you're one of those who can only
say tonight, God have mercy on me.
Oh, how vividly I remember the story.
The two men that went to pray, and
the one stood.
Oh, God, he said, I thank thee.
I thank thee that I'm not like other
men.
It was a man off in the distance,
bent, beating his body.
God, he said, have mercy on me, a
sinner.
And the scripture says, and who went away
justified.
For Jesus said, I have come, not to
call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.
Not to call the man who feels he's
doing okay.
Not to call the man who's roped in
his rag of righteousness, produced by himself.
But the man who will come tonight and
say, Lord, have mercy on me, a sinner.
Grace, John Bunyan said, grace abounding.
To who?
To the sinner.
My only hope for this thing of discipleship.
My only hope to ever live this life.
My only hope to know the life that
I read so clearly in the pages of
this book, is the grace of God.
Amazing grace, how sweet the sound could save
a wretch like me.
Grace manifest in the cross when he was
wounded for our transgressions and bruised for our
iniquities.
Grace that raised him from the grave for
our justification, that we too might know the
reality of being crucified with him and of
being raised with him into newness of life.
So I invite you, you want to know
the Lord of the disciples.
You want to know the pathway to power.
You want to know the love of him
who loved us and gave himself for us.
And my invitation is come to the cross,
to the sinner's place, and take the grace,
the unmerited power, the unmerited love, the unmerited
ability to live these things.
Take it, for he gives us water and
charges us not.
Water free to drink to all who come
and say, Lord have mercy on me, a
sinner.