Well, we are thankful that we can be together in the presence of the Lord, whether physically here or on Zoom. It is wonderful to be together and remember Him at His table. Just the reality of that, and the vastness and incomparability of the gift that was given, really touches our hearts.
Lord, we do thank You for Your great gift of Your beloved Son. Oh, we are thankful for the gift of the Holy Spirit. We are thankful for the gift of Your Word. And we are looking to Your Son and to life through the Spirit to breathe upon Your Word and cause it to become very living within our hearts and lives.
We know the days in which we are living. There is a great battle over the Word of God. But we are thankful, Lord, that as we gather today, we gather under an open heaven, and You have made every provision for us in Christ Jesus. So, by faith, we step into that and lay hold of what You have for us this day, Lord.
We pray that You would be able to work in all of our hearts and lives, and that there would not be any limitations upon what You want to share today. May there be a fullness upon Your heart, a fullness received within our hearts, in Your precious name. Amen.
I would like for us to turn to Ephesians 4. As you are turning there, it is always good, when you get to Ephesians 4, to remember what Paul wrote in Ephesians 1 through 3. That is really the foundation. We see God’s glorious call, where He is revealing His eternal purpose, and how Paul has laid this foundation for us.
Then, based upon what he has said in chapters 1 through 3, he leads us into chapter 4. It is wonderful how Paul, as a servant of the Lord, describes himself as a prisoner of the Lord. Brothers and sisters, he is exhorting us as fellow prisoners of the Lord to respond to these verses.
Therefore I, the prisoner of the Lord, entreat you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which you have been called,
with all humility and gentleness, with patience, showing forbearance to one another in love,
being diligent to preserve the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.— Ephesians 4:1-3
I particularly want to focus upon the last part of verse 2 and verse 3: “showing forbearance to one another in love, being diligent to preserve the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.”
Now, in Colossians 3, Paul writes in verse 14:
Put on love, which is the perfect bond of unity.
— Colossians 3:14
We are familiar with another verse in John’s Gospel:
Greater love has no man than this, that one lay down his life for his friends.
— John 15:13
I think you may be starting to pick up on a little theme here. We see how the Lord, in His great love, has brought us together. In Ephesians 4, we are encouraged to preserve the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.
There is a unity of the Spirit that we have been born into. As soon as we are born again and born into the body of Christ, there is a oneness that we have. We do not have to strive for it; He has given us that oneness. As we follow Him, there is an attaining of the unity of the faith, but He has brought us into the oneness of the Spirit that we have in Christ.
In Colossians, we see how love is that great, perfect bond of unity that holds us together.
Finally, in the Gospel of Matthew, we see how the Lord is speaking about the end times. His disciples have asked Him about some of the signs and things that will be occurring. In Matthew 24:12, it says:
Because lawlessness is increased, most people’s love will grow cold.
— Matthew 24:12
I think all of us realize that we are living in a time of crisis and lawlessness. But, actually, if we really stop and think about it, when did this crisis begin? The crisis started in the Garden of Eden with the fall. We have always lived in a time of crisis.
Throughout history, we have seen this crisis intensify. As the Lord’s return draws nigh, it is intensifying more and more. But if we look at it from the proper perspective, God’s people have always lived in a time of crisis. Man has lived in a time of crisis. There has been a great conflict throughout this age upon this earth.
So, in many ways, we are not experiencing anything new other than the intensity of the crisis. Maybe we are experiencing particular things that one had not encountered before, but the spirit behind all of that is the enemy trying to destroy God’s people and God’s work. He started in that garden, and the enemy is relentless.
But praise God: we took that table this morning. We know Who has won the victory, and by faith we are standing in that victory in spite of what we see with our eyes going on today.
As you read Matthew 24, it speaks of how, in those end times, the love of many will grow cold. Why is that? It is because of lawlessness. One of the fruits of lawlessness is actually the love of many growing cold.
If you think about lawlessness, there is a pressure in the air. There is a certain atmosphere that goes on. It is a wearing-out time; it is weariness. You actually feel the oppression upon your shoulders and upon your life. You start to lose your motivation to be diligent to preserve the unity of the Spirit—to endeavor to preserve that unity.
That motivation which we once had starts to wane because we are getting tired and weary. That opens the possibility for division to come in, because the enemy is always so relentless. He is always trying to weaken our love for the Lord and our love for one another.
He knows that if he can weaken our love for the Lord, or weaken our love for one another, and we get our eyes off of Him, there is a crack in that armor where division can come in. So, in these days, we need to be wise in learning what the enemy is trying to do and accomplish.
But, more than that, we need to keep our eyes on the Lord because He is doing a great work. It might seem that the enemy is prevailing, that wickedness is prevailing, and that lawlessness is prevailing. But Christ has won the victory, He has a great work, and He is calling us to enter into that.
May we become more conscious that the enemy’s great tactic is simply to weaken the testimony of Jesus. There is a great battle over that, brothers and sisters.
How does love grow cold? There are many ways it can grow cold, but often it goes cold because, as I just mentioned, we get tired and weary. The more tired and weary we get, the less energy and zeal we have for the Lord.
We know from Daniel that one of the enemy’s tactics is to wear out the saints. He is trying viciously to wear us out. But thank the Lord, by His grace—we were just studying 2 Corinthians, and we had just started chapter 6—the first verse speaks of not taking the grace of God in vain.
Brothers and sisters, as we face this time, this is a real opportunity for us to learn the grace of God in the midst of the weariness of life, in the midst of the battle of life, and in the midst of everything trying to wear us out and turn us against one another.
There is a great battle, but there is also a wonderful testimony: we have been given the grace of God in our Lord Jesus Christ. May we not take it in vain, but use this opportunity to learn how to push through difficult times.
The crisis is intensifying now, and in the days ahead it will only become more intense. We have an opportunity today to be learning—not drawing back, not being disillusioned, but really pressing on.
Does this love growing cold come about all at once? No. Some translations say that it “waxes cold.” That gives the picture of a candle: love slowly and gradually, almost without our seeing it, goes from being hot and glowing to being a dead candle without any light or fire.
After you let a candle go out, you do not notice the wax becoming solidified. There is a slowness and a gradualness there. What it does is wear us out. At least in my life, I become more self-centred. The more tired and weary I get, the more self-love comes forth in a fuller and greater way.
You stop considering others. When you are weary in the battle of life, we can have a tendency to think only about ourselves and not care for others as we used to. All of a sudden, we say, “I want this. My right is to have this. My right is to do this. I want my way.”
It reminds me of when we were growing up. Actually, when I was growing up, kids used to play outside. We did not have video games. There was always a little park, and we would play baseball or basketball, depending on the season.
Generally, one kid in the neighbourhood would have the best basketball or football. Most of the rest of us had ratty old things that did not work too well. But when that one kid was there with the best ball, we would play together. What happened if all of a sudden he did not get his way? He was going to take his ball and go home.
That happens in the church too. It is called withdrawing from fellowship. He would withdraw and go home with his ball if he did not get his way. We get self-centred; we get our eyes and our love off of the Lord. Our love starts growing cold, we do not get our way, and we start to pull back and withdraw.
We need to be alert to how the enemy is trying to tempt us. One way he works is by diverting our eyes off of the primary thing to secondary issues—worrying about coronavirus, protests, the economy, and all these things upon the earth.
What is the primary thing? The primary thing is God’s heart and purpose—His desire to build a people and have a testimony unto Himself. Maintaining the testimony of our Lord Jesus: that is the primary thing, and that is what the enemy is trying to destroy.
In this day in which we are living, many have said that the shaking through which we are going is primarily the Lord’s shaking. Oftentimes, we give the enemy too much credit. Behind all of this, the Lord is shaking, and He is shaking with a purpose.
It is really a threefold purpose. He is shaking to wake His people up, that believers would awaken. He is shaking so that the things not of Him would be shaken away and fall off, bringing purity. There is a purity of testimony for which He is jealous.
There is also a shaking upon this earth so that many would turn to Him and the spirit of the gospel would be released in a fuller and greater way. He is the only One. He is the only way through this. That is the primary thing.
We are thankful; we know our Lord is doing a great work. We almost had a conference about God’s great work, but we are not having it this year. Nevertheless, whether we have a conference or not, He is doing a great work, and we can testify to that.
As we consider some of the enemy’s tactics, I was looking back through church history. It is sad how some of the great divisions occurred during times of intense crisis, when people were looking out for their own personal interests. They had their personal beliefs and financial interests, and divisions came about.
Many are saying today within the United States that we are going to have another civil war. I do not know whether we are or not. But what was the greatest tragedy of the Civil War? The greatest tragedy was the division of believers.
Before the Civil War, there were great revivals. You had Wesley, Whitefield, Finney, and the Fulton Street prayer meetings, where throughout cities in this country hundreds of thousands of believers were gathering at noon every day to pray for the country. Yet, at that moment, the tragedy of the Civil War came.
We had great revivals here in Virginia. How many have read about the revival at Hampden-Sydney? Gail is not allowed to answer. But there was a great revival at Hampden-Sydney. You look where it is today, and you wonder what happened.
One of the greatest evangelists in Virginia during that time was Dever Rowe Jarrett. We will just throw that Jarrett name in here for a reference point. But we see that there was a great work of God and a great freedom for the gospel to go forth.
Tragically, the Civil War came, and the Confederate states rebelled against the United States of America. That is why they are called rebels. It brought about a great division within this country among believers. Those believers who had walked together in unity and oneness were divided into northern groups and southern groups. We still see the effects of that today.
That is the greatest tragedy of that war. Sadly, if you look back, both sides used the Word of God to justify their position. The Word of God can be used as a battering ram and a sword. If love is gone, it is sad how the Word of God can be used.
Why do I share this example? Because if we look at the days and the crisis in which we are living, there are many things trying to divide us—many divisive and provocative things going on.
Issues of racial injustice are being raised now; issues of white supremacy are being raised now. Social injustice, Black Lives Matter, riots, and the removal of monuments are all being discussed. The enemy would love to come in and get us focused upon those things.
If we surveyed everyone listening now, we would get a wide variety of opinions on any of those subjects. But we have to remember: when did injustice begin upon this earth? Injustice started at the fall. Man without God is unjust.
That does not diminish the significance of tackling issues today. But it is nothing new under the sun. We have always lived in an unjust world, and various things occur at various times. This is where we find ourselves.
Remember, these are not the main issues. Our basis for fellowship, unity, and oneness is not political or sociological beliefs. It is standing for the Lord and what He has drawn us into.
If we stay on the level of all the things going on in this world, it inevitably leads to division because we will have various thoughts and opinions. Instead, we need to keep our eyes on the main thing and on the big picture.
We have a very real illustration of this in the protests in Hong Kong a year or so ago. What was the tragedy of those protests? They divided the assemblies there. The younger brothers and sisters had one opinion related to the protests, and the older ones had another.
Tragically, they allowed those opinions to divide them. It was not a matter of right or wrong. Ones tried to turn things into a matter of right and wrong, but they had different opinions. Instead of being able to sit down, fellowship in the Lord, and work through them, division came among the assemblies.
There is one great reality that we all need to be aware of: older and younger ones think differently and see things very differently, in all ages and all times. We need to be conscious of that.
We have to keep Christ as the centre and keep our eyes upon Him, rather than dropping down to the level of talking about differences here and differences there. If you look at the various movements, there are believers in every one of those movements.
There are believers in the Black Lives Matter movement; there are believers in whatever movement you name. You might debate their commitment to the Lord and all of that, but that is beyond our pay grade. We leave that with the Lord. There are believers.
During the Civil War, there were believers in the North and believers in the South. There were revivals in the North and revivals in the South. It is sad how believers can get down to an earthly level and allow these things to divide us.
We need to let love be that perfect bond of unity, rising above political thoughts and social thoughts, and really seeing the Lord. There is only one Just One: our Lord Jesus Christ is the only Just One. If we are looking for justice, that is where we find justice.
Sadly, many are looking for justice in all the wrong places. Since we are talking about love today, I will put “justice” in that line: instead of looking for love in all the wrong places, they are looking for justice in all the wrong places. That will date me as far as that song.
We see how much the Lord is trying to wake us up, while the enemy continues to bring about so many things. In the midst of these days, we need to remember that we are not wrestling with flesh and blood. We are not wrestling with people out there.
We are wrestling with powers and principalities, with spiritual forces of wickedness in heavenly places. That is the power behind everything. They have their little puppets and minions working upon this earth, but that is where the power is.
If we remain looking and trying to battle at the earthly level, and do not get to the power behind what is driving all this evil and lawlessness, we are just batting the air. There may be partial answers there, but to get through to the true condition and the true battle, we must recognize that the strength of the enemy is in the heavenly places.
It is in that realm of binding and loosing those powers and principalities that we need to do our battle. We must not focus upon those who are flesh and blood. Would the Lord raise us above that?
Another sad testimony from church history is how division can come after a crisis. While we are in the midst of crisis, let us be aware of this. During an intense crisis, some will be faithful, strong, and stand during a time of persecution. Others may faint, deny the Lord, remain quiet, hide away, and fail to stand for the Lord.
Then, after the crisis is over, everybody wants to get back together. But what has occurred throughout history, tragically through many persecutions, is that the so-called faithful ones will not allow the so-called unfaithful ones to come back into fellowship.
This was what happened during the Anabaptist persecution, and it is one reason we have division now between Amish and Mennonite. That is a very simplistic answer, but there were ones who were faithful and would not accept the others back.
You can look through history in Russia and China. When there is intense persecution, there is always that tendency for ones who think they are the faithful ones not to allow those considered unfaithful to come back in. But God is the faithful One, and we do not need to allow these things to come in.
We need to have our eyes open and not think that we are immune to this. One thing I pray about every day—or we pray about every day—is that the enemy could not use the division between meeting in person and meeting on Zoom to bring division amongst us.
We are one in Christ. We are gathering in the precious name of our Lord Jesus Christ, and whether we are in person or on Zoom, we are one and gathering in His name. The enemy would love to bring division between those on Zoom and those in person, but there is absolutely no ground for that in Christ. We stand against that.
He likes to take little things and blow them up, trying to divide. He will even use face masks to bring division between those who are pro-face mask and anti-face mask. Get off of this natural stuff, and keep our eyes on the Lord, that we would not fall into these traps. He only needs a small crack, and then he will come in and take advantage.
One way the enemy works deceptively today, and at times blatantly, is through the internet. If you have a certain belief, whether you are a conservative or a liberal, you know which websites to go to. Conservatives have their websites over here; liberals have theirs over there.
It supports and reinforces whatever side is your own. You call your side the truth, and the other side fake news or a lie. But what is occurring is that we fall into traps of listening only to what other people believe.
The far right goes to QAnon and listens to that. The far left has its sites. What this is subtly doing within us is creating intellectual laziness. Instead of looking back and seeing what actually occurred in situations, we rely upon somebody else’s compilation of what they think they saw. They put their spin on it and present it to us.
Sadly, because of the internet, we are becoming intellectually lazy to really look behind and get to what, in history or any other study, are called primary sources. Secondary sources take things and put them into a compilation of news, a book, or whatever.
Let me use a church-history example. An excellent church-history book is Broadbent’s The Pilgrim Church. Also, Kennedy’s The Torch of the Testimony. The Pilgrim Church is an excellent book on church history, but it is a secondary source. It is Broadbent’s thoughts on church history.
Fortunately, in the bibliography, it goes back and you can see the primary sources. We need to become intellectually activated again. Otherwise, it causes us to become spiritually lazy in our intelligence and in the way we look at things.
We have our devotionals and commentaries, and there is a wonderful place for them. But are we actually going back to the primary source? Are we going back to the Word of God?
You know, somebody is rejoicing right now. Tim is jumping out of his seat because there is a train going by. Hey, Tim. Wherever that train goes, those hands are going up. All right, Tim. Thank the Lord.
But we see how the Lord is calling us to get back to the Word of God and to draw deeply from that primary source. There is a great neglect today of the Word of God. I am thankful for commentaries and devotionals, but do we go beyond them?
One healthy thing to do, if you have a certain belief, is to read somebody who disagrees with you. After listening to what the other person says, do you still have that same belief, or is it shaken?
I think about the coming of the Lord. We know there are many schools of interpretation. I have a certain belief about the coming of the Lord, and I had not studied some of the other beliefs very much. But in Brazil, the primary belief among many believers we visit is the post-tribulation interpretation—that the whole church will go through the tribulation. I particularly do not like that one.
But I studied it some. They use the Word of God, and it is a matter of how one looks at a passage: one looks at it one way, another looks at it another way. It shows us that some things we do not know for certain.
We hold these things lightly. No matter how it works out, if we are living daily faithful to the Lord, we will be in the right place, and He will keep us. Even if we have to go through the tribulation, He will keep us through it all.
When people present various thoughts to us, we need to be able to discern: is the Lord in it or not? Paul encourages those in Philippi concerning this. In Philippians 1:9, Paul prays:
And this I pray, that your love may abound still more and more in real knowledge and all discernment,
so that you may approve the things that are excellent, in order to be sincere and blameless until the day of Christ.— Philippians 1:9-10
Look at the characteristic Paul is telling them to abound in: real knowledge, experiential knowledge—not merely head knowledge. It is experiencing the living life of the Lord within us, knowing His life, and having all discernment.
Sometimes we say that love is blind. The love of God, the love of Christ within us, is not blind. There is real knowledge and discernment there. We can discern and approve the things that are more excellent, the things that are of Him.
Do we have this relationship with Him? Are we allowing His love—not merely what we love, but His love—to break through all the clutter of life, so that we can stand during these days?
Paul is praying this specifically in relationship to the end days. This was two thousand years ago, but that end is drawing closer and closer to us. This is a specific prayer that they could be sincere and blameless until the day of Christ.
Brothers and sisters, let us not get distracted from the big picture or from the main thing. The enemy is relentless. He is always trying to get us, in these days, to lose our patience with one another and lose our love for one another.
The Lord knows. The Lord sees us. He looks at Mac and says, “I need to work on this area within Mac’s life.” He loves me so much that He shakes me.
I grew up with a natural patience within me. But praise God, in the Lord’s shaking, my natural patience only goes so far. Then we see how we have to deny that. Sometimes we call those characteristics “good flesh.” Some people are naturally kind, patient, or forbearing. There is no such thing as good flesh, but we describe it that way.
That has to go to the cross, to allow the true love of the Lord to come through. He shakes us and puts us in situations where our so-called good flesh comes to an end, and we find ourselves dependent upon Him.
That is why I was drawn to conclude by looking at 1 Corinthians 13. We know that great love of Christ described there. As we look at each of these matters, we see they are all heart issues—inner-character issues within our hearts.
He starts the chapter by saying that you can do everything right. You can prophesy, give, do this, and do that; but if it is not from love, it is worthless. You are a loud clanging cymbal. You have to have love—the love of Christ, His life within us being expressed.
What is described in 1 Corinthians 13 is the character of Christ. He wants it worked out within each one of us because this is that perfect bond of unity. This is what allows us to endure. This is what holds us. This is what keeps us together.
Sometimes we read through this chapter too quickly. I would encourage everyone to go back on your own, get a number of different translations, and read through these verses. See the different ways that love is described.
Starting in verse 4, it says that love is patient. Some say, “suffers long.” That is Christ. Do we see our patience coming to an end? Praise God, we all get impatient with one another. We all get irritated with one another. Are we honest enough to admit it, confess it, and let the Lord deal with us?
It says love is kind. I always think it is amazing how the Lord has to tell believers to be kind to one another and to love one another. But that just shows how much the Lord knows us.
He goes on: love is not jealous, not boastful, not proud, and not rude. Sometimes the world can be more polite to us than believers. Sometimes we can be rude to one another. I have been rude to various ones. I get tired, I get selfish, somebody irritates me, and I am rude to them. Praise God, it is an opportunity to repent and ask their forgiveness.
Love does not insist on its own way. Love is not provoked; it is not irritable. Look at the life of Christ throughout the Gospels—what a precious testimony.
Love keeps no record of being wronged. Somebody does something to us, and we have a great memory of things. But love bears all things. It never gives up. Love hopes all things. Love endures all things. Love never fails.
Brothers and sisters, may we face up to these things honestly within our hearts and lives. Let us not merely learn the phraseology and the words, but allow the Holy Spirit, as the Lord touches these matters during this day and time, to dig deeply within us.
May we be set free from the tyranny of these things that torment us so much and lead us toward allowing love to wax cold. He is looking for a people after His own heart—a people standing for the testimony of Jesus.
May He show great mercy to us in these days. He is doing a great work, and may we know that great mercy, because He is coming soon. May our love for Him and our love for one another not wax cold.
May we daily get back to the primary source, get back to Him, get back to His Word, and get back to that place of fellowship with Him. May He revive that love in the midst of the years.
What does reviving mean? Reviving means something that was living is not now living according to its original purpose. Reviving means bringing it back into life, living according to its original purpose.
The Lord is wanting us to be revived and brought back to living a life of love toward Him and toward one another, so that we could be those maintaining the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.
Brothers and sisters, we have to be aware of the enemy’s tactics. He is so subtle. But praise God, we want to be more aware of Him and the great work that He is doing. Let us pray.
Lord, we are thankful for the great work that You have called us into. Lord, we are thankful for the life that You have given us. We are thankful for the oneness that we have in Christ.
We are aware of how the enemy loves to divide, rob, kill, and destroy. But Lord, You came that we could have life, and have it abundantly. May we lay hold of that life—a life full of experiencing You in a fuller and greater way.
We pray that in this time we would take the opportunity to honestly allow You to search us, try us, and see whether there is any evil way in us. May we be set free from that—set free from the tyranny of self—and enjoy that glorious liberty of the sons of God. In Thy name we pray. Amen.