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Whosoever doeth not righteousness is not of God, neither he that loveth not his brother. For this is the message which ye heard from the beginning, that we should love one another" (iii. 10, 11). "We know that we have passed out of death into life, because we love the brethren" (iii. 14). "Hereby know we love, because He laid down His life for us: and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren" (iii. 16). "And this is His commandment, That we should believe on the Name of His Son Jesus Christ, and love one another" (iii. 23). "Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of God" (iv. 7). "Beloved, if God so loved us, we ought also to love one another. If we love one another, God abideth in us, and His love is perfected in us. We have known and believed the love that God hath to us. God is love; and he that abideth in love abideth in God, and God in him" (iv. 11, 12, 16). "If a man say, I love God, and hateth his brother, he is a liar: for he that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, cannot love God whom he hath not seen. And this commandment have we from Him, that he who loveth God love his brother also" (iv. 20, 21).Each of these words is a living seed, and has within it a Divine power, which is able to take root, and grow and bear fruit in our hearts. But just as the seed requires the soil in which it grows to be kept free of all weeds, so the heart must be wholly surrendered to God and His service, that the seed of the Word may bear this heavenly fruit.
Read over again iii. 23. As necessary as faith is for our salvation, so necessary is love of the brethren. And (iv. 21) love to God and love to the brethren are inseparable.
Those who fear God need not fear want. Through all these long years the LORD has always found meat for His own children, whether they have been in the wilderness, or by the brook Cherith, or in captivity, or in the midst of famine. Hitherto the LORD has given us day by day our daily bread, and we doubt not that He will continue to feed us till we want no more.
The spouse desires to give to Jesus all that she produces. Our heart has “all manner of pleasant fruits,” both “old and new,” and they are laid up for our Beloved. At this rich autumnal season of fruit, let us survey our stores. We have new fruits. We desire to feel new life, new joy, new gratitude; we wish to make new resolves and carry them out by new labours; our heart blossoms with new prayers, and our soul is pledging herself to new efforts. But we have some old fruits too. There is our first love: a choice fruit that! and Jesus delights in it. There is our first faith: that simple faith by which, having nothing, we became possessors of all things. There is our joy when first we knew the Lord: let us revive it. We have our old remembrances of the promises. How faithful has God been! In sickness, how softly did he make our bed! In deep waters, how placidly did he buoy us up! In the flaming furnace, how graciously did he deliver us. Old fruits, indeed! We have many of them, for his mercies have been more than the hairs of our head. Old sins we must regret, but then we have had repentances which he has given us, by which we have wept our way to the cross, and learned the merit of his blood. We have fruits, this morning, both new and old; but here is the point—they are all laid up for Jesus. Truly, those are the best and most acceptable services in which Jesus is the solitary aim of the soul, and his glory, without any admixture whatever, the end of all our efforts. Let our many fruits be laid up only for our Beloved; let us display them when he is with us, and not hold them up before the gaze of men. Jesus, we will turn the key in our garden door, and none shall enter to rob thee of one good fruit from the soil which thou hast watered with thy bloody sweat. Our all shall be thine, thine only, O Jesus, our Beloved!
Bounteous is Jehovah in his nature; to give is his delight. His gifts are beyond measure precious, and are as freely given as the light of the sun. He gives grace to his elect because he wills it, to his redeemed because of his covenant, to the called because of his promise, to believers because they seek it, to sinners because they need it. He gives grace abundantly, seasonably, constantly, readily, sovereignly; doubly enhancing the value of the boon by the manner of its bestowal. Grace in all its forms he freely renders to his people: comforting, preserving, sanctifying, directing, instructing, assisting grace, he generously pours into their souls without ceasing, and he always will do so, whatever may occur. Sickness may befall, but the Lord will give grace; poverty may happen to us, but grace will surely be afforded; death must come but grace will light a candle at the darkest hour. Reader, how blessed it is as years roll round, and the leaves begin again to fall, to enjoy such an unfading promise as this, “The Lord will give grace.”
It is a remarkable circumstance that the most brilliant colors of plants are to be seen on the highest mountains, in spots that are most exposed to the wildest weather. The brightest lichens and mosses, the loveliest gems of wild flowers, abound far up on the bleak, storm-scalped peak. 
The psalmist Ethan recounted the testimony of the Lord concerning David. He said, ‘I have found David My servant; with My holy oil I have anointed him…My arm also will strengthen him’. Likewise, Luke recounted the words of Samuel, ‘The Lord has sought out a man for Himself after His own heart and the Lord has appointed him as ruler over His people’. The Lord Himself spoke of David as a man ‘who will do all My will’. The prophet Jeremiah spoke on behalf of the Lord saying, ‘Then I will give you shepherds after My own heart who will feed you on knowledge and understanding’. As a result they would be multiplied and increased.
It is most certainly true that David sought to do the will of God. ‘David did what was right in the sight of the Lord and had not turned aside from anything that He commanded him all the days of his life except in the matter of Uriah the Hittite.’ Of course the matter of Uriah was a very serious incident involving adultery and murder. The thought that David was a man after God’s own heart is well known to all Christians. But how can it be that David, who made so many glaring mistakes, is reckoned as a man after God’s own heart? What is it about the Lord’s own heart that David was comparable to? The most well known passage of the New Testament is, ‘God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son’. David committed himself to this essential proposition and lifestyle of giving and offering. David was a man of offerings and altars.
The apostle Paul has exhorted us to have exactly the same mind and attitude as the Son. This is an attitude and willingness to empty ourselves. There is no doubt that the apostle was preoccupied with this thought. This became the central tenet of his ministry. He referred to this as ‘my gospel’. This is the testimony of Christ. God the Son did not count or command His equality with the Father, but emptied Himself to become a bondslave. The apostle Paul was preoccupied with a culture of offering throughout his whole ministry. He described himself as an ‘imitator of Christ’. And he likewise encouraged us, ‘Be imitators of me, just as I also am of Christ’.
We cannot be absolutely sure when Paul received the revelation of God the Son emptying Himself. Nevertheless, we are certain that it was his
preoccupation. In his letter to the Philippians, he identified the mind
of Christ to empty Himself. And in this very same chapter, he spoke of
his own commitment to be poured out on the sacrifice and priesthood
of others. We can be absolutely certain that Paul poured himself out to empower the life and priesthood of all of those committed Christians who earnestly desired to participate with him in a fellowship of offering. In this same letter, he referred to this as the ‘word of giving and receiving’. Our English translations say the ‘matter’ or ‘fellowship’ of giving and receiving, but this is more accurately translated the ‘word’. We can be sure that Paul heard this word from our Lord Himself. This ‘giving and receiving’ is not referring to the human activity of mutual exchange. It is not the exercise of kindness, one to another. It is referring to a life completely committed to the proposition of emptying.
The book of Proverbs says, ‘The mind of man [or a man’s heart] plans his way, but the Lord directs his steps’. We must ask ourselves, what is in our heart. The Scripture does say that the Lord gives us the desires of our heart. But that promise is prefaced with the statement that our delight needs to be in the Lord. ‘Delight yourself in the Lord; and He will give you the desires of your heart.’ We would all aspire to fulfil the will of God. Nevertheless, this desire to fulfil His will can be just slightly out of reach. We don’t always know how to measure ourselves to the will of God. The answer is found in planning our way, preparing these plans by consultation, and then allowing the Lord to direct our steps. The great apostle Paul was continually making plans. We read in the book of Acts, ‘Now after these things were finished, Paul purposed in the Spirit to go to Jerusalem after he had passed through Macedonia and Achaia, saying, “After I have been there, I must also see Rome”.’ Until he breathed his last breath, Paul was proactive in making plans, but at the same time he was continually submitted to the Lord directing his steps. The wise man wrote that plans made without consultation are destined for frustration, but with many counsellors they will succeed. No one can go ‘solo’ and hope to do the will of God. All of us, no matter how individual or independent we aspire to be, will always need people to help us navigate through the various storms that we encounter. We must be proactive in finding and fulfilling the will of God. We must make plans by consultation, and then allow the Lord to direct our steps.
What does it mean to be a Christian, a follower of Jesus Christ? First of all, Christianity is not a religious platform or position, from which we judge others. Nor is it a list of beliefs which we agree with in principle, and then try to live by in our own strength. The first word of the Christian gospel is this – God has given you the right to accept His call, and choose to become one of His sons. The apostle Paul wrote, ‘In love [God the Father] predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the kind intention of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace, which He freely bestowed on us in the Beloved’. What an amazing promise – we can become the sons of God! Many people think that the first word of the gospel is that our sins are forgiven. While it’s true that our sins can be forgiven, the first word of the gospel isn’t about sin; it’s about you being the son that God named you to be. You see, being a son of God is not just an option; it’s the very essence of Christianity. Christianity is a life lived as a son of God. It’s as simple as that. And that’s why our eternal salvation is totally dependent upon our continuing relationship with God. This relationship enables us to become His sons. We cannot choose to be called a Christian, but refuse to do the works that belong to our sonship. Nor can we choose to be called a Christian, without having a relationship with God, and living in His will for our life. When we do this, we have no power to live the Christian life. In fact, it is a great wickedness to claim eternal salvation, on the basis of Jesus’ offering, as a legal position before God, while rejecting relational obedience to Him. We must actually be sanctified to our sonship. ‘For this is the will of God, your sanctification.’ Our sanctification is our relational obedience -our willingness to submit ourselves to the Father and do the works He has prepared for us to do.
