THE PRACTICE OF JESUS CHRIST
(The practical side of Biblical Christianity)
Text: James 1:22
“But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves.”
“And why call ye me, Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say?”
INTRODUCTION:
It seems that it is part of the human nature to require laws, rules, and regulations in order to be able to know and follow the Lord. That of course is not the truth of Scripture. With the New Covenant we are told that it is founded upon the principle of love. Far too few people today understand the truth of love because we have had the Hollywood style instilled in us with movies and television since we were children.
Love does not mean we should never say NO! Love does not mean we should never defend ourselves or judge righteously. Love has its roots in God, for the scriptures declare to us that, “God is LOVE”
Love is not a synonym for sex and is not found in a bed or the back seat of a car down some so-called lover’s lane. Love is found in God and given to mankind in the Person of Jesus Christ.
This is the very core of what we call Christianity. Love is subjective of Jesus Christ and true love shown experimentally by Christ within the believer.
Never in the history of Christendom has there been so much to read and yet so little done in the name of Jesus Christ.
We today have telephones, telegrams, television, and with all of the modern gadgets our churches in North America are half empty and pastors and missionaries have to do secular work to feed their families. In New Testament times they had no modern steamships, no airplanes, no electronic gadgets, no stately cathedrals, yet they established churches in every land and God’s saving power and grace was felt as multitudes were added unto the churches.
Someone has said, “we are the only Jesus some people will ever see, and, we are the only Bible some people will ever read.”
And that is my message to you today, in the words of the apostle Paul –
Colossians 1:27
“To whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.”
I am going to speak to you on this subject of “The Practice of Jesus Christ,” which deals with the practical basis of Biblical faith. I will speak to you under the following three points –
1. The Practice of Love:
2. The Power of Love:
3. The Product of Love:
1. THE PRACTICE OF LOVE:
A. It’s Principle:
“A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another.”
1. There are many theories regarding the teaching of Scripture abreast in Christendom today. Some would simply apply every teaching of both Old and New Testaments to Christians today point blank. This is usually is the form of legalism, the keeping of the Sabbath, food laws, etc.
Much of reformation theology holds to the Old and New Testaments upon an almost equal footing. They talk about the law of God and while attempting to make the New Covenant superior to the Old Covenant; they generally mix the covenants and refer to the law and to often mix the Old Testament priesthood with the New. This is done for example in Anglicanism where they still hold to the Catholic idea of priests. This is really covenant mixing and is generally not the Historic Baptist faith and practice, although many Baptists were tainted by the theology of the reformation.
There is a third basis of theology that I believe is true to the New Testament and to the teaching of Jesus and the apostles. This is sometimes called by one of several names-
New Covenant Theology; New Covenant; New Testament Law; the Law of Christ.
2. It’s Promise: Ezekiel 36:26
“A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh.”
“For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision availeth any thing, nor uncircumcision, but a new creature.”
3. Its foundation is in a Person not in a law written on paper but stamped in the heart of one that is born of the Spirit of God.
Nicodemus already knew the Law of Moses but Jesus said to Him-
“Ye must be born again” John 3:3
“Marvel not that I said unto thee, ye must be born again.” John
3:5
God’s kingdom is first and foremost spiritual and one cannot see or
enter it without a spiritual birth. (John 3:3,5.)
4. Jesus said the foundation of the law is love to be directed to God and to our neighbor.
Mark 12:30
“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: this is the first
commandment.
And the second is like, namely this, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. There is none other commandment greater than these.”
B. It’s Purpose:
1. The purpose of New Testament Law is understood as we understand the heart and nature of man outside of Jesus Christ. We cannot understand New Testament Law and practice apart from understanding human depravity and the true nature of the heart, mind and nature of mankind.
The following is from Eastman’s Bible Dictionary -
“According to the Bible, the heart is the centre not only of spiritual activity, but of all the operations of human life. "Heart" and "soul" are often used interchangeably #De 6:5 26:16 comp. #Mt 22:37 #Mark 12:30,33 but this is not generally the case. The heart is the "home of the personal life, " and hence a man is designated, according to his heart, wise #1Ki 3:12 etc., pure #Ps 24:4 Mt 5:8 etc., upright and righteous #Ge 20:5,6 Ps 11:2 78:72 pious and good #Lu 8:15 etc. In these and such passages the word "soul" could not be substituted for "heart." The heart is also the seat of the conscience #Ro 2:15 It is naturally wicked #Ge 8:21 and hence it contaminates the whole life and character #Mt 12:34 15:18 comp. #Ecc. 8:11 Ps 73:7 Hence the heart must be changed, regenerated #Eze 36:26 11:19 Ps 51:10-14 before a man can willingly obey God. The process of salvation begins in the heart by the believing reception of the testimony of God, while the rejection of that testimony hardens the heart #Ps 95:8 Pr 28:14 2Ch 36:13 "Hardness of heart evidences itself by light views of sin; partial acknowledgment and confession of it; pride and conceit; ingratitude; unconcern about the word and ordinances of God; inattention to divine providences; stifling convictions of conscience; shunning reproof; presumption, and general ignorance of divine things."
2. Its purpose is then to free the heart from the bondage of sin brought about by the fall of Adam and the enmity of Mosaic Law, which condemns us.
3. This is not Antinomianism, which doctrine denies all law but it transfers us (so-to speak) to a new and greater law, the law of LOVE. The elect child of God when brought into a spiritual dimension receives a new heart and nature.
2 Corinthians 5:17
“Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.”
4. The New Testament Law, the Law of Christ is also called the Law of the Spirit-
Romans 8:2 “For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death.”
Death here refers to spiritual death, which happened to the sons of Adam when Adam sinned in the Garden of Eden. Jesus is the second Adam, who redeemed his elect and freed them from the demands of the Mosaic Law, as well as the law of death that has mankind bound in sin.
See - Romans 3:10; 3:23; 5:8; 5:23; 6:23.
1 Corinthians 15:45-49
“And so it is written, The first man Adam was made a living soul; the last Adam was made a quickening spirit.
46 Howbeit that was not first which is spiritual, but that which is natural; and afterward that which is spiritual.
47 The first man is of the earth, earthy: the second man is the Lord from heaven.
48 As is the earthy, such are they also that are earthy: and as is the heavenly, such are they also that are heavenly.
49 And as we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly.”
5. One might well ask; what happens to the Law of Moses. Did Christ do away with it? The answer is simply this, Jesus did not do away with the Law of Moses, rather “He fulfilled it.”
Romans 10:4
“For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth.”
Romans 13:8
“Owe no man any thing, but to love one another: for he that loveth another hath fulfilled the law.”
Romans 3:26-31
“To declare, I say, at this time his righteousness: that he might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus.
Where is boasting then? It is excluded. By what law? of works? Nay: but by the law of faith.
Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law.
Is he the God of the Jews only? is he not also of the Gentiles? Yes, of the Gentiles also:
Seeing it is one God, which shall justify the circumcision by faith, and uncircumcision through faith.
Do we then make void the law through faith? God forbid: yea, we establish the law.”
Romans 8:3-4
“For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh:
That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.”
Matthew 5:17-18
“Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfill.
For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled.”
John 1:17
“For the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ.”
And so we see a clear and marked difference between the two covenants, one under law and the other under grace. (See John 1:17.)
2. THE POWER OF LOVE:
A. It’s Pre-Existence in Christ:
“And the Lord direct your hearts into the love of God, and into the patient waiting for Christ.”
“For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son…”
“And I have declared unto them thy name, and will declare it: that the love wherewith thou hast loved me may be in them, and I in them.”
B. It’s Presence in the Child of God:
“And hope maketh not ashamed; because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us.”
1 John 2:5
“But whoso keepeth his word, in him verily is the love of God perfected: hereby know we that we are in him.”
1 John 4:16
“And we have known and believed the love that God hath to us. God is love; and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him.”
Galatians 5:22
“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith.”
Matthew 5:44
“But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you.”
Matthew 5:46
“For if ye love them which love you, what reward have ye? do not even the publicans the same?”
Matthew 19:19
“Honor thy father and thy mother: and, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.”
. John 15:9
“As the Father hath loved me, so have I loved you: continue ye in my love.”
3. THE PRODUCT OF LOVE:
A. The People of Love:
John 13:1
“Now before the feast of the passover, when Jesus knew that his hour was come that he should depart out of this world unto the Father, having loved his own which were in the world, he loved them unto the end.”
“I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one; and that the world may know that thou hast sent me, and hast loved them, as thou hast loved me.”
“Beloved, if God so loved us; we ought also to love one another.
No man hath seen God at any time. If we love one another, God dwelleth in us; and His love is perfected in us.”
B. Perspective of Love:
“No servant can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon.”
1 Corinthians 13: (This is the love chapter of the Bible)
In this chapter we have the word charity used. This is an old English word, which refers to the practice of the love of Christ. It is written to Christians, to church members. In this chapter we see two sides to the subject of love; that which it is, and that which it is NOT.
We have time only to look at this chapter briefly-
Vs 1 – The ability to speak in languages (even if it were of all men and angels is useless and void if not rooted in LOVE. We are as an empty sound.
Vs 2- The ability to prophecy and to understand all mysteries, and knowledge, and even with the gift of faith. If this is not rooted in love, we are nothing. (Zero).
Vs 3 – “Even if I give all I own (empty my bank account) to feed the poor and become a martyr, without love there is no profit.
Vs 4 – Here then is a brief description of love – It is long suffering, kind, does not envy (want what is not his/hers), does not want what is not his, and is not puffed up (exalted in itself, boastful or vainglorious, does not display itself haughtily.
Vs 5 – “Love does not behave in an unseemly or conceited way, or one that is filled with pride, it is not rude or unmannerly. Love is not self-seeking; it is not touchy fretful or resentful. Love does not take an account of or make a record of the evil done to it. It pays no attention to a suffered wrong.
Vs 6 – Love does not rejoice in iniquity or injustice and unrighteousness. It rejoices when right and truth prevail.
Vs 7 – Love bears up under anything and everything that comes along, it is ever ready to believe the best in every person. Its hopes are fadeless under all circumstances and endures everything without weakening.
Vs 8 – Love never fails- prophecies shall fail; tongues shall cease; knowledge shall vanish away.
Vs 9 – We do not know everything but only in part. Our prophesying is only in part.
Vs 10 – When that which is perfect is come, then that which is in part shall be done away.
All of the spiritual gifts mentioned here will cease once that which is perfect or complete comes. This is a reference to the completion of the Bible – this was accomplished within the 40 year period from the first miracle in Cana of Galilee-
See the prophecy of this in Micah 7:15.
See James 1:25; 1 John 3:2.
Vs 13 – “And now abideth faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love.” The greatest of the three gifts that will remain is LOVE.
2 Corinthians 13:11
“Finally, brethren, farewell. Be perfect, be of good comfort, be of one mind, live in peace; and the God of love and peace shall be with you.”
CONCLUSION:
We need to learn to live under New Testament law, under the New Covenant in Jesus Christ. One cannot do this apart from regeneration by the power of the Holy Spirit. Only then can we truly submit ourselves wholly to the Lord Jesus Christ.
Do you know Jesus Christ personally as your Lord and Savior?
Sermon preached by
Dr. D. Paul Tuck Sr.
Landmark Baptist Church
Richmond Hill, Ontario, Canada.
Sunday morning, November 23rd
2003.