For many weeks now we have been looking at our riches in Christ during our Wonderful Day in the Lord broadcast. This is our position in Christ. These are the things that all Christians have been given and we can glory in these things. These are not normally things that the Lord tells us that we have to do, but these are things that He has done for us. So, we have been looking at one after the other, thirty some of these. Today is going to be our final one and it is one of the great ones. It is one of the ones that we rejoice in so much and that is: the love of Christ. We have His love.
We start today with a command in the gospel of John and then later in the epistle 1 John. In John 13:34-35 says this, “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another, even as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.” I just got through saying that we have been looking at the things the Lord has done for us, and we will look more closely at that in a moment. We start with this. He is giving a new command to His apostles that they love one another as He has loved them. To love one another is not a new command. We find that in the Old Testament. We find it throughout Scripture, but Jesus said there is something new about this command that I am giving you. That is that you love one another as I have loved you. That is the newness of this command, I think. No one has ever loved like Jesus has loved. He came to this earth because He loved us. He died for people that hated Him. He saved us when we were still His enemies. No one has ever loved like Jesus. He is the epitome, the perfect example of love. He is saying to His disciples that He has loved them this way and that is our privilege, that is our treasure that we are looking at today. He has loved us with a pure and perfect love. He then sends us out to duplicate that love in others. Obviously knowing that none of us can reach that standard. None of us will ever love others like He loved us, but nevertheless, that is our standard and He has called us to love one another in that way . . .
