Sermon Series: Five Words You Must Understand
1 Corinthians 14:19
Yet in the church I had rather speak
five words with
my understanding,
that by my voice I might teach others also,
than ten thousand words in an unknown tongue.
Part Twenty-two: John 15:9
“Continue ye in My love.”
Introduction:
On the old Daniels
and Webster program on ROCK107 we often heard from one Walter Nepasky. He would begin his commentary in his very
recognizable “Coal Cracker” dialect with either, “I'm Walter Nepasky
and today I wanna talk about tree tings.”, or “Hi.
My name is Walter Nepasky. How ya doin’? Today
I want to talk to you about tree tings.”
What if we had a modern Christian radio station —The Rock of Ages 316 — with a program
that began, “Hi, I’m Paul of Tarsus, and today I want to talk about five
words.”
The Apostle Paul wrote: Yet in the church I had rather
speak five words with my understanding,
that by my voice I might teach others also,
than ten thousand words in an unknown tongue.[1]
Paul follows up his introduction on The Rock of Ages 316 with his personal example — an extreme
preference framed as a mathematical proportion: 5 versus 10,000. This is Paul’s
“druthers”! This is when 5 is better
than 10,000!
If Paul were here, and you could pin him down to a
literal selection of five words, what do you think he would choose? “Gimme Five Paul!”
Before we get to a selection from the list of five word
Scripture passages that might be in Paul’s “in box” we should also consider how
Charles Haddon Spurgeon went even beyond Paul, perhaps due to “spiritual
inflation” in the intervening centuries!
“But the seed, though very small, was a living
thing. There is a great difference between a mustard seed and a piece of
wax of the same size. Life slumbers in that seed. What life is we cannot tell.
Even if you take a microscope you cannot spy it out. It is a mystery, but it is
essential to a seed. The Gospel has a something in it not readily discoverable
by the philosophical inquirer, if, indeed, he can perceive it at all. Take a
maxim of Socrates or of Plato, and inquire whether a nation or a tribe has ever
been transformed by it from barbarism to culture. A maxim of a philosopher may
have measurably influenced a person in some right direction, but who has ever
heard of a someone's whole character being transformed by any observation of
Confucius or Socrates? I confess I never have. Human teachings are barren. But
within the Gospel, with all its triteness and simplicity, there is a divine
life and that life makes all the difference. The human can never rival the
divine, for it lacks the life-fire. It is better to preach five words of God's Word than five million words
of human wisdom. Human words may seem to be the wiser and the more
attractive, but there is no heavenly life in them. Within God's Word, however
simple it may be, there dwells an omnipotence like that of God from whose lips
it came.”[2]
Note: The five word
statements from Scripture selected may not actually be five word statements
in either the Hebrew or Greek originals,
nor are they necessarily complete sentences or verses in English language
translations from the Hebrew and Greek, including the King James Version which is the source translation for the
statements. Nevertheless, they were
selected for the fundamental truths and span of doctrine that they
present. The current list of 36 examples
is not intended to be comprehensive, and may easily be expanded or
consolidated.
The 36 selections are categorized under the following
four headings:
The Person of Christ — The Redeemer
The Work of Christ (as Prophet, Priest and King) —
Redemption Accomplished
The Salvation of Christ — Redemption Applied
The Return of Christ — Redemption Revealed
Now for one of the possible
selections from Paul’s “in box”:
The five word statement to be considered on this occasion, “Continue ye
in My love,” falls under the third of these four headings, The Salvation
of Christ — Redemption Applied.
Outline:
I. “My love” — What should we to understand about the words
“My love”?
II. “In” — How does one get “in” Christ’s love?
III. “Continue ye” — Why are we commanded to “continue”
in Christ’s love?
Transition:
Seven Discourses in John’s Gospel:
1. The New Birth (3:1–36)
2. The Water of Life (4:1–42)
3. The Divine Son (5:17–47)
4. The Bread of Life (6:35–58)
5. The Life-Giving Spirit (7:16–52)
6. The Light of the World (8:12–59)
7. The Good Shepherd (10:1–18)
What about the Upper Room Discourse: 13-17? (Note: Some
would limit it to 14-17)
Compare these 5 chapters to the 5 chapters of 1 John.
The words we are to consider may be seen as in the very
center of this Upper Room Discourse.
I. “My love” — What should we to understand about the
words “My love”?
See the words that precede these in this verse, “As the Father hath loved me, so
have I loved you.”
John 17:23-26 — 23
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. 24 Father, I will that they also,
whom thou hast given me, be with me where I am; that they may behold my glory,
which thou hast given me: for thou lovedst me before the foundation of the
world. 25 O righteous Father, the world hath not known
thee: but I have known thee, and these have known that thou hast sent me. 26 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.
This is about Christ’s love, the love of Christ for His
people.
If you are a child of God, this is about the love of Christ
for you.
What is the love of Christ? What does He mean when He says,
“My love”?
Where may we see the love of Christ?
I highly recommend The
Difficult Doctrine of the Love of God, by D. A. Carson on this subject.
What wondrous love is this, O my soul?
II. “In” — How does one get “in” Christ’s love?
This is a relationship.
This is not about the purging, which is confused in this
translation by the substitution of a synonym, a common flaw in the KJV
translation and others.
“1 I am the true vine, and my
Father is the husbandman. 2 Every
branch in me that beareth not fruit he taketh away: and every branch that beareth fruit, he purgeth
it, that it may bring forth more fruit. 3 Now ye are clean through the word which I have spoken unto
you. Now ye are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you.” (15:1-3)
To be “in His love” is to be “in Him” and vice versa.
“4 Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself,
except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me. 5 I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him,
the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing. 6 If a man abide not in
me, he is cast
forth as a branch, and is withered; and men gather them, and cast them into the fire, and they are burned.
7 If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and
it shall be done unto you.” (15:4-7)
This is an eternal personal relationship that cannot be
severed.
Romans 8:35-39 — 35 Who
shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall
tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or
sword? 36 As it is written, For thy sake we are killed all the day
long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter. 37 Nay,
in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us. 38 For I
am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor
powers, nor things present, nor things to come, 39 Nor
height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from
the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
What wondrous love is this, O my soul?
III. “Continue ye” — Why are we commanded to
“continue” in Christ’s love?
The confusing translation issue here and elsewhere in
John’s writings (the Johannine corpus) is due to the variety of synonyms employed by the King James
Version translators and others where none are found in the original language.
See the next verse, along with verses 12, 14 and 17.
Regardless of how this is translated — hopefully with
consistency — the issue is one of perseverance. This Scriptural doctrine has
been addressed in the The Canons of Dort in a manner that excels any other treatment in the history of
the Church. In “The Fifth Head of Doctrine,” titled “The Perseverance of the
Saints,” we come to the final two articles:[3]
“FIFTH HEAD: ARTICLE 14. And
as it has pleased God, by the preaching of the gospel, to begin this work of
grace in us, so He preserves, continues, and perfects it by the hearing and
reading of His Word, by meditation thereon, and by the exhortations,
threatenings, and promises thereof, and by the use of the sacraments.
FIFTH HEAD: ARTICLE 15. The
carnal mind is unable to comprehend this doctrine of the perseverance of the
saints and the certainty thereof, which God has most abundantly revealed in His
Word, for the glory of His Name and the consolation of pious souls, and which
He impresses upon the hearts of the believers. Satan abhors it, the world
ridicules it, the ignorant and hypocritical abuse it, and the heretics oppose
it. But the bride of Christ has always most tenderly loved and constantly
defended it as an inestimable treasure; and God, against whom neither counsel
nor strength can prevail, will dispose her so to continue to the end. Now to
this one God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, be honor and glory forever. Amen.”
At this point we might well ask how this is to be done?
Or, what should we then do? Or, how should we then live?
1. Faith — Abide by persevering in faith.
Believe in His love for you.
Don’t doubt His love for you.
2. Hope — Abide by persevering in hope.
It is not true that “Love cures all ills.”
That is, unless you are referring to His love for you.
3. Love — Abide by persevering in love.
Love Him for loving you.
Love Him for Who He is.
Love what He loves.
“..love
one another, as I have loved you” (15:12)
“…love
one another.” (15:17)
Conclusion:
1 What wondrous
love is this, O my soul, O my soul!
What wondrous love is this, O my soul!
What wondrous love is this that caused the Lord of bliss
to bear the dreadful curse for my soul, for my soul,
to bear the dreadful curse for my soul?
What wondrous love is this, O my soul!
What wondrous love is this that caused the Lord of bliss
to bear the dreadful curse for my soul, for my soul,
to bear the dreadful curse for my soul?
2 When I was
sinking down, sinking down, sinking down,
when I was sinking down, sinking down;
when I was sinking down beneath God's righteous frown,
Christ laid aside his crown for my soul, for my soul,
Christ laid aside his crown for my soul.
when I was sinking down, sinking down;
when I was sinking down beneath God's righteous frown,
Christ laid aside his crown for my soul, for my soul,
Christ laid aside his crown for my soul.
3 To God and to
the Lamb, I will sing, I will sing,
to God and to the Lamb, I will sing;
to God and to the Lamb who is the great I AM -
while millions join the theme, I will sing, I will sing;
while millions join the theme, I will sing.
to God and to the Lamb, I will sing;
to God and to the Lamb who is the great I AM -
while millions join the theme, I will sing, I will sing;
while millions join the theme, I will sing.
4 And when from
death I’m free, I’ll sing on, I’ll sing on,
and when from death I’m free, I’ll sing on;
and when from death I’m free, I’ll sing and joyful be,
and through eternity, I’ll sing on, I’ll sing on,
and through eternity I’ll sing on.[4]
and when from death I’m free, I’ll sing on;
and when from death I’m free, I’ll sing and joyful be,
and through eternity, I’ll sing on, I’ll sing on,
and through eternity I’ll sing on.[4]
[Sermon preached 12 JUL 2015 by Pastor John T. “Jack”
Jeffery at Wayside Gospel Chapel, Greentown, PA.]
End Notes:
[1] 1 Corinthians 14:19.
[2] Charles H. Spurgeon,
“The Mustard Seed: A Sermon for the Sabbath-School Teacher” (Lk.
13:18-19), Sermon No. 2110, delivered 20
OCT 1889, at the Metropolitan Tabernacle, Newington, U.K.; in Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, Vol. 35
(1889), pp. 565ff.; in Charles H. Spurgeon, The Parables of Our Lord (Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 2003), pg. 707; and
on The Spurgeon Archive at http://www.spurgeon.org/sermons/2110.htm [accessed 23 DEC 2014].
[3] The Synod of Dordrecht (13
NOV 1618—9 MAY 1619); on The Hall of
Church History at http://www.spurgeon.org/~phil/creeds/dort.htm
[accessed 18 JUL 2015].
[4] Anonymous. American folk
hymn dated 1811. The original had two additional verses. See Wikipedia at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/What_Wondrous_Love_Is_This
[accessed 18 JUL 2015].
