Love Covers All Sins

Go To Meeting

Tom Fannin—June 27, 2020

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Hello, brethren! It's very nice to be with you and hopefully you're all well and looking forward to the Sabbath.

Proverbs 10:12: "Hatred stirs up strife, but love covers all sins, but love covers all sins."

We see that we have a couple of things going on here, a couple of attitudes:

• "Hatred stirs up strife…"—wants to stir up sins and problems among people.

This is an attitude of people who are against God's Law and what God wants to be doing.

• "…love covers all sins"

That's what we want, don't we? To have sin covered!

In our lives we don't want to be a part of sin, those of us who are spiritual. Sometimes this Scripture is misapplied.

In this message I want to examine why love covers sin; what's the part that love plays in covering sin. Most importantly God and Christ and what They have done for us to cover sin. Also, our part, what's our part in covering sin. A love that we should have, the same love that God and Christ have.

Truly, how is love covered? We think about sin and how it's truly covered, we know that came from the sacrifice of Jesus Christ.

1-Peter 2:21: "For to this you were called because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that you should follow in His footsteps."

That should be in the front of our mind always as an example that Christ set for us. When we read Scripture about Christ, especially the Gospels, we see what He did and how He conducted Himself before God and man.

Verse 22: "Who committed no sin; neither was guile found in His mouth; Who, when He was reviled, did not revile in return; when suffering, He threatened not, but committed Himself to Him Who judges righteously; Who Himself bore our sins within His own body on the tree, so that we, being dead to sins, may live unto righteousness; by Whose stripes you were healed" (vs 22-24). He bore our sins!

Hebrews 7:25: "Therefore, He [Christ] has the power throughout all time to save those who come to God through Him because He is ever living to intercede for them. For it is fitting that we should have such a High Priest Who is Holy, blameless, undefiled, set apart from sinners and made higher than the heavens; Who has no need, as do the other high priests, to offer up sacrifices day by day, first for his own sins and then for the sins of the people; for this He did once for all time when He offered up Himself" (vs 25-27)—to cover sin!

1-John 2:1: My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. And yet, if anyone does sin, we have an Advocate with the Father; Jesus Christ the Righteous; and He is the propitiation… [continuous atonement] …for our sins; and not for our sins only, but also for the sins of the whole world" (vs 1-2).

Christ is that atoning sacrifice for our sins, so that sin can truly be covered.

One part we have to mention here is repentance! Through Christ's sacrifice, and upon repentance, sin is covered; our sins are forgiven. We have to remember that the covering of sin also requires repentance of an individual!

With the covering of sin with love, we know what God and Jesus Christ have done for us is an act of love!

John 3:16: "For God so loved the world that He gave His only Begotten Son, so that everyone who believes in Him may not perish, but may have everlasting life."

Sometimes that's really hard to think about. We know that Christ—Who was God—devolved Himself of His power and became a pinpoint of life, became a man for the sacrifice for us, the only Begotten Son of God the Father.

This was done for us and the world—everyone—as an act of love.

John 15:9: "As the Father has loved Me, I also have loved you…. [Christ speaking to the apostles] …live in My love. If you keep My commandments, you shall live in My love; just as I have kept My Father's commandments and live in His love. These things I have spoken to you, in order that My joy may dwell in you, and that your joy may be full. This is My commandment: that you love one another, as I have loved you. No one has greater love than this: that one lay down his life for his friends. You are My friends, if you do whatever I command you" (vs 9-14).

We know that Christ in this act of love did lay down His life for an example for us. I think it's good for us to think about what Christ said here about laying down His life, and what we need to be doing ourselves for each other in our personal sacrifice. Laying down our lives for one another to cover sin; our part in covering sin!

1-John 4:8: "The one who does not love does not know God because God is love." That makes it very clear for all of us what God is! And the same for Jesus Christ!

Verse 9: "In this way the love of God was manifested toward us: that God sent His only begotten Son into the world, so that we might live through Him. In this act is the love—not that we loved God; rather, that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins" (vs 9-10).

These are some Scriptures to cover that what happened here was an act of love on the part of God and Jesus Christ! We need the love of God that Christ has within ourselves. We know that it's something we strive for every day, to love God with all heart, soul, mind and being and also to love each other. That's what we continually work on.

Verse 11: "Beloved, if God so loved us, we also are duty-bound to love one another. No one has seen God at any time. Yet, if we love one another, God dwells in us, and His own love is perfected in us" (vs 11-12).

That's something that we need to be working on continually, having the love of God being perfected in us, so we can be like Him, so we can be like Christ in building Their very mind and character.

Verse 21: "And this is the commandment that we have from Him: that the one who loves God should also love his brother."

As we look at this, we apply this toward the covering of sin. Love for one another does help in the covering of sin.

• How has God dealt with us?
• How has God dealt with you, personally?

That's something we all think about! I think it's good to meditate on this before prayer; to think about:

• what God has done for us in our lives
• what God brought us out of
• who we are
• who we are now
• problems we have now in our spiritual lives that we need help with
• what God has done for us
• our attitude toward one another and how we deal with one another; just as God has dealt with us

Psalm 103:8: "The LORD is merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abundant in mercy"—and steadfast love!

Isn't that something to thank God about continually, His love is steadfast! It doesn't change! Every day He has the same love for us! Unlike how we are at times. God's love is steadfast.

Verse 9: "He will not always chasten, nor will He keep His anger forever. He has not dealt with us according to our sins, nor rewarded us according to our iniquities, for as the heavens are high above the earth, so is His mercy toward those who fear Him. As far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions from us" (vs 9-12). That's how God has dealt with us:

• mercy
• forgiving
• patient
• slow to anger

That's how God works with us, through His love!

Matthew 18:12: "What do you think? If a man has a hundred sheep and one of them has gone astray, does he not leave the ninety-nine on the mountains and search for the one that went astray? And if he finds it, truly I say to you, he rejoices over it more than over the ninety-nine that did not go astray. Likewise, it is not the will of your Father Who is in heaven that one of these little ones should perish" (vs 12-14).

That's God's love toward all people. He doesn't want anyone to perish, but He wants all to come to repentance. There's joy when the one is found, the one who has gone astray.

When we think about the ones who go astray, this is what God does. Sometimes in our lives we go astray, and we do things or have thoughts or get into certain attitudes at times that aren't right—we go astray! But God continues to look and search for us and bring us back with His live. We have a chance to repent, change and move forward. This is part of what God is, and what He does.

Luke 6:36: "Therefore, you also be compassionate, even as your Father is compassionate. And do not judge others, so that you yourself will not be judged in any way. Do not condemn others, so that you will not be condemned in any way. Forgive, and you shall be forgiven" 36-37).

We have a compassionate Father; what a great attribute it is to have compassion for people. That's what God has and He wants us to have that attitude, as well.

• He wants us to be forgiving
• He wants us to be non-judgmental of one another

If we have this about us, then this goes a long way toward the covering of sin as far as our part is.

Hosea 6:6: "For I desire mercy and not sacrifice, and the knowledge of God more than burnt offerings."

He doesn't want sacrifice as in the times here when they were sacrificing animals for sin and the sprinkling of blood. What God wants is to be able to extend mercy. He wants to see in us a circumcised heart:

• one that wants to change
• one that wants to repent
• one that wants to have sin covered

God desires that we have knowledge of Who He is, Who God really is! We just covered that in John that God's love He wants us to have knowledge of who He is and what He desires, and also the Truth. That's what God wants, for us to have this attitude, especially the knowledge of love, because of what love does in our lives.

• How do you view sin?
• How do all of us view sin?
• Is it something, because of this world and what goes on in the world, and sometimes closer to home in our families or even in the Church?
• What do we think of sin?

Ultimately sin and love dwell together. We know that the final answer to that is there is a future time where sin will not exist anymore, but love will certainly cover everything! Right now that's not what we have; we have sin!

• How do we view it?
• What do we think of sin?

we always want to start with:

• What does God think?

What we think isn't important, but what God thinks is very important! That's what we need to be paying attention to. David speaks of this:

Psalm 5:4: "For You are not a God that has pleasure in wickedness; nor shall evil dwell with You. The boasters shall not stand in Your sight. You hate all workers of iniquity" (vs 4-5).

• that's God's view on sin
• that's God's view on wickedness
• that's God's view on evil

• He doesn't choose to dwell with that!
• He doesn't want that to be part of His life
• He doesn't want that to be a part of our lives

He wants us to have His same type of attitude! He we want that removed!

When we talk about baptism we cover Rom. 6, because it has to do with submersion and the burying of the old self, being co-crucified with Jesus Christ. Then becoming in covenant with God and Christ. When we're baptized and we are in covenant, we made an agreement! We said that we would walk as Jesus Christ walked, and we would be living by God's Word, keeping His commandments. That's what we agreed to.

Romans 6:14: "For sin shall not rule over you because you are not under Law, but under grace."

That's what happened when we were baptized. When we received the Holy Spirit we became under grace.

Verse 15: "What then? Shall we sin because we are not under law, but under grace? MAY IT NEVER BE! Don't you realize that to whom you yield yourselves as servants to obey, you are servants of the one you obey, whether it is of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness? But thanks be to God, that you were the servants of sin, but you have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine which was delivered to you; and having been delivered from sin, you became the servants of righteousness" (vs 15-18).

That's where our mind should be. Sin should not be ruling anymore within us. We should be working on getting sin out, having sin covered by repentance and change.

The important thing here is to become "…the servants of righteousness" and let that righteousness and love rule! That's what we need to be doing in our lives after baptism. Again, we're talking about how we view sin. What do you think of sin?

Proverbs 28:13: "He who covers his sins shall not prosper, but whoever confesses and forsakes them shall have mercy."

That sounds like New Covenant doctrine! We definitely don't want to be covering sins thinking that we can hide things from God. We know that we cannot hide our sins from God. We want to confess them and forsake them! That is truly New Testament doctrine! That's what we need to be doing: forsaking sin! confessing sin!

1-John 1:7: "However, if we walk in the Light, as He is in the Light… [speaking of Christ] …then we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ, His own Son, cleanses us from all sin. If we say that we do not have sin, we are deceiving ourselves, and the Truth is not in us. If we confess our own sins… [tie in with Prov. 28] …He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness" (vs 7-9).

That's what we need to do—all of us together—is walk in the Light and look for the covering:

• by repentance
• by confessing

as we all walk in the Light together! Those of us who are in the Light together there's a lot we do for one another to help in this.

1-Corinthians 13:5—what love does not do: "Love does not behave disgracefully, does not seek its own things, is not easily provoked, thinks no evil, does not rejoice in iniquity…" (vs 5-6).

What love does do: "…but rejoices in the Truth" (v 6).

We look at the world and it seems to rejoice in sin. But not for us who are spiritual. We don't rejoice in iniquity; we don't rejoice in sin. Actually, we're saddened by sin. It hurts when we see sin within this world and within the Church and ourselves! It's something that we should want covered and get rid of.

But we should be rejoicing in the Truth, that for us who are spiritual, is where our true rejoicing is. It's in God's Word, in the Truth! That's what we truly rejoice in!

Part of this is having joy, and we need to have joy! God had joy, and so do the angels. When it comes to forsaking sin, leaving sin.

Luke 15:4: "Which man of you who has a hundred sheep, and has lost one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness and go after the one that is lost, searching until he finds it? And when he finds it, he lays it on his shoulders, rejoicing; and after coming to his house, he calls together his friends and neighbors, saying to them, 'Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep that was lost.' I tell you that likewise, there shall be joy in heaven over one sinner who repents, more than over ninety-nine righteous ones who have no need of repentance. Or what woman who has ten coins, if she should lose one, does not light a lamp and sweep the house, and search diligently until she finds it? And after finding it, she calls together her friends and neighbors, saying, 'Rejoice with me, for I have found the coin that I lost.' I tell you that in like manner, there is joy before the angels of God over one sinner who repents" (vs 4-10).

So, there's rejoicing in heaven; there's joy with God, with Christ and with the angels when one repents, when one comes back, when one is found. That's the attitude we should have. We should have joy when we see this occur.

In our fellowship group we had two baptisms, and it worked out that we were able to use one of the brethren's family pool. We had everything planned out that we would have our service there, and after the service we would leave and go to the pool for the baptisms. We did that; it was a really pretty day and warm and we were able to baptized two people. We made it a special day, a special Sabbath, and they we all came back together after that and had a meal together.

There was a rejoicing that day and what happened. What a special day when you have baptisms! I think that a day when a baptism occurs there's nothing more important going on at that moment in time than that event of a baptism where a person repents and accepts Jesus Christ as their Savior and becomes a literal begotten son or daughter of God!

There was joy that day, we had joy and we rejoiced on that Sabbath. That's what God wants us to have is joy, repentance and the covering of sin. Hopefully that is our attitude when we see people change and repent and come out of this world. That there is joy, which helps cover sin. Sometimes we just need a reminder.

I keep mentioning our part, and we're going to spend some time talking about our part in the covering of sin. We do have a part in this.

Proverbs 17:9: "He who covers a transgression seeks love, but he who repeats a matter alienates friends."

I've seen this happen before, and I'm sure you have, too, where a person—instead of acting in love—has repeated a matter, and it's caused a lot of damage between people.

For us, seeking love is having an attitude where we want it covering the transgression of others, in doing our part. Yes, our attitude toward this—when others sin, and how we react to it and what we do—has a big part in the covering. Something we have to be mindful of, and maybe you have, too, where things occur, are talked about and repeated. That's very damaging! You don't want to do that!

Colossians 3:12: "Put on then, as the elect of God, Holy and beloved, deep inner affections, kindness, humility, meekness and long-suffering; forbearing one another, and forgiving one another if anyone has a complaint against another; even as Christ forgave you, so also you should forgive" (vs 12-13).

This is something we need to keep in mind, that Christ forgave us. These are the actions we need to have toward one another.

Verse 14: "And above all these things put on love, which is the bond of perfection."

We are being perfected; love is being perfected in us, and love is the bond of all these things! If we're doing these things toward one another, we'll be doing our part in helping the covering of sin.

Galatians 5:13: "For you have been called unto freedom, brethren; only do not use this freedom for an occasion to the flesh; rather, serve one another with love."

Yes, we have been called to freedom! When you think about the knowledge and understand that we have because of God's Spirit that dwells within us, His giving us an open mind to have understanding, we have much freedom with that.

Yet, with that freedom, that knowledge and understanding that we have of God and Christ and what's been done for us and what we need to be doing, there's a lot of responsibility, also, with that freedom. As it says here to serve one another with love:

Verse 14: "For the whole Law is fulfilled in this commandment: 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself.' But if you bite and devour one another, watch out lest you be consumed by one another" 9vs 14-15).

We need to be careful about that, to be using God's Spirit within us for the good, to help one another and help cover. But IF we're not using it right, if we're not careful, THEN we can be devouring one another.

Matthew 7:1: "Do not condemn others, so that you yourself will not be condemned; for with what judgment you judge, you shall be judged; and with what measure you mete out, it shall be measured again to you. Now, why do you look at the sliver that is in your brother's eye, but you do not perceive the beam in your own eye? Or how will you say to your brother, 'Allow me to remove the sliver from your eye'; and behold, the beam is in your own eye? You hypocrite, first cast out the beam from your own eye, and then you shall see clearly to remove the sliver from your brother's eye" (vs 1-5).

We need to be careful not to judge. If we're not looking through our eyes and the heart with love and driven by love and love being the purpose for everything we do, that's a beam we've gotten in our eye. As Christ said her, you're not going to see clearly. You can't have the knowledge and understanding of how to handle and do things if you're not looking through eyes that have love. It's a beam that we have to remove.

But if we remove that beam and truly working on trying to use love to motivate us in everything we do, then we're going see clearly. We're also going to be able to see clearly to remove maybe a sliver in our brother's eye and help them. But again, it's using love; it helps us to cover sin! It's important to meditate on what has been done for us.

Matthew 18:23: "Therefore, the Kingdom of Heaven is compared to a man, a certain king, who would take account with his servants. And after he began to reckon, there was brought to him one debtor who owed him ten thousand talents" (vs 23-24).

It looks like this debtor was responsible and he owed a lot, quite a bit, so it looks like he hadn't acted too responsibly.

Verse 25: "But since he did not have anything to pay, his lord commanded him to be sold, and his wife and children, and all that he had, and payment to be made."

What a serious situation to be in where you're going to be sold, not only you but your family, too. Can't imagine what your mind would be like to be in that position.

Verse 26: "Because of this, the servant fell down and worshiped him, saying, 'Lord, have patience with me, and I will pay you all.' And being moved with compassion, the lord of that servant released him, and forgave him the debt" (vs 26-27).

So, he heard this man's cry and there was compassion and forgiveness given there; the debt was forgiven.

Verse 28: "Then that servant went out and found one of his fellow servants, who owed him a hundred silver coins; and after seizing him, he choked him, saying, '"Pay me what you owe.' As a result, his fellow servant fell down at his feet and pleaded with him, saying, 'Have patience with me, and I will pay you everything.'…. [sound's real familiar] …But he would not listen; instead, he went and cast him into prison, until he should pay the amount that he owed" (vs 28-30).

How sad is that? This person was shown compassion, his debt forgiven, then he turned around and wouldn't even listen to this person pleading his case and asking for forgiveness and mercy.

Verse 31: "Now, when his fellow servants saw the things that had taken place, they were greatly distressed; and they went to their lord and related all that had taken place. Then his lord called him and said to him, 'You wicked servant, I forgave you all that debt, because you implored me. Were you not also obligated to have compassion on your fellow servant, even as I had compassion on you?' And in anger, his lord delivered him up to the tormentors, until he should pay all that he owed to him. Likewise shall My heavenly Father also do to you, if each of you does not forgive his brother's offenses from the heart" (vs 31-35). We have to remember what has been done for us:

• compassion
• mercy
• forgiveness

As Christ said here, we need to be able to forgive from the heart! IF we have this attitude and we can remember what's been done for us, and show that to others, THEN we'll be doing our part, also in the help of the covering of sin.

When it comes to our brethren, and certain things happen, it's good for us to consider ourselves and who we are and what we're capable of. We need to be on guard, watching ourselves and being careful.

Let's read about how important it is for us to consider ourselves. Again, our heart and mind should be that we want sin covered; we want sin removed. We don't want to see it:

• in ourselves
• within the Church
• within the brethren

Galatians 6:1: "Brethren, even if a man be overtaken in some offense…"

Does this happen, where within the Church that some are taken over with some kind of offense, or some type of sin? Yes, it happens in the Church with the brethren! Some fall into this, unfortunately! We can go back and read 1-Cor. 5 about the man in the Corinthian Church and what happened there. Yes, in the Churches of God there are brethren who are overtaken in some offense.

"…you who are spiritual…" (v 1). That's the key, those of us who have God's Spirit within us, who are led by God's Spirit, are spiritual.

"…restore such a one in a spirit of meekness, considering yourself, lest you also be tempted. Bear one another's burdens, and so fulfill the Law of Christ" (vs 1-2). That is to have love for one another!

We have to be mindful of that with our brothers and sisters, because sometimes sin occurs, but we need to consider ourselves and have meekness and restoring. If we have this attitude and we are spiritual—as it talks about here—we'll be able to do our part in helping to cover.

An important part here, too, is "Bear one another's burdens…" (v 2). As brothers and sisters in Christ, that's what we do for one another. We do bear each other's burdens and pray for one another and help one another.

James 5:19: "Brethren, if anyone among you strays from the Truth…" that's what was talked about in Galatians!

"…and someone brings him back…: (v 19).  [maybe you've been in that position and help someone who is straying from the Truth and helped through your love and actions to bring them back.

Verse 20: "Let him know that he who brings back a sinner from the error of his way shall save a soul from death, and shall cover a multitude of sins."

That's a great thing for any of us to be involved being able to bring someone back, save someone, help someone that has strayed. That they can repent and change and be in right standing with God again. That "…shall cover a multitude of sins"—our part!

Someone who is able to do this has to be loving, has to extend mercy and has to have compassion and forgiveness, to use wisdom and judgment in doing this. We know that when this happens the credit goes to God and Jesus Christ for working through us in doing this.

If we have this attitude and are doing things like this correctly, then as we show this, it's extended to us. We have mercy and compassion extended to us, as well, for what we do for others. Yes, this has our part in the covering of sin.

1-Peter 4:8: "But above all, have fervent love among yourselves…"

So, Peter and the other apostles got to see Christ and what He did first hand; they were there with Him, eyewitnesses to Christ's life and ministry, and the love He had for people. We know later on, they received the Holy Spirit within them as a helper, and a lot things came back to remembrance to them. They had a better understanding. One thing they understood and Peter says here that they had an understanding of love. That's why Peter said, 'Among the brethren here we need to have "…fervent loveamong yourselves."

"…because love will cover a multitude of sins" (v 8).

Peter knew, just like the other apostles, exists among us, then it will help cover sin. That's what we want, sin removed! We want Christ to be able to return and dwell with God and Jesus Christ and live with Them forever in a world where love exists and sin doesn't.

I think the longer we're converted, the more we understand about love and sin, what Christ and God have done for us, and also what we need to be doing on our part in the covering of sin.

We look forward to that time when we know that sin will be completely covered and won't exist anymore; only love at that time will exist in the Kingdom of God!

Scriptural References:

• Proverbs 10:12
• 1 Peter 2:21-24
• Hebrews 7:25-27
• 1 John 2:1-2
• John 3:16
• John 15:9-14
• 1 John 4:8-12, 21
• Psalm 103:8-12
• Matthew 18:12-14
• Luke 6:36-37
• Hosea 6:6
• Palm 5:4-5
• Romans 6:14-18
• Proverbs 28:13
• 1 John 1:7-9
• 1 Corinthians 13:5-6
• Luke 15:4-10
• Proverbs 17:9
• Colossians 3:12-14
• Galatians 5:13-15
• Matthew 7:1-5
• Matthew 18:23-35
• Galatians 6:1-2
• James 5:19-20
• 1 Peter 4:8

Scripture referenced, not quoted: 1 Corinthians 5

TF:bo
Transcribed: 4/11/21

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