Romans 115

Owe no man anything but to Love him

May 4, 2003

Brian Kocourek

KJV Romans 13:8 Owe no man anything but to love one another: For he that loveth another hath fulfilled the law. 9 For this, Thou shalt not commit adultery, Thou shalt not kill, Thou shalt not steal, Thou shalt not bear false witness, Thou shalt not covet; and if [there be] any other commandment, it is briefly comprehended in this saying, namely, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. 10 Love worketh no ill to his neighbour: therefore love [is] the fulfilling of the law.

This morning I wish to take a short message from Romans 13: 8-10 which speaks on the subject of Love. Now, to begin with the Apostle Paul speaks of owing no man anything.

He says, Romans 13:8 Owe no man anything, and that speaks of lingering debts. The NIV even is a little more clear on the translation here.

NIV Romans 13:8 Let no debt remain outstanding, except the continuing debt to love one another, for he who loves his fellowman has fulfilled the law.

And the Weymouth translation says, Owe nothing to any one except mutual love; for he who loves his fellow man has satisfied the demands of Law.

The Amplified Bible says, keep out of debt and owe no man anything except to love one another, for he who loves his neighbor, who practices loving others, has fulfilled the law meeting all its requirements. …

Now, before we can focus on the second part of Romans 13:8 which speaks of Loving one another, we need to first resolve the first part which speaks of owing no man.

CHRIST REVEALED IN HIS OWN WORD 65-0822M 12 Now, I see laying here, there's been many requests this last week on what I said last Sunday on the message... I believe--I forget what I titled it now. But that I said something about paying your debts. And you know, no matter what you say, it's misunderstood by many, not 'cause they don't want to misunderstand it, but you just simply misunderstand it. And now, someone said, "Should we buy a car?" or, "What should I..." Now, that isn't what Jesus spoke of, or the Bible there, that said, "Owe no man nothing." That's lingering debts that you could pay. Pay them. You don't... That's owing no man nothing. It doesn't mean... My, we owe our rent, our telephone bill, and what more. We owe those things, and we pay them. But an old lingering debt that you could be paying on, pay it off. See? Now, don't go with anything hanging on you like that.

I will never forget what I had heard after 1977 came and went. There were many who claimed to be following this message that ran up very large debts preceding 1977 and when the end of the world did not happen like they thought it was supposed to happen, they were stuck with huge amounts of debt. One brother bought a very expensive boat that he could not afford, and delayed making his payments, I am sure he was probably just hoping he would be caught up in the rapture and thus not have to pay his debts. There were many others as well. I also heard of a brother who went into debt a quarter of a million, and in those days that would be much more than it is today, and yet he was hoping he would not have to repay it. He also hoping for a rapture to get him out of here before the debts were called.

Now, those are very carnal thing to do, and I doubt very much a person who thinks like that has even been born again, much less ready for the Rapture. Look, if we are hoping for a rapture so we don’t have to keep living out the life that we have sowed fro ourselves, that is not the right reason to be longing for a rapture. I know many use brother Branham’s quote about living in this pest house and say, “yeah, I want out of this pest house as well”, and long for the rapture as our way of escape. But that attitude is the same that Israel had when they longed for the Messiah to take over their own government and throw out the Romans. Although it is good to want to go home, our reasons should not be to get rid of the negative aspects of life, because you can do those right now, with just a commitment to God and yourself. But our real reasons for wanting a change of the body and a catching away, is so we are not hampered in our relationship to the Great lover of our souls. We want to be like Him, and we want to be ever present with Him.

Therefore, we should each one of us examine our real motives for desiring the rapture and the change of our bodies. Lord, Jesus, I so desire a change of the flesh because I know in this flesh, I still have trials that are very grievous to me, and I desire to be freed from them that I might truly enter into a state of joy as you promised to them that are in your Presence.

Now, in getting back to our subject concerning our owing no man, …. Brother Branham said, KNOWETH IT NOT 65-0815 36-6 Clean your lives up; pay your debts; owe no man. Jesus said, "Now... Now, I don't mean things like your house rent and stuff. You got to do it. Get all your things off your hands. Get everything right. Make ready. Get ready. Remember in the Name of the Lord, something's fixing to happen.

Now, on the second part of what Paul spoke of here in Romans 13:8, he said we are to Love one another. Romans 13:8 Owe no man anything but to love one another (in other words, after you have cleaned up your life and taken care of all your outstanding debts, then there is but one thing left to owe, and that is to owe your love to one another. We owe Christ our Love, because we did not love Him first, but He loved us first. Now, the reason we are not to be in a position of debt is because when we owe, we are servants to the one we owe to.) ROMANS 6:16 Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness? 17But God be thanked, that ye were the servants of sin, but ye have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine which was delivered you. 18 Being then made free from sin, ye became the servants of righteousness.

And we know that to be in debt is to part of the curse of not walking in the Word as we see in Deuteronomy 28:43 The stranger that [is] within thee shall get up above thee very high; and thou shalt come down very low. 44 He shall lend to thee, and thou shalt not lend to him: he shall be the head, and thou shalt be the tail. 45 ¶ Moreover all these curses shall come upon thee, and shall pursue thee, and overtake thee, till thou be destroyed; because thou hearkenedst not unto the voice of the LORD thy God, to keep his commandments and his statutes which he commanded thee:

As opposed to the blessing given as we see in DEUTERONOMY 28:12 The LORD shall open unto thee his good treasure, the heaven to give the rain unto thy land in his season, and to bless all the work of thine hand: and thou shalt lend unto many nations, and thou shalt not borrow. 13 And the LORD shall make thee the head, and not the tail; and thou shalt be above only, and thou shalt not be beneath; if that thou hearken unto the commandments of the LORD thy God, which I command thee this day, to observe and to do [them]:

Now, in getting to the second part of what Paul said in Romans 13:8, he tells us to love one another.

Therefore, I would like to take the remaining portion of this message to look at what Love is and why it is so important, and why it fulfills the Law of God and Christ.

In the Book of Matthew 22:36 we hear the question come to Jesus, “Teacher, which is the greatest Commandment in the Law?” 37 “‘THOU SHALT LOVE THE LORD THY GOD,’” He answered, “‘WITH THY WHOLE HEART, THY WHOLE SOUL, THY WHOLE MIND. 38 This is the greatest and foremost Commandment. 39 And the second is similar to it: ‘Thou shalt love thy fellow man as much as thyself.’ 40 The whole of the Law and the Prophets is summed up in these two Commandments.”

And that is what Paul is saying for what are the whole of the commandments but those that deal with Loving God above all and then not doing certain things to your neighbor, such as stealing what things are his and not trying to do him any harm like, such as lying against him etc.

Paul says, For he that loveth another hath fulfilled the law. 9 For this, Thou shalt not commit adultery, Thou shalt not kill, Thou shalt not steal, Thou shalt not bear false witness, Thou shalt not covet; and if [there be] any other commandment, it is briefly comprehended in this saying, namely, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. 10 Love worketh no ill to his neighbour: therefore love [is] the fulfilling of the law.

And Jesus took us one step further toward perfection when he said, Matthew 5:43 “You have heard that it was said, ‘THOU SHALT LOVE THY NEIGHBOR and hate thine enemy.’ 44 But I command you all, love your enemies, and pray for your persecutors; 45 that so you may become true sons of your Father in Heaven; for He causes His sun to rise on the wicked as well as the good, and sends rain upon those who do right and those who do wrong. 46 For if you love only those who love you, what reward have you earned? Do not even the tax-gatherers do that? 47 And if you salute only your near relatives, (that means if you only greet or embrace only your own family) what praise is due to you? Do not even the Gentiles do the same? 48 You however are to be complete in goodness, as your Heavenly Father is complete.

II JOHN 1:5 ¶ And now I beseech thee, lady, not as though I wrote a new commandment unto thee, but that which we had from the beginning, that we love one another. 6 And this is love, that we walk after his commandments. This is the commandment, That, as ye have heard from the beginning, ye should walk in it.

JOHN 15:9 ¶ As the Father hath loved me, so have I loved you: continue ye in my love. 10 If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love; even as I have kept my Father's commandments, and abide in his love. 11 These things have I spoken unto you, that my joy might remain in you, and [that] your joy might be full. 12 This is my commandment, That ye love one another, as I have loved you. 13 Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.

I JOHN 3:11 ¶ For this is the message that ye heard from the beginning, that we should love one another. 12 Not as Cain, [who] was of that wicked one, and slew his brother. And wherefore slew he him? Because his own works were evil, and his brother's righteous. 13 Marvel not, my brethren, if the world hate you. 14 ¶ We know that we have passed from death unto life, because we love the brethren. He that loveth not [his] brother abideth in death. 15 Whosoever hateth his brother is a murderer: and ye know that no murderer hath eternal life abiding in him. 16 Hereby perceive we the love [of God], because he laid down his life for us: and we ought to lay down [our] lives for the brethren.

I JOHN 3:23 ¶ And this is his commandment, That we should believe on the name of his Son Jesus Christ, and love one another, as he gave us commandment. 24 And he that keepeth his commandments dwelleth in him, and he in him. And hereby we know that he abideth in us, by the Spirit which he hath given us.

I JOHN 5:1 ¶ Whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ is born of God: and every one that loveth him that begat loveth him also that is begotten of him. 2 By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God, and keep his commandments. 3 For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments: and his commandments are not grievous.

I JOHN 4:7 ¶ Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of God; and every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God. 8 He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love. 9 In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him. 10 Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son [to be] the propitiation for our sins. 11Beloved, if God so loved us, we ought also to love one another. 12 No man hath seen God at any time. If we love one another, God dwelleth in us, and his love is perfected in us.

Now, we have heard many scriptures speaking of our loving one another, but what is love. How do we do this love that we might thus fulfill the law of God as Paul says? For this we find our definition of love in his Book to the Corinthians.

I CORINTHIANS 13:1 ¶ Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not Love, I am become [as] sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal. 2 And though I have [the gift of] prophecy, and understand all mysteries, and all knowledge; and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not Love, I am nothing. 3 And though I bestow all my goods to feed [the poor], and though I give my body to be burned, and have not Love, it profiteth me nothing.

Ok, Paul then what is it that we are supposed to have. What will Love do for us? You’ve told us what it will not do, now tell us what it will do for us.

1) ¶ Love suffereth long,

2) Love is kind;

3) Love envieth not;

4) Love vaunteth not itself,

5) Love is not puffed up,

6) Love Doth not behave itself unseemly,

7) Love seeketh not her own,

8) Love is not easily provoked,

9) Love thinketh no evil;

10) Love Rejoiceth not in iniquity,

11) Love rejoiceth in the truth;

12) Love Beareth all things,

13) Love believeth all things,

14) Love hopeth all things,

15) Love endureth all things. and what are these all things? Paul said we are all things in Christ. I’ll get to that in a moment.

16) Love never faileth:

but whether [there be] prophecies, they shall fail; whether [there be] tongues, they shall cease; whether [there be] knowledge, it shall vanish away.

ROMANS 8:28 And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to [his] purpose.

ROMANS 11:36 For of him, and through him, and to him, [are] all things: to whom [be] glory for ever. Amen.

I CORINTHIANS 15:27 For he hath put all things under his feet. But when he saith all things are put under [him, it is] manifest that he is excepted, which did put all things under him. 28 And when all things shall be subdued unto him, then shall the Son also himself be subject unto him that put all things under him, that God may be all in all.

II 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. 18 And all things [are] of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation;

EPHESIANS 1:9 Having made known unto us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure which he hath purposed in himself: 10 That in the dispensation of the fulness of times he might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven, and which are on earth; [even] in him: 11 In whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will: 12 That we should be to the praise of his glory, who first trusted in Christ.

EPHESIANS 1:22 And hath put all [things] under his feet, and gave him [to be] the head over all [things] to the church,

EPHESIANS 4:15 But speaking the truth in love, may grow up into him in all things, which is the head, [even] Christ:

EPHESIANS 5:13 But all things that are reproved are made manifest by the light: for whatsoever doth make manifest is light.

COLOSSIANS 1:16 For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether [they be] thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him: 17 And he is before all things, and by him all things consist. 18 And he is the head of the body, the church: who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead; that in all [things] he might have the preeminence. 19 For it pleased [the Father] that in him should all fulness dwell; 20 And, having made peace through the blood of his cross, by him to reconcile all things unto himself; by him, [I say], whether [they be] things in earth, or things in heaven.

EPHESIANS 1:10 That in the dispensation of the fulness of times he might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven, and which are on earth; [even] in him: