First Corinthians two, we had
a message last Sunday night from Titus chapter two on the subject
of our Lord's glorious return to gather his people to himself
for all eternity. And continuing to think on that
led me to this scripture And then to this question, the scripture
is 1 Corinthians 2 verse 9. It says, but as it is written,
I have not seen nor ear heard, neither have entered into the
heart of man the things which God hath prepared for them that
love him. Aren't you so thankful for that
verse of scripture? That's amazing. Everybody here has imagined heaven. Everybody here has seen what
they think is the most beautiful place on earth. Everybody has
heard what they believe is the most beautiful sound they've
ever heard. And according to God Almighty, because that's
quoting Isaiah 64, I believe, yeah, Isaiah 64, your eye has
never seen anything like it. Your ear has never heard anything
like it. Your mind has never imagined anything like it. The
things that God has prepared for them that love him. That's
the scripture. And this is the question. And
this is also the title of our message. What is it to truly
love God? That's the title of the message.
That's our subject matter tonight. What is it to truly love God? Verse 9 says, As it is written,
I hath not seen nor ear heard, neither have entered into the
heart of man the things which God hath prepared for them that
love him. love him. What is it to truly
love God? Because people all over this
world say they do, but do they? Do they really? I pray that we will really pay
close attention to this. If we say that we do, do we really? If we say that
we love God, do we really, do we truly love God? Because that's who he has done
all that for. This is a very critical question
to know the answer to because 1 Corinthians 16 verse 22 says,
if any man love not the Lord Jesus Christ, Let him be anathema
Maranatha. And that means cursed. When the
Lord returns, if any man leaves this world and stands before
God and finds out in that moment, I did not love God. Oh, that's a cursed man or woman.
That's a cursed man or woman. Hannah and I were watching a
show the other night and it was on natural disasters and these
people, the way they had the show was people were filming
them with their cell phones. And tornadoes were coming through
people's houses and pulling people out of their front doors. And
different things were happening to people in their cars. And
it recorded all their screams and the horrors and the cryings
and the begging and pleading to God, just begging and pleading,
please, please, please. And I told Hannah, that is a
horrible, I count, or however you want
to say it, of what judgment's going to be like. Please God,
please God. One man kept saying, please forgive
me of my sin, please forgive me of my sin, please forgive
me of my sin. You know, if we go stand before
the judgment and come to find out in that moment, I didn't
love God after all. I thought I did, but I didn't. Cursed is that man or woman. This is so serious. This is so
serious. Every soul that does not love
God is going to be cursed when he returns. So I really do want
to know the answer to this question. Do I love the Lord or no? That's what John Newton wanted
to know. Do I love the Lord or no? What
is it to truly love God? What does that mean? And do I
love Him? Do I love Him? Well, first, let's
establish this, all right? Turn with me to 1 John 4. First John 4 verse 19, it says, we love him because he first
loved us. If we love him, it's only because
he first loved us. If we love him, if we do. HE GETS THE CREDIT FOR IT. OKAY?
DO WE? DO I LOVE HIM? IF I DO, HE GETS
THE CREDIT FOR IT. IF I DO, HE GETS THE GLORY FOR
IT. HE IS THE CAUSE OF LOVE. ALL LOVE. HE IS THE BEGINNING
OF TRUE LOVE. LOOK RIGHT HERE AT I JOHN 4 VERSE
10. IT SAYS, HEREIN IS LOVE, NOT
THAT WE LOVED GOD, but that He loved us, and sent His Son to
be the propitiation for our sins. I'm telling you, we're going
to enter into the, the word propitiation means, it translates a bloody
victim. It means an atoning covering
for our sin. We're going to, in that day,
We're going to thank God for that atonement. We're going to
thank God for that atoning blood. That was love. It's not that
we love God. It's that he loved us. And sent
his son to be the propitiation for our sins. That was love,
that was the proof of his love. Verse nine just above it says,
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. He died that we might live. That
was love. Greater love knows no man than
that. Verse 8, above it, he that loveth
not knoweth not God, for God is love. God is love. So what this is saying is every
soul that God loved will love God. Every soul that God first
loved will love God. People say, well, God loves everybody. No, he doesn't. No, he doesn't. Jacob have I loved, but he so
have I hated. Psalm 5 says he hates all workers
of iniquity. All workers of iniquity. You
say, well, isn't that us? Not in Christ, it's not. Do you know in Christ our slate
has been wiped clean? Isn't that amazing? In Christ we have a brand new
record. He that is born of God does not
commit sin. That's amazing, isn't it? Turn over to Romans 8 with me. Verse 38, For I am persuaded that neither
death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers,
nor things present nor things to come, 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." Every soul that
has been placed in Christ has been placed in God's love. That's where his love is. It's
in Christ. And every soul that God loved
and placed in Christ will in turn love God for it. That soul will love God for it. Now here's what I want to know
tonight. Okay. This is what I want to know. Did he love me? That's what I want to know. Did he love me? Did he place
me in Christ? I can know the answer to that
based on this right here. Do I love him? Do I love him? And not just the
thought of him. People love the thought of God.
Every now and then it becomes popular. Not just the imaginary version
of Him that I have made up in my mind. Everybody has an imaginary
version of God. And they like their God. And I'm not just talking about
the lies on Him that men are telling from pulpits. The lies
on God. Do I truly love Him? based on
what he has declared in his word. Do I truly love him? We can find
the answers to that based on some things he said in his word,
okay? I have five or six scriptures that declare to us what it is
to love God. What it is to love God. What
exactly a child of God loves, who loves God. We're gonna look
at these and let's assess them in our hearts, okay? Turn over
to Psalm 5, I just quoted Psalm 5 to us. Let's turn over there,
Psalm chapter 5. Much of this psalm is condemnation
and woe. Verse 4 says, Thou art not a
God that hath pleasure in wickedness, neither shall evil dwell with
thee. The foolish shall not stand in
thy sight. Thou hatest all workers of iniquity. Thou shalt destroy them that
speak leasing. The Lord will abhor. That means
hate the bloody and deceitful man. Verse 11 says, but let all those
that put their trust in thee rejoice. Let them ever shout
for joy because thou defendest them. Let them also that love
thy name be joyful in thee. He said that's the ones I'm talking
about. the ones that love thy name. Number one, to love God. Do I love Him? Number one, to
love God is to love His name. Is to love His name. What is
His name? You know, Moses asked that question
one time. He said, what is your name that
I might tell the people who sent me? God said, you tell them I
am sent you. You tell them I am that I am
Jehovah, Lord, sovereign. You love his name. God is sovereign. Why? That's
his name. You love his name. The name God
means the self existing one who needs nothing and no one. His very name means he doesn't
need me. He doesn't need you. He doesn't
need anything. He doesn't need anyone. Do you love his name? He is the in need of nothing
one. Do you love that about him? Do you love that He is God and
beside Him there is none else? You mean I don't get to be God
with Him? No. He's the only God that there
is. The Almighty, Emmanuel, God with
us. There are different names throughout
the Old Testament that declare who He is. I was going to take us through
them, but I didn't. I wrote a couple down here. Jehovah-Jireh. Abraham called the name of that
place Jehovah-Jireh. The Lord will provide. The Lord,
our provider. People talk about being a self-made
man. He's the only self-made man there
ever was. Jehovah Nisi, the Lord, our banner, the Lord, our light,
the one we're looking to. Jehovah Sidkenu, the Lord, our
righteousness, the only righteousness we have. Jehovah Shalom, the
Lord, our peace. Listen to this name, Jesus of
Nazareth. You love that name. And we say in our heart that
that's the sweetest name that we know, the name that is above
every name. To love God is to love his name,
is to love his name. Turn with me to Psalm 40. Verse
16. Let all those that seek thee
rejoice and be glad in thee. Let such as love thy salvation
say continually, the Lord be magnified. To love him is to
love his salvation. To love him is to love his salvation. This one ought to be easy. Do
you love his salvation? Or would you rather have your
own salvation? Which one would you rather have? Do you love
the fact that salvation was in his hands? You know, there comes
a point when all of God's people realize, wait a minute, salvation
is in his hands. It's not in my hands. It's his
decision. It's not my decision. It's his
will. It's not my will. I don't have a say in the matter. Do you love the fact that salvation
is in his hands or would you rather have salvation to be in
your own hands? Which one is it? Once God reveals our sin
to us, we realize if salvation was in our hands, we wouldn't
choose salvation. Do you love hearing that he has
already accomplished, he's already finished salvation for his chosen
people and that work is done? Or would you rather still have
some of that work left for you to do? Which one is it? If it's his salvation, if it's
his salvation, it means he gets the credit for it. He gets the
glory for it. If it's His salvation, then it's
not our salvation. There's no cooperative effort
on our part. If it's His salvation, it means
He by Himself purged our sins and sat down on the right hand
of the Majesty on high. Just honestly assess yourself
on this. How do you feel about it? Those
who love God will say, I love His salvation. I love the finished
salvation for sinners that Christ wrought with His own blood. I
love that with all my heart. I just love it with all my heart.
To love Him is to love His name and is to love His salvation. Turn over to Psalm 119. Psalm 119, verse 97. It says, oh, how love I thy law. It is my meditation all the day. Oh, I love thy law. Look at verse
113. I hate vain thoughts. But thy law do I love. To love Him is to love His law. You know, all that we do in the
flesh is break His law. That's all we do. All we do in
this flesh is break His law. But that does not mean for one
minute that we don't love it. That doesn't mean for one minute
that we don't love it. This law is the mind of God. This law is the character of
Christ. The only desire of the new man
created in Christ is to be like him. That's our desire. Every time this law condemns
us and tells us that in our flesh we're nothing like Christ, we
read through this, we go law after law and it says you're
nothing like Jesus Christ and every time God's people say amen.
Amen. That's pleasing to God, this
is not. I love thy law. Look at verse 126 right here. It is time for the Lord to work,
for they have made void thy law. Who has? Those who don't love
it. Those who insult it and try to
tarnish it by bringing it down to a level that they feel they
can keep it. Those who love God don't do that.
They don't bring his law down. They don't insult his holy law.
They love the high and holy. glorious law of God. They respect
it, they fear it, they fear the strictness of its standard, and
they love that Christ is the only one able to keep it. And
they love that he did keep it. Right here, verse 126. It is
time for the Lord to work, for they have made void thy law.
Therefore, I love thy commandments above gold. Which would you rather
have, gold or God's word? Which one would you rather have?
You could have all the gold this town could
hold. Or God's word. God's promise,
if you could have all the gold on this earth, or God's covenant,
which one would you want? Verse 27, therefore, I love thy
commandments above gold, yea, above fine gold. Therefore, I
esteem all thy precepts concerning all things to be right, and I
hate every false way. What's the false way? My way. Can we not say that so? Honestly,
I love this and I hate this. I love this word and I hate this
sinner. Look right here at verse 159. Consider how I love thy precepts. Quicken me, O Lord, according
to thy lovingkindness. Thy word is true from the beginning,
and every one of thy righteous judgments endureth forever. Every
word that proceeds out of the mouth of God, whether it's comfort
or whether it's condemnation, can we not say, let God be true,
and every man a liar? If it can, it sounds like we
love God. To love God is to love his name,
it's to love his salvation, it's to love his law. Every word,
every word of commandment is to love his glory. It's to love
his praise, it's to love his worship. Turn over to Psalm 145. Psalm 145 verse 20, it says,
The Lord preserveth all them that love Him. To love Him is to love Him. Not His things. Boy, He has a
lot of things. But not His things. Him. Not His kingdom. Our Lord asked Peter, lovest
thou me more than these? Peter, you went back to fishing.
You got your boat and your net and all that stuff. Lovest thou
me more than these? To love him is to love his person. It's to say, oh, that I might
win Christ and be found in him. Our text said, I hath not seen
nor ear heard, neither hath entered into the heart of man the things
which God hath prepared for them that love Him. Him. Along with all of that being
said, our Lord has given us one other definition or one other
declaration of what it is to love Him, okay? Go over to John
13. I'm closing with this, John 13. John 13 verse 34 says. A new commandment I give unto
you. That you love one another. As
I have loved you. That you also love one another. By this. Shall all men know that
you are my disciples. If you have love one to another. Let me ask you a question. Do
you love God's people? Do you love those who love the
true and living God? To love him is to love his people. Again, he said, Peter, if you
love me. Go feed my sheep. He said, inasmuch as you're doing
it unto them, you're doing it unto me. We love each other for
Christ's sake, don't we? We love each other for Christ's
sake. Our love for each other stems from and it's the direct
result of our love for Him. Our love for each other is the
direct result of our love for Him. Peter said, And see if you can't say this
is so. Assess your heart. Peter said, whom having not seen,
you love. You haven't physically laid eyes
on him yet, but you love him. I believe if we truly assess
our hearts, we will say, based on what this word says, not my
imagination, not this, not that, based on what this word says,
I do. I do. I do love him. I don't take credit
for it, but I believe he's put a love in my heart for him. To
him be the glory for that. If so, to him be the glory for
that. Amen.