Let's take our Bibles once again.
Turn with me to John 14. John 14. John 14, verse 15. If ye love me, Keep my commandments. Our Lord set forth truly the
evidence of loving Him. If you love me, you will keep my commandments. That's not a stipulation. for
salvation. It's the evidence of. Now that
verse has got such weighty importance that we ask our blessed Lord,
the Holy Spirit, to cause us to truly contemplate our love
toward him. Look at the wording of our Lord.
There is no word, there is no letter in God's word that is
insignificant. If you love me. And obviously, based on His word,
not all men do. He said in John 15, 18, if the
world hates you, you know that it hated me before it hated you. So I know that not all men are
hated for Christ's sake, and based on our Lord's word, not
all men love the Lord. I know that many love the little
J, Jesus, of their imagination. The one that needs man to respond
to him so that he can then save them. That's not the Lord that
we worship. If ye love me, And I know this,
if any man does love Him, it's because the Lord loved him first. I know that. Love between Christ
and His people didn't start with the people. It started with the
Lord. I've loved you with an everlasting
love. God's love for His people never
started. His eternal love for His people
is the sole reason for our love that begins in time. Our love
for Him begins. His love for us never did. He said, If ye love me, I know. I know many do. I just read about one. We just
heard about one, Stephen. It was one full of the Holy Ghost. Stephen died, confessed in the
Lord. Oh, that I will. Oh, that I will. concerning loving the Lord. That
was brought before Peter. Just hold your place right there.
Just turn over to John 21. You know this passage. John 21. Peter had denied the Lord three
times. John 21, verse 15-17. Just ask the Lord. Give us some understanding. Imagine
these two. Here's the Lord, and He's talking
to Peter. They're sitting down on the seaside there, and the Lord's talking to Peter.
He's talking to Peter. And the Scripture says, So when
they had dined, Jesus saith to Simon Peter, and I just imagine,
He said, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me more than these? And he saith unto him, Yea, Lord,
thou knowest that I love thee. And he saith unto him, Feed my
lambs. He saith to him again the second time. And I don't know if it was immediately.
I don't know if he waited a few moments. I don't know. But he
may have just said it. He saith to him again the second
time, son of Jonas, lovest thou me? He saith unto him, Yea, Lord,
thou knowest that I love thee. He saith unto him, Feed my sheep.
And he saith unto him the third time, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest
thou me? And Peter was grieved, because
he said unto him the third time, Lovest thou me? And he said unto
him, Thou knowest all things. Thou knowest that I love thee.
And Jesus saith unto him, Feed my sheep." There was a commandment that
our Lord gave Peter and he gives to all of his preachers, all
of his pastors. Martin, do you love me? You feed my lambs. Marvin, do you love me? You feed
my sheep. Here's a commandment. You love
me, you preach me. And to those that hear, do you love him? Hear his words. Do you love Him? Hear His word. Do you love Him? Hear His word. He that hath my word. You love the Lord? Preach Him. You love the Lord? Support the gospel. A man or woman that loves Christ
is going to pray for God's place where the gospel is brought
up. He's going to pray for the message.
He's going to support the message. If you love the Lord, support
the work here. Pray for me. Pray for me. Let an open door might be set
forth by God's good pleasure. Pray for one another. Read God's Word. You love Him? Seek ye first the Kingdom of
God and His righteousness. You love Him? Start your day
with Him. Start with Him. Read His Word. Seek Him. I've said before, if you want
to know the right thing to do, what did the Lord do? I'm not
saying that we're going to do it as He did it, but we follow
after Him. Scripture says He rose early
in the morning. I don't know what time it was.
I'll leave that up to you before you start your day. Seek His
face. Search His Scriptures. Matthew 10.37, He that loveth
father or mother more than me is not worthy of me. He that
loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. A man or a woman that loves Christ, he's first. Somebody says, well,
I tell you what, I've got to make sure I take care of my family
first. No, you don't. No, you don't.
Well, I've got to make sure of my kids. No, you don't. I think of Brother Henry, Brother
Scott, maybe both of them. He says, be careful how closely,
tightly you hold on to something. The Lord can remove it. You love
Me, you keep My commandments. You seek My face. A man that
loves Christ loves Him above all other. Love for Christ. has everything
to do with Him being God. He's the Lord. But doesn't most
people claim to love the Lord? Yeah. The Lord says, My people,
they, you know, with their mouth, with their lips. But do you know
what a man believes? Now you listen. Do you know what
a man believes? what he does. A man believes what he does. I
love the Lord. I love the place where His gospel
is preached. I love His people. Do you? Do I? I'm telling you,
you talk about a message to me. A man believes what he does. I support this assembly. Do we? Do we really? Do we really? This is life eternal. That they
may know Thee, the only true God. Father, Covenant Father. Covenant mercy. Electing grace. And Jesus Christ. Redeeming God. And God's Spirit. Regenerating
God. Sealing God. Keeping God. Teaching
God. Nobody knows or loves The God
that has not been revealed. Do you love me? Do you? I read that verse again this
morning. If you love me, keep my commandments. And I'll tell you where my thoughts
went. In the preparation for the preaching of the gospel.
That's what he told Peter. Peter was a preacher. Lord, help me. Lord, help me
in the preparing of these messages. Do you know where preparation
starts? Ask Him. Ask Him. Lord, would You bless
this Word to my heart. Lord, would You teach me. Lord,
would you bless this Word? I know, I know. I started that
first message with that thought. I know. And I know as sure as
I'm standing here, God's going to do what God's pleased to do.
But oh, may I be found faithful. May I be found, not with just
lip service. Anybody talk. Talk so cheap. He talks cheaply. How is He known? As He's revealed
in the book. Psalm 40, verse 7, Then said
I, Lo, I come. In the volume of the book, it's
written of me. Here the Lord comes to His people
this morning. Just like this. I just thought
about that verse of Scripture where Paul said, We preach to
you in Christ's name. These words that are not mine,
these are His words. He'd stand right here. And I
am to proclaim with this knowledge that it's the Lord that asks,
You love me? Katie Baptist Church. You love
me? Keep my commandments. Follow
after me. All that love Him truly. Love
Him as He is revealed according to God's report. Somebody say,
I love the Lord. The Lord that is set forth in
this book, that's the Lord that we stand before. That's the Lord
we give account to right there. That's the Lord, as I said a
couple of messages ago, that I give account to in my own conscience
before you, but especially before Him. You love Me. He who is the eternal surety,
the one in whom all of God's elect were chosen, the eternal
Son, the Word Himself made flesh that came to seek and save that
which was lost in Adam's fall, His people, the one He died for,
His sheep, His body, His bride. He who is the federal head, the
keeper. He whose very righteousness imputed
to His people is their holiness before God. That is His people's
holiness robed in Him. His obedience. Impurity to me
is my obedience in Him. I just can't even say it without...
You cannot say that without saying, in Him, by Him, through Him. Without Him, I can do nothing. Without Him, I'm lost. He is the One who saves His people. You love me. Keep my commandments. Now I know, if he's talking about
the ten commandments, I'm in trouble. Because I've never kept
one of those. You haven't either. You've never
kept one. Contrary to what that rich young
ruler said to him, and the Lord says in the Scriptures, he started
naming off the commandments, and he said, I've kept all those
from my youth up. No. A believer will never say that
because he knows better. But our Lord is commanding something
that absolutely can be done. If you love Me, keep My commandments. So here's the question that I've
got. What does that mean? I want to know that, don't you?
Sure you do. You've just been waiting for me to get to that
part. What does that mean? What does it mean to keep the
commandments of the One that we love? Keep. The word means to watch over
and to preserve. Watch over. Guard. Lay it to
heart. Carefully watching. Scripture talks about the commandments
of the Lord that we keep. I'm telling you, I want to hear
that one more time. Let's ask ourselves this. How
many times have we heard this before? And do you know what
we're doing right now? We're like a calf looking at
a new gate. And tell me that one more time. Paul says, It's not grievous
for me to say the same things to you." He said, for you it's
safe, for me it's safe. I've sat here and prepared this
message, sought the Lord's guidance and direction, and I'm standing
here right now and I want to hear it again. I need to hear
it again. Tell me one more time about the
evidence of a believer. Tell me again what the Lord has
to say about the evidence of loving Him. Tell me, I want to
hear that again. I need to hear it again. I will
never, this side of eternity, this side of the grave, I'll
never get over needing to hear this. I need to hear this. Tell me again. what I need to
lay to heart. Tell me that which is given in
regeneration, a love for Christ, and is carefully guarded by a
believer. Tell me what the Scripture has
to say about His command. His dictates that are precious
to His people. Tell me that. I know this. I said before, and I'll say it
every time, I know that in us, I know there is in me that dwelleth
no good thing. The will is present with me,
but how to accomplish that which I would, I find not because of
that old man that's there. That presence of sin that causes
me to agree with the Apostle Paul, the old wretched man that
I am. the keeping of His commandments. I tell you this, it has everything
to do with this passage of Scripture that was penned by David under
the inspiration of God's Spirit. Psalm 119.11, Thy Word, Thy Word,
have I hid, have I hoarded, have I treasured, have I concealed
in my heart that I might not sin against thee. Keep your place right here. Turn
to Luke 2. Luke 2. Here's a great verse
on keeping. Luke 2. On what it is to keep. Keep my commandments. Luke 2. I'm going to read verses
8-19. There were in the same country
shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock.
By night below the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the
glory of the Lord shone round about, and they were sore afraid.
And the angel said unto them, Fear not, for behold, I bring
you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people.
For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior,
which is Christ the Lord. And this shall be a sign unto
you, that you shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes,
lying in a manger.' And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude
of the heavenly hosts, praising God and saying, Glory to God
in the highest, and on earth peace and goodwill toward men. And it came to pass, as the angels
were gone away from them into heaven, the shepherds said one
to another, Let us now go even unto Bethlehem, and see this
thing which is come to pass, which the Lord hath made known
unto us. And they came with haste, and
found Mary, and Joseph, and the babe lying in a manger. When
they had seen it, they made known abroad the saying which was told
them concerning this child. And all they that heard it wondered
at those things which were told them by the shepherds, but Mary
kept." all these things and pondered them in her heart. I'll tell
you what keeping His commandments has something to do with. It's
a hearing of God's Word and by the grace of God, pondering those
things in our heart. Keep. Guard them. Hoard them. Lord, bring back to my memory. Cause me to muse again on those
things. I'm going to read you two verses
of Scripture set forth by the Spirit of God in closing of the
commandments of God that we keep, that we do keep, that we hoard,
that we guard. We guard. 1 John 3. 1 John 3. 23 and 24. 1 John 3. Now listen to these words. Lord,
give us understanding here. If you love me, he said, you
keep my commandments. Now listen to this. 1 John. 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. 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. What are the commandments
of the Lord? You believe Him. And love His people. One of the
verse, 1 John 5. Turn over. One page there. 1 John 5, 1-3. Whosoever believeth that Jesus
is the Christ is born of God. And everyone that loveth Him,
that begat Love of Him also that is begotten of Him. And by this
we know that we love the children of God when we love God. And keep His commandments. For
this is the love of God that we keep His commandments. And
His commandments are not grievous. What are the commandments that
a believer keeps? If you love me, you keep my commandments. Here's the first one that's not
grievous. I believe Him. That's not a grievous
commandment. Lord, thank You that You give
me a heart to believe You, to believe Your Word. And Lord,
for Your people, those that You've begotten, You who begat, Your
people that are begotten of You, called out of darkness. Lord,
those who are of Your body as I'm of Your body, Lord, help me as I love them. Pray for them. That's what Paul
said. Pray for me. Pray for us. Cover my faults as I strive to
cover yours. Lord, put a watch on my mouth. Lord, help me just, let me pray
for you. Lord, as I seek your face, and
hear your Word, and believe your Word, this is the commandments
of God, that you believe on Him. I know this. Lord, I believe
You're my righteousness. I believe You're my salvation.
I believe You're my mediator before God. I believe You. That's His commandment. You believe
Him. Lord, I believe You've raised up a people. Lord, give me a
heart. Believing Him, loving His people. That's not a burden. We love
His Word. We love His people. And we love
to believe Him. And we love to love His people.
I love to be around God's people. In all of my frailty and my fumblings, I love to be around God's people.
I love to have fellowship with God's people. to be with the
body of Christ. I'm thankful to be able to be
here with you. And thankful for His presence. And thankful for
the peace and the comfort that He gives us as we hear His Word. If you love me, you keep my commandments. Lord, thank You for a heart to
believe You, and thank You for a heart to love your people.
Lord, help me, for Christ's sake.