Would you look at that 23rd verse
with me? 14 and 23. Jesus answered and said unto
him. Now this is an answer to the
question asked by Jude. not Judas Iscariot, but Jude,
who was a kinsman of our Lord in the flesh. And Jesus answered, and this
is the answer to the question. The question was, in verse 22,
Lord, how is it that thou wilt Manifest thyself unto us. That is, how is it that you'll
show yourself unto us or make yourself known unto us? How is
that? And not unto the world? How are
you going to do that? That's a question in our minds
here. We don't understand how you're
going to make yourself known to us, but the world won't see
it. How is that? We first got to understand that
Jude, along with the rest of the disciples and most who were
followers of our Lord that day, believed somewhat in a visible
setting up of the kingdom. They believed that our Lord was
going to usher in the kingdom. The kingdom would be set up,
and all the Jews would take care of everything, and the twelve
apostles would have places of prominence in the ruling of the
kingdom, and everything else would be subservient to them.
And they thought it was a physical thing. Of course, they misunderstood
what the kingdom was. And so that was one reason for
the question. How is it that you'll show yourself
unto us and the rest of the world, they'll not understand what's
going on. Well, Jesus answered him. Jesus answered Jude. This is the answer to the question
now. This is how I'm going to do it. This is the marks that
will make my people known in this world. Jesus said on him,
IF, I-IF, that's a big word. That's a big word in this verse. That's the biggest word in this
chapter, I guess, apart from the name of the Lord Jesus Christ.
A man love me. If a man love me, he will. He will keep my words, and this
is what will take place. My Father will love him, and
we, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit will come unto that individual. The individual that loves Me
and keeps My Word, the Father will come to him, the Father,
Son, and Holy Spirit will come unto him, and we'll make our
abode with him. We'll live with him. His presence
will be known by him, or our presence will be known by him,
will be felt by him, though maybe Others might not, he may not
be able to prove it to others. Only God, the Father, God the
Son, and God the Holy Spirit, and the individual in whom they
take up their abode will be sure about this thing. All right? Our Lord explains here, answers to the question. that
it would be made known who his people were by certain marks. They would be those that love
him and keep his word. Now the text here begins with
that word, if. That's what I want you to consider
for just a minute. If a man loves me. Now this if stands at the beginning
of this verse or at the beginning of this text Like the guard with
a rifle stands at the gate of some very important building. Like a guard that stands at the
gate of the entrance into the White House. This if stands as
a sentinel, as a guard. For this reason, to prevent anybody
from entering into who ought not to enter in. That's what
the if is there for. It prevents anybody from entering
in who ought not to enter in. If a man love me. Now, if I cannot
answer in the affirmative the question asked of our Lord, lovest
thou me? then I have nothing to do with
the rest of this verse. If I can't say, yes, I love thee,
if a man love me, if I'm not able to say honestly, genuinely,
sincerely, in the presence of God himself, yes, Lord, in spite
of my failings, in spite of my faults, In spite of everything
that I am, Lord, yes, in my heart, You reign supremely and I love
Thee. If I can't say yes, I can't enter
into the rest of the verse. The rest of the verse, you see,
says, If a man love me, he will keep my words. And if he loves
me and keeps my word, then my Father will love him, and then
we will come to him and we'll make our abode with him. So that if stands there as a
guard. In other words, you and I really
don't have anything to do with any of the privileges or promises
revealed in the Bible as long as we are without love for Him. Nothing in the Bible for us.
Not a single solitary privilege in the Bible belongs to us or
can we rest in if we don't love the Lord Jesus
Christ. The F then stands here at the
entrance of the text like a man with a drawn sword to keep you
from going in where you don't belong, where you have no right
to enter. The only man that has any right
to enter into the rest of the verse is the man that can say,
Yes, Lord, I do. I really, I really, honest to
God, Lord you know my heart, I love Him. Well, that's what
I want to talk about. Are we really lovers of the Lord
Jesus Christ? Do we really love Him? Now, don't put this question
aside and put me off in this matter, but answer it Honestly,
in his sight, I pass this around to every person in this congregation
this morning. Every person from the youngest
to the eldest, from the least by way of age as far as understanding
goes, to the oldest in this congregation. This question is to ask you.
And you'd answer, honestly, absolutely, in light of God Almighty, in
light of the fear of God, we're to answer this question, yes
or no? Do we really love the Lord Jesus
Christ? Now you know and I know that
there are some who only pretend to love Him. I hope I'm not one
of them. I hope I'm not a fellow that
pretends to love the Lord Jesus Christ and really don't love
Him. I don't want to miss eternal life. I don't want to miss Christ.
I don't want to. If I know anything of my aspirations
and desires, I don't want to miss Him. Now, there's many. I know this
is a fact. The Bible says there's many that
will miss Him. There's many that only pretend
to love Him. There's many that will come in that last day and
say, Lord, we have done this in Thy name. We've preached in
your name. I don't want to preach in the
name of the Lord Jesus Christ and become a castaway. I don't
want to preach in His name and exalt the name of God and teach
and instruct from the Bible other people and yet miss out myself.
I don't want that. I don't want that. I want to
be able this morning under God to answer this question because
I know that my eternal destiny hangs upon the proper answer
to this question. And there's no need for me to
try to fool God. See? No need for me to do that.
Why would I want to fool God? Try to fool God? I can't fool
God. I can understand trying to fool you, Jack. I can understand
that. My pride. I wouldn't want you
to know. I wouldn't want you to know that
I'm just a sham. A sham, a veneer, a hypocrite. I wouldn't want you to know that. But brother, I can't hide it
from God. I can hide it from you, but I
can't hide it from God. So I'm doing this. I'm going
to answer this question. I'm going to consider it and
I'm going to answer it just like I want you to here this morning.
I want you to answer it in your heart. Don't tell me. Don't write
it on a paper. Just answer it before God. If a man loved me, If a man loves
Me, it's essential to true Christianity that you love the Lord Jesus
Christ. That's essential. I know that there are some who
only pretend to love Him. They make a loud profession.
But by their language, you can tell that their profession or
their life is hypocritical. Their conduct is not consistent
with what they say. So we know that those individuals
only pretend to love the Lord Jesus. Do you love Him with all your
heart? Well, I'll tell you this, He's well worthy of my love and
He's well worthy of your love. I can tell you that. Or am I
or you a disciple only by a profession? Do we just make a profession,
say, raise our hand or lean forward or sought the preacher or the
deacons or the elders out and said, I want to join this church. I've made a profession. I've
made a decision for the Lord Jesus Christ. Are we just disciples
by profession only? Just give a cold-hearted assent
to the teachings of the Lord Jesus. That is, our heads are
convinced and our lives are not altogether inconsistent with
our profession. Follow me now. Our lives are
not altogether inconsistent. with that which we profess to
believe. But our heart's dead. Our heart's
dead. And if we are alive, we're kind
of like the church at Laodicea. We're not hot, and we're not
cold. We're in a lukewarm state. And
our Lord Jesus Christ said, I hate that state. I hate that state
of being just lukewarm. I want you to either be hot or
I want you to be cold. I want you to be on one side
or I want you to be on the other. I hate this state of lukewarm. That's the state which our Lord
abhors and despises and hates. I don't want to be in that state.
I don't want to be just lukewarm. I want to either be hot, fervent,
radiant, white heat, or cold as an iceberg. I don't want to
be that in-between business. Oh, listen to me. He, the Lord Jesus Christ, must
be the best loved of all. He must be. or else we lack that
which is essential to true Christianity. The Lord Jesus Christ must occupy
the throne of our hearts. He must be seated upon the throne. He must be there, or we lack
the essential. We lack that which is vital unto
true Christianity. And all we have got is forms,
and rituals and religion which will not help us when we die. A true Christian now, I hope I'm one of them, a true
Christian is one whose religion is in his heart and in his life. It's felt by himself in his heart
and it's seen by others in his conduct and in his life. A true Christian is one who feels
his sinfulness and his guilt and he repents of it. He sees
that the Lord Jesus Christ is that only divine Savior that
his soul needs, and he commits himself to that person, the Lord
Jesus Christ. You ask the true Christian what
he trusts for the forgiveness of his sins, and he'll tell you
immediately, Jesus Christ the Lord. I trust in Him and Him
alone. for the forgiveness of my sins."
Ask him in what righteousness he hopes to stand in at that
judgment day, and he'll immediately tell you, Jesus Christ is my
righteousness. Ask him what pattern that he
tries to frame his life in or after, immediately he'll say,
Jesus Christ is my pattern. Oh, listen to me now. This is
what's important. Besides all of this, besides
that which I've said thus far, there is one thing in a true
Christian which is eminently peculiar to him. And that thing
which is peculiar to him is this. that he loves the Lord Jesus
Christ. He loves Jesus Christ. Now listen,
knowledge, faith, hope, repentance, obedience, reverence, all these
are certainly marked features of the Christian. But if love
to Christ was omitted, the picture would not be complete. It's love
to the Lord Jesus Christ. If a man love me. That's what our Lord said in
answer to this fellow's question. If a man love me. The first and
great commandment is what? Thou shalt love the Lord thy
God with all thy heart. Love to the Lord. I mean love
to the Lord, G. I'm not just talking about repeating
the Word or raising your hands and, I love the Lord! Praise
the Lord! I love the Lord! I'm not talking
about that. I'm talking about true love in your heart for the
Lord Jesus Christ. I'm going to tell you how you're
going to know it here in just a minute. But I want to impress
upon you this morning, if I can, what the Bible says about this.
Not what I say. It doesn't make any difference
what I say. It doesn't make any difference. I can't save myself,
much less save you. It's the only rule of faith and
practice is the Word of God. That's all. It doesn't make any
difference what this denomination says, this church says, this
preacher says, or this elder. It doesn't make any difference.
It's this. It's this. That's what I want
to impress upon you this morning. In 1 Corinthians 16, verse 22,
it says this. Listen to me now. A man love not the Lord Jesus
Christ, let him be anathema and maranatha." Which means, if a
man loves not the Lord Jesus Christ, let him be damned. I said here that there are 3
or 4 billion people in the world. If 3 billion out of the 4 billion
do not love the Lord Jesus Christ, let the 3 billion, God says,
through the Apostle Paul, let the 3 billion be accursed. Let it be damned. Why? Because they love not the Lord
Jesus Christ. It's essential that we love the
Lord Jesus. This is my beloved Son. I love
Him, God said. He's mine. Oh, mine, and I love
Him. He pleases me. We better love Him. If not, we're going to miss out.
Sad thing, isn't it? Our Lord Jesus Christ, through
the Apostle Paul here, allows no way of escape. No way of escape
to the man who does not love the Lord Jesus Christ. He doesn't
leave any loophole or any excuse here. A man may lack clear head
knowledge and yet be saved. He may fail in courage and be
overcome by the fear of man like Peter was and yet be saved. Get me now. He may not have clear
knowledge in his head, but he might be saved. He may be overcome
by the fear of man. He may lack bravery and courage
and yet be saved. Peter was. But I'll tell you this, he cannot
lack love for the Lord Jesus Christ and be saved. A man may be overcome by terrible,
terrible temptation and fall like David did. We think outwardly,
physically, that the greatest violation and sin that a man
can commit is to be unfaithful to his wife. And I guess that's
so. I guess that's so. I don't know.
It's a terrible, terrible, terrible sin. I know that. To sin against
God by sinning against your wife. David premeditated, planned this
terrible sin against God, and against Uriah, and against Bathsheba,
and against the kingdom, against his family, against his friends. He planned that. A man might
be overcome with such a great temptation and yet be saved. David was. Nathan come to him,
spake that little parable to him. You know what old David
said? David finally said, well, that's
me, that's me. Oh, that's me! Finally dawned
on him. You know what Nathan said to
him? The agent said, God hath already put thy sin away. But
he said, you're going to reap what you sow, but God's put your
sin away. But if a man loved not the Lord
Jesus Christ, you see, you might be like Peter. Peter went out
into the night. Ah, that little Jewish maiden
said, I can tell by the way you pronounce your words. You're
from a certain locality here, and you're a follower, a disciple
of him, the Lord. Oh no, Peter said, a case of
mistaken identity. Not me, not me. Finally she come
around again, put her finger in his face and said, you're
one of them. And Peter looked into the face
of the blessed Savior, and he looked there and he cursed them. I'LL BEHEMONTHLY, I'LL NEVER
KNOW HIM! I'LL NEVER KNOW HIM!" Then you'll
be saved. But I'm telling you this, you'll
never be saved if you don't love Him. I'm telling you under God,
this morning, the best that I know how, you'll never be saved. You might love the doctrines,
You might love the church, you might love this, you might love
that, but you'll never be saved if you don't love the Lord Jesus
Christ here in your heart. And that's a fact. The Apostle
Paul again says in Ephesians chapter 6 verse 24, listen to
this verse. Paul said, Grace be with all
them that love our Lord Jesus Christ in Sincerity. Grace be unto unto who? Unto those that love our Lord
Jesus Christ in sincerity. Paul here is sending good wishes
and goodwill to all true Christians at the church at Ephesus. Many
of these Christians he had never seen. Many of them probably were
weak in the faith. Many of them were weak in knowledge. Many of them were weak in self-denial. How will Paul describe them in
sending his message to them? He doesn't want to just shoot
them satin. He doesn't want to kill them
right off. He didn't want to offend weaker brethren. He didn't
want to discourage them. So what expression will he use? It was a sweeping, broad expression. He said here, Grace be with all
of them, weak in the faith, weak in knowledge, weak in self-denial,
weak in conduct, all of them that love the Lord
Jesus Christ in sincerity. I know that all of these that
he wrote, too, including you and I, we have not attained to
some great degree in doctrine or in practice. But if we love
the Lord Jesus Christ, oh, that is essential to love him. to love him. In John chapter
8 and verse 42, our Lord said this, said, If God were your
father, you would love me. If God were your father, if he
were your father, you would love me. If God were your Father, ye would
love me." Now, he saw his misguided enemies satisfied with their
spiritual condition on one simple ground, and that was this, that
they were Abraham's fleshly children. They were satisfied. He saw them
like many people today, claiming to be God's children for no better
reason than that they were baptized or made some decision. Multiplied
thousands and thousands and thousands and thousands that make up the
four billion people in the world today. The majority of them claim
to be the children of God because They've been baptized, or because
they've joined the church, or because they've said their prayers,
or because they are not drunkards, or because they have not committed
adultery, or because of this and because of that. But our
Lord Jesus Christ said, if God were your Father, you'd love
me. These misguided enemies of our
Lord Jesus Christ were religious supermen. They were men that
were soponics. They were men that prayed as
much as three times a day publicly out in the streets. They got
out in the busy crowd. Reminds me of that time I was
down there in the Yucatan. in the city of Medina. Everywhere I looked was people,
people upon people, wall to wall people. You had to walk in the
street. Both sidewalks on each side of
the street was damned packed full of people any time of the
day. And the streets was full of people.
And there was nowhere to go. People, people, people! You can't believe it until you
see it. You can go to Paramount any time of the day, and I bet
you can count on both hands the people you see on the street.
You see a lot of cars, you don't see any people. No people. You
see a lot of people in Paramount. In all the little towns, you
see a lot of people. Friday night, Saturday night.
But anyhow, these Pharisees got out in the crowds. And here come
the crowds, and they said, well, there's the Pharisee. If anybody is going to go to
heaven, these Pharisees are going. Look what they're doing. They're
praying. They give 10% of everything they had. Well, 10% of all their
money, anyhow. All the money they made, they
gave to the temple. 10% of it. Very religious. They know the
Bible. They know the Bible. Our Lord
Jesus Christ looked at that religious crowd. He looked out at them
and he said this, If a man loves me. Now what he said, If God
was your father, if God was, you Pharisees, you Pharisees
that claim to be so religious you won't miss a church service,
you will not miss one. You give of everything that you
can get a hold of and you tell people about it. He said, if
God was your father, you'd love me. They didn't love him. There's
religious, but they didn't love him. Religious, they wore the
garments. They had the religious garments
on. They didn't cuss, smoke, drink, chew, spit, they didn't
do all that. Religious! Our Lord looked at
that religious crowd and He said, He said, If God was your Father,
you'd love Me. I'm only trying this morning
to impress upon my heart and your heart what He's saying in
verse 23 of John 14, If a man loved Me. All of our religion
just won't cut it. It won't cut it. There's got
to be something, there's got to be a response from the cross
And from our hearts to the cross, a response. Alright, no man has
the right to call God his Father who does not love the Lord Jesus
Christ. No love to Christ, then no sonship
to God. John chapter 21, verses 15 to 17, our Lord asked
a question there to Peter. And the question was three words,
and this is the question. He didn't say, to Peter, do you
believe? We hear the song on the television,
a lot of churches sing it, a little hymn or a little chorus of some
sort that says, all things are possible if you only believe. There's a whole lot of truth
to that. But many times it's signed in the wrong perspective. All things are possible. Peter,
do you believe? He didn't say that. He didn't
say, Peter, do you believe? He didn't say, Peter, are you
converted? He didn't say, Peter, are you
ready to confess me? He didn't say, Peter, will you
obey me? But he said, Peter, love us!
Follow me! Do you love me? Do you love me? We say, well, what church do
you belong to? He said, well, I belong to so-and-so church.
Are you baptized? Yeah, I was baptized. Well, did
you sit at the Lord's table Sunday morning? Yeah, I sat there. Did
you give your attendance? Yeah, I've done that. You don't
cuss Him? No, I quit cussing. We deem a man, we say, well,
he's right. He'd make an awful good church member. He'd be a
good church member if he had a man like that who said his prayers
three or four times every day and read a chapter in the Bible
every day. gave him his money, was here religiously, we'd say,
boy, he's a good church member. Our Lord didn't say anything
like that. I'm not saying those things are wrong. Kept in the
right perspective, they're good. But that's not what... They put
first things first. I'm afraid that so many of us
have put these things which are secondary and made them first.
The first thing is, love us, thou me. Peter, love us, thou
me. Well, Plain and easy, wasn't
it? Can you understand that question? As dumb as I am, I can understand
that. You know I'm not very intelligent. And I say that, I'm not bragging
about my being dumb either. But I'm just stating a plain
truth and you know it. I couldn't have been here for
27 years preaching to the same people for 27 years and fooling
you. Couldn't have. If I don't get
some help from somebody, if I don't get some help from God and somebody
else, I can't make it. I can't rely upon my own keen,
sharp insight. I can't do it. I've got to have
some help now and then. I even can understand a question. Love us, thou me. I can understand. I don't have
to say, well, one time a fella jumped on me down the road here
at the gas station. Someone had put a leaflet in
his car that pertained to religion. And he thought, because I was
there, he thought it was me. And he came to me and he said,
I'll tell you right now. He said, if I don't know anything
about religion, you'll be the last fella that I talk to. And
he said, don't you put any more of them pamphlets in my car.
Well, I said, beg your pardon. I said, I didn't put that leaflet
in your car. Oh, yes, you did. I said, no,
I didn't. Didn't do it. Didn't do it. So I began to talk
to him a little bit about his state and his standing before
God. And you know what he told me?
He said, I haven't got time to talk to you now. He said, I've
got to go talk to the preacher first and find out some things,
and then I'll come back and talk to you. I said, I don't want
to talk to your preacher, I want to talk to you. Well, I've got
to talk to the preacher first. Well, listen, I understand this
question. This is the point I'm trying to make. I understand
what this question is asking. I don't have to ask the preacher
what that means. I know what it means. Loveth
thou me, do I really love him or no? It's either yes or no. I know what he's saying. It's
plain. It's easy to be understood. This
is an important part of my discourse here this morning. I've said
all that by way of introduction to the pointed statements here
that I'm about to make, which will be of some help to all of
us, I'm sure. Number one, this is what is vitally important
and of vital interest to all of us. How do I know I love him? Preacher, would you help me?
Peter didn't. He wasn't sure of it. Preacher, would you help
me? I want to help you if I can.
He said, Lovest thou me? Peter said, Lord, you know I
love you. Now the Lord turned to him again and said, Lovest
thou me? You know I love you. He said, Peter, lovest thou me?
And Peter said, Lord, you know my heart. You know I love you.
He said, well, feed my sheep. But anyhow, how do I know I love
him? Well, let's look at it this way.
How do we know that we love any person here upon this earth? In what way and in what manner
does love show itself between people here upon this earth? What way does love show itself
between husband and wife? You might find out here this
morning whether your husband loves you or not, or whether
your wife loves you or not. How do we know? How does love
show itself, in what way, in what manner, between parent and
child, between brother and sister, between brother and brother,
between sister and sister, here in this life upon this earth?
Now, if we'll answer these questions by common sense and observation,
then I'll ask no more. But let these questions be answered
honestly, diligently, before God. How does love or affection
show itself among ourselves? Number one, if I, or you, if
I love a person, he or she, if I love a person, if we love a
person, We like to think about that person that we love. Is
that not right? We do not need to be reminded
of him. I need not for you to come and
tell me about Pat McGinnis and say, now preacher, you need to
love Pat a little more because I want to point out to you some
of the virtues of this young man. I do not need to be reminded
of the virtues and the character of this fellow. See, if we love
a person, we like to think about him, and we do not need to be
reminded of him. We don't forget his name, we
don't forget his appearance, we don't forget his character,
we don't forget his opinions, we don't forget his taste, or
we don't forget his position. He comes up before our mind's
eye many times every day. If I love a person, I love to
think about him. Am I wrong in this? Am I approaching
this thing wrong? I don't think so. I don't think
so. If I love a person, I love to think about him. Well, what
I'm saying is, if you love the Lord Jesus Christ, if a man loves
me, you love to think about him. Now, now, it's down there, brethren,
where we've got to be honest. Answer the questions. Answer
the questions after you've considered them carefully. Answer them. What will your answer be? If
you love a person, if you love Him, you like to think about
Him. Do you think about the Lord Jesus
Christ? Do you really think about Him
or just, well, I better get ready and go to church Sunday morning? Why are you going to church Sunday
morning? Well, I think it's the thing to do. I think everybody
ought to go to church. It makes you feel so much better. You feel a lot better if you
go. And, of course, I'm not a heathen after all. I'm no heathen. I'm
not a heathen. I do believe in God. But do you
love the Lord Jesus Christ? Listen, if you love a person,
you like to think about him. Have you thought much about him?
Monday, and Tuesday, and Wednesday, and Thursday, and Friday, and
Saturday. Have you thought much about it,
or have you thought more about you, your wife, your children,
and your friends, and your job, and your prestige, and your influence,
and your ambition, and your money? You see what I'm driving at,
huh? Well, listen. I am saying, if
a man loves me like I love Peter, I am saying, brethren, that a
man may be overcome by fear and temptation and yet be saved,
but a man cannot be saved if he does not love the Lord Jesus
Christ. He cannot be. Well, listen, though the individual
that I love, he may be far away. He may be in California. He may
be in Alaska. He may be far off, but he's often
present in my thoughts. I love him. I love him. He's a million miles away, seems
like, but he's in my thoughts. The Bible says that Christ Jesus
dwells in the believer's heart by faith. And the true Christian
now who loves the Lord Jesus Christ, he does not need to be
reminded that he has a crucified and risen Lord. He does not need
to be reminded every day about the cause of Christ, the claims
of Christ, and the glory and the honor of the Lord Jesus Christ.
He doesn't need to be reminded because He loves him. He loves
him. You see, He loves him. There's a whole lot of people,
I'm afraid, I'm afraid there's a whole lot of people at any
given time in this religious world in which we live, if I'm
right about what I'm talking about here this morning, and
I stake my life on it because I'm right. These things being sold, there's
a whole lot of people that's trusting in some form of religion
as their means of acceptance with God, and they're going to
miss Him because they don't love the Lord Jesus Christ. And the
reason I know they don't love the Lord Jesus Christ is by their
own admission, by their own testimony. It's because they need to be
reminded. They need to be told. They need
to be told over and over and over again. Every day someone
needs to go and tell them, you've got a risen Lord. Your Lord died
for you. He has suffered for you. He's
bled for you. He's been made the filth and
the off-sky into this world for you. Pay all you do. Clothe you with His righteousness.
He's on God's right hand. Won't you live for His honor
and for His glory? You've got to be told that all the time.
If they wasn't told that all the time, they wouldn't think
about Him at all. And most of the time, people who are trusting
in some form of religion because they're pretty good. Well, preacher,
you might not think I'm saved, but out there where I work, all
those people respect me. It's like not too long ago, a
fella told me, he said, well, do you know so-and-so? And I
said, yeah, I know him. He said, boy, he's a fine fella,
isn't he? I didn't say anything, but I had no say if you only
know him. You don't know him. Well, it's
all right, if that fellow thinks I'm a fine pill, that'll not
weigh, that'll not cut the mustard with God. No sir, no sir. All right, listen
to me. The worldly man, that's the man
without Christ, he cannot think much about Christ unless Christ
is pressed unto his notice. Why? because he has no affection
for him. He has no love for him. If a man, number two, if a man
loves a person, or if I love a person, or if you love a person,
we like to hear about the person that we love. We find a pleasure
in listening to those who speak of him. I love my wife, and I
love my boys, and I love to hear people say good things about
them. I could just sit around and listen to you talk about
my boys, and I don't think you'd find too much, I don't believe,
to brag on them about, but if you could find just a little
bit, if you could find just a little bit to brag about once in a while
about my boys, oh, it'd make my heart leap! I thought I could
listen to you talk all day. You wouldn't understand that,
would you? I'll tell you why you wouldn't understand it, because
I love them! By to who they are, what they
are, what they've done, they're mine! They're bone of my bone,
blood of my blood, and flesh of my flesh. We like to hear
about it. We find pleasure in listening
to those who speak of it. You've mentioned somebody I love. You've got my attention. You've
got my attention. I won't go to sleep on you. I won't lay down on the bench
while you're talking. No. You talk to me about my wife,
and about my children, about my mother, and about my dad,
and about my brother, and about... I don't want to lay down. I don't
want to just keep looking out the window and turn the television
on, turn it up a little bit. I won't do that. I won't do it.
I'll tell you why. Because I love to hear you talk
about those I love. And you'll get my attention.
Now there's not many ways you'll get my attention. But that's
one way you'll get my attention, is to talk about somebody that
I love. You get my attention real quick,
real quick. I'll not be looking this way
and that way and say, well, wonder when's he going to shut up, when's
he going to leave. Oh, do you want a cup of coffee? It ain't
time to get him off of the subject. No, brethren, if a person, a
man loves a person, he likes to hear about him. We are at
attention when others describe his ways, his doings, his sayings,
his plans, his thoughts, his feelings. He got our attention. Some, you see, may hear of him
mentioned with indifference, but our hearts rejoice when we
hear of him. Christians, true Christians,
Like those sermons best, which are full of Christ. A lady told
me one time, she said, I've been coming to this church for two
years. She said, I've heard you preach about this greatest compliment
that was ever paid to me. She didn't mean it that way,
but it was. She said, I've been listening to you for two years.
And she said, if you've got the time, she said, I can show you.
I can show you in the Bible here. She said, every time you preached,
whether it was Sunday morning, Sunday night, or Wednesday night,
she said, I marked it down in the Bible. I underscored it and
put TX there. That's his text. And I put the
date. And she said, every time you
ever preached, you preached about Christ. That's what she told
me. I said, bless God, put that on
my tombstone when I die. that there's two years in my
life that I didn't preach any time except I preached Christ
and Him crucified. He said, you didn't have anything
else to say. He said, one fellow told me,
he said, well, he called me up on the phone and said, listen,
we got to hear something else. We got to hear it. He said, we're
tired of it. We want to hear something else. I said, I haven't
got anything else to say. We got to hear something else.
Oh, once you hear what you've got to say one time, then we've
heard it over and over and over and over and over. Well, that's
right, that's right. Christians like those sermons
best which are full of Christ. If I love a person, I'd like
to read about him. What pleasure a letter is from
a husband who's been absent for about three months. What pleasure
that gives to his lonely wife. Oh, no telling, are they? You see, others, someone else
might come along. A lady, she's got this dear wife
and mother, she's got this letter today in the mail and she's read
it two or three times. She hadn't seen her husband in
three months. He's off, he's in the army. He's off in the
army and she hadn't seen him. The kids gathered around and
said, get a mail from dad today. Yeah, I got that letter. There
she's read it about three times. She's reading to the kids and
says, look at what he said here. And he was there. And oh, we
can see his affections in that letter to us. And they're excited
about it. They're excited and she's excited.
Tears come down her eyes. Oh, she said, this is my love
here. This is my love. He wrote a letter to me. Finally
heard from him. Oh, but in comes a neighbor. She said, I got a letter from
my husband. Oh, you did. You did. She's not interested. She's not interested. She's not
interested in that letter. Others may see a little work
or a little value in that letter. They wouldn't even take time
to read it if you offered it to them. If you did, they'd just
skip over it. Maybe turn to the last page. They wouldn't be interested. But one, listen to me, but one
who loves the writer carries it with them wherever they go,
and they read it over and over and over. See what I'm talking
about? If, if we love a person, we like to read about him. And
if we love a person, number four, we like to please him. We like
to please him. We're glad to act upon his advice.
If he gives us some advice and we love him, we'll say that's
what we'll do. As a matter of fact, we'll do
a lot of things which he approves of. Whatever he approves of,
by way of advice and counseling, we'll say, that's what we'll
do. We'll not ask him if we ought to go here or there or someplace
else, and he says, well, no, I don't think you ought to go.
Then we turn around and go. No, not if we love a person.
If we love him, we want to please that person. We want to please
him. We're going to act upon his advice. We're going to do
the things which he approves, and we're not going to do the
things which he disapproves of. We'll even sometimes deny ourselves
to meet his wishes and desires if we love him. We'll abstain
from things which he dislikes. and do the things which gives
Him pleasure, if we love a person. I'm talking about love. I'm not
talking about some physical attraction. Here's some good-looking girl
out there with a hat dressed, and here comes another boy, and
he's got his muscle shirt on and all that, and they're locked
arm to arm, and someone says, boy, they ain't in love. They
don't know that they're 10 million miles away from what I'm talking
about. You might call it love, but what that is, is lust! That's
what that is, lust! Paul said, I wouldn't have known
what it meant to commit, commit another man's wife, unless the
law said, thou shalt not commit adultery. Thou shalt not lust. That's what that is, that's lust.
That ain't love. Very few of us know anything
about love, if any of us know anything about it. Love is desiring
to please the object of your affections. Shall affirm gifts
of gratitude. You want to please them. You
want to please them. Not always nagging at him. You
don't always nag at someone you love, do you? Always finding
fault with someone. When you come in at night, husband,
when you come in at night, do you find fault with the dinner?
Do you find fault with the house? Do you find fault with this and
that and so forth? And nagging that. If you do,
you don't love her. You don't love her. Forget it! You got together on some false
premise! It's not true love. You said
you loved her, but you didn't. You just loved to get in bed
with her. That's all. That's pretty plain, brother. I know
it's pretty plain. Maybe I ought not to say it,
but that's the way I feel. That's the way I feel. I'm talking about
something far removed from what we talk about in this modern
day of love. Far removed from that. If you love someone, you like
to please them. If you love them, you want to
please them. I'll carry clothes for you. If that's too heavy,
let me get that for you. Don't you do that. I'll get that
tonight when I come. Now don't you do that. It's too
heavy. You ought to be carrying stuff like that. That's too hard work scrubbing
that floor. Let me help you. I'll help you do that. I want
to please them. You see what I'm talking about?
I want to please them. I want to please my wife. I want to
please my children. I want to please my brethren.
Because I love them. Because I want to tell them.
You don't tell them the truth. Another good sign of a preacher
loving his brethren is this. He'll tell them the truth. That's
a good sign. That's a pretty good sign. He'll
tell them the truth. Just tell them the truth. Oh,
listen now, if a man loves a person, he likes his friends even. He
likes his friends. He loves his friends for their
sake. All right, if we love a person,
we're jealous. of His name and His honor. We
don't like to hear someone speak against Him who is the object
of our affection. We don't like to hear that, and
when we do hear it, listen, if someone speaks against your son
or daughter or your wife in your presence and you love them, what
are you going to do, put your head between your legs? No, sir,
you're going to rear up on your hind feet and you're going to
say, I'm going to speak up on their behalf. Now, what you said
may be true, but now listen, there's another side to that.
I want you to see something else about him or her. Now, you won't
set your head between your legs. No, sir. You're going to be jealous,
jealous about his or her name in regard to their honor and
integrity goals. Yes, sir. We look upon a man
or a woman or anybody else who treats Him who we love badly,
we look upon with disfavor. I know of a fellow just recently,
a fellow come over and pulled a car door open and grabbed his
wife by the arm and pulled her out of the car. They live right
in front of church. Now, I don't know that I approve of this.
I don't think this is right. I don't think he behaved right,
but there's some There's something about that that kind of pulls
at my heart. This fella, he came over and
opened the car door and pulled the fella's wife out and swung
her like that. And the fella, whose wife he
treated badly, ran around the car and said, you can't do that
to my wife. She's the object of my affection
and you can't do that to her. And he hauled off and hit him.
and knocked him down. And the fella got up and hit
him. And the first thing you know, they was both on the ground.
I don't know what the moral of the story is, but if there's
any moral to it, it's this. You can't hit my loved one and
get by with it. You can't do it. Well, listen,
if we love a person, we're jealous for his honor, for his name.
Love to the Lord Jesus Christ now is no secret thing. There is no such thing as a secret
disciple. You say, well, I love the Lord Jesus. No one knows
about it. Well, you don't love Him. Because love to God in Christ
is no secret thing. It's like heat. Heat is no secret thing, it'll
be felt. It's like sound, it'll be heard. Where it exists, where love to
God in Christ exists, it'll be seen. It can't be hid. And where it can't be seen, where
it can't be felt, where it can't be heard, rest assured there
is none. There's no love for Christ. Alright,
lastly, if I Love a person? Well, I like to talk to him.
Is that not right? I just love to talk. I want to
hear about him and converse with him. And I'll sit and listen
as he talks to me. But anyhow, if I love a person,
well, I want to talk to him. I want to talk to him. I can
talk to him. I can convey my feelings free
and easy to that fellow. I can tell him of my thoughts.
I can tell him of my sorrows. I can tell him of my bad days
and my down settings and my uprisings. I can tell him of my faults and
my sins. I can tell him of my aspirations
and ambitions. I can tell him free and easy
because he is my friend and I love him. I love him. In other words,
I can find it very easy to talk to my friend. He understands
me and I love him. He loves me. I can talk to him.
I can tell him things that I can't tell other people. I can pour
out my heart to him. Well, lastly now, if we love
a person, we like to always be with him. That is, thinking now
and hearing, that is, having our thoughts saturated with his
name, that's good. Hearing about him every day,
that's good. Reading about him and from him,
that's good. All these things are good. But
when we really love that person that we think about and hear
about and read about, we want something more. That is, we long
to be with him. Paul said, my desire is what? To depart. and to be with Him,
which is far better. Why? Because I love Him. That's what Paul said, because
I love Him. Paul's life spoke for it's sake. Because I love Him. Well, alright. Now don't answer this way, that
you believe in the truth of Christianity. Say, well yeah, I believe in
Christianity. I don't believe in Mohammedism. Confucius. I don't believe in
that stuff. I believe in the truth of Christianity.
I believe in the orthodoxy of this church. I believe in the
doctrines. I believe in Listen, true, saving Christianity is
not just believing a certain set of opinions, a certain set
of rules, a certain set of doctrines, and a certain set of notions.
It is what? It's knowing, it's trusting and
loving a person, Christ the Lord. Do you love Him? Do you love
Him? If a man loved me, if he loved
me, He won't get tired of hearing about me. Will he? You tired
of hearing about him? You tired of hearing about him? Well, what can I say? I said
it all. That is all I know. There's a
whole lot more that can be said, but that's all I know. I know
he said that if a man loved me, He'll keep my words. That's what
it says. If a man loves me, he'll keep my words. And it says
my Father will love him. And it says we'll come unto him
and we'll live with him. We'll live with him. We'll make
our abode with him. We'll live with him. Well, I
trust I love him this morning and I trust that the Father loves
me And I trust that the Father and Son and Holy Ghost hath made
a thorough bold in my heart, not because of anything that
I have done, but because I love Him. Now listen to me now closely.
Because I love Him. Because He first loved me. I found out. I found out that
my love to Him was the result of His first loving me. I found that out. It took me
a while, but I found that out. I found out the reason I have
any aspirations, any desires towards hearing of Him and listening
to His Word and that His heart might beat with my heart. Any
form or semblance of love in my heart towards the Lord Jesus,
I found out. Through the Word of God, I found
out. that we love Him because He first
loved us. So I don't have anything to brag
about, do I? If I love Him this morning, it's not because I'm
better than anybody else. It's because He first loved me
and I found out about it. Well, all right. Let's stand.