Turn to John chapter 21. John chapter 21. I titled the message, Peter,
do you love me? Do you love me? We all love something or someone. And whatever has our love, has
us. Has our affection, has our trust,
has us. There is no one saint who does
not love Jesus Christ. No one. No one. Hell is full of people who believe
election. Pharisees did. Pharisees believed
they was elect. They believed particular addiction.
They believed it was for them and no one else. But there is
absolutely no one in hell who loves Jesus Christ. No one. No matter how outwardly moral
a person may be, no matter how faithful one is to the service,
without love, there is no relationship. There is no work of grace in
the soul. Our Lord asks Peter, and us this morning. A searching
question. This is a searching question. This question is asked by our
Lord to Peter, who had denied him three times. And you'll notice
the Lord did not ask Peter, why did you deny me three times?
He knew why. You know, the Lord never asks
for information. But it's revealing. It reveals
things about us. Our Lord goes straight to the
heart of the matter. And it has to do with whom do
you love? Whom do you love? You know, the
world out there says God loves everybody. Well, who do you love?
Whom do you love? This question caused Peter to
examine himself. You know, we are told in the
Scriptures to examine ourselves to see whether we would be in
the faith. And the examination starts with,
who do you love? Lovest thou me more than these? And the reason the Lord asked
this question to Peter is because there's no relationship and no
relationship will last where love is absent. That's why you
see so many divorces. Love is absent. There's no love
there. There is no serving of Christ.
There is no worshiping of Christ apart from love. apart from loving
Christ. And I'll tell you this, before
Peter enters the heart of the battle, he's about to enter the
heart of the battle. He's going to really be on the
battlefield. But before he enters the heart of the battle, this
issue is going to be settled. Peter, whom do you love? Because
love is the only thing that will keep you on the battlefield.
It's the only thing that will keep you running when the bullets
start flying. Whom do you love? You see here, our Lord says here
in verse 18, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, when thou wast
young, thou girdest thyself, you walked where you would. But
when thou shalt be old, thou shalt stretch forth thy hands,
and another shall gird thee, and carry thee with her, Whither
thou wouldest not. This spake he signifying what
death he's going to glorify God. He's going to be crucified. Upside
down it said that he's crucified. What is strong enough to enable
you to die such a death? It has to be love. It has to
be love. And our Lord asked Peter this.
And we are to preach the truth in love. You can't preach the
truth in love if you don't love the one you're preaching about.
I mean, that's not even possible. The only way we will preach the
truth in love is to love the one we're preaching. Peter, do
you love me? Do you love me? And the first
thing our Lord does here is He's going to make Peter examine his heart, examine himself,
and compare his love to Christ to these things. What are these
things? Look over in verse 3. Simon Peter
saith unto them, I go fishing. Let's go fishing. And they say
unto him, we also are going to go with you. Be careful who you
follow. We'll just go with you. Peter, do you love me more than
these things? What are these things? Well,
it's home, family, career, whatever it is. Whatever it is. Do you
love me more? He that loves mother, father,
sister, brother more than me is not worthy of me. He's not
saying not to love my mother and father. We're to honor our
mothers and fathers. But he says, not more than me. Not more than
me. There can be no rival for the
love of Christ in our hearts. Second, it's a personal question. Personal question. Peter, do
you love me? Do you love me, now listen, as
I am? For who I am? Because I'm not changing. I'm
the Lord, I change time. Do you love me the way I am,
for who I am? Do you love me? Is there anything
about Christ you would change? No. Now my wife loves me. I know she loves me. But there
are some things about me I think she would change. I heard a man
say this one time. He said a man was complaining
about his wife's thoughts. And he replied to the man, if
I were you, I wouldn't complain so much about your wife's thoughts.
If she had less of them, she would have married a better man. There's some things about me
my wife would change, but I'm not going to complain about hers.
And she doesn't complain about mine. But there's nothing about
Christ that we would change. He's altogether lovely. Altogether. In the song of Solomon, when
she starts describing Him, she gets down to the end of it, she
said, He's altogether lovely. There's not a blemish in Him.
At all. It's a personal question. Peter,
do you love... It's not a general question.
This is not a general question asked of the disciples. It is
to the heart of Peter. And it's to our hearts this morning. Do I love Christ? I remember
back, it's been about 34 years ago, I remember hearing my pastor
preach on television. That's when I heard the gospel.
This particular message, I don't remember the particular message.
I don't even remember the title. But the one thing that was said
in that message I've always remembered, because it hit me, and I'd never
heard it before, and it just hit me so strongly. And Brother
Henry asked in that message, Do you love Christ? We always
hear, you know, we always hear, God loves us, And he said, Do
you love Christ? And I never thought of that before. You know, where there's real
love, there's a real relationship. Isn't there? There's a lot of people who believe
facts about Christ. They believe a lot of facts,
a lot of things about Him. But they don't love Him. If you
love Him, there's a relationship going on. A real relationship
going on. There's a real union there. Do I love Christ? This is not
group therapy. This is personal. A true relationship
is personal. It's personal. Do you love me? Settle this question. Settle
this. Do you love me? This question
must be answered. Must be answered. And thirdly,
it's a heart question. It's not a hard question. I didn't
say hard. It is a heart question. Do you love me? Love starts in the heart. The
scripture says where your treasure is, your heart is. Where your
love is, your heart is. It's evidence also of a new heart.
Because I can assure you that old heart never loves God, will
never love Christ. It's evidence of a new heart
because that's the only heart that will love Him, the heart
that He gives, a new heart. And then it is a revealing question. It reveals whether I'm lost or
saved. Turn over to John chapter 8. John chapter 8. In John 8, let me see here. I
may have the wrong scripture written down. John 8, oh, I'm
looking in Luke. It's John 8, 42. John 8, look in verse 42. Jesus said unto them, If God
were your Father, you would love me. If God were your Father,
you would love me. It is a revealing question. It
reveals whether I am lost or saved. It reveals spiritual health
or spiritual sickness. Look over in Revelation chapter
2. It reveals spiritual health or
spiritual sickness. Revelation chapter 2 and verse 1, unto the angel. Revelation chapter 2, I'll start
reading verse 1. Unto the angel of the church
of Ephesus write, These things saith he that holdeth the seven
stars in his right hand, who walketh in the midst of the seven
golden candlesticks, I know thy works, and thy labor, and thy
patience. and how thou canst not bear them
which are evil, and thou hast tried them which say they are
apostles, and are not, and hast found them liars, and hast borne,
and hast patience, and for thy name's sake hast laboured, and
for my name's sake hast laboured, and hast not fainted." Sounds
pretty good, doesn't it? Hey, busy! But now look, nevertheless,
I have somewhat against thee, because thou hast left thy first
love. It's like you take a man and
a wife, they get married, in love with each other. Kids come
along. And I'm telling you, moms are
busy. Moms are busy. Taking care of
the house, taking care of their children, taking care of this
and that. I mean, they're busy, busy, busy. And you know, it's
like one day the husband comes in from work, and it's like,
who are you? Busy! You go on a song with Solomon
and he knocks on the door and she says, I can't get up, I've
washed, I've taken my coat off, I've washed my feet and I can't.
She doesn't want to come to the door. Peter, do you love me? Do you love me? It's easy to
get sidetracked. It reveals whether we're walking
in the Spirit or walking in the flesh. A man who walks in the
Spirit loves God and loves his brethren. Do you love me? And then it's
a repeated question. A repeated question. Our Lord asked Peter this question
three times. We should face this question
every day. We should face this every day. And the reason we should face
it every day is it keeps our focus on Him. Keeps us looking
to Him. Keeps our minds on Him. Here's something I thought was revealing. It's revealing. Go
back there. Go back to John 21. In verse 15. So when they had
dined, Jesus said to Simon Peter, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou
me more than these? He said unto him, Yea, Lord.
Yea, Lord, thou knowest I love thee. He said, Feed my lambs. But it's like the Lord asking
this question. It's a very serious question.
And at first, I don't think he took it as serious as it was.
And he said, Lord, you know, I love you. Be like my wife said,
John, do you love me? I said, look, of course I love
you. You know, I love you. And he
said to him again the second time, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest
thou me? And he said to him, yea, Lord,
thou knowest I love thee. He said unto him, Thee by she. He said unto him the third time,
Simon son of Jonas loveth not me, and Peter was grieved. Now
listen. He should have been grieved the first time he asked. He should
have been grieved the first time. It wasn't until the third time
he asked. Do you love me? If my wife had to ask me one
time if I love her, it ought to grieve me. It shouldn't take
three times. Peter, do you love me? And the
third time he got the response. He brought the response out of
Peter. He was grieved. He was grieved. Lord, you know
I love you. You know. And it's a repeated
question because we are repeat offenders, aren't we? Too many times our hearts get
consumed with something else. Too many times. And then fifthly, why do I love
Christ? Why do you love Christ? Peter, do you love me? Lord,
you know I love you. Why do you love Him? I'll tell
you why. Because He first loved me. He
first loved me. My wife and I first started dating.
I went after her. She didn't come after me. I believe
I can say I loved her first because she didn't even remember who
I was. We'd met years earlier. And I showed up at the door,
knocked on the door. I said, do you remember me? She said, no. But
I didn't quit. I remembered her. And she had
my attention. And so we started dating and
we married. Why do you love Christ? Because He first loved you. Who
are you? I don't know. I don't know who
you are. He knows who you are. He loved you before the world
began. And then He called you to love Him. Why do I love Christ? Because of the new birth. Born
of God. Everyone born of God loves Jesus
Christ. You've just fallen in love with
Him. You can't help it. That's what it says over in 1
John 4, verse 7. Why do I love Christ? Because
I can't help it. That's why you call it falling
in love. If you could keep from falling, you wouldn't fall, would
you? I fell in love with my wife.
We fell in love with Christ because we couldn't help it. He wooed us and He drew us. Enable us to fall in love with
Him. Enable us to see His beauty. Enable us to see Him for who
He is. Then we have love's proof. Peter, do you love me? You know,
it's easy to say, I love you. It's easy to say that. You can
teach a paw parrot to say that. But it's another thing to prove
it. It's another thing to go through a life proving it. That's a whole different thing.
Peter, do you love me? Yes, Lord, you know I love you. Feed my sheep. Feed my sheep. Love is proven by what we do,
not what we say. How many say, I do, and then
years later say, I don't? Because love is gone. Love is proven by what we do.
Feed my sheep. God proved His love to His people
by sending His own Son into this world to die for them. God so
loved the world that He sent His own Son. He's the only begotten
Son. The Lord Jesus Christ proved His love to His people by dying
for them. Having loved His own, He loved
them to the end. Has He not proven His love to
us? The Holy Spirit proves His love to us by keeping us. He keeps us. He indwells us and
He stays in us. Would you stay in that house?
He does. He never vacates the premises. Never. As sinful as we still
are by nature. He never vacates. He always keeps. He always indwells. He always
guides. Peter, do you love me? And here's
something comforting. Here's something very comforting
to the child of God. Lord, You know I love You. You know it. That comforting, isn't it? Because
although we go through this life and we stumble, we fall, we sin,
but Lord, You know I love You. Isn't that comforting? You know
I love you. You know my heart. You know my
heart. You know I love you. Now let me give you these last
few points. And I got these points from my
pastor, a message I listened to here not too long ago. And
I took these points down. I stole them. Stolen waters are
sweet. So I've got these. How do I know
I love him? You cannot help thinking about
him. You cannot help thinking about the one you love. Nobody,
after I met my wife and we dated, I did not have to be pressured
into thinking about her. Actually, looking back, I was
probably useless on the job. I know what I was thinking about. You cannot help thinking about
the one you love. You think about them, they're
on your mind. Christ is on your mind.
There is not a day that goes by that Christ is not on your
mind, that you don't think about Him. I know that. That's one
of the proofs that you love Him, is because you're always thinking
about Him. And then you love their presence. You just love when you walk in
the door, your countenance lights up. Can't wait till they come
home. You know, I was saying last night,
I said, my two grandkids, when they come over, they come over
and see us a lot. And Vicki, if she has to go to
the store for something, she'd say, you know, just watch the
kids. I said, okay. And it is constant, constant. Where's Mama? When's Mama going
to come back? I could go away for a month and they wouldn't
ask me to come back to where Papa is. I'm serious. They never ask
where Papa is. But they say where Mama is until
she comes back. I even call her on the phone.
I say, when are you going to be here? And when she comes to that door,
bam, they go for Mama. And I say, why? Yeah, I know
why. You love their presence. And then you love to talk about
them. You just let them pull out a picture. Just pull out
a picture. Somebody pull them out. And then you've got a conversation
going on. They love to talk about them. Turn over to Song of Solomon. Song of Solomon chapter 5. Song of Solomon chapter 5. He
loved to talk about them. Oh, they were your favorite subject. Verse 9 of Song of Solomon chapter
5. Verse 9. I wish I could hear the paper quit
rattling. What is thy beloved more than another beloved? Well,
you just opened the door. Let me tell you, O thou fairest
among women, what is thy beloved more than another beloved, that
thou dost charge us so? Because she said in verse 8,
I charge you, O daughters of Jerusalem, if you find my beloved,
you tell him that I am lovesick. And listen, my beloved is white
and ruddy, the cheapest among ten thousand. His head is as
the most fine gold, his locks are bushy and black as a raven.
His eyes are as the eyes of doves by the rivers of waters, washed
with milk and fitly set. His cheeks are as a bed of spices,
as sweet flowers, his lips like lilies dropping Sweet smelling
myrrh. His hands are as gold rings set
with a barrel. His belly is as bright ivory
overlaid with sapphires. His legs are as pillars of marble
set upon sockets of fine gold. His countenance is as Lebanon,
excellent as the cedars. His mouth is most sweet. Yay!
He's altogether lovely. Since you asked, I'll tell you. And she covered every part of
him, didn't she? From head to tongue. She went from head to
tongue. Sherry, you ever described Stan
like that? I know my wife has it. He's altogether lovely. This
is my beloved, and this is my friend. Your best friend is the
one you love. And then you long for their company. You long for their company. This
is good, isn't it? This is why I wrote this down.
This is good. You long for their company. Have you seen Him who
my soul loves? You long to see Him. You long
for Him to come home. and be with the Lord. He didn't
have a desire to depart and just die, but to be with the Lord. To be with Him. I have a desire
to be with Christ. And that desire is born out of
love to Christ. A genuine love to Christ will
give you a genuine desire to be with Him. That's how you know
you love Him. And then this one. This is good.
It is not hard to submit to someone you love. It's not hard to do
that, is it? It's difficult, at best, to submit
to someone that you can't stand. Really. That's why you see so
much fighting. It's not hard to submit to someone
you love. And then, last of all, it's easy
to be faithful. to someone you love, to be faithful. Whom have I in heaven but thee,
and there is none upon earth that I desire besides thee. Peter, you just put your name
there, John, Stan, Sammy, do you love me? feed machine.