And when it is time to say good-bye,
I'm sure I'll come back down. Remember my love, I'll be back
in time. I don't think the verses of that
hymn are idle boasts of our love for him and just heartfelt expressions
of a true child of God and the Princess's love. I'm glad he
did qualify it there in verse 2 by quoting that verse, I love
thee because you first loved me. All right, turn back to John
14. John chapter 14. And let's read one verse. Look at verse 15. If you love me, keep my commandments. Let's go ahead and read a couple
more verses. Verse 21. He that hath my commandments
and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me. And he that loveth
me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and manifest
myself unto him." Verse 23, Christ answered and said unto Judas,
If a man love me, he will keep my words, and my Father will
love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with
him. Sunday morning, the text in 1
Timothy 1, Verse five you remember. I put brother Terry on the spot
downstairs may be glad you weren't there I asked him there you remember
what a free Sunday morning he quoted it they quoted the bird.
He said but I had I was putting putting it on tape. I was filling
out tape labels he said I knew it. But that actually at the
end of the commandment. The goal the purpose. The aim
of the commandment is love out of a pure heart. Love out of
a pure heart. And we saw in that message how
that two forms of love that's talking about in the commandments
was love, number one, love to God. We love Him chiefly. We're
to love Him chiefly. Every true child of God does.
That's not a should, but that is an is. Loves him chiefly and secondly
loves the brethren loves others. And we clearly saw. We clearly saw how from John's
epistle first John we went all the way through that if you follow
along with me. You clearly saw how that the
love for God love for the brethren are both necessary. And they're
inseparably connected. And we may know John over and
over again throughout that epistle talked about we may know this
love we may know something of God's love for us. Yes we may
know that he loves us and we may know we love him. And our
love for the brethren. And he went on to say in first
John three that hereby we may assure our heart. before God
gives us some assurance of a truly regenerated heart in life. Now,
are you interested? Well, I am. That's why I'm here. I said before, I'm not here because
I'm supposed to be. I'm here because I want to be,
and this is the thing I'm chiefly interested in. Do I know God? Do I love God? Does he love me?
Do I have a a part in this thing called salvation. Am I a child
of God? Do you want to know that? And I can't get this subject
out of my mind, and I quote, look at 2 Corinthians 13. I quote this verse all the time.
It may be well for us to remember it well, where it is. I probably quoted this as much
as anything. 2 Corinthians 13, verse 5. I can't get this subject out
of my mind. Do I love God or not? Does he love me? 2 Corinthians 13, 5 says, examine
yourselves. And that's what we're going to
do tonight. Examine yourselves whether you be in the faith.
Prove your own selves. I read another place where it
says, prove the sincerity of your love. Remember that? Know
ye not, here it is, know ye not your own selves. how that Jesus
Christ is in you, except you be reprobates, or that is, that
you have a mind void of that judgment. Jesus Christ in you. Know ye
not your own selves how that Jesus Christ is in you. How is
Jesus Christ in a human being? Now, he is not bodily in us,
his spirit. Look over at Ephesians chapter
3 with me. How is Jesus Christ in us? Paul said, don't you know your
own selves how that Jesus Christ is in you? Well, Ephesians 3,
I hope you have your Bibles ready and I hope you'll be prepared
to follow along very closely. I have something for you, something
very helpful I believe. Ephesians 3, Paul is praying
for God's people. He says in verse 16, I pray that
God would grant you, according to the riches of his glory, to
be strengthened with might or power by his Holy Spirit in the
inner man, on the inside, that Jesus Christ, that Christ may
dwell in your hearts by faith, that you being rooted and grounded
in love. may be able to comprehend or
understand with all things what all things understand that is
the breadth and length and depth and height to know the love of
Christ. To know. The love of Christ and
which passes mere knowledge head knowledge if you might be filled
with all the fullness of God so Jesus Christ dwells in a human
being in faith and love. And, Roberta, we saw how Paul
said to young Timothy, it must be unfeigned faith, and it must
be love out of a pure heart. Right? Remember that? It all
goes together. Do you love the Lord Jesus Christ? One of the first messages I preached
when I came to this church was found from Joshua 23, verse 11,
I believe it is. It says, Take good heed unto
yourselves that you love the Lord your God. Take good heed, do you? I told
Brother Terry, I said, I believe the reason why we're so, we're so hesitant to talk about
our love for Christ is because we feel, because it's so weak. We're so ashamed of it. It's
so feeble, it's so fickle, isn't it? It's up one day and down
the next. So we're hesitant to talk about
it. But we must know it. Can you enter into John Newton's
poem? I know this is one of your favorites. I've got it in the
back of my Bible. It's a poem I long to know. And often it gives me anxious
thought. Do I love the Lord or no? Am I His or am I not? If anybody really asks that question,
really wants to find out, they'll find out. If I love, why am I
thus? Why this dull and lifeless frame? Hardly sure can they be worse
who never heard his name. Could my heart so hard remain,
and prayer a task and a burden prove, and every little trifle
give me pain, if I knew a Savior's love? When I turn my eyes within,
all is dark and vain and wild. I'm filled with unbelief and
sin. Can I be myself, child? If I pray or hear or read, sin
is mixed with all I do. You that love the Lord. It seems
like he's asking, does anybody really love the Lord? I want
to know this. You that love the Lord, indeed. Is it this way
with you? Yet, I mourn my stubborn will. I find my sin a grief and a thrall. Should I grieve for what I feel
if I did not love it all? No, you wouldn't. Could I joy
with his saints to meet? I really enjoy being here. Could I enjoy his saints to meet? Choose the ways I once abhorred?
I find at times the promise sweet, if I did not love the Lord. Lord, decide this doubtful case. You who are your people's son,
shine upon this work of grace, if indeed it is begun. Let me love thee more and more,
if I love at all, I pray. But if I have not loved before,
let me begin today." That's one of the greatest poems I've ever
read. Can you enter into that? I want to know, does God love
me? Do I love Him? Is this thing
for real? Huh? Better people than I have
have fallen away. That's what you and I were talking
about today, wasn't it, Stan? I want to know and I'm not going
to be satisfied until I have some assurance of death. And
I highly recommend that you not be satisfied or comfortable until
you find out yourself. And that's what this message
is all about. All right? Are you with me? If that didn't
get your attention, God's love for me, how may I know it? God's love for me, how may I
know it? Point number one. How may I know
it? You know, the Scriptures are
very clear about who God loves. Very clear. The world's real
confused, though, aren't they, Henry? I want you to turn to
some Scriptures with me. I know you've seen these, but
you need to remember where they are. Psalm 5. Psalm 5. The Scriptures are very clear,
John, who God loves. And it's not everybody. Had a
man stand the other day and asked me that question. You mean to
tell me that God does not love everybody? I said, no, he does
not. Where does it say that? He said,
in the Bible. Studies show ourselves to prove
we don't be able to give a reason, an answer, from the Psalm five,
verse five, God does not love everyone. Look at verse five,
the foolish shall not stand in God's side. He hates all workers
of iniquity. Look at Psalm seven. Easy to
remember, Psalm seven, eleven. Now didn't that say in verse
five that God hates some people, workers of iniquity? Did that
say he hates their sin and doesn't hate, he loves the sinner but
hates their sin? Is that what that said, Henry?
That's not what that said, was it? God hates all workers of
iniquity, people, individuals. Psalm 7, verse 11, God judges
the righteous. God is angry with the wicked
every day. That's people in and out. The wicked God is angry with
the wicked, not just their wickedness. See, we do what we are, don't
we? Anger and hatred are synonymous,
right? They're synonymous. Psalm 11,
verse 5. Psalm 11, verse 5. The Lord trieth the righteous,
but the wicked, let's talk about people here now, the wicked and
him that loveth violence, God's soul hateth. I thought my people. Why is this plane is a nose on
your face and proverbs five six proverbs six. You know this passage,
but you need to know where it is proverbs six. He mentioned
six things a seven that the Lord hates. All right. Proverbs six
verse sixteen says these six things that the Lord hate a seven
are an abomination unto him. He hates them, they're an abomination
to him. Now look down at verse nineteen. I'll not read all that.
A false witness that speaketh lies. That's a person. And he,
in other words, God hates. This person is an abomination
to him. He that soweth discord among brethren. That's people,
isn't it? Not just what they do. but people,
and he specifically in Malachi 1 verse 3, calls somebody by
name that he hated, didn't he? Anybody know who that is? Esau
called a man by name, didn't he, and said he didn't love this
man, he hated him, and laid his heritage waste for the dragons
of the wilderness. That sound like love lest you
What people try to make that out to be means he loved less.
Hell in the place where God sends people, he loves less. That's
ridiculous. That's blasphemy. Well, who does God love? Is that clear to you, Margaret,
that God doesn't love every single individual? Is that enough? If
Psalm 55 was the only verse in all the Bible, wouldn't that
be enough? Wouldn't that tell you? If Malachi 1, 3 was the
only verse in the Bible that God said there was somebody he
didn't love, but he hates them, wouldn't that be enough to tell
you that God does not love every single individual? Why do people
fight it? Even because they cannot receive
his word, Christ said. You're not my sheep. Well, who
does God love? John 3, 16 says this, and you
can be returning to Romans 5. Romans 5. John three sixteen
everybody even children can quote this. Says God so loved the world. That he gave his only begotten
son. Whosoever believeth in him shall
not perish but have everlasting life. The world. Boy it throws
everybody for a loop. And I don't want to go into a
great long lengthy dissertation on John three sixteen but remember
this in reference to John three sixteen. He was talking to a
Jew. He was talking to a Jew who was
a member of the Pharisees, who was a member of the Sanhedrin.
Now, the Jews were the most bigoted, prejudiced, biased, hateful people
on the face of the earth. They believed they were the only
ones that God loved. They believed that they were
the only people on the face of the earth that were God's people
and that God loved. The Gentiles were dogs. God didn't
have anything for them. He was going to wipe them all
out. Only Jews were going to be saved. And Christ was talking
to this man, and he said, God just doesn't love Jews. He loves
Gentiles, too. He's got a people from every
tribe, kindred, nation, and tongue under heaven. The world. Not Jews, but the world. That
means all sorts of people. If you do a study of the word
world sometimes, it has many, many different meanings. It doesn't
mean every single individual. But the world, not just Jews,
all sorts of people. And we just saw how that couldn't
mean everybody, could it? That word, world, could not mean
everybody in relation to Psalm 5, 5, Psalm 7, 11, 11, 7, Malachi
1, 3, and so on, could it? Right? All right. Romans 5, 8,
who does God love then? Romans 5, verse 8 says that,
"...God commendeth his love toward us." If I know anything about English
language, I know that the opposite of us is them. Right? It's us and them. And he says this more than, I
didn't even count them, so many times throughout this, us, us,
us, us, us, us, us. God commended his love toward
us in that while we were yet sinners, there it goes, sinners,
us, sinners, Christ died for us. God commended his love toward
us sinners. and Christ died for. Who is to
us? Who are sinners? Who are the sinners? Well, look
at verse one there. Therefore, being justified by
faith, we have peace with God. We, being just, you see that
qualification there? By faith, we have peace with
God. And on and on he goes, by whom also we have access, wherein
we stand. But we glory in tribulations.
And because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts, when
we were yet. Who? We. Who's the we? Who's
the us? Believers. Right? Romans 5, 1. Believers by faith. By faith. All those that believe.
God so loved the world, he gave his only begotten Son. Who's
whoever believe it? Who believes? Everybody? No. Faith is a gift of God. It's
a gift of His Holy Spirit in it. All those whom God has chosen
before the foundation of the world and sent Christ to die
for and whom He sends the Holy Spirit to give faith to. Whosoever
will. I don't have a bit of a problem
with that. Whosoever will is made will. Whosoever will are
all of those whom the Holy Spirit gives faith to. That's just clear
to us and that's just plain to us as A, B, C, D, E, F, G. Isn't it? Here it is. Who does
God love them? Believers. He further qualifies
them in Malachi 3, 6, doesn't it? I am the Lord, I change not. Therefore, you sons of Jacob.
He calls some people by name there. He said, Jacob have I
loved. Everyone felt that he said he
loved. And all those sons of Jacob. Right? Sons of Jacob. And that
just accurately describes sinners, doesn't it? Well, look at John
fourteen, our text again. Keep your place in John fourteen,
that's what our text is. He said in verse twenty-one,
now stay with me people, this is difficult, this is tough.
I preached, already preached it all to John and Terry, and I'm telling you it's tough,
but John fourteen, twenty-one. He that hath my commandments
and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me. And he that loveth
me shall be loved of my father. Does the love of God sound conditional
to you there? Read it again. He that hath my
commandments and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me. That's
the one that loveth me. He who has my commandments and
keeps them. And he that loveth me shall be
loved of my father. Does that sound conditional to
you? I'm sure it does at first glance. Sure that. The listen to this
don't be confused. God is the one who makes us meet
the condition. We do love him we must love him
or he won't love us we must love Christ or he won't love us it
says that all the way through that passage. Well how are we going
to love God when we by nature are against God enmity against
God. God has to make us love him. We love him because he first
loved us. All right. Because the love of
God Romans five five is the love of God has been shared abroad
in our hearts by the Holy Ghost and he is given us. Love of God's
gift. To get there by the love. It's
a gift. It's not something you just.
It's by the power of the Holy Spirit. It's not something you
you work up. Are you with me now? All right,
and he does this through the preaching of the gospel. Nobody
loves God by nature. Scripture says a natural man
is an enemy against God, or an enemy of God, arch-enemy of God,
hates God. That's where we get that statement,
John, when we tell people, men hate God. Is that Romans 5.8? That's the verse, and the carnal
mind is enmity against God, not subject to the law of God, neither
indeed can be. Enemy of God, hates God. The natural man hates
God. People don't like to hear that,
do they? But that's the truth. And nobody loves God by nature,
and nobody ever decides to start loving God. Do you? Did you? No, you don't. No, the love of Christ constrains
you. The word constrain means compels
you. The love of God is shed abroad
in your heart by the Holy Spirit whom God has given us, Romans
5. God has to make you love Him. And He doesn't do that by getting
you down and making you say, Uncle, okay, I'll love you. No,
He causes you to, showing you His loveliness and all that He
does for you in Christ. But we may truly know God's love
for us. We may truly know God's love
for us by hearing, reading, and believing the record He's given
us. Who does God love, John? Sinners. I can constantly say
that every sinner, every sinner in the world, God loves. That's
what Romans 5 said, didn't it? We just read it. God commended
his love toward us, and while we were yet sinners, Christ died
for us. If you, if you can find yourself
before a holy God as a sinner, I mean a sinner, not mean I just
had some faults. Like the world says, or I've
got, I've made some mistakes. I mean a hell deserving, rotten,
no good, an Isaiah 1 sinner. You know what an Isaiah 1 sinner
is? No soundness in me. From the sole of my feet to the
top of my head is no soundness in me. Nothing but wounds and
bruises and putrefying sores have not been bound up nor mollified
with ointment. Wretched, vile, miserable, wretched,
no good. Worthless, hell-bound. That's
a sinner. That's the only kind of sinner there is. All right? And you find yourself as that.
God doesn't deserve, or I don't deserve to be loved by God. I
deserve to go to hell. Is that the kind of sinner you
are? Huh? God loves you. I can say that with all the authority
that comes from this book here. Do you see your need of Jesus
Christ? How that Jesus Christ, the altogether lovely one, how
God looked down from heaven and saw his son and said, now he's
lovely, and I love him, everything about him, and I only love those
that are in him by faith. Can't love you by yourself, you're
unlovely. But you get in him, I pay I love you to you see your
need to cross John's easily and God Almighty loves you buddy
and he'll love you now until the well from now. Never stop. And he has he has. Engaged himself
on your behalf to do everything for you to see to it that you
get the help. And never fall. That's the love
of God. It doesn't try. It accomplishes. It doesn't take the first step
to meet you halfway. No, it takes all the steps with
you on his back. It's effectual. It's saving.
It's sovereign. It gives it to him for every
will, doesn't it? All right? Do you believe that? That should
have given you the most comfort. God loves sinners. God loves
those who see their need of Christ and believe Christ and come to
Christ by faith and just say, come to Christ. It's explained
to you how to come to Christ. You got to do it. Have you come
to Christ? If you have, God Almighty loves
you. And the reason you came is because He loved you. The
reason Christ came is because He loved you. The love of God
that sent Christ down here. All right? And his love is also
known, now listen to me, God's love to us is also known by your
love to him and to his people. You can't separate all this,
it's all vitally connected. And this is where the difficulty
comes in, but just, you just, it's just something you won't
have to believe, you can experience, okay? Our love to God. How may we know it? Do I love
God? How may I know it? This is point
number two. Our love to God, how may we know
it? Now, some of these things, if some of you got the Messenger
of Grace or whatever Brother Shelton's paper is, you saw this
by Thomas Watson, if you read it. Well, if you didn't read
it, you're going to hear it now. And I got many of these, Brother
Watson came up with some of these, some of them are mine. Well,
really, none of them are any, or his or mine. They're all from
the scripture. But these are good things, now.
We want to jot them down. Our love to God. How many of
us know if we love God or not? You want to know this? Ainsley
Hudson, you want to know this? You've got to. If any man loved
not the Lord Jesus Christ, let him be accursed. That's what
the scripture said. You want to know? Right. How
many of us know? Now, I'm going to have to just
browse over a few of these things. There are three qualifications
of true love. Now, these aren't my points.
These are our preliminary points here. Three qualifications of
true love to God. It's pure. We saw that Sunday morning. It's
genuine. It's pure. It's from the heart.
It's not fake. It's real. You feel it. experiences, actual
love. It's not just in lip service,
it's in heart. This is where it starts, it's
in heart. And it's with all the heart. Number two, it's with
all the heart, not half a heart. Christ said, if any man loves,
he that loveth father or mother or son or daughter or husband
or wife or even his own self more than me, he can't be without
it. All right? It has to be with the whole heart. And thirdly, it's in flaming.
Love Love, real love now. It's not cold. It's not unmoved. It's not unfelt. It's responsive.
It's alive. Real love is alive. All right? Right? How would you like to
be married to a man who says he loves you and never shows
it? That's not love. That's love in word only. Nothing
clear from that. All right, here's my point. It's
seven or eight, and I'll run through them real fast. And let's
see, I've got 15 minutes. Can you give me 15 minutes? All
right, number one, I look at the text in John 14, verse 15. How may we know if we love God?
John 14, verse 15 says, if you love me, You just stop right there. Did
you catch that? If you love me, real love to God loves God, not
what it gets from God. Right? Isn't that an accurate
description of this world? They love a sugar daddy, they
call God. One, you just bow, bow, you know,
send a hundred. That's the world, but no, a true
lover of God loves God. Who he is, who he is. Psalm 73, 25, one of my favorite
passages of scripture, whom have I in heaven but thee? Why do
you want to go to heaven, Terry? See those streets of gold? Are
you looking real forward to that? You're looking for scars up in
heaven, aren't you, buddy? The one that saved my soul. That's
what Brother Ed Hale said. That's what he said in that song.
I believe that's where he is. Whom have I in heaven but thee?
And there's none on earth, really, I desire beside thee. Now that's
the man after God's own heart. That's the man with love of God
in his heart. He loves God. God, true love
to God, loves God for who He is, not for what He gives, not
for what He does. Oh, sure, we appreciate what
He does, but we love Him. Can you say that? I love His
person, His ways, His character. Now, before I go any further,
we know this, that God is only revealed in Jesus Christ. You
only know God Almighty by Jesus Christ. You want to know how
God is? You study Jesus Christ. You study
Jesus Christ. To know him is to love him. You
love everything about him. Oh, I sure appreciate what he
did, Henry, healing all those people and all that. But, you
know, I love him. He is the one I admire, his person.
Now, I'm not so much taken up with the miracles, loaves and
the fishes and all that, but him. And sure, he gives me everything,
but, well, to love God is to love Christ and him crucified.
To love God is to love Christ and him crucified. To love what
Christ did for you, yes, but love who he is first. Love Christ
and him crucified, right? His person and his work. That's
right, Terry. You love his person first. It's
not just love doctrine, I love his doctrine. But you love his
person first. And you love what he did and
what he did for you, Christ crucified. To love him is to love him. And
to love him is to love, and this is not another point, this is
still under the first one, is to love his words and his ways.
When you love somebody, you love everything about them. And you
really love somebody you love everything about him you love
their work and you love Christ's words and his ways everything
he says and does. Now this will separate the wheat
from the chaff won't. This will separate the sheep from the goats.
Everybody doesn't love everything Christ said. Everybody doesn't
love everything that's written in this book. Everybody wouldn't
love what I've already said to you thus far would. They'd gnash
their teeth at me. Well they're not gnashing at
me in resort, they're gnashing at God Almighty. But those who
really love God Almighty don't gnash their teeth at God, they
praise his name. Right? They don't gnash their
teeth and say, that's a hard saying, who can hear it? No,
they say, Lord, you said it, I believe it. I love it. I don't
understand it, but I love it. If you said this, God will be
right. Shall not the judge of all the earth do right and say
right and be right? Yeah, you're right. I'm all wrong,
let God be true and every man a liar. Whatever he says, I believe
it. No ifs, ands, buts, and buts.
No buts. Goats do that. No nays. Wild asses, colts, nay. It's
all yay and amen in Christ, isn't it? Yay, amen. Explain that to
me. I can't. It's just amen. Believers, I say so many times,
believers are God's yes-men in whatever he says, you know. Can
two walk together except they be agreed? Whatever he says,
that's right. That's right. Why is it right?
Because God said it. Well, prove it. I don't have
to. Neither does God. He said it. He'll prove it someday. He doesn't
have to now. God says, I'm God. Beside me, there's none else.
I say, that's right. That's the way I want it. God says, you're
a sinner. You're wretched. You're vile. You're unworthy.
You deserve to go to hell. I say, that's right. God says, Behold,
my servant, mine elect, and whom I delight, my son, a man approved
of God, only one. You better kiss the son, lest
he be angry, and you perish by the way. When his wrath is kindled,
but I'll let myself kiss him, I'll kiss him. Will you marry
him? Will you submit to him? Will
you bow to him? I steer well. Yes, Lord. Oh, where does it, just God's
sake, set my son as your personal savior? It says bow, kiss my
son's feet. Right? Yes, Lord, I'll do it. Gladly. I don't deserve to kiss
his toe. John said it, didn't he? I don't
deserve to tie his shoe. Much less kiss him. Now here's
my second point. So those that really love God,
love God. If it didn't go any further,
that'd be enough, wouldn't it? They love God. Everything about
him, everything he says, everything he does, everything. You may
not understand it, but that's the way he is, God. And he's
right in everything he says and does, because he's God. Number
two, everybody that really loves God desires his presence. Desires his presence. It's a
mark of true love to want to be with the one that you love. It's a mark of true love, to
want to be with the one you love. And again, this is something
you can't fake, is it? You can't fake. No way. It has
to be there. It has to be there. David said, One thing have I
desired after, and that's what I'm seeking. And you quote this
with David in Psalm 27, verse 4. One thing have I desired of
the Lord, that's what I seek after, that I may dwell in the
house of the Lord all the days of my life, to behold the beauty
of the Lord. I'll be with him. I'll be with
him. And the true lover of Christ
in this thing of desiring his presence, they rejoice when they're
with him. And again, this is something you can't explain,
it's just you have to feel it. Have you ever felt? Now, let me tell you, let me
tell this for the comfort of those young believers here. Those
who have not been following Christ long. Perhaps just now being
worked on by the God, the Holy Spirit for your comfort. Little children. Little children,
little babies love their parents. They do. They love their parents. They may not be able to fully
comprehend it. Parents love them or their love.
They may not be able to express it. They do it the best way they
can, you know. And there'll come a time in their
life, if the love of their parents is really there, there'll come
a time in their life when they'll reach a little, a stage called
adolescence, and they'll look like, at times, like they don't
love their parents. Right? It happens all the time. But if they really love their
parents now, they'll come back. And that'll be proved. It'll
be proved. They'll never be happy unless
that relationship is restored completely. I know what I'm talking
about. I loved my parents growing up.
I loved them, and I love them now. And there was a time, though,
when I left and went away, and I wanted, I almost acted like
I wanted to get away from them. But you know, it came a time
when I was, I wanted that relationship back. I was lost without it. I needed my parents' love, approval,
affirmation, fellowship. And we have it now, because it
was there to begin with. All right? And those who love
Christ really rejoice when they're with him. They feel his presence.
And don't be too upset if you don't really feel his presence.
But those of you who have, you know what I'm talking about.
How do you experience Christ's presence? He's nowhere to be found within
the pages of the book or with somebody expanding. He sat in
on the reading and the preaching of the word and you felt his
presence. The only way you don't feel it
out in the woods and you don't feel it out, whatever you do
his work. That's how he speaks. This is
how he communes with his people. And you're sad, real love for
Christ is sad when it's apart from him. That's still a point
number two. Sad when it's apart from him. David said, How long
will you hide your face from? Have you ever known when God's
presence is gone? If you love me, do how long will
you hide your face from? Point number three, those who
really love God, they love him. Number two, they desire his presence. Number three, they will be at
great pains to get to him. This is Brother Watson's point.
They will be at great pains to get to him. True love will risk
life and limb to get to the one it loves. Mamas, your baby in
danger, crossing the streets, would you not, would you think
a thing about hurtling yourself in front of a car to save that
child? You'd risk life and limb for the one you love. Didn't
that, didn't that, herein is love. Not that we loved him,
but he loved us. Isn't that what he did? Didn't
he risk life and limb for us? Oh, he proved his love for us,
didn't he? Prove your love for him. True love will sell all
it has, forsake all it has for the object of its affection.
That's still under point number three. Will be at great pains
to get... A man will go to the ends of
the earth to have the one he loves. Right, Mindy? He'll stay
up until two and three in the morning and go to work at four.
Because he wants to be with and to woo and win the one he loves.
You men, you know what I'm talking about. Go over to your true love's
house and you might go through over hill and dale and the dusty
trail and sweat and bleed and to get to
her, you know, just to be with her. You had to have her. You
had to have her. A true lover of Christ will go
to great lengths, travel great distances, just to be with him. I'm telling you, it's true.
It's true. You know what I'm saying? It's
true. You know what I'm saying? It's true. Number four, true
love for Christ can't live without him. This is Brother Watkins,
too. I'll not be guilty of plagiarism
here, John. I'll give credit where credit's due. True love
cannot live without Him. Real life now is the life of
God and the soul of a man. And you've never lived, you've
never lived until you've experienced the love of God, of Christ. For all that we might know and
comprehend with all saints, the depth, the height, the length,
and the breadth of His love. real life, and Christ said life
more abundant. You let a man taste and see the
Lord is gracious, and he won't get much of a taste for anything
else. That's my next point, but hold on. A real lover of Christ can't
live without him, just can't live without him. Now, the godless,
the Christless in this world, the Christless, the godless,
For them to live, living to them is to have their belly full.
Right? Living for the godless is to
have your stomach full. God is their belly. But living
to the godly is to have the fullness of God, even on an empty stomach. Living to God is having the fullness
of God, even on an empty stomach. If you can understand this verse,
great. But I'll just quote it to you.
Thou hast put gladness in my heart more than in the time that
their corn and their wine increased. David wasn't feasting in the
cave, was he? He wasn't getting fresh corn
and green beans and the finest of wines. He's living on K-rations.
He might have been without food for a few days. you put more
gladness in my heart, at times I've been more full of God at
times than they have had their bellies. It lasts a lot longer. Number five, true love for Christ,
and I'll hurry. True love for Christ, I've got
six minutes. I'm watching carefully. I'm trying to cut myself down
to 45 minutes. Oh, forgive me, please. I haven't
been doing a very good job at that. But number five, true love
for Christ, for God. Is not much in love with anything
else. Thomas Watson. True love for
Christ, for God, and there's one saying you can't love God
without loving Christ. The only thing about God, unless
you love Christ. You love Christ, you love God,
you love God, you love Christ. But true love for them, for him. is not much in love with anything
else. Now listen to me if I can illustrate this. We love our
families don't we? We love our families. Sometimes
it scares us how much we love our families. Doesn't it? Sometimes you want to do I love
them too much. Huh? You ever want to do that? I love
that little girl right there. The other day, I sent her off
to school the other morning. I hope I can say this with a
straight face. Every time I put her to bed or
whatever, I tell you my heart goes out to her. I watched her little form running
off to school and I thought, oh, well, I love that child.
How I love that child. But you know what that makes
me feel? You know what that love for my
daughter makes me feel? More love from God who gave her
to me. You know what I'm talking about?
Huh? When I look at that child, my
heart is filled more than ever with love and gratitude to God
Almighty who gave her to me. What a gift. I look at her and
say, what a gift. And if I could shout at the child
and ask, Oh, Lord God, thank you for this child. And then
I start weeping, Lord, protect her, watch over her, keep her
from evil and so forth. But my gratitude and love to
God increases because of my love to my children and my family
and my brethren. Does that make sense to you?
Huh? It's a gift. This is a gift. See, in the latter days, men
will be without natural affection. Even for our own children. They'd
be lovers of self more than lovers of God. And this love is a gracious
gift, but what of His unspeakable gift? See, God gave me, this
is my only child, God gave her to me. That's what her name means,
the gift of God. There's no doubt in my mind,
God gave her to me because He loves me. And because I've used
her in many illustrations, in sermons. She's a sermon in herself,
to me, to my life. to our life. But what of God's
unspeakable gift? He gave his only child, didn't
he? He gave us his only child. Because
he spared not his only son, but delivered him up for us all,
how shall he not with him also freely give us all things? Give
us lovely little children. Huh? That's a gift of God. Those children
are a gift of God. And he gives them because he
loves you, and he may withhold them because he loves you. Known
unto God are all his works from the beginning, and it's right.
I tell him, Brother Terry, the world doesn't understand this,
but it's so nonetheless. You know, sometimes people that
go through great trials and persecution and difficulty and troubles and
so forth are people that God has a very special love and affection
for. An old Puritan one time said
to a woman who'd been through a great many trials, He said,
you woman, lady, God must really love you to put you through what
he puts you through. Those he loves, he chastens.
If you be without chastisement, you're bastards. Those you really
love, and that's what the scripture says about chastening your children.
If you don't chasten them, you hate them. You love yourself.
You don't want to hurt by seeing them hurt. It hurts you more
than it hurts them, really. Chastening, it won't last very
long. They'll turn right around and love you back. They are resilient,
they are malleable, and your children forget about that right
away, but you aren't. And the Scripture says if you
don't chasten them, if you don't want them to turn out right,
if you don't want them to turn out godly and obedient and all
these things, it's the Scripture that says you love yourself,
you don't love them. You're more in tune with your
own feelings than what those children are going to grow up
to be like. And God knows that, and God feels
that way about his children. So he chases everyone. I got
to hurry. More. Here's the most revealing
question about three minutes. And my last point was. You're
not much in love with anything else. That is, you don't love
anything else more than him. And here's the most revealing
question of it all. Who do you think most about? It's where the rubber meets the
road. It's where the lion's drawn in the sand. Who do you think
the most about? In other words, who is your thoughts,
affections, and mind set upon the most? Huh? Ask yourself that. Hopefully, if you can't answer
with a clear conscience, a pure heart, that it's God. And hopefully,
you're going through that adolescent stage. Hopefully, you're a teenager
and God will bring you around. I'll give you the benefit of
the doubt. But Scripture says, set your
affection on things above, not on things that are. True love for God and Christ
loves his people. We've gone into that, so many
loves his people of his people. Seventhly, true love for God
and Christ. That was point number six. Loves
his people. True love for God, for Christ wants to honor him.
Wants to honor him. Wants to honor him. Spurgeon
said, if a man, Christ said, if a man loved me, he'll keep
my words. Do we keep Christ's words? And that means believe
everything he says. But it also means to be obedient
to them. Yes, it does. Now, it's not legalism,
this is Christianity. Do we keep his words practically?
Do you endeavor in a practical way to keep all of his Christ
moral precepts? Are you trying to be in your
lives as far as you can like him? St. Bernard, I told you I was going
to quote him. He said, What we love, we shall soon grow to resemble. Right what you love the most
is you grow to be like it. And around it are we endeavoring
to be like Christ. Is he the object of your being
are you seeking to be molded by the Holy Spirit to be like
Christ are you practically keeping Christ's words as the precepts
of the gospel have you believed on him and believing on him have
you been baptized according to his command and being baptized
you come to his table according to his bidding. Are you keeping Christ's word.
He loves me. If you love me, you keep my command.
You want to honor him, you want to be like him. And lastly, my
last point, true love for God and for Christ does not love
sin. And let's read together Romans
seven. All right, Romans seven. Let's
read this together in closing and I'll let you go. Romans seven.
True love for God and for Christ does not love sin. Now, I didn't say, or Brother Watson
didn't say, does not commit sin. Thank God. He says he doesn't
love it. All right? Can you read this,
Romans 7, from the bottom of your heart? Can you say this?
Huh? Look at it. Romans 7, verse 15. I allow not, or I know not, or
I don't want to. That's not what I want to do.
But what I would... Folks, you see, the world is
doing what they want to do. Sin. They live for it. They lay
on their bed, the Scripture says, and they plot it and plan it
and love it. They have no conscience concerning
it, right? But the believer says, what I do, or the sin that I
do, I don't want to. What I would, that do I not,
but what I hate, that seems to be what I do. If then I do that which I would
not, in other words, I'm doing what I don't want to do, I'm
consenting unto the law that is good. In other words, I'm
saying, God, you're right, I want to do what you said, but I don't,
forgive For seventeen, now it down there for your comfort.
It's no more you. It's not you that does it. You're
dead. Your life is here with Christ
in God and with God in Christ, Christ in God. Your life is here. You're dead. The old man has
been crucified with Christ. What's doing this? Sin that dwells
in me, this principle, this body, this indwelling sin. Verse eighteen,
I know that in me, that is in my flesh dwelleth no good thing. The will that is present with
me is the will that is present with you. But how to perform that which
is good, I just can't seem to find out how all the time. Is
that true? Verse 19. The good that I would,
I don't do it, but the evil which I would not, that's what I do
now. If I do that, I would not. It's no more I that do it, but
sin that dwelleth in me. I find in a law. This is just
a rumble. It's the way it is. When I would
do good, it seems evil is present with me. I delight in the law of God at
the end of man. Do you? Would you like to be
like Jesus Christ? You delight in the law of God
at the end of man. The world doesn't want to be
like Jesus Christ. But I see another law of my members
warring against the law of my mind. bringing me into captivity,
the law of sin in my members. It makes war on my mind, and
then it manifests itself in my body. Oh, wretched man that I
am. He must have been crying when
he wrote this. Who shall deliver me from this body of death? I
want out! Every true lover of God says,
I want out. Run away from your problem. Run
away from me. Right, Henry? Can you say this? I thank God through Jesus Christ
our Lord. So then, with the mind, the innermost
being, the innermost desires, I serve the law of God, but God
please forgive me, with the flesh, the law of sin. Can you say that
with a pure heart and a good conscience and faith unfeigned
in Christ who you're new to Him? Can you? I believe you love God. Not like you ought to. Not like
you want to. Not like you're going to. But
bless God, thank God it's there. It's there. All right, stand
with me, friends. I hope this is some help to you. Dear Lord, thank you, God, for
loving us and sending your Son to die for us. Now, I might,
we'll never, while we're, as long as we're on this earth,
we'll never fully comprehend that and we'll never understand
it. We'll never be able to thank you as we ought to. Forgive us
for that. Forgive us for not thanking you
like we should. Forgive us for not loving you
like we ought to. Now you know we love you. You
put it there. And all we just ask for that
which is honoring to you and well-pleasing in your sight,
that we would love you more. Conform us to the image of Christ
that we may bear fruit to the glory of God the Father. In honor
of your dear son, you said you honor those that honor your son.
Lord, enable us to honor you. Without you, without him, without
Christ, without the Holy Spirit, we can do nothing. wretched men
and women that we are. Lord God, may we serve the law
of God with the inner man, and may you mortify our memories
which are on this earth, and enable us to serve you even with
our bodies, our reasonable service. In Christ's blessed and glorious
name, we met together as priests and heard these things. Amen.