Before God, sing that song. That's
a song. That's a prayer. That's what
that is. Well, I believe the Lord will decide that doubtful
case. Maybe He will. 1 Corinthians chapter 16. I just don't believe that the
Lord leaves His people in doubt and fear and with no assurance
all of their lives. I don't believe so. A man came up to Spurgeon one time
and told him, said, I don't think I have dying grace. I'm just
worried about having dying grace. And Spurgeon said, well, are
you dying? He said, no, I don't think so. He said, well, you
don't need it now, do you? But he'd give us more grace.
to those that ask him. I like that. I've always liked
that text, Mark chapter 12, I believe it is, where the Lord said, Fear
not, little flock. It's your father's good pleasure
to give unto you the kingdom. He doesn't give it reluctantly.
He doesn't issue his promises stingily or miserly. He delights
to show mercy. It's the reason I say that, that
I don't believe the Lord leaves his people in doubt forever,
that he'll finally decide the doubtful case. I was talking
to one of our ladies the other day. She was expressing her concern
about her own condition, which we all do at times. And I reminded
her of a psalm over in Psalm 35, verse 3. It says, David says,
Say unto my soul, I am thy salvation. All of God's people do, truly. want to know from the Lord himself. They want a personal visitation. They want this thing to be more
than just a head knowledge and an intellectual grasp or understanding
of some facts. They want this thing to be more
than just going through the motions of religion. They want it to
be a real abiding relationship with the real and living Lord. Don't you? And they're not. It doesn't suffice. It doesn't. Satisfy. Us just to. To no doctrine. But rather, we
want to know him. Know him. Look at one verse with
me here in 1 Corinthians 16, look at verse 22. What a sobering verse of scripture this is. If any man, or woman, whenever
it says man in the scriptures, it applies to both sexes. If any man, woman, young person,
loved not the Lord Jesus Christ, let him be anathema, that is,
accursed, maranatha, when the Lord comes. And he or she will. Based upon this powerful, convicting
verse of Scripture, it behooves us to ask ourselves a question,
doesn't it? If any man love not the Lord
Jesus Christ, let him be accursed. It behooves us to ask ourselves
this all-important question. Do I love the Lord Jesus Christ? Now, listen to me. The proud,
boastful, deluded religionist who has cleaned up his life and
who is all excited about some Jesus. He or she will readily boast
of their unfailing love for this Jesus. Readily, very quickly. But the broken, like this man
here, William Cowper, the broken contrite A sin-plagued, humble,
meek, and true child of God is never so boastful or presumptuous
of his own love for Christ. Never. It's so fickle, isn't
it? So changing. So conditional. Condition on the day, the surroundings,
whatever. But that person, that person
rests his soul and his salvation upon Christ's love for him or
her, not on theirs for him. They rest their soul and their
salvation upon Christ's love, his merciful, gracious, powerful
person, and his merciful and gracious and powerful promises. They rest their soul upon the
promises to give rest to all that come to him, even though
they may not even be sure if they have. They rest their soul
upon the all-powerful person of Christ and the eternal blood
and righteousness of that powerful Christ. But if pressed for an
answer to this question, I like Peter." Now, the Lord knew all about
Peter. He knew what he had done, where he had been, where he came
from. He knew what he was going to
do, what he was going to be, and where he was going to get
into. He knew he was going to deny him. He knew that, yet he
asked him—well, this was after Peter denied, but Peter still
had a long way to go. You remember he separated himself
there at the table with the Jews. Peter, lovest thou me? Oh, I can imagine
the look. Well, I see the look. When I look at this scripture,
I see the look, looking into my own soul. That's what I saw
in studying this. Paul, do you love me more than these? I don't think the Lord was pitting
Peter against the other disciples. I think he was talking about
the fishing boats and the world and all of this. Maybe he was. Maybe he was trying Peter's boastfulness
now. Peter at one time said, yeah,
everybody else made it now, but not me. Then after that, then
he came and said, now, do you love me more than these fellows? Maybe. I don't know. But nevertheless,
he asked Peter that question, and he asked him three times.
And it was so convicting to Peter, it distressed him. He was troubled. After the third time, he was
troubled. But Peter was a true disciple
of the Lord, and he had, he could, he could tell the Lord his heart's
feelings. He must. He had an answer. And so must we. Turn to 2 Corinthians,
turn a few chapters over to 2 Corinthians chapter 13. Let's look with our
very own eyes at this verse of Scripture we quote quite often. The Lord asked Peter, Peter do
you love me? And Peter must and every true
child of God must and should be able to answer positively,
yes Lord. Thou knowest." I don't love you like I ought
to, not like I want to, not like I'm going to, but yes, I do love
you. Can you say that? He that loveth not the Lord Jesus
Christ, let him be accursed. Lord, I know it's small at times,
my love for you, even nonexistent at times, yet—but yes, I do love
you. Thou knowest what love is there. You ought to know. You put it
there. If it's there, you put it there. It was you who shed
abroad this love in my heart. We need to know this. It behooves
us. Based upon our text, it behooves
us. It's the all-important question
here. to us, do we love the Lord or
not? Verse 5 of 2 Corinthians 13,
examine yourselves, whether you be in the faith, that is, in
Christ. Prove your own self. Do you remember
in another place where he talked about proving? What did he talk
about then? Prove the sincerity of your love. No, you're not. Know you're not your own self,
how that Jesus Christ is in you, except you be reprobate, or that
is, totally void of any judgment or understanding, or a mind that's
completely empty of any of God's dealings. He's left you to yourself.
That's what reprobate is, to be left to yourself. But Paul said, I trust that you'll
know we're not reprobates. And Paul said that about himself
there. I trust that you'll know that we're not reprobate. Paul
could say, could say it. Is it presumptuous, is it presumption
to say that you love Christ? No. No, not at all. Our text says,
if any man love not, doesn't it? Lord asked Peter, our psalmist,
we read it back there, I love the Lord. Oh, you're being awful
presumptuous, David. Oh, no. Oh, no. Now listen, I don't want to discourage
the weak and the young believer. I don't want to discourage the
young believer who has not known the Lord long and cannot talk
in two familiar terms of his or her relationship with Christ. I don't want to discourage that
person at all. But we don't, let me say this,
we don't worship doctrine here. This is not what this is about. We don't de-emphasize doctrine
either. I'm not making, no, no, it's the doctrine of Christ.
We don't de-emphasize it, but we sure don't worship it. We
don't make a god out of the church, like some denominations do, or
make a god out of our Reformed faith, like some denominations
do. No, we don't make God at all. We worship the Son of God. We worship the Lord Jesus Christ,
whose doctrine it is. We don't worship the doctrine
of Christ. We worship the Christ whose doctrine
it is. What we see, what we believe,
what we read as doctrine, we see it as being his doctrine,
his teaching. Whatever he says goes, you know.
I love it. Why? Because he said it. It's
true. Why? Was I convinced of it? Well,
no, because I'm persuaded of him. I'm convinced of who he
is. Our hope of eternal life must
be this. Because he lives, I live also. Because I have an advocate with
the Father, not because I believe sovereign grace. My hope must be I have an advocate
with the Father. My hope must be I have a substitute
who has made sin for me. Not the fact that I believe in
substitution. Do you understand the difference?
There is a difference. My hope must be because I have
a mediator at the right hand of God who intercedes for me. A daisman betwixt me and God.
I have a mediator. Not the fact that I can quote
that verse. My hope must be I'm accepted in the Beloved. The Beloved. The Beloved. Who's beloved by
who? Us. us and God. Of course he's God's
beloved, but he's my beloved. He's my beloved. Can you read
through Song of Solomon? You have to close that book and
go to the next. This relationship, like I said, I don't want to
discourage the young believer at all. This relationship of
communion with Christ, this walking and talking, this affection for
and with him, It takes time. Nevertheless, it is there. It's
there within every true child of God. I often use the relationship
between a child, an earthly child and his earthly parent. That
child may not know much about their father or mother, but they
love. It's there. The root of love
is there. It's in the bosom. If life is
there, so is love. The scripture says, Whom having
not seen, you love. Whom having not seen, you love. Though now you see him not, yet
believe him. But what I do believe, help my
unbelief. Yet believe him, though you don't
see him now, and nobody has, including me. Yet believe him,
you rejoice. Now how many scriptures have
we looked at that talk about rejoicing in him? Rejoice in
the Lord, I say. Rejoice in Him. Worship God in
the Spirit. Rejoice in the doctrines. Rejoice in Christ Jesus, His
person. All right? Whom have you not seen, yet believing,
you rejoice with joy unspeakable. He said, Is it possible to love
somebody you've never seen before? It's necessary. If any man love
not the Lord Jesus Christ, let it be a curse. I saw a movie one time of a man
and a woman. It was an old English movie.
Some of those old movies like to add some substance to them.
He was on this public television. It was about a couple, it was
about a woman, a man and a woman who began writing letters. This man owned a bookstore in
England, a bookshop, a little bookshop in a back street of
downtown London. And this woman was an avid reader
and she heard about this bookstore that carried many ancient volumes. And she wrote for information
regarding a particular book. And the man, the owner of the
store, who was a very kind and sweet gentleman, very fine fellow,
wrote her back a very nice, cordial letter. Well, they began this correspondence by mail,
back and forth, back and forth. They got a letter a week from
one another. And before long, they fell in love with one another.
They had never met. Never met. They fell in love. She was too poor, and so was
he, to make the trip across seas to meet one another. Never met.
One day the man died. And finally, somehow, she got
the money to make the trip over there a couple of years afterward,
and went in that little store where he was, She fell in love with the man.
She'd never met him. Is it possible? Of course it
is. Whom have you not seen? Peter
said that to some folks, didn't he, Terry? In his epistle to
General. He said, Whom have you not seen?
I know there's some folks out there, Peter said, that you haven't
seen the Lord. I have, Peter said. I've seen
Him. But I tell you what, you've got a more sure word of prophecy.
You've got to read it from Him. Why don't you? You'd do well
to read it. I tell you, if you read it enough, you'll fall in
love with it. Peter said you haven't seen him.
I know that, but you love him. Yeah, you do. Now, here's some
evidences. I'm going to give you eight evidences,
and you might do well to write this down. Eight evidences of
how love manifests itself to somebody. Are you interested? How does
love manifest itself? How do I know if I love the Lord
Jesus Christ or not? Here's eight evidences of how
love will manifest itself. It always does, always, in these
ways. Now, I'm going to apply it, first
of all, to our relationship with Christ, and then lastly, I'm
going to really get her down to where the rubber meets the
road. I'm going to apply it to our relationship with one another—husband,
wife, whoever, brother and sister in Christ. I'm going to apply
it in that way, because that's what Christ said was proof of
discipleship. Right? How does love manifest itself
to somebody? First of all, in constant remembrance. Constant remembrance. You think of it. You think of
them constantly. You don't have to be reminded
to think about somebody you love, do you? That's absurd, isn't
it? You don't have to be reminded
to think about somebody you love. Well, now then, is the Lord Jesus
Christ on your mind and heart constantly? Or do you suddenly
remember him on Sunday morning? Oh, it's time to... This can't
be. This can't be. I've said before that we all especially need to
partake of the Lord's table. Why? because Christ said, this
do in remembrance of me. I think maybe we might have should
have taken it tonight. But nevertheless, and I said
this and I'm convinced of it, people are out of fellowship
and direct disobedience to the Lord who don't partake of this
table. And I don't expect they have much of a relationship with
the Lord. Because Christ said, you better do this. It wasn't
an option. He said, you better do that in
remembrance of me, to remember me, because we are prone to forget.
But true love doesn't have to be reminded over and over again,
or it doesn't have to be told. You're supposed to be thinking
about Christ. Oh, no. My soul. My soul. That's the height of
delusion. Didn't Christ say if any man
loved father, mother, husband, wife, children more than me,
taken up with anything more than me, he's not worthy, cannot be
my disciple, not worthy to be my disciple? Huh? Yeah, he did. Yeah, he did. And let me say
this. If your conscience pricks you,
let it prick. Don't quiet your conscience.
I'll start after that message on mercy the other day. One of
the men, I don't know if I'll repeat this
or not, but I'm going to go ahead and do it anyway. After that message on
mercy when I said, God is merciful to the merciful. Remember when
I used the illustration of going home and asking my wife that
question? About the same thing here. We
need to ask ourselves this question. Went home and asked her, Mindy.
I was afraid of the answer. I really was. But I had to know,
because that's what he said, Henry. To show mercy to the merciful. So I went home and asked her. She said, well, you've come a
long way. She was honest, but she could tell me, yeah, I believe
you are. And we both had to admit, well,
I've got a long way to go, too. For one of our men said to me, he said, I won't even, I'm not,
he said, I sure won't ask my wife that question. And I thought to myself, that's
the word of God. That's the conscience, the law
of God, the conscience of a man pricking his heart, and he's
stifling it. That's stifling it. I thought to myself, by all means,
go home now and ask her. Now! Do it now. Oh, wait till
later on, I'll forget about it, right? And then it'll all be
past, and I won't have to see her bother me anymore, right?
That's stifling your conscience. Don't do it. Don't do it. The conscience is the law of
God, the word of God, pricking a man's heart. It's God Almighty
speaking to a heart. Don't stifle it. Listen to it.
Is that good advice? Oh, yes. Here's another way that love
manifests itself. Firstly, by in constant remembrance. Now, I'll give you a word of
comfort here. He knows our frame. He knows
we're dust. Good enough? All right. He knows how forgetful
we are. Like a little child, you have
to tell him, you know. But the love is there now, and
the thoughts are there every now and then. That little child
will come up with a thing of, Daddy, I love you. Unprovoked, you know. And I believe, just in the back
there, somewhere, there are continual thoughts for Christ in the heart
and the mind of the child of God. Secondly, you enjoy hearing
about this person. You can't get enough of hearing
about them, talking about them. Example, case in point, SOGs,
S-O-G's, silly old grandparents. You let the subject, you ever
seen people, these bumper stickers? Let me tell you about my grandchildren,
huh? Or ask me about my grandchild. Can't wait to get on the subject.
Thought you'd never ask. Do I have a picture? I just happen
to have one. Well, you know, a child of God,
a follower of Christ, is waiting to hear his name. And he'll say, particularly in
the preaching, preaching of the Word, a child of God who's got
his ear and his heart tuned at middle C, about Christ, his love,
he's waiting to hear that note sounded. And he reaches a point at times
where he says, I thought you'd never get around to it. That's
what he ought to say to these, most of these preachers. The
gospel preaching too, and the way you can't wait to hear it,
the true child of God. I tell you what, you can't, you
can't, you really can't drum this up. It's there. It's got
to be there. The gospel preaching and preaching
of the gospel is the highlight of the week to a true child of
God. Now, I know there's times when it may be a drudgery or
maybe you don't feel, much feel like going, but after you've
gone, perhaps you're glad you did later. But most of the time
now, most of the time, you want to come here, don't you? You have to be reminded, and
you're not looking for excuses not to. Huh? Yes. Enjoy hearing about that
person. Every true believer, every true
believer rejoices in this gospel. The gospel that he or she first
heard and rejoiced their heart still rejoices their heart, still
is a rejoicing of their heart, and it never grows old to them. It must be so with some of you.
Because I've told the same illustrations and stories. I've only been here
a little over two years now, and I've told the same illustrations
and stories over and over again. And I still get a little rise
out of something. Oh, boy. But you enjoy hearing
about this person you love. You enjoy it. You know, if your
father or your husband or wife had an article in the paper about
them, how many times would you read that? Huh? Your son, say
your son knocked a single, went one for four, he's on the baseball
team. A single, big, big deal, you know. You post that little
thing up on the bulletin board. My dad did that, sent me a clipping
of my nephew where he'd won a couple of awards and, you know, little
bitty, little bitty, just barely could see. You'd really have
to be searching for it to find it, you know. Well, he was and
he did. And he sent me that clipping. And he might have sent several
copies of it all over, you know. But you enjoy hearing about this
one. You enjoy. And that brings me to my third
point. You enjoy talking about him. True love manifests itself
for somebody. Is this thing making a noise?
Is it bothering you? Is it bothersome? True love manifests itself by
enjoying talking about that person. You enjoy talking about that
person. No conversation is sweeter and more enjoyable to a believer
than a conversation about the things of Christ. Nothing. You know, we don't have to necessarily
talk about Christ intimately in mixed company any more than
we do about our spouses. Maybe you can't anyway. But everything
relates to him, and his name is mentioned quite often. around true disciples, true disciples. See if this is so in your case. Manifested, love manifests itself
by enjoying talking about somebody. That you love, true love, a true
disciple can't wait for all the small talk to get over so he
can get around to talking about Christ. And you feel cheated
when you've been around some of God's people. You feel like
the whole evening's been in vain and worthless if the conversation
didn't turn to Christ, right? You feel like it. I wouldn't
edify it. And you can't force it. Don't
force it. That's hypocrisy. You can't force
it. Any more than telling somebody
you love them, you know, when you don't. Don't force it for
the sake of sounding the part. No, no. But true love manifests
itself by enjoying talking about somebody. Do you enjoy talking
about the things of Christ with people? Fourthly, true love manifests
itself by To most of us, I know it's troublesome. This thing of reading God's word,
but I keep I have to say it, I just have to say it. My conscience
won't let me not say it. The word of God won't let me
not say it. I just can't imagine somebody
who professes to be a seeker of God and who doesn't study
God. I just can't imagine somebody who's a follower of Christ, disciple
of Christ, A student in the school of Christ, he's our schoolmaster.
A student in the school of Christ and to study him, a person who
says he can say with Paul that I might win Christ and be found
in him. I just can't imagine a person
that claims to be like that who doesn't look into the teachings
of Christ. I just can't imagine that. I know how difficult it is to
read the Scripture. Believe me, I know how difficult
it is to study. The flesh is a verse to it. That's
what he said there in that poem. It's a verse to all that's good.
The flesh, when I pray or read, sin is mixed in all I do. I know
that. I know the flesh is averse or
opposite to that, and I know that there are powers and forces
at work against this. I know that there are principalities
and powers and spiritual wickedness in high places that is against
this battling us on this point of reading God's Word. I know
because It's much easier to read McCall's magazine or something
as foolish or ridiculous as that, as it is to read the living,
life-giving Word of God Almighty. I know that. That tells me that
there's some powers of the flesh and of the darkness that work
against Him. But love overcometh that. This is my point. True love overcomes that. Love
likes to read love letters. Many still got you still got
all those love poems and things for me, silly, ridiculous. If I could love you, I can't
quote them. I wrote some silly little mushy
little poems, you know. She's still got them. The scriptures, the scriptures
are the believers bread and water. This is what we eat. If we don't
eat, we die. Plain as that. If we don't eat,
we get sick. Every malady known to man will
come across us and we'll die. The Scriptures are our clothing.
Without it, we're naked to every force, every wind that comes
along. We'll be chilled by it or upset
by it. It's our clothing. It's our defense. We're helpless, hopeless, defenseless,
easy prey without the Scriptures, without the sword, without the
helmet, without the breastplate. The Scriptures are a comfort.
We will not be comforted any other way. Talking to someone the other
day, upset and all, I said, And they woke up in the morning.
I know they don't mind me using this because everybody's been
there. I've been there. Woke up in the morning, couldn't
sleep, all troubled. And I asked, well, did you read?
Did you read God's Word? Oh, no. Well, then what are you
going to do? How do you expect to get in it?
Peace. Comfort. How do you expect? You
just think a lightning bolt's going to whack. and make you
feel better all of a sudden? No. This right here. Only place. Only place. It's our solace in
the time of need. It's our, like I was saying a
while ago, our textbook. We're a student. You know, we're
students of Christ, if indeed we are disciples of Christ. We're students. What if you didn't study? or those that are still in school. What if you didn't study? You
wouldn't be in school, would you? Not for long, anyway. You
might fake it for a while, but forget it. You're not going to
come out of there with a degree. What's our degree? What's our
exceeding great reward? What do we long for? To win Christ. To be found in Him. Oh, that
I might know Thee and the power of that resurrection. How do
you know Christ? Who is Christ? He's the word, right? How's the
word? Where is it? Look, look down. Right there in front of you.
There's the word. There's Christ. The scriptures are the mind.
Matthew Henry said a Child of God ought to know at least the
Gospels, like the lawyer knows his law books, the doctor knows
his medical books, like the sailor knows his compass, knows the
seas. The sailor's going to get lost
and go down if he doesn't know something about the ocean, if
he doesn't know something about the compass. He's going down.
He's not going to make it. Right? The scriptures are the
mind, the will, and the word of God Almighty, and this is
how God speaks to his people. This is it. He doesn't come up
with special revelation. I don't care what Oral and the
boys say. I don't care what Bob and the
boys say. God doesn't speak any other way
but this right here. No other way. I don't expect
any answers, any comfort, any peace, any encouragement, any
growth, Any, anything apart from this right here. And one day
a week doesn't suffice on Sunday when somebody else reads it to
you. God especially blesses that, I know, because we lack. He makes
up for our lack. But don't expect that to suffice.
It won't do it. Don't expect any growth and maturity.
Don't do it. It won't do it. The scriptures
are also the love letter of God Almighty to his children. Love letters. of God to his people. Well, fifthly, let me hurry.
Fifthly, true love manifests itself to someone by liking or
wanting to please that person. Wanting to please that person.
I don't know if there's anybody in here who loves your job. I
don't know if there's anybody in there like that or not. But
if you do, you'll work hard at it, won't you? Oh, you just can't
wait to get up early and be there. One of our men, this was said
about one of our men, and he's at work an hour early every day,
getting things opened up, lights turned on. I don't know if he
loves that job. I know he's thankful for it.
But buddy, that's the most admirable thing I know. Most admirable thing I know.
But if you love your job, you'll work hard at it. If you're thankful
for it, you'll work hard at it. If you love your home, you'll
take care of it, won't you? You'll take care of it. You won't
let it go to pot. If you appreciate it, if you love your wife or
your husband, you'll want to please them, not
yourself. If you love Christ, you'll want
to please Him and serve Him. To whom much is forgiven. To
love much, right? How much have you been forgiven?
Just how big a sinner are you? Out of love and gratitude, this
is the only motive for service. God won't accept anything else.
This is the vow that we read about. This is the vow. Any vow,
the only vow God will accept is a vow of love and gratitude. And this thing isn't done by
constraint or duty or favor for personal favors. God won't have
it. He won't accept anything for
the sake of favors. God, you do this, I'll do that.
No. No, you do what you do out of love and gratitude for the
one you love. Especially our God, our Christ. Oh my, out of
love for what he's done for us. Sixthly, true love manifests
itself by liking the loved ones or loving the loved ones of the
loved one. Let me put that in short. You
like their friends. True love manifests itself by
liking or loving that person's friends. Ruth said this, I'll
go where you go. Wherever the gospel is, and I
was telling you when I was a young man, I still like to do it. A couple of us went down to hear
Ralph one time preach, and if there's somebody else around,
we'll go hear him, some people. Wherever the gospel is, like
to go hear it. Go to great extremes to go hear it. Why? You want
to talk about Christ. Boy, I sure hope so. And if they
don't, you get real disappointed, don't you? Ruth said, where you go, I'll
go. Where the gospel goes, that's where I want to be. She said,
where you lodge, that's where I lodge. Where the gospel stays,
I'm going to stay. Gospel goes, I go too. That's
it. Yes, sir. That's it. These people
that say that without the gospel, they live somewhere for years
without it, they don't know the gospel. Let's forget it. Let's
be honest. I wish people were. Honest people
like Barnard said, don't wind up in hell. Where you lodge, I'll lodge.
Thy people shall be my people." Oh, but they're a bunch of hypocrites.
Well, so am I. Yeah, but did you hear about
old so-and-so? Well, you ain't heard about me yet. I hope you
don't, but I'm worse than him. I esteem him pretty highly. Yeah,
but that old, you hear about old Charlie? Yeah, I don't want
to hear about him. I want to hear about it. Your
people will be my people. Fellowship. Can light have fellowship
with darkness? No. Light can only have fellowship
with light. Right? Christ with Baal? No. Christ
with Christ. She said, Your God will be my
God. True God, the true worshipers
of God, and a true people of God. are intimate companions with
God and with one another. Intimate and only. Only. I'm not, you don't see
me running with my old cronies. Well, you say you don't live
there. I didn't when I was living there. Thy people should be my
people. People that I had nothing in
common with, people that I did not go to school with, didn't
go to school with one of them. that attended his 13th Street
Baptist Church, didn't go through the same things necessarily,
complete opposite. But I love him dearly, and there's
nobody I'd rather be around. Nobody. Can you say that? True love manifests itself, seventhly,
by being jealous for the honor of that person. Jealous, zealous,
jealous of that person's honor. You rise up in defense of that
person. How long would you let it go
if somebody was talking about your husband or your wife? How
long would you put up with it? No, true love rises up to extol
and honor and praise the object of its love. We're talking about
Christ here. According to how highly you esteem
him is how much you'll rise up in his defense
and his praise. According to the way you know
him and love him will be according to the way you talk about him. And let me say this, you never
talk badly or flippantly or carelessly or irreverently about the one
you love about Christ. God's people esteem Christ too
highly, too reverently. This gospel, the word of God,
we don't flippantly, the reason I don't like to hear people quote
a scripture and use it in a joking manner or use it pertaining to
something silly, something of this life, you know, well, you
know, this, I don't like that. The Word of God is too, and we've
all done it, and we'll continue to do it, but let's stop it.
Let's not use this holy, the holy scriptures in any other
way than perfect reverence and respect. Perfect reverence. We don't call
the name of God and use it flippantly or irreverently. Like David said,
do not I hate them that hate thee. Jealous of his honor. Do
not I hate them that hate thee. Now understand what he's saying
there. It's not the natural man, the
carnal man is enmity against God. He hates God, the natural
man. Everybody you run into hates the God you love. Now what he's
talking about in the context there, he's talking about those
that abuse and misuse and deny and preach another gospel. Deny,
abuse, misuse the gospel and preach another gospel and go
about like those Pharisees, attributing the work of God to the power
of the devil. That's the sin against the Holy Spirit, and
that's the sin which even John said, I tell you not to pray
for that. These people, these apostates, these anti-Christ,
don't pray for that. It's anti-Christ. You love Christ
and you hate anything, it's anti-Christ, right? The zeal of thine house, the
glory, the honor, the praise, and the worship of God has eaten
me up." Christ said that, and I tell you, it eats me up at
times. Does it eat you up? Eighth, lastly, true love manifests
itself by longing to be with that person. True love likes
to be with the person you love. One of our ladies, her husband,
was out of town for about ten hours. And I talked to her on the phone,
and she said, Oh, I miss him so much. Ten hours. That's love. I mean, that's love. That's love. I wish I had more of it. Especially for Christ and for
this lovely lady that this lovely Savior has given me to love,
who loves me. True love likes to be with them.
Listen to this. I charge you, daughters of Jerusalem,
if you find my beloved, you tell him I'm sick of love. He's gone. I miss him. Sick of love. Do you ever remember?
Can you remember back a long time ago, some of you, never
getting enough of your loved one, losing sleep over them?
I used to work the railroad. What time did I start? Who cares? I used to work on the railroad,
and I was on call 24 hours. Joe, you know what this is all
about. Some call twenty four hours and sometimes I have been
out of when I was dating men do it court and court and misdemeanor. Driving misdemeanor. Well I'd
be on call and I have been out on the road about thirty six
hours. About thirty I've been gone about
thirty six hours awake for I've been awake that long before I
remember Joe You ever done this? I remember waking up in the motel
room one time and the sun was on the horizon. I remember waking
up, we got in, I don't know what time we got in. And I remember
calling the front desk and saying, I looked at the clock and it
said 7 o'clock. I called the front desk and said,
is it 7 a.m. or 7 p.m.? I know she thought I was nuts.
No, I was just tired. You know? Yeah, you do. But I
remember being gone for days and then come back to her house. Oh, you need some
sleep. You're going to call. You're
going to be calling about eight hours. I can't help it. I got
to see her. And we'd stay. Do you remember
that minute? And they'd call. I'd give them
my phone number over there at her house. And they'd call me. And I hadn't been to sleep. And
I'd think, oh, what am I going to do? And be gone another, be
a zombie walking around. But I had to see her. And all we did was lollygag, you
know. But I loved her. Couldn't get
enough of her. I'd lose sleep over her. Go to
great extremes to see her and be with her. Do you love the
Lord Jesus Christ? Some people won't get out of
bed, they'll go sit in a padded pew to hear about Him. Oh yeah,
I love Jesus. No, you don't. Can you bear to be away from
Him? Or are you going through the
motions because you're obligated, like a marriage, and you can't
divorce for your reputation's sake? That's hard, isn't it? I believe
there's some Christians for being a Christian say, it's like marriages. He that loveth not the Lord Jesus
Christ, let him be accursed, the scripture says. If I love,
and let me repeat it one more time for your comfort, John Newton's
poem, now see if this doesn't mean something to you. Why am
I thus? Why this dull and lifeless frame? Hardly sure could they be worse
who never knew His name. Let me love Thee more and more. If I love at all, I pray. And if I have not loved before,
help me to begin today." Now here's what I'm getting at.
If your conscience pricks you, Don't stifle it. But right now,
in the presence of God, in the presence of His Word, in the
presence of this powerful, convicting passage of Scripture, right now,
say to the Lord, in your own heart, please tell me. Please
decide this. Now, let me remind you, I told
you I was going to apply this practically. Can you hear this? The scripture says, now listen
to all these scriptures, I'm just going to quote to you about
seven verses of scripture here. He that loveth not his brother
whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen? He that loveth not, you remember
what we said about love, all these eight things? There's many
more than that, that's just, oh that's just touching the garment.
He that loveth not, does not know God. Husbands, love your wives as Christ loved the church. True
love never fails. Never. Isn't that right? It says something about Christ's
love. No. No. Yes, it is talking about Christ's
love, but not just Christ's love, because the love of God is shed
abroad in our hearts. It's supposed to be. And I've
just read you a few more verses of scripture that love is kind,
love is tender, love is merciful, love is long-suffering, love
is forgiving, love is forbearing, love thinks on its object more
than itself, love is giving. Love beareth all things. Love believeth all things. Love hopeth all things. Love endureth all things. True love never fails. I don't love you. You never did
to begin with. Now listen to me. I can humanly
understand the problem Y'all I'm married. This is not
a novice talking here. I know what it means to be married.
It's tough at times. If you're married to a dude like
me. But you can be tough too, can't
you? I can humanly understand the
problems that we have. I can humanly understand the
problems we have because we're human. I can understand that,
but that doesn't excuse it. It doesn't excuse. It doesn't relinquish responsibilities
and it doesn't erase the vows and all that. I can humanly understand. Now listen to this. This will
be a comfort to somebody. I can humanly understand the
problems a believer has in loving an unbeliever in the ways that
I've been talking about. Let me repeat that. I can humanly
understand the problems a believer has in loving an unbeliever that
they may be married to in the ways that we've been talking
about. But not a brother and sister
in Christ. I can't talk about. If you cannot bear. Someone here. You won't be with them there. I've said this before, that woman
or that man sitting beside you is not your wife or your husband.
If you're a believer and she's a believer. Your brothers and
sisters in Christ first, in heaven, there's no marrying or giving
in marriage. And if you can't stand to be with her now, what
makes you think you're going to be with her through eternity? Somebody's deluded here. Something's
wrong with one or both. Somebody's going to be there
and somebody not. Now, listen to me. I say this
before God Almighty. And for the sake of our marriages,
for the sake of the gospel, for the sake of the honor and the
glory of the Lord Jesus Christ, whom we profess to know and love? Let's just resolve these things
in our own hearts and minds. Let's resolve these conflicts.
All right? If there's anybody in trouble,
let's resolve these things. Let's reconcile before God. before it's everlastingly too
late. Reconcile the God into one another. If there's a conflict
between one believer and another believer over here, you don't
necessarily have to be married, but whatever. Let's start over,
all right? Let's start afresh here. Let's
ask the Lord to rekindle the flame. Let's ask the Lord to rekindle
the flame for your loved one, for the believer, for the brother,
for the sister, and deliver us from bringing shame and reproach
on the gospel and the church and our families and ourselves. True love. If any men love not
the Lord Jesus Christ, let him be a curse. We've got reasons
to love him, don't we? Oh, my soul. Oh, my soul. Maybe I should have dwelt longer
on that, but I felt impressed to deal with these things. We have so many reasons to love
Christ. Here in His love, not that we
loved Him, but He loved us. He sent His Son to be a propitiation,
a bloody sacrifice. Behold what manner of love the
Father has bestowed upon us. maggots, worms, that we should
be called the sons of God. Greater love of no man than this,
than he lay down his life for his friend, that Christ should
come and bear that ignominious death and awful shame, who thought
nothing of the shame, for the joy that was set before him,
thought nothing of the shame and reproach, separation from
the God he loved for the love of his people. I tell you, that merits my soul's
best song. The song says, doesn't it? That
merits my heart's full praise. That merits my life. Take my
life. The fact that he gave his life
that I might live. I mean, that's what happened.
Now, this is not just a story. That's what happened. He died
that I might live. Take my life now and let it be.
consecrated Lord to thee. And Lord, if it's true that,
and it is, if it's true, that this is how all men know
that I'm a disciple, that I have love one to another, then God Lord, don't leave me alone. He's left better men and women
alone than us. Oh, yes. He's left better people than
us alone or to themselves. Let them. Okay. Is that what
you want? Unhappy? That's what that man,
that's what that preacher told my dad. Preacher in his forties,
left his wife and children. Another one, that's not the same
one, another one. He told my dad, he said,
well I'm just not happy. Not happy. Poor thing. What if Christ said that? I'm
just not happy. Nobody loves me. I'm going back. I'm just not happy.