Song of Solomon, chapter five. And verse nine. What is Thy beloved more than
another beloved, O thou fairest among women. What is thy beloved
more than another beloved that thou dost so charge us? My beloved
is white and ruddy, the chiefest 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 beryl. 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. Yea, he is altogether lovely. This is my beloved and this is
my friend, O daughters of Jerusalem. And if you'll just turn with
me back a page in your Bibles to the third chapter. Song of Solomon chapter three
and verse one. And I just want you to notice
as we're reading here the frequency with which the speaker says,
of him whom my soul loveth. By night on my bed I sought him
whom my soul loveth. I sought him, but I found him
not. I will rise now and go about
the city in the streets and in the broadways. I will seek him
whom my soul loveth. I sought him, but I found him
not. The watchmen that go about the
city found me, to whom I said, Saw ye him whom my soul loveth? It was but a little that I passed
from them, but I found him whom my soul loveth. I held him and
would not let him go until I had brought him into my mother's
house and into the chamber of her that conceived me." The Lord's people do very well
to think often and think long of our Saviour's love to us. In Jeremiah chapter 31, the prophet
writes, I have loved thee, saith the Lord. I have loved thee with
an everlasting love. Therefore, with loving kindness
have I drawn thee. The Lord's people do well to
think of the love of God towards them. And as we think of that
love, as we think of that loving kindness that is in God for his
people, that foreknowledge of that people, as we've been hearing,
that love which motivated every goodness, every mercy, every
grace towards his people, then we rejoice in the knowledge of
the power and the efficacy of that everlasting love. Love is a subject much spoken
of in our world today and it is much spoken of in churches. What we discover so very often
is that love is presented as being the great hurdle, which
we have to attain to. We have to love one another and
that is the criteria that is used in order to make every other
question and every other aspect of our faith diluted and reduced
to the lowest common denominator. Is it loving? Is it caring? Is it gracious to one another?
There is around about us in the world today and around about
us in the churches today what I have termed a lot of puppy
love. And puppy love is a love which
is immature. It's a love which isn't real. It's a love which is an infatuation. But this love of which God speaks
or Jeremiah speaks from the Lord, this love is a love which is
powerful, a love which is durable, a love which cannot be thwarted,
a love which is not the weak puppy love. of the churches today,
not the inconsequential love that is so often preached, which
God is supposed to have for all people, but which achieves nothing
because all people do not benefit from it. But rather, his is a
powerful love, not one that is frustrated by man's indifference,
but one that is particular, that is discriminating, that is enduring,
that is electing, and that is redeeming love, saving love,
keeping love, eternal love, love that draws. Sometimes, feel that
we are afloat, adrift in a strange world. And we see so many things
around about us that we find it difficult to understand and
rationalize. And we see so many things happening
in this world that we cannot understand and we cannot explain. In the midst of our confusion,
Isn't it a wonderful thing for the Lord's people to know that
there is a love which draws them? There is a love which is certain
and sure, a love which accomplishes in the midst of the storms that
are all around about us, a holding and a sustaining and an enduring
grip upon us. We've lost, I suppose, so much
of the loveliness of spiritual analogies because of the way
that Arminianism has taken those analogies and spun them in order
to make little stories that appear to be so attractive. But here
is a picture of God's reaching out with a drawing power that
plucks a sinner from the midst of his chaos and brings him safely
home. This is the love of God, the
love which is everlasting, the love which draws his people to
himself. And this is the love that we
do well to think often and long upon. But I want to ask another
question this afternoon, if I may. I want to think not so much about
God's love to us, wonderful and glorious as it is, but I want
to think about our love for him. We have the priority, his love
for us. But I also want to think about
our love for him. Perhaps we think less about our
love for God than we do about his love for us. And I can understand
why that might be. God's love precedes our love. God's love is perfect and ours
is imperfect. God's love is strong and achieves
and accomplishes His end. And our love is so frail and
so weak and we often feel as if it is non-existent. 1 John chapter 4 verse 19 reminds
us that we love Him. We do love Him. And I want to
stress that point this afternoon. We love Him because He first
loved us. He's the initiator. But we love
Him. And let us not cloud that fact. Let us not lose that fact. As we think of God's love to
us, let us remind ourselves that those who are His people love
Him in return. We love Him. We are repeatedly
told in Scripture that the Lord's people love their Savior. That's just a matter of fact. If we are His, we love Him. Now, I could say to you this
afternoon, do you believe in the Lord Jesus Christ? And you
could say, well, yes, yes, yes, I believe I do. I think I do. I believe what I've learned.
I believe what I'm taught. I believe what my pastor has
set out before me to the best of his meager abilities. I believe that. Do you have faith? Well, yes, yes, I trust I do
have faith. I trust I have faith. Do you
know Christ? Well, yes, I guess so. I guess I know Him. Well, here's
a simple question. Do you love Him? Do you love
the Lord Jesus Christ? Forget about believing. Forget
about trusting. Forget about what we've been
taught. Here's a simple question. Do
you love the Lord Jesus Christ? Do you love Him? When we read Song of Solomon
chapter 3 and verses 1 to 4, we are repeatedly confronted
by this little phrase. Him whom my soul loveth. Him whom my soul loveth. It's the book of Solomon's song,
sometimes called the Canticles, is an exquisite love story. It's the love story between Christ
and his church. And we must be careful as we
read it to remember and realize that it is a spiritual application. We're not talking about sensual
things here. We're not talking about physical
things. We're talking about the spiritual application that is
voiced in this poetic way of Christ's love for his church
and his church's love for him. book, Solomon's Song, gives voice
to that which we so often find difficult to express. We do find it hard to speak about
these deep, profound, emotional things. I trust every one of
us here have had opportunity in life to know love. I trust it is. It's great to
see so many youngsters amongst us and it's lovely to know that
they are being brought up in households where they are loved. Love is a wonderful thing. But
no matter how bereft we might be in this life of love, We have
the promise, as the Lord's people, that Christ loves us. And we, as His people, have a
love for Him. This is a love song. To know the Lord Jesus Christ,
to know Him, is to love Him. And it is not possible for an
individual to have a saving knowledge of Christ without also having
a true love for Him. I'm calling for some honesty
here. If you don't love the Lord Jesus Christ, if you don't love
Him, truly love Him, Sincerely love Him. If you do not love
Christ above all others, you simply don't know Him. You don't
know Him. You might say, I don't know whether
I'm saved or not. Do you love the Lord Jesus Christ? I don't have a sense of assurance. Do you love the Lord Jesus Christ? You will have times when you're
up there and when you're down there. Do you love the Lord Jesus
Christ? In John chapter 8 and verse 42
we read, Jesus said unto them, If God is speaking to the Pharisees,
the religious people of his day, if God were your father, ye would
love me. Many people happily speak about
God these days. You can hear our politicians
speaking about God. You can hear our presidents and
our princes speaking about God. You can hear the church representatives
speaking about God. Everybody's ready to speak about
God. God's everybody's God. And you've got all the religions
of the world, and they've all got their God. And if we can
speak about God, then it saves us from speaking about things
that are divisive. But that's not what the Lord
Jesus Christ said. He said, if you were God's children,
then you would love me. Because he is the only way to
God. There is an exclusivity about
this matter. The Lord Jesus Christ is the
only way. If these people talked about
Christ the way they talk about God, then we would soon see all
the divisions and all the separations because they cannot stomach Christ. and they cannot stomach him because
they do not love him and they do not love him because they
are not God's children for all their claims and for all their
aspirations. It is except we love the Lord
Jesus Christ. Peter, in his, we were reading
the first epistle of Peter chapter one last night in our service. Peter writes in the eighth verse,
whom having not seen ye love, No doubt about it. No doubt about
it. Not for the Lord's people. Not
for those who are His. Not for those for whom God is
their Father. We have not seen Him with these
natural eyes, but we love Him. I found Him whom my soul loveth. I held Him and I would not let
Him go. That was the love of the Shulamite. That was the love of this girl
for her lover. And that is the love of the Lord's
people for their King Solomon, for their Lord Jesus Christ. I found him whom my soul loveth. I held him and I would not let
him go. Why did the Shulamite love him? Why do you love him? Why do I love the Lord Jesus
Christ? Well, I'm going to take your
time for a little while this evening and just very lightly
touch upon seven headings that I have here. And I'm not going
to be too long on any one of them, so don't panic. But I want
to touch upon seven reasons why I love the Lord Jesus Christ,
and why you love the Lord Jesus Christ, if indeed God is your
Father and Christ is your Savior. The first reason is this. We
read it in the fifth chapter, verse 16. He is altogether lovely. Why do we love the Lord Jesus
Christ? Because he's so lovely. He is
altogether lovely. His mouth, just his mouth is
so sweet. There's something Lovely about
that reference to the mouth of the Shulamite's lover. For it
speaks to the church of the living word. It speaks to the church
of the gospel declared out of that one who is the voice, that
one who is the eternal word, who stood in the eternal councils
of God and represented that one whom He loved. He first loved
us. That's why we love Him, because
He first loved us. And He who has stood for us as
the living voice, He whose mouth is most sweet, is altogether
lovely. This is my beloved, this is my
friend, O daughters of Jerusalem. Daughters of Jerusalem may well
be very appositely represented here as the people of the church. And this is the Shulamite, this
is the church saying to those who understand these things,
this is the one who is altogether lovely. We're speaking about
the excellencies and the perfections of the Lord Jesus Christ. These
are they which fill the believer with awe and with wonder. These are they which thrill our
hearts when we see his loveliness. The fullness of the Godhead dwells
in the Lord Jesus Christ. All grace, all truth is found
in the Lord Jesus Christ. All power is vested in Him. All majesty resides in Him. He is altogether lovely. John chapter 1 verse 14 says,
The Word was made flesh and dwelt amongst us and we beheld His
glory. It was the glory of the only
begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. If you're a sinner, aware of
your sin. If you're looking around about
you in the world today, wondering where you can get something that's
solid to stand on, something that will give you a foundation
in life, something that will be meaningful, something that's
not devious, something that won't slip away when you lay hold upon
it and disappear through your fingers, if you're looking for
truth, then he is the one who is truth. If you are looking
for grace in a full knowledge of the nature of your old man,
in full awareness of the natural lustfulness of your heart, acknowledging
your need of deliverance out of this pit into which we have
fallen, then there is grace to be found in him who is altogether
lovely. He is the Anointed One. He is
the Messiah of the Old Testament. The Beloved of the Father. The
Preeminent One. He is the Brightness of the Glory
of God. The Express Image of the Person
of God. And He is the Lord our Righteousness. His Name is above all names. He is King of Kings. He is Lord
of Lords. He is altogether lovely. Why do I love the Lord Jesus
Christ? Why do you love him? He is altogether lovely. Secondly, why do I love the Lord
Jesus Christ? Because he loves me. Because
he loves me. He loved me first. And he loved
me when I wasn't lovable. He loved me when he saw me as
I really am. And you know what? There's not
one of you here have any idea what I'm really like. Not one
of you. Some of you I know very well.
Some of you I know less well. I do know this, that not one
of you know me as I really am. But he knows me. And despite all he knows about
me, he loves me. And I love him for that. I love
him for that. Romans chapter five, verse eight. God commendeth his love. God gives his love. God reaches
out with that everlasting love to his people. He commendeth
His love towards us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ
died for us. And all of the offices which
the Lord Jesus Christ has assumed, all that He has taken upon Himself,
all that He has carried in those beautiful shoulders, All that
He has borne in that lovely head, all that He has received of the
wounds of His flesh, are all given because He loved me. He is the mediator. He is the
surety. He is the prophet. He is the
priest. He is the king. He comes to me
with that prophetic word. He comes to me to declare the
truth because He loves me. He intercedes for me in His priestly
capacity because He loves me. He takes the rule over me. because he knows how wayward
I am, how prone to wander, how ready to transgress, and he possesses
me. And he has done all, and he has
accomplished all. He took our nature, he took our
place, he took our sin. Him that loved us, Him that loved
us and washed us from our sins in His own blood. I love Him
because He loves me. The relations that the Lord Jesus
Christ has to His people are a lovely source of positive contemplation. He is described as our Father. That's one of the names of the
Lord Jesus Christ. We think of the Lord Jesus Christ
as the Son, but He is also described by Isaiah as our Father. The Lord Jesus Christ is our
Father and He loves us as His children. And those of us who
have had the privilege of being parents, we know something of
that love of a parent to a child. These relations are described
to us in this way in Scripture so that we might realize and
understand something of the superlative nature of these relationships
in the person of Christ for His people. He is our Father and
He loves us. He is a brother to us. And He
has that brotherly affection for us. He is called our husband. And we know that there is such
an intensity of passion and love between a husband and his wife. Christ is our husband. And He
is our friend. Do you know He is even called
our mother? that He is to take us and to
cover us as a mother hen covereth her chicks. That just speaks
to us of the affection and the love and the provision and the
care that He has for us. Why do I love Him? I love Him
because He first loved me. In Revelation chapter 3 verse
9 we read, Behold, I will make them of the synagogue of Satan. That's those religious people
that the Lord was talking about a little bit earlier. Plenty
of religion in the world, but it's just a synagogue of Satan. I will make them of the synagogue
of Satan, which say they are Jews, or which say they are righteous,
because that was the great characteristic of the religious Jews. They believed
that they were righteous, so we can put righteous in there,
and we'll have the same meaning. Behold, I will make of them of
the synagogue of Satan, of the religious world, who say that
they are righteous, who say that they are Jews, and are not, but
do lie. Behold, I will make them to come
and worship before thy feet. Why? And to know that I have
loved thee. Do you know that there is a day
coming, and indeed is now, when the proof that God loves His
people will be so manifested that the self-righteous religious
world will grovel at the feet of the church as the Lord Jesus
Christ manifests His love upon His people. He has loved us and
we love Him. Why do I love Him? Here's the third reason. Because
I'm engaged to be married. I'm engaged to be married to
Him, the Lord Jesus Christ. I am, says Paul, espoused to
one husband. In Hosea 2, verse 19, we read
these words. And I will betroth thee unto
me forever. It's a lovely word, betroth.
It means I will be true to you. I will be faithful to you. And
we use it in the context of marriage all the time. We have that betrothal. What is that saying? It's saying
that those people who stand there together in the public and make
a testimony, make a witness, are saying to one another, I
will be true to you, my betrothed. And that is a statement, a promise
before God that they will be faithful to one another. But
it is God who has made this statement first, and every other pattern
is simply a lesser picture of that which is the great marriage
which is spoken of in scripture. I will make them... I'm sorry,
reading the wrong line. I will betroth thee unto me forever. Yea, I will betroth thee unto
me in righteousness and in judgment. and in lovingkindness, and in
mercies. I will even betroth thee unto
me in faithfulness, and thou shalt know the Lord." There's
the great picture of wedlock. There's the great picture of
marriage. There's the great picture of
truth. being discovered in the unity
of the Lord Jesus Christ and his beloved bride. He is engaged to me and I am
engaged to him. Promises have been made. Gifts
have been exchanged. Dates are set already. Let me just take a little aside
here if I may. The world, particularly the religious
world in the West here at the moment, is in a flap because
of the way in which marriage is being undermined and the various
aspects of that I don't need to go into. You know if you've
been living in our society at all what I'm talking about. Don't
worry about that. Don't worry about it. What we
see in the wickedness of men's actions today is but the manifestation
of the lust of the flesh. And it is God handing over this
world to judgment. Be careful that you don't find
yourself fighting against God's judgment. Because that's what
it is. God's judgment upon this world.
It's a perversion of everything that is true and good. and holy and has been set forth
in scripture as a picture of the relationship between Christ
and his bride because that's what it's all about. That's what
this whole world is about. That's what the whole of eternity
is about. That relationship, that union
between Christ and his bride and all the pictures that we
have in the world today that speak and show something of that
God great picture is what Satan is actively trying to pervert. It's Satan that is taking marriage
and twisting it in every possible way in order to occlude, in order
to dim, in order to darken the beauty and the loveliness of
that relationship which Christ has with his church. This is
the great bridegroom and his bride. Now get that. That's the pattern. the bridegroom
and his bride, the bride and her bridegroom. And Satan will
do everything in his power to mar that picture and disfigure
that type. He is trying to hide from the
church, nothing to do with the participants in this debauchery.
He is trying to hide from the church the loveliness of the
things that we have to look forward to by clouding the waters and
muddying it all up. It's the same with cohabiting.
It's the same with divorce. The Lord doesn't know anything
in his relationship with his church about cohabitation. The
Lord doesn't know anything in his relationship with his bride
about divorce. But these things all come into
our human experience in order to hide from the Lord's people
the beauty and the perfection of that which Christ has in store
for us. Her Saviour is interceding even
now in heaven for His people. And He is representing His Bride's
interests there before His Father. And in Hebrews chapter 7 verse
25 it is said, Wherefore He is able to save them to the uttermost
that come unto God by him, seeing that he ever liveth to make intercession
for them. That's what our lover is doing
for us. He is anticipating that day when
He comes again. And even now He is interceding
for His bride. He is coming back to take us
home. He is coming back to take us
to Himself. I will come again and receive
you unto Myself. Revelation 19 verse 7 says, Let
us be glad and rejoice and give honor to Him. For the marriage
of the lamb is come, and his wife hath made herself ready,
and to her was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen,
clean and white. For the fine linen is the righteousness
of the saints, the righteousness of the sanctified people, the
righteousness of the people set apart. to that eternal union
with the Lord Jesus Christ as the bridegroom and his bride. Henceforth, says Paul to Timothy,
henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness,
which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that
day, listen, and not only me, but unto all them also that love
his appearing. The Shulamite loved her groom
and she sought her groom. This Savior has made every provision
for us. He is the all-sufficient Savior. He is the source of every blessing,
all wisdom, all righteousness, all sanctification, our redemption. Everything needful is laid up
in store. He's preparing a place for us. It's His eternal work. Do we
love His appearing? Let's not think about that as
being in the future sense. Let us think about it as being
now. We gather here today for what
end? That the Lord Jesus Christ might
appear to us. That's why we're here, is it
not? I trust it is. I trust it is. I trust you're
not coming here for any other reason than that the Lord Jesus
Christ might be seen amongst us. We are looking forward to
that day when we will enter more fully into his presence. But
we love to see his appearing every day. We love to see his
appearing when we gather together to hear the gospel preached.
We love to see his appearing when he has promised to be in
our midst, where two or three are gathered in my name. And
Alan's right, it doesn't matter about the numbers. You know,
I'd love to see this building full. I'd love to see our churches
full. It would be great if the Lord
would move in power and there would be so many more come to
a knowledge of the truth. So many more fall in love with
Him whom I have fallen in love with. But my Lord knows best. He knows best and He's got it
all sorted. And we love to see him at work. We love when he comes into our
presence. Why do I love him? Fourthly, I love him because
he won my heart. He won my heart. He courted me. He made me realize
what I didn't have. He made me realize my need. He taught me His grace. And in the gospel of the Lord
Jesus Christ, He made me willing in the day of His power. The love of Christ that His people
have for Him springs from the creative work of the Spirit of
God within us. You can't work it up. You can't
get it in a chorus. You can't get it in a dance. You can't get it in all of the
novelties of this world. It has to be created. It has to be implanted. And that is why we read that
the fruit of the Spirit is love. It's one of that catalogue of
fruit. that the Holy Spirit inspires
and generates in the life of the believer. And it is bestowed liberally
by the Holy Spirit to the Church of the Lord Jesus Christ. Love. Love for God. Love for Him. Love for one another, certainly. principally and primarily love
of the Lord Jesus Christ. Peter says again, chapter 2,
verse 7 of his first epistle, Unto you therefore which believe,
that is, you who have had this work inspired in your souls,
you have been brought into that relationship of love with Him,
to you who believe, He is precious. That love and the faith which
we have, inspired by God the Holy Spirit, unites us to Him
in that spiritual awareness, that spiritual union, and we
are bound together with Him. That becomes our life. and it
leads us into a greater and a deeper understanding of him. All the
time that we see him, all the time that we're learning of him,
he is teaching us of himself. Colossians chapter two, verse
two, Paul writes and he says, to this end, that their hearts
might be comforted, being knit together in love. I was never
a great knitter, But you see, a lovely piece of knitting, you
can't tease it apart, you can't open it out, it's all bound together,
it's connected closely, and each stitch is bound up together with
the next, and the line below and the line above, there is
a Solidity, there is a permanence about that knitting together,
and that's what we have in Christ. We are knit together in love,
and unto all riches of the full assurance of understanding, to
the acknowledgement of the mystery of God. The Holy Ghost quickens. The Lord whispers glad tidings
of good news in the gospel. It is the work of God to make
his people accepted in the beloved. Turn with me to Ephesians, if
you will, please. Ephesians chapter one. And just
to look at this point, as it were, to see that he is the one
who is our source of all blessings through the love which God has
for His people. Ephesians chapter 1, verse 6 tells us there, the end
of verse 6, He hath made us accepted in the Beloved. So here's our
acceptance with God and then count the number of times in
the next few verses that there is a reference to Christ in whom. In whom, that's Christ, we have
redemption through his blood. This is what it is to be accepted
in the beloved. In whom we have redemption through
his blood, the forgiveness of sins according to the riches
of his grace. Wherein he hath abounded toward us in all wisdom
and prudence, having made known unto us the mystery of his will,
according to his good pleasure which he hath purposed in himself.
that in the dispensation of the fullness of times he might gather
together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven
and which are on earth, even in him, in whom also we have
obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the
purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his
will. his own will, that we should
be to the praise of his glory, who first trusted in Christ,
in whom ye also trusted, after that ye had heard the word of
truth, the gospel of your salvation, in whom also, after that ye believed,
ye were sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise. In Christ, He who has loved us, we have
all of these blessings provided for us. This is the work of God
in the hearts of His people that He should win us and He should
knit us together in love with His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. Why do I love Him? Fifthly, because
He captivates my soul. He thrills me. This isn't a worldly
fling. This isn't a romantic affair. This isn't an infatuation that
will pass off in a few weeks or a few months. We love Him
completely. We love Him entirely. There's no getting away from
this love. This love that holds us elicits
this love from us. We would never want to. Why would
we ever want to? But if we did, we couldn't. We
love Him too much. We don't want anyone else. He has proved to be altogether
lovely. He has captivated my soul. We love Him in every way, in
every way. You know, the more we discover
about the Lord Jesus Christ, the more reason we have to love
Him. And anyone who says, these doctrines
are not for this class of people, or these things are too deep
and profound for this kind of people, they don't know what
they're talking about. Because it's the whole of Christ
that we desire. We want to know Him. I don't
want just to see my wife at the weekend. I want to see her all
week. And I want to know the Lord Jesus
Christ more and more every day. We love him and nothing we learn
about him detracts from him. Everything we learn about him
causes us to love him more. We love him obediently. We love him and we're happy to
do whatever he asks us to do. We heartily comply with his wishes. His yoke is not heavy. It's light. It's easy. It's blessed. It's pleasing to those who love
him. We love him and we want to be
in his service. We want to be about his business.
We want to be doing the things that he would have us do. We love him jealously. We love
him jealously. We love his company. And we lament
his absence. And when he is absent from us,
or we are absent from him, we long for his return. Where can we get his company?
Where are we promised to get his company? where two or three
are gathered in my name, there I am in the midst. Let me encourage
you always to be under the sound of the gospel wherever you can. Let me encourage you and to encourage
others to gather in a local fellowship, to hear the gospel preached regularly. That is where those who love
the Lord find him to be present. That is, you can't get that sitting,
listening to a recording. It's not the same. It's been
said recently, the recordings are for people who can't get
enough. The recordings are for people who don't have access.
This isn't a substitute for fellowship in the local body to those who
love the Lord. And so we gather where the Lord
has promised to meet us, to hear the gospel preached, to hear
the word spoken, and to see the work of the Holy Spirit in the
lives of his people, as the Lord Jesus Christ is honored amongst
them. We love him, and we desire to
hear his word. The psalmist says in Psalm 73,
Whom have I in heaven but Thee? And there is none upon earth
that I desire beside Thee. Is there integrity amongst us
this evening? Can we all say that? Do we know
that to be our experience? Is it right that there is none
on earth that we desire above Him? Is that a testimony that
we can identify with? Let me tell you, my friends,
I think, I think that life's experience is designed to teach
us that. As we grow older, we discover
that the things that we assumed when we were 20 and 30 are not
actually right. The troubles that come upon us,
the trials that we encounter, the challenges that we face,
the problems that we have, they come into our lives for a purpose. This is the Lord working all
things together for good to tease us away from the love of the
world. To show us that it is empty and
vacuous and inconsequential. The things that we thought were
important, the things that we cherished, the things that we
accumulated to ourselves, the things that we thought were going
to give us ease in this life have proven to be a heavy burden
on our shoulders and a yoke around our neck. But Christ's yoke is
easy, and he teaches us by bringing us through the experiences of
life where our true love must be. 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 will
manifest myself to him. Why do I love him? Sixthly, he
has made me what I am. I love him because he has made
me what I am. What kind of man are you? What kind of woman are you? Are you a man who loves the Lord
Jesus Christ above all others? Does that love to him define
us? Is that the overriding characteristic
in our life? The nature of that love, it is
the highest calling in this world. It is sincere. and it is constant. What can
take a higher place in this life, in this world, than the love
of the Lord Jesus Christ? Some of the Lord's apostles had
to learn that lesson particularly acutely. In John chapter 21,
The Lord was eating with his disciples, and when he had dined,
he said to Simon Peter, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me
more than these? And he said unto him, yea, Lord,
thou knowest that I love thee. Lovest thou me more than these? Do you love me more than these
fish? He was a fisherman. Do you love
me more than these fish? Or do you love the fish more
than you love me? What about these around about?
Do you love me more than these, Peter? Do you love me more than
these love me, Peter? These men love me. Do you love
me more than they do? He that loveth father or mother
more than me is not worthy of me. He that loveth son or daughter
more than me is not worthy of me. This is not telling us that we
need to despise those for whom we have natural and physical
affection and relationships. But it is saying that we need
to see him above and beyond everything else in this world. Furthermore,
it is telling us that having seen him and loved him above
and beyond everything else in this world, the proper perspective
of those relationships will fall into their finest place. That's what we have. swithered about whether to use
this couplet, and I'm going to anyway, so here we are. It was
used by a man called Richard Lovelace in a poem, and it was
speaking about going to war, and it was speaking about whether
or not he would love, or whether or not he would leave, I'm sorry,
his wife and go to war. He loved her more than anything
else. But would he answer the call
of his country? Would he answer the call of his
felt responsibilities? Would he defend the land that
he had been born into, despite the fact that he knew it would
most certainly end up in the separation from that wife that
he loved? This is what he wrote. I could not love thee dear so
much, loved I not honour more. I could not love thee dear so
much, loved I not honour more. Men have that capacity. I could not love my wife if I
did not love Jesus more. I could not love my children
if I did not love Jesus more. He is the one who enables me
to live as he would have me live, to exercise those graces to those
around about me. He is the one who completes me,
and as he has completed me, he gives me the capacity to serve
him and to follow him as he would have me live. He that loveth
father or mother more than me is not worthy of me. He that
loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. Paul
writes to the Ephesians in chapter six, verse 24. Grace be with
all them that love the Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity. Here's my
last point and then I'm done. It's been my problem. You see,
I've lost my time here. Why do I love the Lord Jesus
Christ? Because he makes me happy. He
makes me happy. He gives me joy. He satisfies
my soul. There is a happiness possessed
by those who love Him. It's called in Scripture, blessedness,
but it just means the joy of the Lord in our heart. He satisfies me. He fulfills
me. I wish this old flesh of mine
could understand that as much as I do in the new man by faith. I say it, but you know what?
Tomorrow you'll find that this old flesh recoils, even from
the very things that I testify to. But he satisfies me. I know, and I know that there
are people here who have cried tears in recent days. I know that there are people
here who have undergone trials and who have encountered hardships
and problems, times of testing. I know maybe you've got some
illness, maybe you've felt some blackness in your soul and in
your mind, maybe things look dark, maybe you've lost your
job, maybe you've lost your family, maybe you've lost your health. These are, now don't get me wrong,
I'm not trying to undermine these things. But Satan's trick, Satan's
trick is to say, who's happy now? Yeah. You talk about the joy of the
Lord. Who's happy now? You're happy now that this has
happened? You're happy now that these things have been experienced?
You're happy now? But we need to understand that
these things of the flesh are temporal. These things are passing. Our blessing is not in the flesh. That's Satan's lie and he is
good at it. He's been practicing a long time. But it's not the material things
in this world that give us happiness. It's not the material things
that content us. Rather, and here's the irony
for the child of God, the greatest blessing is in the loss of these
things. The believer is more closely
entwined with Christ in the trials of life than he is in the joys
of life. James 1, verse 12. Blessed is
the man that endureth temptation, for when he has tried, he shall
receive the crown of life, which The Lord hath promised to them
that love him. To them that love him. There is no fear in love. Perfect love casteth out fear. Whatever this world throws at
those who love Christ, and it will be considerable. It'll be
the kitchen sink and the anvil tied to it. Whatever this world
throws at those who love Christ, we will trust Him. We will have
confidence in Him. We will believe in Him because
His love never fails and ours will never be ill-founded. Romans
8, verse 38 says, I am persuaded that neither death, nor life,
nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present,
nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature
shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is
in Christ Jesus our Lord. We will wait, we will wait, before
him in loving submission. Whatever he is pleased to do,
we will love him. We have reason enough to do so. We who can say, my beloved is
mine and I am his. I am my beloved's and he is mine. Blessed are they which are called
unto the marriage supper of the Lamb. Amen.