We're coming now to the close
of John's Gospel. Less than a week before this
event in Chapter 21 took place, the Lord Jesus told his disciple,
Simon Peter, before the night's over, before the cock crows twice
tomorrow morning, you're going to deny me three times. And Peter
said, not me. Not me. That's not going to happen.
It's not going to happen. He said, Peter, Satan's desired
to have you that he may sift your sweets. But I prayed for
thee that thy faith fail not. Let not your heart be troubled.
You believe in God, believe also in me. And that evening, Peter
denied the Lord. And a second time, Denied the
Lord. Rooster crowed. How he must have. I can't imagine what thoughts
must have gone through his mind. But you see, we are helpless
sinners. Even we who are called by God's grace, except he hold
us by his grace. Nothing is beyond us. And then
Peter denied the Lord again and cussed and said, I don't know
that man. I don't know that man. And the rooster crowed again.
And the Lord Jesus looked on Peter and he went out and wept
bitterly. And the master was crucified.
And three days later, he rose from the grave. And he has shown
himself now to Peter after his resurrection at least three,
perhaps four times, but not a word has passed between them. He hasn't spoken particularly
or distinctly to Peter, and he's not allowed Peter to speak to
him distinctly. He's been silent. There was a
wall between them. a wall that Peter altogether
alone had erected, but a wall between them. I can imagine how
Peter must have longed to speak to the Savior, to confess his
shame, to beg his forgiveness. But nothing had been spoken for
these four or five days between Peter and his Redeemer. But now the Lord Jesus is about
to break the silence. He comes to Peter. How will he
speak to him? How will he correct him? How
will he reprove him? How will he deal with Peter's
horrible sin? That horrible, horrible, horrible
sin of denying him. Let's listen in. John 21, verse
15. So when they had dined, Jesus
saith to Simon Peter, Simon son of Jonas, lovest thou me. Now, I don't like to refer to
the Greek language, but this is very important in this passage.
The word that our Lord Jesus uses here is the common word
for love comes from the word agape. You've heard it many times. He said, lovest thou me more
than thee. That is, more than these other
disciples love me. Essentially, that's what Peter
had confessed before. He said, do all these forsake
thee? I'm not forsaking thee. He said, now, Peter, do you love
me more than these men love me? He saith unto him, yea, Lord,
thou knowest that I love thee. And Peter uses a different word
for love, the word Philadelphia. comes from a compound beginning
with this word phileo. It's the word that means to love
sincerely, genuinely, wholeheartedly, to love without dissimulation,
fervently, superlatively. The Lord Jesus had used the common
word for love. He said, Peter, do you love me?
He said, Lord, you know, I really do love you. But notice he doesn't
say more than these. I've learned better than that.
I've learned better than that. He saith unto him, feed my lambs.
He saith unto him again the second time, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest
thou me? And again, he uses that same
common word for love, agape. But notice the Savior here leaves
out the words more than these. He saw Peter's heart. He observed
his modesty in his answer, and he wouldn't push the matter any
further. He let it lay. How unlike us. How unlike us. We would push and push and push
until we wrung the most bitter confession out of someone. He
just, he left it late. He had not come here to hurt
Peter, but to help him. He saith unto him, yea, Lord,
thou knowest that I love thee. And again, uses that very strong
word. He expressed himself in the same
language as before. It's as if Peter said, Lord,
What more can I say? You know that I truly love you. He saith unto him, feed my sheep. He saith unto him the third time,
Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me? But now he changed his word. He said, Simon, do you really
sincerely genuinely love me. And Peter was grieved because
he said unto him the third time, lovest thou me? Because this
time he gets right down to the heart of what Peter had been
saying. Do you really, genuinely, sincerely love me? And he said
unto him, Lord, thou knowest all things. Thou knowest that
I love thee. I genuinely love you. Jesus saith
unto him, feed my sheep. I take the words of our Lord
Jesus to Peter for my subject. Lovest thou me? A more important
question cannot be asked of you or of me. When you read the word of God,
Don't ever read it as though it were written generally to
men and women in general. When you read the Word of God,
read it directly as God's Word personally to you. Everything in this book, if you
are God's, was written specifically, personally to you. Read it that
way. Lovest thou me? More than 2,000
years have passed since the Lord asked Peter this question, but
it's just as pertinent, just as searching, just as useful
today. I pray that God the Holy Spirit
will be our teacher this hour. Love is something everybody understands. It's a feeling, a passion, an
emotion, deep planted in the soul and nature of man so that
everybody loves somebody. Everybody. There's no possibility
of there being a human being, a rational minded human being
on this earth who doesn't love someone. Today, I want to claim
a place in your heart and in mine. For Jesus Christ, our Lord,
lovest thou me. I want us to love him. I want to love him who loved
us and gave himself for us. Give me your careful attention.
I'll show you five things in this passage from the word of
God and I won't be long. First, I want to show you that
our Lord's purpose in squeezing this confession of love from
Peter was altogether gracious. Our Lord's purpose here was altogether
gracious. The test our Savior put to Peter
by which he would prove his sincerity to him was love. The Lord didn't
ask Peter, have you honored me? He didn't say, have you obeyed
me? He didn't say, Peter, what proof
can you give to me that you have done what you ought to have done
for me and performed your duties toward me? He didn't say even,
Peter, do you live for me? He asked just one thing. Lovest
thou me? Now, many have imagined that
the Lord Jesus asked Peter this question three times, and Peter
was grieved because he said to him the third time, Lovest thou
me? Because the Lord intended to remind Peter, now, Peter,
you denied me three times, and I don't want you to forget it.
Nothing could be further from the character, the proved character,
of the Son of God, our Redeemer, with his people. Nothing could
be more contrary to that which we have proved by him to us and
in his word repeatedly. Our Lord didn't come here intending
to stir up more guilt and more shame in this man, Peter. He
came here so that Peter might have proved to himself his interest
in the grace and knowledge of Jesus Christ, our Redeemer, so
that Peter might be compelled in honesty to speak to the Savior
and say, yes, Lord, I love you. In spite of everything I know
I have done, in spite of everything I know I am, in spite of all
the evil that's in me. Yes. I love you. Our Lord's purpose, Don, was
to convince Peter that Peter loved the Savior. That was his
purpose. His whole purpose here is to
restore to Peter the joy of his salvation. The Lord comes to
Peter and here would have Peter to openly repeat his own assurance
of love for the Savior. Lord, I truly do love you. I truly do love you. And then
he presses him hard the third time, and Peter was grieved because
he said the third time, do you really love me? And Peter looked
at him, and he said, Lord, you know everything. You know I really
do love you. You see, Peter needed to be reminded
that his behavior in Pilate's judgment hall was not really
Peter. Was not really Peter. What do
you mean? Peter did that. Yeah, but that
wasn't really him. That's what he is by nature. That's what we are by nature.
Just see it. But the believer is a person
with two natures. Someone said, well, it didn't
convey what he is by nature, what he really is. Well, sort
of, sort of. Turn to Romans chapter seven,
let me show you. You see, there is in the believer that which
is altogether enmity against God and that which cannot sin. There is in the believer that
old Adam nature that can do nothing but sin and that new Christ nature
that cannot sin. And when we sin, it really is
a sinning but not really. Because there's another real
person. That new person dwelling in us
is Christ in you. Look here in Romans chapter 7
verse 15. That which I do, I allow not. For what I would, that I
do not. Now let me tell you exactly what
Paul is saying. If I could, I wouldn't do anything
except that which is right and perfect and holy. If I could. Either that's true or I'm a bald-faced
liar and you can't believe anything I say. If I could, I'd walk before God
and never see it. If I could. I want to, soon. Oh, bless God. Soon I shall. But that which I do, I allow
not. Say something wrong, do something
wrong, think, imaginations, corruptions, the filth that I am. I hate it. All right, read on. But what
I hate, that's what I do. Someone said the believer doesn't
habitually live in sin. Which one of you doesn't? I'm
as serious as I can be. You stand up, you get here behind
this pulpit, I'll sit down and shut up. Which one of you does
not habitually, constantly live in sin? Which one? Say me, I say you're a liar.
You're a liar. And you know it. Paul said, the
thing I hate, that's what I do. Not once in a while, Bill Raleigh
all the time. It's what I do. If then I do that, which I would
not, I consent to the law that it's good. What's the law say? Love God with all your heart.
Love your neighbor as yourself. That's good. I wish I could. I want to. Now then, it is no
more I that do it. But sin that dwelleth in me is
not the new man. This is not that new heaven-born
nature. This is not that thing that's
born of the Spirit of God. Oh, no, this is not me. No more
I that do it, but sin, that old man that dwelleth in me. For
I know that in me that is in my flesh dwelleth no good thing,
for to will is present with me. But how to perform that which
is good I find not. How many times you get up in
the morning and you say to yourself, Lord, help me. I'm going to do better today. I will do better today. How to
perform that which is good, I find not. For the good that I would,
I do not. But the evil which I would not,
That I do. Now, if I do that, I would not. It is no more I that do it, but
sin that dwelleth in me. Instead of being a display of
our Lord's displeasure, his appearance and conversation with Peter appears
to me to have been one of those countless instances we have recorded
in this book of our Savior's tenderness toward his people.
by which he repeatedly shows us where sin abounds, grace much
more abounds. When his chosen display great
weakness, he displays great grace. When we fall, he lifts us, and
in the sweet exercise of his grace, lifting us from our fall, He enables us to show greater
love for him than we otherwise could or would. How wise, how gracious, how good
is God our Savior. Our Lord's gracious intention
in squeezing this open confession of love from Peter is manifest
when we realize that the very thing that terrifies the hypocrite
comforts the true believer. The Lord asked Peter three times,
do you love me? Do you love me? Do you really
love me, Peter? And three times Peter said, Lord, thou knowest all things. God's omniscience terrifies the
hypocrite. Terrifies the hypocrite. How
many times have you heard preachers say, or have you said to someone
else, or have your mom or dad said to you in order to really
get you straightened up? God sees everything. God saw you down there at that
movie house. God saw you down there, you little boy, sneaking
a smoke behind your mama's back. God sees you, son. Can't stand
that. Can't stand that. That's the
hypocrite. And religion plays on it. Religion
uses the Lord's omniscience to control people and manipulate
people with fear and dread because everybody's scared of God knowing
everything. And God knows thoughts and intents
of your heart. Don Renier, he knows what you're
thinking right now better than you do. He sees everything clearly. Darkness
is light before Him. Where are you going to hide from
Him? But for the believer, oh, for the believer, what's sweeter
than this, Lord? You know everything. And among all the things you
know, you know that I love you. You know what I am. You know
what I've done. You know what I've said. You
know the thoughts in my mind and in my heart. You know what
you've done for me by your grace. You know how you have redeemed
me, how you've forgiven me. You know how you've made me new
by your grace, given me a new nature. And you know what that
old man in me is. Lord, you know everything. You
know everything. By his knowledge, the book says. By his knowledge shall my righteous
servant justify many, for he shall bear their iniquities.
By his knowledge of me and all that he has done for me and is
doing for me, by his knowledge, the Lord Jesus saves me, not
by what I do, but by what he's done. Lord, you know all things. You know what I am by nature
and you know what I am in you. And you know that no matter how
contrary my actions may be to it, I genuinely do love you. I genuinely do love you. I don't know any way to express
what I'm trying to say except to illustrate it in a mundane
way. blessed mundane way, but a mundane
way. I've been married to this lady over here for 42 years. She's been a part of my life
every hour for almost 45 years, 44 years. And I would like somehow to make
her know how I love her. And Alan, much of the time, I
don't even act like it at all. And that pales into insignificance
when I talk about my love for my Redeemer. Yes. Lord, you know all things,
you know that I love you. But there's not one thing I can
point to. Not one word, not one act. Not one sacrifice I can point
to and say, now there, Lord, that shows you I love you. Because
nothing done for him, nothing given to him, nothing sacrificed
for him, nothing devoted to him adequately expresses that love
he creates in his own for him. Not only was this a display of
the Lord's grace, but there's something else. When he came
to Peter, he comes to Peter and says, Now, Peter, I want you
to know, I want you to know, you, Peter, you who have been
so humbled by your sin, you who have been so crushed by your
denial, you who have behaved in such a way contrary to anything
like love for me, I want you to know that I have chosen you as an undershepherd
to me. and trusted to your care my sheep. Feed my sheep. Feed my sheep. Feed my sheep. Me? Me? Oh, what great grace is displayed
in our Lord coming to Peter and challenging him with this question.
That brings me to my second point. It is the work of every under-shepherd
to feed Christ's sheep, to feed his lambs and to feed his sheep
with knowledge and with understanding. It is the responsibility of every
under-shepherd. Christ is the shepherd. He is
the great pastor. All gospel preachers are under-shepherds,
under-pastors to him. He is the one who actually does
the feeding. He's the bread of life and the
water of life. We feast on his flesh, eating
his flesh and drinking his blood by faith. We feed upon him continually. And yet it is the responsibility
and the privilege of every under shepherd to feed the Lord's sheep,
to guide them and to instruct them with knowledge and with
understanding. Knowledge alone, Brother Emmett,
is not enough. A man may have all the knowledge
in the world. He may have a head stuffed so full of knowledge,
his head's about to bust with it. He may have talents and abilities
as a speaker. He may be able to stand up and
give a stem-winding sermon and just make everybody be moved
by what he says. But that doesn't qualify a man
to be a preacher. a pastor, a shepherd. What does? The primary, number one qualification
without which no man can feed Christ's sheep with knowledge
and understanding is love for Christ. He's got to love the
Savior. He's got to love the Savior.
He's got to be committed to the Savior. Turn to 1 Peter chapter
5. 1 Peter chapter 5. The elders which are among you
I exhort, who am also an elder and a witness of the sufferings
of Christ, and also a partaker of the glory that shall be revealed.
Feed the flock of God. Our Lord said to Peter, feed
my lambs, and they said, feed my sheep. How can you do both? You feed them with knowledge
and understanding. You preach the gospel to edify
and strengthen God's saints, and you minister to both the
strong and the weak, both the learned and the unlearned, both
the experienced and the inexperienced, both the young and the old with
the same word, preaching the gospel with clarity, with plainness
of speech, with simplicity and understanding that they're just
sheep. They're sheep. I get telephone calls or I'm
in conversations with preachers or I get Emails from preachers.
I just talked to one yesterday. I hadn't talked to him in a good
while. I haven't seen him in, oh, it's been 40 years since
I've seen him, but we talk every now and then. And preachers get
so down in the mouth because of people, people they preach
to. Oh, this and that and the other. And I keep reminding them
so I can remind myself God's people are called sheep. Now, you will forgive me, sheep. Sheep are the dumbest, dirtiest,
most helpless, inconsistent critters in the world. They're sheep. That's the reason they need shepherds.
And if they weren't sheep, they wouldn't need shepherds. They
wouldn't need a shepherd to feed them and guide them and protect
them and keep them in the way and to go fetch them when they're
out of the way. They're sheep. Feed my sheep, feed my sheep.
Read on. Feed the flock of God which is
among you, taking the oversight thereof. That is assuming responsibility
for everybody. Not by constraint, but willingly. Not because you're forced to
do so, but because you want to. Not for filthy lucre, not for
what you can get out of it, but of a ready mind. Neither as being
lords over God's heritage. Don't browbeat and whip and overpower God's people. Don't
do it. Don't do it. But being examples and samples
to the flock. You lead them. Show them the way. Show them the way. I try always to be honest with
you about myself, but I don't always let you see
me as I know I am. There are times when I am so
full of unbelief and I murmur and complain just like you do.
There are times when I, my heart is so empty, just so cold. But I have a responsibility to
lead you. And I'm not going to talk to
you. God give me grace. I'm not going to talk to you
in such a way as to lead you to murmur against God. God gives
me grace. I'm not going to murmur before
you. God gives me grace. I'm not going to show you cloudiness
and unsteadiness and instability and my fickleness. Oh, no. I have a responsibility
to lead God's people in faith before God. When Moses took his
case to God, he didn't take it to Israel, he took it to God.
And that's my responsibility. I take my burden, my guilt, my
difficulty, my troubles before God. I don't bring them to you.
I don't want to mislead you and lead you into murmuring and complaining,
but rather to faith and steadfastness and delight and joy in the Lord
by example. And when the chief shepherd shall
appear, you shall receive a crown of glory that fadeth not away. All right, back to John 21. Here's
the third thing I want you to see. Every true believer truly loves
Christ. Now, I'm not here to tell you
you ought to love Christ. Though Joe Blakely, you ought
to love Christ. I'm here to tell you if Joe Blakely knows Christ,
he loves him. There's all the difference in
the world. Somebody says preachers all the time saying you ought
to be filled with the spirit. Well, yeah, you ought to be filled
with the spirit. But if you're God, you are filled with the
spirit. That's exactly right. That's exactly right. And if
you're God, you love Christ. Many are utterly confused about
what a Christian is. Most people have the idea that
if you're raised in what's called a Christian home, whatever that
is, or a Christian nation, or a Christian society, or if you're
raised under the influence of Christianity, then certainly
you're a Christian. If you go to church regularly,
if you've been baptized, if you believe certain facts concerning
the faith of the gospel, then certainly you're a Christian.
But that's not so. That's not so. None of those
things are so. A Christian is a person who's been redeemed
by the precious blood of Christ. He's a person who's been born
again by God the Holy Spirit. A Christian's a person who lives
by faith in Christ. He's a person who indeed seeks
to honor Christ, walks with Him, obeys Him. But there's more. A Christian, a believer, is a
person who loves Jesus Christ. Loves Him. Loves Him. Our Lord
said to the Pharisees, if God were your Father, you would love
me. Paul wrote to the Corinthians
and said if any man loved not the Lord Jesus Christ, let him
be damned. Let him be anathema. The Lord
is coming. No love for Christ, no salvation. No love for Christ, no sonship.
Paul said grace be with you all. All them that love our Lord Jesus
Christ in sincerity. No love for Christ, no grace.
You see, love is the one inseparable companion to faith. Now abideth
faith, hope, love, these three. The greatest of these is love.
Faith worketh by love, always does. Love does not usurp and
cannot usurp or take the place of faith. It's not love that
unites us to Christ, that's faith. It is not love that draws waters
of grace out of the wells of salvation, that's faith. It's
not love that brings peace to the conscience. That's faith.
But wherever faith lives, love lives. You see, love, love for
Christ is the motive, the mainspring of all that's done for Christ.
And Paul wrote to the Corinthians. He said, you know, the grace
of our Lord Jesus Christ, however, though he was rich in grace,
yet for your sakes he became poor, that you through him might
be made rich." Paul said, you understand that? You know the
love of Christ? All right. Prove now the sincerity of your
love. Prove it. Very little, if anything, is
done for Christ because of duty. It's love in the heart that moves
the hand in service. I have had some experience being
cared for by nurses, and I've had some good nurses. I've had
some good nurses. Last time I was in the hospital,
I've told everybody I could over at Central Badger's Church, the
Badger's Hospital, rather. Oh, my soul, not Central Badger's
Church, Central Badger's Hospital. When I was in the hospital over
there, I was treated like a king by everybody on staff. Those
nurses were good to me. They were good to me. But they
were just nurses. That nurse, now that was something
else. She's married to me. And her care was indescribably
more beneficial for my own feeling and thought and emotion than
the care of all the others put together. She didn't know anything
about medicine, but she cared for me. Understand the difference? Many do much because it's their
duty. Believers do much because they
love the Redeemer. Jacob loved Rachel. He served seven years for her,
and he got the ugly, homeless sister, Leah. And he served seven
more years, 14 years in all for Rachel. And it seemed to him
as just a few days for the love he had for her. Love, love is that which beats
in the heart of God's people. Duty tithes, love gives. Duty goes to church, love comes
to worship. Duty reads the word, love seeks
to understand the word. We'll do some things for Christ.
Love lives for Christ. Love for Christ is the common
point of unity among all believers. We have differences sometimes.
We have differences with our brethren in other churches and
other denominations. There are genuinely those who
believe the gospel, those who trust our Savior, genuinely are
our brethren, though we may differ with them about many things.
But here, all true believers are one. Love for Christ. That's the common point, uniting
point. Love for Christ gives us unity. Love for Christ dissolves all
racial and cultural and educational differences between men. Love
for Christ makes us one. Christ is in all, and Christ
makes us one in himself. And love for Christ, that will
be the the great common ground of joy
with believers in heavenly glory forever. I'm often asked about
my differences with Dr. Gill, and I do have some. I'm often asked about my differences
with Mr. Spurgeon, theologically, and
I do have some. And this is how I respond. This
is how I respond. Mr. Gill was a millennialist.
He'd been my theology professor every day since I was 18 years
old. I read him every single day, every day. But he was a
millennialist. He believed the Lord was going
to come again and reestablish his kingdom on this earth for
a thousand years and gather the Jews and all that stuff. And
I read that and I scratch my head and I say, wow. And then
somebody asked me, well, what do you think about that? I'll tell you what, I'll tell
you what. If it still bothers me, Mark, when I see him, I'll
ask him about it. You see, in heavenly glory, all
the disputes and debates and fusses and squabbles that divide
God's elect will be gone. Nothing will matter then but
Christ, unto him that loved us. and gave himself for us. Unto
him who redeemed us to our God out of every nation and kindred
and tribe and tongue. Unto him who made us kings and
priests. Unto God be glory forever and
ever. Would you know the secret of
this love? What is it that causes saved
sinners to love the Son of God? Turn with me to John 1 John chapter
4 verse 19 and learn the secret. Here's the fourth thing. We love Him because He first
loved us. 1 John 4, 19. We love Him because
He first loved us. I hadn't been pastor here but
just a few months. Teresa Coleman got me a brief
plaque, just a little plaque with that passage of scripture
inscribed on it. And honestly, Teresa, I had never
really read the text with any meaning until I read it on that
plaque. His love precedes our love for
him by eternity. He loved us with an everlasting
love. His love for us exceeds our love for Him infinitely. He loves us like we can't imagine
loving Him, with the infinite, indescribable love, with measureless
love. And His love for us is the cause
of our love for Him. We love Him because He first
loved us, because of who He is. He's God our Savior because of
all he's done for us. He gave himself for us. He redeemed
us, brought us with his blood, made us his own, made us righteous
in him, made us heirs of God and join heirs together with
him. Sons of God we are in him, holy and righteous as he himself
is holy and righteous. We love him because he first
loved us. Now, let me show you one more
thing. There are many who had the idea
that believers cannot know their love for Christ. Now, I don't
talk about my love for Christ. I've observed in this religious
flippant foam and froth age in which we live, almost everybody
talks about loving the Lord. When they pray, Lord, you know
how much we love you. Don't ever talk like that. Don't ever talk
like that. They said nothing about sin,
nothing about faith, nothing about seeking God's grace. Lord,
you know how much we love you. I don't even know how much he loves
me. Sing much of his love, talk much
of his love. Your love for him, not worth
talking about. It's not worth talking about. And when you start
to talk about it, remember that. It's not worth talking about.
Not worth talking about. Mother John, don't you think
we We genuinely love the Lord? Of course I do. Of course I do. But we love Him because He first
loved us. And yet there are some who imagine
that we cannot know whether we love the Lord or not. John Newton
wrote a hymn. We don't sing it. It's not in
our hymn books. I quote it frequently. It's a
good hymn. A good hymn has its own usefulness. But the opening
line is often misunderstood to imply that somehow Newton knew
nothing about the assurance of salvation. He says, "'Tis a point
I long to know, oft it causes anxious thought. Do I love the
Lord or no? Am I his or am I not?" And, you
know, we just work that over. Let me tell you something. I've been married to that lady
over there, as I told you a few minutes ago, for 42 years. Now, just
suppose, just suppose, tonight, after doing whatever reading
we're going to do tonight before we go to bed, turn the light
off and turn over and hug each other like we always do before
we go to sleep and start to say goodnight, rather than saying
to her, Shelby, honey, I want you to know I love you. Suppose
I were to turn over and I say to her, tis the point I long
to know, oft it causes anxious thought. Do I love my wife or
no? Am I hers or am I not? We'd have
trouble. We'll have a peck of trouble.
What do you mean you don't know whether you love me or not? Why
don't you ladies try that? Ask your husband and see what
you respond to. Well, I don't know whether I
do or not. Love is not ambiguous. It's not something we have to
guess about. And love for Christ is not something
that is ambiguous, something we have to guess about. You know
if you love someone. If you love someone, you love
to talk about them, think about them. You get around some of these silly
grandparents and If you just crack the door a little bit,
they'll be bragging on their grandchildren. I never have been
able to understand that about other grandparents. How come? Because they love them. They love them. Love to think
about them, talk about them. If you love somebody, you love
to hear about them. Years ago, I read about a Welch
lady who used to go hear Philip Doddridge preach, and she couldn't
understand a word the Englishman said. She only spoke Welch. And
somebody asked her, said, why do you go hear him preach? You
can't understand anything he says. She said, no, but he mixes the
name of Christ so often, it does me good to hear it. You love
somebody, you love to hear about them. You love somebody, you
want to please them. You want to honor them. You love
somebody, you like to talk to them. You're jealous for their
honor. You'll protect the name. You'd
like to be with them. Do not I love thee, O my Lord? Behold my heart and see, and
turn each odious idol out that dares to rival thee. Thou knowest
I love thee, dearest Lord. But oh, I long to soar far from
the sphere of mortal joys and learn to love thee more. Amen.