Let's look again at that passage
in John 21 for just a minute. Hark, my soul, it is the Lord. Tis thy Savior, hear his word. Jesus speaks and speaks to thee Say for sinner lovest thou me How do you respond Lord it is my chief complaint
That my love is weak and faint Yet I love thee and adore, O
for grace to love thee more. That's what Peter said here.
Remember what I told you as we read the passage. The Lord asked Peter in the face of his sin, now remember
Peter had just a little while earlier, denied his Lord three
times. He had even taken profane cussing. He swore, I don't know that man.
I don't know it. For fear, because of the weakness
of his flesh, because of the sin still dwelt within him, And he repented of that. He went
out and wept bitterly. And now he had gone back to fishing. I think probably not because he loved fishing and didn't love
Christ. I'm sure that's the case. It's
not because he loved fishing and didn't love Christ. It's
not because he preferred fishing to following Christ. but rather
he felt so ashamed, broken, and unfit, unworthy for Christ's
company. He said, he must have said to
himself, as you and I often do, nothing about me is real. No point in me pretending any
longer to be a follower of Christ. I'm going back to fish. I believe
that's what happened here. And the Lord met Peter and he pulled him aside, got
him alone. He said, Peter, do you have charitable, kind,
affectionate feelings for me? Peter said, yes, I do. And he
asked him again, he said, Peter, do you have kind, charitable,
affectionate, tender feelings for me above these other things
here? And he said, Lord, I do. And
then the Lord put his finger in his heart and he said, Peter,
Do you love me more than these? He's not saying,
Peter, do you love me more than John loves me? That's not what
he's saying. He's saying, Peter, do you love me more than this
boat, these nets, these fish, and these people? Do you love
me more than you love anything else? Do you really love me? And Peter said in verse 17, Lord,
thou knowest all things. Thou knowest that I love thee. Thou knowest that I love thee. Now turn back to the passage
we had this morning in 1 John chapter 3 or chapter 4. I hope I clearly showed you this
morning that the cause of the believer's love is God's love
for us. But this evening I want to come
to these three words in this text. We love him. This is the affirmation of love.
We love him. We who believe, we who are born
of God, love the Lord Jesus Christ. We really do. This, I believe,
unless I am deceived. I believe this to be the honest,
sincere confession of my heart to Christ. I don't take it lightly. While you were singing, Ruth,
I sat there and I asked God, let me know that this is not
a shame. That it's so. So. I believe it
is. I believe it is. After much searching
of heart and soul, With the full realization that I stand not
before you, but before God, who knows everything, who sees everything. Most of you don't know much about
me, not really. I try my best to keep covered
up what I really am by nature. I try my best. I'm glad you do
too. But he knows that. He knows the
perversity, the wickedness, the depravity, the sin, the corruption
of my inmost thoughts, imaginations, as well as the deeds of my life.
I fully realize he knows everything. I stand before him naked with
no covering, with no cloak, with no fig leaves to hide myself
from his view. Everything's naked and open to
the eyes of him with whom we have to do. And this is what
I say, thou knowest that I love thee. Thou knowest that I love
thee. How about you? Ask God to give you an honest
heart. Try to be honest. Do you or do you not love the
Lord Jesus Christ? And I am fully aware of the fact
that I do not love him by nature. None of us do. Turn over to Romans
chapter 8. Romans the 8th chapter verse
7. The Apostle Paul is here describing
for us our natural condition, our natural hearts. He says in
verse seven, the carnal mind, that is the mind of the flesh,
the heart of nature, the heart of nature, the mind is put for
the heart here. The carnal heart is enmity. He does not say it's at enmity.
He does not even say that there is enmity in the heart toward
God. He says, Oscar Bailey, you hate
God by nature. You hate God. Your carnal heart
hates God. It is hatred, enmity, animosity,
maliciousness at God. It's enmity against God. My soul's experience confirms
what the word of God tells me and compels me to confess that
I would never have loved him had he not first loved me. My
heart, like yours, was dead in trespasses and in sin. I lived
all the days of my life in enmity and rebellion against God until
he arrested me by his grace. And I must confess that though
it gives me great pain to do so, I must confess that there
is still within me that same sinful heart of flesh. Now, it's
there. It's there. We don't like to
talk about it. We don't like to acknowledge
it, but it's there. The heart of man by nature is
still enmity against God. Paul says in Romans 7, verse
14, we know that the law is spiritual, but I'm carnal. Now this is the
inspired apostle writing. I'm carnal, sold under sin. He's
not talking about his new nature, he's talking about his old nature.
He's not talking about what he is by grace, he's talking about
what he is by nature. For that which I do, I don't want to do. I wish it never did, I allow
not. For what I would, that which
my redeemed, regenerate heart, that which this new heart wants
to do, that I do not. But what I hate,
that I do. If then I do that which I would
not, I consent unto the law. that it's good. Now then, it's
no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me. For I know
that in me, that is in my flesh, dwelleth no good thing. To will
is present with me. Oh, if I could, I'd be perfect.
If I could, I'd be holy. If I could, I'd love God with
all my heart. If I could, I'd I'd live without
sin. If I could, I'd perfectly serve
Christ. If I could, I'd perfectly worship
Him. The will's present, but how to
perform that which is good, I don't have any ability. For the good
that I would, I do not, but the evil which I would not, that
I do. Now, if I do what I would not,
it's no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me. I find
then a law that when I would do good, evil is present with
me. Do you see that? Do you recognize
that? That's what we are. That's what
we are. Don't ever forget what you were
when God saved you and what you still are by nature. This congregation
is an assembly of wretched, depraved, sinful, worthless, helpless,
useless, rotten flesh. That's what we are. Every one
of us from the youngest to the oldest. From the youngest babe
in Christ to the most mature believer, this is what we are
by nature. Sin, sin, sin, sin, nothing else
but sin. Now that's just the way it is.
That's just the way it is. But God in his infinite love
and by his sovereign grace has intervened and he's conquered
my heart and he has by covenant mercy, given me a new heart,
a heart that loves the Lord Jesus Christ. And that was the promise
he made in the covenant. Let me show it to you. Ezekiel
chapter 36. Ezekiel 36. Lord God promised in the covenant,
I'll sprinkle clean water upon you, verse 25. and you shall
be clean from all your filthiness, from your idols will I clean
you. Verse 26, he said, a new heart also will I give you and
a new spirit will I put within you and I'll take away the stony
heart out of your flesh and I'll give you a heart of flesh. The
Lord promised his people, he said, I'm gonna give you a new
heart, a new spirit, a new nature. He does not come by His grace.
Now please understand this. In the new birth, God does not
come by His grace and change the heart of nature. He does
not come by His grace and change the flesh. He does not come by
His grace and change the carnal nature of man. He does not change
that. That old man is sentenced to
die and die he must. That old heart is not taken to
the hospital to be mended and patched up. It's taken to the
graveyard to be buried. It's to be crucified with Christ
Jesus. Crucified daily with Christ Jesus. But God comes by the spirit of
grace and he makes his people to be partakers of the divine
nature. He makes his people to have a
new heart, a new spirit. By nature we have a heart of
stone. Stone is cold. Stone is lifeless. Stone is hard. A stone has no
feeling. A stone has no life. A stone
is dead. That's what our heart is by nature,
by nature. Oh, alive physics. alive to all
that's evil, very much keenly aware of all that's evil, very
much full of feeling for all that's corrupt, but dead toward
God. God comes and he takes away the
heart of stone and he implants a heart of flesh. That is a living
a heart alive toward God, a heart that's touched by his spirit,
a heart that's directed by his hand, a heart that's molded after
his likeness. Nothing but the revelation of
God's love in Christ can do that. Nothing but the revelation of
God's love in Christ can break these hearts of stone and cause
our stubborn wills to bow. But if ever a man sees, by the
revelation of God through the gospel, the love of God in Christ,
his stony heart will melt like wax before the sun, and his will
will be broken into the most voluntary subjection. The holy
law of God convinced me of my guilt, and the fear of hell terrified
my soul. But when I saw the Lord Jesus
Christ dying as my substitute, satisfying God's law as my surety,
putting away my sin as my sin-bearer, my heart melted like wax before
him. The hymn writer said, Lord, thou
hast won, at last I yield. My heart, by mighty grace compelled,
surrenders all to thee. Against thy terrors long I stood,
but who can stand against thy love? Love conquers even me. If thou hadst bid thy thunders
roll and lightnings flash to blast my soul, I still had stubborn
been. But mercy has my heart subdued. A bleeding Savior I have viewed,
and now I hate my sin. I do not love the Lord Jesus
Christ, my God and Savior, as I should. I don't pretend to. I do not love Him as I wish I
could. I do not love Him as I believe
I soon shall. But do I love Him? I really do. I really do. I will love the Lord because
he has delivered me from all my sins. I will love the Lord
because of his great mercy. I will love the Lord for all
that he's done for my soul. I'll love him because he's who
he is. And not only is that true of
me, this is the general confession. It is the universal confession
of all God's elect. We love him. Yes, we love him
because he first loved us. No, our love for him is not worthy
of his love. It is not worthy of his affection.
It is not worthy even of him sparing us by his grace. It cannot
in any way be compared to his love. Oh, God knows. I hope you know he can't be compared
to his love. Not in any way. But we do love
him. We do love him. We love Christ
because he is who he is. He's God. He's God. He's God robed in human flesh. His name is Emmanuel, God with
us. He's our surety. He's our prophet. He's our priest, and he's our
king. The Lord Jesus Christ, God in
human flesh, is our redeemer, our savior, our advocate. He's our whole. And loving him,
listen to me now, we love everything about him. Everything. You read
the fifth chapter of the Song of Solomon. And you'll find there
the description of God's elect concerning the Lord Jesus Christ.
They asked, what is thy beloved more than another beloved? Oh,
well, give me a couple of million years and I'll tell you. His
head. Oh, his eyes. Oh, the beauty of his eyes. His
cheeks. Oh, let me tell you about his
cheeks. His arms, His hands, His fingers, His legs, His feet,
His lips, His tongue, His heart, He's all together lovely. She said, I love everything about
Him. Everything about Him. Now I'm telling you, if you love
Jesus Christ the Lord, Lindsay, you love everything about Him.
Everything. Everything. People ask me, Do you reckon it's possible for
a person to be saved who despises this attribute of Christ or that
work of Christ or this word from Christ? No, I do not. No, I do
not. I know it's not possible. God's
people, those who love Christ, love everything about Him. Tell
me who He is. He's the sovereign God. Oh, I
love Him. Tell me who he is. He's the God of judgment. I love
him. For I see love even in his judgment. For he rids the world of all
that would harm his own and prepares for his own an eternal bliss
of perfect righteousness. Well, tell me who is he? He's
a God of eternal purpose and unalterable decree. Oh, I love
him. Tell me who he is. He's a God
of absolute immutability. I love a God who changes not.
I don't like surprises, do you? Not in people. It's all right
for my wife to surprise me, you know, with some special deed
of kindness and love, but I don't like surprises in people. I heard
somebody say the other day, listening to preachers, a lot of times
you kind of listen like a boxer, you know. What's he going to
say next? He said, I like to listen like
this. Don't have to worry about what he's going to do. I just
expect him to say what's right. I like that in my God. I like
to know that he's the same yesterday, today, and forever, that he never
changes. I love that. Not only that, but
we see his hand of providence. Everything he does, everything
he does, I love him. Sometimes he makes
my heart ache with pain, but I love him, even in the midst
of the pain. This afternoon, Rhoda had that
fall. I love him for it, love him for
it, both for the fall and for preserving her. For in some way
he has deemed to do good to his people by doing so. Do you see
that? Whatever his providence is, whatever
his providence is, we'll not get mad at him. We'll not argue
with him. We'll not sulk at him. He's God! Whatever he does, he does right
for the good of his own. Now I love it. I love his providence. Not only do we love the Lord
Jesus Christ because of who he is, but oh my soul, let me tell
you what he's done for me. I can't help but to love him.
Before the world was, he made a covenant of everlasting grace
with God his father, and he stood for me as my surety in the covenant.
He, the father and the spirit, set their hearts upon Don Fortner
and said, I'll be his God and he'll be my child. And he said
to his father, whatever's required, whatever's required to bring
that wretched worm into eternal glory in the perfection of holiness,
I'll do it. And in the fullness of time,
here he comes, God living in human flesh. the infinite God,
the holy, glorious God, that God whom the heavens cannot contain,
that God who charges his angels with poly, in whose sight the
heavens are not pure, came into this world in real flesh and
blood, just like a God. And he lived in this world in
perfect righteousness. Do you know why God stepped down
into humanity and God pitched a tent of flesh to dwell in?
Do you know why he did that? Because he loves God for that. That's why he did it. He lived
in this world. He endured the temptations of
Satan, the assaults of men, the slanders and the vile reproaches
of men. And he went to the cross. And
he endured the wrath of God bearing my sin because he loved me. He took my sin and buried it
in the tomb. And he arose without sin. And
he ascended up on high and there he sits on that throne before
which all the earth is just a footstool. And he rules everything in absolute
sovereign serenity because he loves me. for my good and his
glory. He sits before his father as
an advocate. And he makes intercession for
this transgressor. And you ask me if I love him?
Oh, yeah. Yeah, I love him. I love him. We love Christ because all the
fullness of grace and glory is in him. I need pardon. I need righteousness. I need
a strong arm to uphold me. I need grace to forgive me. I need one to preserve me. I need him for everything and
everything I need is in him. And he gives it to me with absolute
limitlessness, with limitlessness. And not only that, He does it
for every child of His. Everyone. Everyone. Oh, let every
believing sinner make this affirmation of love. We love Him because
He first loved us. Yes, we are beset with many infirmities
and we're plagued with many weaknesses, chained with many failures, and
defiled with many sins. But we love it. We love it. Though our love is sometimes
so cold, and our hearts are sometimes so hard, we love it. And though it seems we show it
so very little, We love Him. We love Him unashamedly. Why
on earth should anybody be ashamed to be in love with the Son of
God? We love Him supremely. With David we say, Whom have
I in heaven but thee? And there is none upon the earth
that I desire beside thee. Yes, we love Him more than all
thee. More than all these, that is
more than anyone in the world. More than all the riches, the
comforts and the pleasures of this world. More than those who
are nearest kin to us in this world. More than we love our
own selves. We love Him! And we love Him increasingly.
Love, if it's real, grows. If it's real, it grows. We always think about love in an emotional, passionate, sensual way. We always do. We just seem not
to be able to get that out of our minds. And I realize that
love does involve sensational feelings, and it does involve
passion and emotion. I know that. But that's not the
real essence of love. We usually think of love, we
think real love is that sweetheart love. You know, that love you
had for that girl when she was 17, 18 years old and boy, you
just fell head over heels in love with her. In reality, in reality, now listen
to me, listen carefully. That's a whole lot like what
we call puppy love when our kids get it, you know. A little girl
gets a crush on a boy at school. She thinks about that fella.
She writes his name everywhere. Why the sun rises and sets on
that boy, you know. Oh, I can't live without him. I wonder if Joey's going to like
the way I fix my hair today. Gets in front of the mirror and
puts on her blouse and her necklace and her perfumes. Wonder if Joey's
gonna like it. And you think about it all the
time, you know. Well, that's puppy love. And that's the way,
really, our love for one another is as believers and as individuals. And our love for Christ is in
the beginning. In the beginning. It's a lot
like that. It's a lot like that. But that's not the essence of
love. Now listen to me, that's not
the essence of love. Love is commitment. More than anything else, it's
commitment. It's the growing, increasing
commitment of our hearts. No, the commitment of our beings
to the Lord Jesus Christ. You see, sweetheart love, as
it's called, is frail, fickle, fragile, and very easily quenched. I won't ask for a show of hands.
I wonder how many of you girls had that sweetheart love after
you were engaged. One time you got mad at that
fellow and took that ring. That's sweetheart love. That's
sweetheart love. or he said the wrong thing to
the wrong girl at the wrong time, and you heard him or heard about
it, well, if you loved me, you wouldn't have done that. That's
sweetheart love. It's fickle. It's fragile. It's easily quenched. That love
lacks trust, it lacks confidence, and it lacks commitment. Let
me illustrate it for you. I'll embarrass myself a little
bit. When I first fell in love with my wife, I was just a kid,
you know. And man, I didn't want her looking
like she thought about the possibility of speaking to another fella.
I mean it. If you love me, what you doing
talking to him? If you love me, what you doing
looking at him? I wanted her in my presence all
the time. And if she wasn't in my presence,
I was always a little concerned. Yeah, that's silly. That's silly. But I was like other people without
real love, full of jealousy. You see, there's like a trust,
like a confidence. Now, I enjoy her presence. Oh, it's delightful. I like to
be with her. You know, if I'm gone for a week,
two weeks, gone for a month, that doesn't mean I don't love
her, nor that she doesn't love me. It just means we're separated
for a little while, that's all. And if she's chatting with another
fella, or if she's doing some kind deed for another fella,
that's okay. I'm not concerned about that,
she loves me. Do you follow what I'm saying?
It's not fickle, it's not frail, it's not fragile. Love, mature love, is steadfast. It's dependable, it's trusting,
and it's firmly committed. I've often told you the story
about the first time I kissed that girl. I don't know any other
way to illustrate what I want to say, so I'll tell it again.
We'd been dating a while. We were old-fashioned folks.
I wasn't quite as old-fashioned as she was. I just scared to
death. We dated 10 or 12 times. Sitting in church one night,
I wasn't paying much attention to what the preacher had to say.
I reached over and took her by the hand, and boy, that was good. And then I started deciding what's
the best way for me to get my first kiss. So we drove around. We had a pizza or something.
I don't know what we had. We might have had arsenic. I
wouldn't have known the difference. And we drove around a while and
drove down to the Yadkin River. And we sat there talking. Long
time we sat there talking. And I kissed that girl. And to
my surprise, she kissed me too. And man, I thought, The sky had
turned to fireworks. I mean, boy, that was something. Never had anything like it in
my life. Never wanted to kiss a girl like I wanted to kiss
that girl in my life. You know, I kissed her today.
Kissed her a couple of times today. And, uh, do you see any skyrockets? Nah,
be honest with me. She's lying in church. No, the sky rockets aren't there
anymore. All the fanfare and the glitter is not there anymore.
But the commitment's there. The commitment. Do you see what
I'm talking about? That's how it is with Christ and love for
Christ. We love him growing there. The
more we know him and experience of his grace, we just love him,
committed to him, committed to him. Sometimes, as it's described
in the Song of Solomon, he shows his face through the latticework.
Oh, that's great. Sometimes he hides his face,
and that's painful. But whether he shows his face
or hides his face, we still love him. And he doesn't always have
to make us know what he's doing and where he is and where he's
leading us for us to trust him. For loving him, we trust his
love. Do you follow me, Merle? That's
what I'm talking about. It's a steadfast, firm commitment
to Christ. If I love someone, I give myself in commitment to
their happiness and welfare. I'm committed to it. I'm committed
to it. I love this congregation. I love
you people. I do. And I'm committed. I am committed under God to your
soul's welfare. I'm committed to it, no matter
what it costs, no matter what pain it may involve, no matter
what difficulty it is, I'm committed to it. You follow me? I'm committed
to that lady. I'm committed to that girl. I
love her! Now listen to me. I'm committed to God my Savior. Oh, sometimes I speak to her in such a way that I hang my head in shame. And sometimes I speak to her
in such a way that I hang my head in shame. And sometimes
I speak to him, not with his lips, but with the emotion, the
feelings, the coldness of her heart. in a way that makes me hang my
head in shame. But in the face of all my sin,
I love Him. I love Him. And I love Him more this day
than I've ever loved Him. It's not all the show, not all
the sparkle and the glitter fanfare as when I first met him. But you see, then there wasn't
the commitment either. Then there wasn't the steadfast
resolve. Then there wasn't the determination,
the determination of my soul. to honor it, to glorify it. That grows. Somebody said still
waters run deep. And they do. You take a paddle
in the river, you go out there and do any fishing and you get
into the shoals where the water runs so rapidly, it looks so
ferocious and splashes over all the rocks. Get out there and
stand up and it doesn't come up to your knees usually. But
where that water is still, and not any splash, and not any roaring
sound, you might dive a hundred feet and not find the bottom.
And that's the way it is with commitment, love for Christ. We don't have to show a lot.
We don't have to make a lot of splash. And we don't have to
make a lot of roar. If we love Him, we know and He
knows we're committed to Him. Love is faithful. Because of
our sinful flesh, it doesn't always speak and act as it ought
to, but it's faithful. It's the attachment of the heart
to its object. I see Noah in his drunkenness. But that was out of character
for Noah, wasn't it? That wasn't like Noah. Just wasn't like him.
No, that's not Noah. Well, if I can see that, God
can see it. Yeah. Even though he commits terrible
sin, Noah's heart's committed to Christ. Can you see that?
Is that clear, Wes? Even though he's in terrible I see Peter cussing and swearing
he doesn't know Christ. And I say, oh Peter, Peter, Peter. But I read the whole life of
Peter. I say, oh Peter, what a man. What a man. His heart's committed
to Christ. Committed to Christ. And if I
can see it, God can see it. God can see it. And what our
Lord said to Peter when he said, lovest thou me? He was saying,
Peter, I want you to see it. I want you to see it. I want
you to know that you love me. And the day will soon come, thank
God, when we will love the Lord Jesus Christ perfectly. Thou
knowest that I love thee, dearest Lord, but oh, I long to soar. far from the sphere of mortal
joys and learn to love thee more. God hasten the day when I'll love him as I ought, with unsinning heart Well, I
had a whole lot more to say, but I believe that's where I'll
quit. So I'll quit there. I want you to turn with me to
Revelation 3. Let me show you one thing. Revelation chapter 2. In the light of what I've said,
what does this mean? Verse four. Nevertheless, I have
somewhat against thee, because thou hast left thy first love. Repent, therefore, from whence
thou art fallen. Remember, therefore, from whence
thou art fallen, and repent, and do the first works, or else
I'll come to thee quickly and remove thy candlestick out of
its place. except thou repent." Well, it may be that some of us know exactly
what that means by experience. Because of our sinful flesh, we do sometimes leave our first
love. And that does not mean, that
does not mean, our Lord's not concerned that we go back to
that sensational emotionalism. That's not what He's concerned
about. Sometimes we leave Him. He's our first love. Not just
first in order of time, but first in preeminence. And we go to setting our thoughts
and our minds and our attention and our affection on all these
other things. Go a whoring after other gods. Like Peter did. Like Noah did. Like Lot did. Like Abraham did. And the Lord says, turn around. Turn around. Come back to your firstborn. I don't know how to illustrate
it other than this. I try to make things clear to you, I don't
want you to be confused. Oscar, how long have you and
Nancy been married now? Thirty years. Nancy, are you
convinced of his love? Has he proved it to you? Thirty
years, faithful husband, faithful father, faithful provider. Suppose it should happen. that
he gets infatuated with some lady down the road and is overcome
with his lust. Somebody said, well, he was unfaithful
to me. Huh? What? You mean an hour or two of that which is
out of character? means his heart's not committed
to that lady. Do you follow what I'm saying?
That doesn't mean he doesn't love Nancy. No. No, I'm not excusing
that. Don't go out here and say I'm
excusing that. What I'm saying is that act doesn't
negate faithful love. Does it? Doesn't negate faithful
love. And my God, There are times, so many times, when I go a whoring from my Lord and seek to serve my own personal interest. Sometimes seek to serve instead
of Him the interest of my family. Sometimes seek to serve instead
of him worldly comfort Among so many other things But Lord, you know all things You know that I love you And as often as you are by temptation
and Allured away from him who is your first love and your heart
gets cold by being wrapped up in things of no significance. Go back to him. Go back to where the love is
made known. Back to the sacrifice that he
made on your behalf. And ask him to revive your love.
To show himself. even if it's just through the
lattice work for a little while. Amen.