Turn to John, the Gospel of John
chapter 21. John chapter 21. Nearly, nearly
40 years ago, Unbelievable. But nearly 40 years
ago, I heard my pastor, Henry Mahan, on television. That's how I first heard the
gospel. And he asked this question, do you love Jesus Christ? I have been asked if I believed
on Christ. I've been asked to accept Christ
as my personal savior in the past. Before that, before I heard
the gospel, I heard a lot of things, but the first time, for
the first time, I heard, this one struck me right
in the heart because I never thought of it this way. Do you
love? And that's the title of the message.
Do you love? Jesus Christ. Love, and I want
you to get this, love is what makes the difference of Christianity
being a religion or a relationship. It's what makes the difference
of it being a religion or being a relationship with the Lord
Jesus Christ, with the God of heaven and earth. And I know
that the one whom I love has me. Whomever or whatever you
love, that has you. It has your heart,
it has your affection, it has your trust, the one you love. There is no one saved does not
love Jesus Christ. No one is saved who does not
love the Lord Jesus Christ, no matter how moral, no matter how
charitable, no matter how faithful or religious one might be. Without love, Without love, there
is no relationship with Christ and there's no salvation, no
work of grace in the soul. Scripture says, he that loves
not knows not God. The first thing, one of the first
things the Holy Spirit does when he takes possession of a sinner
is this, the love of God is shed abroad in his heart. That's one
of the first things. Now I want to ask a question. This is a searching question.
Do you love Jesus Christ? Look over in verse 15. Let me
read a few verses. So when they had dined, Jesus saith to Simon Peter, Simon,
Son of Jonas, lovest thou me more than these? He saith unto
him, Yea, Lord, yes, Lord. Thou knowest that I love thee.
He saith unto him, Feed my sheep. He saith to him again the second
time, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me He saith unto him, Yea,
Lord, thou knowest that I love thee. He saith unto him, Feed
my sheep. He saith unto him the third time,
Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me? Peter was grieved because
he said unto him the third time, Lovest thou me? And he said unto
him, Lord, thou knowest all things. thou knowest that I love thee.
Jesus saith unto him, feed my sheep. Verily, verily, I say
unto thee, when thou wast young, thou girdest thyself and walkest
whither thou wouldest. When thou shalt be old, thou
shalt stretch forth thy hands, and another shall gird thee and
carry thee whither thou wouldest not. This spake he, signifying
by what death he should glorify God. By what death he should
glorify God, and when he has spoken this, he saith unto him,
follow me, follow me. Peter, do you love me? It's a searching question. He
didn't ask Peter why he had denied him. He could have, Peter boasted,
I'll never, I'll die for you. I'll die for you. I won't leave
you. I'll die for you. And he cursed and he denied him
three times. But he didn't ask him that. You
know why? Why? I think why? Love hideth
the matter. Aren't you glad the Lord doesn't
reveal the sins he's forgiven you of? I am. I am. He didn't ask him that. He went straight to the heart
of the matter. Straight to the heart of the
matter. Lovest thou me more than these? This question calls Peter
to examine himself. And it's a question if we face
properly, it'll make us examine ourselves. And why is that? Why is that? Why should we examine
ourselves? No relationship, no relationship lasts where love
is absent. It doesn't last. There's no serving
Christ. There is no worshiping the Lord
Jesus Christ apart from love. Can't do it. The Lord said, they
worship me with their lips, but their heart, their hearts are
far from me. far from me." And before Peter
enters the heat of the battle, you see, after he asked him this
three times, he tells him what's going to happen to him, how he's
going to die. They're going to crucify him. History has it he
was crucified upside down. Peter didn't think he was worthy
to be crucified the same way the Lord was. I don't know, but he's going to be crucified.
The Lord revealed to him the death that he would glorify God
by. So before he enters the heat of the battle, this matter of
love to Christ, above all other things, must be settled. It must
be settled. The only thing that will keep
a believer on the battlefield The only thing that'll do that
is a real genuine love to the master, a real genuine love. What keeps a mother by the bedside
of a sick child? A few years ago, I was in the
hospital. I had a virus. I was in there
for about three days, and I had to make my wife go home. I didn't
have to make one nurse go home, and I understand that. I understand
that. That was her job. She was there
and she would tell me who was coming in next and she'd tell
me she'd be punching out and the other lady be taking over.
But I had to make my wife go home. I said, you go home. I
said, I'm okay. They're taking care of me here.
They're taking good care of me. I had to make her go home. I
didn't have to make the nurses go home. The only difference is there
was one that loved me. The others, I was a duty. And
I understand that. So this matter of love to Christ, Peter, the battle's going to
get hot. It's going to get hot. And you're going to die over
the gospel. And the only thing that's going to carry you through
is a strong love for me. A deep, deep love for Christ.
We sing a song, the deep, deep love of Jesus. Solomon said this, love is stronger
than death. He said it's stronger than death. Having loved his own, he loved
them to the end. He didn't regret going to the
cross. Having loved his own, he loved him all the way to the
end. What is it that constrains us?
Is it law? No. Not the believer, now. Not
the believer. There's one thing that the apostle says constrains
us. The love of Christ constrains us. What constrains us from this
old man, this old man, this old nature we have, from going wild,
from going back? It's a love to Christ. It's a
genuine love to the Lord Jesus Christ. We are to preach the truth in
love. And the only way, the only way
that I can stand here and preach the truth in love is to love
the one I'm preaching. It's to love the one, it's to
brag about Him. to brag about him is to boast
of the Lord Jesus Christ. A person who loves Christ, now
listen, a person who loves Christ is the person who has a heart
to preach with. That person has a heart to tell
others about him. Have you seen him? whom my soul
loveth. Have you seen him? Look over
in, since I mentioned that, look over in Song of Solomon. I want you to notice in chapter
two, or chapter one, Chapter 1, verse 7. Tell me,
O thou whom my soul loveth, where thou feedest? Oh, where thou
feedest? Where thou makest thy flock to
rest at noonday? Look over in chapter 3. Listen to this. Listen to this
language. 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 and the streets and
in the broad ways. I will seek him whom my soul
loveth. I sought him, but I found him
not. The watchman 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. That's love. That's a relationship,
isn't it? That's a strong relationship.
No stronger relationship than when two people love each other.
There is no stronger relationship at all. There is a real difference between
preaching the truth in love and just preaching the letter. are real different. Some can
get a hold of doctrine who never get a hold of the Lord Jesus
Christ, who never lay hold of eternal life. Now, as I said, the Lord takes
Peter by the heart and he has him to compare, to examine his
love to him, to Christ, to these things. Lovest thou me more than
these? Look over in the first part of
this chapter. It says in verse 1, after these
things, Jesus showed himself again to the disciples in John
21 at the Sea of Tiberias. And on this Y showed he himself. There were together Simon Peter,
Thomas called Didymus, Nathanael of Canaan, Galilee, and the sons
of Zebedee, and two other of his disciples. And Simon Peter
said unto them, I'm going fishing. I'm going fishing. He hadn't
done that for a long time. But he said, I'm going to go
back to my occupation. I'm going to go fishing. And
listen, be careful who you follow. They said to him, well, we're
going to go with you. We're going to go with you. They went forth
and entered into a ship immediately, and they caught nothing. They
caught nothing. that the Lord is going to take
Peter by the heart and he's going to have Peter sit down, sitting
there in front of him to examine himself and to compare his love
to him to these things, whatever these things may be. It may be
family, it may be job, it's whatever it is, it's these things. Nothing
can rival our love to Christ. I cannot love anything more I
am not to love anything more than I love Christ. I would to
God that we could love each other and love Christ the same. He's
not saying that I can't love you as much as I love him. I
wish I could. I wish we did. He said, he that
loves mother, father, sister, brother more than me is not worthy
of me. And then it's a personal question.
Peter, this is personal. This is getting personal, isn't
it? Do you love me? It's not a general question. It's
not a group question. It's the personal question. Is there anything about Christ
that you would change? Do you love me? As I am, as I
am, for who I am, do you love me? There's not one thing that
we would, that a believer would change about the Lord Jesus Christ.
Look over in Song of Solomon again. Now there are things I'm confident
that my wife would change about me. Because I'm not, neither
one of us are perfect. Neither one of them. There are
things that need to be changed about me, but not about Christ. Song of Solomon, Chapter 5. Listen
to this description. 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 the barrel. 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's altogether lovely. Everything about him is lovely.
He's altogether lovely. This is my beloved, and this
is my friend, O daughters of Jerusalem. He's all together. Peter, do you love me? Take Peter's name out of it and
put your name in there. But John, do you love me? Do
you love me? I thought about this last night
and I was going over this. Coming down here, do you love
me? Feed my sheep, feed my lambs this morning. Then it's a heart question. A
heart question. This goes beyond academics. This
goes beyond academics. It goes beyond ABC. It goes beyond
five points. It goes beyond that. It goes
to the heart. This has to do with a relationship. Love is a relationship. And love
starts in the heart. It's one of the first signs of
the work of the Holy Spirit that you fall in love with the Lord
Jesus Christ. That's one of the marks of sonship.
You go over and read 1 John. It talks about loving one another. Don't talk about loving someone
if something else has your heart. If something else has you, that's
what you love. And it's the clearest evidence
of a new heart. Of a new heart. And that's the
only heart that loves, that genuinely loves the Lord Jesus Christ.
And then it is a revealing question. It's a very revealing question.
It reveals whether one is lost or saved. It reveals whether
one is lost or saved. Turn over to John chapter 8. John chapter 8. In verse 41, the Lord's speaking
here. He's speaking to these Pharisees.
He says, you do the deeds of your father. Then said they to
him, we be not born of fornication, we have one father, even God.
God is our father. If that's so, if God is your
father, this is what's gonna happen. Jesus said unto them,
if God were your father, you would love me. You wouldn't be
trying to kill me, you'd love me. You'd worship me. You'd follow my feet and give
me the praise and glory that's due. For I proceeded forth and
I came from God. Neither came I of myself, but
he sent me. If God your Father, then you
would love Jesus Christ. It's a mark of sonship. There
are a lot of people And I believe this, I believe there's a lot
of people in hell that believe election, they believe predestination,
they believe, I believe, they believe that five points of Calvinism.
But there's not one soul, there is not one soul in hell who loves
Jesus Christ, not one. not one. You can believe doctor
and perish, but you can't love Christ and perish. That's not
even possible. It's not possible. And then it
reveals this. It reveals whether you're, it
reveals spiritual health or sickness, or sickness. Turn over to, I
didn't write this down, but it's a Revelation chapter 2. I'll find it from there. Revelations. Let me see here. It's a church at Ephesus. Let me find, here it is. It's
in the first verse. Unto the angel of the church
of Ephesus write, These things saith he that holdeth the seven
stars in his right hand, who walketh in the midst of the seven
golden candlesticks, I know thy works, and thy labor, and thy
patience, and how thou canst not bear them which are evil.
And thou hast tried them which say they are apostles, and are
not, and hast found them liars. and you've borne, you have borne
and have patience, you've labored and you've put up with persecution,
and you've patient, for my name's sake, thou hast labored and hast
not fainted. Nevertheless, that's a pretty
good resume up to now, isn't it? That's a pretty good resume,
to come from God. Nevertheless, I have somewhat
against thee, because thou hast left thy first love. This question, do you love me,
reveals spiritual health or spiritual sickness. He said you left your,
didn't sound like it, did it? You husbands and wives, you ever
just, you get married and you know the honeymoon has gone by,
time has gone by and you get busy? You're busy, you're making
a living, taking care of the kids Busy, busy, busy. Martha, Martha.
Comfort about with much service. That kitchen can wait. My wife can't take a dirty kitchen.
She has to clean it up if it's three o'clock in the morning.
And I say, Vicki, it'll be there in the morning. No it won't,
I'm not gonna let it. Martha, Martha. Martha, Martha. Comfort about with much service.
But Mary chose the one thing that was needful, him. Sit at his feet. Sit at his feet. Life can get us so busy that
before you know it, you look, turn around and you say, how'd
I get here? How'd I get here? Life can get so busy that when
the kids grow up and they finally leave, you look around and you
say, who are you? Who are you? I've been here all these years. Nevertheless, I have something
against you. You left your first love. Remember,
therefore, from whence thou art fallen, and repent, and do the
first works, or else, listen, listen how severe this is. I'm
going to come to thee quickly. I'm not going to put up with
this. I'm going to come quickly, and I'm going to remove the candlestick
out of his place. They got so busy that they forgot
him. It's a revealing question. It
also reveals whether one is walking in the spirit or in the flesh.
Who has your heart? If you be risen with Christ,
seek those things which are above. That's what your heart should
be set on. That's what my heart should be set on. Things that
are above. Not the things on this earth.
I know we have to live on it, but my heart does not have to
be set on it. consumed with it? And it's a repeated question.
He asked Peter three times. Three times. And without a doubt,
the reason he asked him three times is because we are repeat
offenders. Being in this flesh, our love
grows cold. It grows cold toward Christ.
It can. It grows cold toward one another.
It can do that. And we need to be reminded, I
think we need to be reminded every morning when we rise to
meet the day, do you love me? Face every day with this question.
Do you love me? Here's the sad thing. Turn back
over to John chapter 21. Here's why it has to be asked
three times. One of the reasons. I don't know all the reasons. He asked Peter in verse 15 in
John 21, do you love me? And Peter said, yea, Lord, thou
knowest I love you. It's like my wife, I think it
was like if my, if I asked my, or my wife asked me if I love
her, I'd say, yeah, well, you know I love you. All you husbands
say, well, honey, you know I love you. And then he asked him the second
time. And he said, Lord, thou knowest
all things, you know I love you. Then he asked him the third time. And the third time, what does
it say? Peter was grieved. He was grieved because he said
unto him the third time. He should have been grieved the
first time. It ought to grieve me if my wife
asked to ask me one time, do you love me? Do you love me? It took three times before it
grieved him. Now, why do I love Christ? Let
me give you a few things here, and I'm going to close. The scripture
tells us in 1 John 4, 19 that we love God because He what?
First loved us. It's a response. Love of God
shed abroad in the heart is a response to His love. I love Him. I love
Him. He loves me first. He chose me
first. He said to his disciples, you
did not choose me, I chose you. I chose you. I set my love on
you. I set my love, he says at one
place, on you. You are the apple of my eye. We have his full attention. We
have his full love. You know, I said our love can
grow cold. His never does. It never moves. It never diminishes. It's always
full and free. Even when he chastens us, when
he chastens us, he chastens us out of love. It is pure love
that's causing Him to chasten us. Another reason that we love the
Lord Jesus Christ, if we love Him at all, is because we've
been born of God. Born of God. And here's another reason I can't
help it. I can't help. I couldn't help
when I fell in love with my wife. I couldn't help it. It's not
something I tried to muster up and make myself do. I just fell
in love for her. That's why they call it falling
in love. If you could help it, you wouldn't fall. Falling in love. You can't help
it. The reason you believe, the reason,
the ones of you here that believe the gospel, the reason you believe,
you can't help it. You cannot help it. It's like
trying not to breathe. You have to breathe. You can
hold your breath for a little bit and you've got to breathe.
That's the way faith is. You can't help it. Lord, I believe.
Help my unbelief. And here's love's proof. Love's
proof. When Peter said, Lord, you know
I love you, he said, feed my lambs, feed my sheep. One of the reasons he says this
to Peter, Peter had such a personality about him that he would jump
straight into the face of those Pharisees and Sadducees, and
those lawyers, and he would have went toe-to-toe with them, and
the sheep would have starved. A young man asked me some time
ago about preaching, and he was talking about a message,
you know, preparing a message and all. And I said, don't, I said, one
of the things I can, Advice I'd give you is don't try to straighten anybody
out. This man's young. He's young. I said don't try
to straighten him. Don't try to convince anybody
of the five points of Calvinism. I said feed the sheep. When you
stand to preach, feed the sheep. False religion, I said to him,
I said false religion will always be wrong all the way to the end. You'll never change it. But you
can feed the sheep. And that's what the Lord said
to Peter. Feed my lambs. Feed my sheep. Don't get caught
up out here fighting with these people. Don't get caught up out
here throwing rocks back at them. They throw rocks at you. You
pick them back up and throw them back at them. Don't do that.
Don't do that. Feed the sheep. Take care of
the sheep. Take care of the sheep. The Father proved His love to
us by sending His only begotten Son. The Son proved His love
to us by dying on the cross in our place. The Holy Spirit proves
His love to us by keeping us, indwelling us, keeping us, and
revealing to us the Lord Jesus Christ and guiding us, guiding
us. And my duty this morning is to
feed the sheep. And Christ is the food. I'm the
bread. I'm the water. Now let me give
you these closing thoughts, and I got this from my pastor, Henry,
years ago. How do I know that I love Christ? It blessed me, so I wrote it
down. I'm gonna give it to you like it was given to me. How
do I know that I love The Lord Jesus Christ. Now we talked about
loving Christ. The Lord said, Peter, do you
love me? And that question is just as alive today, just as
real right now to every believer here. Do you love me? Do you
love me? You cannot help. You absolutely
cannot help thinking about them. Do you try to think of someone
that you love? They're on your mind. They're
on your mind. When I met my wife and we started
dating, I was useless. I was pretty much useless. All
I want to do is punch out of work and get on the road and
go see her. I told her even now, I said, if you knew how much
I enjoyed your company, you wouldn't get out of the truck. You wouldn't. That's after about 40 years,
almost. You can't help thinking about
them. You don't have to try and think
about someone you love. You don't have to try. They're
on your mind. They're on your heart, on your
heart. And then you love their presence. Don't you love their
company? Oh, don't you love it when the,
I tell you what, when the grandchildren come to our house. I enjoy that
so much. You love their presence. You
love to be in their company. And you don't want them to leave.
Have you seen him, whom my soul loveth? That's what she said. You love to talk about him. You
love to talk about them. You describe them. You're a parent,
you talk about your children. You'll put a sticker on your
car, I'm a proud parent of this, proud parent of that. You love to talk about them. And then you long, you long for
their company. Waiting for them to come home.
Waiting for them to come home. Long for their company. And listen,
it is not hard to submit to someone you love. It's not hard to do that. Not
if you love that person. It's not hard to submit. And
it's easy to be faithful to the one you love. Whom have I in
heaven but thee? And there is none upon earth
that I desire beside thee. But Peter says in all three statements,
and I think he answered correctly and wisely, and this is comforting. Here's some real comfort here.
Lord, thou knowest all things. thou knowest that I love thee."
You know it. Lord, you know. I know a few
hours ago I acted like an idiot. Lord, you know. You know my heart. You know all things. You know
I love you. You know I do. All right.