If you have a few Bibles, it's
on page 1170. John chapter 14. And I just want to read one verse
to you. Verse 21. John chapter 14 and verse 21. 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. He that hath my commandments."
You know, most people, at least in our part of the world, have
access to the Lord's commandments because they have Bibles. If
you have a Bible, you have access to the Lord's commandments. In
verse 23, he calls them his words. What he calls commandments in
verse 21, in verse 23, he says, If any man love me, he will keep
my words. So almost everybody has access
to his words, to his commandments, because they have access to a
Bible. But you know, just because a
man has access to a Bible doesn't mean he has the commandments.
It doesn't mean he retains and keeps the commandment, his word. It doesn't mean he reads them. It doesn't mean he understands
them. And it doesn't mean he believes them or keeps them.
Some read the Bible. Some hear what's taught in the
Bible, but they don't have these commandments or these words in
their hearts. They don't retain what they read,
they don't retain what they hear, and they don't keep them. They
don't keep them. They lose them. They hear them,
but they lose them. It's not natural for a lost person,
an unregenerated person, to hear the Word and retain it. He always
loses it. He loses it naturally or Satan
comes and steals it from his heart. So he can't keep it. There
are those who hear and believe and retain the words of Christ
in their heart and they live by the faith of these words. You have those people in this
world. You have His true disciples. Paul said it like this, let the
words of Christ dwell in you. In you. That's what we're talking
about. He that hath my commandments,
he that hath my word, were in his heart. In his heart. The words of Christ dwell in
there richly in all wisdom. David said, Thy word have I hid
in my heart. In my heart. That's what Christ
is talking about. He that hath my commandments
in his heart and keepeth them. David said, I have remembered
thy name, O Lord. In the night have I kept thy
law. I've kept your word. I've kept
your gospel. I've retained them. I've remembered
them. I've believed them. And I've
practiced them. I've kept your word. Boy, how
often His disciples proved that they had retained His Word in
their hearts. More, I imagine, than they even
realized themselves. Sometimes not for great joy,
but to their grief. Sometimes not to make them laugh,
but to make them cry. That's what happens when you
keep His Word. When His Word is in your heart,
sometimes His Word comes and rebukes you. Sometimes it reproves
you. Listen to this concerning the
Apostle Peter when he had denied the Lord the third time. The
Lord turned and looked upon Peter, and Peter remembered the Word
of the Lord. What does it mean to keep His
Word? It means sometimes it stirs up
your memory. Peter remembered the Word of
the Lord How he said unto him, Before the cock shall crow, thou
shalt deny me three times. And Peter went out and wept bitterly." Remember the story of the ladies
there at the sepulcher? They retained His Word. They
kept His commandments. Remember how it was said to them?
The angel said unto them, He is not here, but risen. He is risen. Remember how He
spake unto you at Galilee, saying, The Son of Man must be delivered
into the hands of sinful man, and be crucified, and the third
day be raised again. And listen to this. And they
remembered His words. They believed His word. They kept His commandment. And
they returned from the sepulcher with great joy. They kept His
commandment. They kept His word. How often
did this happen? When therefore the Lord was risen
from the dead, His disciples remembered that He had said unto
them, and they believed the scriptures. See what it means for the scriptures
to dwell in us? They sometimes come to us, they
correct us, they rebuke us. They come to us to give us understanding. They bring back to our memory
what we've read. They increase our faith, our
joy. Sometimes in our confusion, the
Word comes to us and it clears up our confusion. Remember when
Peter went down to Cornelius' house to preach the gospel to
him? And when the Holy Ghost fell upon the Gentiles which
heard the word, Peter was so confused he did not know what
to think. But remember what cleared up
all his confusion? Then remembered I the word of
the Lord that said, He shall baptize them with the Holy Ghost. Cleared up all his confusion.
Why? Because the word, the commandment,
dwelt in them. They kept it. They kept it. When we hear and believe His
Word and we retain it in our heart to lead us in our faith
and in our practice, then verse 21 is said to us as well as the
apostles of old. He that hath my commandments,
and keepeth them, he it is that loveth. When we have the Word
in our heart, when it comes to us, telling
us what to believe, telling us what to practice, we retain it
and we keep His Word, then it's said to you and then it's said
to me. He it is that loveth me. You know everybody don't love
Christ. Who has reason to believe that
they love Him? Those who retain His Word in
their heart. Those who believe and those who
practice what He tells them in His blessed Word, in His commandments. He it is that loveth me. Boy,
you and I are living in a day when this whole concept of love
is little known. The Word is thrown around so
haphazardly and so easily. We've heard the word love all
the time, and we've heard it so much it means little or nothing.
Parents train their children, their young teenagers, to say
before they hang up on the phone, I love you, but it means nothing. Everybody loves everybody. Everybody
loves everybody with all their heart. Hollywood's head over
heels in love with each other, but they can't live together
as man and wife. Love, love, love, love, and they've lost
the whole concept of love. How is love manifested? Is it
some emotional expression? It's not that at all according
to this word, is it? Love is manifest by its actions. He that loveth me keeps my commandments. He said down here in verse 23
and 24, He that loveth me not keepeth not myself. He may profess
to love me, but the difference in a profession and a possession
is what we do. This is He that loveth me." Love is manifested in a parent
when a parent devotes their time and their energy to train up
their children properly. That's where love is manifested
in the prayer. Children love their parents when they are obedient
and respectful to their parents. Wives love their husbands when
they reverence their husbands, when they submit to their husbands
in everything. A husband loves his wife when
he's considerate to her. and fulfills her needs physically,
emotionally, and mentally, husbands, love your wives, and be not bitter
against them." That's love. That's love. It's not an emotional
expression. It's doing. It's action. It's in the attitude. John wrote
to us and he warned us against disusing this love haphazardly. He said this, let us not love
in word, neither in tongue. Now, I don't think John meant
never to tell anybody you love them. I don't think he meant
never to write a note and say I love you in it. That's not
what he's meaning. What he's meaning is this. Don't love only
in word or in tongue, but in deed and in truth. Love always has actions with
it. We show it by what we do. Listen to 1 Corinthians 13 in
the Amplified Commentary. Listen to how it reads this.
It's a perfect expression of what love really is. Listen to
this. Love endures long and is kind. Now, here's love. Do I love?
Do you love? Do we love the Savior? Do we
love one another? Well, love endures long and is
patient and is kind. Love never envies nor boils over
with jealousy. Listen to this. Love is not boastful
or vainglorious. It never displays itself haughtily. Love is not conceited. It's not
arrogant and inflated with pride. Love is not rude. Love is not rude. Love won't let you always be
giving somebody peace of your mind. I talked with a lady yesterday. She said, I don't care. I don't
care what I tell people. Well, you don't love, because
love is not rude. Love is not rude. It does not
behave itself uncomely. Love does not insist upon its
own rights or get in its own way, for it is not self-seeking. Love is not touchy and fretful. Love takes no account of the
evil did to it. It pays no attention to a suffered
wrong. Love does not rejoice in injustice
and unrighteousness, but rejoices with right and truth when it
prevails. Love bears up under everything
and anything that comes, is never ready, is ever ready to believe
the best about a person. Its hopes are fadeless under
all circumstances, and it endears everything without weakening."
That's more than just an emotion, isn't it? That's more than a
feeling we may have towards somebody. He that loveth me, he it is that
keeps my commandments. When we take our proper place
that God has called us to, our proper place that God has called
us to in our walking life, whatever that calling is, and we faithfully
abide there, having His Word as our rule, that is true love. Now, let me say that again. When
we abide in the calling where God has called us, and we abide
there and having God's rule, having God's Word as our rule,
That's true love. That's true love. He that hath
my word and keepeth it, he it is that loveth me. This is what
the Lord Jesus said to Simon Bar-Jonah. Remember when he was
raised from the dead and Simon had denied him three times? And
he asked him three times, do you love me? Simon, son of Jonah,
do you love me? He said, Lord, you know I love
you. He said, feed my lambs. Then feed my lambs. If you don't love me, then don't
do anything. But if you love me, feed my lambs. He asked him again, Simon, do
you love me? He said, Lord, you know I love
you. He said, then feed my sheep. Simon, do you love me? And he
was so grieved, he said, Lord, you know everything. You know
everything. You know that I love you. He
said, then you show me. You show me you love me. You
show me that the love of God abides in your heart. Feed my
sheep. Now that raises this question,
doesn't it? How does these commandments,
how does this Word get into our hearts to begin with? If the Word is in us, in our
hearts, thy Word have I hid in thy heart, and the practice of
that Word in our faith and in our life is the manifestation
of true love to Him, then we have to ask this question, how
did this commandment, how does His Word get in us in the first
place? Let me say two things about this.
It's very simple. I hope I don't confuse you with
it. Listen to Jeremiah 31 and 33. This shall be the covenant
that I will make with them after those days, saith the Lord. I
will put my law in their inward heart. And I will write my law
in their heart. And I will be to them a God,
and they shall be to me a people. How does this commandment get
in us? How does his law, how does his
gospel, his word get in our heart initially to begin with? He puts
it there. He brings it and puts it there.
Paul attributes this work to the Holy Spirit. Listen how he
says, listen how he quotes that verse. In Hebrews 10, verse 15,
when he quoted Jeremiah, he said, Wherefore also the Holy Spirit
is a witness unto us, for this is what he said. This is the
covenant that I will make with them after those days, saith
the Lord. I will put my laws unto their hearts and write them
in their mind. He attributes this work to the
Holy Spirit. This is a witness of the Holy
Spirit that He's in us, that He is with us, that He has indeed
put the Lord's command, His words, in our heart. Where did the work
begin in your heart? It began by the Holy Spirit.
He's the one that did the work. He's the one that puts us there.
Here's the way the Lord does it. He comes to us and finds
us dead. and trespasses and sin. Dead. He finds us dead. And He quickens
us. He gives us new life. And here's
what He says, I will give them a new heart and a new spirit. I'll give them a new heart and
a new spirit. Now, why didn't He just say,
I'll give them a spirit? I'll give them a new spirit.
Do you remember what the Lord Jesus said about putting new
wine into old bottles? It doesn't work, does it? You
put new wine into old wineskins, and when that wine begins to
ferment, it bursts the old wineskins. So you have to put new wine into
new skins. The Lord Jesus doesn't give us
a new spirit in our old hearts. He gives us a new spirit in a
new heart. Completely new creature. And listen to this. I will put
My Spirit within you. My Spirit within you. And I will
cause you to walk in My statures and keep My judgments and do
them. The Holy Spirit gives us a new
heart and He puts within us those gracious Listen to this. Now, this is so important. I
hope I don't lose you on this. When He puts a new heart in us
and a new spirit, He gives us the Holy Spirit and He implants
in us a holy and gracious principle of obedience. That's so important to remember.
Because our obedience in our daily life, our keeping His commandments,
our retaining them and believing them and following Him, begins
when the Holy Spirit regenerated us. He puts within us this holy,
gracious principle of obedience. Jeremiah calls it, my law. Paul
calls it the law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus. And
he said in Galatians 6 and 2, bury one another's burdens and
so fulfill the law of Christ. The law. The law. You know what
the law is? It's a principle of right and
wrong. And that law, you notice how
Jeremiah says it, he didn't say he put his laws within our heart,
he said he put his law. That's that holy principle, that
holy rule. He sets up His rule in our hearts. It's essential that He does that
because isn't that the issue with man? We'll not have this
man to reign over us. We want to rule. We want to be
God. We want to call the shots. So
what must he do? He must give us a new heart and
a new spirit, and the Holy Spirit must come and implant within
us this principle of obeying the Lord. Listen to how Peter
says, I Peter 1, verse 22, seeing you have purified your souls
in obeying the truth, how? Through the Spirit. How do we
obey the truth? Through the Spirit. unto unfinged
love of the brother." Listen to how he said it in another
place, "...elect according to the foreknowledge of God the
Father, through sanctification of the Spirit, unto obedience
and sprinkling of the blood." What I'm saying is this, brothers
and sisters, how does these commandments get in our hearts? How does these
words get in our hearts? It begins by the Holy Spirit
coming to us, quickening us, giving us a new heart and a spirit,
and implanting in us this gracious principle of obedience. Of obedience. Listen to what else it was said
to have in our hearts. And it shows us that, first of
all, this begins with a principle. Listen to these two gracious
laws. I will put my fear in your hearts. That's a gracious principle,
eh? That you shall not depart from
me. Listen to this. It was read this morning. The
love of God is shed abroad where? In our hearts. How? By the Holy
Ghost which is given to us. Listen to this principle. Where
is most of them then? It is excluded. By what law?
Of works? No, but by the law of faith. See these laws? I will put my
law in their heart. What is that? A gracious fear. A gracious reverence. The law
of love. The law of faith. James calls
it the perfect law of liberty. Paul calls it the rule of Christ. He sets up the rule of Christ
in our hearts. We have a new heart and a new
spirit and grace and the graces of the Holy Spirit in our hearts.
And what does this do? This secures our obedience to
the rule of the Lord Jesus Christ. That's the first way. That's
the first thing. How does his word, how does his commandment,
how does his law, his gospel, get in our hearts? By the Holy
Spirit. By a new heart and a new spirit.
That's why the Lord said you must be born again, or you can't
see the kingdom of heaven, you can't enter into the kingdom.
You cannot live a Christian life, you cannot keep His commandments
until this new birth takes place. Because in that new birth is
implanted this holy principle of obedience. I tried for years
to obey, and I couldn't. I couldn't. I didn't have a heart
to obey. Now, here's the second thing
about this. As we desire the sensual milk
of the Word, and as we let the words of Christ dwell in us richly,
and as we hide His Word in our heart, we obey them. We obey them. We put the Word
by God's grace in our hearts as we desire them, as we read
them, as we listen to them. They get in our hearts. Then
we through grace by faith obey his commandments. He that hath
my commandments and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me." But
somebody will say, Bruce, I see such imperfections in my obedience. I do too. I do too. And if the Lord required out
of us personally perfect obedience, then we'd spend guilty days and
guilty nights, wouldn't we not? He required perfect obedience,
but our substitute rendered that perfect obedience. His was a
perfect obedience, and it was done on our behalf. But our obedience
as we work our Christian life out and live our Christian life,
we see so much imperfection in our obedience. But you know that's
good for us. What if we didn't see a lot of
imperfection? Wouldn't we get proud? Wouldn't
we trust in our own obedience to Him? Wouldn't we need a Savior? Wouldn't we need a mediator between
us and God? Yes, we see much imperfection,
but yet over and above that, do we not keep His commandments?
We keep His commandments. We do it with great difficulty,
but we do it. And as we do it, what does he
say about us? Verse 21, He it is that loveth
me. He that hath my commandments
and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me. Boy, John's got a way of making
these little statements, but boy, I tell you what they're
searching. They'll search you out. They'll keep you down, they'll
keep you humble, and yet they'll lift you up. They'll strip you
of all your vain confidence. They'll make you afraid when
you stray. And they'll fill your heart with gratitude and love
when you seek to obey Him in everything. But He just makes
this little statement, like this. He that hath My commandments,
and keepeth them. He it is that loveth Me. He that
loveth Me not keepeth not My commandments. He doesn't leave
any gray areas, does He? Do you love Me? Then you will
keep My commandments. If you don't love Me, you won't.
No gray areas. Look at verse 21 again. He that loveth me shall be loved
of my Father. Now that's a peculiar statement,
isn't it? And he that loveth me, he that keepeth my commandments,
because he loveth me, shall be loved of my Father. I think Gil
had a comment on this that would explain it much better than I
could. Let me read what John Gil said about shall be loved
of my Father. love to Christ and His commandments,
His Word, is the cause or condition or motive of God's love to His
people. Nor does His love to them begin
when they begin to love Christ and His Word. But this expression
denotes some future and greater manifestations of the Father's
love to such people. and shows how grateful to the
Father is the love and obedience of His people to the Son. He that honors the Son. You know
what God does? He honors. He honors. That congregation that loves
the Son of God and that obeys His Word and retains His commandments
The Father honors that congregation. He's in their midst and He reveals
His love to them. Look in the 16th chapter of John
in verse 26. He makes somewhat of the same
statement here in verse 26 and verse 27. Look what he says here. John chapter 16, verse 26. In
that day you shall ask in my name. And I say unto you that
I will pray the Father, I say unto you that I will pray the
Father for you. And I say not unto you that I
will pray the Father for you, for the Father himself loveth
you. The Father loves you because
you have loved me and have believed that I came out from him. It's evident the Father loves
you. That's what Christ is saying. because you have loved me." Our love for Christ and our faith
in Christ is evident of God's love to us. If we love Him, it's
because He first loved us. This is where we get a lot of
our confidence, is it not? Do I love Him? Why do I love
Him? Because He loved me first. If
I don't love Him, I can't have any confidence that He loves
me. God's love for us is evident
in His electing us to salvation and sending His Son to secure
salvation for us, calling us by His gospel, regenerating us
by His grace, and now our love for Christ is evident of that
love. And as we love Christ more and
more, the love of God is more and more evident in our love. And we can be assured of the
Father's love to us by our love to Christ. My Father loves you
because it's evident He loves you. Because you love Me. Look back over at my text again,
John 14, verse 21. He that hath my commandments,
the Holy Spirit has put this principle of obedience in him.
He reads my word. He hides it in his heart. He
grows in grace and knowledge. He keeps these sayings of mine. And that man is the man who loves
me. And that is the man that the Father loves. The Father
will love him. Prove his love. Show him his
love. And look at this. And I will love him. And I will
love him. What does this show us? That Christ has a way of showing
us his love. I will love him. Hasn't he always
loved us? He didn't just begin to love
us, He's always loved us. But this shows us here that Christ
has a way of bringing us into a deeper knowledge of His love. I will love Him, I'll make Him
know it. I'll make Him know it. How does
He make us to know He loves us? Well, maybe it's when He shows
us that He's guiding us. by His providence? Isn't it a
wonderful thing when He makes manifest to you that He's guiding
you? You make a move, you have to
do something, and He shows you, I'm the one that's led you. You'd
have made a fool out of yourself, but I led you. I kept you by
my promise. Why do I do that? Because I love
you. How many mistakes he's kept us
from. How many truths has he led us into in his providence.
And why does he do that? His love. His love. Well, he lets some people go,
don't he? Let's them go. Look at the hell that some people
have brought upon themselves. And you know why? He's let them
go. Why did he leave them to themselves? Or when we've been tempted and
He comes to us and secures us from this temptation. And when
we were ready to fall because it was so heavy, He gets down
underneath us and secures us with His everlasting arms. That
shows us that He loves us. I will love Him. Or when we've
sinned and our conscience is loaded with guilt and He manifests
to us the cleansing of His blood, He shows us that He forgives
us. He loves us. Or when afflictions come upon
our body and yet He gives us strength in our inner man to
bear it, He's telling us that He loves us. When we've been
assaulted by hell and Christ comes and undertakes for us.
Or when we've been weakened in the battle and He comes to our
aid and strengthens us. He's telling us, I love you.
I will love Him and make Him know it. One thing you and I know about
the love of Christ, the greatest knowledge that we can come to
about the love of Christ is this, that it passeth knowledge. I
want you to turn to one more passage of Scripture, and I won't
keep you very much longer, just a minute longer. Look in Ephesians,
chapter 3. Paul prayed for this very thing
in Ephesians, chapter 3, that we may have a greater knowledge
of Christ's love. And the only way we can have
that is for Him to love us. Open our hearts and let us know
that He loves us. Show us that He loves us. Look
at what he says in Ephesians, chapter 3, verse 17. This is the prayer of Paul to
these Ephesians. Verse 17, that Christ may dwell
in your hearts by faith, that you, being rooted and grounded
in love, may be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth,
the length, and depth, and height, and to know the love of Christ,
look at this, which passeth knowledge. The greatest knowledge that you
and I can attain to Christ's love is to come to this knowledge
that is so wide, it's so high, it's so deep, and it's so long
that it passes our knowledge to comprehend. If I think that
I know just how much He loves me, I don't know much about this
love. If I think I've comprehended the depths, If I begin to despair
because I think I'm in such a depth that His love is not underneath
me, then I don't know enough about His love. Because His love
reaches a depth that we cannot comprehend. Have you ever sunk
low? Well, there's a love that goes
beyond your sinking. Are you in a warfare with principalities
and powers in the high places? There's a love that goes over
that. The width and the length. I tell
you, I've been in a trial so long. Do you ever get in a long
trial that you think, how long, Lord, forever? But you know something,
there's a love that stretches beyond our greatest trial. And when that trial ends, the
love is still there. And to know the love of Christ,
which absolutely passes knowledge, is the greatest knowledge we
can apprehend of His love. And He's got a way of showing
that love to us. He keeps my commandments, and
my Father will love Him, and I will love Him, and I'll make
Him to know that I love Him. The Lord talked about those false
apostles that were accusing the poor little Christians. Tell
them how sorry they were. No way you could have a saving
interest in Christ. And He said, there's coming a
day when I'll make them to know I love you. I'll make them to
know I love you. And my prayer is, Lord, make
me know that you love me. Love me. Let me know that you
love me. I tell you, I tell you, we can
be saved. And we can know just a little, little bit about Christ's
love. But I want to know a lot about
it, don't you? I've got to be loved. Wouldn't it be awful to
be loved by nobody? That'd be heartbreaking. But
oh, what a joy to be loved by the Son of God. and to have Him
to teach us that He loves us. One more thing. Look in our text
again and we'll close with this. Chapter 14 and verse 21. I will
love Him. And look at this. I will manifest
Myself to Him. I will let Myself be clearly
seen by the eye of His face. I will make Myself real to Him
in my Word and in my Gospel. Oh, brothers and sisters, you
and I era, if we think that we can't know any more about Christ
than we initially did when He saved us. About all we knew about Him was
then when He's a merciful Savior. But what did Paul say? He turns
ready to us, Oh, that I may know Him. that I may know this risen
Christ." Did Paul know Him? Sure he knew Him. Well, what
was he talking about? I want to know more of Him. I
want Him to reveal more of Himself to me. Lord, let me know You. Oh, the power of His presence,
the comfort and joy of His presence. Has He got a way of making Himself
manifest in His presence with you? Why, sure He does. Moses esteemed his presence so
he said, Lord, if your presence don't go with me, don't carry
me up here because I don't want to go without your presence.
David said, Lord, in your presence is fullness of joy. Oh, Lord,
let us know your presence. Manifest your presence to us.
You said you would. You said you'd manifest yourself
to us. Oh, his presence. His presence,
His power, His goodness, His love. We can know Him in ways that
we can never imagine when He manifests Himself to
us, to our spirits, to our minds. Not that we hear Him with an
audible voice. There's no way we're going to
do that. We don't want that. We don't want to feel Him in
our flesh. I don't want to feel chill bumps going up my back,
or I don't want to feel the hair raising on my arm, do you? Or
on my neck. That's silly stuff. But I'll
tell you what, he's got a way of revealing himself to our minds,
our understanding, our spirits. I remember one time years ago,
years and years ago, we were in the communion service. We
were taking communion. And I can't explain this, but
it was so real. As I was sitting there looking
at that little piece of bread I was getting ready to eat, and
had that little glass in my hand ready to drink it, representing
His blood in His body, it was almost like the Lord Jesus Christ
Himself was standing in front of me, and the words came to
my heart in so much clarity and comfort and joy and assurance,
this is my body. This is my blood. And it's almost
like He just spoke that to me personally. I've read that and
I've read it since. But I've never experienced His
presence in it like I did that day. And what is that? That's
Him manifesting Himself to us. He does it. I long for Him to
do that every time I take the communion. But it's never happened
but that one time. Oh, I sit there waiting for the
Lord to speak to me. Well, He is speaking. I can read it right
there in His Word. He's speaking. But you know what
I'm saying? Sometimes it's not just in word only. But it's when
the Holy Spirit brings it and He's in it. He's in it. And when
does this usually happen? When does the Father make us
to know that He loves us? When does the Son reveal His
love to us? When does He manifest Himself
to us? You know when it is. in our path of duty, in our path
of following Him, in our path of keeping His Word, keeping
His commandments. That's when He does it. That's
when He does it. 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. I'll make
myself real to Him. God bless His Word. Let's pray.