 The title of our sermon this morning is Do You Love Christ comes in the form of a question. Do you love Christ? And we're in John chapter 14 looking now at this paragraph from verses 15 through 24. The Lord turning from his concern for the faith of his disciples now to their love for him. All of this to be an encouragement to them to persevere through the great trial they're about to face. The Puritan Thomas Vincent wrote these words in the 17th century. He said this, the life of Christianity consists very much in our love to Christ. Without love to Christ we are as much without spiritual life as a carcass when the soul is fled from it is without natural life. Faith without love to Christ is a dead faith and a Christian without love to Christ is a dead Christian dead in sins and trespasses without love to Christ we may have the name of Christians but we are holy without the nature we may have the form of godliness but we are holy without the power give me thine heart is the language of God to all the children of men and give me thy love is the language of Christ to all his disciples. Do you love the Lord Jesus Christ? Do you love Christ? Most of us in this room would undoubtedly answer yes to that question but it's one thing to say that you love Christ it's another thing altogether to actually love him. There have been periods of time in Christian history where to say that you love Christ would have immediately exposed you to fierce persecution loss of family loss of job exile prison torture beatings the rack burning at the stake the loss of their life that love which exposed them to such suffering was the same love that compelled them to it and the same love that sustained them through it our day is a little different most everyone you meet professes to love Christ unbelieving hordes of easy believism nominal so-called Christians that cheapen and degrade what it means to actually love the Lord there's no real commitment to the church much less a commitment to suffer and die they call themselves Christians and yet they are devoid of true love for the Lord the Bible teaches that we have three deceiving enemies a world system designed for the very purpose of enticing our love for the world an adversary who lays before us an endless procession of temptations and the most deceitful enemy of all desperately wicked and closest to you your own flesh the seed of your own flesh your sinful and wicked and deceitful heart the human heart consider the heart for a moment the human heart so deceptive so duplicitous so wicked that God says who can know it and that question of Jeremiah 17 assumes an answer no one can know it but God and God alone God alone sees the heart God alone judges the heart people are so easily deceived so easily influenced so easily confused so fickle so unstable most people today so easily deceived by their own heart they don't even know their own mind much of the time the only way to really understand what a person truly believes or thinks or feels is by looking at the practice of their life that's a biblical principle we see that throughout the scriptures don't we it's a fundamental teaching of the Bible you will know them by their fruit the presuppose is that you can't know them through the profession of their heart we're so prone to deceive ourselves and we're so prone to being deceived that whenever someone says I love Christ we have to ask the follow-up question how do you know how do you know you love Christ what does the Bible say how do you know where's your proof where's the evidence where's the fruit what evidence is it currently producing in you do you love the Lord Jesus Christ there are a great many errors right that have swept through the modern church we see them on a regular basis we talk about them if you're out witnessing you run into them on a regular basis they've swept through the church like a cancerous leaven the professing church today is a wreck is a wreck and we talk about them in our company here fairly often the reason we do that it's a couple of reasons one we want to stay aware of those dangers we want to expose them be aware of them so we avoid them but secondly is to inform our evangelism we're talking to people we want to help professing Christians who are caught in those errors the modern so-called church is doctrinally illiterate and lawless you can believe virtually anything you want to and you can do virtually anything you want to and still call yourself a Christian and churches will affirm that we talk about those things to expose them as we should but by the grace of God we're not given to those errors but think with me about what the Lord says of the last days the Lord says this and because lawlessness will abound the love of many will grow cold now that's what we have to be concerned with in this church that's the danger that we're in because lawlessness abounds the love of many will grow cold by the grace of God right by the grace of God our church is not in the danger in any danger of some dominating heresy we're not we're not given over to lawlessness we're not given over to easy believism we're not given over to legalism we're not given over to dead orthodoxy we're not undermining biblical inerrancy we're not undermining biblical authority here we've not abandoned accountability we've not abandoned church discipline we've not abandoned a high commitment to follow Christ those are things that we hold to here but let him who thinks he stands take heed lest he falls the christian life the christian life is essentially dominated and motivated by a profound and enduring love for the Lord Jesus Christ if you're a genuine christian if you're a genuine christian if you've turned from your sin and you're trusting him alone then his love for you is settled it's determined it is infinite and unchangeable the concern that we need to have is our love for him do you love christ are you growing in your love for christ or is your love for christ grown stagnant has it grown dull or cold how do you know how are you to know what does the evidence say many of you here this morning would be able to say with a clear conscience before god that your love for christ is as fervent or more so as when you first set out amen and i see it i see it in you there's some of you here this morning and your love has grown cold your love has grown cold and you've left your first love consider with me that your christian life our christian life is to be defined by a profound love for the lord jesus christ a supreme love for the lord jesus christ that defines the life of a believer jesus said listen he who loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me and he who loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me those relationships closest to us that under any or other circumstances would have supreme affection in our heart are those relationships that are subordinate to the love that we're to have for the lord jesus christ love for christ is to be preeminent that defines the christian life we see that kind of love in the disciples who gave all to follow christ including their lives we see that kind of love in paul who said what things were gained to me these things i've counted loss for christ he counted them rubbish we see that kind of love in mary don't we mary who broke the flask poured out the costly oil and wiped the lord's feet with a hair of her head we see that kind of love in the martyrs in the martyrs through the centuries who have gone to the stake for christ but we rarely we rarely see that kind of love that kind of devotion in the church today we have to acknowledge that don't we the love of many has grown cold and if there's a danger we face in our church it's that danger that should be our concern that's the danger that you and i face as a church that's the danger that you and i face as christians do you love christ do you love christ the problem with many christians is not that they have stopped loving the lord jesus christ altogether but that they have left their first love in pursuit of other priorities that's the problem with most professing christians today if that describes you this morning but it's likely that you sense that departure don't you you sense it your conscience accuses you let me give you some indications of it let me give you some symptoms of the disease and it is 11 it's 11 here's some symptoms spending time in prayer or spending time in the bible is a burden rather than a delight you're more concerned for worldly things than you are for the condition of your own soul is that grieve you your heart towards sin is cool dull or indifferent you're not as sensitive to sin as you once were right you're not as grieved by sin as you once were you've begun to compromise more and more with sin your heart toward the things of god your heart toward the things of god has grown cold cold or dull or indifferent you're not as tender you're not as tender to the things of god as you once were not as responsive to his word not as eager to please him right not as eager to hear the word and apply it to your life you don't hunger and thirst for righteousness the way that you once did your christian life has degraded into a checklist of things to do your obedience more motivated by the expectation of others than by a love for the lord jesus christ your obedience more motivated by a sense of duty rather than by a love for the lord jesus christ you've become less and less concerned with fervent obedience to the lord you've become resentful or defensive about the about the demands of following christ you know what they are and yet you fight and argue in your own mind and heart about them the lord is less and less on your conversation he's less and less in your facebook posts less and less on your mind less and less in your thoughts you've become more interested in leisure more interested in entertainment than serving christ you're more preoccupied with the sins of others than you are with your own sin you rarely give rarely concern yourself with the needs of others you seek to avoid sacrifice to give you've become less concerned for lost people less concerned for the spread of the gospel if any of these apply to you be concerned for yourself if any of these apply to you it's an indication that you have left your first love do you see that your love has grown cold let me give you one more one more would be being less concerned than you should be about the items on this list that apply to you to the church at Ephesus that left its first love jesus warned them in revelation chapter 2 verse 5 he said remember therefore from where you have fallen repent and do the first works or else i will come to you quickly and remove your lampstand from its place unless you repent now the church the church gets to that point because people in the church get to that point do you see to the christian whose love has grown cold the lord warns he that endures to the end will be saved do you love christ what's the condition of that love this morning be it to rate yourself on a scale of one to ten thinking about your fruit thinking about your life do you love christ where would you rate yourself this morning where are you at in john chapter 14 the lord has been concerned with a faith of his disciples right the lord is with the disciples in the upper room they're on the eve of his arrest the eve of his crucifixion one among them has been identified as a traitor he's told them that he will be arrested that he's going to be tried he's going to be beaten scourged mocked and killed so the disciples were rightfully fearful they're confused full of doubts they're troubled they're distressed deeply disturbed in their spirit they've given up everything to follow christ and it appears as though now it's all crumbling around them and christ is going to die so he begins chapter 14 by encouraging them let not your heart be troubled in verse one believe in god believe also in me now he wants to bolster their faith he wants to bolster their faith to prepare them for the trial that lies ahead he will depart and they are going to be persecuted the sheep will be crucified and they will be scattered and he says to them in chapter 14 trust me the lord says i am the way i am the truth and i am the life trust me if you know me you know my father also he says to them trust me you're going to do great works greater works than these you will do and trust me whatever you ask in my name i'm going to do but then if you think about this now with me having expressed his love for them in a profound way right washing their feet the object lesson of washing their feet and then commanding them to love one another the way that he just loved them he now turns his attention to their love for him in verse 15 if you love me he says keep my commandments now their love for him and i want you to see this in this passage their love for him is the driving thought of the text look at verse 15 if you love me you're going to keep my commandments in verse 16 if you love me i'll pray the father and he'll send another helper in verse 18 if you love me i'll not leave you orphans in verse 19 the world won't see me but if you love me you will see me and because i live you will live also do you see how this thought permeates the text verse 21 he who has my commandments and keeps them he's the one who loves me verse 21 the one who loves me to that one i will manifest myself to him all the way down through verse 24 their love for him is the driving force behind the text now consider with me this theme in its context these disciples love the Lord Jesus Christ that love to the Lord is expressed in the fact that they have left everything to follow him they've been walking around Judea for the last three years they've left family they've left jobs they've been persecuted and now they follow the Lord to Jerusalem expecting that they might die with him in Jerusalem they love the Lord that's how they express their love to him do you see they love the Lord Jesus Christ but they're on the brink of being without him they're on the brink of facing tremendous difficulty he's going to die so now beginning in verse 15 then put that in context the Lord in verse 15 intends now to encourage them he's encouraged them to express their faith and trust in him and now he's going to encourage them and assure them based on their own love for him right and i want to show you how that works in this text if you love me the Lord says you're going to make it through the trial that you're about to face if you love me he tells them you're going to have another helper i'm going to pray the Father and he's going to send another helper to you now these are powerful guarantees powerful promises and we're going to get into these promises over the next couple of weeks all of them are meant for and given to the one who truly loves the Lord Jesus Christ they're only for the one who truly loves the Lord Jesus Christ and the Lord Jesus Christ assures them that these are theirs if they love him and we see the first of these promises right here in verse 15 if you love Christ first on your notes verse 15 you will persevere you will persevere you will make it you will keep the faith you won't fully and finally fall away right verse 15 if you love me keep my commandments now you say verse 15 sounds like a command doesn't it if you love me keep my commandments where do we get the guarantee where do we get the promise here of perseverance it's in that little verb keep right in the middle of the verse that Greek word for keep is a future tense verb again this is important when we study the bible to look at specifics like this sometimes you got to study the knot hole on a tree to get the big picture okay and this is a knot hole on a tree but it's an important knot hole right that little verb keep in the middle of the verse is a future tense verb and that speaks of an ongoing reality for the believer the sense of verse 15 then is this listen if you love me you will keep on keeping my commandments that's essentially what it's saying if you love me you will keep on keeping my commandments can you see how that's a promise can you see how it's a guarantee amen right the Lord Jesus Christ assuring them based on their love for him you love me I know you love me that son of perdition didn't he's the son of his father the devil he's gone but the 11 that remain you love me and if you love me you're gonna make it you're gonna obey me you're gonna keep my word you're gonna keep my commandments you're gonna make it now that promise in verse 15 is conditional it's based on the reality of their love for him it's based on their love for him if if it's true that you love me if you're a genuine Christian in other words then you will keep on keeping my commandments you will persevere in obedience to my word and that's a promise that's the doctrine of the perseverance of the saints if it's true that you love me if you love me if you're a genuine Christian then you will keep on keeping my commandments and it's a promise here that will encourage and assure these disciples who love the Lord think about this with me now because of that little conditional word if at the beginning of the statement can you also see how this is a duty it's both a promise and a duty there's so many examples of this in the bible it is a promise of God and it's a duty it's a responsibility of the believer can you see how we get both assurance then assurance and exhortation the promise assures us gives us hope of our obedience while at the same time the sense of duty exhorts us to obey do you see it's like paul if you're familiar with uh romans chapter 6 verse 14 paul says in that letter to the romans he said sin will not have dominion over you think about that verse that is both a promise isn't it and a duty and what does that do in the life of the believer sin will not have dominion over you so you for your believer you love the lord you say amen thank you lord i'm fighting this sin and it is beating me about the head and shoulders i feel like i've been pushed into a corner and i'm staggering i'm getting my my teeth knocked out by this thing but you've promised lord that sin will not have dominion over me so now think doesn't that promise then encourage you the believer to go out and fight sin that's the effect that this should have listen disciples you're about to face a tremendous trial it's going to be incredibly difficult i'm leaving listen when i leave i'm going to send another helper to you but listen i'm leaving you're going to be on your own but you will make it do you love me right you can think about peter on the beach can't you having denied the lord three times and the lord asking peter on the on the beach when he's restoring peter to service peter do you love me yes lord you know i love you peter do you love me yes lord you know i lord i mean haven't there been times in your life when you thought about yourself in the shoes of peter and the graciousness and the love of the lord jesus christ for peter at that moment restoring him right mercy grace compassion patience peter do you love me lord you know all things you know that i love you and here the lord says to peter the one who's about to deny him you're gonna make it you're gonna make it if you love me you will keep on keeping my word you will keep my commandments that little word if there is also a duty it should spur them on and it should spur you and i on to faithfulness and obedience to the lord jesus christ it's like paul saying in roman 614 sin shall not have dominion over you christ is about to leave them he says to them if you love me and you do then you're gonna keep my commandments the genuine christian says amen i will lord thank you the reality of the promise of perseverance itself becomes a tremendous encouragement to our faith a tremendous encouragement to persevere in the faith just like the promise of that sin not having dominion over you becomes a tremendous motivation to fight sin now what's required here in both circumstances what's required is the effort and the heart exerted in faith right that's the responsibility of the christian effort heart exerted in faith give the effort and the heart in faith and god guarantees the result it's in that way that at the same time we think about the doctrine of the perseverance of the saints being the responsibility of the believer to persevere we also have the simultaneous promise from god from his word that he by his power preserves us it's a tremendous blessing a tremendous encouragement if this were all left up to us in our own strength we'd be in despair what hope would these disciples have in these circumstances if it was going to be totally left up to them peter's going to deny him three times if peter had to live for christ in those circumstances apart from the spirit of god there's no way no way that works but god guarantees the result think about philippines chapter two right the lord says work out your own salvation with fear and with trembling you work it out you put in the effort you exert and exercise your faith in the lord why why because it is god who is at work in you both the will and to do according to his good pleasure it's an awesome thought if i go to work god it's god working in me if i want to persevere in love for the lord jesus christ and i want to express my love for the lord jesus christ in obedience to his word i have the promise of god the guarantee of scripture that it is god by his spirit who is at work in me both the will and to do according to his good pleasure and his good pleasure is always good for me right it's a wonderful promise so get out there listen get out there and express your love for christ and obey him and trust him with the results it's god who is preserving you in obedience when you do now next verse 15 notice that this continue to be obedience in verse 15 flows out of love for christ he says in verse 15 if you love me keep my commandments in other words it's not simply raw duty the christian life is not simply raw that's islam right or that's Mormonism it's not christianity the true christian loves the lord the true christian loves the lord with all their heart soul mind and strength and their drive to obey the motivation for the christian to obey the lord flows out of their love for him now there are many who say they love the lord who don't know him you can't love what you don't know that's why he follows it up here with keep my commandments you look down in the passage keep my commandments keep my commandments then he switches keep my word keep my words it's all the teaching of the lord jesus christ in other words you can't love what you don't know we need to adhere to his word we need to learn of him in his word now think about now the drive to obey flows out of is fueled by a love for the lord jesus christ this is john's definition of a genuine christian you're talking to someone witnessing to someone maybe you're examining yourself john's definition of a genuine christian is one who keeps on persevering in loving obedience to the lord jesus christ that's john's definition it's not my definition i didn't sneak out and write that in your bibles last night it's john's definition of a genuine christian right a christian is one who loves christ and obeys him in love look at verse 21 verse 21 he who has my commandments and keeps them who's that john that's the one who loves me and promise of god he who loves me will be loved by my father and i will love him and manifest myself to him we'll look at that more next week look at verse 23 verse 23 jesus answered and said to him if anyone loves me he will keep my word now what about that one who says i love you but don't he doesn't keep your word there's no room for that one here the reverse is also true if you don't keep his word you don't love him this is not talking about christians who love the lord and christians who do not love the lord right there's no such thing this is cut and dry black and white one or the other if you love the lord you're a genuine christian you don't love the lord you're not a christian who is that one who loves him that one who keeps his commandments that one who is fervently from the heart obeying him in love this is john's definition of a genuine christian flip the page and look at john chapter 15 with me and in chapter 15 drop down with me to verse nine verse nine here the lord says again as the father loved me i also have loved you and now he commands them right abide in my love verse 10 how do we abide in his love if you keep my commandments you will abide in my love just as i have kept my father's commandments and abide in his love the lord jesus christ when the lord jesus christ obeyed the father the lord jesus christ didn't obey the father in order to earn the father's love he had the father's love perfect inter-trinitarian love within the godhead right the lord jesus christ obeyed the father as his expression of love to the father and in his expression of love through obedience he abides in the father's love to him they abide perfectly in the trinity in love for one another another through the son's obedience through the father's good pleasure through that perfect trinitarian relationship now think about it verse 11 these things i have spoken to you so that my joy may remain in you and that your joy may be full listen if you abide in my love by keeping my commandments your joy may be full now let me apply this again to our circumstance here as we're talking through these texts is your joy as full in christ today as when you first set out if it's not you need to love the lord your god you need to love the lord jesus christ how do you do that by keeping his commandments from the heart delighting in him and delighting in them these things i've spoken to you he says if you keep my commandments you're gonna abide in my love why do you say that lord so that my joy maybe may remain in you and your joy may be full look at verse 12 this is my commandment that you love one another now as i also have loved you greater love has no one in this than to lay down one's life for his friends you're my friends if you do whatever i command you no longer do i call you servants for a servant does not know what his master is doing but i've called you friends for all things that i heard from my father i've made known to you he doesn't simply give us the duty say my way or the highway he says jump you say how high he gives you all the glorious reasons why all these beautiful motivations right the love of the father the love of the son all that christ is done for us he says verse 16 you did not choose me but i chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should remain that whatever you ask the father in my name he may give you these things i command you that you love one another look with me for the page to first john let's look at another epistle of john here we're looking john's writings essentially at john's definition here of what it looks like to be a genuine christian there's so much error today so much deceit we have to know these things and listen if we think that you know we're in this little blessed oasis right in this church i love this church this little blessed watering hole this little outpost right of heaven and we're worshiping the lord here we're loving one another we're loving the lord loving his word if we think that this little church in the midst of all this error if we think that all that can't influence our thinking we need to take heed lest we fall all that stuff our culture the culture of evangelicalism the culture of church around us the professing church can influence the way that we think we must be driven back to the word of god we have to define our theology and practice our theology according to what scripture says we do that we have a sure guide a rock that cannot be moved we need to stick close to the bible first john look at chapter two one example loving obedience to his commandments obeying his commands out of love for christ look at verse three chapter two verse three now by this we know that we know him you could say by this we know that we love him because john's other teaching right by this we know that we know him if we keep his commandments he who says i know him and does not keep his commandments is a liar and the truth is not in him he's stopping to ask yourself for a moment if you're thinking through this well what commandments all of them what does the lord ask of you what does the lord demand of us in his word what has he commanded when the genuine believer who has the holy spirit in dwelling them hears a command given in the word of god the desire of a true christian the desire of the heart of a genuine christian is to love the lord jesus christ by obeying that which he has commanded i hear a commandment and i'm like thank you lord i'm by your grace and by your help by your spirit i'm gonna obey that thing i'm gonna turn for my sin i'm gonna turn for my neglect i'm gonna repent of that and i'm going to obey you in that area and so when the lord says wives submit yourselves to your husbands as unto the lord what do you do ladies you submit with joy as unto the lord knowing that your submission it's not only to your husband but to the lord who has commanded it out of love for christ you do that men when the bible tells you to sacrificially love your wives as christ loved the church and gave himself for her what do you do you for for the love of christ you obey that command and you love your wife when the bible says that the word of god is to be your delight you're to delight in it and you are to meditate in it day and night what do you do if you're that one i think about this i was witnessing to a guy a lot long ago and i asked him so what's your relationship to the word of god do you read it no never read it i think about why that is i don't have time i do other things too busy i've got work no it's because you don't love the lord jesus christ you don't love the lord if you love the lord and you found the lord of the pages of scripture you'd be in your bible i've got to know him i want to love the lord jesus christ really simple right flip the page look at first john chapter five john can't be any clearer about these things and yet people just it's as if first john is not in their bibles it's just going to ignore these passages of scripture that's just your interpretation listen there's no other way to interpret that you either have to throw it out or you have to obey it so what do they do they throw it out first john chapter five look at verse one look at this from first john chapter five verse one whoever believes that jesus is the christ is born of god and everyone who loves him also loves him who begot also loves him who is begotten of him by this we know that we love the children of god when when we love god and keep his commandments for this is the love of god that we keep his commandments and his commandments are not burdensome for whatever is born of god overcomes the world and this is the victory that has overcome the world our faith you remember from galatians chapter five verse six circumcision or uncircumcision means nothing what matters faith working through what you remember the text faith working through love faith working through love we're to love the lord jesus christ let me say um let's say that i go to my wife i love my wife i go to my wife one night and i ask my wife karen must i kiss you good night tonight our answer is going to be well of course you must but not that kind of must you see of course you must but not that kind of must in other words what she's saying in response to the question is unless a natural and overflowing affection from my heart motivates me to kiss her good night my kiss isn't appreciated my kiss isn't really do you see don't bother she would say to me if i approach her that way she'd rather kiss a porcupine worship is a must right obedience to the lord jesus christ is a must evangelism is a must reading your bible a must prayer it's a must all of these things are must loving your brothers a must but never that kind of must do you see the difference it doesn't work in kissing and it doesn't work in worship either there's no truth in it there's no understanding in it there's no overflow of affection in your heart for it God essentially says in his word don't bother jesus christ rebukes that kind of worship rebukes that kind of obedience when he condemns false is false worship in israel by saying this people honors me with their lips but their heart is far from me and in vain they worship me teaching as doctrines the commandments of men there's no affection in it there's no significance there's no significance if you don't delight in the lord and if you don't delight in his commandment if his commandments are a burden to you now should you obey the lord yes all the time but if you don't love the lord if there's no affection for the lord if there's no delight in the lord the lord rebukes that kind of approach to him now the lord also think about it with me he rebukes that kind of approach that kind of must he rebukes that but he also rebukes the opposite he rebukes the empty sentimentalism he rebukes the sappy kind of love i love the lord you show up and you raise your hands and i love him i love him i sense he's with me and you don't obey any of his commandments he rejects that also he says in verse 15 if you love me you will keep my commandments he rejects both of those polar opposites both of those extremes you are to obey the lord jesus christ and you are to obey him in love it is to be your delight now incidentally it's commandments here in verse 15 you're to obey his commandments you're to keep his commandments it's commandments in verse 21 right but it's also my word in verse 23 it's my words in verse 24 this means essentially keeping both all the commandments of god all the commandments of the lord jesus christ and his teaching adhering to his teaching you know it's keeping all the commandments and adhering to the doctrine most places today want to do away with doctrine you do away with doctrine you do away with christianity christianity most churches don't teach doctrine they don't teach the bible they don't teach the christian faith sometimes it's what someone denies later that proves they're not a christian right you must adhere to his commandments and hear adhere to his teaching to his words was talking to a guy one time says that he got saved right witnessing to him says he got saved years ago was following the lord and then after a period of time after a period of years he got connected with another guy that started whispering in his ear and before you know it this brother he thought denied the trinity what he denied later proved that he was an apostate he was never a christian to begin with you must adhere to both his commandments and to his word to the doctrine let me ask you again how do you know if you're a genuine christian we've just spent time unpacking this one power act little verse how do you know if you're a genuine christian do you know that you're a genuine christian because at some point in your life you made a decision you made a profession of faith you prayed a prayer you walked an aisle is that how you know you're a genuine christian because you were sincere when you did it no there are many there are many who will say to me and that day lord lord who will not enter the kingdom of heaven but lord haven't we done all these things in your name didn't i make that profession if i made it once i made a hundred times just so i could be sure and i meant it lord every time they prophesied in his name they cast out demons in his name they did many wonders in his name and he said to them depart from me i never knew you who practice lawlessness that profession is empty it is a sham apart from the love of christ in your heart in obedience to his commands you know decisional regeneration that whole scheme that whole method of presenting the gospel and inviting people to respond to the gospel has filled the professing church with false converts filled the church with people who practice lawlessness who do not love the lord jesus christ how do you know they don't love him because they don't keep his commandments they don't hunger and thirst for his word hunger and thirst for righteousness the genuine christian the genuine christian is known by his loving obedience now next think with me can you also see how this love is also the motivation for obedience also now our obedient our obedience is how we love christ think about verse 15 love for christ is the motivation for obedience but our obedience is how we love christ you've got to put both of those things together in your mind both of those things are true it's a definition of biblical love think about this definition of biblical love the word here is agapaho agapaho is a strong non-sexual affection for a person and they're good you love this person for their good you have their good in heart you have their good as your desire and that good understood by god's character right that love this kind of love especially characterized in scripture by a willing forfeiture of your rights or your desires or your privileges on their behalf in other words if i want to love my brother i relinquish my desires i forfeit my rights to love my brother that's how i show love to my brother if you're gonna love the lord jesus christ what do you do you lay down your life you don't rule your life anymore you don't live for yourself you put all that aside you abandon that course you turn from that sin and you abandon yourself wholeheartedly to the lord jesus christ it is a forfeiture of who you are for all that he is and all that he's done for you that's the way the the bible describes this kind of love it is a love that obeys it's a love that sacrifices it's conveyed by their statement to the lord they've left all to follow him they've left all to follow him as we come to know him as we come to more intimately understand right what he's done for us in the gospel our love for him grows our love for him grows and that love motivates more and more obedience but also if we want to demonstrate love for the lord jesus christ we demonstrate our love to the lord jesus christ by obeying him if you're here today and you're listening to this right maybe you're not where you want to be i'm not where i want to be that most of us are not going to be where we want to be in the christian life but if you love the lord you're thinking to yourself this is how i express my love to the lord i love the lord jesus christ means i want from the heart to obey him think about paul's statement to timothy and second timothy first timothy chapter two with a hard working farmer right the soldier who his sole desire is to please him who enlisted him we're to love the lord that way how do we know that we love the lord certainly through our affections our affections but most certainly through those affections at work in our obedience in this then right you can see how this love for christ is both a duty and a delight the commands of god are both a duty and delight it's not an either or it's a both and they're both duties and delight if you've grown cold in your walk with the lord as we began this morning and we went through that list of symptoms of the disease if those symptoms apply to you if you thought to yourself yeah there's several of those several of those that apply to me you have to love the lord jesus christ more he is infinitely lovable infinitely lovely it may be that you don't know him well enough or you have forgotten right the hymn has said that we are prone to wander lord how i feel it prone to wander if you have grown cold love him more if you want to love him more know him more spend time pursuing him in the word spend time meditating on all that he's done for us in the gospel how he took you a wretched hell bound hell deserving wrath deserving sinner and he made you a child in a family of god saved you from that wretched eternal torment to make you a co-heir with himself draw near to him the bible says and he will draw near to you you have to obey him and delight in in obedience to him if you've grown cold think about it in evangelism if you've grown cold in evangelism you need to love christ more you need to love christ you don't love christ enough if you've grown cold in your evangelism you're not loving him as you should what about in prayer why we go through periods of time the christian does in their prayer life where you feel as though your prayers are hitting a hitting a ceiling maybe you're not spending the time you're getting in little fleeting moments in the car in the shower you know right before you fall asleep 30 seconds after your head hits the pillow but that's not enriching worshipful communion with god and so your your prayer life is dried up you feel cold you feel dull indifferent love the lord jesus christ you need to love him more love him how do you love him more in prayer you spend time in prayer you set aside time you meditate on his word and you pray the bible to him you love the lord jesus christ in prayer what about your bible reading just can't maintain a consistent devotional time can't maintain a consistent time in his word you need to love the lord jesus christ more you need to love the lord jesus christ more love the lord more as some of you are cold and you know this you know that you're cold because you've not made progress well listen the lord is gracious to us in all these things that when you obey him out of love the lord sanctifies you through your obedience the lord grows you and matures you through your commitment to his word through your commitment to his commands if you are in the lord you're loving lord and obeying him you will make progress you will grow you need to love the lord jesus christ more the danger is the danger is one being in that condition you need to acknowledge it you need to repent and you need to love the lord your god love the lord jesus christ with all your heart heart soul mind and strength the danger is being in that position and being content in that position and not doing anything about it and week after week month after month just rolls by year after year rolls by and he says to you one day there are many who say to me lord lord who will not enter the kingdom of heaven that profession is a sham profession apart from felt loving obedience to the lord jesus christ it is a fruit of genuine saving faith amen the opposite of verse 15 the opposite of verse 15 is also very true very urgent very critical and very damning verse 24 he who does not love me does not keep my words but you take the question that began this sermon do you love christ and you look at your life and looking at your life you see a persistent pattern of disobedience then verse 24 applies to you he who does not love me the thing that marks the unbeliever is a lack of love for christ how do we know that we don't love christ because we don't keep his word you can say you love christ all day long but what is the mark of the unbeliever he doesn't keep my words so brothers and sisters we need to be we need to be earnest we need to be earnest in our love for the lord we need to be earnest in searching for him in his word knowing him from his word we need to be earnest in prayer we need to be an earnest in love for one another most importantly we need to be earnest in our love for the lord jesus christ i want to repent of my neglect don't you let's love the lord jesus christ heart soul mind and strength and when we love the lord that way it shows up in the life amen let's pray lord thank you for for how your word searches us and tries us and convicts us but we need that we need that because we are so prone to wander we are so prone to apathy and indifference we're so prone to a cold dull indifferent heart we're so prone for our love for you to cool and please forgive us for that wicked sin you are worthy of hot devotion you're worthy of our worship and our praise worthy of our obedience all that done in love lord because you are infinitely lovely and we are so grateful to you god please help us to by your spirit help us to cultivate in our hearts a deep and profound love for you that expresses itself in joyful delighting obedience to your commands help us lord by your spirit to cultivate within us a deep love for you lord that manifests itself evidences itself in a growing appreciation a growing knowledge a growing love for your word or to help us by the strength that your spirit supplies to to devote ourselves wholly to these things forgive us lord wear worldly priorities force out or push out our supreme and preeminent priority convict us of that sin lord grant us repentance and by your spirit help us to live for you as we should and we need you in this lord we recognize that we are weak in the flesh even though our mind is willing and I pray god even as we consider these things now in this sermon I pray that you'd protect us from walking out the front doors of this building and going home going to sleep tonight and by the time the alarm clock goes off on Monday morning all of this is just a distant memory and we're right back to a putrid week excuse for devotion to you that we've been wallowing in for some time god please protect us from that help this lord to stick in our hearts and in our minds help us lord to repent now where we have failed in this strengthen us by your spirit now or to take action and repentance to you in this take action in our faith in you and to live heart soul mind and strength for you again lord you're worthy of these things we know that's what your word teaches help us lord strengthen us by your spirit to apply it to adhere to it that christ may be honored may be exalted may receive the reward of his sufferings may be magnified or that we would be glorious testimonies and trophies of his grace we praise you and thank you lord for all these things in jesus name amen