How to Measure Our Love for the Lord
The Gospel of John
John 14:15-24
Sermon by Rick Crandall
Prepared February 13, 2020
BACKGROUND:
*Please open your Bibles to John 14 as we continue to focus on the night before Jesus died on the cross for our sins. This is one of 6 chapters in John's Gospel that focus on that momentous night. Here in the last few hours before the cross, Jesus spoke to His disciples about the most important things. One of the most important things of all is the Holy Spirit of God, and we will focus on God's Spirit next time. But another crucial topic in this section is our love for the Lord. How does God measure our love for the Lord? This is so important that Jesus mentioned it 4 times in tonight's Scripture. Please think about that as we read John 14:15-24.
MESSAGE:
*One time back when our daughter Katie was in high school, she went to the grocery store with her mom. While they were there, Katie read an article that said if you really love your wife or girlfriend, your eyes will dilate when you turn to look at her.
*Katie decided to check it out on me as soon as they got home. They rushed into my office, and Katie said, "Dad, turn around and look at Mom." And when I did, my eyes did dilate. Whew! -- I passed the test.
*That may be sort of a goofy way to tell if you love your wife, but how can we tell if we really love God? The truth is that there is only one way to measure our love for the Lord, and that is to "keep" the things Jesus has said to us. The Lord gave us this standard 4 times in tonight's Scripture.
*In vs. 15, Jesus said, "If you love Me, keep My commandments." In vs. 21, Jesus said: "He who has My commandments and keeps them, it is he who loves Me." In vs. 23, "Jesus answered and said to him, 'If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our home with him.'" Then in vs. 24, Jesus put it in the negative form: "He who does not love Me does not keep My words; and the word which you hear is not Mine but the Father's who sent Me."
*THERE IS ONLY ONE WAY TO MEASURE OUR LOVE FOR THE LORD, AND THAT IS TO "KEEP" THE THINGS JESUS HAS SAID TO US IN GOD'S WORD. But what does it mean to "keep" the Lord's commandments, to "keep" His words? The original Greek for "keep" in all the above verses means "to guard them from loss or injury, to keep your eye on them, to give them careful attention, and take care of them." John Gill added that keeping the Lord's commandments means observing them constantly, in faith, and with a view to His glory." Ed Wood said this word "keep" means "to guard the Lord's commandments like someone guarding a precious treasure." (1)
*Loving the Lord then all comes down to what we are going to do with God's Word. We must treat God's Word like the treasure it truly is.
1. AND IF WE LOVE JESUS, WE SHOULD STORE GOD'S WORD IN OUR HEARTS.
*In 2 Corinthians 4:5-7, Paul was writing about the gospel or good news of Jesus Christ. There Paul said:
5. . . We preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord; and ourselves your servants for Jesus' sake.
6. For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.
7. But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us.
*Christians: WE are the vessels that need to be filled with the treasure of God's Word. Of course, this means we have to hear God's Word, and hear it on a regular basis. That's partly why in Matthew 4:4, Jesus said, "Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God."
*There Christ quoted something He told Moses to say 1,400 years before the Lord came to earth. This Scripture is found in Deuteronomy 8:1-3, and Moses said this to the Children of Israel:
1. "Every commandment which I command you today you must be careful to observe, that you may live and multiply, and go in and possess the land of which the Lord swore to your fathers.
2. And you shall remember that the Lord your God led you all the way these forty years in the wilderness, to humble you and test you, to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep His commandments or not.
3. So He humbled you, allowed you to hunger, and fed you with manna which you did not know nor did your fathers know, that He might make you know that man shall not live by bread alone; but man lives by every word that proceeds from the mouth of the Lord."
*God wants us to know that we have a lifetime supply of spiritual food right here in the Bible! That is why 1 Peter 2:1-3 says this to Christians:
1. Therefore, laying aside all malice, all guile, hypocrisy, envy, and all evil speaking,
2. as newborn babes, desire the pure milk of the word, that you may grow thereby,
3. if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is gracious.
*Well, how often do you eat physical food? About once a month? Once a week? No. Generally, we eat every single day of our lives, and God is telling us that we need to take in some of His Word every day. Jesus wants to feed us with the spiritual food of God's Word, but we have to be willing to eat.
*Sadly, most Christians fall into the spiritual trap of starving themselves from the Scripture. An old song from Hillsong shows us in this trap and how to escape it:
"I say on Sunday how much I want revival
But then on Monday, I can't even find my Bible!
Where's the power
The power of the cross in my life?
I'm sick of playin' the game of religion
I'm tired of losin' my reason for livin'
Where's the power
The power of the cross in my life?
I'm not content just to walk through my life
Givin' in to the lies, walkin' in compromises
We cry out as a generation that was lost
But now is found in the power of the cross
We believe in You
We believe in the power of Your word and its truth
We believe in You, so we lay down our cause
That our cross might be found in You." (2)
*The truth is that most of us need to hear a whole lot more of God's Word. And when we hear it, we need to really listen to what the Lord has to say to us. He speaks, but do we listen?
*We need to hear God's Word, but we also need to hide it in our hearts. Psalm 119:11 says, "Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against thee." And so, we become like a treasure chest, hiding God's Word in our minds, yes, but not just in our minds. We also have to hold it in our hearts, and that makes a big difference.
*I remember a good gospel tract that was called "Missing Heaven by 18 Inches." It was talking about the distance between your head and your heart. There are Bible scholars today who can read the whole Bible in the original languages, but their knowledge is only in their heads and not in their hearts. It's much like the difference between knowing about Jesus, and knowing Him personally as your Lord and Savior.
*Jesus said, "If you love me, keep my commandments." This means we should store God's Word in our hearts.
2. IT ALSO MEANS WE SHOULD STAND ON GOD'S WORD.
*We must stand on God's Word because it's the only foundation for a life that will last forever. Jesus taught us this essential truth In Matthew 7:24-27. There the Lord was at the end of His Sermon on the Mount, and Jesus said:
24. "Therefore whoever hears these sayings of Mine, and does them, I will liken him to a wise man who built his house on the rock:
25. and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it did not fall, for it was founded on the rock.
26. Now everyone who hears these sayings of Mine, and does not do them, will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand:
27. and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it fell. And great was its fall.''
*Everybody is building a house with their life. And every house will be battered by storms. This is one of the things I try to stress to young couples who are about to get married. We can avoid a lot of trouble by wise and godly living, but storms will hit every family, every life, every heart.
*Every house will go through storms: That's why the foundation is so important. What are you building on? God's Word is the only rock-solid foundation that will last forever. As Jesus said in Matthew 24:35, "Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will by no means pass away."
*And Church: We can always stand on the Word of God! Mitchell Gonzalez gave this great testimony: "I saw my two-year-old daughter Natalie carry my Bible by the case's handle. She dragged it in front of a tall table we have. And as I was about to take it away from her, she took the Bible, and laid it on the floor. Then she stood on it, and reached up to take something from the tall table."
*In that moment, Mitchell said it was as if the Lord spoke to him and said: "If you would take My word, bring it where you need, and stand on it. You'll reach things you couldn't reach before." (3)
*Christians: The same is true for us! And when the waves come crashing, we can always stand on the Rock of God's Word! We can stand on God's Word, and we should. Jesus said, "If you love me, keep my commandments." This means we should stand on God's Word.
3. IT ALSO MEANS WE SHOULD START LIVING BY GOD'S WORD.
*It's not enough for us to hear God's Word. We've got to act on His Word. That's why James 1:22-25 gives us this warning:
22. But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.
23. For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man observing his natural face in a mirror;
24. for he observes himself, goes away, and immediately forgets what kind of man he was.
25. But he who looks into the perfect law of liberty and continues in it, and is not a forgetful hearer but a doer of the work, this one will be blessed in what he does.
*Of course, hearing God's Word is great. It's the only way to spiritually feed ourselves on God's Word and store it in our hearts. In fact, the greatest commandment of all begins with the word "Hear."
*In the Old Testament, this commandment is found in Deuteronomy 6:4-5:
4. "Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God. The LORD is one!
5. You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your might."
*The Jews call this commandment the "Shema," because "shema" is the Hebrew word that means "to hear." Hearing God's Word is great! But only hearing His Word is a great waste. God wants us to take action! He wants us to act on His Word. He wants us to apply His Word in every area of our lives.
*It's not enough to hear God's Word. We have to do His Word. When God commands, we should comply. But how can we do that?
[1] JAMES SHOWS US TWO THINGS TO HELP, AND THE FIRST THING IS TO REMEMBER THE TRUTH.
*You see, the problem in James 1:24 was that the man forgot who he was. He "immediately forgets what kind of man he was." James says, "Don't do that." Remember the truth. Remember who you are in the Lord.
[2] REMEMBER THE TRUTH. AND REMAIN IN THE TRUTH.
*Or as James 1:25 says, "continue" in the truth. God's Word is a mirror in these verses, and we need to keep looking into the mirror.
*We can all understand this because we've all used mirrors. I certainly used one this morning. This is about as good as I ever look, but you ought to see me when I first get up! So, I use a mirror to shave. We also use mirrors to help us comb our hair. (Takes me four seconds.) And if we see a big piece of spinach between our teeth, we can do something about it.
*That's one of the ways God's Word works. We can see our spiritual reflection in His Word. It shows us who we are, who we ought to be, who we can be, and sometimes the mirror of God's Word shows us what we shouldn't be.
*But what a mirror! What a Book! It can show us the changes we need to make in our lives, and God will help us to make every one of them. But we have to DO the Word. We have to trust in His Word, apply it to our lives, and act on His Word.
*Pastor and evangelist Ron Dunn gave a great example from his own life. It centered around Luke 6:38, where Jesus said: "Give, and it will be given to you: good measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over will be put into your bosom. For with the same measure that you use, it will be measured back to you."
*Ron told about the time that verse came alive to him. God applied it to his heart. And Ron said, "God was speaking to me. That verse had my name written on it, and I had to embrace it."
*It happened during a time of financial difficulty for Ron. One Wednesday he had been given $50 for preaching a funeral service. That night they had a missionary speaker at church. And after the service God spoke to Ron's heart and said, "Give that $50 to the missionary."
*With a twinkle in his eye, Ron said, "I knew that was the devil!" But anyway, he prayed, "Lord, I want to do your will. If that man is still out there when I go outside, I will give him the $50."
*Then Ron waited, and waited, and waited. Then he went outside. Everyone else was gone but that missionary. Ron said he looked like he was waiting on something. So Ron went up to him and said, "Here, Brother -- The Lord told me to give this to you." (4)
*And Ron didn't like it at first, but remember what he said: "God was speaking to me. That verse had my name written on it, and I had to embrace it." That's what we need to do more and more every day.
*Jesus said, "If you love me, keep my commandments." This means we should start living by God's Word.
4. AND IT MEANS WE SHOULD HELP SPREAD GOD'S WORD.
*Christians: All of us should help spread God's Word, especially the good news about our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Again in vs. 15 Jesus said, "If you love me, keep my commandments." This surely includes commandments like the Lord's command in Matthew 28:19-20. There our risen Savior said, "Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world. Amen."
*I think of Paul's total commitment in Romans 1:14-16. There the Apostle wrote:
14. I am a debtor both to Greeks and to barbarians, both to wise and to unwise.
15. So, as much as is in me, I am ready to preach the gospel to you who are in Rome also.
16. For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek.
*I also think of the church in Thessalonica. In 1 Thessalonians 1:7-8, Paul said this to those faithful Christians:
7. . . you became examples to all in Macedonia and Achaia who believe.
8. For from you the word of the Lord has sounded forth, not only in Macedonia and Achaia, but also in every place. Your faith toward God has gone out, so that we do not need to say anything.
*That's the kind of church Jesus wants us to be! God wants every Christian to do everything we can to help spread the good news about our Savior Jesus Christ.
*We should be like the shepherds in the Christmas story. Luke 2:15-18 says:
15. And it came to pass, as the angels were gone away from them into heaven, the shepherds said one to another, Let us now go even unto Bethlehem, and see this thing which is come to pass, which the Lord hath made known unto us.
16. And they came with haste, and found Mary, and Joseph, and the babe lying in a manger.
17. And when they had seen it, they made known abroad the saying which was told them concerning this child.
18. And all they that heard it wondered at those things which were told them by the shepherds.
*I am so glad the angel appeared to these unnamed, ordinary shepherds. They remind us that Jesus Christ came for ordinary people like us. But the shepherds also remind us that ordinary people can go and tell people about Jesus. Just like the shepherds, we can spread the good news everywhere we go.
*If we have believed in Jesus, if we have received God's greatest gift, then we surely have good news to share, and God wants us to share it! God wants us to faithfully spread His good news every way we can. And there are many ways to do it:
-Tell them how you got saved.
-Tell them other great things God has done in your life.
-Explain the good news to someone else.
-Invite people to church.
*There are many ways to help spread the good news about Jesus Christ. And it's urgent. God knows that time is short, and people are lost. He wants us to care for them the way He cares for them. We need a sense of urgency.
*Taylor Smith was Chaplain-General for the British Army during World War I. And he had a simple test for all ministers who volunteered to serve as chaplains during the war. Holding his watch in his hand, Taylor Smith would say to each volunteer, "I am a dying soldier. I have only one minute to live. What must I do to be saved?"
*The volunteers were rejected unless they could say something like Paul said to Philippian jailer in Acts 16, "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you shall be saved." Taylor knew that the most important thing people need to hear before they die is the good news about Jesus Christ. (5)
*People need to hear, so we need to do everything we can to help spread the good news about our Savior. It's one of the measures of our love for the Lord, because Jesus has commanded us to do it.
CONCLUSION:
*Church, we must let this truth sink in more and more: Loving the Lord all comes down to what we are going to do with God's Word. May God help us to treat His Word like the treasure it truly is.
(1) Sources:
-Strong's Hebrew and Greek Dictionaries taken from STRONG'S EXHAUSTIVE CONCORDANCE by James Strong - Published in 1890
-Thayer's Greek Definitions by Joseph Henry Thayer - Published in 1886, 1889
-JOHN GILL'S EXPOSITION OF THE BIBLE by Dr. John Gill, D.D. - 1697-1771 - Published in 1746-1766, 1816 - John 14:15
-SermonCentral sermon "Three Tests for Salvation" by Ed Wood - 1 John 2:3-11
(2) Sources:
-"Believe" - Artist: Hillsong - Album: "A Beautiful Exchange"
-http://www.songlyrics.com/hillsong/believe-lyrics/
-https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_PVIRwnsHzQ
(3) SermonCentral illustration contributed by Mitchell Gonzalez
(4) I heard Ron Dunn give this testimony in a class at New Orleans Baptist Theological seminary
(5) Sources:
-ONE THOUSAND EVANGELISTIC ILLUSTRATIONS by Aquilla Webb - #539 "Instant in Season" p. 190
-Google Books preview - GOD AND THE BRITISH SOLDIER by Michael Francis Snape, p. 233
