Those Who Love The Lord Series

INTRO.- ILL.- Knock, knock. Who’s there? Olive. Olive who? Olive love you too!

Are you quick to say, “I love you” to anyone? It seems so natural to do this and especially, you’ve been raised in that realm of love. Is your love real? Is it genuine? Is it deep-rooted? Or is it just something to say in order to get people to respond to you or care about you?

Someone said, “ Love your neighbor for God's sake, and love God for your own sake.” Good thought. It’s smart to love God, however, that love should be prompted by His love. Why do we love Him? Because of His great gift of salvation.

John 3:16 “For God so loved the world...”

ILL.- Preacher, W. Carl Ketcherside, was approached one time by a man who said, “By the way you talk a person would think that love was the most important thing of all!” Carl replied, “I’m glad you finally got it!”

Matthew 22:36-40 “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?” Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”

Do you love God? If so, how much? And do you ever say to God, “I love you”? When we love Him He responds generously. In fact, He responds generously to us in the first place, otherwise, we would not know what love is.

I John 4:10 “This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.”

Let those who love the Lord hate evil. Why should we love God and hate evil at the same time? Because the two are completely opposed to each other! There is good in the world and there is evil. God is good and even beyond good. He is love. And He hates evil and if He hates evil He also wants us to hate evil.

Romans 12:9 “Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil; cling to what is good.”

I heard it said a long time ago that if we have no hatred for evil then how can we love that which is good? So it seems reasonable that if we love God who is totally good then we will also hate that which is evil.

PROP.- If and it’s a big “if.” If we love the Lord as we should what will happen to us?

1- God will guard our lives

2- God will shed light on us

3- God will bring joy to our hearts

I. GOD WILL GUARD OUR LIVES

10 Let those who love the Lord hate evil, for he guards the lives of his faithful ones and delivers them from the hand of the wicked.

ILL.- A little boy was afraid of the dark. One night his mother told him to go out to the back porch and bring her the broom. The little boy turned to his mother and said, "Mama, I don't want to go out there. It's dark." The mother smiled reassuringly at her son. "You don't have to be afraid of the dark," she explained. "Jesus is out there. He'll look after you and protect you." The little boy looked at his mother real hard and asked, "Are you sure he's out there?" "Yes, I'm sure. He is everywhere, and he is always ready to help you when you need him," she said. The little boy thought about that for a minute and then went to the back door and cracked it a little.

Peering out into the darkness, he called, "Jesus? If you're out there, would you please hand me the broom?”

Are you or were you ever afraid of the dark? Or something in the dark? Call on Jesus! It’s always smart to call on the Lord no matter what you fear or whatever you need in life. There are plenty of boogey men and women in our world who are out to hurt us or deceive and dupe us: school shooters, murderers, thieves, drug pushers, con artists, and even Hollywood, etc.

The world is not our friend. The world is our enemy.

I John 2:15-17 “Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For everything in the world—the cravings of sinful man, the lust of his eyes and the boasting of what he has and does—comes not from the Father but from the world. The world and its desires pass away, but the man who does the will of God lives forever.”