Declare Your Love for A Lifetime

Tonight, we are looking, like we did last week and the week before, about how to declare your love for a lifetime, like Abishag did in Song of Solomon, Chapter 8, when she declared her love for Solomon and the commitment that she had to him. And I want to say at the outset, all the principles that we're giving to you, all they are, are simple biblical principles. They're not specifically geared toward marriage, but what we're doing is gearing the biblical principle toward your marriage. That's what we're doing.

All they are is principles on how to live a godly life, how to follow the Lord, how to honor the Lord. That's why the Scripture is so profitable. If you just preach the Bible, people then will begin to understand the Bible and then apply it to their lives. We are just specifically applying the principles to your marriage and to your family. That's all we're doing. So these are just simple biblical principles, acknowledging Christ as Lord and Savior. That was principle number one, right?

Well, everybody's got to do that, you got to give your life to the Lord. And then building intimacy through biblical love, we need to understand what biblical love really looks like. And then commit your life to growing spiritually. Everybody needs to grow spiritually, not just married couples, everybody needs to grow spiritually. And declaring your love for a lifetime is something that you should do specifically in your marriage, but the principles that we're giving to you are principles that apply across the board.

The first one was to purify your mind, right? Everybody needs to purify their mind, not just married couples. Why? Because our minds are filled with all kinds of junk, from social media, from television, from movies, from books, from magazines. We fill our minds with all kinds of junk and it governs the way we think, the way we live. And so as a man thinks within himself, so is he. And so we want to make sure that we think on the things that are pure and true and holy and lovely. And so when you go to Philippians chapter 4 verse number 8, we understand what Peter says in 1 Peter chapter 1, he says, gird up your minds, be sober in spirit, be vigilant.

Why? Because you need to fix your focus on the coming of Christ at his revelation. And so everybody needs to purify their mind. And then our second one was to prioritize your ministry.

Everybody has a ministry, but our ministry is to the Lord Christ. Colossians 3, 23 and 24. You minister as unto the Lord. We always serve the Lord. So therefore, we just don't serve the Lord as married couples. We serve the Lord across the board because that's what we do. And so your ministry is always God word before it's man word. If not, everything you do man word will be centered on manipulation versus ministry. And so you want to prioritize your ministry by ministering to the Lord because it's the Lord God whom you serve and you serve him because you love him.

And we talked to you last week about how do you know you love the Lord. And then the third principle was to please your master.

To please your master. We should all be engaged in pleasing our master, the Lord Jesus Christ. Paul said in 2 Corinthians 5 verse number 9, I make it my ambition to please him. And so we realize that Galatians 1.10 says, if I seek the pleasure of man, I forfeit the pleasure of God. So all of our lives should be focused in on pleasing the Lord God himself. More so than anything else, we live to please the Lord. We live to honor the Lord. So the question comes, how do you do that? How do you know you're pleasing the master?

Well, it's very easy to understand that by reading the Bible. The Bible says you please the Lord when you live a life of faith, right?

Without faith, it's impossible to please him. It's impossible. It's impossible to please the Lord unless you live a life of faith. And so what is faith? Faith is believing in what God has already said. We spent, I don't know, I think 18 weeks in Hebrews chapter 11, looking at the great hall of faith to help you understand that faith is believing absolutely in what God has said and then behaving accordingly to all that God has said. So that's what living a life of faith is. We live a life of trusting obedience.

So in your marriage, you want to please the master. You do that by living a life of faith, by living according to what God says in his word.

What does God say? Do I live in obedience to his word? So on top of that, we realize that not only faith pleases the Lord, but wisdom pleases the Lord. Remember 1 Kings chapter 3, 1 Kings chapter 3, the Lord said to Solomon, ask me whatever you want and I will give it to you. What a question. What kind of statement is that? Lord's asking Solomon, what do you want? I'll give it to you. And Solomon says, oh Lord, my God, you have made your servant king in place of my father David, yet I am but a child.

I do not know how to go out or come in. Your servant is in the midst of your people, which you have chosen a great people who are too many to be numbered or counted. So give your servant an understanding heart to judge your people, to discern between good and evil, for who is able to judge this great people of yours? Verse 10, it was pleasing in the sight of the Lord that Solomon had asked this thing. What pleased the Lord? He asked for wisdom. He asked for discernment. Wisdom pleases the Lord. And so in your marriage, you're asking the Lord for wisdom.

You want to please the Lord. You're going to make it your ambition to please the Lord. Give me wisdom. Remember James says, if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God who giveth to all men liberally. We need wisdom in our marriages. We need wisdom in our families. We need discernment more so than anything else. And that pleases the Lord when we go to him and say, Lord, because God said to Solomon, you can have anything you want. He didn't ask for riches. He didn't ask for monuments. He didn't ask for publicity.

He asked for wisdom. And the Lord was pleased. And you know, and I know that more so than anything else, we need wisdom to govern our lives. And so you please the master by asking for wisdom. How about this? You please the master when you live a life of sexual purity. First Thessalonians chapter four.

Paul says it this way. Finally, then brethren, we request and exhort you in the Lord Jesus, that as you receive from us instruction as to how you ought to walk and please God, just as you actually do walk, that you excel still more.

For you know what commandments we give you by the authority of the Lord Jesus. For this is the will of God, your sanctification, that is that you abstain from sexual immorality. What pleases the Lord? By abstaining from sexual immorality, by abstaining from sexual sin, by abstaining from sexual sin outside the bounds of marriage. That pleases the Lord. And so you say, okay, if I'm going to please my master, I've got to live a pure and a holy life. I can't engage in sexual sin. I can't engage in sexual activity outside the bounds of marriage, because that is displeasing to the Lord.

How can I best be pleasing to the Lord? And Paul says, this is the will of God, your sanctification. We want you to walk and please Him. How do you do that? By abstaining from any kind of sexual sin outside the bounds of marriage. And then you realize that to please the Lord, you please the Lord by simply giving to Him. Listen to what Paul says in Philippians chapter 4. He says, you yourselves also know, Philippians, that at the first preaching of the gospel, after I left Macedonia, no church shared with me in the matter of giving and receiving, but you alone.

For even in Thessalonica, you send a gift more than once for my needs. Not that I seek the gift itself, but I seek for the profit which increases to your account. But I received everything in full and have an abundance. I am amply supplied having received from Epaphroditus what you have sent, a fragrant aroma, an acceptable sacrifice, well-pleasing to God. Paul says to the Philippians, listen, there's a gift that you sent. And this gift that you gave on more than one occasion was a gift that was a sweet, fragrant aroma that was pleasing to God.

Do you know that when you give to the Lord, it pleases Him? So many times we don't understand that. But do you know that the majority of financial problems in marriages happen because husbands and wives do not sacrificially give to the Lord? If you're struggling financially in your marriage, the very first question you need to always ask is, how am I giving of the first fruits of my increase to the Lord?

That's the first question. It's not I got to find a new job. I got to get a better job. I got to get a better paying job. We think that's the solution. That's not the solution. The solution is, how much am I giving to the Lord? In fact, back in the book of Proverbs in the third chapter, the Lord says this, honor the Lord from your wealth and from the first of all your produce, so your barns will be filled with plenty and your vats will overflow with new wine.

In other words, you want to please the Lord, give it the first fruits of your increase. And God promises that you will be blessed immensely. And then He says this, verse 11, My son, do not reject the discipline of the Lord or loathe His reproof. For whom the Lord loves, He reproves, even as a father corrects the son in whom he delights. Now, God doesn't put things in the Bible sporadically or haphazardly. He puts them in the Bible in a very specific way. So He talks about honoring the Lord with the first fruits of your increase and the blessing that will come.

And then right after that, He talks about the discipline of the Lord. Why? Because He wants you to understand that so many people are being disciplined by the Lord because they are unwilling to honor the Lord with the first fruits of their increase.

And because God loves you so much, He's going to discipline you as a father with his own child. Then He goes on to say these words, How blessed is the man who finds wisdom and the man who gains understanding, specifically wisdom and understanding in the area of giving. For her profit is better than the profit of silver and her gain better than the fine gold. She is more precious than jewels and nothing you desire compares with her. Long life is in her right hand, in her left hand are riches and honor.

Her ways are pleasant ways and all her paths are peace. She's a tree of life to those who take hold of her and happy are all who hold her fast. In other words, what the Lord says in the book of Proverbs is very important when it comes to the area of giving. Why? Paul tells us giving pleases the Lord. He wants you to give to the work of the ministry. When you do this, when you do this, He is pleased. And He will bless you as He sees fit. So many times we forget this. And I've counseled for 40 years married couples.

And without exception, those in financial difficulty are the ones who do not give to the Lord. Without exception, that's what happens. But when they begin to realize their need to give and how that pleases the Lord, because listen, if you want to declare your love for a lifetime, you've got to please the master. You've got to set your heart on pleasing the Lord. I know you want to please your wife, you want to please your husband. There's nothing wrong with that. But you can't please them unless you please the Lord first.

You must always seek to please the Lord primarily, more so than anything or anyone else that you set out to please. So important. And also, Hebrews 13 tells us that praise, praise is pleasing to the Lord. With sacrifice of praise, it is well pleasing to the Lord. Hebrews 13, 15 and 16. We realize that when we praise the Lord, He's pleased. And so many times we find out in our marriage that we're not, we're unwilling to please the Lord or praise the Lord. And therefore, He's not pleased. Because you don't live a life of praise and thanksgiving and gratefulness to our God.

That's how we should live our lives. So if you want to declare your love for a lifetime, it begins because you purify your mind, you prioritize your ministry, and you want to please the master. Why? Everything is God-centered. Everything is focused above and not below. You see, so often we want to focus on our marriage and not the master who designed marriage. That's a problem. You don't ever focus on the marriage. You focus on the master you serve. When you do that, everything else comes into proper perspective.

And so when you do that, God is honored. And God uses you in your marriage in a fabulous way. Principle number four is this. Practice God's mandates. Purify your mind, prioritize your ministry, please your master, and practice God's mandates. This is not easy. Why? Because God says you ought to be a forgiving person.

So when you practice God's mandates, you have to be a forgiving person. Are you a forgiving kind of person? Do you forgive freely? Do you forgive fully? Do you forgive faithfully? Do you forgive finally?

Are you a forgiving kind of person? The Bible commands us that we are to be those kind of people that are forgiven. In two weeks, I'm going to talk to you about forgiveness. I'm going to talk about how that operates within the realm and bounds of marriage. But we have to be a forgiving kind of people. We have to be a loving kind of people. God commands us to love one another, commands us to serve one another. We have to practice God's mandates. Hey, listen to this. God commands us in a marriage to procreate.

In other words, have children. God commands you to do that. Be fruitful and multiply. Told that to Adam and Eve back in the book of Genesis, right? After the flood, he told Noah and his family, be fruitful and multiply. That's our responsibility. Procreation is a command given to us by God in the realm of marriage. There are some people that get married and say, well, we don't want to have children. Well, what do you mean you don't want to have children? Well, we just don't want to have children.

Well, do you don't want to obey the Lord? Because having children is done in obedience to the Lord. Now, there are some people who can't physically have children. They can always adopt children. But there's a reason why God somehow has not allowed them to be able to physically bear and raise children. But procreation is a command. And so many times in today's day and age, people don't want to have children. They're waiting longer and longer to have children when God says, this is what I want you to do because I want you to build a legacy.

A legacy of truth that's going to be passed down from generation to generation. It's our responsibility to do that. So in other words, we have to practice God's mandates. Listen to this. Over in the book of Ephesians, the fourth chapter, Paul says these words. Verse number 29, Ephesians 4, verse number 29, he says, Let no unwholesome word proceed from your mouth, but only such a word as is good for edification, according to the need of the moment, so that it will give grace to those who hear. That one verse will revolutionize the way you talk in your marriage.

That one verse only. Just memorize that verse. Let no unwholesome word proceed out of your mouth. The only words that are to come out of your mouth are the words that minister grace to those who hear them. And therefore, when you think about that, how you speak to one another is very important. Why? Because in your communication to one another, you are communicating Christ to your spouse. You want to communicate Christ in your conversation. That's what communication is. Communication is the opportunity and the ability to communicate Christ in this conversation so the person I'm talking to understands Christ more so through my communication than if I wasn't communicating to them.

That's what biblical communication is all about. How do I best communicate Christ to the person in my marriage? Because I want to be able to do that. I can't do that if unwholesome, impure, scathing, slanderous words come out of my mouth and speak against my spouse. It doesn't work that way. I have to speak wholesome words, words that are designed for edification. And when you do that, God is honored. God is pleased. And I'm practicing the mandates of God. The Bible is replete with commands given to us by God.

1 John 5 says His commands are not burdensome. They don't weigh you down. God gives commands. He never gives suggestions, right? God always gives commands. God never suggests, Hey, why don't you try this? Or why don't you try that? Maybe this will work for you. No, God knows what's going to work. He gives you commands. All we have to do is put them into practice. We practice God's mandates. God is honored. And we declare our love for a lifetime because we want to obey the Lord more than we want to do anything else.

After you practice God's mandates, then next you want to proclaim God's message. You want to proclaim God's message. You want to make sure that you are speaking the words of God. You want to make sure that you are proclaiming the truth of God in every situation. Because if you do, then you are setting your heart and mind on the honor and glory of the Lord. That is so important. So many times we want to proclaim my ideas, my opinions, my way of thinking, instead of proclaiming what God says in his word.

You see, we have to be God focused. We have to be biblically centered so that when I speak, I'm letting the word of Christ dwell in me richly. So when I speak, I'm speaking what God would have me speak. So important. So we want to lead our wives, lead our husbands, lead our children in the ways of God by proclaiming the message of God. So others will know. As a parent, we want to proclaim the message of God to our children. We want them to be able to follow the Lord, honor the Lord. Listen to what David says in Psalm 71.

Psalm 71, David says these words. He says, Oh God, verse 17, you have taught me from my youth and I still declare your wondrous deeds. And even when I am old and gray, Oh God, do not forsake me until I declare your strength to this generation, your power to all who are to come. That was David's ambition. Lord, I want to declare your strength. I want to declare your power. I want to speak your words to this generation. Why? Because he knew that that generation was going to follow him. And that generation would be followed by another generation.

He had to pass those words down. Over in Psalm 78, listen to this. Psalm 78, listen, verse 1, Oh my people, to my instruction, incline your ears to the words of my mouth. I will open my mouth in a parable. I will utter dark sayings of old, which we have heard and known and our fathers have told us. We will not conceal them from their children, but tell to the generation to come the praises of the Lord and his strength and his wondrous works that he has done. For he established a testimony in Jacob and appointed a law in Israel, which he commanded our fathers, that they should teach them to their children, that the generation to come might know even the children yet to be born, that they may arise and tell them to their children, that they should put their confidence in God and not forget the works of God, but keep the commandments.

The psalmist makes it very clear that we are to pass a legacy of truth from one generation to the next. But if we are not into proclaiming the message of God, we cannot do that. And if you want to declare your love for a lifetime, it requires that you proclaim God's message. Next, you want to make sure you protect your marriage. You protect your marriage. Hebrews 13 verse number 4 says that the marriage bed is honorable above all. The marriage bed, a marriage is honorable above all, and the marriage bed is undefiled, but fornicators and adulterers God will judge.

The life of Hebrews makes it very clear that marriage is honorable and the marriage bed is undefiled, but anything done outside the marriage and the bounds of marriage, God judges when it comes to sexual sin. So you got to be very careful. So you need to protect your marriage. Turn to me in your Bible to 1 Corinthians chapter 7. 1 Corinthians chapter 7, Paul says this in verse number 1, Now concerning the things about which you wrote, it is good for a man not to touch a woman, but because of immoralities, each man is to have his own wife, excuse me, and each woman is to have her own husband.

The husband must fulfill his duty to his wife, and likewise also the wife to her husband. The wife does not have authority over her own body, but the husband does, and likewise also the husband does not have authority over his own body, but the wife does. Stop depriving one another except by agreement for a time so that you may devote yourselves to prayer and come together again so that Satan will not tempt you because of your lack of self-control. That statement is so important to your marriage.

Paul is concerned that married couples protect one another. So he says, listen, you got to understand that when you get married, you become one flesh, and when you become one flesh, your body is no longer your own, okay? The husband's body is the wife's, and the wife's body is the husband's. And so when it comes to your own intimacy within marriage, you can't withhold from the other one except for a very short time and only for the purpose of prayer, unless Satan comes in and tempts you with your lack of self-control.

Paul knows the pitfalls in the marriage relationship. He knows what happens when men and women are not committed to protecting one another. The wife's job is to be involved in protecting her husband, and the husband's job is to be involved in protecting his wife when it comes to sexual sin or from sexual sin. And the way you do that is to continue to engage in the intimacy of your marriage without restraint, unless only for a short while and only for the purpose of prayer. Why? Because Satan always finds an inroad, and you got to be careful.

And so wives, your job is to protect your husband. Husbands, your job is to protect your wife. And part of the protection is to realize that restraining or refraining from sexual intimacy in a marriage is very, very dangerous. Why? Because it opens your marriage up to all kinds of temptation and all kinds of sinful activities that could destroy your marriage. You got to protect your marriage. And the wife has responsibility, the husband has a responsibility to do that for the sake of preserving the purity and the holiness of the marriage.

Next, not only do you protect your marriage, but number seven, provide for your mate. Provide for your mate. In other words, you want to be able to provide everything your mate needs and what your mate needs is unconditional sacrificial love. So I'm going to show you what a lover looks like, okay? You might think that you're the greatest lover known to man. Well, I'm going to pit that against what the Bible says about being the ultimate lover, okay?

So as a wife and a husband, you got to realize if I want to be a great lover, number one, I must listen intently.

I must listen intently. Do you ever notice that so many times our wives talk to us and we're just not listening?

And you know what? She knows when you're not listening, you know? And of course, I can only use the excuse that I'm getting old that I can't hear so often, you know? It doesn't always go over very well in my family. But the bottom line is your wife knows when you're not listening, you're not paying attention, right? But you need to listen intently to the other one. Remember over in Peter's epistle in 1 Peter chapter 3, what does Peter say? 1 Peter 3 verse number 7, You husbands, in the same way, live with your wives in an understanding way as with someone weaker, since she is a woman, and show her honor as a fellow heir of the grace of life, so your prayers will not be hindered.

Live with your wives in an understanding way. The only way to understand her is to listen to her, right? And you have to listen to what she's not saying, not necessarily what she is saying, because what she is saying isn't necessarily what she wants you to hear. That make sense? You have to listen to what she's not saying because that's the important thing. So you listen intently. If you want to be a great lover, you need to listen to what the other one is saying. And then not only do you listen intently, but then number two, you overlook iniquity.

It's the glory of a man, Proverbs 19 11, to overlook a transgression. 1 Peter 4 verse number 8, Love one another with a pure heart, for love covers a multitude of sins. Overlook iniquity. In other words, that doesn't mean you just don't worry about sin. No, you still have to confront sin. You still have to deal with sin. But you don't spread that sin to others. You cover it up. The world doesn't need to know your family sins, your wife's sins, your husband's sins, your children's sins. We don't need to know that.

And love covers a multitude of sins. It throws a wet blanket over the fiery aspect of sinful behavior. Why? Because you want to protect that person. How many wives do you know that go around talking about their husbands? How their husbands don't do this, or their husbands don't do that, or husband said this, and they speak in a negative way because they're not willing to overlook iniquity. They're willing to expose their husbands to other families, other wives. It's very dangerous. You want to be a great lover?

Listen intently. Overlook iniquity. If there's sin in the family, you still have to confront it. You still have to deal with it in a biblical way. But you don't want to spread it around. And then number three, you want to make sure that you value interdependency.

Great lovers value interdependency. Genesis 2 verse number 18, God said, it's not good for man to be alone. So what did He do? He fashioned and formed the ideal woman for Him. He was the ideal woman, specifically fashioned by God for Adam. Your wife has been fashioned by God for you. Therefore, to be a great lover, you have to value interdependency. In other words, each of you is dependent upon the other. God says it's not good for man to be alone.

So what did He do? He gave him the perfect helpmate. He knew that Adam needed a perfect helpmate. So He gave him the perfect person, gave him Eve. Why? Because you know, your wife can do things you can't do. You can do things she can't do. And Lord willing, when two people come together in marriage, they become one flesh. Okay. One plus one is one only in marriage. But the two become one. Why? Because you're soulmates. And therefore, she has what you don't have and he has what you don't have. And you function well together as a unit, as one flesh.

And you need to value that. You need to value your wife and value your husband. Are they the perfect husband? Are they the perfect wife? No, they're not. But they're the perfect one for you. They're the perfect one for you. In other words, God would have given you somebody else, but He didn't. And so He gave you the one that you have, and therefore, that's the ideal person for you. And so you value that person and you value the fact that you are interdependent upon one another. And that dependency upon one another makes you the soulmates that you are.

Because God designed it that way. Great lovers listen intently. They overlook iniquity. They value interdependency. And then they express intimacy. Proverbs chapter 5, Solomon says these words. He says, verse number 18, "'Let your fountain be blessed and rejoice in the wife of your youth. As a loving hind and a graceful doe, let her breast satisfy you at all times. Be exhilarated always with her love.'" They says this, "'For why should you, my son, be exhilarated with an adulteress and embrace the bosom of a foreigner?

For the ways of a man are before the eyes of the Lord, and he watches all his paths. His own iniquities will capture the wicked, and he will be held with the cords of his sin. He will die for lack of instruction, and in the greatness of his folly, he will go astray.'" In other words, there is something about the intimacy you have with your wife that cannot be duplicated. It cannot. It cannot be substituted. Therefore, you express intimacy all the time. Always be exhilarated with her love. May you rejoice with the wife of your youth.

Rejoice with the husband of your youth, but express intimacy regularly. And then lastly, make sure that you respond increasingly to fulfill your biblical responsibility. Respond increasingly to fulfill your biblical responsibility. As a husband, you're to love your wife. You're to lead your wife. You need to relish those opportunities and respond in a way that allows you to lead. Listen, when you decide to leave mother and father, the decision to leave is the decision to lead. You're a leader. That's inherent in manhood.

You are a leader. So, when you decide to leave father and mother and cleave to your wife, you've decided to leave in order to lead. Leadership is not an option for the husband. It's a mandate. You have to lead. You have to make decisions. You have to lead the way. You have to lead by example. You have to lead, take the initiative. You, by nature, are the one who takes the initiative. You can't wait on your wife to take the initiative, because if you don't take the initiative, like Adam should have taken the initiative in the garden, but he didn't.

He was with Eve when she was tempted. He, being with her, partook of the apple, right? He didn't speak up. He didn't lead. And because he didn't lead properly, the world fell into sin. There are great consequences when fathers and husbands don't lead their families. By nature, we are leaders, and we need to be able to respond increasingly with every opportunity to fulfill my biblical responsibility. I'm going to, as Ephesians 5.16 says, I'm going to redeem the time. I'm going to buy back every moment for the sake of eternity.

I'm going to look for every moment, every opportunity to lead the way I should lead. And for the wife, she relishes her biblical responsibility by following her husband's leadership, by loving her husband, by caring for her husband, by forgiving her husband, by serving her husband. Why? Because she wants to be the woman God wants her to be. So, you need to provide for your mate. And the best way to provide for them is to be a lover, to listen intently, overlook iniquity, value interdependency, express intimacy, and respond increasingly to every opportunity to fulfill your biblical responsibility.

That is a great lover. And then you need to press on toward maturity. Press on toward maturity. You just can't sit back and not keep pressing on. What did Paul say in 1 Corinthians 15 and 58? Be steadfast and movable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your labor is not in vain with the Lord. It's not in vain for the Lord. It's not. We need to press on toward maturity. Paul said in Philippians chapter 3, I press on to the upward call in Christ Jesus my Lord. I forget about the things that are in the past and I move on in the future.

So many times we can't move off the square one because we're so busy looking at the past. You can't live in the past. You can't. You can't live in last week or last month or last year. You got to press on toward maturity in Christ. And you got to move on from this day to the next day. Paul says, I'm not going to look behind me. I'm not going to focus on those things anymore. I am moving on. I know what my life was like, but now because of what God has done, I'm moving on and pressing toward maturity in Christ because there's a high calling.

And God wants you moving forward towards Him. And you press on toward maturity day in and day out. And lastly, make sure that you pursue God's mission. Pursue God's mission in life. This is the last one. Pursue God's mission. And you ask, what would be God's mission? Well, let me explain it to you by looking at what God's mission was in His life as He walked on the planet earth.

Okay. There are seven divine musts in Luke's gospel. Seven of them that define the mission of God. That set for us, how does we pursue God's mission? It says in verse 49 of chapter two, when Jesus at age 12, the only thing that we know that Jesus says, okay, before He begins preaching is in Luke chapter two, verse number 49.

It's the only words recorded of Jesus. And it says, as He spoke to His mother, why is it that you were looking for me? Did you not know that I must be about my father's business? I must. I must be about my father's business. Some say, I must be in my father's house. And both are true because the business of the Lord dealt with the house of the Lord. So therefore, I must be about my father's business. In other words, listen, what was His mission? To serve in truth. That's God's mission. Luke four, verse number 43 says this, Luke four, verse number 43.

But He said to them, I must preach the kingdom of God to the other cities also, for I was sent for this purpose. And not only must I serve in truth, I must speak the truth. And then over in Luke chapter nine, verse number 22, it says, the son of man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and chief priests and scribes and be killed and be raised on the third day.

I must suffer for the truth. I must serve in truth. I must speak the truth. I must suffer for the truth. Then chapter 13, verse number 13, these words are spoken. Luke chapter 13, I'm sorry, verse number 33. He says, nevertheless, I must journey on today and tomorrow and the next day, for it cannot be that a prophet would perish outside of Jerusalem. In other words, I must sacrifice for the truth. Chapter 14, sorry, chapter 19, verse number five, Luke chapter 19, verse number five. When Jesus came to the place, He looked up and said to him, Zacchaeus, hurry and come down, for today I must stay at your house.

Why? Because I must save sinners with the truth. And that's what He did with Zacchaeus. And then when you come to Luke chapter 22, Luke chapter 22, the Lord makes it very clear in verse number 37, for I tell you that this was written, that which is written must be fulfilled in me, and He was numbered with transgressors, for that which refers to me has its fulfillment. I must submit to the truth. And then chapter 24, verse number 44, He said to them, these are my words which I spoke to you while I was still with you, that all things which are written about me in the law of Moses and the prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled.

And that is, we must see the truth. The seven divine musts in Luke's gospel define God's mission. I must serve in truth. I must speak the truth. I must suffer for the truth. I must sacrifice for the truth. I must submit to the truth. Everything is about the truth, but it's all how the Lord says, I came down not to do my will, but the will of Him who sent me. His whole mission was to do the will of His Father, and that's exactly what He did. And so, He spells it out in Luke's gospel. This is what I must do.

Well, if He must do it, what must we do? The same thing. Because you see, when you pursue God's mission, everything else pales in comparison. Nothing else really matters. Because the mission of Christ was the eternal mission, not a temporary mission. It was all for the sake of eternity and the glory of His Father in heaven. Let me pray with you.

Father, we thank You, Lord, for our time together this evening, and thank You for the truth that You give us in Your Word. We are grateful. And pray, Father, that, Lord, as we seek to honor You each and every day, that the Word of God would dwell on us richly and we would truly live for the glory of our King. Help us, Lord, to live only for You and not for ourselves. In Jesus' name, amen.