Praising God Amidst my Problems, Part 5b

So the Lord is saying tonight, do you love me? And you might be in the audience saying, well, you know, I don't know if I do or not, but I'm sure that guy over there, he doesn't. And the Lord says to you, I'm not talking about him, I'm talking about you. Having not seen me, do you love me? I thought about that. And I was drawn to a book by Martin Lloyd-Jones on the love of God. And he lists 10 simple practical ways of knowing whether or not we love God in his book. So if the Lord was to ask you, do you love me?

What would you say? How would you respond? Peter said, Lord, you know all things. You know everything, Lord. I can't pull the wool over your eyes because you are God. So Lord knows your heart. And Martin Lord Jones asked these ten questions. He says, is there a loss of the sense that God is against me? Is there a loss of the sense that God is against me? Having therefore been justified by faith, Romans 5 says, we have peace with God. There is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. Romans chapter 8 tells us verse number 31.

So we realize that as we learn to love our God, there is a decreasing belief that God is against me. Is there a loss, he says, number two, of craven fear of God and a corresponding increase in godly fear?

Meaning, is there a true sense of the fear of God, not the fear of judgment that somehow God is going to reprimand me and that God is going to squel me because of my disobedience, but there is a healthy sense of reverential fear of the living God of the universe. And we, of course, have spent many weeks on that when we looked at Isaiah 66, verse number two, the ones who tremble at the authority of God's word.

He says, number three, do I sense the love of God for me? Do I sense the fact that God loves me? 1 John chapter 4, verse number 16 says it this way, and we have come to know and have believed the love which God has for us. God is love, and the one who abides in love abides in God and God abides in Him. So there is that sense that God truly does love me. In spite of all of my sin, in spite of everything that I have done wrong, he still loves me. Do I know that my sins are forgiven? Do I know that my sins are forgiven?

Romans chapter 4, verse 7 says, blessed are those whose lawless deeds have been forgiven and whose sins have been covered. Blessed is the man whose sin, the Lord will not take into accounts. Next, he says, Do I have a sense of gratitude to God? Do I have a sense of gratitude to God? Colossians chapter 2 says this in verse number 6. As you therefore have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him, having been firmly rooted and now being built up in him and established in your faith just as you were instructed and overflowing with gratitude.

is there an increasing gratitude for my God? And then he says this, is there an increasing hatred for sin? An increasing hatred for sin. Romans chapter 7 says it this way in verse number 15. For that which I am doing, I do not understand, for I am not practicing what I am. would like to do, but I am doing the very thing I hate. But if I do the very thing I do not wish to do, I agree with the law confessing that it is good. Am I increasing in my hatred for sin? Do I desire, here he goes again, to please God and live a holy life?

Do I desire to please God and to live a holy life. 1 John chapter 2 verses 5 and 6 say it this way but whoever keeps his word in him the love of God has truly been perfected by this we know that we are in him the one who says he abides at him ought himself to walk in the same manner as he walked is there a desire to know God and better draw near to him Philippians chapter 3 verse number 10 it was the apostle paul who had an increasing passion to know his god and the fellowship of his sufferings he wanted to know more about who this god was that he served he says number nine is there a conscious regret that my love for him is less than what it ought to be that's a good one isn't it is there a conscious regret that my love for him is less than my love for him is less than what it ought to be.

Paul said this in Philippians chapter 1, verse number 9. And this I pray that your love may abound still more and more in real knowledge and all discernment so that you may approve the things that are excellent in order to be sincere and blameless until the day of Christ. Paul would pray that their love would abound and would grow more and more. And with each passing day, there needs to be a conscious regret that I don't love God nearly as I ought to love him. And then lastly, he says, is there a sense of delight in hearing about God and the things of God?

Is there that great delight to hearing about God and the things of God? Is there a delight to be in His Word? Is there a delight to listen to his word being preached? That's how you know you love God. Someone would say, well, suppose I took that test and I failed it. Martin Lloyd Jones has an answer. He says, you need not start traveling the mystic way. You need not try to work up feelings. There is only one thing for you to do. Face God, see yourself and your sin, and see Christ as your Savior. In other words, he says, if you fail the test, you're not saved.

You need to be born again. You see, there are many people who think they love God, but have no understanding of what that means. They think they love God, but they don't hate sin. They kind of love their sin. They say they love God, but they are never aware that they are not loving him as they ought to love him and have no desire to increase that love for him. There are many who show no gratitude to God whatsoever. the Lord would speak to the church at Ephesus in Revelation chapter 2 and he would say I have this indictment against you you've lost your love for me you lost it so he says remember from where you have fallen repent of your sin and repeat your first deeds go back to way it used to be the way it was when you were first born again again you know how that is right you get saved you go to church and you you want to be at church when it's open and you want to be there to hear the word of god and you want to be with god's people you don't know any better than that right it's only after even saved a while you stop going to church it's those who are newly saved who want to be in church who want to be fed and who want to grow and they're excited about their walk with the lord and then they get around us you know frozen chosen and ones and then they realize, well, I guess I don't have to go to church anymore.

That's the way it is with a lot of people. And we slowly but surely begin to lose that passionate love for God. It's kind of like your marriage, right? When you first got married, you had passion, you had excitement, you had enthusiasm.

You wanted to be together. You couldn't be torn apart. After 25 years, though, things change. And you can't get together. And the enthusiasms waned. How do you get the passion back? Remember from where you were fallen, repent of your sin, and repeat your first deeds.

Go back and do the things that you used to do when you were just newly married. The setting of the flowers, the surprise dates, the surprise gifts, the little thank you cards, little notes on the mirror before you left for work. The little things you used. used to do to keep the fire burning. Go back and do your first deeds.

Peter says, you've never seen him, but you love him. That's why they rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory. You see, there's that joyful participation with my God that he and I are one, that I am his and he is mine. We are one. He dwells me. He is my God. As Hudson Taylor said, he is my resource because he is mine. So what he has, I have. His grace is my grace. His mercy is my mercy. His strength is my strength. That's why Paul would say over in Ephesians chapter six, these words in verse number 24, excuse me, 23, peace be to the brethren in love with faith from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

Grace be with all those who love our Lord Jesus Christ. Listen, with a love that is incorruptible. He says, for all those who love Jesus Christ, there is grace. An overflowing of grace. If you're having trouble with the dispensing of grace from the Lord of the universe upon your life during your trial, you have to go back and ask yourself, where is my love for my God? Because the love of God that's incorruptible, listen, sees and senses the grace. The love that's corruptible doesn't see it, nor does it sense it.

Oh, it's still there because it's God's unmerited favor. But he never sees it and therefore never draws upon it. See that? Boy, I wish I could spend some more time here. You know, there is so much to say. If you love the Lord, you hate what he hates and you love what he loves. John said it well in 1 John chapter 4 verse number 8 when he said these words he says the one who does not love does not know God for God is love he says in verse 11 beloved if God so loved us we ought to love what another Martin Lloyd Jones again says this he says John does not put this merely as an He puts it in such a way that it becomes a desperately serious matter.

And I almost tremble as I proclaim this doctrine. There are people who are unloving, unkind, always criticizing, whispering, backpiting, pleased when they hear something about another Christian. Oh, my heart grieves and bleeds for them as I think of them. They are pronouncing and proclaiming that they are not born of God. They are outside the life of God. and I repeat there is no hope for such people unless they repent and turn to him. Man, I thought I said some hard things. That's really, really cut and dry.

Because you see, if you love God, you're going to love the people of God. You're also going to love the truth of God, right? Psalm 11997, oh, how I love thy law. It is my meditation all the day. If you love God, you're going to love as people. You're going to love its truth. You're going to love righteousness. Did you know that? You are going to love righteousness. 1 John 2.29 says this. Everyone who practices righteousness is born of him. Little children, verse number 7 in chapter 3, let no one deceive you.

the one who practices righteousness is righteous, just as he is righteous. First 10, by this, the children of God and the children of the devil are obvious.

Obvious. Very clear. You know who is a child of God, and you know who is a child of the devil. How do you know? Anyone who does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor the one who does not love his brother. There it is. God said it. You love the brotherhood. You love the word of God. You love righteousness because he himself is righteous. And you know this? This is even where it gets really tough. You love your enemies. That's how you know you love God. You love your enemies. You have heard that it was said by the ancients of old.

Hate your enemy. But I say to you, Christ, Matthew 544, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you. Let me ask you, having not seen him, do you love him that way?

That's the question we all have to ask ourselves, right? And that's where we say, you know, there are my enemies, there are some I don't even love. I don't even want to be around. So I am falling short in my love for God. You're not falling short in your care for your enemy. You're falling short in your love for your God. See, that's the bottom line. You see, I can't love my enemy. Yes, you can. Romans 5.5. The love of God is shed abroad in your hearts. That means the love of God fills your life.

So now he enables you to do what he did, to love your enemies, and to pray for those who persecute you. That's what Jesus did. If we say that we love him, we ought to do what he himself did. We must go on. one. Not only do you love him, you believe him. You believe him. Now, Peter's talking to people who've never seen Christ. So the only way they know he exists is by what? By faith. They walk by faith and not by sight. They believe in the revealed word of God. And Peter says these words. He says this.

He says, And though you have not seen him, you love him, and though you do not see him now, but believe in him. You trust him. Wow. You truly believe him. You love him so much. You are so committed to him. You are so in touch with him that you. trust everything he's going to do, you trust him. And you believe what he says. That's what causes you to rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory. They believed Jesus in the midst of their trial. They trusted him in the midst of their trial. they could count on him when they could count on no one else because he was theirs and they were his they were owned by God we'll read later in in 1 peter chapter 2 that we are a people for God's own possession he possesses us First Corinthians 13 verse number seven says that love believes all things.

True love trusts and our love for God causes us to trust him to do what he says he's going to do. to ingredients that make any relationship good is love and trust. Without those ingredients, your relationships will fail. And the Lord said to Thomas and John 20, Blessed are those who have not seen me and yet believed. Thomas, you have seen me and you believe. and you cried out my Lord and my God. Yet those who have not seen me and believe in me, those are the ones who are truly blessed. Peter, hearing this, being with the other disciples in John chapter 20 when that took place, is now saying, you haven't seen him.

Yet you love him. And though you do not see him, now you believe in him. You are the blessed ones. That's why you rejoice with joy, inexpressible, and full of glory. See that? You have a relationship. You are partnering with the Lord God of the universe, and that is the sole reason behind rejoicing amidst you. your problems. It's because of who he is and what he's done. That 17th century Anglican Bishop Robert Leighton said these words. He said, believe and you shall love. Believe much and you shall love much.

Labor for strong and deep persuasions of the glorious things which are spoken of Christ. And this will command love. Certainly did men indeed believe his worth, they would accordingly love him, for the reasonable creature cannot but affect that most which it firmly believes to be the worthiest of affection. Oh, this mischievous unbelief is that which makes the heart cold and dead towards God. Seek then to believe Christ's excellency in himself, and his love to us, and our interest in him, and this will kindle such a fire in the heart as will make it ascend in a sacrifice of of love to him.

You believe him. You trust him. And lastly, you're delivered by him. He says, obtaining, presently receiving for yourselves, the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls. You don't see him yet, but guess what? One day you will see him, because you will obtain the fullness of your salvation. You'll be delivered by him. I think about this, and I'm always reminded of what the apostle Paul said back in 2nd Timothy. Chapter 2, when he was in prison, he was about to die. He said in verse number 14, Alexander the Coppersmith did me much harm.

the Lord will repay him according to his deeds, be on guard against him yourself, for he vigorously opposed our teaching. At my first offense, no one supported me, but all deserted me.

May it not be counted against them, but the Lord stood with me. Everybody deserted me, Paul says. Everybody left me, but God stood with me. I am partnered with God. I believed in him. He stood with me. I couldn't see him, but he was there. At my first defense, when no one stood with me, I was isolated, I was lonely, I was on an island all by myself, nobody was there, God was there.

And God was the one to strengthen me, and you know why he strengthened me? Not to help me not be lonely anymore, so that the Gentiles can hear the gospel. See that? Why does God strengthen me so I can tell people about him? Not so I can get better, not so I can feel good. not so I can get up and walk around no so I can tell people about his wonderful presence in my life that's why but that's not even the point I want to get to yet it's still further listen he says this he says and I was delivered out of the lion's mouth the Lord will deliver me from every evil deed and will bring me safely to the heavenly kingdom to him be the glory forever and ever amen I was delivered out of the lion's mouth I was delivered out of a death like experience but you know what even if I wasn't at that time I am ultimately going to be delivered into his presence that is my deliverance I might not be able to be delivered from my present difficulty in fact that present difficulty might lead me to my death.

But it's that death that delivers me unto the faith that I ultimately will obtain the fullness of my salvation, my glorification. And I'll see him face to face. The one that I loved and never saw. The one that I believed in and never touched, I will see and touch. because I would have been delivered into his ultimate presence. And Peter says, that's why you rejoice with a joy that cannot be expressed in human terms because it is a divine joy that comes from the divine God himself. You don't see him, but you love him.

You don't see him, but you believe in him. Because no matter what happens, you ultimately will be delivered into his presence for the glory and honor of God himself. And that is why you can praise God. I missed all your problems. See that? Our Lord God wants you to understand that He is yours. And you are His. Once you get that, praising God amidst your problems becomes much, much easier. Thank you.