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How To Develop A Loving Relationship With The Lord

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• The title of the message is "Developing a Loving Relationship with the Lord," or "How to Develop a Loving Relationship with the Lord." So if you look at verse 7, just one verse: "Many waters cannot quench love, neither can floods drown it. If a man would give all the substance of his house for love, it would be utterly condemned." I've dealt with this subject in times past, and yet I was reading through the book of the Song of Solomon recently, and this subject was again impressed upon my mind. Some of the messages that I've dealt with in time past are: what it would be like to love the Lord with all of your heart; then another message, how to love the Lord with all of your heart; and then how to gauge your love for Christ is another message; and how to increase your love for Christ is another message; and then prerequisites for loving Christ, that was two messages; and then love the greatest blessing; and then loving the Lord Jesus Christ; and a number of other sermons as well.

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• It's certainly not my intent today to repeat those sermons. If I did, we'd probably be here all afternoon and into the night. But I do want to build upon those messages and give you some new applications, or at least some that I think are often overlooked. If you want to hear those messages, they're on Sermon Audio, they're on CDs, they're on DVDs, they're readily available. But our text makes it very clear that genuine love, real genuine love, cannot be quenched. It is basically inextinguishable and insuperable because the Bible says that many waters cannot quench love, neither can the floods drown it. It is also represented in this verse as being exceedingly valuable and inestimable because the Scripture also says that if a man would give all the substance of the house for love, it would be utterly condemned.

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• Now, historically, the Song of Solomon is a song of intimacy. It is usually a picture of Jesus Christ and His church. It is also depicted as a relationship between a man and his wife. However, we have to understand that there is the greater picture of Christ and the church. There is in this book a declaration of the bridegroom for the love of the bride, and also a declaration of the love of the bride for the bridegroom as well. But although Solomon is mentioned in the Song of Solomon, we have to remember two key verses in the New Testament.

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• The first one, obviously, is Matthew 1:1. And that verse just simply says this: "The book of the generation of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Solomon, the son of Abraham." So Jesus Christ, then, is the true son of David. He's the true Solomon. He's also the true son of Abraham. He is the true Isaac. But then there is another passage. You'll find it in the book of Matthew, as well as in the book of Luke. And here it is in Matthew 12:42. Our Lord said, "The queen of the south shall rise up in judgment against this generation and shall condemn it. For she came from the uttermost parts of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon. And behold, a greater than Solomon is here." So Jesus Christ is not only the true son of David, He's also the greater Solomon as well. Now, Solomon in this book, and even in the other books of the Bible, is a picture of the Lord Jesus Christ, albeit it is not a perfect picture.

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• But then none of the pictures of our Lord Jesus Christ are perfect at all, because there's only one perfect one, and that is the Lord Jesus Christ Himself. But I believe this book is teaching us very clearly that a personal, loving, intimate relationship with God the Father through the Lord Jesus Christ is absolutely desirable and possible. It isn't only desirable and possible, it is also, I would say, absolutely necessary. And here's why. John 17:3. You'll find that is the high priestly prayer of our Lord. And in verse 3, He said this—and listen carefully: "And this is life eternal, that they may know Thee the only true and living God and Jesus Christ, whom Thou hast sent." Now, listen again: "And this is life eternal." He defines eternal life for you. Eternal life is not living somewhere in heaven forever. Eternal life is not something you get when you die. If you don't have eternal life now, you'll never have it in eternity. But eternal life is knowing the one true and the living God and Jesus Christ, whom He has sent.

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• Now, the word "know" indicates a personal, intimate relationship. In fact, the Greek word is the word ginōskō, and it literally means to know, to learn, to know, to understand, to get a knowledge of. And the word "know" is the Hebrew idiom for sexual intercourse between a man and his wife. For instance, you will find this occurring a number of times in the Bible, but Genesis 4:1: "And Adam knew his wife Eve, and she conceived, and bare Cain, and said, I've gotten a man from the Lord." And then in Genesis 4:17: "And Cain knew his wife, and she conceived, and bare Enoch. And he built a city, and called the name of the city after Enoch his son." And then in Genesis 4:25: "And Adam knew his wife again, and she bare a son, and called his name Seth." Now the interesting thing is there's another passage in light of that that you will find in the book of Amos chapter 3 and verse 2. If you want to turn over there, it's certainly Daniel, Hosea, Joel, Amos.

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• Look, if you would, at Amos chapter 3 at verses 1 and 2. Note what the Scripture says: "Hear this word that the Lord hath spoken against you, O children of Israel, against the whole family that I brought up from the land of Egypt, saying." So he talks about the children of Israel and he's talking about the whole family. And then he said in verse 2: "You only have I known of all the families of the earth."

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• "Therefore, will I punish you for all of your iniquities." So you have to ask this question: What does it mean when he says, "You only have I known of all the families of the earth"? Did he not know the other families? Did he not know the other nations? And the answer is, of course he did. Did he not know the sins of the other nations and the other families of the earth? And the answer is yes. Of course he did because he is omniscient. He knows everything. But what it does mean is simply this: that Israel was the only nation that God chose and revealed Himself to and entered into a covenant with. He did that with no other nation. He did not enter into a covenant with the Babylonians or the Assyrians or the Egyptians. No, it was Israel and Israel only. And as you read through the Bible, you are going to find that Israel were to be His peculiar treasure, His priest and His people. They were to be His people, and He was to be their God.

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• So let me give you the two passages. The first one is found in Exodus 6:7. Here's what God said to these people: "And I will take you to Me for a people, and I will be to you a God, and you shall know that I am the Lord your God, which bringeth you out from under the burdens of Egypt." So God said, "I'm going to take you for a people, and I am going to be your God." And then in the book of Leviticus 26:12, He said this: "And I will walk among you and will be your God, and you shall be my people." So Israel then was to be in a personal, intimate relationship, a covenantal relationship, with the One True and the Living God.

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• They were to serve Him, they were to honor Him, and they were to worship Him. Now, let me just put it to you very poignantly. Nothing has really changed from the Old Testament to the New Testament in one sense of the word. Let me show you. If you will turn back in your Bibles to the book of Deuteronomy chapter 10, and then we're going to the book of Mark chapter 12. So, Deuteronomy chapter 10 first, and then we will go to Mark chapter 12. So look, if you would, Deuteronomy 10:12.

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• "And now Israel, what doth the Lord thy God require of thee, but to fear the Lord thy God, to walk in all His ways, and to love Him, and to serve the Lord thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soul."

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• Now, if you look at Mark chapter 12, beginning there with verse 28, Mark 12:28, look what the Scripture says. "And one of the scribes came in, having heard them reasoning together, and perceiving that he had answered them well, asked him, Which is the first commandment of all?" Now, everyone knows the very first commandment: "Thou shalt have no other gods before me."

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• But that's not what this question is about. What is the first commandment? Notice if you would, our Lord answered him in verse 29: "The first of all the commandments is..." Actually, he quotes here Deuteronomy 6:4, the Shema Israel: "Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God is one Lord, and thou shalt love him, or love the Lord thy God, with all thy heart, with all thy soul, with all thy mind, with all thy strength. This is the first commandment. And the second is like, namely this, thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. There is none other commandment greater than these." It was required of the Old Testament saints to love the Lord with all their heart, mind, soul, strength, and being. It's required of New Testament saints as well. So the question has to be asked: How do we love the Lord with all of our hearts? Well, you can go back and listen to that message that I preached on that. But another leading question is this: How do we develop a personal, intimate relationship with the one true and the living God and love Him at the same time with all of our hearts?

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• Now, I'm going to enunciate a couple of principles that I enunciated previously. I'm not re-preaching these messages, but I'm going to enunciate these principles in order that you might see the applications that I'm going to be making today. First of all, I want you to understand this: that real, true, genuine love is not feeling, it is not emotion, it is not some abstract thing somewhere floating around out in the universe. According to the Word of God, real, genuine love is obedience. Moreover, love is an act of the will. Love is not emotions. Love is not feelings. Love is an act of the will. You cannot command emotions. You cannot command feelings. So I could look at Steve and say, "Steve, I command you to feel sick." He can't just feel sick. I could say, "Don, I command you to feel happy." You don't feel happy when you talk about your emotions or your feelings.

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• Most of these are usually visceral responses or muscular responses to certain situations, certain circumstances. Like I've heard people say, "I've just felt so embarrassed." Well, you know what that was. They had done something wrong and they got caught and sure enough, or they made some big mistake. And that was a response to a situation, to a circumstance. But love is an act of the will. So I could command you to do certain things that are acts of the will. I could say, "Clay, go get this problem straightened out with Gary." Or I could say, "Steve, go fix that truck outside." Those are acts of the will. You can do those. You don't command emotions. You don't command feelings, but you can command acts of the will. Now, I've just said that love, according to the Bible, is obedience, and it is an act of the will.

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• I want you to turn with me to several passages. I'm going to just show you these very quickly. I want you to turn to the book of John. John chapter 14 is where we're going to start. Then go ahead and find the book of Romans, and then 1 John. We're going to look at these very quickly. So look, if you would please, in John chapter 14. And I want you to see what I just enunciated, that love is indeed an act of the will, and it is indeed obedience. So watch it, if you would, John 14, and look, if you would please, at verse 21.

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• Here's what our Lord said: "He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me. And he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him."

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• Now look at that very easily, very clearly: "He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me."

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• Now skip down to verse 24: "He that loveth me not keepeth not my sayings, or my commandments, and the word which you hear is not mine, but the Father's which sent me." So our Lord said, if you love Me, you'll keep My commandments—that is, obedience—and He's commanding the will. He said, he that has My commandments or My sayings and does not keep them, he's the one that does not love Me.

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• Now, look in your Bible, Romans chapter 13. We will come back to this passage a little bit later, but I want you to see this in Romans 13, and let's begin reading there with verse 8. Romans 13:8. Here it is spelled out for us: "Owe no man anything but to love one another." Now look at this next statement: "For he that loveth another hath fulfilled the law." Verse 9.

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• "For this, Thou shalt not commit adultery, Thou shalt not kill, Thou shalt not steal, Thou shalt not bear false witness, Thou shalt not covet. Now if there be any other commandment, it is briefly comprehended in this saying, namely, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself." Now watch this last verse: "Love worketh no ill to his neighbor, therefore love is the fulfilling of the law." Well, what law did he just quote? He just quoted some of the Ten Commandments. Love is the fulfilling of the law. So love is obedience.

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• Now, if you will turn to 1 John chapter 2. 1 John chapter 2. And look, if you would please, beginning there with verse 3, 1 John 2:3. The Scripture says, "And hereby we do know that we know him if we keep his commandments." Now, how do I know that I know the Lord? How do I know that I know that I'm a Christian? Because He's enabling me, He's empowering me to keep His word, to obey Him. That's what He's saying. "Hereby we do know that we know him if we keep his commandments." Now look at verse 4: "He that saith, I know him, and keepeth not his commandments, is a liar, and the truth's not in him." So He says we know that we know Him if we keep His commandments, and the man that says, "I know Him"—that is, I have a personal intimate relationship with the Lord—but I'm disobedient, God said that man's a liar and the truth's not in him. So, once again, if you keep the commandments, it's evidence that you know Him.

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• If you don't keep them, it's evidence that you do not know Him. Now, if you look in 1 John chapter 5, if you want a definition of what love really is, here it is spelled out for you in black and white, and I've just been quoting this for you over and over. So, 1 John chapter 5, look if you would at verse 1: "Whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ, is born of God."

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• "And every one that loveth him that begat, loveth him also that is begotten of him." So if you love God, you're going to love the brethren, which I'll cover later. Look in verse 2: "By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and keep His commandments." I'll explain that later. Well, look in verse 3: "For this is the love of God that we keep His commandments, and His commandments are not grievous." So what is the love of God? The love of God is obedience. The love of God is keeping His commandments. So it is an established principle from Scripture that love is obedience and that love is an act of the will.

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• Now, you see, one of the major problems that you and I have is thinking that somehow that if we love the Lord, loving the Lord is on the same scale and the same level and the same par as loving our wives or loving our husbands or loving our children. Well, the truth of the matter is this: our love for the Lord is known to be superior to that, but our love for the Lord is actually above and beyond fleshly relations. So, if I want to love my wife, I can hold her, I can caress her, I can kiss her, I can tell her that I love her. If I want to love my grandchildren and my great-grandchildren or my children, I can put them on my lap and put my arms around them and hug them and tell them I love them.

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• I mean, that's what we do. But do you realize it is impossible to physically love the Lord? You can't hug Him, you can't kiss Him, you can't caress Him, you can't hold Him. That is an impossibility.

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• Now, I want to show you something. I want you to go back, if you would, to Matthew chapter 12, and then we're going to 2 Corinthians chapter 5. I'm just trying to show you in this passage, or these two passages, that our love for the Lord has to transcend the physical. So if you'll look in Matthew chapter 12, beginning there with verse 46: "While he yet spake or talked to the people, behold his mother and his brethren stood without"—this would be his fleshly family, his half-brothers and his mother. "So while he yet talked the people, behold his mother and his brethren stood without, desiring to speak with him. Then one said unto him, Behold, thy mother and thy brethren stand without, desiring to speak with thee. But he answered and said unto him that told him, Who is my mother, and who are my brethren? And he stretched forth his hand toward his disciples, and said, Behold, my mother and my brethren."

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• "For whosoever shall do the will of my Father who is in heaven"—that's obedience—"the same is my brother, my sister, and my mother." What did He just get through telling us? He's telling us that the relationship with Him transcends the physical. My mother, my sister, my brothers are those that do the will of my Father who is in heaven.

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• Now if you'll look in 2 Corinthians 5:16, you'll see how the Apostle Paul relates this same truth. 2 Corinthians 5, look, if you would please, at verse 16: "Wherefore, henceforth know we no man after the flesh. Yea, though we have known Christ after the flesh, yet now henceforth know we him no more." So he said, it's this goes beyond the physical, "though we have known Christ after the flesh, yet henceforth know we him no more."

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• You remember how John at the Last Supper laid his head on the breast of our Lord. That's impossible today. There's no way in the world that I could do that or you could do that. There's no way in the world you can run up to Him and shake His hand, hug His neck, put a bear hug on Him or kiss His cheek or say, "I love you, Lord." I mean, it's just physically impossible. And so when we are talking about loving the Lord now, we cannot think necessarily in just physical terms. We have to think beyond that.

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• Now, let me say something, and I'm going to show it to you from Scripture, and I'm going to enlarge upon it. I want to emphasize again that love is obedience. Now listen carefully. If I increase my love for the Lord Jesus Christ, I increase my obedience to the Lord Jesus Christ. That is the very first truth that you have to understand, that number one, love is obedience. Here's the second truth that you must understand, and that is this: that real, genuine, biblical love is always demonstrable. I want you to turn to 1 John chapter 3. And you can just mark this passage because we will come back to it, Lord willing, before we close. Look in 1 John 3:16. Real love is demonstrable. Here it is, 1 John 3:16. Watch this: "Hereby perceive we the love of God." The word "perceive" means to comprehend, to understand, to lay hold of. How do we lay hold of the love of God? Now watch: "Hereby perceive we the love of God, because He told us He loved us."

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• No, that's not what the verse said. "Hereby perceive we the love of God, because He laid down His life for us." It was a demonstrable love. He not only said, "I love you," I demonstrate it by giving my life. And then He says, "and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren." By the way, let me just stop right there and go ahead and quote 1 John 4:10, because the Bible says there, "Herein is love, not that we love God, but that he loved us and sent his son to be a propitiation for our sins." So real biblical love is always demonstrable. That's why I said in verse 16, the latter part, "we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren." Now watch verse 17.

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• "But whoso hath this world's good, and seeth his brother have need, and shutteth up his bowels of compassion from him, how dwelleth the love of God in him? My little children, let us not love in word, neither in tongue, but in deed and in truth." So the truths that love is obedience and love is demonstrable should be deeply etched upon our minds if we're going to develop a loving, intimate relationship with God the Father through the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, note if you would, love is always demonstrable. Look at verse 17.

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• I'll probably quote this again before we close. He said, "But whoso hath this world's good, and seeth his brother have need, and shutteth up his bowels of compassion from him, how dwelleth the love of God in him?" Hmm. So Steve comes to my house and come to find out his truck is broken down. He's walked the last 10 miles to get to me and he gets to my house and he says, "Pastor, I've walked 10 miles. I'm hungry. I'm out of food. I'm out of gas. My truck's broken down. Can you help me?"

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• And I say, "I can. Be ye warmed and filled, and may your truck be healed. In the name of Christ, go your way."

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• Now, you know what the Scripture says? If I did something that is stupid, how could the love of God be dwelling in me? No. If He comes to my house hungry, I feed Him. If He comes to my house thirsty, I give Him something to drink. If He comes to my house out of gas, I give Him gas. If He comes to my house with a broken truck, I call somebody else because I'm not a mechanic. You see what I'm saying? Love is always demonstrable.

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• Now, while I'm not a pietist, and I certainly do not agree and hold the position of pietism—pietism is just basically when you kind of withdraw from everyone and everything and just think you're just going to commune totally and completely with the Lord all the time. While I'm not a pietist in that sense of the word, yes, there has to be a time of personal Bible study and personal Bible reading and personal prayer and intimacy with our Lord. And there's certainly nothing wrong with telling the Lord Jesus Christ that you love Him. I do every day. There's nothing wrong with telling your wife or your husband that you love them. I tell Alice all the time. There's nothing wrong with telling your children, your grandchildren, your great-grandchildren, your adopted grandchildren that you love them. I do that all the time.

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• I even go further than that. There's nothing wrong with telling your animals that you love them. I tell my animals that. You should watch Claiborne. Alice can tell you some of the reactions that I have gotten. Claiborne can be on the console with me. If I'm driving down the road and I can look at him, I'd say, "Claiborne, did I ever tell you about the time that you were a little puppy and I went to rescue you out of Jacksonville, Florida?"

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• "And when I walked in that door, you ran and jumped in my arms and you said, 'Take me home to Georgia and I'll be your dog.' Do you remember that? Did Papa ever tell you that he loved you?" You should watch him. He'll turn his head, close his eyes, reach over and start licking my ear and rubbing up against me. How do they know? I don't know. I could tell you about an experience I had with a 3,000 pound bull.

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• And he comes up and rubs up against me like a little puppy. I don't know. I'm just simply saying there's nothing wrong with any of that, that is for sure. But the truth of the matter is this: here is where the rubber hits the road. There is nothing wrong with professing love. But love is more than talk, because it is always demonstrable. So if I'm going to tell the Lord that I love Him, there has to be a manifestation and a demonstration of that love in my life. I could tell Alice a hundred times a day that I love her, but if she caught me running around with other women, do you think she'd believe me? The answer is no. I could tell Gary a hundred times a day that I love him, but if he caught me stealing from him, do you think he'd believe my profession of love for him? I could tell Clay that I loved him. But if he found out I was going around lying about him and spreading rumors and untruths, do you think he would believe my profession that I love him?

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• And the answer is no. In other words, if there is real, genuine love, there's always going to be a demonstration of that love.

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• Now, I want to go back and I want to quote to you again a passage we have already read. In fact, if you want to turn there, do so. Romans chapter 13, I want you to see this. Look in Romans chapter 13. I'm going to go back over this very quickly. Romans chapter 13, look if you would please at verse 8. Romans 13:8. The Word of God says this: "Owe no man anything, but to love one another. For he that loveth another hath fulfilled the law." He that loveth another hath fulfilled the law. What is love? Love is obedience. Love is fulfilling the law. Now watch verse 9.

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• "For this, Thou shalt not commit adultery." Wow. So if I tell Steve I love him, I'm not going to try to be trying to seduce his wife. Wow. How do I know that I love him? Because I honor him, I honor his wife. Watch verse 9: "Thou shalt not kill." Well, if I tell Clay I love him, I do everything to defend him and protect him. And I do not try to do anything to take his life from him. Then he said, "Thou shalt not steal." Again, if I'm going to love Carol, I'm not going to steal from her. "Thou shalt not bear false witness." If I'm going to love Ron, I'm not going to lie about him and spread rumors about him. If I'm going to love Sharon, I'm not going to be coveting anything that she has. In other words, I'm going to act biblically toward them because love is the fulfilling of the law. Now, love is obedience and love is always demonstrable. Now, you're going to ask me, or at least you should be asking me, well, what about those passages where our Lord commands us to love our enemies?

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• Well, there are two passages. Matthew 5:44, where our Lord said, "But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you and persecute you." And then in Luke 6:27, "But I say unto you that hear, Love your enemies, do good to them that hate you." So how in the world do I love someone who's trying to steal from me, who's trying to harm me, who is lying about me? How do I love someone who is trying to steal my liberty and my freedom? How do I love them?

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• And the answer is by acting biblically toward them. I do not act toward them the way they are acting toward me. You have to remember now that you cannot command feelings, you cannot command emotions, you can command an act of the will. God never commands me to go up and hug my enemies. He doesn't command me to kiss them. He doesn't command me to have feelings toward them. What He does command me to do is to love them. How do I love my enemies? Well, if a thief has stolen from me, I confront him, and I ask and demand that he make restitution according to the law of God.

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• And then I'm more than willing to forgive him and help him. I don't go steal from him just because he stole from me. How in the world do I love a liar? I love him by not retaliating and telling lies on him like he did on me. I'm not spreading vicious rumors on him the way he has done on me. I will confront him for his lying ways, and I can ask him to repent and to repudiate his lies, but I'm not going to go out and tell lies on him just because he's told lies on me.

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• So, since you're in the book of Romans, look in Romans 12, beginning there with verse 17. Here is what I'm telling you on love your enemies. Watch this. He says, "Recompense to no man evil for evil." So if Clay stands up in front of everybody and cusses me out, that does not give me the right to stand up and cuss him back. Okay? So he says, "...recompense no man evil for evil."

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• "Provide things honest in the sight of all men, if it be possible. As much as lieth in you, live peaceably with all men." Now look at this: "Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves." We're talking about people who are doing us harm and doing us ill. "Avenge not yourselves." He's not talking about self-defense, but he's talking about people lying and doing things like this. "Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath, for it is written, Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord." Now look at this practical application: "Therefore if thine enemy hunger, feed him." What am I doing? He's done me wrong, but I'm doing right to him. If he's hungry, I'm going to feed him even though he's my enemy. Watch what else he says. He said, "If he thirst, give him drink."

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• Give him a glass of water, "for in doing so thou shalt heap coals of fire on his head." And then he says, "Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good." So the truth of the matter is this: loving our enemies just simply means that we act biblically toward them, even though they're acting unbiblically toward us. We're not retaliating and giving back the same kind.

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• Now, we have to understand this principle. If we're to develop a loving relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ, we're to demonstrate our love toward Him and have that love grow and increase, and it must increase, in obedience in every area of our lives. So, let me make a statement, and I want you to think about this. If I increase my love for the Lord Jesus Christ, I increase my obedience to the Lord Jesus Christ. If I increase my obedience to the Lord Jesus Christ, I increase my love to the Lord Jesus Christ. Because love is obedience, and love is always demonstrable. You can always demonstrate it.

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• Now, let me show you how practical this is. I want you to turn in your Bibles to the book of Ephesians chapter 5. This is what I wanted to really emphasize because so many times we get so confused when we're talking about loving the Lord and we try to make it something insurmountable and something very complex when it's very simple. One of the young ladies that is around our house frequently has a shirt.

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• And on the front of it, it just simply says, "Let me overthink this situation." And that's what most people do, especially when it comes to Bible truth. We just overthink it and we try to make something simple, very complex, when in reality it's not. So I want you to think about this. Love is obedience. Love is always demonstrable. So look at Ephesians 5:25. Here's a verse every woman can quote. Okay, here it is: "Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church and gave himself for it." Now look at that: "Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church and gave himself for it." So God commands husbands to love their wives. He commands husbands to love their wives in the way that Christ loved the church, and He commands husbands to love their wives with a sacrificial love. Because our Lord sacrificed Himself for the church. So, I want you to think with me. Love is obedience. And love is always demonstrable.

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• Since I have been commanded to love my wife as Christ loved the church and gave Himself for it, do you realize the more deeply I love my wife, and the more biblically I love my wife, I'm loving the Lord. Because I am obeying His command, and I am demonstrating my obedience by loving my wife. You see that? In other words, this is something so absolutely simple.

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• Now, let me go a little bit further, because just like most wives can quote Ephesians 5:25, most husbands can quote Ephesians 5:22-24. So look there, watch this. I want to put it together for you. Verse 22: "Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as unto the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church, and he is the Savior of the body. Therefore, as the church is subject unto Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in everything." Now skip down to verse 33: "Nevertheless, let every one of you in particular so love his wife, even as himself, and the wife see that she reverence her husband." Now although our Lord has been talking about husbands and wives, if you look at verse 32, He says, "This is a great mystery, but I speak concerning Christ and the church." Okay? Now let me put this together for you. The husband is supposed to represent Jesus Christ as the head of the church, and the wife is supposed to represent the church in relationship to the Christ.

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• So as the husband then loves the wife as Christ loved the church and gave Himself for it, the wife then is to submit to Him as unto the Lord Jesus Christ, and reverence or honor her husband the way the church is to reverence and honor Jesus Christ. So let's put it together. So the more I love my wife, biblically speaking, and sacrifice for her, the more obedient I am to this command to love my wife, which means the more I'm loving Christ and the more I'm demonstrating my love for Christ. And the more my wife submits to me and the more she honors me as her head, according to 1 Corinthians 11:3, where God gives you His order—there is God, Christ, man, and woman—and He's very pointedly said He's appointed man as to be the head of the woman. The more she submits to me and the more she honors me, the more she's demonstrating her love for Jesus Christ. The more she's loving Jesus Christ. I mean, it's really very simple.

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• And by the way, let me put this out so everybody can understand this. And it said, "and the wife see that she reverence her husband" or "see that she honor her husband" or treat him honorably is what it means. There are very few Christian women who would really get into a knockdown drag out with their husbands. But there are Christian women who will talk disrespectfully, dishonorably, hatefully to their husbands.

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• Let me mention something to you. A lot of times it's not how you say what you say, or it's not what you say, but it's how you say it. Tonal patterns can convey disgust, disrespect and anger, just like words. So if I looked at Alice and I smiled and I said, "I love you, sweetheart," she understands that. But I can use those same words and look at her and say, "I love you, sweetheart." And she knows there's anger. There's ill will. In other words, this is all involved in just loving the Lord. How do I love the Lord?

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• By being obedient in every area and every sphere of my life. In everyday things. While we're at it, let's look at Ephesians 6:1-3. Look at this: "Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. Honor thy father and thy mother, which is the first commandment with promise, that it may be well with thee, that thou mayest live long upon the earth." I've said this before. There comes a time when children are really, in one sense of the word, no longer obligated to obey in that sense when they leave home and have a house of their own. It's always wise to obey as best you can. But there is never, ever a time when you can dishonor your parents. Honor is always there.

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• So here's what God is saying. The more children then, whether they're little, teenagers or grown, it doesn't matter, the more that children obey, the more that they honor their parents, the more they're loving the Lord because this is His command and love is obedience and love is always demonstrable. So when children, even grown children, demonstrate honoring their parents, that's part of loving the Lord. And when children demonstrate dishonor, that is despising the Lord. You see that? Love is obedience. And love is always demonstrable. This is why He's saying, "Children, obey your parents, honor thy father and thy mother."

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• Now, I want you to look in 1 John chapter 3. Watch this. I told you we would come back there. I want to read a little more, including the passage that we just read. So we're going to begin reading at verse 11 and read through verse 23. 1 John 3:11. Watch this: "For this is the message that you have heard from the beginning, that we should love one another."

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• Now he gives us a negative: "Not as Cain, who is that wicked one who slew his brother." Hark back to Romans 13, "Thou shalt not kill." Well, he demonstrated that he hated Abel for he murdered him. Okay. So "not as Cain, who is that wicked one and slew his brother. And wherefore slew he him? Because his own works were evil and his brother's righteous. Marvel not my brethren, if the world hates you."

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• "We know that we've passed from death into life." Why? "Because we love the brethren. He that loveth not his brother abideth in death. Whoso hateth his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer hath eternal life abiding in him. Hereby perceive we the love of God, because he laid down his life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren. But whoso hath this world's good, and seeth his brother have need, and shutteth up his bowels of compassion from him, how dwelleth the love of God in him? My little children, let us not love in word, neither in tongue, but in deed and in truth." Now watch: "And hereby we do know that we are of the truth, and shall assure our hearts before him. For if our heart condemn us, God is greater than our heart and knoweth all things. Beloved, if our heart condemn us not, then have we confidence toward God."

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• "And whatsoever we ask, we receive of Him, because we keep His commandments and do those things that are pleasing in His sight. And this is His commandment, that we should believe on the name of His Son, Jesus Christ, and love one another as He gave us commandment." Now, how is our love for the brethren demonstrated? Well, according to this passage, we're willing to lay down our lives for them. We're willing to treat them honestly and deal honestly with them. We're willing to feed them if they're hungry, give them something to drink if they're thirsty. In other words, we're willing to supply their needs whenever it is necessary.

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• Now, verse 17, I told you I'd quote it again. Here it is: "But whoso hath this world's good, and seeth his brother have need, and shutteth up his bowels of compassion from him, how dwelleth the love of God in him?" In other words, it doesn't. In other words, because love is always demonstrable. So if I see my brother have need, I'm going to take care of that need the best I can.

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• Now, what I want you to understand is this. He said in verse 18, "My little children, let us not love in word, neither in tongue." Here it is: "but in deed and in truth." In other words, you have to have a manifestation, a demonstration of that love. That's what he means by "deed and in truth."

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• Now, what are the benefits? What are the blessings of developing a loving relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ through obedience in every area and every sphere of our lives? Here, I want you to watch this. Verse 19: "And hereby we know that we are of the truth and shall assure our hearts before Him." So what confirms the truth of God in our lives? Our obedience to that truth.

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• We are not just hearers of the Word, we're doers of the Word. We're not just people who go to church and turn around and go home. We're the ones who apply the truths to our lives. Look in verse 20. He says, "For if our heart condemn us, God is greater than our heart and knoweth all things." In other words, we can't go to God with known sin and rebellion because God knows that. He said, "But if our heart condemn us not, beloved, if our heart condemn us not, then have we confidence toward God."

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• Well, wait a minute now. If I mistreat Steve, and I'm ugly and hateful toward him, and I do not supply his need when he is in need, when I go to prayer, my heart is going to condemn me. Because I know I've violated the Word of God. I've violated the law of God. But if I have not been ugly and hateful toward him and I have supplied his need, then he said, "If our heart condemn us not, then we have confidence toward God." Hmm. What is going to give us confidence? Obedience.

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• Now let's go and watch this. He said in verse 22, "And whatsoever we ask, we receive of him"—while answered prayer. Why? "Because we keep his commandments." In other words, there is a correlation between obedience and blessing. So how many of you have children, all of you? Okay, here's a question. Is it easier to bless an obedient child than it is a disobedient child? Of course. Of course.

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• It's the same thing with our Heavenly Father. So He said, "And whatsoever we ask, we receive of him, because we keep his commandments." Here, here is the clincher. Watch this: "And do those things that are pleasing in his sight." That's obedience. So if you have a child and you ask that child to go do something and to do it in a certain way. And when that child returns, he comes back and he says, "Father, I've done what you've asked me to do. And I've done it in the way that you asked me to do it."

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• "Are you pleased with me?" What's the father going to say and what's the father going to do? "Of course, I am." And he picks the child up and hugs him and says, "I love you. Thank you for your obedience." Wow. You know, pleasing our Heavenly Father is as easy as obeying our Heavenly Father. One of the blessings and benefits of obedience is that we please Him.

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• Now, let me try to tie this together with some applications. I read the Song of Solomon 8:7 for one reason, to show you that love actually is unquenchable. So if you really and truly have a genuine and sincere love for God the Father through the Lord Jesus Christ, nothing is going to change your obedience to Him. You are going to obey, or as we would say on the farm, bust a gut trying. I mean, you're just going to do what's right. It doesn't matter if there's a flood, doesn't matter if there's high water, you are going to do what is right. And the only way to build a loving relationship with God the Father through the Lord Jesus Christ is through obedience. What did our Lord say in John 14:21?

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• "He that hath my commandments and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me." And then in verse 24, He said, "He that keepeth not my sayings, loveth me not." There is no way in the world that you can be rebellious and disobedient and wicked and sinful and say, "Lord, I love you." You don't. You're a liar. The only way that we can have and continue to develop an intimate personal relationship with God the Father is through obedience to His Word in every area and in every sphere.

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• So here's the second application. Love is not a warm feeling. Love is not a gush of emotions. Love is not goosebumps on my neck. Love is obedience. Now listen. If I love my wife the way Christ commands me to love my wife, yes, there are feelings and there are emotions. But the feelings and the emotions are not love. They're the result of the love. The consequence of the love. The love is obedience. So I'm thankful that yes, we are emotional creatures and yes, we do have feelings, but love is obedience and love to God is always demonstrable. And I can demonstrate my love just by obeying simple everyday commands. Here's the third one I want you to think about.

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• This is why I developed this message and actually titled it "Developing an Intimate Relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ." Do you understand and do you realize that you are developing a relationship every day in every way? You are either developing a relationship with sin or the Savior. You're either developing a relationship with the Lord or with lust. You're either developing a relationship with covetousness or with Christ. You're either developing a relationship with disobedience or with deity. In other words, you cannot escape a relationship. You're either going to have an intimate personal relationship with the one true and living God through Jesus Christ, or you will have a personal intimate relationship with sin and wickedness and disobedience.

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• So what I would tell you is this: Choose carefully. Because one relationship ends in life, and the other ends in death. But if we want a personal, intimate, loving relationship with Jesus Christ, one that increases, one that pleases Him, one that assures our hearts, one that gives us confidence toward Him, it is only through obedience to Him. Because love is obedience. And love is always demonstrable. Father, in the name of Jesus Christ, we bow to Thee this day.

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• We thank You for Your Word. We thank You for Your truth. We thank You, blessed Lord, that Thou hast indeed made it possible for each of us to have a personal, intimate relationship with the one true and living God through Thyself and through the power and person of the Holy Spirit of God. Help us, Lord, to develop that. Help us, Lord, to please Thee and walk pleasing in Thy sight, and do those things that are acceptable unto Thee. Give us grace, Father, that we may serve Thee acceptably with reverence and godly fear. In Thy name we pray, amen.

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• ♪

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deepseek | deepseek-v4-pro | clean_readable_transcript | 2026-06-05T23:10:25Z