If you have your Bibles with you, please join me as I read from the book of Psalms. Psalm 116 verse 1. Just the first part of this verse. Psalm 116 verse 1. I love the Lord, because He has heard my voice and my supplications. I love the Lord. That's the title of our message this afternoon. And under this title, we will look at three thoughts. First, the lover, I. Second, the love, I love, and then finally the love, the object of this love. So three thoughts, the subject of love, I, the meaning of love, We will see what it means and then the object of love. So first of all, let's consider the first point here, the lover. So here's the question, who is the subject here in our text? Who is the doer of the action in verse 1? Who is the lover? Who is the I in our text? Well, many commentators believe that David wrote Psalm 116. And therefore, it's David who says, I love the Lord. Now, who is David, boys and girls? Well, of course, we know that David is a believer in God. He's a man of faith. Do you remember the story about Goliath? In 1 Samuel chapter 17 verses 45 through 47, Goliath disdains and curses David. And in response to Goliath's insult, David proclaims, You come to me with a sword and spear, but I come to you in the name of the Lord, whom you have defied. This day the Lord will deliver you into My hand, that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel. Then all this assembly shall know that the Lord does not save with sword and spear, for the battle is the Lord's, and He will give you into Our hands." Now imagine David's faith. in God here. No wonder why his name is included in the list of men and women of faith in Hebrews chapter 11. So he is a man of faith. Nevertheless, he is also a sinner like all of us. Remember, David transgressed God's law. He violated all the Ten Commandments. He committed adultery with Bathsheba. He also committed murder. In 2 Samuel 11, verse 15, David writes to his commander's army, Seth Uriah, that's Bathsheba's wife, husband, rather, in the forefront of the hottest battle and retreat from him that he may be killed or struck down and die." Now imagine what David did here. He intentionally wanted Uriah to be killed. He was the mastermind for the murder of Uriah. He committed murder. So yes, David is a man of God, a man of faith, but he's also an adulterer, a murderer. Covetous. But I want to add this. Yes, that's true. But let us not forget that this same man of God repented of his sin. David is a repentant sinner. Yes, he sinned against God, but he asked for forgiveness. Do you know where you can find best his repentant heart? In Psalm 51. This is his psalm after he has been rebuked by Prophet Nathan about his sin with Bathsheba. And listen to what David says here. Have mercy on me, O Lord, according to Your lovingkindness. according to the multitude of your tender mercies, blot out my transgressions. Wash me completely from my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin, for I confess my transgressions and my sin is ever before me. Against you, you only, have I sinned and done evil in your sight." And so you may ask, how can David say in our text, I love the Lord, when in fact he is a sinner? Well, you are right in calling him a sinner, but please remember this. He is a forgiven sinner. He is a forgiven sinner. I remember John Newton, the famous author of the hymn, Amazing Grace. He once said, and he said this toward the end of his life when he was 82 years old, when his health was deteriorating. He said, although my memory is fading, I remember two things very clearly. I am a great sinner and Christ is a great Savior. could say the same thing. Yes! Yes, you can call me a great sinner. Yes, I disobeyed God. I offended Him. Yes, I committed adultery with Bathsheba. Yes, I murdered her husband. I am guilty of that sin. But I ask for forgiveness. And the Lord has forgiven me. I am a forgiven sinner. Yes, my sin is great, but I have a great Savior also. Praise the Lord. His mercy is more, stronger than darkness, stronger than adultery, murder, you name it. New every morn, our sins, they are many. His mercy. is more. And because of that mercy, David can say boldly, without any slight hesitation, I love the Lord. You see, at the end of the day, there are two kinds of sinners. Saved and unsaved. Forgiven and unforgiven. Repentant and unrepentant. We are all sinners. We have all violated the Ten Commandments. The issue now is this. What kind of sinner are you this afternoon? Are you a repentant sinner? Are you a forgiven sinner? Are you a believing sinner? Are you a saved sinner? Saved by God's grace? What kind of sinner are you this afternoon? You see, if you are a believing sinner, you can say with David here in our text, I love the Lord. Now, let's move to my second point. the love. What kind of love is this? Well, this love is a love prompted by the love of God. If I ask you this afternoon, what prompted David to say, I love the Lord? Well, of course, you can answer that question from different angles. in so different ways. But we have an answer, a clear answer, in 1 John 4, verse 19, where John the Beloved writes, We love Him, we love God, why? What's the explanation? Because He, God, first loved me. You see, God always takes the initiative in the relationship we have with Him. That's why even Jesus can say to His disciples in John 15 verse 16, You have not chosen Me, but I have chosen you. If you are part of My core, if you are one of My disciples, it is not because you have chosen Me. No, no, no, no, no. It is because I have chosen you first. Or you can even put it this way, the reason why you came to me, because I came to you first. I sought you first, because you were lost in sin. The reason why you are now choosing me as your Lord and Savior, because I have chosen you first. You love me because I have loved you first. Now you cannot apply that to a marital relationship. That's not always the case. You cannot say to your wife, you see, the reason why we are married today, we are together today, because I have chosen you to be my wife. You have not really chosen me. I have chosen you. Or you can even say this, you see, the reason why we are married today, because I first loved you. You didn't really love me before. It's because of my love that prompted you to love me in return. Well, it could be true in some cases, but that's not always the case in every marital relationship. But when it comes to our relationship with our God, that's always the case. That's always the case because God always takes the initiative in the relationship that we have with Him. And so it was God's love that prompted David to declare boldly in our text, I love the Lord. By nature we are not lovers of God. We are actually haters of God. Do you know that in Romans chapter 1, one of the descriptions that the Apostle Paul uses to describe the wicked is haters of God. Haters of God. That's who we are by nature. We don't love God by nature. We hate God. We are selfish by nature. We love ourselves. But Paul says in Romans chapter 5, Therefore having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Because the love of God has been poured out or shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us. Oh, I love this verse. There you see the third Person of the Trinity, our Blessed Holy Spirit. He has shed the love of God in our hearts. And therefore, every true child of God has the love of God, has that God that comes from God Himself. And with that love, we can say with David, I love the Lord. With that love, we can now love God also in return. So our love for God is prompted by that divine love bestowed upon us by the Holy Spirit. And I thank God for that. That God Himself has given me His love. And so my question to you this afternoon is this. Do you love the Lord? Do you love the Lord? And if you can sincerely answer yes to this question, you know that it is because God loved you first. It is because the Holy Spirit has poured out in your heart the love of God. Now, do you know that love for God is one of the marks of saving grace, if not the mark of all the marks of saving grace. Why did I say that? Well, because when we read Romans 8, verse 28, this famous verse, we often cite this verse, and we know that all things work together for good to whom? To those who love God and to those who are called according to His purpose. My question is this, how does Paul describe the elect in this verse? If you are to ask the Apostle Paul, Paul, I really want to know who the elect are. Can you please describe them to me? One of the descriptions that the Apostle Paul will give to you is this. Love for God. They are lovers of God. And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose. Who are the chosen according to His purpose. And that's why If you still struggle with this issue, whether you are one of the elect or not, ask yourself, do you love the Lord? Because if you can sincerely and honestly say that you love the Lord, then you have the mark of all the marks of electing, saving, grace of God. Now, of course, you cannot deceive God. You cannot say, I love the Lord, even if you don't really love Him. God knows your heart. But if you can, by the grace of God, say, Yes, I love the Lord. I cannot deny this fact that I love Him. Then you are one of the elect. You are one of the chosen ones. And that's why In my former denomination, United Reformed Church of North America, one of the questions that we ask to those who make a public profession of faith is this. Do you declare that you love the Lord? Do you declare that you love the Lord? If you can say yes to this question, then you are a true child of God. Now please note, we're not asking the person if he or she loves the Lord as he should. Because if that's the question, then no one can answer yes to that question. If you say to me, Pastor Brian, do you love the Lord with all your heart, with all your mind, with all your strength and might? I say to you, I don't. And I have not yet met a Christian who can honestly say that he loves the Lord with all his heart, mind and soul. I have not yet met a Christian who can honestly say that he loves the Lord as he should. That's not the issue here. The issue is, I love the Lord. The psalmist, in Psalm 116, David does not say, I love the Lord with all my heart, mind and soul. Or, I love the Lord as I should. No, he simply states, this simple reality that he cannot deny, despite of who he is before God, despite of all his shortcomings and transgressions and failures in life, as King of Israel, as a father of his own household, he can say, nevertheless, I love the Lord. When Jesus asked Peter three times, Jesus did not say, Peter, do you love me as you ought? Or do you love me perfectly? Do you love me with all your total being? No. Jesus simply asked him, Peter, do you love me? Let me read that conversation in John chapter 21, verse 15. So when they, that is Jesus and His disciples, had eaten breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, Simon, son of Jonah, do you love me more than these, that is, more than these other disciples love me? Now, you might wonder, why would Jesus ask Peter this kind of question? Well, if you recall, earlier in John chapter 13, Peter said arrogantly to Jesus, I will lay down my life for your sake. But Jesus answered Peter, will you lay down your life for my sake? Most assuredly, I say to you, the rooster shall not crow till you have denied me three times." And so the question is actually meant to be a gentle rebuke for Peter's arrogant, proud profession that he loved Jesus more than other disciples loved Jesus. And so Peter replied to Jesus, yes, Lord, you know that I love you. Then Jesus said to him, feed my lambs. And then for the second time, Jesus said to Peter, Simon, son of Jonah, do you love me? He said to him, yes, Lord, you know that I love you. He said to him, tend my sheep. And then finally, for the third time, Simon, son of Jonah, do you love me? Peter was grieved because he said to him the third time, do you love me? And he said to Jesus, Lord, you know all things. You know that I love you. Jesus said to him, feed my sheep. If Jesus is standing here right now in front of you, asking you this simple question, do you love me? What would be your response? Can you say by the grace of God, Lord, You know all things about me. You can read my heart right now. You know everything about my personality, everything about me, past, present, future. But Lord, I cannot deny this, that I love you. Now, again, Peter did not say to Jesus, well, yes, Lord, I love you more than your other disciples love you. No. Peter did not even go to that direction. Yeah, before he was arrogant. But now, he was so humbled. And yet, he could not deny the simple truth. Lord Jesus, You know all things about me. I love You. I love You. Can you say the same thing this afternoon? You see, David can say that. And that's why here in our text we read, I love the Lord. Oh, don't judge the man. Please don't. See, we can be too critical of other persons. Maybe we can say, David, how dare you can say this, that you love the Lord. You are a hypocrite. You committed this sin of adultery and murder. You are a murderer. David will not argue with you. He will simply say, you're right. You're right. Call me whatever you want to call me. Call me the greatest sinner in the world. But please do remember this. I ask for forgiveness. And the Lord forgave me. Yes, my sin is too many, but His mercy is more. Yes, my sin is so great, but the grace of Jesus Christ is greater than all my sin. I love The Lord. I love the Lord. May I ask our young people who will be making that public profession of faith, do you love the Lord? Again, I'm not saying If you love the Lord as you should or as you ought, or if you love the Lord with all your heart, mind, and soul, I'm simply asking you this question. Do you love the Lord? If you do, then that's it. You possess the mark of all the marks of saving and electing grace. Let's move to my third point, the loved, the object of love. Now, the word Lord, after the word love, is not found in the original manuscript. But because it is so obvious that the object of love is Jehovah, translators have supplied the word Lord. As one commentator explains, the object of love is naturally Jehovah. Not grammatically, but logically. And so literally, verse 1 of Psalm 116, reads this way, I have loved because Jehovah hears my voice, my supplication. I have loved or I love. But you see, David's love has an object. It has an object. When you say, I love, your love has an object. And in the case of David, the object, the recipient of his love is God Himself. Is God Himself. I love the Lord. Now, this afternoon, it is possible that the object of your love is not the Lord, but Satan. It is possible that this afternoon, the person whom you are loving is not Jehovah, the Almighty God, but Satan. the great deceiver, the father of all lies. It is possible that your affection is set on the things of this world, the lust of the flesh, the pride of life. It is possible that what you love is your earthly possessions, not really the Lord. It is possible that the object of your love has nothing to do with the Lord Jesus Christ. And so again, I ask you this question this afternoon. Who is the object of your love? I love blank. What can you write down to fill out the blank? I love the Lord. Or I love myself. I love the world. I love my flesh, I love sin, unrighteousness, or I love the Lord. You see, to love the Lord is to love His Son, Jesus Christ. You cannot say that you love God and hate Jesus Christ. Because God the Father loves. his son so much. This is my beloved son with whom I am well pleased." That's why if you have a conversation with an unbeliever coming from a different world view, Let's say, a Muslim, or a Buddhist, or whatever, and you begin to discuss about eternity, and they say, well, it's good you believe in God, I also believe in God. It looks like we have the same kind of God. Well, you can ask that person, is your God loves the Lord Jesus Christ? That's it. Because a Muslim cannot say that. A Muslim cannot say that. You see, what is unique about our God, about the Lord supplied here in our text, is that this is Jehovah who loves the Lord Jesus Christ. And therefore, He who loves Jehovah should also love His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. If you say that you love the Lord, you should also, you must love His Word. 1 John 5, verse 3, this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments, and His commandments are not burdensome. You cannot say to me, yes, I love the Lord, but I don't care about the Ten Commandments. I don't care about the Word of God. I don't meditate on God's Word. I don't read His Word. I don't care about the preaching of God's Word. I find it boring. When I go to church, yeah, I can I don't really pay attention to the message of God." Well, you don't really love God. To love God is to love His Word. Imagine this analogy. If, let's say, I say to my wife, I love you so very much. Father's Day today, she gave me a wonderful card. And imagine if when she handed that card to me, a beautiful card, I didn't even pay attention to it. I did not read it. Well, but I love you. No. She wrote it. This is her love letter for me. To love her is to love that which she has written. This is her love story. Love letter for me. And the same is true. This is God's love letter for us. His Word. Do you love the Lord? Do you love His Word? If you love the Lord, you must also love His church. Remember what Jesus said to Peter. Peter, do you love Me? Then feed My sheep. Feed My church. Feed My bride. If you say that you love me and you hate my wife, I hate you too. Whoever hates my wife will be my enemy. It's simple like that. Because we are one. You cannot say that you care for me, that you love me, and in the meantime, you hate my wife. You talk trash about her. You don't really love me. And the same is true. You cannot say that you love God, but you don't love His Church, His Bride. This is His Bride! Do we care for the Bride of the Lord Jesus Christ? In what way do we express our love for His Bride? Or maybe we are too critical of the Bride of Jesus Christ? You see, despite all the... spots that you can see in the face of the Bride of Jesus Christ. Despite all the many shortcomings of this Bride, Jesus still loves her. And you dare not criticize His Bride. That's the last thing that you want to do. I dare not criticize your bride, your wife. We will be enemies for sure. You will hate me. And you have all the right to be upset, to be angry with me. And the same is true. If we really care for Jesus, we will care for His bride. Do you love your brother or sister in the Lord? Again, to love God is to love our brothers and sisters in Christ. 1 John 4, verses 20 and 21. If anyone says, I love God and hates His brother, he is a liar! For he who does not love his brother whom he has sinned with his eyes, cannot love God whom he has not sinned. And this commandment, we have from Him. Whoever loves God must also love his brother. You see, your love for your brother is the measure of your love for God. Jan the Beloved is simply making this case. If you say that you love God, whom you don't see, and you don't love your brother whom you see, you know that so and so your brother is in great need, but you don't care, you don't even pray for him, or pray for her, for that dear sister who is struggling, then maybe you don't really love the Lord. That's the point of Jan the Beloved. You see, I pray that The love of the Lord Jesus Christ will be felt by others in us. What a compliment when someone says to us, I have felt the love of Christ in you. I have seen the love of God in your life. You show, you demonstrate the love of Jesus. You are filled with that love. What a compliment that is to receive such a remark. You know what's fascinating? If you go to the Middle East, especially to Syria, Afghanistan, and talk to a Muslim converted to Christianity. This Muslim will tell you two things, either one of the two. It's either that Muslim had a dream about Jesus, and eventually a Christian, a missionary, came to that Muslim and shared the Gospel, and he was saved. That Muslim felt the love of Jesus from one of his Christian neighbors. I felt the love of Jesus. We kill Christians, but they love us in return. And they are puzzled by that. We cannot explain that. Our leaders tell us to kill Christians. But as we seek to kill them, they all the more show us the love of their God. Conquered by the love of God. Do we share the gospel with others by telling them the love of Jesus? Katherine Henke wrote this hymn. I love to tell the story. I love to tell the story. It did so much for me. You see, if you love the Lord, you will also love to tell His story. Not your story. Forget about your story. But you will tell them the story of God. The story of redemption. That in Jesus Christ there is forgiveness. That Jesus saves. Jesus saves. That whoever believes in Jesus will receive everlasting life. Again, do you love the Lord? See, David can say this, can say that by God's grace. I love the Lord. Not as I should. not with all my heart. And yes, yes, David will admit this, that even the best expression or demonstration or the best act of his love for God is tainted by his sin. Nevertheless, he loves the Lord. And isn't it true? Isn't it true that even this afternoon, show me your best act of love for God that very best act of your love for God is marked by your sin and yet we cannot deny the fact I love the Lord I love the Lord and I want to end with this comfort also that our salvation, our redemption, our eternal security, our assurance of faith does not depend on our love for God, but on His love for us. Because the Lord, as Jeremiah says, Jeremiah 31 verse 3, And God says here, I have loved you with an everlasting love. Oh, hallelujah with that. I have loved you with an everlasting love. In other words, when we read what John the Beloved says, we love Him because He first loved us. When did He first love us? When did it happen? When did God set His love for us? And the answer, of course, is before the foundation of the world. Because He has loved us from everlasting to everlasting. And His love for us will never change. It's fixed. And you know what's amazing is this. Even when you sin, God still loves you. Think about that. And that's... mind-blowing, that even when you backslide, God still loves you. He still loves you. His love does not change. Now, of course, it's not a license for us to continue in sinning. Listen to what Paul says. Shall we then continue in sinning that grace may abound, that God's love for us may abound? God forbid! May not be! But God loves us, and His love for us does not change. And I confess, I don't always love the Lord. And if you are honest too with yourself, you don't always love the Lord. And yet, I'm thankful to Him that my eternal security is not grounded, rooted in my love for Him, but in His love for me. Boys and girls, I remember years ago I went to British Columbia to preach And the person who picked me up from the airport, I stayed in his place. And he said to me, let me show you around. Let me give you a quick tour in the area. And then we happened to go to this beautiful river. And there were First Nations there, or some natives. fishing by the river using a net. As you know, they are allowed to use a net. That's one of their privileges. So as they were fishing with this net, all of them, I noticed, had a rope. around their bodies, and that rope was tied to a strong post. Let's say there's a concrete post here. So that rope was tied to that post, and they had that rope around their bodies. And they were fishing like this, with their big net. And I said to my friend, I said, why do they have that rope around their bodies? And he said to me, look at the current of the water. It's so strong, so rapid, that if they accidentally fall into that river, there's no way for them to survive. They will die. No matter how good you are at swimming, you cannot survive. You will die. And I said to myself, That's the love of God. We Christians, we have that rope of God's love around us. And that rope of God's love is tied to the very person of the Lord Jesus Christ. So that we cannot fall into the lake of fire, into hell. We have that eternal security. And God's love will not let us go. So that no matter what happens, we are safe. We are eternally safe. And that's my assurance of salvation, really. That's my comfort. Because if I base my assurance of salvation on my love for God, I will get disappointed. I will be like one of the Pentecostals. That today I am saved, I feel good, I love the Lord. And then the following day, I don't love the Lord, I must have lost my salvation. And then the other day, oh, I feel good again, I think I have regained my salvation. No, we're not like that. You don't lose your salvation. You lose the joy of your salvation like what happened to David in Psalm 51. But we have that eternal security because we are surrounded by that divine love tied to the very person of the Lord Jesus Christ. And that love will not let us go. Even when you try, you know, we try, like the prodigal son, we try to escape, we try to run away from God, we try to backslide, we try, we say, I don't want to go to church anymore, this will be my last attendance, we try. But if you are in Christ, you cannot, you cannot escape from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus. And that's why Paul can say in Romans 8, who can separate us from the love of Christ? And he says in verse 39, I am persuaded nothing, absolutely nothing shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. Nothing. Even Satan cannot pull you out of that love. Even death cannot separate you from the love of God. In fact, death will only serve as a transportation, as a vehicle or like a wheelchair that will roll you over to the very presence of Jesus. And once you are there, you don't need that wheelchair again. Because you will be in Jesus. to experience His love forever and ever and ever. Again, my question to you, dear friends, do you love the Lord? Can you say with David, I love the Lord? Let us pray. Lord, we thank You so much for Your love for us. We are overwhelmed. by how much You have loved us in Christ. We thank You, Lord, that Your love will not let us go. O Lord, help us to love You also in return. O Lord, forgive us. Forgive us, Lord, for not loving You as we should. Help us. to grow more in our love for you. More love to Thee, O Christ. More love to Thee. That's our earnest plea, Lord. More love to Thee. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.