morning, we've been studying the doctrine of the Lord Jesus Christ. We've asked, Who is Jesus Christ? And we said that Jesus Christ was truly God, truly man with two natures in one. How do we know He's truly God? He's called God. He has the names that only God has. He has the attributes that only God has. He does the things that only God can do, and then Lastly, He receives and expects us to worship Him. Then from there we said, well, how do we know He's man? And we went back to the Old Testament. In the Old Testament, at the time of preparation, the Bible said the Redeemer would become a man. And then we went into the Gospels to see if that was true. And then when we went through the Gospels, what did we learn? That indeed, Jesus was a man, right? And then we looked at the epistles and we said, well, do the apostles say the same thing about the gospel writers, the same thing about the Old Testament? And again, what did we find out? That indeed, Jesus is truly man. But then as we were working our way through that, what were we finding out? We were finding out that not only was He a man, but He was God and He had two natures in one. And yesterday, or last Lord's Day, I used a little illustration. about the fact that he became a man, that he always was God. That was my hand, if you remember. And then after that, I put on a glove and said, once he's become man, he'll always be man. So when Charlie said today in his prayer that he's at the right hand of the Father interceding on our behalf, what he was saying is, in bodily form, he was right there interceding on our behalf in the heavens of heavens, you see. That's who Christ is. But if you remember last week when we were finishing up this book, we looked at a passage of Scripture that we opened up with in 1 Corinthians chapter 16 and verse 22. And there God's Word says, If anyone has no love for the Lord, let him be accursed. If anyone have no love for the Lord, let him be Now, before we move on, there's a question that I feel pressed to ask, and it's this. Is the object of your love nothing less than what we have seen in Scripture? Do you love Jesus, you see? Is the object of love nothing less than what we've seen in Scripture? Now, I'm not asking you if your mom and dad believe. I'm not asking if your grandparents believe this. I'm asking do you believe this, you see? Because listen, you have missed it if what we've learned about Christ hasn't drawn you to love Him more. All of those weeks of telling us who Christ is and seeing how He works in our lives, if that hasn't drawn you to love Jesus more, then I've just wasted my time in some ways. Because the more you know Christ, then the more you want to love Him, right? So that's an important question. And I want to, first of all, ask the question, why is this question so important? And I want to give two biblical indications of the importance of this question. Number one is found in our text today, 1 Peter chapter 1, verses 1 through 9. And it's this, the presence of this love, for Christ is indispensable if indeed you are a true Christian. Or let me put it another way. The presence of this love is an indispensable ingredient of Christian character. Now if you would, go back with me to that passage of Scripture in 1 Peter chapter 1. And this time as I read it, I want to read the first couple of verses as well. It says, Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ, to those who are elect, exiles of the dispersion, Pontius, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, Bithynia, according to the foreknowledge of God the Father in the sanctification of the Spirit, for obedience to Jesus Christ and for your sprinkling with His blood, may grace and peace be multiplied to you. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, according to His great mercy, He has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. Now, can you look at that passage of Scripture and not come to this conclusion that indeed Jesus is talking to the elect, to those who are sanctified, to those who have been born again? He's talking to who? Christians, isn't He? All right? He is addressing this to the people that have been scattered about. These are Christians. They're elect. They've been sanctified. They've been born again. Now listen to what he says to them in verse 8. Though you have not seen Him, you love Him. Though you do not now see Him, you believe in Him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with Glory. So we have to ask the question, do you love Christ, right? What an important question that we have to ask. Because listen, what do you have to do to go to hell? Would it be right for me to say this? That all you have to do is do nothing? Because as the Bible says, no love for Christ, no salvation. The absence of this understanding of Christ and no love for Christ tells us that you're not a Christian. But there's a second reason. The absence of this love is also an infallible indication that you are in the place of coming judgment. Now, let's go back to that passage of Scripture in 1 Corinthians 16, 22. If anyone has no love for the Lord, let him be accursed. What do you have to do to be accursed? What do you have to do for the curse of God to fall upon you? And the answer is, is just live a life with no love for Christ. Live and die a stranger to the love of Christ. In fact, listen, if this whole congregation was filled with people who never lied, never stole a thing, never had a lustful thought, if there is no love for Christ, we'd all spend eternity in sin. So, what do you have to do to go to hell? This is a pretty important question, isn't it? However, folks, listen, we don't go to heaven because we love Christ, right? The love of Christ is not the means in which we lay hold of heaven. What is it that is the means for us to lay hold of heaven? It's faith, right? For by grace are you saved through faith, and that not of yourself. It is a gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast. And so, saving faith is an understanding of who Christ is, and also an understanding of what Christ has done. He came into this world, lived a perfect, sinless life, went to the cross, died in our place, was buried and rose victorious. And if we believe that, Jesus will take His imputed righteousness and give it to us, and He'll make us one of God's own dear children. What the Bible does teach that if you're void of love for Christ, you're on your way to hell. So, why this question is important? I think you see it, right? Let's look at another question. How should we then answer this question? Do we have love for Christ? If you have a temperature, there's a way to measure that, right? Suppose for a moment that Shane wakes up one morning early, and he knows he's got a hard, hard test, and he's not ready for that hard, hard test, and he says to his mom, Mom, I'm not feeling very good today. Maybe I need to stay home. Now, what's his mom going to do? She's going to get into the medicine cabinet, right? She's going to get out what they call a thermometer. And she's going to have him open his mouth and lift up his tongue and she's going to stick that down there and she's going to find out, is he really sick or does he not want to take the test, right? If we want to know how much we weigh, we can jump on a scale. If we want to know how tall we are, we can use a ruler. But ladies and gentlemen, if we want to know if we love Jesus, we don't have a love-ometer, do we? So how then do we know if we love Jesus? Well, let's do what we always do here in this church. Let's go to Scripture, right? And see what the Bible has to say about what people are like that they love Jesus. Now, there's a passage of Scripture that I want to read to you that's found in 2 Corinthians chapter 13 and verse 5. Listen to what it says. Examine yourselves to see whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves, or do you not realize this about yourselves that Jesus Christ is in you, unless indeed you fail to meet the test? So what does God's Word say? Examine yourself to see whether you are in the faith. And so let me ask you, will you examine yourself today? So what then are the central ingredients and fruits of true saving faith or true love for Christ? Let me give you a couple. Number one, the essence of love to Christ. When I say the essence of love to Christ, essence always has this idea that you boil it down to the simplest, easiest explanation that you can give. And I think it can be boiled down into three words. And the three words are good will towards Christ, delight in Christ and a desire for Christ. Let's start with that idea of goodwill towards Him. Now, the Bible teaches us that God is good to us, right? You remember what it says in Matthew chapter 5? That the sun shines on the just and the unjust, right? That the rain rains on the just and the unjust. So God's good to us. We know that. This morning when I was praying, I was thanking God for what He's done in my life, and it just kept going and going and going. And then I missed too much, right? But the question is, is are you good to Him? Are you glad that He is exactly the way He is? Are your hearts overwhelmed by the magnitude of this mystery, Christ in us, the hope of glory? Does what Jesus demand you like? Now why is that such an important question? Here is the reason why. Because the human heart, by very nature, does not want Jesus to rule over them, does it? Listen to what the psalmist said in Psalm number 2, verses 1 through 3. Why do the nations rage and the peoples plot in vain? the kings of the earth set themselves, the rulers take counsel together against the Lord, against His anointed, saying, let us burst their bonds apart and cast away their cords from us." The natural man doesn't want to serve Christ, does he? In fact, folks, the natural man thinks it's crazy when you as a Christian do serve Christ, don't you? You remember that story in Luke 19 where Jesus uses the ten minas and He gives one ten and another five and another one and He goes off to a far country and He comes back? Do you remember the response of the people that received those ten minas? Their response was this, we will not have that man rule over us. Folks, that's the response of an unbeliever. That's the response of an unregenerate heart. They do not want to come under the authority and obedience of the Lord Jesus. No way, no how. It's their life, and they're going to live it the way they feel fit, right? But not so with a Christian. You see, a Christian wants to do what? A Christian wants to do good to God. They want to have a goodwill towards God. So do you love Christ? Can I make it just a little bit more personal? Do you love the fact that Jesus gives us a messenger? A guy like me that stands up here from the pulpit and preaches this gospel and says, thus saith the Lord. And you know there's times when he's going to say something that you don't care for, right? So do you hate the messenger? Or are you thankful that God is giving you a messenger to tell you the truth, to bring you to that place where you'd repent and do the right thing? Is there goodwill towards Jesus? Do you delight in Him? Now, the word delight means to give your joy and pleasure. Delight in someone is just to be happy to be in their very presence, you see. You know, when I was a younger man and my children were small, sometimes they'd just kind of show up and they'd just stand there. And you'd look at them and you'd think, well, what do you want, you see? Because that's my first response is, you know, they must want something. But they don't really want something. They just want to be with you, you see what I'm saying? And so when you finally figure that out as a father, what do you do? You kind of just put your arm around them and you pull them in tight and you snuggle them a little bit, right? They just want to be in your presence. Well, I'm asking you, do you delight in Jesus, alright? Do you just want to be in His presence, you see? Listen to what the Bible says in Psalm chapter 37 and verse 4. Delight yourself in the Lord, and He will give you the desires of your heart. Now see, a deceived man delights only in the gifts of God. There's no delight in the person of God. They just like what He gives them. And folks, listen to me. There are a lot of professing Christians that would give up Christ if they could still go to heaven. Now stop and think about that, all right? If they could still go to heaven, they'd say, you know what? I don't want Christ. But a true Christian delights in Christ, don't they? Give me a second here. I'm going to go shut that thing off. He delights himself in Christ. He just wants to be with Christ. That's a true Christian. That's what God wants in our lives. But there's also something else. A true Christian's desire is to be with Christ. We want a fellowship with Him. And this is the essence of that love. Jesus becomes the object of our salvation. Listen to what it says in Psalm 73, 25 and 26. Whom have I in heaven but You? And there is nothing on earth that I desire beside You. My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever. You remember when Jesus was here on this earth and the people that were starting to follow Him by the thousands and they were walking around and they wanted to be with Jesus And he had fed the people and they were excited about what God was doing. And do you remember how Jesus does his evangelism? Not quite like we do it. He said to them what? Unless you eat of my flesh and drink of my blood, you have nothing to do with me. And do you remember what it says in John chapter 6? At that time, many of his disciples went away. And do you remember what Jesus asked His disciples? Will you go also? And do you remember their response? How can we go? You have the words of life. That's a desire for God, you see. Do you have that in your life? Do you love Jesus? Do you know anything about goodwill and delight and desire? Now, there's a second thing I want us to see, and it's this. Let's look at, number two, the roots of this love. The roots of this love. And I want us to see it in two ways. Alright? Remember, though you have not seen Him, you love Him. Now how can this be? Well, if you would, I'd like you to take your Bibles and go with me to 1 Corinthians chapter 4. 2 Corinthians chapter 4. I just looked at that verse and went, ah! 2 Corinthians chapter 4. Let's start in verse 1. It says, This is how one should regard us as servants of Christ and stewards of the mystery of God. Moreover, it is required of a steward that he be found faithful. But with me it is a very small thing that I should be judged by you or by any human court. In fact, I do not even judge myself, for I am not aware of anything except myself, but I am not thereby equated. It is the Lord who judges." I'm still in 1 Corinthians. I don't know how I didn't pull over there. 2 Corinthians chapter 4, let's read it right now. Therefore, having this ministry by the mercies of God, we do not lose heart, but we have renounced disgraceful underhanded ways. We refuse to practice cunning or tamper with God's Word, but by open statement of the truth we would commend ourselves to everyone's conscience in the sight of God. So what's going on here? Paul is saying, listen, we have this ministry. And I want to tell you the truth, and I want to tell it to you straight, and I'm not going through any special gifts. I'm just telling you what the Scripture says. And here's why. He says in verse 3, And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing. In their case, the God of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. For what we proclaim is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, with ourselves as your servants for Jesus' sake. For God, who said, Let light shine out of darkness, has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. Now Paul says, I have renounced all the things that would disqualify me for being a minister. I preach clearly, plainly, with urgency. He says, but there's a problem. I'm trying to describe a beautiful picture to those who are blind. You see, I'm trying to tell you about God's grace and His mercy and His love. And I'm telling that to people who are blind. And so what was Paul saying? He's saying, listen, I can give you the form of the gospel, But I can't light the glory of God shining. Isn't that true? How many times have you witnessed to somebody and you shared with them the gospel, the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus and the fact that if they died without Christ, they'd spend eternity in hell and they look at you with starry eyes like, what are you talking about? Why? In order to be saved, the Spirit of God has to shine the glory of God into our lives. So we seek Christ in all that He is and in His fullness. And then we want to repent and believe and trust, because God has opened our eyes and given us faith to believe. You see, folks, a lot of people can tell us about Christ, but has He shined in your heart? That's the question, right? Let's go back to our text in 1 Peter chapter 1. Though you have not seen Him, verse 8, you love Him. Though you do not now see Him, you believe in Him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory. obtaining the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your soul. Now listen to this. Concerning this salvation, the prophets who prophesied about the grace that was to be yours searched and inquired carefully. Inquiring what person or time the Spirit of Christ in them was indicating when He predicted the suffering of Christ and the subsequent glories. It was revealed to them that they were serving not themselves but you, in the things that you now have been announced to you through those who preach the good news to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven, things into which angels long to look at." And so what's the Scripture saying here? He's saying the way you come to a saving knowledge of Christ is that the Holy Spirit of God testifies to you the truth of the Gospel, and then you do what? You believe, you repent, and you put your faith and trust in Jesus. And so we're asking the question, all right, what is the roots of this love? Number one, a saving revelation of the glory of His person. Number two, a believing resignation to His person and work. In other words, you trust Christ for eternal life, whom having not seen you love, but you nevertheless love Him, you see. And why do we love Him? What does John tell us in 1 John 4, 16? We love Him because He first loved us and gave Himself for us. And so we see then the root of this love. Now let's look lastly and a believing idea of the fruit of this love. What does it look like? How can I know I love Jesus? Well, listen, love for Christ will never be a lifeless, dormant principle in the soul of man. If you truly love Christ, it's not something that you're going to just say, I love Christ, and then it's going to be like an old pair of shoes in the attic that you never take out and use. True love for Christ will manifest itself. And let me put it another way. The most powerful and active grace in the world is love to Jesus, right? What would it look like if we could capture everything the love of Christ has caused man to do? You couldn't do it, could you? What an amazing display that would be to see everything that the love of Christ has caused man to If you ever get a chance, there's a book out there called Fair Sunshine. And it's the story of young people, 9 and 10 years old in Scotland up in the highlands, who died for their faith in Christ. And it's moving. But what would cause a 9 or a 10-year-old to die for the sake Their eyes were open to the glory of Christ. They loved him and they knew that if something happened to them, they were going to be in a better place in a moment. How many Christians are willingly give themselves up just for the sake of Christ? Just think of right within our own body how much has happened because people love Christ. But you know what? Jesus also tells us. what it looks like to love Christ, doesn't it? Take your Bibles and turn with me, if you would, to the Gospel of John chapter 14. Jesus, what does love look like? Here's what He says in verse 15. If you love Me, you will keep My commandments. Look at verse 21. Whoever has My commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves Me, and he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and manifest Myself to him. Look at verses 23 and 24. Jesus answered him, If anyone loves Me, he will keep My words, and My Father will love him, and He will come to him and make Our home with him, Whoever does not love Me does not keep My words. And the word that you hear is not Mine, but the Father who sent Me." How do we know we love Christ? Well, according to Jesus, we keep His commandments. And that word, keep, means to cherish a thing of worth. Therefore, you obey. And the reason why you keep His commandments is because what? He's the one who gives them and you love Him. And so let me ask you, do you love Him? Do you keep His commandments? This is the commandment, that you believe on Him who sent. But folks, there's something interesting in this Gospel of John chapter 14 that I want to point out to you. I want you to go back to that passage and look with me, if you would, in verse 31. Jesus is speaking. He says, But I do as the Father has commanded me, so that the world may know that I love the Father. How is it that the world knows that the Lord Jesus, the Son, loves the Father? because he does what the Father asks him to do. And just like the Son, we want to love so the world would know that we love Christ as well. So do you love him? Do you keep his commandments? You see, the pathway to discipleship is to confess, to repent, and be baptized. And so, how do we know we love Christ? Husbands, you know you love Christ because you love your wife like Christ loved the church. Wives, you know you love Christ because you're respectful and obedient to what your husband says. Children, you know you love Christ because you do what your parents ask you to do. That's how you know you love Christ. So let me ask you, do you love Christ? Can you say with the Apostle Peter that you love him? This is the last thing we're going to look at. Take your Bibles and go with me to John's Gospel, chapter 21. Verse 15. When they had finished breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, Simon, son of John, do you love me more than these? He said to him, Yes, Lord, you know that I love you. He said to him, Feed my lambs. He said to him a second time, Simon, son of John, do you love me? He said to him, Yes, Lord, you know that I love you. He said to him, "'Tend my sheep.'" He said to him the third time, "'Simon, son of John, do you love me?' Peter was grieved because he said to him the third time, "'Do you love me?' And he said to him, "'Lord, you know everything. You know that I love you.' Jesus said to him, Feed my sheep. Can I ask you to be honest before God today? Can you say like Peter said, Lord, you know everything. You know that I love you. That's the most important question you'll ever ask. Because he that hath the Son of God hath life. He that hath not the Son of God hath not life, but the wrath of God abideth on him. What do you have to do to spend eternity in hell? Just live a life with no love to Christ. Folks, listen. That's why we're here. That's the Gospel. That's why we preach. This Christ, who is 100% God, 100% man, with two natures, In one person forever is all that he is. So we can love God and God can love us. Aren't you glad? Let's pray together. Father in heaven, thank you for your Word. We just ask your blessing on it. It's been a lot of distractions this morning. Father, help us to zero in on this great question. Do indeed we love Christ. Father, if there be someone here today that would honestly say, you know what, God, you know all things. You know that I don't love you. May this be that day, our Father, that they repent and believe and trust in Christ and Him alone for eternal life. You say, I'm not sure I'll be able to keep His commandments. You won't be able to in your own strength. But Father, we know that because You'll change our heart, You'll give us that desire, and then You'll give us the power through the Spirit of God to do what we can't do ourselves. Thank You, our Father, that we can love You because You first loved us and gave Yourself for us. Now Father, I want to speak to those that know that we have a relationship with You now. We don't always love You like we ought. And Father, the remedy for that is to remember who You are in Christ, to get our eyes off ourselves and onto Your glory and onto Your splendor and onto Your majesty. Sanctify us through Your Word and Spirit and help us to keep changing and growing and becoming more like the Lord Jesus day by day. Thank you, our Father, that when we get away from your love that we can confess our sins and that you're faithful and just to forgive us and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Father, help all of us this morning truly answer that question, do we love Jesus? And may everybody, our Father, leave here today saying, yes, Father, you know all things, you know that I love you. Father, we ask this all now in Jesus' name, amen.