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Book: John
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John 14:15 The Proof of Love
I. Jesus relates our loving Him with our keeping of His commandments.
A. This is not the first place in the Bible where our love for
God is related to our obedience to His commandments.
1. Exodus 20:6 In the midst of the ten commandments when
God has commanded against making any graven images to
bow down to them He declared His mercy unto thousands
of them that love Me and keep My commandments.
2. In Deut.7:9 Moses declared, "Know therefore that the
Lord thy God, He is God, the faithful God which keepeth
covenant and mercy with them that love Him and keep His
commandments to a thousand generations."
3. Toward the end of Joshua's life as the men of Rueben
and Gad were returning to the other side of the Jordan
having helped in the conquest of the land, he said to
them, "Take diligent heed to do the commandment and the
law, which Moses the servant of the Lord charged you,
to love the Lord your God and to walk in all His ways,
and to keep His commandments, and to cleave to Him and
serve Him with all of your heart and all of your soul.
B. Keeping His commandments is the way by which He has asked me
to demonstrate my love for Him.
1. We so often express our love to Him through words.
a. We sing our songs of devotion with hands
raised in worship, but if I do not keep His
commandments, all of my attesting of love is
meaningless.
b. John tells us not to love in words only , but
in deeds and truth.
2. The best way that you can show God that you love Him
is to obey Him.
C. Special promises are made to those who show their love
through obedience.
1. Vs. 21, "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 unto Him.
2. Vs. 23, "If a man love Me, he will keep My words:
and My Father will love him, and we will come unto
him and make our abode with him."
3. These then are the special benefits.
a. We will be loved of the Father.
b. We will be loved by Jesus.
c. Jesus will manifest Himself to us.
d. The Father and the Son will make their
dwelling with us.
D. In verse 31 Jesus uses His obedience to the commandment
of the Father as a witness of His love for the Father.
II. What are His commandments?
A. In 15:4 Jesus commanded them to abide in Him.
B. In verse 7 He speaks of His word abiding in them.
C. In verse 9 He tells them to continue in His love.
D. VS.12 "This is My commandment that you love one another as I
d you."
E. Vs. 17 "These things I command you that you love one another."
F. Earlier when Jesus was asked by a lawyer as to the greatest
commandment Jesus answered, "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God
with all thy soul, heart, and mind, and the second is like the
first, thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. On these two
commandments hang all the law and the prophets."
G. Words of warning.
1. I John 4:20 "If a man say that he love Gods and hates
his brother, he is a liar, for he that loveth not his
brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he
hath not seen."
2. I John 3:17 "He that has of this worlds goods and sees
a brother in need and if he shuts his heart from him,
how dwelleth the love of God in Him?"
3. It is in the context of this verse that John tells us
not to love in words, or tongue, but in deeds and
truth.
H. Love is the basic commandment He has given to us. Love God and
love one another.
1. Without this love I have no assurance that I am a child
of God. "We know that we have passed from death into
life, because we love the brethern.
2. Without this love, the world has no proof that we are
His disciples. By this sign shall all men know that
you are My disciples, that you love one another.
3. Without this love we have no proof that we are filled
with the Spirit. "For the fruit of the Spirit is
love."
I. Love is the heart and essence of Christianity, without it you
have not true Christianity.
1. It begins with God, He so loved the world. It comes to
us through His Son, greater love has no man than this
that a man lay down his life for his friends.
2. We accept and respond to this love, and we in turn
love Him because He first loved us. Because
we love Him we desire to keep His commandment which
is to love one another even as He has loved us.
3. People may boast of spiritual powers and revelations,
but if you have not love, you have nothing.
III. The Greek word for love is naturally that word agape.
A. Paul defines this quality of love in I Cor. 13.
1. It suffers long and is kind.
2. It envies not.
3. It does not vaunt itself.
4. It is not puffed up.
5. It does not behave itself unseemly.
6. It seeks not its own way.
7. It is not provoked.
8. It thinks no evil.
9 It bears all things.
10. It believes all things.
11. It hopes all things.
12. It never fails.
13. It is the greatest of all of the enduring things.
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