The One Whom My Soul Loves — Erlo Stegen

We thank God for giving us an opportunity to meet around his word. The text we find today in Deuteronomy chapter 6. Verse 4 and 5. Deuteronomy 6, 4 -5. Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one.

You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your might. Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your might.

And all these words which I command you today shall be in your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children. You shall teach them diligently to your children and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise up.

You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates. Hear, we hear God speaking to Israel.

This was an important word which stands out to the Jews even today. Hear, it says, hear. That word in the Hebrew refers to listening and grasping with your mind. That you listen diligently. Attentively with obedience.

Attentively listening. There is no verse as important as this one in the Bible. It's their confession of faith. So for them this is the most important verse. Now the believing Jews, they uttered these words and spoke them and prayed them at least twice a day, every day.

And according to the law there is no verse as important as this one. Being verse five. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart. And with all your soul. And with all your might or strength.

Jesus’ Teaching on Love and Undivided Devotion

We find these words in the New Testament as well. Matthew 22 verse 37. When Jesus was questioned by the Pharisees. When they asked the Lord Jesus which is the greatest commandment. And Jesus said this is the first and the great commandment.

And the second is like it. You shall love your neighbour as yourself. And John 21 verse 15. When Peter had returned from fishing with his brothers. Jesus had prepared breakfast for them, bread and fish.

When he had finished eating. He said to Simon Peter. He said do you love me more than these or these people? In Matthew 10. Matthew 10 verse 37. He spoke to his disciples. He who loves father or mother or son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me.

That's why he says you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart. And with all your soul. And with all your strength. The souls is our emotions, our feelings. That we will love him more than anything.

Abraham’s Faith and God’s Gift of His Son

And with all our strength. Abraham received a son when he was already old. That was a special son to him. And one day God spoke to Abraham and said take your only son. Whom you love. And go to Moria. And offer him there as a burnt sacrifice.

Abraham obeyed. He got up early in the morning. And he went to that place that God had instructed him to go to. Abraham loved God. He loved him more than even his only son that had been promised to him.

He obeyed God immediately. He wasted no time. He obeyed immediately. After some years. God himself took the same step. But a far bigger and greater one. More significant. He gave his only begotten son.

To Abraham. Because of his great love for you. Because of his love for sinners. Because of his great love for you. And on that hilltop, that mountain, there was no lamb as a substitution. The Lord himself became the Lamb of God.

And God himself revealed the Lamb. And he was sacrificed as the Lamb of God. To save you, to save me, to save Abraham. To save us sinners. To save us from sin, but not only sin, but even from the guilt of sin.

When the Lord asked Peter. Do you love me more than these? Do you love me more than the other disciples? Do you love me more than these fish? Do you love me more than your business? Even more than the work you do?

If you love me more than all these things, then feed my lambs. Remember that we all are the bride of Christ. Remember that we all are the bride of Christ. You've been called to follow him, to obey him.

Obeying Jesus Christ. Obeying Jesus Christ. The big question now is, do you love me more than all these, all these things, all these people? Do you love Jesus more than you love your own father and your own mother?

Do you love Jesus more than you love your own father and your own mother? Are you prepared to leave your parents, your friends, even your job that you have, forsake everything, just to follow the Lord and serving him alone?

Jesus said, do you love me more than these? Your love for the Lord Jesus should be something very special. And that special love of the Lord should be what rules in your heart. Just think of God's love, how great it is.

Nothing can be compared to the height, the depth, the width, the greatness of God's love. And if God's love is in your heart, it will change even the things you love. Change even your emotions, your feelings.

And you'll have a love that is greater even than the love that you can have towards your parent. You will have respect. Other people. No matter who it is. Because your heart will have been changed totally.

You'll be a new, a brand new person. The songs of Solomon. Chapter 3. It says, by night I sought out the one whom I love more than anything. I sought out the one whom I love more than anything. I sought out the one whom I love more than anything.

I sought out the one whom I love more than anything. He cried out to the one whom he loves. And while he was in his bed, he woke up and he sought the one whom his heart loved. He sought the one whom his heart loved.

He sought the one whom his heart loved. He sought the one whom his heart loved. And this was the love he had for the Lord Jesus. This love awoke him. He woke up and he had this longing and he sought the one whom his heart loved.

This verse shows us the longing he had for that fellowship with the Lord Jesus. And his whole soul yearned for him, longed for him, for the Lord Jesus. He had this longing to be with him, with the Lord Jesus.

His love for Jesus filled his heart and he longed for him more than for his friends or anyone else. Isaiah 26 verse 9. Isaiah 26 verse 9. With my soul I have desired you in the night. Even at night, even while I was asleep, my soul desired you, longing for that fellowship with you.

Even while others were asleep. And he said, I will seek him early and seek him till I find him. Longing, referring to Jesus, that longing he had for him, that longing greater than anything else. And he said, I will seek him till I find him.

And he said, when he sought for him, he met up with the leaders and with other colleagues. And he said, have you found and seen the one whom my soul loves? He sought the Lord Jesus, there was nothing more important to him than to find him.

He went to the others, to his leaders, to the pastor, to his counselor. He said, have you seen the one that my soul loves? Where can I find him? So even as he goes to these people whom he loved and honored, but he said, Can you point me to the one whom my soul loves above anything else?

Pray to the Lord Jesus, pray to God that he will help you. Even in your preacher or the preachers, don't just stop there and say, well, the pastor, the preacher said this, or my friends say that. But they do.

That it goes even beyond that, and that you can say, God says this to me. That what he says means more to you than what anyone else, be it your parents or your friends, your brother, your sister, son or daughter can say.

That you seek that fellowship with him and that you speak to him and he speaks to you. Solomon said, I sought him till I found him. And he said, when I found the one I love, I held him and would not let him go.

I didn't want to lose what I'd found. Proverbs 8 verse 17. Where God says, I love those who love me. And those who seek me diligently. That Jesus becomes more important to you than anything else on earth.

Bringing Family and Friends to Know Christ

And the bride says, I held him and would not let him go. I would not let him go until I brought him to the house of my mother. Into the house of my parents. Because he wanted them also to get to know him.

And he said, the one that I found when I got up and I sought him and I found him, when I found him, I wanted the rest of the family, my parents and the others to get to know him as well. He loved the Lord Jesus to such an extent that he wanted his parents, the rest of his family, his friends to get to know him as well.

Now you who are listening, have you found the one whom your soul loves? The one whom you love with all your heart, soul and strength. That you love him more than even your pastor. Love him even more than your counselor.

That you love him more than you love anybody else. That you seek him and then you know when you have found him. When the Lord Jesus was in the wilderness being tempted by the devil, Jesus answered Satan.

Do not tempt the Lord your God. Deuteronomy 8 verse 3. Man shall not live by bread alone. But by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God. And he said you shall serve the Lord your God and him alone.

Living for his Father was his daily bread. We also need to eat of this bread which is Jesus Christ. And find life through him. That we will partake of him, that he will bring that beauty, that sweetness into our lives.

Sundar Singh and the Bread of Life

I would like to close with the story of Sundar Singh, a man from India. He was distributing Christian literature to people. India has many people. So he went around distributing this literature even in the trains.

There was someone in this particular train that hated the gospel in Jesus Christ. And he got, that he was given the gospel of John. But when he was given this gospel of John, because of this hatred in his heart, he tore it up into small pieces and threw it out the window that it would get dispersed by the wind.

And he thought well now that's done with that. But it wasn't the end of it. God worked. Along that railway track there was a person who was longing for God and seeking him. And as he was walking along this track, he found all these pieces of John's gospel which this man had thrown out the window.

And this particular translation was in exactly his language. And he could read there this portion where it says bread of life. He didn't know what that meant. So he went to some of his friends and he said I just found these words.

And then one of the people that were there said I know that that comes from what the Christians believe in. That's something that's written in the Bible. That's the book that the Christians read. That's from the Bible.

And this person had been told not to read those books because they had been taught that those books will defile you. He said that's strange. I've been told it will defile me but just these words, they are so sweet to me.

They seem to help me and bring me life. So he went and he bought himself a New Testament. And he read until he got to that portion where the Lord speaks those words. He says I am the bread of life. As he looked at the deeper meaning of that verse, his heart was filled with the love of God and a longing for him.

And so he went on and his heart was overflowed or filled with God's love. And God's love so filled his heart that he started going around spreading the gospel and telling others about it. Jesus became his bread of life.

Jesus became the bread of life to him. And he started going throughout India spreading this news that they also might get to know the Lord Jesus whom he had found. And he became a well-known preacher in central India.

One who told others about the Lord Jesus. Hear O Israel. The Lord your God is one. There is no other. If you found him, you found the one who is far more than your father, your mother or your friends.

He is far greater than your brother or your sister. He is greater than anyone or anything. Love him. Love him and then also love your neighbour as yourself. There is nothing like the gospel of the Lord Jesus.

And even if you sleep in your sins, wake up and seek the one whom your soul loves. That you go and even ask your friends, those who can help you and say, where can I find the one whom my soul loves? He is greater than father, mother, brother, sister.

He is greater even than my own life. There is nothing like the gospel of the Lord Jesus. And then he started going around speaking to others, sharing it with others, sharing this about the one whom his soul loves more than anything.

Loving Christ as the Supreme Treasure

May the Lord Jesus mean to you what it is. One meant to Solomon whom he found when he got up and he sought him, asking others, said, where can I find the one whom my soul loves? Dear friends, I'll be happy if you have an ear to hear.

I will. May this greatest commandment be true in your life. That you love him to such an extent that you want to share it with others and you want to bring others and say, I want you to get to know the one whom I got to know.

And that nothing and no one will be like unto him. And that you love him more than anything.

Prayer for Undivided Love and Perseverance

Let us bow our heads. Jesus, I love you. Jesus, I love you. I love you more than anything. Jesus, I love you. Jesus. Jesus.

We thank you for your love, Lord Jesus. Thank you for dying for us on the cross. Thank you for revealing yourself to us that we can be woken out of our sleep. That sleep of sin, where we love the things of the world, but we can be woken out of it to find the Lord Jesus.

We thank you, Lord Jesus. That you be the greatest treasure, more precious to us than anything else, and that we'll cling to you. That we'll never let go, Lord. That we'll let go of everything else, but not you.

Amen. Thank you for this opportunity. As I was sitting, I thought if we have an ear to hear, each one will make a decision to love him. Now, when we love him, where do we start in our lives? Number one, Firstly, we learn to love what he loves and what he tells us, so we need to learn about him in the service through the Bible.

And that will change us, and that we will have one desire only, and that is to do his will. And that we will be busy with what he is busy with. Even this work here, God has started it, it's his work. So, if we love him, we should have something, feel something in our hearts.

And that we will do whatever we can do, even if it seems something small, that we'll do it. Maybe even as we're walking along, we see there's weeds next to the road, that we can pull out those weeds. And God once is concerned about us.

And he even sacrifices others for our sakes. And that we have that desire, that no one should be hurt. So that we are always on the side of Jesus. Thank you.