Love The Lord Because — Mack Tomlinson

Yes, you are out there. I feel like Saul on the road to Damascus. A bright light shining brighter than the noonday sun. Blinding me. But I guess I'll try to put up with it. They say you can climb to the surroundings, so I'll try.

Good morning. Psalm 116. As you turn there, I know I sent to Brother Phil a video. I don't know if he shared it with the church. Dr. Banu Gadi from New York City. How many of you have seen that video on the coronavirus?

Long story short, we met him in New York City when Tim Conway and I were preaching at a conference in New York in February. The end of February. And by then, the virus was all over the city, but nobody knew it.

So we came home toward the end of February and then March. You know what happened. Dr. Gadi is a functional medicine doctor and a pharmacist and a chemist on Long Island. And he, in March, April, May, he treated directly hundreds of COVID patients.

It was a war zone, of course, in New York. And not one of his patients died that he treated out of probably hundreds. And the reason is, he says, because he put them on real high-level doses of vitamin D3.

And so, he asked us to pray for him. He called me Friday. He's an Indian. He immigrated to America years ago. He used to live in Plano, actually. And then the Lord took him to New York City. But anyway, this Monday morning at 10 a .m., he is doing a live national television program with the largest secular TV station in all of India on the COVID and on D3.

So, if any of you want that video, you have it, don't you, Phil? Ask Phil or you can ask me for it. But Dr. Gadi told me Friday, all anyone really needs to do is to have their levels of D3 healthy and high and right.

He said they will not get the virus. And he said a lot of what's being reported and done, he said the virus is very real and dangerous. It's not a hoax. But he said a lot of what is being pushed is hyper-reaction and fear-driven and doesn't even work.

So, pray for Dr. Gadi tomorrow morning, 10 a .m. because he will be speaking to the nation of India on this. He already had a Zoom meeting with the Indian Prime Minister in his cabinet weeks ago, and they were seeking his direction.

He's also having meetings with senators, high-level medical people in New York City. So, pray for him and watch that video. It's six minutes long. So, I commend that to you. Psalm 116, we'll read verses 1 -14.

Loving the Lord Because of His Mercies

I love the Lord because He has heard my voice and my pleas for mercy. Because... notice the word twice. Because. I love the Lord because He inclined His ear to me, therefore I will call on Him as long as I live.

The snares of death encompassed me. The pains of Sheol laid hold on me. I suffered distress and anguish. Then I called on the name of the Lord. O Lord, I pray, deliver my soul. Gracious is the Lord and righteous.

Our God is merciful. The Lord preserves the simple. When I was brought low, He saved me. Return, O my soul, to your rest, for the Lord has dealt bountifully with you. For you have delivered my soul from death, my eyes from tears, my feet from stumbling.

I will walk before the Lord in the land of the living. I believed. Even when I spoke, I am greatly afflicted. I said in my alarm, all mankind are liars. What shall I render to the Lord for all His benefits to me?

I will lift up the cup of salvation and call on the name of the Lord. I will pay my vows to the Lord in the presence of all His people. Father, this is Your Word. You inspired it. You preserved it for Your church and to all generations.

But only You, Spirit of God, can make it live in our hearts today. So breathe upon us, Spirit of God, help me to do what I cannot do. Help us to hear with fresh ears. Give us hearts afresh to receive the engrafted Word which is able to all over again save us today, deliver us, transform us.

So, Lord, we look beyond a man. We look to You for Your blessing from Heaven upon Your Word to Your people. For Jesus' sake, Amen. Aren't the Psalms wonderful? I finished this weekend Psalm 150 and I started over this morning in Psalm 1.

And I prayed before I started because I read through the Psalms all the time. I read through the Old Testament portions, always the Psalms, and New Testament. And this morning I prayed before I read Psalm 1, Lord, give me the best reading in the Psalms I've ever had.

And Psalm 1 this morning was rich. So, they are awesome. And the first four words of Psalm 116 are awesome. I love the Lord. Now notice, David didn't just think this. He said it. He spoke it. And he wrote it.

Our love for the Lord should not only be felt, it ought to be vocalized. Do you ever tell Him in the shower or driving down the road, or do you ever say in front of your family, I love the Lord? David here shows us that the true believer loves God.

They love Jesus Christ. David in this psalm gets extremely personal. In fact, the personal pronouns I, me, my, remember in English you studied the personal pronouns? I, me, my, he, she, it, we, they, them.

He uses it himself 34 times in this psalm. Not because he's being self-centered. Sometimes in the Bible, those being quoted, it's all about them and they're feeling sorry for me and woe is me, etc. There is a self-centeredness, but not here.

David is being very personal about the relationship of grace he has with the Lord. He's vocalizing love. A personal relationship of love. And David here expresses love from the heart, but it goes from his heart, out of his mouth, off his tongue, and he says it.

Vocalizing Love for God Because of Received Mercy

David loving the Lord, why? Because... the word's used twice. Because of what? I love the Lord because He's heard my voice and He inclined His ear to me. So love expressed because of mercies received.

Love confessed by the one who's been shown mercy from the heart. Love possessed in our hearts must be expressed. Love felt in our hearts and in our minds should be stated and verbalized. Love inside needs to get outside.

Are you a channel of love received and love felt where it goes out of you? Verbally. It's vocalized. David says it. I love the Lord. This agape testimony comes from a person that loves because David says, God did some things for me.

Loving Him and expressing that. It's in verses 1 and 2. Because He's done it for me. Here's a question I want you to think about. Is it the right primary to love the Lord just because He's God and is worthy of it?

Or is it equally as worthy to express our love and to love Him because of mercies and benefits received? Just because He's God or because He's done some things for you as well? Why does David here say, I love the Lord?

Because. He does so because it's right and good and proper to love the Lord not only for who He is, but for all that He's done for us. Think about Psalm 103. Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me, bless His holy name.

Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all His what? Benefits. And he uses the word benefits on down where we read. Verse 12, what shall I render to the Lord for all His benefits toward me? Verbal love expressed out loud.

But you know what? We're often so prideful, we're unwilling to say it out loud. Shame on us. If we cannot be like David and say, I love the Lord because of what He's done for me. So, you know, no one primarily says, well, I love the Lord because we're supposed to.

I love the Lord because the confession of faith says we should. I love the Lord because good systematic theology teaches you to do that. No. No one loves and expresses that love for any other primary reason than we have experienced Him and His mercies.

And therefore, we love and we express it. Experiencing God's mercies will solicit, it'll put love in your heart, but it'll solicit you to give testimony outwardly about that love. So if you're asked today, why do you love Christ?

You ought to be able to say, because... and then you've got some because's. Why do you love the Lord today? Believers, we have real answers. Because He chose me and He saved me. Because He's forgiven me.

Because He's washed me. Because He pulled me out of a miry pit, out of the miry clay, set my feet on a rock, put a new song of praise to God. We all have because's. What are yours? I love the Lord because... fill in the blank right now.

Name to yourself right now why you love Him. Fill in the blank. I love the Lord because... there's always a because. There's always a number of because's. Because He had mercy on us. Because He turned us from our sin to trust in the living God.

Because He translated us from the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of God's dear Son. Because He opened our eyes and changed our hearts. Because He rescued us. There's always a because. The Apostle John says it, we love Him because... somebody say it.

He first loved us. There's always a because. Old and New Testament. David and John. We love Him because He first loved us. If you don't have any because's, you're unconverted. You're lost in your sin.

Every true believer that's been saved by the grace of God and forgiven and transformed has a new heart that has love that says because. What does your heart say? I love the Lord because He has done these things.

David says because He's heard my voice in my supplication. Because He listened to me and heard my cry. I remember the last Saturday night of July 1973 when a friend was sharing the love of Christ with me.

And I broke down and I cried out. And he heard my cry. And he forgave me and he washed me. And since that time, I've loved the Lord weakly. W-E-A-K-L-Y. But I have loved Him weakly now for 46 years.

My love has been inconsistent. My love has grown cold and waning at times. And love that wanes can be revived. But today, I love the Lord because He rescued me from a horrible pit and He saved me. And Jesus said, rejoice not that demons are subject to you, but that your names are written in heaven.

Rejoice! Rejoice! I love the Lord because... As Psalm 40 says, He brought me out of a horrible pit, out of the miry clay, set my feet on a rock, established my goings, and put a new song of praise in my mouth.

Even praise to our God. Love has becauses. What are yours? In this psalm, David said, death had surrounded me. Pains that were like hell got ahold of me. I was in trouble and sorrow, but God had mercy on me.

I love the Lord because He heard my cry. Now think of the love of God. It's to go from us to Him. The love of God. It's the great commandment, isn't it? It's the greatest expression a Christian can make.

Loving the Lord their God with all our heart, with all our soul, with all our mind, with all our strength. Loving Christ. And Deuteronomy is a book of law that points and leads us to loving God and saying it.

Loving God With Heart, Soul, and Strength

For instance, Deuteronomy 6 .5. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, and strength. Deuteronomy 10 .12. And now, Israel, what does the Lord require of you? But to fear Him, to walk in His ways, to love and serve Him with all your heart.

Deuteronomy 30 .6, speaking of regeneration. Moses said the Lord will circumcise your heart to love the Lord your God. He will circumcise your heart in order to love your God. Psalm 18 .1. I will love you, O Lord, my strength.

So the love of God, loving God, has always been the end of the law and it's the new commandment. Loving Christ actively not only means active obedience if you love Me and keep My commandments. Active obedience.

But also, giving your love to Him. Pouring your love out upon Christ with your heart, with your spirit, with your mind, with your words. Pouring your love out upon Him. Now think about this. The New Testament reading we saw this morning that we shared was from Luke 7.

The Sinful Woman's Radical Love in Luke 7

One of the best examples of the outpouring of love. And love because. I love the Lord because. Luke 7 is a powerful chapter on the power and the love of Christ. At the beginning of the chapter, an important military leader's son is dying and Jesus heals him even without going to the house.

That's the unlimited power of Christ. Second thing that happened, a funeral procession, a widow's only son has died, and the funeral is heading off to the burial. Nobody asks Jesus to do anything. He observes it.

And in compassion, He goes and He stops it and He tells the mother, don't weep. And He touched the open coffin and He tells the dead man to rise. And suddenly, the funeral becomes a resurrection. The sorrow turns to shouting and the ashes turn to joyful celebration.

The power of Christ. The third major event though is that woman we read about. A very needy woman. A prostitute. She's weary and she's worn from this world. A real sinful woman. But here she is a wicked, weeping woman.

Now picture that. What does it take for a woman or a man to weep profusely in public before others? She was a wicked, weeping woman. She came where Jesus was. Where was He? He was at a Pharisee's house for a dinner party.

He's there. She knew He was there and uninvited, she walks right in. And she goes over to Him. Think of her desperation. Would you do this? Think of her risk. Her courage. Her humility. Her heart desire.

Think of her transparency not to hide. She comes and she does this. She stands at His feet weeping. Enough weeping that her tears fall on His feet and wash His feet. And then what does she do? She kneels down and she dries His feet with the hair of her head.

I'd have to find a towel. Her hair is long like some of you ladies. She dries His feet with the hair of her head. You can't get any lower than that. And then she kisses them and anoints them with expensive oil.

She pours out her tears, washing Him and anointing Him. What's she doing? She is pouring out radical love on Him. Because of that one act, she made the book. She's a hero today. She's an example today.

I love the Lord because He forgave all my sins. And Jesus forgave her. And He said, to whom much is forgiven, what, the same loveth much. What are your becauses? She had a lot of them. Her sins, which were many, were all forgiven.

How risky and radical is it to express love like that? If loving Christ is our supreme duty, because it's the supreme command, no one can love Him until they know Him. Some of you this morning don't love Christ because you don't yet know Him.

And you know you don't know Him. And you'll never love God until you come to the feet of Jesus Christ in repentance, humbling yourself and turning to Him. Because He's the only One that can forgive sins.

No one can love Him until they know Him. And that Luke 7 woman shows us that. Sin's forgiven. Embracing the Savior. Love poured out. Love for Christ flows out of the heart. We love Him because He first loved us.

The Gospel as the Ground of Love for Christ

How did He first love us? The Gospel. For God so loved the world that He gave His only Son. He gave Him on the cross. He gave Him up to wrath. He gave Him up to death. He spared not His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all.

God gave His Son on the cross that whoever would believe upon Him would not perish, but have everlasting life. He died the just One for the unjust. The sinless One died for the ungodly that He might bring us to God.

That's mercy. That's grace. And that's love. It has reasons to express it. Because of that, we love Him if we know Him today. You love Him. So, brethren, pour your love out upon Him more. Express it. Verbalize it.

The silent tongue is a proud heart. Those who know they've been forgiven much, they love much, and they will express it like David. Love because. Such gratitude of love expressed in our hearts because of great mercy.

Polycarp's Confession of Love Under Persecution

You ever heard of Polycarp in church history? Second century. Polycarp was a bishop of a small flock of believers in Smyrna, modern Turkey. It's mentioned in Revelation 2. The church at Smyrna, Jesus addressed.

The name of Polycarp means much fruit. He was a disciple of the Apostle John. And himself, he was a pastor and a shepherd of love. He was called by those who knew him a shepherd of love like John, his mentor.

He was condemned to die for refusing to burn incense to the Roman emperor as a god. Polycarp was fastened to a stake to be burned alive. But history says the flames would not burn him. God made him asbestos, I guess.

The flames didn't burn him. History records that. There have been other martyrs in history who went to the stake and they told their brethren, if God gives me grace to have joy and no problem in the flame, I'll clap my hands.

And history says different ones did that. It was like the three friends in the fiery furnace. The flame didn't touch them. They didn't feel anything. Polycarp, the flames wouldn't touch him. So a Roman soldier stabbed him to death.

On the day Polycarp died, he confessed before his enemies, 86 years have I served Christ and He's done me no wrong. How then can I blaspheme my Savior and King? You threaten me with a fire that burns for a moment, but you are ignorant of the fire of everlasting punishment.

And what Polycarp was known for, his rich legacy, loving the Lord Jesus Christ and his verbal profession of it. I thought of John 21. Remember Peter after all his denials? Jesus is going to restore him.

How does He restore him? He doesn't go scold him. He doesn't revisit the denials by the fire. Post-resurrection, Jesus has breakfast with the disciples. And then, He gets one-on-one with Peter. What did He say?

Peter, do you love Me? Three times, Peter. For three denials, I guess. Three questions of love. Three professions verbally. Lord, You know I love You. Lord, You know all things. You know I love You. That was His restoration.

And guess who gets to preach at Pentecost? Now listen, dear ones, the question to every drifting soul, every cold heart, every backslidden heart, every Christian in any way getting off course, every Christian cowering in fear because of the virus and your whole spiritual life is messed up and off track right now, chasing some distraction, the answer for every compromise and every mistake, the question that comes from Christ is do you love Me?

A Public and Wholehearted Confession of Love

Who can say this morning out loud, I love Him? Come on! Now that didn't hurt, did it? The Lord Jesus Christ is worthy of our love and He's worthy of our saying it because, brethren, we can all say, I love the Lord because... keep going.

What are yours? Be a zealous lover of Christ. And let it get out of your heart, off your tongue more. Not a half-hearted lover, not a lukewarm lover, not love that rarely surfaces or that is rarely seen or heard or rarely costs me anything or rarely risks anything.

Loving Christ shows itself. It takes risk. It acts. It obeys. It speaks. Loving Christ is an act of our will, an act of our emotions, and our hearts. We are to love Him with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength.

And yes, with our tongues. Pouring our love on Him. I love the Lord because... Now, who this morning would stand up and just give me a quick one? Stand up and say, I love the Lord because of this. Come on.

Speak up. Speak quick. You're first. Amen. Amen. Amen. Anyone else? Let the Redeemer, the Lord, say so. Amen. Yes, amen. Amen. Yes. Because He set me free, right? We were... Amen. Isn't this good just to say it?

We're like David this morning. Well, praise God. Brethren, meditate on this passage today. Get it in your heart. It not only glorifies God that He saved us, it glorifies Him when we express because. Let's pray.

Prayer of Gratitude for God's Love and Benefits

Join me in prayer. Father in Heaven, we just say, blessed be Your holy and matchless name, O Lord our God, we thank You that we love You because You first loved us. We thank You, Lord, that we have a testimony.

We thank You that You poured out the love of God in our hearts by the Holy Spirit. Lord, help us to walk in love more. And help us to recognize the reasons we have to love You. Help us to recognize the benefits and to not forget them.

Lord, receive our love today and receive our thanks. Now may the God of peace who brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, the great Shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the eternal covenant, equip You with every good work that You might do His will, working in us that which is pleasing in His sight through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever.

Amen. Brethren, God bless you. You were dismissed.