Sunday, June 29, 2014 pm
SERMONS IN SONG
My Jesus I Love Thee
Sacred Selections, #28
But
as always, our concern is with the message of the psalm so tonight we
will examine this hymn.
a.
My Jesus I love thee. That we ought to love our
Lord goes without saying.
It is found throughout the New Testament.
John 3:16 – God loves us.
WE are to love God – Matt. 22:37-39
John 8:42, while speaking to His
critics, Jesus makes a valid point for all, ““Jesus said to them, “If
God were your Father, you would love Me, for I proceeded forth and came
from God; nor have I come of Myself, but He sent Me.”
Jesus IS God (one of the Triune God) – John 1:1-2, 14.
Jesus emphasized to His
disciples that we must love Him -
John 14:15 – If you love Me you will keep My commandments; John 15:9-10
- abide in My love. Both of
these passages demonstrate that we DEMONSTRATE our love by our
obedience.
John 21:15-17 – Jesus restores Peter asking him, “Do you love Me?”
Peter was hesitant to fully commit knowing what it meant.
1 Cor. 16:22, “If anyone does not love the Lord Jesus Christ, let him
be accursed. O Lord, come!”
b.
I know thou art mine – we are reminded that this love needs to be personal.
As Thomas said when he saw Jesus a week after His resurrection – “My
Lord and My God.” (John 20:28)
“Jesus
answered and said to him, “If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and
My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our home with
him.” (John 14:23, NKJV)
It is not a superficial
or a formal love, but genuine and real.
c.
For Thee all the folly
of sin I resign
– what will we give up to follow Him?
Recall again the above passages show HOW we demonstrate our love –
keeping His commandments.
Jesus described discipleship as forsaking all that we have – Luke 14:33.
That was the attitude of Paul in Philippians 3:7-11
d.
My gracious Redeemer, my Savior art thou
–
He paid the price and redeemed us - “who gave Himself for us, that He
might redeem us from every lawless deed and purify for Himself His own
special people, zealous for good works.” (Titus 2:14, 1 Pet.
1:18-19)
He is our Savior – He saved us from sin.
“For our citizenship is in heaven, from which we also eagerly
wait for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ,” (Philippians 3:20)
“Therefore, brethren, be even more diligent to make your call and
election sure, for if you do these things you will never stumble; for so
an entrance will be supplied to you abundantly into the everlasting
kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.” (2 Peter 1:10–11)
e.
If ever I loved thee, my
Jesus tis now
– do we love Him MORE today than we did before?
Is our love for Him growing?
a.
There are many reasons
why we ought to love Jesus.
In this verse, we find one that is continually revisited.
b.
I love Thee, because Thou has first loved me
–
1 John 4:19, “We love Him because He first loved us.”
While speaking of God, the principle applies to Jesus as well,
consider He is God and how He worked WITH God for our redemption.
John 13:34-35 – we love
one another as He has loved us.
Galatians 2:20 – Jesus “loved me and gave Himself for me.”
c.
And purchased my pardon
on Calvary’s tree
– again, He paid the price.
Because of His death, our sins are forgiven.
John 15:13, Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s
life for His friends.
Eph. 5:2 – He gave Himself as an offering and a sacrifice to God for a
sweet-smelling aroma.
1 John 3:16, “By this we know love, because He laid down His life for
us…”
Jesus paid the price that God demanded so that our sins could be
forgiven – 1 Peter 2:24 says, ““who Himself bore our sins in His own
body on the tree, that we, having died to sins, might live for
righteousness—by whose stripes you were healed.”
d.
I love Thee for wearing the thorns on Thy brow
–
Matthew 27:29–31, “When they had twisted a crown of thorns, they put
it on His head, and a reed in His right hand. And they bowed the knee
before Him and mocked Him, saying, “Hail, King of the Jews!” Then they
spat on Him, and took the reed and struck Him on the head. And when they
had mocked Him, they took the robe off Him, put His own clothes on Him,
and led Him away to be crucified.” As I read this expression in this
song, I think of ALL the suffering Jesus endured on our behalf.
The crown of thorns is just one example of it.
BUT I also see in this that His suffering was very REAL and
voluntary. He could have
said no. He could have quit.
But He didn’t!
Because He loved you and me!
e.
If ever I loved Thee, my
Jesus tis now
- as we learn more of
what He did for us, does our love for Him increase?
a.
I’ll love Thee in life, I will love Thee in death
– the only commitment God will accept from us is total commitment for
life. He will not accept
half-hearted service.
“Now the just shall live by faith; But if anyone draws back, My soul
has no pleasure in him.”” (Hebrews 10:38)
Rev. 2:10 finds the church at Smyrna being told to remain “faithful until death”.
In times past we have noted there are 2 ways to view this – until you
die AND to the point of dying.
Both are true.
Paul speaking of his
dilemma about his future (whether to live or die) he says, “according
to my earnest expectation and hope that in nothing I shall be ashamed,
but with all boldness, as always, so now also Christ will be magnified
in my body, whether by life or by death.
For to me live is Christ, and to
die is gain.” (Phil. 1:20-21)
Such needs to be our attitude.
b.
And praise Thee as long as thou lendest me breath
–
In Romans 8:35-39 Paul notes that NOTHING would separate him from the
love of Christ.
David in praising God often expressed this sentiment – Psa. 63:4, “Thus
I will bless You while I live; I will lift up my hands in Your name.”
“I will sing to the Lord as long as I live; I will sing praise to my
God while I have my being.” (Psalm 104:33)
When one truly praises God throughout the day, it demonstrates an
understanding of what He has done.
c.
And say when the death
dew lies cold on my brow
–
What will our parting words be?
As we are about to draw our last breath to face our eternal
destiny, what will we say to those around us?
Rev. 14:13,
“Then I heard
a voice from heaven saying to me, “Write: ‘Blessed are the dead who die
in the Lord from now on.’ ” “Yes,” says the Spirit, “that they may rest
from their labors, and their works follow them.””
d.
If ever I loved Thee, my Jesus tis now. As we
face death, is it with true love for Him in our hearts?
Think of Steven as we was dying a martyr’s death.
He said, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.”
a.
The love of God and
Jesus fully realized.
1 Corinthians 13:13, “And now abide faith, hope, love, these three;
but the greatest of these is love.”
Our love is something we will take with us when we die.
The greatness of God’s love will then be fully realized!
In this final verse, this is expressed.
b.
In mansions of glory and endless delight
– as you study heaven, you find it to be a place of glory and beauty.
It is a place where there will be no more tears, death, sorrow,
crying or pain – Rev. 21:4
Jesus promised His disciples that He was going to prepare a place for
them – John 14:1-3
c.
I’ll ever adore Thee in
heaven so bright
– it is in heaven were we find, “the fountain of youth”, where we will
live forever and ever. Rev.
22:1-5, we shall reign forever and ever.
d.
I’ll sing with the glittering crown on my brow
– victory will finally be ours.
In this life, we struggle and strive.
We face difficulties, disappointments and troubles.
At times we lose our battles with the flesh.
But if we endure and overcome we are promised victory.
In 2 Tim. 4:8, Paul had finished his race and was anticipating his crown
(a victor’s crown).
1 Cor. 9:25 speaks of how athletes compete for a perishable crown, but
we for an imperishable crown.
It is AFTER this life that we attain the ultimate victory.
DON’T GIVE UP! 1 Cor. 15:58
e.
If ever I loved Thee, my
Jesus tis now.
It is THEN, when our faith has become sight and our hope has been
realized that we will truly love God and our Lord Jesus and the Spirit.
WE will not be heaven but a moment before our love for Him will
be realized.
Oh
that we may utter the title of this song, both throughout our lives and
into eternity. Love God and
each other is key to achieving our eternity.
What about you? Can
you sing this song from your heart?
Think about it.