Text:
John 14:15:
If ye love me, keep my commandments.
1John 5:3:
“For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments: and his commandments are not grievous.”
Theme:
If
Introduction:
- The Gospel According to Saint John was written by “the one whom Jesus loved”, John. Appropriately so, the Gospel focuses on the Divine nature of Jesus as it depicts His life. Therefore, the essence of God, Love, becomes a recurring topic.
- Hence, our text surfaces, “If ye love me, keep my commandments”.
- Used here as our one-word theme, “IF” introduces the text.
- “IF” is an introductory adverb that establishes a condition or stipulation.
- We use the word “IF” in our Christian life:
- “Lord, IF you would just save my soul!”
- “It’s so hard sometimes that I don’t know IF I can hold out.”
- “Father, IF it is Your Will, please get these bills paid.”
- “Lord, IF you would just get me through this, I will serve you better.”
- “Lord, IF you would just give me this, I will not do that.”
- We also use the word “IF in our everyday life in this world:
- “Girl, IF you would just give me one chance, you would know that I could take care of you.”
- “Sweetheart, IF you would just listen to me, I can explain.”
- “IF you aren’t back in this house by 11pm, you won’t get to go out with your friends ever again.”
- “IF you don’t get out of my face, I am gonna….”
- “Sir, IF you could give me another week, I will have you money.”
Body:
The word “IF” has two primary meanings within the context of presenting a condition:
- “IF” acknowledges the preexistent condition:
- IF the sun is up, there is light outside.
- “IF” acknowledges a requirement:
- IF I finish these last classes with at least a “B”, I will graduate.
- The word “IF” acknowledges the existence of Free Will for Mankind.
- FREE WILL means that mankind always has a CHOICE
- Genesis 2:7 gives how we received FREE WILL,
“And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.”
- 1Peter 4:3-6 gives how we live in the context of FREE WILL,
“For the time past of our life may suffice us to have wrought the will of the Gentiles, when we walked in lasciviousness, lusts, excess of wine, revellings, banquetings, and abominable idolatries: Wherein they think it strange that ye run not with them to the same excess of riot, speaking evil of you: Who shall give account to him that is ready to judge the quick and the dead. For for this cause was the gospel preached also to them that are dead, that they might be judged according to men in the flesh, but live according to God in the spirit.”
The Bible uses the word “IF” in many instances:
- God used the word “IF” to explain to Abraham the prerequisite for saving Sodom and Gomorrah in Genesis 18:26, “And the LORD said, If I find in Sodom fifty righteous within the city, then I will spare all the place for their sakes.”
- Moses said to the people of Israel in Numbers 14:8, “If the LORD delight in us, then he will bring us into this land, and give it us; a land which floweth with milk and honey.”
- The Word tells us plainly in 2Chronicles 7:14, “If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.”
- David cried out to the Lord in Psalms 139:8, “If I ascend up into heaven, thou art there: if I make my bed in hell, behold, thou art there.”
- Then we can cross over into the New Testament and find an example like the scripture in our text where Jesus said, “If ye love me, keep my commandments.”
“If ye love me”
- This originates from the greatest commandment.
- Matthew 22:37 says, “…Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.”
- We should love God because He first loved us:
- John 3:16 says, “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”
- If we abide in God, we abide in love and can then show love.
- As 1John 4:16, “And we have known and believed the love that God hath to us. God is love; and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him.”
“keep my commandments”
- What are God’s Commandments?
- The “Top Ten” as outlined in Exodus 20
- The “Top Two” as outline by Jesus in the Gospels
- Luke 10:27, “And he answering said, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind; and thy neighbour as thyself.”
- Words to live by, as expressed by Jesus during His Temptation.
- Deuteronomy 8:3, “And he humbled thee, and suffered thee to hunger, and fed thee with manna, which thou knewest not, neither did thy fathers know; that he might make thee know that man doth not live by bread only, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of the LORD doth man live.”
“If ye love me, keep my commandments.”
- Jesus spoke to both all and one, the whole and the individual.
- In this passage Jesus gives both:
- The condition and the activity
- The prerequisite and the goal
- The requirement and the class
- The power and the task
Conclusion:
- Thank God for “IF”!
- Without IF
- No Choice
- No Chance
- No Solution
- No Salvation
- Since there is IF
- I can live for Him
- I can glorify Him
- I can praise Him
- I can serve Him
- I can claim Him as my Father!
- Without IF
- IF
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