History's Greatest Marriage

And so we are not stretching scripture one bit when we take Psalm 45 to picture my heart relationship to Jesus Christ. And I think I had better say it at the very beginning of this message. The greatest need that you and I have tonight is to have a deeper love for Jesus Christ.

I don't care what we're doing for him. It's what we are doing with him that is really important. And so many of us are just not developing that close, intimate, personal, loving relationship that really ought to be there.

We're content with secondhand information about him. We're content with letting somebody else tell us how wonderful it is when really we ought to be penetrating into the deepness, the fullness, the richness of a loving relationship with Christ. Now, somebody here tonight says, well, the pastor is getting very feminine.

May I remind you that John the apostle, who was anything but a sissy, leaned upon the breast of our Lord Jesus. John was a temperamental fellow who one day wanted to call fire down from heaven. John was no sissy.

John was no weakling. And by the way, feminine love is not weak love. The Word of God often talks about the love of a mother for a child and the love of a bride for a bridegroom.

There's nothing sentimental or feminine or weak about talking about loving the Lord Jesus. The greatest of all the commandments is thou shall love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, with all thy strength. And so Psalm 45 is discussing our love for the Lord Jesus.

And I say it very clearly. I put it very bluntly. Everything that I am and everything that I do, everything that you are, everything that you do stems from this relationship.

Either we are manufacturing our Christian lives and they are phony or our Christian lives are the normal outflow of a loving relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ. There simply is no middle ground. And you are the only one who knows which of those two camps you are in.

The psalm is really not difficult to outline. In verse one, he states his theme. He's so excited.

My heart is overflowing with a good matter. The Hebrew word means boiling up. Now, there have been times when our hearts have boiled up, but not with a good matter.

While we have been musing, the fire has burned and we've spoken inadvisedly with our lips. Moses did this. David did it.

Peter did it. I've done it and so have you. That's not what he's talking about here.

He has been contemplating the king. I speak of the things which I have made touching the king. My tongue is the pen of an eager writer.

He has been meditating on the king. He's been looking at the king. He's been spending his time falling in love with the king.

And his heart is so full, it's overflowing. And he simply has to share it because out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks. Now, in verses 2 through 9, he addresses the king.

In verses 10 through 15, he addresses the queen. And then in 16 and 17, once again, he speaks to the king. You can't tell this in our English version, but in verses 16 and 17, the pronouns are masculine.

In 16 and 17, we have sort of a closing benediction. At the end of every Jewish wedding, they said, may the Lord bless you and multiply you and give you children and so forth. That's what you have in 16 and 17, a closing blessing upon the king.

Now, this psalm then is divided really into two parts, 2 through 9, the king, 10 through 15, the queen. And these two parts to this psalm teach us two basic lessons about our love for the Lord Jesus. They're so foundational that if we miss them, it's going to hurt us in our spiritual walk.

If you and I are going to develop a deeper love for Christ, there are two lessons that we have to learn. First of all, why we love him. And this is in verses 2 through 9. And secondly, how we love him.

Verses 10 through 15. And then we're going to add 16 and 17 to that section. First of all, why we love him.

You say, well, Pastor, can you explain, can you analyze why you love anybody? Well, perhaps not initially, but eventually. The writer has been contemplating the king. And this king is the Lord Jesus Christ.

And he begins to enumerate why his heart is so captivated by the king. Why do we love him? Well, verse 2, we love him for his person. Thou art fairer than the children of man.

He's speaking here about his beauty, the beauty of his person. Now, obviously, he is not talking about physical beauty. I think that it's good for us to learn early in life that you don't base love on simply physical appearance.

Romance is based on this. In all of the books that we read about romance, the girl is always beautiful, the boy is always handsome. But your life is not like this.

My, if all of us fellows had to be handsome, there'd be a lot of us who wouldn't be married at all. There's something about love that penetrates beyond the externals. He's not talking here about physical love, because the prophet said there is no beauty that we should desire in him.

Isaiah chapter 53 and verse 2. And Peter wrote and said about the Lord Jesus, whom having not seen ye love. Now, nobody knows what Jesus looks like, all pictures notwithstanding. There's not a single picture that's been painted of the Lord Jesus that you can trust.

They may be interesting. They might even be ennobling, but they aren't true. We do not know what he looked like.

We don't know how tall he was. We don't know what his features were like, and it's not important. What he's talking about here is his person, his character.

We love him because of the beauty of his character. You see, down in verse 4, we find some tremendous characteristics associated with him. And in thy majesty ride prosperously because of truth and meekness and righteousness.

What warrior ever set out on a battle because of truth and meekness and righteousness? He did. We love him because of his beauty. This is why when you read the word of God and you see the Lord Jesus Christ, you love him more.

The beauty of his character, a perfectly balanced character, a perfect character. He was able to stand up and say, which of you accuseth me of sin? Secondly, we love him because of his words. Grace is poured into thy lips.

Therefore, God hath blessed thee forever. You see, two lovers build their love relationship with words. Not words only.

Words are backed up with deeds, but basically with words. Two people meet each other and they exchange words. They've never known each other before, and they exchange names.

They exchange places of occupation, and they get to know each other. But then as their love deepens, their vocabulary changes. This is what he's talking about.

We love him because of his words. When you read the account of our Lord's first public sermon back in Nazareth, Luke chapter 4, the scripture says they were amazed at the gracious words that came out of his lips. You see, when the Lord Jesus speaks, he speaks words of grace.

Grace is poured into thy lips. Now, we could spend the rest of the evening just talking about his gracious words. Here was Jairus, whose daughter was dying, and Jesus said to Jairus, Fear not, only believe.

Here's a widow coming out, taking her only son to the cemetery, and Jesus stopped her, and he said, Young man, arise. Here's a leper who comes running up to Jesus and falls before him and says, Lord, if thou wilt, thou canst make me clean. And Jesus said, I will be thou clean.

Our Lord turns to a thief on the cross and graciously says, Today you will be with me in paradise. In fact, one word from the lips of Jesus is all that a loving heart needs. He met Mary in the garden, and she thought he was the gardener, and she was weeping, and she said, If you've taken him hence, tell me where he is, and I'll go get him.

That's love. And all Jesus said was, Mary. And that word of grace touched her heart.

You see, if there has to be a lot of talking, you wonder how deep the relationship is. It's not how much we talk. It's not the quantity of words.

It's the quality of expression. It's not the length. It's the depth.

I confess to you that there are times when my wife and I drive down the highway, and for miles, we don't say anything to each other. You've had the same experience with your loved ones. It's not necessary always to be talking, but when you do, it means something.

And we love him for his words. I wonder if you have been taking time to open the book and let him talk to you. In verses 3 through 5, we love him for his courage.

3 through 5 is a description of Jesus Christ, the warrior. Now, I think the fulfillment of this really is in Revelation chapter 19. When heaven will open and Jesus Christ will ride forth, he will be wearing that vesture dipped in blood, and he will have that sword coming out of his mouth, the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.

And he will come forth conquering, and that great battle is going to be fought, and Jesus will conquer his enemies and establish righteousness when his kingdom is set up on the earth. But you know, when the Lord Jesus Christ came to this earth, he never rode on a horse. He rode on a donkey.

A donkey was a symbol of peace, not war. When he rode into Jerusalem as the king, he rode on that donkey, offering himself as the king of peace, the king of righteousness. When he went to the cross, he fought the greatest battle ever fought, and he fought it for you.

I saw a servicemen's flag in a window the other day. I didn't know we still had these existing. But here was a blue star hanging in the window.

Of course, you've seen gold stars in times past. Somebody died for me. I've read this little book, They Signed for Us, the story of the men who signed the Declaration of Independence.

Many of them sacrificed their fortunes, their families, their futures for us. But here's one who rode forth in majesty. It looked like his life was a defeat.

It looked as though he had failed completely, but he didn't. He rode forth in majesty on Calvary. He won the battle.

He arose from the dead. He's gone back to glory. And we love him today because of his great courage, loving courage for us.

I think we love him in verses six and seven because of his wonderful reign. Thy throne, O God, is forever and ever. The scepter of thy kingdom is a right scepter.

Thou lovest righteousness and hatest wickedness. Therefore, God, thy God, hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows. You see, those of us who know Jesus Christ have no problem bowing before his throne.

Now, if you'll take verses six and seven and relate them to something Paul writes over in Romans 5, you'll see what the writer is talking about. In Romans chapter 5, Paul is talking about what is reigning in this world. Romans chapter 5, verse 14.

Nevertheless, death reigned. Romans 5, 17. For if by one man's offense death reigned by one, that's Adam, much more they who receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness, they shall reign in life by one, Jesus Christ.

Let's leave out the in-between part. For if by one man's offense death reigned by one, Adam, much more they shall reign in life by one, Jesus Christ. Now, how do you reign in life? So many times we talk about reigning in the kingdom, reigning in eternity.

He says we can reign in life right now. How? By bowing down to his throne. My friend, the greatest power in the world is the power of the love of Jesus.

And we love him because of his reign. It's a righteous reign. It's a loving reign.

It's a gracious reign. This is why over in verse 21, Paul says in Romans 5, that as sin hath reigned unto death, even so might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal life. How? By Jesus Christ, our Lord.

We love him because he is the King. We sing, King of my life, I crown thee now. Thine shall the glory be.

We love him because of his reign. I think we love him in verse 8 of Psalm 45 because of his sacrifice. We sang about this.

The bridegroom comes out of the palace. The bride is in the palace. Over here in verse 13, the King's daughter is all glorious within.

That doesn't mean within her person. That means within the palace. And so here is the queen.

Here is the bridegroom waiting to meet the bride. And the bride comes out from his palace. Now, it's this passage that formed the basis for the song that we use tonight.

The writer is saying that the Lord Jesus Christ came from the ivory palaces of heaven. He came to this earth that he might die for us. And this is the explanation for these spices.

You see, today in a wedding, you find the bride perfumed. But in the oriental wedding, the groom was perfumed. We don't find the bride having any spices.

But the groom had spices on his person, which gave forth that fragrance. But the spices here are rather interesting because two of these spices were used when the Lord Jesus was buried. These spices speak of suffering and of death.

Now, they were also used for joyful occasions. They were also used for beauty. The women would use these spices the way you women use cosmetics.

But the picture here seems to be of our Lord Jesus Christ coming forth, knowing he's going to suffer and die. Sometimes you want to meditate on the garments of the Lord Jesus. They're very meaningful.

Here we have his garments of glory, which he had to eventually lay aside and put on the swaddling clothes of a poor baby. During his life, he wore the seamless robe of a rabbi because his life was seamless. It was all of one piece.

And then they stripped him of that seamless robe, and they nailed him to a cross. Then they wrapped him in the garments of death. And with those garments, they put in myrrh and aloes.

And so the picture here seems to be of our Lord Jesus Christ coming forth to suffer and die for us. Isn't this what John meant when he wrote, we love him because he first loved us? This is why we have the Lord's Supper. He said, this do in remembrance of me.

He's saying, please don't forget me and don't forget what I did for you. We love him because of his sacrifice. In verses 7 and 8, we also love him because of his joy.

God hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows. The Lord Jesus Christ was the man of sorrows, but he wasn't morbid. I feel sorry for people who don't know how to smile, don't know how to laugh at the right things.

My friends, all of us are carrying burdens. All of us have problems. No one is exempted from them.

This is a part of life. Christian joy does not mean we are discharged from difficulty. Christian joy means we keep on going in spite of difficulty.

That's what he's talking about here, the anointing of the Holy Spirit of God. Because we are saved, because we love the King, his Holy Spirit has been given to us, and we experience this gladness down in our hearts. We love him because of his joy.

We should never forget that the Lord Jesus Christ had to go through the sufferings of hell that we might have the joys of heaven. I think, too, we love him because of his gifts. Verse 9, King's daughters were among thy honorable women.

Upon thy right hand did stand the queen in gold of Ophir. That's the finest gold you could get. It seems that gold is a picture of deity in the Bible.

And here he clothes his queen in gold. Now, dear friend, we could spend the rest of this evening and all of tomorrow evening just talking about his marvelous gifts to us. What hast thou that thou hast not received, said Paul? A man can receive nothing, said John the Baptist, except it be given to him from heaven.

It's too bad that some segments of the church are thinking about only one kind of gift. There are so many gifts that he's given to us. Every good gift, every perfect gift comes from above.

Now, this is not first on the list. You don't love somebody because of their gifts. You love them first because of their person, their character, their words, their victory, courage, their reign, sacrifice, and joy.

But at the end of the list, the queen is saying, you know, look what he's done for me. I was nobody. I was nothing.

I had nothing. And now I stand here in garments of gold. This, my friend, is why we love him.

Because of who he is, because of what he's done, because of what he's given. Has anybody else ever done that much for you? Now, in the rest of the psalm, verses 10 through 17, he tells us how we love him. How we love him.

And I think this is so important. I need this. First of all, we must love him completely.

Verse 10, hearken, O daughter, consider, incline thine ear, speaking to the queen now, to the bride, forget also thine own people and thy father's house. Now, it's obvious that when a man and a woman fall in love, the boyfriends and the girlfriends have to be forgotten. Oh, they're still friends, but not in the same way.

And so the spirit of God says to the bride, you've got to forget your family. You've got to forget your friends, because now your complete affection and attention must be given to the king. We must love him completely.

I'm afraid you and I court too many rivals to his love. The Bible talks about those who are lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God. John says, love not the world, neither the things that are in the world.

If any man love the world, the love of the father is not in him. The Lord Jesus Christ will not permit any rivals. I read a very distressing book, Condensation, yesterday, written by a woman who writes a column for the Good Housekeeping magazine.

You hear her on radio. You see her on television. And since she wrote this in the book, and the book is now becoming a bestseller, I can name her Dr. Joyce Brothers.

I used to admire many of the things she had to say, because it seemed to be so sane and sensible. But in her latest book, she says there's nothing wrong with a middle-aged woman having an affair to spruce up her marriage a little bit. I can't think of a better way to wreck your marriage.

I'm surprised that a psychologist—she's a Ph.D.—would say a thing like that. The Lord Jesus Christ will not brook any rivals. He says, either you're going to be for me or against me.

No man can serve two masters. You're going to love the one and hate the other. You can't serve two.

The Lord Jesus Christ will not tolerate spiritual adultery. We must love him completely. I think the reason many Christians are uneasy, restless, defeated, is because there is a division in their hearts, and a double-minded man is unstable in all of his ways.

Verse 11, we must love him spontaneously. So shall the king greatly desire thy beauty. Two things here amaze me.

He looks at me and says, thy beauty. I have no beauty. It says of Jesus, there was no beauty that we should desire him.

But you can say about us, there's no beauty that he should desire us. Nothing beautiful about the sin that was in my life. Nothing beautiful about the dirt that was in my life or your life.

And yet we've been saved, and he's dressed us in the gold of his grace. He has given to us the beauty of his holiness. And he looks at us and says, I desire your beauty.

This is the second thing that amazes me, that he would desire me. He's talking here about a spontaneous love. Now let me just picture this for you.

I want you to turn to that often neglected book, The Song of Solomon. It's just a few pages away from where we are. Song of Solomon has an interesting illustration of spontaneous love.

Chapter five, verse two. The bride is speaking and she says, I sleep, but my heart waketh. It is the voice of my beloved that knocketh, saying, open to me, my sister, my love, my dove, my undefiled.

Here's Jesus now. For my head is filled with dew and my locks with the drops of the night. Just spontaneously, the Lord comes and says, I desire you.

Now, husbands and wives experience this. There's just a spontaneous desire in your heart to be with your loved one. Parents and children experience this.

Friends experience this. Now, you'd think the bride would get up and say, oh, my Lord, thank you for coming. But what does she do? She says, I have put off my coat.

How shall I put it on? I have washed my feet. How shall I defile them? Too busy. Too many other things are important.

My beloved put his hand to the latch of the door and my heart was moved for him. Well, why wouldn't it be because of the marks of Calvary in those hands? I rose up to open to my beloved. My hands dripped with my fingers with sweet smell and smelling up on the handles of the lock.

I opened to my beloved, but my beloved had withdrawn himself and was gone. You see, love is a very sensitive thing. And when Jesus Christ comes to you in the midst of the busy day and says, I desire you, you know what you ought to do? Now, obviously, you can't wreck the car.

You can't quit your job. But right where you are, what you're doing, just open your heart in love to him. Some of you people would not miss your two or three coffee breaks during a day.

Ever take any blessing breaks? Do you ever during the day hear the voice of the beloved calling to your heart? You say, Pastor, you're getting very mystical. No, this is very practical. When two people love each other, they want each other.

And Jesus Christ desires us. And the psalmist says we should love him spontaneously. When he comes and says, I desire you, you are beautiful.

We say to him, we love you. That you should even desire us is amazing. You see, she didn't get the bridegroom, but she did get a little bit of the blessing, got some of the myrrh on her hand.

I'd sooner have the blesser than have the blessing. We need more of this in our Christian life today, to love him spontaneously. Verse 11, we should love him obediently.

He is thy Lord. Worship thou him. He is thy Lord.

Jesus said, if you love me, you'll keep my commandments. You see, love is not just talking. Love is doing.

Imagine how foolish it would be for a man to say to a woman, oh, I love you. I can't live without you. I love you.

But I won't pay the bills. I won't give you any clothing to wear, any food to eat. I'll never be around to talk to you.

But I love you. You'd say that's lying. Well, how many times do we say to him, my Jesus, I love thee.

I know thou art mine, but we don't obey him. He is thy Lord. Worship thou him.

Now, there's a sense in which, not in an idolatrous way, but in a very practical way, there is a sense in which a husband and wife worship each other, not in an idolatrous way, but in a very practical way. They're just so overawed with each other. To think that she should want me, and she says to think that he would want me.

And there's an awe that's about it, if a marriage is what it ought to be. We should love him obediently. If you love me, keep my commandments.

We should love him worshipfully. He is thy Lord. Worship thou him.

We're going to spend more time on this subject of worship. I just want to drop this into your heart. At the beginning of this psalm, he's just bubbling over.

He can't keep quiet. You know why we have a hard time witnessing? Because we don't take time for worshiping. That's the reason why.

I don't care how many courses you take, unless there's the motivation to share Jesus Christ, unless your heart is just bubbling over with what the King has meant to you. Your witnessing will be mechanical. It'll be Christian salesmanship.

There won't be that touch of love and power. We should love him worshipfully and tell him so. You see, back in verse two, he's talking to the King.

Thou art fairer than the children of men. Grace is poured into thy lips. Do you ever take the Word of God and give it back to the Lord Jesus to tell him how wonderful he is? I'll share a little secret with you.

Sometimes in my devotional life, I use the hymn book. I have a little hymn book that a friend of mine gave me that is just the words, no music. And it's divided up into beautiful categories.

And there are times when I'll take one of those hymns and I'll read it to the Lord Jesus. Because somebody else said it so much better than I. Bernard of Clairvaux said it so much better than I could say it. Or I'll take one of the Psalms or something.

Just read it back to him just to express worship to him. I'll tell you, my friend, if you take time to worship him, there'll be no problem witnessing. Your heart will be bubbling over with the Lord Jesus.

Verse 12, we love him devotedly. Here stands the daughter of Tyre and she's got a gift. Here come the rich people to talk to the queen.

But she doesn't pay attention to the rich people. She's not concerned about somebody's gift. She has her eyes upon her bridegroom.

Samuel Rutherford wrote that magnificent book of letters. He didn't write the book. He wrote the letters and they were compiled.

The letters of Samuel Rutherford. What a great book it is. Hard to get a hold of for some reason.

But from that book, Annie Cousins took phrases from Rutherford's writings and wrote D.L. Moody's favorite song, the sands of time are sinking. That one verse, the bride eyes, not her garment, but her dear bridegroom's face. I will not gaze at glory, but on my king of grace.

That's what this verse is talking about. We love him devotedly. Not his gifts, not other people, Jesus and having loved him devotedly.

Then these other things fall into place. Verses 13 and 14, we love him gloriously. We have described here the clothing of the queen.

The king's daughter is all glorious within. That means within the palace. Her clothing is of wrought gold.

She shall be brought unto the king in raiment of needlework. Here she is dressed in those garments of glory, and we should love him gloriously. We should come to him in the garments of his grace.

What an awful thing to come to him with dirty garments. We've been out sinning. We've been out slumming around.

We've been out getting defiled by the world. James says, keep yourself unspotted from the world. Paul says, be not conformed to the world.

How can I come and love him in the dirty garments of sin? He wants me to come in those glorious garments of grace. Verse 15, we should love him joyfully. With gladness and rejoicing shall they be brought.

They shall enter into the king's palace. You see, I already live in the holy of holies. I am seated with him in the heavenlies, and I should love him joyfully.

The Christian life is a joyful experience. Love and joy go together. You ever notice that? When a fellow and a girl fall in love, I don't care how difficult the circumstances may be, that love generates joy.

And love and joy together generate hope. And when you love somebody and you have joy, there's always something to look forward to. That's what he's talking about.

We love him joyfully. Now, there are times when our relationship to him makes us weep. In the quietness of my own holy of holies, there have been times that I've just had to weep before him, because I've seen myself and I've heard the crowing of the cock.

But most of the time, as we fellowship with him in love, it's a joyful experience. We love him joyfully. I seriously doubt whether it's possible to live fretfully before each other if we're loving joyfully with the Lord.

My friend, if you and I love him privately like we should, that joy is going to show up. People will know that we've been with Jesus. Verses 16 and 17 talk about the children that are going to be born.

You say, Pastor, surely that can't relate to us today. Here's the wedding. It's all over now, and they're giving the benediction.

Instead of thy fathers, O King, shall be thy children. In other words, they won't brag about your fathers now. They'll brag about your children.

Whom thou mayest make princes in all the earth, I will make thy name to be remembered in all generations through your children, you see. Therefore shall the people praise thee forever and ever. But you lift that to a higher level, the Lord Jesus Christ.

Paul had this in mind when he wrote Romans chapter 7. Did you ever notice this? Better turn there. Romans chapter 7 and verse 4. Wherefore, my brethren, ye also are become dead to the law by the body of Christ, that ye should be married to another, even to him who is raised from the dead, that we should bring forth fruit unto God. God said to the first man and woman when he married them, be fruitful and multiply.

Paul is saying in Romans 7, 4, we are married to Jesus Christ. Therefore, we should love him fruitfully. We should be multiplying.

We should be bringing sons and daughters into this world. We should be winning people to Christ. There should be a fruitfulness about this relationship.

I think learning to love Jesus Christ is the greatest need that we have. We have seminars on so many subjects, and I'm glad we do. I'm thankful for every group that helps me grow.

We have seminars on personal problems. We have seminars on Bible study. We have seminars on management and finding your gift and winning souls, and I'm thankful for them.

I wish somebody would somehow emphasize the foundation for all of this, loving Jesus Christ. That's our greatest need, to experience this love and then to express this love and then to enlarge this love, just to fall in love with Jesus Christ. Some of us have left our first love, and God says to us, remember from whence thou art fallen.

Today we commemorate February 22. We commemorate the birth of George Washington, but somebody else was born on this day that I think we ought to remember. Seventy years ago today, on February 22, 1906, Betty Scott Stam was born.

Many of you can remember on December 8, 1934, when John and Betty Stam were martyred by the Communists over in China. As young as I was, I remember the shock that went across America. I think a special memorial service was held here at Moody Church.

They had both graduated from the Moody Bible Institute. In my library, I have a rare volume of poetry written by Betty Scott Stam. Much of this was written before she and John Stam were married.

In 1926, when she was 20 years old, she wrote this poem, I cannot live like Jesus, example though he be. For he was strong and selfless, and I am tied to me. I cannot live like Jesus.

My soul is never free. My will is strong and stubborn. My love is weak and wee.

But I have asked my Jesus to live his life in me. I cannot live like Jesus. More beautiful is he in soul and eye and stature than sunrise on the sea.

Behold his warm, his tangible, his dear humanity. Behold his white perfection of purest deity. Yet Jesus Christ has promised that we like him shall be.

Here's a 20-year-old girl who had learned to penetrate into the deep love of Jesus. And not long after that, she knelt down and put her head on a block, and a communist sword flashed, and she was dead. You know, when we face the Lord Jesus Christ, the most important thing is going to be our relationship to him.

I don't just simply mean we're saved. That takes us to heaven. I mean we have built a relationship with him so that when we see him, we're not strangers.

John puts it this way, and now little children abide in him, that when he shall appear, we shall have confidence and not be ashamed before him at his coming. If there's one sin I'm going to have to be ashamed of, it's going to be the sin of neglecting my love for the Lord Jesus. Perhaps you feel the same way about your life.

Did you spend time with him this morning? When you awaken at night and you can't go back to sleep, do you talk to him? During the day when your heart feels his voice and hears his voice, do you fellowship with him? I'm not talking about something mystical. I'm talking about something so very practical and so very wonderful. He is the king.

Worship thou him. Gracious Father, oh how we need to learn to love the Lord Jesus. And yet your word says that the Holy Spirit of God fills us with love.

And so forgive us for selfishness. Forgive us for busyness. Forgive us, God, that we have neglected the word.

We've neglected the quiet place of prayer. Forgive us, Lord, for daring to believe that all of our activity and all of our sacrifice could be a substitute for a heart spending time with Jesus. May we all tonight vow in our deepest heart of hearts that through the help of the Holy Spirit, we will grow in our love for Christ.

More love to thee, O Christ, more love to thee. This is our prayer in Jesus' name. Amen.