That is not included in my text, but it is necessary in order to
complete the view of the forces to which Jesus Christ here entrusts the
hallowing of life and the sanctifying of our nature; and we are led to
refer to it by what I have already pointed out; the connection between
the 'love' of my text and the 'believe' of the preceding verses. I can
fancy a man saying, 'Keep His commandments? Woe is me! How am I to
keep?' The answer is 'Love.' And I can fancy him saying 'Love?' Yes!
'And how am I to love? I cannot get up love at the word of command, or
by any voluntary effort.' And the answer comes again, 'Believe!' Trust
Christ, and you will love Him. Love Him and you will do His will. And
then the question comes again, 'Believe what?' And the answer comes,
'Believe that He is the Son of God who died for you.'
Nothing else will kindle a man's love than the faithful contemplation
and grasp of Christ in that character and aspect. Only the redeeming
Christ affords a reasonable ground for our love to Him. Here is a dead
man, dead for nineteen centuries, expecting you and me to have towards
Him a vivid personal affection which will influence our conduct and our
character. What right has He to expect that? There is only one
reasonable ground upon which I may be called to love Jesus Christ, and
that is that He died for me, and such a love towards such a Christ is
the only thing which will wield power sufficient to guide, to coerce,
to restrain, to constrain, and to sustain my weak, wayward, rebellious,
and sluggish will. All other emotions of so-called admiration and
worship and reverence and affection for Jesus Christ are apt to be
tepid; but this one has power and warmth in it.
Here is a unique fact in the history of the world, that not only did He
make this astounding claim upon all subsequent generations; but that
all subsequent generations have responded to it, and that to-day there
are millions of men who love Jesus Christ with a love warm, personal,
deep, powerful—the spring of all their goodness and the Lord of their
lives. Why do they? For one reason only. Because they believe that He
died for them individually, and that He lives an ascended yet
ever-present Helper and Lover of their souls.
My brethren, that conviction, and that conviction only, as I venture to
affirm, has power to send a glow of love into the heart which will move
all the limbs in swift and happy obedience. That conviction, and that
conviction alone, will melt the thick-ribbed ice of our spirits and
will make it flow down in sweet waters. The love that has looked upon
the Cross will be the fulfilling of the law of Him that speaks from the
Throne. When our faith has grasped Him, as enduring that cross for us,
then our love will be awakened to hear and to do His commandments.
'We love Him because He first loved us,' and such love will flower and
fruit in obedience. I shall keep His commandments when I love Him. I
shall love Him with a love that makes my will plastic and my life a
glad service, when by faith I grasp Him as the Incarnate Lord, 'who
loved me and gave Himself for me.'