Lesson 15.
LOVE OF CHRIST IS PART OF HOLINESS

Do you truly love me? (John 21:16)

A feelings of love toward someone is one of the common feelings of human nature. Unhappily, people sometimes set their love on unworthy objects. I want to claim a place for the one who is most worthy of our love Jesus Christ! This is not something which only fanatics do; the very salvation which believers enjoy is only possible because of what Christ has done. How then can believers not love him? Holiness cannot exist without love for Christ.

There are two points I wish to make on this subject. The first is:

1. The true Christian has a special feeling of love toward Christ

There are many things which Christians believe and do in the course of their Christian lives. But the most notable thing about true believers is their love for their Lord. Bible knowledge, faith, hope, reverence and obedience to God are all things to be seen in a believer's life. But true believers go further than this; they love Christ. A person may lack clear knowledge, may fail in courage, or even fall into sin: But none of these things will lead to your everlasting destruction if you love Christ. Not believing and not loving are both steps to eternal ruin.

If anyone does not love the Lord, let that person be cursed! wrote Paul (1 Corinthians 16:22). Jesus himself said, to the Jews, If God were your Father you would love me (John 8:42). And after his resurrection, Jesus put this question three times to his disciple Peter, Do you truly love me? (John 21:15, 16, 17). These are words which probe the reality of our religion. Plain and easy to be understood, these words are most searching words.

    If you wish to know the secret of this feeling toward Christ, the apostle John tells us: We love him because he first loved us (1 John 4:19). We love him for all that he has done for us. And we love him for all that he is doing for us at this moment. Believers have been redeemed from the guilt, the power and the consequences of their sins. And everyday now they re?ceive from Christ spiritual life and strength, as he prays for them, in heaven.
    Does the debtor love the friend who unexpectedly pays his debts in full? Does the drowning person love the one who plunges into the sea and rescues him? Does the person trapped in a burning house love the one who risks his own life to dash into the flames and rescue him? Even a child could answer such questions as these! In just the same way and for similar reasons the true believer loves Christ.
    
    a) This love to Christ is the inseparable companion of saving faith in Christ. If a person has no love for Christ you may be sure they have no true faith in Christ.
    
    b) Love to Christ is the best motive for all work for the Lord. There is a big difference between a nurse caring for a sick child, and the mother caring for her sick child. One acts from a sense of duty , the other from affection and love. One serves because she is paid to do so , the other does what she does because of her heart's love for the child. It is just the same in the matter of service for Christ. The great workers of the church through the ages have all been eminently lovers of Christ.
    

c) Love to Christ is what we ought specially to teach children. There are many things in Christian truth which will be hard for children to understand. But love to Jesus is something much more within their understanding.

    

d) Love to Christ is the point at which all Christians, from different branches of the Christian church, can unite whatever their differences in other respects. `I cannot speak much for Christ', said an old uneducated man, `but if I cannot speak for him, I could die for him!'          2. How may we recognise a love for Christ?

    
    Since there is no salvation without love for Christ, this is a most important question. But it is not a hard question to answer. How do we know that we love anyone? Let me show you that love for Christ has a similar way of revealing itself as love to our friends and relations.
    
    a) If we love someone we like to think about them. We do not forget them, or need to be reminded of them. They come into our minds many times during a day. In the same way, if we love Christ then, by his Spirit, Christ nay dwell in our hearts (Ephesians 3:17).
    
    b) If we love someone we like to hear about them. We take notice if their name is mentioned. Those who do not know our loved ones will take little notice when they are mentioned. It is affection which is the secret of a good memory whether among human friends, or between the believer and Christ!
    

c) If we love someone we like to read about them and to know what they have been doing. Much pleasure comes from a let?ter from a loved one. It is just so between the Christian and Christ. True believers are delighted to read the Scriptures be?cause there they read about their Saviour.

    

d) If we love someone we like to please him or her. We find out what they like, and what they dislike, and we try to act accordingly. So Christians make every effort to please Christ; they discover from the Bible what his will is and then seek to do it.

    

e) If we love someone we also like their friends. When we meet their friends we do not feel we are complete strangers. So, as Christians, all Christ's friends are our friends. We love the same Saviour as they do.

    

f) If we love someone we will defend them. We do not like to hear anyone talking against them and will immediately defend them. As Christians we will be hurt to hear anyone speaking against Christ, and want to speak for him.

    

g) If we love someone we will like to spend time with them talking with them, listening to them, or just simply being close to them. However shy and silent we may be toward others, we find no difficulty in being with and talking to a close friend. So the true Christian finds no difficulty in talking with Christ.

    
    These are the marks by which true love may be found. They are all plain and simple things, easy to be understood. Use them to examine yourself honestly, and you will know if you have a love for Christ. So let me put to you this question which the Lord asked of Peter, Do you truly love Christ?
   It is no answer to tell me that you know all the Christian doctrines. The Bible teaches that there can be no true Christianity without some feeling of love towards Christ. It is no answer to tell me that you disapprove of a religion of feelings. If the religion consists of nothing but feelings then I agree with you; but if you shut out feelings altogether then you know little of real Christianity.
   If you do not love Christ, it is because you feel no debt towards him, no obligation to him. There is only one remedy for this sort of thing. You need a better knowledge of yourself through the teaching of the Holy Spirit. You must find out what your nature really is. You must discover your guilt and emptiness in the sight of God. You must plead with God about your soul. Read how Paul describes human nature in chapters one and two of his letter to the Romans. Study such a passage with prayer for the Holy Spirit's guidance, and you will soon come to understand what I mean about being a debtor to Christ and in need of God's help.
   To see your need of Christ is the first step towards loving him. Not to love him is to be in imminent danger of eternal ruin. Do not be too proud to accept the advice I offer; take it, and be saved!
   There are those who are certain that they love Christ. To those I say, Your love is an evidence of God's love, in Christ, to you. You would not love Christ if he had done nothing for you. So never be ashamed to let others see your love for him. Speak for him; live for him; work for him.