The Nature of Love to God 2
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4. And lastly, If you truly love the Lord Jesus Christ—then you earnestly study and endeavor to please him by a life ofuniversal obedience. Love is always desirous to please the person beloved; and it will naturally lead to a conduct that is pleasing. This, then, you may be sure of, that if you love Jesus—then it is the labor of your life to please him. The grand inquiry with you is not: Will this or that please men? Will it please myself? Or will it promote my interest? But, Will it please my God and Savior? If not—then I will have nothing to do with it! This is the standing rule of your practice. Let others consult their own inclinations, or the taste of the age; let them consult their own secular interest, or the applause of mortals; you consult what is the good, and acceptable, and perfect will of God. Romans 12:2. See also Ephesians 6:6; 1 Peter 3:17; Hebrews 13:21; and if you may but please him—it is enough.
But are there not some of you who are hardly ever concerned with this dutiful solicitude? If you can please yourselves, and those whose favor you would court, if you can but promote your own interest—then you are not solicitous whether you please God or not. This proves that you destitute of his love.
The only way to please God, and the best test of your love to Him—is obedience to His commandments. This is made the decisive mark by Christ himself. "If anyone loves Me—he will obey My teaching. He who does not love Me—will not obey My teaching." John 14:23, 24. Jesus repeats this theme over and over in different forms: "Whoever has My commands and obeys them—he is the one who loves Me," verse 21. "If you love Me—you will obey what I command," verse 15. "You are My friends—if you do what I command." John 15:14. "This is love for God," says John; that is, it is the surest evidence, and the natural, inseparable effect of our love to God, "that we obey His commands. And His commands are not burdensome." 1 John 5:3; that is, they will not seem grievous to one who obeys them from the sincere principle of love.
Here, then, you who profess to love the Lord Jesus, here is an infallible test for your love! Do you make it the great study of your life to keep his commandments? Do you honestly endeavor to perform every duty he has enjoined, and that because he has commanded it? And do you vigorously resist and struggle against every sin, however constitutional, however fashionable, however gainful—because he forbids it? And is the way of obedience pleasant to you? Would you choose this holy way to heaven rather than any other—if it were left to your choice?
What does conscience answer to this? Do not some of you stumble and hesitate here? If you should speak the truth, you must say, "I cannot but confess that I willfully indulge myself in some things which Jesus has forbidden, and leave unattempted some duties which he has commanded." Alas! is this the case? Then his love does not dwell in you: you are undeniably his enemies, whatever be your pretensions.
But if you can say, "Lord, I own that in many things I offend; and in many things I come short of my duty; but if I know myself, I think I can honestly declare, that it is my sincere and earnest desire to do your will, and that it is my real endeavor in every instance in which it is made known to me;" I say, if you can make this declaration, your case looks encouraging; this is the dutiful temper and modest language of genuine love to God.
And now, my friends, if Jesus should put this question to each of you, "Do you love Me?" are you prepared to answer him? Can you desire more plain or more certain evidences than have been given? Surely, not! And therefore, if you are still quite undetermined, it is owing to the real obscurity and perplexity of your case, or to your carelessness and inattention, or to your willfully shutting your eyes against conviction! My friends, if you have these characteristics of love to Jesus—then away with your painful doubts, and believe that your hearts are upright before him. But if you are destitute of them, be assured you are equally destitute of his love.
Love can never be separated from its natural fruits and effects; and therefore, without these, it is the greatest absurdity to pretend to it. Can you rise up now, and tell the Lord Jesus to his face, "Lord, it is true, I have not the fruits and evidences of love—but I love you notwithstanding! I love you above all, though I have no frequent affectionate thoughts of you! I love you, though I hate to think of you; though I have no pleasure in conversing with you, nor any concerns to please you, and keep your commandments! That is, I love you, though my temper and conduct towards you be those of an enemy!"
Alas! Sirs, will you presume to impose upon an omniscient God, with such absurd contradictory pretensions as these! Would such a love as this pass current among men? Offer it now to your judge, your father, or your friend—and see if they will accept of it. Tell your friend, "I most sincerely love you, though I dislike to think of you, or converse with you; I love you, though I care not whether I please you!" Would he not discard you from his friendship, as an inconsistent pretender, and highly resent it, that you should think to impose upon him by such absurd pretensions!
And shall that pass for sincere, supreme love to God—which would not be accepted as common friendship among men? Shall enmity, disguised under hypocritical pretensions, be offered to him, under the name of friendship? With horror I mention it! And yet I must mention it, that you may be shocked at your conduct! Do you think that God lacks wisdom—to be thus imposed upon? It is a plain case—you have not the least spark of true love to him! You are enemies to him in your minds, by wicked works—so therefore, pass sentence upon yourselves! "Here is a soul so perverse and wicked, that it has never yet loved its divine Parent and the supreme excellency; it has never loved the blessed Jesus, the Friend of sinners!"
And now, should all the enemies of God in this assembly walk to to the left side, and crowd together by themselves; how thin would the congregation be on the right! How few would be left behind! Well, the day is coming, when you must be separated, as a shepherd divides the sheep from the goats. To the left hand, sinners, to the left hand of your Judge you must go, who continue destitute of his love. Then you will know the truth of your case; but, alas! it will be too late to correct it. But now the discovery of it is the first step towards the amendment of it. And, therefore, let your consciences now anticipate the proceedings of the great judgment day, and draw a line of separation between you, that I may address you according to the classes in which you are found. This leads me, pursuant to my proposed method,
II. To address myself to you who have now discovered that you are sincere lovers of Jesus Christ, notwithstanding your many imperfections. And my time will allow me to offer only two things to you.
1. The one is, your heaven is sure! I repeat it again, your heaven is sure; as sure as the sincerity of your love. Love is the grand qualification for the enjoyment of God. You can be happy in his presence, because you love him; happy in his service, because you love him; happy in the contemplation of his glories, because you love him. In short, love renders you fit for heaven, and all its employments and fruitions, and therefore you shall certainly be admitted there; for God never will exclude one soul that is fit for it, or that could relish the happiness there. Love is the substance of all religion and obedience; love is the fulfilling of the law; and that love you have in your hearts. Oh happy souls, "rejoice in hope of the glory of God:" for, as the apostle reasons, "your hope will not make you ashamed, because the love of God is shed abroad in your hearts by the Holy Spirit." Romans 5:4, 5. Love is an important principle. Charity, or love, never fails. 1 Corinthians 13. 8:It is, therefore, not only your privilege—but your duty, to rejoice: and how can you refrain, when in a few years, at most, you will be with that Jesus whom you love unseen, in all the glories, and in all the felicities, of the heavenly world.
2. The other thing I would mention to you is, alas! how faint, how imperfect is your love! And what great reason have you to cherish it, and labor to raise it unto a vigorous flame! I need not offer much for your conviction on this head; for, alas! you cannot but be sensible your love bears no suitable proportion to the excellency of the divine nature, the dying love of Jesus, and your obligations to him. Alas! it is but a feeble spark, and sometimes so buried and suffocated under the weight of your corruptions, that you can hardly discern it at all, and fear it is entirely extinguished. Oh then, I beseech you, love your God more: love your dear Redeemer more. Do not affront him with such a languid love: think over his excellences, his relations to you, his unbounded love and grace to you; and these considerations may fire your hearts, cold as they are. Cry to him to kindle the sacred flame in your breasts, and avoid everything that tends to damp it: guard against the friendship of this world, which is enmity against God, and against all the workings of sin: avoid all causes of variance and distance between God and you, and labor to maintain a settled peace and a constant correspondence. But the other class of my hearers stand in greater need of immediate relief, and therefore,
III. I shall address myself to such of you as may have discovered, by this day's trial, that you are destitute of sincere love to Christ, and what I have to say to you, my dear fellow-mortals, may be reduced under two heads:
your sin and danger;
and the most proper means of deliverance.
A. To convince you of your SIN and DANGER in not loving God and his Son Jesus Christ, consider:
1. It is the supreme excellency, whom you have refused to love! The most venerable Majesty, the most consummate wisdom, the most rich goodness and grace, the most amiable justice; these are the things which you dislike and refuse—while you are remain at enmity towards God; for these are his very nature. You neglect and refuse faithfulness, justice, veracity, mercy, benevolence, and every moral beauty in the highest perfection. You are enemies to the origin, and the sum total of all excellency! Now this may strike you with conviction in various views:
How depraved and corrupt must your souls be—which can dislike and refuse such a glorious object! How must your taste be vitiated—which cannot relish the supreme good! You can love the faint shadows of these perfections—in your fellow-creatures: you can love generosity, benevolence, mercy, justice, and such virtues—in mortals. So may you not fall down overwhelmed with astonishment, and cry out, "Lord, what is this that has befallen my soul—that I cannot love you! That I can love anything else that is lovely—and yet cannot love you! Oh! what a perverse, depraved, abominable soul I have!"
Sirs, must you not be shocked, to think that you have such souls within you? If your bodies were all overrun with rotten ulcers; if your facial features were all convulsed and distorted into the most hideous forms; if your limbs were all shattered and dislocated; if your taste were so vitiated that you loathed all healthful food, and you should crawl upon the earth, feeding on its mire and dirt; all this would not render you half so odious and horrible a monster—as a soul hating and refusing God!
Again, what an aggravated wickedness must this be? Your obligations to love him—are just in proportion to his loveliness and excellency; and the wickedness of breaking these obligations is in exact proportion to their strength. And as his excellency andyour obligations are infinite—then your wickedness in not loving him must be infinite as well. What illustration shall I use to represent this crime in its proper infernal colors? If you should be an enemy to the whole creation; and hate all men and angels with implacable abhorrence; and detest the father who begat you, and the breasts that gave you suck; nay, if you should commence a direct enemy to yourself—and be perpetually plotting against your own life—all this would not equal the crime of hating the ever-blessed God! For all these beings together, have no excellency when compared to him! And your obligation to love him is prior and fundamental to all others. Here your love should begin, here it should center, and then extend its lines to all parts of the circle of creation. Therefore, no more plead your innocence. If you had never committed one other sin in all your life—this sin of not loving God is sufficient to condemn you forever to the lowest hell.
Further, this sin will appear more aggravated, if you consider, that, by not loving God, you do in the strongest manner declare, that he has none of these excellences—but is a worthless being, undeserving of your love! When you do not love him, after all the discoveries he has made of himself to you, it is plain that this is the habitual sense of your hearts—that he has no excellency worthy of your love! This is the language of your hearts; and this language is much more strong and expressive than that of yourlips! You may speak things inadvertently, which your second thoughts would retract; but by being all your life destitute of the love of God, you have all your life been declaring that you look upon him as a worthless being, far inferior to a thousand trifles upon earth, to which you have given your love.
Now you would not dare to utter such blasphemy as this, and how can you dare to declare it, much more strongly, by the temperof your hearts, and stand to it as a truth? Oh! will you never retract it—by becoming a lover of God? My friends, can you imagine a more shocking, insolent wickedness than this? And what a hateful and despicable soul must that be—which has been guilty of itall its days! What is this but to say, with the atheistic fool, "No God for me!" For he is not God, if he is not supremely excellent and amiable. And if you wish there were no God, what do you do but wish universal desolation, and imprecate destruction to yourself and every other being? For were there no God—there could be nothing else; there would not have been one spark of being through infinite space in any point of duration!
2. Your not loving God—is a most UNNATURAL wickedness! He is your Father; and that in a higher sense than your earthly parents can be. He is the author of your BODIES, because it was he who first established, and still continues in force, those laws of generation, by which they were produced. And had it not been for this, men could no more produce one another—than a stone or a clod of earth! As to your SOULS, the nobler part of your persons, they are his immediate offspring, produced by him without the instrumentality of secondary causes, of any pre-existent materials.
Thus he is your Father in the highest sense—and yet you have not loved him! You have not loved him—who gave you the power of love. You have not loved him—from whose creative hands you came a few years ago. What an unnatural wickedness is this!
What were you a hundred years ago? You were nothing! And you would have continued so to all eternity—had he not spoke you into being! And yet you have not sincerely loved him all your life—to this moment. Most astonishing! Must you not tremble at and abominate yourselves as the vilest and most unnatural monsters!
Should the child whom received his being from you in a subordinate sense, the child you dandled upon your knees, and for whom you are now laboriously making provision, should he hate the sight of you, shun your company, and do nothing to please you—how would you take it? Would you not think the unnatural miscreant unworthy of life?
And yet thus you have treated your heavenly Father—to whom you were under much higher and more endearing obligations. You have treated him as only a despised broken thing—in whom you could take no pleasure. And are you pleased with yourselves, notwithstanding? Shall not such a shocking prodigy, at which angels gaze with horror—be struck with horror at itself? Should all the world treat God as you have done, what would be the consequence? Why, there would not be one lover of God to be found among all the numerous race of man! And yet, if you have a right to hate him—they have too. Have you any peculiar indulgence in this case? Can you produce an exemption from that universal law, "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, mind, soul and strength"? You see, then, where your conduct leads—and do you not shudder to think of it? And can you imagine yourselvesinnocent still? Do you think you have tolerably good hearts after all of this? I am sure your reason, if it is not entirely lost, will not allow you to think so!
3. Your not loving God—is a most UNGRATEFUL wickedness! Think what God has done for you: how many mercies he has given you, as many mercies as moments! Think how many deliverances he has wrought for you! See what a well-furnished world he has formed for your accommodation. Think, oh think, of the love and sufferings of Jesus! See the abasement, the labors, the hardships of his life! See the agonies of his crucifixion! See the crown of thorns, the mangled visage, the disjointed limbs, the flowing blood, the bursting heart, the dying pangs of your blessed Redeemer!
Oh! think upon and view these things, and then say what you think of your enmity against him, after all this? Can ingratitude rise to a higher pitch! Oh! is this your return—for all the kindness of God? for all the love of Jesus!!
There was something very cutting in his question to the Jews, "I have shown you many good works," I have never provoked you by anything but good works; "Which of these works are you stoning Me for?" John 10:32. This may be easily accommodated to you. Many kind actions has he done to you, many grievous sufferings has he undergone for you; and for which of these do you hate him? Oh! must not such an expostulation wound you to the heart, and melt you down at his feet in the deepest repentance! Oh! can you continue enemies to the very cross of Christ! Must not that disarm your resentment, and dissolve your hearts—as hard as they are—into the most tender love?
4. Your not loving God—is a most COMPREHENSIVE wickedness! You are repeatedly told, that love is the fulfilling of the law. Romans 13:8, 10; James 2:8. The first and great commandment upon which the whole law and the prophets depend, is, "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength," that is—love is the root, the principle, the substance of all obedience, because it constrains a man to a cheerful observance of every divine precept, and naturally disposes him to a dutiful conduct.
Now, if love is the fulfilling of the whole law—it follows, that the lack of love is the breach of the whole law: it is dashing the two tables of the law in pieces at once! As love is the principle of all obedience; so enmity is the principle of all disobedience! And while this enmity to God reigns in your hearts—it diffuses a deadly poison through everything you do! And hence, you cannot perform one action acceptable to God. All your endeavors are but the treacherous flattery of an enemy, or the forced homage of a rebel obliged to feign submission.
In short, the lack of love to God is the lack of everything that is morally good! It is the root of all evil! It is a complication of all wickedness! It is a summary, nay, I may say, the sum total of all disobedience and rebellion!
And can you any longer build your hopes on the fewness or smallness of your sins? Alas! while you are possessed of this temper—your hearts are full of every evil. This renders not only your actions, your words, and thoughts of every kind—guilty and vile; but the stated, settled bent and disposition of your minds—are most wicked and abominable. When the omniscient God views you asleep, when all the powers of action are suspended, what can he say of you but this, "Here lies an enemy of God!" And must you not fall on your faces before your injured Sovereign, and cry, "Guilty! Guilty!"
5. Your not loving God—is a most INEXCUSABLE wickedness. Your mouth must be stopped, and you have no plea left to excuse or extenuate it. You cannot plead here, as you do in some other things, "There are so many different opinions about religion—that I know not what to choose!" For here, as I told you, all are agreed. They are all unanimous in this—that love to God is essential to religion. Not only all denominations of Christians—but Jews, Mohammedans, Heathen, and all who believe the existence of a God, confess this. And are you of a religion that does not include the love of God in it? If so—then it is the religion of devils—or rather it is the most diabolical irreligion! I insist the more boldly upon this point, because it is a universal truth, free from all dispute.
You cannot plead that you have no time for the exercise of love to God; for love is not the work of the hands—but of the heart; and may be performed while you are engaged in other business. Can you not think affectionately of a friend behind a counter, or over a plough? So you might love God—and yet follow your daily employments. Nor can you excuse yourselves from your inability; for God has implanted the passion of love in your nature, and you find it easy to love other things: you can love the world, you can love a child or a friend—and why cannot you love God? The act of love is the same in both cases, and one would think it would be an easier thing for you to love him who is the Supreme Excellence, than imperfect creatures, whose excellency is limited, or mingled with many hateful qualities.
Whence then is your inability in this case? It is nothing else but the strength of your enmity; that is, you are so rebellious to the ever-blessed God, that you cannot love him! And does this lessen your crime? Do the inveteracy and rancor of your enmity, excuse it? Alas! that is its most dreadful aggravation! Oh! how wicked must you be—when you are so rebellious to the God who made you, and the Savior who died for you—that you cannot prevail upon your hearts to love him!
Farther, Have you tried what can be done to root out and subdue this enmity—by the power of the Holy Spirit? Have you cried to God in earnest prayer, and used all means for that end? If not—then it is plain you are an enemy to God, and delight to continue so; you hate him, and practically insist upon it, that you do right. Nor can you pretend ignorance in this case; for your own conscience tells you that it is your duty to love God. In short, you are entirely inexcusable; you sin against the full conviction of your own minds—and you must join with God, angels, and men, in your own condemnation!
6. Your not loving God—if it continues, will certainly exclude you from the kingdom of heaven! Alas! what would you do with your wicked hearts in heaven? Heaven would be an enemy's country to you. What pleasure could you have in the society or service of that God whom you hate? What pleasure could you have in those exercises and enjoyments for which you have no relish? Could you be happy in the practice of eternal flattery, bowing and singing insincere complimental praises to an enemy? Could you be happy to be an eternal impostor? There is not one imposter like you in all that innumerable assembly: they all love that God whom you hate. And with what pleasure could you mingle among them? How could you live in a country where the laws, the customs, the employments, the disposition of the inhabitants, are all contrary to your temper? Oh! you need no sentence from your Judge to exclude you—you would exclude yourselves, and choose to mingle with your fellow-devils! Which leads me to add,
7. Your not loving God—if it continues, will certainly lead you to hell.You are fit for no other place. Where should the enemies of God be—but in an infernal prison? There is the same propriety in throwing you into hell—as in shutting up madmen in bedlam—or rebels in a dungeon! Why, you are devilized already! You have the very temper of devils! Enmity to God is the grand constituent of a devil—it is the worst ingredient in that infernal disposition; and this you have in your hearts, and, as it were, incorporated with your habitual temper. And what do you think will become of you? Judge yourselves, must you not be doomed to that everlasting fire, which was prepared for the devil and his angels, whom you resemble?
Here I must add, that if ever you are brought to love God—it must be in this present world. In heaven and hell—no new dispositions are planted; but those which are found prevalent in the soul—will ripen and grow to perfection. None begin to grow wicked in hell—or to love God in heaven! The seeds are all sown in the present state, which then spring up to maturity. Therefore, if you would ever have the love of God shed abroad in your hearts—now, now is the time! Now—or never!
B. "But, what MEANS (you will say) shall I use for this purpose?" Here I must be short; but if you are really in earnest, you will easily understand the shortest hints:
1. Labor to be deeply sensible of the aggravated sinfulness and danger of your present state. Deeply impress your minds with this. Check the levity of your minds—and indulge a serious, anxious, sorrowful temper; for your case really requires it!
2. Be deeply sensible of the necessity of divine grace to change your hearts, and inspire you with divine love. The disease is so far gone—that you cannot heal yourselves! But, blessed be God, he is able, he is able to make such an enemy as you—into his hearty friend and dutiful subject! Therefore,
3. Betake yourselves to earnest prayer; and confess your guilt, your vileness, your liableness to divine displeasure! Cry for his Spirit to shed abroad his love in your hearts! Here let your petitions center; for this is the main thing. Endeavor to devote yourselves to him, to give up your wicked hearts to him, to bow that rebellious soul at his feet.
4. Meditate upon—the glory of God, his kindness to you, the love and sufferings of Christ, and such subjects as tend to beget and inflame your love to him.
5. Do not weary in the use of these means—but persevere, hold on, until you find a thorough change produced in your hearts. Your eternal all is concerned! Therefore be not remiss and careless; be not soon tired or discouraged. Never give up until your last breath; and who knows but that hostile spirit of yours—may soon become the friend of God, and at length shine among his celestial friends in all their transcendent glories, and ineffable and eternal felicity! Amen.
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