If Ye Love Me, Keep My Commandments -- John 14:15
by C.H.Spurgeon
..."Read the text, and note it well: "If ye love me, keep my commandments."
What a great amount of religion may be cast out as worthless by this text! Men may keep on going to church, they may be religious throughout their whole loves, and they may be apparently blameless in their moral conduct, and yet there may be nothing in them because there is no love for the ever blessed Christ at the foundation of their profession of faith...
Yes, it was necessary to speak in this way even to the apostles. He said to the chosen Twelve, "If ye love me." We would never have doubted one of them. We now know, by the outcome, that one of them was a traitor to his Lord and sold Him for pieces of silver. But no one suspected him, for he seemed as loyal as any one of them. And if that question, "If ye love me," needed to be raised in the sacred college of the Twelve, how much more must it be allowed to sift our churches and to test us!
My friends, this word is extremely needed among Christians today. Hear its voice: "If ye love me." The mixed multitude of people in our churches may be compared to the heap on the threshing floor that John the Baptist described in the third chapter of Matthew. The winnowing fan is clearly needed. Perhaps you have almost taken it for granted that you love Jesus, but it may not be taken for granted. Some of your have been born into a religious atmosphere, you have lived in the midst of godly people, and you have never been out into the wicked world to be tempted by its follies. Therefore you have come to the careless conclusion that you must assuredly love the Lord. This is unwise and perilous. Never glory in the armor that you have not tested, or rejoice in love for Christ that has not been tried and proven. What an awful thing if you should be deceived and mistaken!
It is most kind of the Savior to raise a question about your love, and therefore to give you an opportunity to examine yourself and see whether your heart is right. It would be far better for you to err on the side of too much anxiety than on that of carnal security. To be afraid that you are wrong, and therefore to make sure of being right, will bring you to a far better end than being sure that you are right and therefore refusing to examine the ground of your hope.
...Remember, if anyone does not love the Lord Jesus Christ, he will be "Anathema Maranatha" (1 Cor. 16:22), cursed at His coming. This applies to everyone, even though he may be a very eminent. An apostle turned out to be a "son of perdition" (John 17:1) -- may not you? Any man, even though he may be a learned bishop, a popular pastor, a renowned evangelist, a venerable elder, an active deacon, or the most ancient member of the most orthodox congregation, may yet turn out not to be a lover of the Lord. Though he has gathered to break bread in the sacred name with a select company, if he does not truly love the Lord Jesus Christ, the curse rests on him, whoever he may be. So let us, right now, take from the Master's mouth the heart-searching word, "If ye love me, keep my commandments." Let us take it to heard, as if it is addressed to each one of us, personally and alone.
Being God's Friend, pages 110-112
