Charles H. Spurgeon
“For the love of Christ constraineth us.”—2 Corinthians 5:14
The love of Christ operates upon us by begetting in us love to Him…Oh, we love Jesus! Brothers and sisters, we truly love Him. His name is sweet as the honeycomb, and His word is precious as the gold of Ophir. His person is very dear to us. From His head to His foot, He is altogether lovely. When we get near Him and see Him at the last, methinks we shall swoon away with excess of joy at the sight of Him! I for one ask no heaven beyond a sight of Him and a sense of His love. I do not doubt that we shall enjoy all the harmonies, all the honors, and all the fellowships of heaven. But if they were all blotted out, I do not know that they would make any considerable difference to us, [as long as we could] see our Lord upon His throne and have His own prayer fulfilled, “Father, I will that they also whom thou hast given me be with me where I am, that they may behold my glory” (John 17:24). He is happiness to us; yea, He is all in all.
Do you not feel that the sweetest sermons you ever hear are those that are fullest of Him? When I can sometimes hear a sermon, it sickens me to listen to fine attempts to philosophize away the Gospel or pretty essays that are best described as a jingle of elegant words. But I can hear with rapture the most illiterate and blundering brother, if his heart burns within him, and he heartily speaks of my Lord, the Well-beloved of my soul! We are glad to be in the place of assembly when Jesus is within. Whether on Tabor with two or three (1Sa 10:3-7) or in the congregation of the faithful when Jesus is present, it is good to be there. This joyful feeling when you hear about Jesus shows that you love His person. Your endeavors to spread the Gospel show that you love His cause. The love of Christ to you has moved you to desire the coming of His kingdom. You feel that you could give your life to extend the borders of His dominions: He is a glorious King, and all the world should know it! Oh, that we could see all the nations bowing before His scepter of peace! We love Him so much that until the whole earth smiles in the light of His throne, we can never rest… The love of Jesus Christ creates in men a deep atta
The love of Jesus Christ creates in men a deep attachment to the Gospel, especially the doctrines that cluster around the person of our Lord…more especially to that doctrine that is the cornerstone of all, namely, that Christ died in the stead of men. He who toucheth the doctrine of substitution toucheth the apple of our eye: he who denies it robs our soul of her only hope. Thence we gather all our consolation for the present and our expectation for days to come. A great force then held the Apostle: that force was the love of Christ, and it wrought in him love to Christ in return.
Now, this force acts proportionately in believers. It acts in every Christian more or less, but it differs in degree. We are all of us alive, but the vigor of life differs greatly in the consumptive and the athletic; and so the love of Jesus acts upon all regenerate men, but not to the same extent…When a man is growingly under its influence, he is a growing Christian. When a man is sincerely affected by the love of Christ, he is a sincere Christian. But he in whom the love of Christ has no power whatever is not a Christian at all. “I thought,” says one, “that believing was the main point!” True, but faith worketh by love (Gal 5:6). If your faith does not work by love, it is not the faith that will save the soul. Love never fails to bloom where faith has taken root.
Beloved, you will feel the power of the love of Christ in your soul in proportion to the following points: In proportion as you know it. Study, then, the love of Christ: search deep and learn its secrets. Angels desire to look into it. Observe its eternity—without beginning, its immutability—without change, its infinity—without measure, its eternity—without end. Think much of the love of Christ, until you comprehend with all saints what are its breadths and lengths. As you know it, you will begin to feel its power. Its power will also be in proportion to your sense of it.
Do you feel the love of God shed abroad in your heart by the Holy Ghost? Knowing is [good], but enjoyment as the result of believing is better. Does it not sometimes force the tears from your eyes to think that Jesus loved you and gave Himself for you? On the other hand, does it not at times make you feel as if, like David, you could dance before the ark of the Lord? To think that the love of God should ever have been set on you? That Christ should die for you? Ah, think and think again: For you the bloody sweat, for you the crown of thorns, for you the nails, the spear, the wounds, the broken heart—all, all for love of you who were His enemy! In proportion as your heart is tender and is sensitive to this love, it will become a constraining influence to your whole life. The force of this influence will also depend very much upon the grace that dwells within you. You may measure your grace by the power that the love of Christ has over you. Those who dwell near their Lord are so conscious of His power over them that the very glances of His eyes fill them with holy ardor. If you have much grace, you will be greatly moved by the love that gave you that grace and [will be] wondrously sensitive to it. But he who hath little grace, as is the case with not a few, can read the story of the cross without emotion and can contemplate Jesus’ death without feeling. God deliver us from a marble heart, cold and hard!
Character also has much to do with the measure in which we feel the constraint of Jesus’ love: the more Christlike, the more Christ-constrained. You must get, dear brother and sister—by prayer, through the Holy Spirit—to be like Jesus Christ. When you do, His love will take fuller possession of you than it does at this moment. You will be more manifestly under its constraining power.
Our last point upon this head is that wherever its energy is felt it will operate after its kind. Forces work according to their nature: the force of love creates love. The love of Christ begets a kindred love. He who feels Christ’s love acts as Christ acted. If thou dost really feel the love of Christ in making a sacrifice of Himself, thou wilt make a sacrifice of thyself. “Hereby perceive we the love of God, because he laid down his life for us: and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren” (1Jo 3:16). We shall for our Lord’s sake count all things but dross for the excellency of His knowledge. O soul, thou wilt have no choice left after thou hast once known and chosen thy Lord. That road leads to wealth; but if it does not glorify Christ, thou wilt at once say, “Farewell wealth.” That road leads to honor; thou wilt be famous if thou wilt take that path; but if it will bring no glory to Christ, if thou feelest the power of His love in thy soul, thou wilt say, “Farewell honor. I will embrace shame for Christ, for my one thought is to sacrifice myself for Him Who sacrificed Himself for me.”
If the love of Christ constrains you, it will make you love others. For His was love to others, love to those who could do Him no service, who deserved nothing at His hands. If the love of Christ constrains you, you will especially love those who have no apparent claim upon you and cannot justly expect anything from you, but on the contrary deserve your censure. You will say, “I love them because the love of Christ constraineth me.” Dirty little creatures in the gutter, filthy women polluting the streets, base men who come out of jail merely to repeat their crimes—these are the fallen humanities whom we learn to love when the love of Christ constraineth us. I do not know how else we could care for some poor creatures, if it were not that Jesus teaches us to despise none and despair of none. Those ungrateful creatures, those malicious creatures, those abominably blasphemous and profane creatures that you sometimes meet with and shrink from—you are to love them because Christ loved the very chief of sinners. His love to you must be reflected in your love to the lowest and vilest. He is your sun, be you as the moon to the world’s night.
The love of Jesus Christ was a practical love. He did not love in thought only and in word, but in deed and in truth. If the love of Christ constraineth us, we shall throw our souls into the work and service of love. We shall be really at work for men, giving alms of our substance, enduring our measure of suffering, and making it clear that our Christianity is not mere talk, but downright work. We shall be like the bullock of the burnt offering, laid upon the altar wholly to be consumed. We shall consider nothing but how we can most completely be eaten up with the zeal of God’s house, how without the reserve of one single faculty, we may be entirely consumed in the service of our Lord and Master. May the Lord bring us to this!
From a sermon delivered on Lord’s Day morning, April 28, 1878, at the Metropolitan Tabernacle, Newington, reprinted by Pilgrim Publications. Used with permission of Chapel Library.