To Love Jesus
To love Jesus is to long to be with Him, think about Him, and obey Him, and this love is the key to heaven.
E.M. Bounds emphasizes that to love Jesus is to desire His presence, think of Him constantly, and obey Him wholeheartedly. He asserts that true love for Jesus assures our place in heaven, as He should be the center of our lives and actions. Bounds challenges us to reflect on our relationship with Jesus, asking if He captivates our hearts and stirs our deepest longings for heaven. He connects the love for Jesus with the anticipation of His return, highlighting that loving His appearing is a reflection of our love for Him. Ultimately, Bounds concludes that passionate devotion to Jesus is the essence of experiencing heaven both now and in eternity.
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To love Jesus is to long to be with Him. To love Jesus is to think about Him. To love Jesus is to obey Him, to obey Him readily and implicitly, not feebly and reluctantly. The certainty of heaven is assured when we keep Jesus in the center of our hearts, in the center of our lives. He is to be the author of impulse and desire, of effort and action. "Whatsoever ye do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus." Will you get to heaven? What is Jesus to you? Does He charm you? Does He draw you heavenward? Is it to be with Him that you seek heaven? Is He the fairest flower in all its garden? Is He the rarest and most precious of all its jewels? Is He sweeter than all its songs? Does He beget the longings for its blissful abodes? Does the desire to see and be with Him stir the profoundest ambition of your soul? Jesus and heaven are bound up together.
To love Him with an untold passionate devotion is heaven begun, heaven continued, and heaven ended. Paul says: "I am now ready to be offered, and the time of my departure is at hand. I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith. Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me that day: and not to me only, but unto all them that love his appearing."
The crown is not only personal to him, but universal, only limited "unto all them that love his appearing." Here it is not simply love for Jesus personally, but love for the great fact which is to culminate in the great glory of Jesus. To "love his appearing" there is the absolute necessity for loving His Person. The loving His coming is the test of loving His Person. We love the fact because we love the Person. We are not charged to love any theory or opinion about the manner of His coming, or the time, but the fact. Let Him come when He will, how He will, and for what purpose He will. We love his coming because we love Him. "Even so, come quickly, Lord Jesus," and bring Thy heaven with Thee.
Sermon Outline
- I. To Love Jesus
- A. To long to be with Him
- B. To think about Him
- C. To obey Him
- II. The Importance of Keeping Jesus at the Center
- A. The certainty of heaven is assured
- III. Jesus as the Author of Impulse and Desire
- A. He is to be the source of all effort and action
- IV. The Relationship Between Jesus and Heaven
- A. Jesus and heaven are bound up together
Key Quotes
“To love Him with an untold passionate devotion is heaven begun, heaven continued, and heaven ended.” — E.M. Bounds
“Even so, come quickly, Lord Jesus, and bring Thy heaven with Thee.” — E.M. Bounds
“Whatsoever ye do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus.” — E.M. Bounds
Application Points
- To love Jesus is to obey Him, and this obedience is a demonstration of our love for Him.
- Keeping Jesus at the center of our lives is essential for our spiritual growth and our desire for heaven.
- Loving Jesus' appearing is a test of our love for His Person, and it is the fact of His coming that we love, not just the theory or opinion about it.