Teaching Resources International

“Peter was grieved because he said unto him the third time, Lovest thou me?” – John 21:17

This is a pointed question, which demands a personal answer and should, therefore, stir up full and frequent self-examination.  “Lovest thou me?”  It is a probing question that is likely to excite much grief when pressed home to the sensitive, tender-hearted disciple, even as Peter was grieved because the Lord said unto him the third time, “Lovest thou me?”  Yet it is a pleasing and profitable question to so many of us as can give a like solemn and satisfactory response to that of Simon Peter, “Lord, thou knowest all things; thou knowest that I love thee.”

I. It is very necessary that all disciples, even the most privileged, the most talented, and the most famous, should often be asked the question, hear it in their souls, and feel its thrilling intensity, “Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me?”

It must have been momentous indeed, or the Savior would not have repeated it to Peter three times at one interview.  He tarried on earth but forty days after his resurrection.  These opportunities for conference, therefore, with his disciples would be few.  On what subjects, then, should he speak to them but those which appeared to him of the weightiest import?  Of the times or the seasons that must presently transpire, he refrains to divulge a secret.  With the fulfillment of ancient predictions that prompted the curiosity of the Jew, or the solution of metaphysical problems that harassed the minds of Gentile philosophers, he did not meddle.  I neither find him interpreting obscure prophecy, nor expounding mystic doctrine; but instead thereof I do find him inculcating personal piety.  The question he propounds is of such vital importance that all other questions may be set aside till this one question is positively settled, “Lovest thou me?”

Hence, beloved, I infer that it is of infinitely more consequence for me to know that I love Christ than it is to know the meaning of the little horn, or the ten toes, or the four great beasts.  All Scripture is profitable to those who have grace to profit by it; but wouldest thou both save thyself and them that hear thee, thou must know him and love him to whom patriarchs, prophets, and apostles all bear witness that there is salvation in none other, and no other name given under heaven whereby we must be saved.  You may whet your appetite for logic, but you cannot with your heart believe unto righteousness while you occupy your thoughts, your tongues, or your pens wrangling about Calvinism and Arminianism, sublapsarianism and supra-lapsarianism, or any of the endless controversies of the schoolmen and sectarians!  “Lovest thou me?” that is the moot point.  Canst thou give an affirmative answer?  Will thy conscience, thy life, thy God, attest the verity of thy love to him?  Then, though thou be no doctor of divinity, though thou canst not decipher the niceties of systematic theology, though thou art unable to rebut one in a thousand of the subtleties of the adversary, yet thou hast an unction from the Holy One; thy love approves thee; thy faith has saved thee; and he whom thy soul loveth will keep thee; for time and for eternity thou art blessed.

To my mind, I say, the gravity of the question is palpable from the time at which it was put.  During the few days of our risen Lord’s sojourn, he would not have given it such distinct prominence had it not been in Peter’s case the evidence of his repentance, his restoration, and the full recognition he received.  But, brethren, what question can more closely appeal to ourselves, to each one of us?  Love is one of the most vital of the Christian graces.  If faith be the eye of the soul, without which we cannot see our Lord savingly, surely love is the very heart of the soul, and there is no spiritual life if love be absent.  I will not say that love is the first grace, for faith first discovers that Christ loves us and shall we love him because he first loved us.  Love may be second in order, but it is not second in importance.  I may say of faith and love, that these are like two roes that are twins; or rather of faith, and hope, and love, that these are three divine sisters, who mutually support one another; the health of one betokening the vigor of all, or the decline in one the weakness of all.

“Lovest thou me?”  Why, the question means, Are you a Christian?  Are you a disciple?  Are you saved?  For if any man love wife, or child, or house more than Christ, he is not worthy of him.  Christ must have from every one of his disciples the heart’s warmest affection and where that is not freely accorded, depend upon it, there is no true faith, and consequently no salvation, no spiritual life.  On thine answer to that question hangs thy present state.  Dost thou love Jesus?  If the verdict be “No,” then thou art still in the gall of bitterness and the bonds of iniquity.

But if the truthful answer of thy soul be, “Thou knowest all things; thou knowest that I love thee,” then, weak as thou art, thou art a saved soul and with all thy mourning and trembling, thy doubts and misgivings, the Spirit of God bears witness with thy spirit that thou art born from above.  The sincerity of your love to Christ shows more plainly than aught beside the verity of your relation to him.

Oh! what searching of heart this question demands!  Do not flatter yourselves with any false confidence.  Many persons have been deceived upon this matter.  Alas! they are partial judges, who sit in judgment of themselves; for every defect they have an excuse; they find mitigating circumstances to palliate their basest crimes.  No marvel to me, but infinite pity for them that they choose their own delusions and become the dupes of their own infatuation.  Their feelings, enhanced by the music of a hymn or impassioned by the fervor of a sermon, they mistake for an inspiration of faith and love; and when the emotions pass off, as they quickly do, they grow loud in their professions.  At first their own hearts were deceived; at length they practice deception on others.  O ye church members!  I beseech you, do not conclude that you are members of the invisible Church because you are members of the visible Church.  Though your names may be inscribed on the roll of the faithful here, do not be too sure that they are written in the Lamb’s Book of Life.  Never take your position before God for granted.  Do not shrink from a rigid scrutiny as those who never dare ask the question; do not disparage self-examination like those who affect to think it is the devil sets them to the task when he would beset them with legal terrors.  Believe me, Satan is too fond of lulling you into presumption to aid or abet in awakening you to make sure of your condition.  There is a gross infatuation which is the counterfeit of faith in God.  Its credulous victims believe a lie, and fondly they cling to it like limpets to a rock.  But sound believers are not afraid of vigilant self-examination; they are prepared to endure a severer test; they say, “Search me, God, and try me.”

It is your hollow dissemblers who resent all questionings, and take umbrage at any suspicions.  The man who knows that he has pure gold to sell is not afraid of the aquafortis with which the goldsmith tests it, nor even of the crucible into which he may cast.  Not so the impostor who hawks a baser metal; he entreats you to be satisfied with his warranty, though it is as worthless as his wares.  Search yourselves; examine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith; prove your own selves; know ye not that Jesus Christ is in you, except ye be reprobates?”  By yonder wreck, cast away upon the rocks of presumption; by the cries of souls who, concerning faith, have made shipwreck, while they dreamed they were sailing gloriously into harbor — I beseech you make sure work for eternity and take care that your answer to the question, “Lovest thou me,” is well weighed, truthful, and sincere, lest you should split on the mane reefs and be lost, forever lost!

And, dear friends, I am sure the more closely we examine ourselves, the more need for self-examination we shall discover.  Can you not recollect much in the tone of your thoughts and the temper of your actions that might well lead you to suspect that you do not love Christ?  If this be not so with all of you, I know it is so with me.  Mournfully must I confess that when I look book upon my past service for my Master, I could wish to blot it out with tears of penitent compunction, so far as my share in it has been concerned.  Wherein he hath used me let him have all the glory, for to him it belongs.  His be the praise.  For me there remaineth shame and confusion of face, because of the coldness of my heart, the feebleness of my faith, the presumption with which I have trusted to my own understanding, and the resistance I have offered to the motions of the Holy Spirit.  Alas for the carnality of our minds, the worldliness of our projects, and our forgetfulness of God in times of ease.  It is strange to me if we have not all cause to mourn over delinquencies like these.

And if it be so with those of us who still can honestly say that we know we love our Lord, what scruples, what perilous scruples might some of you entertain whose conduct, character, and the tenor of your lives may well raise a graver question!  You imagine that you love Christ.  Have you fed his lambs?  Have you fed his sheep? Have you given that proof which our Savior imperatively requires of you?  What are you doing for him now?  It is poor love that spends itself in professions and never comes to any practical result.  Let this enquiry, then, pass round: —

“What have I done for him who died

To save my precious soul?”

Alas! then, if instead of having, like the believed Persis, labored much in the Lord (Romans 16:12), might we not, some of us, suspect ourselves of having so acted as rather to dishonor his name?  Are you not tenderly conscious that Christian people full often lend their sanction, by a loose conversation and lax habits, to the sins which the world has allowed and applauded?  Jerusalem becomes a Comforter to Sodom when those who call themselves people of God conform to the usages of society and of such society as is corrupt at the core.  They say, “Ah! you see, there is no harms in it; for the saints themselves indulge in it.  They are of the same mind as we are; they make a great presence, but to no great purpose, for they do as we do.”  God forgive us if we have opened the mouths of the lord’s enemies after this fashion.  Surely such failures and such offenses make it necessary for us to ask whether we love the Lord or not.  And though we may hesitate to answer the question, it is well to raise it, lest, closing our eyes in carnal security, we should go on to destruction.  Let us put the question to ourselves again, and again, and again, for the question will not mar our faith, nor even mar our comfort, so; long as we are able to fall book upon Peter’s reply, “Lord, thou knowest all things; thou knowest that I love thee.”  And now, presuming that we are, all of us, convinced that the question is expedient and becoming, let me remark that: —

Ii. It is a question which, when raised, often causes grief.

Peter was “grieved,” but the Lord Jesus Christ never grieved one of his disciples heedlessly.  This goes again to prove the need of the question.  He was rather for comforting, cheering, and blessing them.  He inflicted no needless pain.  He shielded them from needless anxiety.  Yet Peter was grieved.  Now why should you and I be grieved when the enquiry turns upon our sincerity?  You know that if we do not canvass the matter ourselves, our foes will be prompt enough to suspect us, especially if we are in a public position.  The clearer your character the keener the assault.  Satan — and he is the accuser of the brethren — said, “Doth Job serve God for nought?  Hast thou not set a hedge about him?”  The devil’s taunting question has become a proverb with the profane.  What worse can they say of the Christian minister than this, “Is he zealous for nought?  Has he not a motive?  Is there not selfishness in the background?”  Base insinuations will, I suppose, be freely uttered about you whatever may be your position in the world.  Of the tradesman who fears the Lord, they will say, “Of course, he makes it pay.”  As for the merchant who consecrates his wealth for the love of Christ, they ask, “Do not you see that he is seeking notoriety?  Is it not a cheap way of getting up a name?”  We are sure to have the question raised.  Sometimes it sorely grieves us, because of our pride.

We do not like to have our feelings chafed in such a manner.  I cannot help thinking there was some sin in Peter’s grief.  He was grieved as one who felt himself aggrieved — “Is it not too bad to ask me three times!  Why should the Lord thus distress me?  Surely the blessed Master might have put more confidence in me than to press a question which stings like a reproach.”  Yet what a poor simpleton he was to think so.  How much harm comes from answering in a hurry?  When our profession is canvassed, we ought not to be angry.  Did we know our own hearts, we should keenly feel the accusations it would be reasonable to lay against us, and the poor defense that conscience could make.  When my enemies are finding fault with me and forging lies to injure me, I sometimes think to myself that though I can exonerate myself from their charges, there are other faults of which they are not cognizant that humble me before God beyond their utmost surmise.  Their conspiracies cannot explore the secret of my confessions when I lay the imaginations of my heart before him against whom only I have sinned.  How dare we whisper into the ears of our fellowmen the wish, the whim the like, or the hate that haunts one’s breast, or aught of the multitude of vanities that float along the rapid current of one’s mind?  What would they think of us who do not know how rightly to think of themselves?  Surely pride is put out of countenance, for the worst opinions our enemies can form of us are probably as good as we dare to entertain of ourselves, taking the evil of our hearts into consideration.  The heart is a very sick of evil; if we have not perceived it, we have it yet to discover.  The voice Ezekiel heard speaks to us: “Son of man, I show thee greater abominations than these.”  Little charm ye can find, because little cheer ye can get out of these sermons, which wither your vain conceit.  But they are not the less profitable.  You prefer the small still voice of a kindly promise, or the rich tones of a glorious prophecy, and then you congratulate yourselves upon the happy Sabbath you have spent.  I am not quite so sure that your emotions are the truest test of your interests.  Is that always the most wholesome food your children get which has most sugar in it?  Do they never get surfeited with luxury till they need medicine?  Is comfort always the choicest blessing we can crave?  Alas, we form so high an estimate of our estate, that to question whether we love the Lord Jesus Christ or not, lowers our dignity, annoys, vexes, and sadly grieves us.  Not that price is the only incentive.  Shame crouches full often in the same obscure corner where pride nestles.  Both alike are disturbed by a gleam of daylight.

Peter must have felt when he heard the question for the third time, “Lovest thou me?” as if he could hear the cock grow again.  He recollected the scene and circumstance of the dark betrayal hour.  Doth not the Lord remember my fear and my cowardice, the falsehood I told, the cursing and swearing I gave way to, and the paltry excuse that edged me on when the taunt of a poor silly maid was too much for an apostle?  Ah, she annoyed me, she irritated me, I was conquered. I became a traitor, a blasphemer, almost an apostate.  The tears, the bitter tears he wept on the morning of the crucifixion when Jesus looked upon him, welled up again from his heart into his eyes as the risen Lord looked into his face and made him conscious how richly he deserved to be asked the question, “Lovest thou me?”  Yes, and like bitter memories may cover some of us with shame.

Bitter as gall must the recollections be to some of you who have so backslidden as to publicly dishonor Christ.  I do not want to say an unkind thing to you, but it is good sometimes to keep a wound open.  The Bible tells of some sins God has freely forgiven and yet fully recorded.  It is no marvel if we cannot forgive ourselves for having in any way brought dishonor and reproach upon the cross of Christ.  The grief is healthy.  We sing: —

“What anguish does that question stir,

if ye will also go?”

But what deeper anguish may that other question stir, “Lovest thou me?”  Our cheeks may well mantle with a crimson blush when we remember what grave cause for suspicion we have given to our Lord.

Not that wounded pride and conscious shame are the only sensations.  Peradventure fear distressed him.  Peter may have thought to himself, Why does my Lord ask me three times?  It may be I am deluded, and that I do not love him.  Before his fall, he would have said, “Lord, thou knowest that I love thee; how canst thou ask me?  Have I not proved it?  Did I not step down into the sea at thy beck and call?  I will go through fire and water for thee.” But Simon, son of Jonas, had learned to be more sober and less loud in his protestations He had been tried; he had attempted to stand alone, and he had proved his palpable weakness.  He looks dubious, he seems hesitant, he feels scrupulous.  He is alive to the fact that the Lord knows him better than he knows himself.  Hence the diffidence with which he, asserts his confidence — “Thou knowest all things; thou knowest that I do love thee.”

A burned child is afraid of fire, and a scalded child shudders at hot water.  So a precocious Peter feels the peril of presumption.  His timidity troubles him.  He hesitates to give his word of honor.  Distrust of self distresses him.  He dreams his former downfall o’er and o’er again.  The hypocrisy of his own heart horrifies him.  What can he say?  He answers the accuser, or rather he appeals to the appellant, “Thou knowest all things; thou knowest that I love thee.”  His previous guilt causes his present grief.  Should like horrors haunt you, friends, give no, place to grievous misgivings.  Do not encourage them.  Hide them away to the cross; behold the thorny crown.  Fly at once, poor guilty sinner, to the great atonement which was made by the Lord upon the tree, and let that fear be ended once for all.

Not that it was all pride, or all shame, or all fear; I think there was also love in it.  Peter did love his Master, and, therefore, he did not like to have, a doubt or a dark suspicion cast on his sincerity.  Love is a very jealous emotion, and keenly sensitive when questioned by those on whom it intensely coats.  “Why,” Peter seems to say, “my Lord and Master, what would I not do for thee?  Though I was so false and so faithless in that hour of trial, yet I know that I am true in the very bottom of my heart.  My fall has not been a total one nor a final one.  There is in my soul, my Lord, a true, deep, and honest love to thee; I know there is.”  He could not bear to have that love questioned.  What would the wife say if her husband should ask, “Lovest thou me?” and after she had given a fond assurance of affection, he should repeat the question solemnly, and with an earnest and a penetrating look, especially if she had done much to grieve him, and to make him suspect her?  Oh! I can understand how her love at last would make her heart feel as if it must burst.  With what earnestness she would exclaim, “Oh! my husband.  If you could see my heart, you would see your name written there.”  It is hard, even in the conjugal relationship, to have a suspicion cast upon your affection.  Because of the tenacity of his love, Peter was grieved.  Had he not loved Christ so ardently he would not have felt the grief so acutely.  Had he been a hypocrite he might have fired with anger, but he would not have grieved after this fashion.  I tell some of our dear young people who get into trouble, and say they are afraid that they are hypocrites, that I never yet knew a hypocrite who said he was afraid he was one, and those who say that they are afraid they do not love Jesus, and are timid and trembling — though I do not commend them for their trembling, yet I have a much better hope of some of them than I have of others who are loud in their protests and vehement in asserting, “Though all men forsake thee, yet will not I.”  One is comforted to hear the confidence with which some of our young brethren can speak.  Their warm expressions of love refresh us.  Yet we cannot help feeling that they have got to be tried.  Perhaps they will not be less confident in Christ when trial comes.  They will be less confident in themselves; and it is just possible that, though their voices may be quite as sweet, they will yet not be quite so loud.  Years of trial and temptation, and especially any experience of backsliding, will pluck some of the feathers out of us, and make us feel humble before the Lord.  This grief of Peter, what a complex passion it was!

Iii. But if it has grieved us to hear this question, it will be very sweet if we can truly give the answer, “thou knowest all things; thou knowest that I love thee.”

Surely the preacher need not say any more if the hearers would just say what is in their own hearts.  Let the question go round.  With all your imperfections and infirmities, your wanderings and backslidings, can you nevertheless declare that you do love the Lord?  Can you join in that verse:

“Thou know’st I love thee, dearest Lord;

But, oh! I long to soar

Far from the sphere of earthly joy,

and learn to love thee more?”

If you can say that you love Christ from your very heart, how happy you ought to be!  That love of yours is only a drop from the fountain of his own everlasting love.  It is a proof that he loved you are ever the earth was.  It is also a pledge that he always will love you when the heavens and the earth shall pass away.  “I am persuaded that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Jesus’ hand is on thee, or ease thy heart would not be on him, and that hand will never relax its grip.  He himself has said it, “I give unto my sheep eternal life, and they shall never perish, neither shall any pluck them out of my hand.”  Now let your heart say, “What shall I dot What shall I render to him whom I love?”

And the Savior’s answer to you will be,” If ye love me, keep my commandments.”  You know his “commandments,” as to the holiness of your life, the nonconformity of your spirit to the world, your private communion with him.  You know his commandment concerning your profession of your faith by baptism.  You know his commandment, “This do ye in remembrance of me,” as often as ye break bread and take the cup of fellowship.  You know his commandment, “Feed my lambs; feed my sheep.”  Remember this, “If ye love me, keep my commandments.”

As for you who do not love my Lord and Master, what can I do but pray for you, that his great love may now overcome your ignorance and aversion — until, having first been loved of him, you love him in return.   Jesus Christ would have you trust him.  Faith is the first grace you need.  Oh! come and depend upon him who did hang upon the cross.  When you rest in him your soul is saved, and, being saved, it shall become your constant joy to love him who loved you, and gave himself for you. Amen.

“Peter was grieved because he said unto him the third time, Lovest thou me?” – John 21:17

This is a pointed question, which demands a personal answer and should, therefore, stir up full and frequent self-examination.  “Lovest thou me?”  It is a probing question that is likely to excite much grief when pressed home to the sensitive, tender-hearted disciple, even as Peter was grieved because the Lord said unto him the third time, “Lovest thou me?”  Yet it is a pleasing and profitable question to so many of us as can give a like solemn and satisfactory response to that of Simon Peter, “Lord, thou knowest all things; thou knowest that I love thee.”

It is very necessary that all disciples, even the most privileged, the most talented, and the most famous, should often be asked the question, hear it in their souls, and feel its thrilling intensity, “Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me?”

It must have been momentous indeed, or the Savior would not have repeated it to Peter three times at one interview.  He tarried on earth but forty days after his resurrection.  These opportunities for conference, therefore, with his disciples would be few.  On what subjects, then, should he speak to them but those which appeared to him of the weightiest import?  Of the times or the seasons that must presently transpire, he refrains to divulge a secret.  With the fulfillment of ancient predictions that prompted the curiosity of the Jew, or the solution of metaphysical problems that harassed the minds of Gentile philosophers, he did not meddle.  I neither find him interpreting obscure prophecy, nor expounding mystic doctrine; but instead thereof I do find him inculcating personal piety.  The question he propounds is of such vital importance that all other questions may be set aside till this one question is positively settled, “Lovest thou me?”

Hence, beloved, I infer that it is of infinitely more consequence for me to know that I love Christ than it is to know the meaning of the little horn, or the ten toes, or the four great beasts.  All Scripture is profitable to those who have grace to profit by it; but wouldest thou both save thyself and them that hear thee, thou must know him and love him to whom patriarchs, prophets, and apostles all bear witness that there is salvation in none other, and no other name given under heaven whereby we must be saved.  You may whet your appetite for logic, but you cannot with your heart believe unto righteousness while you occupy your thoughts, your tongues, or your pens wrangling about Calvinism and Arminianism, sublapsarianism and supra-lapsarianism, or any of the endless controversies of the schoolmen and sectarians!  “Lovest thou me?” that is the moot point.  Canst thou give an affirmative answer?  Will thy conscience, thy life, thy God, attest the verity of thy love to him?  Then, though thou be no doctor of divinity, though thou canst not decipher the niceties of systematic theology, though thou art unable to rebut one in a thousand of the subtleties of the adversary, yet thou hast an unction from the Holy One; thy love approves thee; thy faith has saved thee; and he whom thy soul loveth will keep thee; for time and for eternity thou art blessed.

To my mind, I say, the gravity of the question is palpable from the time at which it was put.  During the few days of our risen Lord’s sojourn, he would not have given it such distinct prominence had it not been in Peter’s case the evidence of his repentance, his restoration, and the full recognition he received.  But, brethren, what question can more closely appeal to ourselves, to each one of us?  Love is one of the most vital of the Christian graces.  If faith be the eye of the soul, without which we cannot see our Lord savingly, surely love is the very heart of the soul, and there is no spiritual life if love be absent.  I will not say that love is the first grace, for faith first discovers that Christ loves us and shall we love him because he first loved us.  Love may be second in order, but it is not second in importance.  I may say of faith and love, that these are like two roes that are twins; or rather of faith, and hope, and love, that these are three divine sisters, who mutually support one another; the health of one betokening the vigor of all, or the decline in one the weakness of all.

“Lovest thou me?”  Why, the question means, Are you a Christian?  Are you a disciple?  Are you saved?  For if any man love wife, or child, or house more than Christ, he is not worthy of him.  Christ must have from every one of his disciples the heart’s warmest affection and where that is not freely accorded, depend upon it, there is no true faith, and consequently no salvation, no spiritual life.  On thine answer to that question hangs thy present state.  Dost thou love Jesus?  If the verdict be “No,” then thou art still in the gall of bitterness and the bonds of iniquity.

But if the truthful answer of thy soul be, “Thou knowest all things; thou knowest that I love thee,” then, weak as thou art, thou art a saved soul and with all thy mourning and trembling, thy doubts and misgivings, the Spirit of God bears witness with thy spirit that thou art born from above.  The sincerity of your love to Christ shows more plainly than aught beside the verity of your relation to him.

From “Do I Love the Lord or No?”

“Jesus saith to Simon Peter, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me more than these?  He saith unto him, Yea, Lord, thou knowest that I love thee.  He saith unto him, Feed my lambs.  He saith to him again the second time, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me?  He saith unto him, Yea, Lord thou knowest that I love thee.  He saith unto him, Feed my sheep.  He saith unto him the third time, Simon, son of Jonas, Lovest thou me?  Peter was grieved because he said unto him the third time, Lovest thou me?  And he said unto him, Lord, thou knowest all things; thou knowest that I love thee.  Jesus saith unto him, Feed my sheep.” — John 21:15-17

How very much like to Christ before his crucifixion was Christ after his resurrection!  Although he had lain in the grave, and descended into the regions of the dead, and had retraced his steps to the land of the living, yet how marvelously similar he was in his manners and how unchanged in his disposition.  His passion his death, and his resurrection, could not alter his character as a man any more than they could affect his attributes as God.  He is Jesus forever the same.  And when he appeared again to his disciples, he had cast aside none of his kind manners, he had not lost a particle of interest in their welfare; he addressed them just as tenderly as before, and called them his children and his friends.  Concerning their temporal condition he was mindful, for he said, “Children, have ye any meat?”  And he was certainly quite as watchful over their spiritual state for after he had supplied their bodies by a rich draught from the sea, with fish (which possibly he had created for the occasion), he enquires after their souls’ health and prosperity, beginning with the one who might be supposed to have been in the most sickly condition, the one who had denied his Master thrice, and wept bitterly — even Simon Peter. “Simon, son of Jonas,” said Jesus, “lovest thou me?”

Without preface, for we shall have but little time this morning — may God help us to make good use of it! — we shall mention three things: first a solemn question — “Lovest thou me?” secondly, a discreet answer, “Yes, Lord, thou knowest that I love thee,” and thirdly, a required demonstration of the fact, “He saith unto him, Feed my lambs;” or, again, “Feed my sheep.”

I. First, then, here was a SOLEMN QUESTION, which our Savior put to Peter, not for his own information, for, as Peter said, “Thou knowest that I love thee,” but for Peter’s examination.  It is well, especially after a foul sin, that the Christian should well probe the wound.  It is right that he should examine himself; for sin gives grave cause for suspicion, and it would be wrong for a Christian to live an hour with a suspicion concerning his spiritual estate, unless he occupy that hour in examination of himself.  Self-examination should more especially follow sin, though it ought to be the daily habit of every Christian and should be practiced by him perpetually.  Our Savior, I say, asked this question of Peter, that he might ask it of himself; so we may suppose it asked of us this morning that we may put it to our own hearts.  Let each one ask himself then in his Savior’s name, for his own profit, “Lovest thou the Lord? Lovest thou the Savior?  Lovest thou the ever-blessed Redeemer?”

Note what this question was.  It was a question concerning Peter’s love.  He did not say, “Simon, son of Jonas, fearest thou me.”  He did not say, “Dost thou admire me? Dost thou adore me?”  Nor was it even a question concerning his faith.  He did not say, “Simon, son of Jonas, believest thou in me?” but he asked him another question, “Lovest thou me?”  I take it, that is because love is the very best evidence of piety.  Love is the brightest of all the graces; and hence it becomes the best evidence.  I do not believe love to be superior to faith.  I believe faith to be the groundwork of our salvation.  I think faith to be the mother grace, and love springs from it.  Faith I believe to be the root grace, and love grows from it.  But then, faith is not an evidence for brightness equal to love.  Faith, if we have it, is a sure and certain sign that we are God’s children, and so is every other grace a sure and certain one, but many of them cannot be seen by others.  Love is a more sparkling one than any other.  If I have a true fear of God in my heart, then am I God’s child; but since fear is a grace that is more dim and hath not that halo of glory over it that love has, love becomes one of the very best evidences and one of the easiest signs of discerning whether we are alive to the Savior.

He that lacketh love must lack also every other grace in the proportion in which he lacketh love.  If love be little, I believe it is a sign that faith is little, for he that believeth much loveth much.  If love be little, fear will be little, and courage for God will be little, and whatsoever graces there be, though faith lieth at the root of them all, yet do they so sweetly hang on love, that if love be weak, all the rest of the graces most assuredly will be so.  Our Lord asked Peter, then, that question, Lovest thou me?”

And note, again, that he did not ask Peter anything about his doings.  He did not say, “Simon Peter, how much hast thou wept?  How often hast thou done penance on account of thy great sin?  How often hast thou on thy knees sought mercy at my hand for the slight thou hast done to me and for that terrible cursing and swearing wherewith thou didst disown thy Lord, whom thou hadst declared thou wouldst follow even to prison and to death?”  No, it was not in reference to his works, but in reference to the state of his heart that Jesus said, “Lovest thou me?”  To teach us this; that though works do follow after a sincere love, yet love excels the works, and works without love are not evidences worth having.  We may have some tears; but they are not the tears that God shall accept, if there be no love to him.  We may have some works; but they are not acceptable works, if they are not done out of love to his person.  We may perform very many of the outward, ritual observances of religion; but unless love lies at the bottom, all these things are vein and useless.  The question, then, “Lovest thou me?” is a very vital question; far more so than one that merely concerns the outward conduct.  It is a question that goes into the very heart and in such a way that it brings the whole heart to one question; for if love be wrong, everything else is wrong.  “Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me?”

Ah! dear beloved, we have very much cause for asking ourselves this question.  If our Savior were no more than a man like ourselves, he might often doubt whether we love him at all.  Let me just remind you of sundry things which give us very great cause to ask this question: “Lovest thou me?”  I will deal only with the last week.  Come, my Christian brother, look at thine own conduct.  Do not thy sins make thee doubt whether thou dost love thy Master?  Come, look over the sins of this week: when thou wast speaking with an angry word and with a sullen look, might not thy Lord have touched thee, and said, “Lovest thou me?”  When thou wast doing such-and-such a thing, which thou right well knowest in thy conscience was not according to his precept, might he not have said, “Lovest thou me?”  Canst thou not remember the murmuring word because something had gone wrong with thee in business this week, and thou west speaking ill of the God of providence for it?  Oh, might not the loving Savior, with pity in his languid eye, have said to thee, “What, speak thus?  Lovest thou me?”

I need not stop to mention the various sins of which ye have been guilty.  Ye have sinned, I am sure, enough to give good ground for self-suspicion, if ye did not still hang on this: that his love to you, not your love to him, is the seal of your discipleship.  Oh, do you not think within yourselves, “If I had loved him more, would I have sinned so much?  And oh, can I love him when I have broken so many of his commandments.  Have I reflected his glorious image to the world as I should have done?  Have I not wasted many hours within this week that I might have spent in winning souls to him?  Have I not thrown away many precious moments in light and frivolous conversation which I might have spent in earnest prayer?  Oh! how many words have I uttered, which if they have not been filthy, (as I trust they have not) yet have not been such as have ministered grace to the hearers?  Oh, how many follies have I indulged in?  How many sins have I winked at?  How many crimes have I covered over?  How have I made my Savior’s heart to bleed?  How have I done dishonor to his cause? How have I in some degree disgraced my heart’s profession of love to him?”  Oh, ask these questions of thyself, beloved, and say, “Is this thy kindness to thy Friend?”  But I hope this week has been one wherein thou hast sinned little openly as to the world, or even in thine own estimation, as to open acts of crime.

But now let me put another question to thee, Does not thy worldliness make thee doubt?  How hast thou been occupied with the world, from Monday morning to the last hour of Saturday night?  Thou hast scarce had time to think of him.  What corners hast thou pushed thy Jesus into, to make room for thy bales of goods?  How hast thou stowed him away into one short five minutes to make room for thy ledger or thy day-book?  How little time hast thou given to him!  Thou hast been occupied with the shop, with the exchange, and the farmyard; and thou hast had little time to commune with him!  Come, just think!  Remember any one day this week; canst thou say that thy soul always flew upward with passionate desires to him?  Didst thou pant like a hart for thy Savior during the week?  Nay, perhaps there was a whole day went by, and thou scarcely though test of him till the winding up of it; and then thou couldst only upbraid thyself, “How have I forgotten Christ today?  I have not beheld his person; I have not walked with him.  I have not done as Enoch did!  I knew he would come into the shop with me; I knew he is such a blessed Christ that he would stand behind the counter with me; I knew he was such a joyous Lord Jesus that he would walk through the market with me!  But I left him at home and forgot him all the day long.”  Surely, surely, beloved, when thou rememberest thy worldliness, thou must say of thyself; “O Lord, thou mightest well ask, “Lovest thou me?’”

Consider again, I beseech thee, how cold thou hast been this week at the mercy-seat.  Thou hast been there, for thou canst not live without it; thou hast lifted up thy heart in prayer, for thou art a Christian, and prayer is as necessary to thee as thy breath. But oh! with what a poor asthmatic breath hast thou lived this week!  How little hast thou breathed?  Dost not remember how hurried was thy prayer on Monday morning, how driven thou wast on Tuesday night?  Canst thou not recollect how languid was thy heart, when on another occasion thou wast on thy knees?  Thou hast had little wrestling, mayhap, this week; little agonizing; them hast had little of the prayer which prevaileth; thou hast scarcely laid hold of the horns of the altar; thou hast stood in the distance and seen the smoke at the altar, but thou hast not laid hold of the horns of it.  Come, ask thyself, do not thy prayers make thee doubt?  I say, honestly before you all, my own prayers often make me doubt, and I know nothing that gives me more grave cause of disquietude.  When I labor to pray — oh! that rascally devil! — fifty thousand thoughts he tries to inject, to take me off from prayer; and when I will and must pray, oh, what an absence there is of that burning fervent desire; and when I would come right close to God, when I would weep my very eyes out in penitence, and would believe and take the blessing, oh, what little faith and what little penitence there is!  Verily, I have thought that prayer has made me more unbelieving than anything else.  I could believe over the tops of my sins, but sometimes I can scarcely believe over the tops of my prayers — for oh! how cold is prayer when it is cold!  Of all things that are bad when cold, I think prayer is the worst, for it becomes like a very mockery, and instead of warming the heart, it makes it colder than it was before and seems even to damp its life and spirit — and fills it full of doubts whether it is really a heir of heaven and accepted of Christ.  Oh! look at thy cold prayers, Christian, and say is not thy Savior right to ask this question very solemnly, “Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me?”

But stop, again; just one more word for thee to reflect upon.  Perhaps thou hast had much prayer, and this has been a time of refreshing from the presence of the Lord.  But yet, mayhap, thou knowest, thou hast not gone so far this week as thou mightest have done, in another exercise of godliness that is even better than prayer, — I mean communion and fellowship.  Oh beloved, thou hast this week had but little sitting under the apple tree and finding its shadow great delight to thee.  Thou hast not gone much this week to the banqueting house and had its banner of love over thee.  Come, bethink thyself, how little hast thou seen thy Lord this week!  Perhaps he has been absent the greater part of the time; and hast thou not groaned?  Hast thou not wept?  Hast thou not sighed after him?  Sure, then, thou canst not have loved him as thou shouldst, else thou couldst not have borne his absence, thou couldst not have endured it calmly, if thou hadst the affection for him a sanctified spirit has for its Lord.  Thou didst have one sweet visit from him in the week, and why didst thou let him go?  Why didst thou not constrain him to abide with thee?  Why didst thou not lay hold of the skirts of his garment, and say, “Why shouldst thou be like a wayfaring man, and as one that turneth aside and tarrieth for a night?  Oh I my lord, thou shalt dwell with me.  I will keep thee.  I will detain thee in my company. I cannot let thee go.  I love thee and I will constrain thee to dwell with me this night and the next day.  Long as I can keep thee, will I keep thee.”  But no; thou wast foolish; thou didst let him go.  Oh! soul, why didst thou not lay hold of his arm, and say, “I will not let thee go.”  But thou didst lay hold on him so feebly, thou didst suffer him to depart so quickly, he might have turned round, and said to thee, as he said to Simon, “Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me?”

Now, I have asked you all these questions, because I have been asking them of myself.  I feel that I must answer to nearly every one of them, “Lord, there is great cause for me to ask myself that question,” and I think that most of you, if you are honest to yourselves, will say the same.  I do not approve of the man that says, “I know I love Christ, and I never have a doubt about it;” because we often have reason to doubt ourselves, a believer’s strong faith is not a strong faith in his own love to Christ — it is a strong faith in Christ’s love to him.  There is no faith which always believes that it loves Christ.  Strong faith has its conflicts, and a true believer will often wrestle in the very teeth of his own feelings.  Lord, if I never did love thee, nevertheless, if I am not a saint, I am a sinner.  Lord, I still believe; help thou mine unbelief.  The disciple can believe, when he feels no love; for he can believe that Christ loveth the soul; and when he hath no evidence he can come to Christ without evidence and lay hold of him, just as he is, with naked faith and still hold fast by him.  Though he see not his signs, though he walk in darkness and there be no light, still may he trust in the Lord, and stay upon his God — but to be certain at all times that we love the Lord is quite another matter; about this we have need continually to question ourselves, and most scrupulously to examine both the nature and the extent of our evidences.

II. And now I come to the second thing, which is A DISCREET ANSWER.

“Simon son of Jonas, lovest thou me?”  Simon gave a very good answer.  Jesus asked him, in the first place, whether he loved him better than others.  Simon would not say that: he had once been a little proud — more than a little — and thought he was better than the other disciples.  But this time he evaded that question, he would not say that he loved better than others.  And I am sure there is no loving heart that will think it loves even better than the least of God’s children.  I believe the higher a man is in grace, the lower he will be in his own esteem, and he will be the last person to claim any supremacy over others in the divine grace of love to Jesus.

But mark how Simon Peter did answer: he did not answer as to the quantity but as to the quality of his love.  He would aver that he loved Christ, but not that he loved Christ better than others.  “Lord, I cannot say how much I love thee; but thou knowest all things; thou knowest that I do love thee.  So far I can aver: as to the quantity of my love, I cannot say much about it.”

But just notice, again, the discreet manner in which Peter answered.  Some of us, if we had been asked that question, would have answered foolishly.  We should have said, “Lord, I have preached for thee so many times this week; Lord, I have distributed of my substance to the poor this week.  Blessed be thy name, thou last given me grace to walk humbly, faithfully, and honestly, and therefore, Lord, I think I can say, ‘I love thee.’”  We should have brought forward our good works before our Master, as being the evidences of our love; we should have said, “Lord, thou hast seen me during this week.  As Nehemiah did of old, “Forget not my good works. O Lord, I thank thee. I know they are thy gifts, but I think they are proofs of my love.”  That would have been a very good answer if we had been questioned by our fellow man, and he had said, “You do not always love your Savior;” but it would be foolish for us to tell the Master that.  Peter’s answer was wise; “Lord, thou knowest that I love thee.”  You know the Master might have said to Peter had he appealed to his works, “Yes, thou mayest preach and yet not love me; thou mayest pray and yet not love me; thou mayest do all these works and yet have no love to me.  I did not ask thee what are the evidences of thy love.  I asked thee the heart of it.”

Very likely all my dear friends here would not have answered in the fashion I have supposed; but they would have said, “Love thee Lord?  Why, my heart is all on fire towards thee; I feel as if I could go to prison and to death for thee!  Sometimes, when I think of thee, my heart is ravished with bliss; and when thou art absent, O Lord, I moan and cry like a dove that has lost its mate.  Yes, I feel I love thee, O my Christ.”  But that would have been very foolish, because although we may often rejoice in our own feelings — they are joyful things — it would not do to plead them with our Lord, for he might answer, “Ah! thou feelest joyful at the mention of my name.  So, no doubt, has many a deluded one, because he had a fictitious faith, and a fancied hope in Christ; therefore the name of Christ seemed to gladden him.  Thou sayst, ‘I have felt dull when thou hast been absent.’  That might have been accounted for from natural circumstances; you had a headache, perhaps, or some other ailment.  ‘But,’ sayest thou, ‘I felt so happy when he was present that I thought I could die.’ Ah, in such manner Peter had spoken many a time before; but a sorry mess he made of it when he trusted his feelings, for he would have sunk into the sea but for Christ; and eternally damned his soul, if it had not been for his grace, when, with cursing and swearing he thrice denied his Lord.  But no, Peter was wise; he did not bring forward his frames and feelings, nor did he bring his evidences: though they are good in themselves, he did not bring them before Christ.  But, as though he shall say, “Lord, I appeal to thine omnipotence. I am not going to tell thee that the volume of my heart must contain such-and-such matter, because there is such-and-such a mark on its cover; for, Lord, thou canst read inside of it; and, therefore I need not tell thee what the title is, nor read over to thee the index of the content; Lord, thou knowest that I love thee.”

Now, could we, this morning, dear friends, give such an answer as that to the question?  If Christ should come here, if he were now to walk down these aisles, and along the pews, could we appeal to his own divine Omniscience, his infallible knowledge of our hearts, that we all love him?  There is a test-point between a hypocrite and a real Christian.  If thou art a hypocrite, thou mightest say, “Lord, my minister knows that I love thee.  Lord, the deacons know that I love thee; they think I do, for they have given me a ticket [to participate in the Lord’s Supper], the members think I love thee; for they see me sitting at thy table; my friends think I love thee, for they often hear me talk about thee.”  But thou couldst not say, “Lord, thou knowest that I love thee.”  Thine own heart is witness that thy secret works belie thy confession, for thou art without prayer in secret, and thou canst preach a twenty minutes prayer in public.  Thou art niggardly and parsimonious in giving to the cause of Christ; but thou canst sport thy name to be seen.  Thou art an angry, petulant creature; but when thou comest to the house of God, thou hast a pious whine and talkest like a canting hypocrite, as if thou were a very gentlemanly man and never seemed angry.  Thou canst take thy Maker’s name in vain, but if thou hear another do it thou wouldst be mighty severe upon him.  Thou affectest to be very pious, and yet if men knew of that widow’s house that is sticking in thy throat, and of that orphan’s patrimony which thou hast taken from him, thou wouldst leave off trumpeting thy good deeds.  Thine own heart tells thee thou art a liar before God.

But thou, O sincere Christian, thou canst welcome thy Lord’s question and answer it with holy fear and gracious confidence.  Yes, thou mayest welcome the question.  Such a question was never put to Judas.  The Lord loved Peter so much that he was jealous over him, or he never would have thus challenged his attachment.  And in this kind cloth, he often appeal to the affections of those whom he dearly loves.  The response likewise is recorded for thee, “Lord, thou knowest all things.”  Canst thou not look up, though scorned by men, though even rejected by thy minister, though kept back by the deacons, and looked upon with disesteem by some — canst thou not look up, and say, “Lord, thou knowest all things, thou knowest that I love thee”?  Do it not in brag and bravado; but if you can do it sincerely, be happy, bless God that he has given you a sincere love to the Savior and ask him to increase it from a spark to a flame, and from a grain to a mountain.  “Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me?  Yea, Lord, thou knowest all things; thou knowest that I love thee.”

III. And now here is a DEMONSTRATION REQUIRED — “Feed my lambs: feed my sheep.”  That was Peter’s demonstration.  It is not necessary that it should be our way of showing our love.  There are different ways for different disciples.  There are some who are not qualified to feed lambs, for they are only little lambs themselves.  There are some that could not feed sheep, for they cannot at present see afar off; they are weak in the faith and not qualified to teach at all.  They have other means, however, of showing their love to the Savior.  Let us offer a few words upon this matter.

“Lovest thou me?”  Then one of the best evidences thou canst give is to feed my lambs.  Have I two or three little children that love and fear my name?  If thou wantest to do a deed, which shall show that thou art a true lover, and not a proud pretender; go and feed them.  Are there a few little ones whom I have purchased with my blood in an infant class?  Dost thou went to do something which shall evidence that thou art indeed mine?  Then sit not down with the elders, dispute not in the temple; I did that myself; but go thou, and sit down with the young orphans, and teach them the way to the kingdom.  “Feed my lambs.”

But there are many in our midst, good pious souls who love the Savior as much as the sheep do; but one of their complaints which I have often heard is, “Oh! sir, I joined your church.  I thought they would be all brothers and sisters to me, and that I could speak to them, and they would teach me and be kind to me.  Oh I sir, I came, and nobody spoke to me.”  I say, “Why did not you speak to them first?”  “Oh!” they reply, “I did not like.”  Well, they should have liked, I am well aware; but if we had some means of feeding the lambs, it would be a good way of proving to our Savior and to the world, that we really do endeavor to follow him.  I hope some of my friends will take that hint; and if, in concert with me, my brethren in office will endeavor to do something in that way, I think it will be no mean proof of their love to Christ.  “Feed my lambs” is a great duty; let us try to practice it as we are able.

But, beloved, we cannot all do that; the lambs cannot feed the lambs; the sheep cannot feed the sheep exactly.  There must be some appointed to these offices.  And therefore, in the Savior’s name, allow me to say to some of you, that there are different kinds of proof you must give.  “Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me?”  He saith unto him, “Yea, Lord; thou knowest that I love thee.”  Then preserve that prayer-meeting; attend to it; see that it is kept going on, and that it does not fall to the ground.  “Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me?”  See to thy servants; see that they go to the house of God, and instruct them in the faith.  There is a sister: Lovest thou Christ?  “Yea, Lord.”  Perhaps it is as much as you can do — perhaps it is as much as you ought to do — to train up your children in the fear of the Lord.  Do not, O Christian, say that thou lovest Christ and yet do nothing for him.  Doing is a good sign of living; and he can scarce be alive unto God that does nothing for God.  We must let our works evidence the sincerity of our love to our Master.

“Oh!” say you, “but we are doing a little.”  Can you do any more?  If you can, then do it.  If you cannot do more, then God requires no more of you; doing to the utmost of your ability is your best proof; but if you can do more, inasmuch as ye keep back any part of what ye can do, in that degree ye give cause to yourselves to distrust your love to Christ.  Do all you can to your very utmost; serve him abundantly; ay, and superabundantly: seek to magnify his name; and if ever you do too much for Christ, come and tell me of it; if you ever do too much for Christ, tell the angels of it — but you will never do that.  He gave himself for you; give yourselves to him.

You see, my friends, how I have been directing you to search your own hearts, and I am almost afraid that some of you will mistake my intention.  Have I a poor soul here who really deplores the languor of her affections?  Perhaps you have determined to ask yourself as many questions as you can with a view of reviving the languid sparks of love.  Let me tell you then that the pure flame of love must be always nourished where it was first kindled.  When I admonished you to look to yourself it was only to detect the evil; would you find the remedy, you must direct your eyes, not to your own heart, but to the blessed heart of Jesus — to the Beloved one — to my gracious Lord and Master.  And wouldst thou be ever conscious of the sweet swellings up of thy heart towards him; thou canst only prove this by a constant sense of his tender love to thee.

I rejoice to know that the Holy Ghost is the Spirit of love, and the ministry of the Spirit is endeared to me in nothing so much as this, that he takes of the things of Jesus, and shows them to me, spreading abroad the Savior’s love in my heart, until it constrains all my passions, awakens the tenderest of all tender emotions, reveals my union to him, and occasions my strong desire to serve him.  Let not love appear to thee as a stern duty, or an arduous effort; rather look to Jesus, yield thyself up to his gracious charms till thou art ravished with his beauty and preciousness.  But ah! if thou art slack in the proofs thou givest, I shall know thou art not walking with him in holy communion.

And allow me to suggest one profitable way of improving the ordinance of the Lord’s Supper.  That is: while you are partaking of it, my friends, renew your dedication to Christ.  Seek this morning to give yourselves over afresh to your Master.  Say with your hearts, what I shall now say with my lips: “Oh! my precious Lord Jesus, I do love thee; thou knowest I have in some degree given myself to thee up to this time, thanks to thy grace!  Blessed be thy name, that thou hast accepted the deeds of so unworthy a servant.  O Lord, I am conscious that I have not devoted myself to thee as I ought; I know that in many things I have come short.  I will make no resolution to live better to thine honor, but I will offer the prayer that thou wouldst help me so to do.  Oh! Lord, I give to thee my health, my life, my talents, my power, and all I have!  Thou hast bought me and bought me wholly: then, Lord, take me this morning, baptize me in the Spirit, let me now feel an entire affection to thy blessed person.  May I have that love which conquers sin and purifies the soul — that love which can dare danger and encounter difficulties for thy sake.  May I henceforth and forever be a consecrated vessel of mercy, having been chosen of thee from before the foundation of the world!  Help me to hold fast that solemn choice of thy service which I desire this morning, by thy grace to renew.”  And when you drink the blood of Christ, and eat his flesh spiritually — in the type and in the emblem, then I beseech you, let the solemn recollection of his agony and suffering for you inspire you with a greater love, that you may be more devoted to his service than ever.  If that be done, I shall have the best of churches; if that be done by us, the Holy Spirit helping us to carry it out, we shall all be good men and true, holding fast by him, and we shall not need to be ashamed in the awful day.

As for you that have never given yourselves to Christ, I dare not tell you to renew a vow which you have never made; nor dare I ask you to make a vow, which you would never keep.  I can only pray for you, that God the Savior would be pleased to reveal himself unto your heart, that “a sense of blood-bought pardon” may “dissolve your hearts of stone;” that you may be brought to give yourselves to him, knowing that if you have done that, you have the best proof that he has given himself for you.  May God Almighty bless you: those of you who depart, may he dismiss with his blessing: and those who remain, may you receive his favor, for Christ’s sake.  Amen.