A Call To The Remnant

Joh 14:21  He that hath my commandments, and keeps them, he it is that loves me:

At first glance it appears that Jesus is saying that those who keep His commandments love Him, when of course He saying those who love me keep my commandments. Look at verse 23 “If a man loves me he will keep My words.” There is all the difference in the world between the two positions. Keeping Gods commandments. Religious men of every stripe strive for this. So what separates the man of God from the religious man? To the religious man, keeping the commands of the Lord is akin to keeping score. If they can just get enough points then they can tip the scales in their favor. And in doing so, they believe they will find favor with the Lord. What constrains them is the thought of them not making the grade or indeed not making it into heaven. The constraints are a burden to them and they grudgingly trudge on. At the hearts of it all lies self.

Those who encounter God love God. They have a passion that runs through their veins. They have the law of God written upon their hearts, and out that very heart flows love. He is loved and he loves. This very love becomes his restraint and that very restraint is the mark of his freedom. He is free from the curse of the law, he is free from the bondage of it, he is indeed a bond-servant. His love for His Lord is such that any fall from grace comes with this price-he has disappointed his Lord. There can be no greater anguish for the saint and only the one who knows Jesus can know this anguish. And it is this very love that drives the saint to the throne of grace.

David famously says in Psalm 51 “Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation.” He was not trying to get saved and he was not afraid that he had lost his salvation, what he was deeply anguished and broken about was that he had sinned against the one he loved. He acknowledges his sins and desires above all else to be cleansed in his inwards parts, to be purged of what had separated him from His Lord. He is broken and contrite because of his great love for God. It is this very attribute that makes David a man after God’s own heart. Love is the catalyst for it all. God’s love for us and our love for Him. That is the bond. Nothing can be achieved in the realms of the Spirit outside of this love.  It is the foundation of salvation and it is the means by which we walk the narrow path home.

By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God, and keep his commandments. For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments: and his commandments are not grievous.
(1Jn 5:2-3)