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I. THE LOVE OF GOD RECOMMENDS ITSELF BY ITS NATURE.

1. It is the most sublime virtue.

(1) The most sublime of the Divine and moral virtues (1 Corinthians 13:13).

(2) The fertile mother of all other virtues and their brightest ornaments.

(3) All-powerful in its effects, keeping the heart, so prone to sin, from the depths of spiritual ruin; moving and exciting to, and furnishing the necessary strength for, apparently impossible undertakings.

(4) The virtue of the inhabitants of heaven, its exercise being the constant work of angels and saints.

2. It confers on us the highest dignity.

(1) By this virtue we are elevated above all creatures of this visible world. They serve God by absolute necessity, but they cannot love Him.

(2) By this virtue we are elevated above ourselves. All other virtues remind man of his misery and lowness — faith reminds him of his spiritual blindness; humility, of his foolish pride; chastity, of the disgrace of sensuality. Charity alone elevates without reminding you of your weakness, rendering the soul, as it were, infinite.

(3) This virtue confers on us a true nobility.

(a)  We obtain the freedom of the children of God.

(b)  We reach by it our perfection, it being the bond of perfectness (Colossians 3:14).

(c)  We enter into the most intimate relation with God, being in a manner deified.

3. The greatest beauty of our holy religion.

4. In the love of God we find true happiness.

(1) In this world. Divine love —

(a)  renders man infinitely rich by the possession of God;

(b)  fills the heart with the sweetest delights;

(c)  causes heavenly peace, which cannot be disturbed either by tribulations or by the sting of the passions;

(d)  sweetens what is most bitter — all sufferings, and especially death.

(2) For eternity. Divine charity is the pledge of life everlasting (1 John 4:16; 1 Corinthians 2:9).

II. How MUCH GOD DESERVES OUR LOVE.

1. He is the most perfect Being.

2. He is our greatest benefactor.

3. He is infinitely merciful.

(Eberhard.)

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KJV: And he answering said, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind; and thy neighbour as thyself.

WEB: He answered, "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, and with all your mind; and your neighbor as yourself."