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1. The inquiry is not concerning his love to the kingdom or the people of God, but to the Son of God. It deals with a personal attachment to a personal Christ.

2. Our Saviour questioned Peter in plain set terms. There was no beating about the bush. As the physician feels his patient's pulse to judge his heart, so Jesus tested at once the pulse of Peter's soul.

3. This question was asked three times, as if to show that it is of the first, of the second, and of the third importance; as if it comprised all else. This nail was meant to be well fastened, for it is smitten on the head with blow after blow.

4. Jesus Himself asked the question, and He asked it until He grieved Peter. Had he not made his Master's heart bleed, and was it not fit that he should feel heart-wounds himself?

I. LOVE TO THE PERSON OF CHRIST MAY BE ABSENT FROM OUR BOSOMS. This inquiry is not rendered needless by —

1. Outward religiousness. Do we enter very heartily into all the public exercises of God's house? Yes, but there are hundreds of thousands who do that, and yet they do not love Christ! It will be vain to reverence the Sabbath if you forget the Lord of the Sabbath, vain to love the sanctuary and not the Great High Priest, vain to love the wedding-feast but not the Bridegroom.

2. Highest office. Peter was an apostle, and in some respects a foundation stone of the Church, and yet it was needful to say to him, "Lovest thou Me?" The name of Judas should sound the death knell of all presumptuous confidence in our official standing.

3. Enjoyment of the greatest Christian privileges. Peter was one of the most favoured apostles, who beheld Christ on the mount of transfiguration and in the garden of Gethsemane.

4. The greatest warmth of zeal. Peter was a redhot disciple. You are earnest in the Sunday school, or preach in the streets, or visit the poor, and are full of warmth in all things which concern the Redeemer's cause; but for all that the question must be put. For there is a zeal which is fed by regard to the opinions of others, and sustained by a wish to be thought earnest and useful; which is rather the warmth of nature than the holy fire of grace, and which makes a man a mere tinkling cymbal, because he does not love Jesus Christ.

5. The greatest self-denial. Peter could say, "Lord, we have left all and followed Thee."

6. The highest mental attainments. Peter went to college three years, with Christ for a tutor, and he learned a great deal; but after he had been through his course, his Master, before He sent him to his life-work, felt it needful to inquire, "Lovest thou Me?" It is, therefore, a healthy thing for the Lord to come into the study and close the book, and say to the student, "Sit still a while, and let Me ask thee, 'Lovest thou Me?'"

II. WE MUST LOVE THE PERSON OF CHRIST, OR ALL OUR PAST PROFESSIONS HAVE BEEN A LIE. It is not possible for that man to be a Christian who does not love Christ. Take the heart away, and life is impossible.

1. Your first true hope of heaven came to you, if it ever did come at all, by Jesus Christ. You heard the Gospel, but the Gospel apart from Christ was never good news to you; you read the Bible, but the Bible apart from a personal Christ was never anything more than a dead letter to you. The first gleam of comfort that ever entered my heart flashed from the wounds of the Redeemer.

2. Nor do we merely begin with Him, for every covenant blessing we have received has been connected with His Person — pardon, righteousness, adoption, &c.

3. Every ordinance of the Christian Church has either been a mockery, or else we have loved Christ in it. Baptism — what is it but the mere washing away of the filth of the flesh unless we were buried with Christ in baptism unto death? The Lord's Supper, what is it but a common meal unless Christ be there? And so it has been with every approach we have made towards God. Did you pray? You could not have done it except through Jesus the Mediator.

4. If you have made a profession of religion, how can it be a true and honest one unless your heart bums with attachment to the great Author of salvation.

5. You have great hopes, but what are you hoping for? Is not all your hope wrapped up in Him?

6. Since, then, everything that you have obtained comes to you direct from His pierced hand, it cannot be that you have received it unless you love Him. Now, when I put the question, recollect that upon your answer to it hangs this alternative — a hypocrite or a true man — "Lovest thou Me?"

III. WE MUST HAVE LOVE TO THE PERSON OF CHRIST, OR NOTHING IS RIGHT FOR THE FUTURE.

1. For a true pastor the first qualification is love to Christ. Jesus does not inquire about Peter's knowledge or gifts of utterance, but about his love. And what is true of a pastor is true of every useful worker for Christ.

2. If your heart is not true to Christ, you will not be able patiently to endure for His Name's sake. Before long, the time came for Peter to glorify God by death. Love makes the hero. When the Spirit of God inflames love He inspires courage.

3. If we have no love for Christ's Person our piety lacks the adhesive element, it fails in that which will help us to stick to the good old way to the end. Men often leave what they like, but never what they love.

4. Love is the great inspiriting force. In serving Christ you come across a difficulty far too great for judgment, for prudence, and unbelief weighs and calculates, but love laughs at the impossibility and accomplishes it for Jesus Christ.

5. Without love you are without the transforming force. Love to Christ is that which makes us like Him.

6. Without love to Christ we lack the perfecting element. We are to be with Him soon; but if we have not love to Jesus we shall not be where He is.

IV. IF WE DO LOVE HIM, WHAT THEN? Let us do something for Him directly, for He said, "Feed My sheep." He knew from His own heart that wherever there is love there is a desire for activity. What are you doing? Attending the means of grace and getting a good feed. Well, that is doing something for yourself. Many people in the world are very busy at feeding, but I do not know that eating a man's bread is any proof of love to him. A great many professing Christians give no proof of love to Christ, except that they enjoy sermons. But now, if you love Him as you say you do, prove it by doing good to others.

(C. H. Spurgeon.)

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KJV: So when they had dined, 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.

WEB: So when they had eaten their breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, "Simon, son of Jonah, do you love me more than these?" He said to him, "Yes, Lord; you know that I have affection for you." He said to him, "Feed my lambs."