a. Do not believe every spirit: John warned against believing every spirit; that is, we are never to assume every spiritual experience or every demonstration of spiritual power is from God. We must test spiritual experiences and spiritual phenomenon to see if they are in fact from God.

i. Many, when first encountering the reality of the spiritual world, are too impressed and amazed to ask whether they are of God. This leads to easy deception.

b. But test the spirits: This is important because many false prophets have gone out into the world. Even though the early church had a strong life and a large measure of purity, John still knew the danger false prophets and their message was real in the early church.

c. Test the spirits, whether they are of God: This is the responsibility of every Christian, but especially of congregational leadership. According to 1 Corinthians 14:29 (let the others judge) and 1 Thessalonians 5:21(Test all things; hold fast what is good), testing the spirits is the work of the body of Christ. This job is to be done using the gifts of discernment God has given to Christians in general, especially the leadership of a congregation.

i. All prophecy is to be judged by Scriptural standards. It is never to be received just because it is dramatic or given by a certain person. We trust in the principle that God will never contradict Himself, and we know what He has already said in His Word.

ii. 2 Peter 1:20-21 tells us true prophecy is never of any private interpretation. This means that there will be agreement and confirmation from the body of Christ, though perhaps (or probably) not everyone will agree or confirm.

2. (2-3) How to know when a false prophet speaks.

By this you know the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is of God, and every spirit that does not confess that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is not of God. And this is the spirit of the Antichrist, which you have heard was coming, and is now already in the world.

a. Every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is of God: True prophecy, and true teaching, will present a true Jesus. In John’s day, the issue was about if Jesus had truly come in a real body of flesh and blood. Many Gnostic-influenced teachers said that Jesus, being God, could not have actually become a flesh and blood human being, because God could have no partnership with “impure” material stuff.

i. “This statement would be directed against some form of Docetism, the view that Christ was a spirit who only seemed to be a true man.” (Boice)

ii. Today, some groups deny that Jesus is really God (such as the Jehovah’s Witnesses, Mormons, and Muslims). But way back in John’s day, in this time closest to the actual life and ministry of Jesus on this earth, people didn’t have a hard time believing Jesus was God. They had a hard time believing that he was a real man. This false teaching said Jesus was truly God (which is correct), but really a “make-believe” man.

iii. Today, we are passionate about saying, “Jesus is God,” and we should be. But it is no less important to say, “Jesus is a man,” because both the deity and humanity of Jesus are essential to our salvation.

b. Every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is of God: Some think that this is the only test of false doctrine. This is not the only test, but it was the significant issue challenging the church in John’s immediate time. Today a person might confess that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh yet deny that He is God as the Bible teaches He is God. They also are giving false doctrine because they are not presenting a true Jesus.

i. The principle of presenting a true Jesus is essential to the testing of spirits. No one who presents a false Jesus, or one untrue to the Scriptures, can be regarded as a true prophet.

ii. Today, there is a lot of curiosity about the “true Jesus.” Many modern academics say they want to discover the “true Jesus” and when they say this they often mean, “The true Jesus is not the Jesus of the Bible. The Biblical Jesus is make-believe. We need to discover the true Jesus behind the myths of the Bible.”

iii. Not only is this position ignorant (ignoring the confirmed historical validity of the New Testament) it is also arrogant. Once any academic throws out the historical evidence of the New Testament and other reliable ancient writings, they can only base their understanding of Jesus on their own personal opinion. These academics present their baseless opinions as if they were scholarly facts.

c. This is the spirit of the Antichrist: To deny the true Jesus is the basis of the spirit of the Antichrist, which John has already mentioned in 1 John 2:18-23. It is the spirit which both opposes the true Jesus and offers a substituteJesus.

i. The devil doesn’t care at all if you know Jesus or love Jesus or pray to Jesus – as long as it is a false Jesus, a make-believe Jesus, a Jesus who is not there, and who therefore cannot save.

d. Is now already in the world: Though it will have its ultimate consummation in an end-times political and economic ruler, the essence of this antichrist spirit is present with us today. It is found everywhere a false Jesus is promoted in place of the true Jesus of the Bible.

3. (4) The protection of the child of God.

You are of God, little children, and have overcome them, because He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world.

a. You are of God, little children, and have overcome them: The child of God need not fear the spirit of Antichrist, even though they should be warned of it, because they have the indwelling Spirit of God (1 John 3:24). That indwelling Spirit is greater than he who is in the world – Satan and all of his allies.

b. He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world: The believer has a resource for victory, the vital presence of the indwelling Jesus, which makes victory always possible – if we will rely on He who is in you instead of relying on ourselves.

i. This understanding gives great confidence and spiritual power. For those walking in this truth, victory is assured – they have overcome them. It is a positive statement, not a wishful hope.

c. He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world: This means the Christian has no place for fear. We have many spiritual enemies, but not one of them is greater than Jesus who lives in us.

i. Earlier in the letter, John brought up the idea of the world and its threat to the Christian life (1 John 2:15-17). He presented the worldnot as the global earth or the mass of humanity, which God Himself loves (John 3:16). Instead it is the community of sinful humanity that is united in rebellion against God. Here, John suggests that there are forces of spiritual darkness that guide and influence the world.

4. (5-6) The contrast between those in the world and those who are of God.

They are of the world. Therefore they speak as of the world, and the world hears them. We are of God. He who knows God hears us; he who is not of God does not hear us. By this we know the spirit of truth and the spirit of error.

a. They are of the world: Those who are of the world are evident because they speak as of the world; the influence of the world is evident in their speech. As Jesus said, out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks(Matthew 12:34).

b. And the world hears them: Those who are of the world are also evident because the world hears them. They face none of the rejection the child of God will face from the world (1 John 3:1), because they are friends with the world.

i. The world hears them: The Christian always wants to speak to the world, and to bring the gospel of Jesus Christ to the world. It is exciting when the world will listen to the gospel, but we must take care that they are not hearing us because we speak as of the world. Just because the world is hearing the message doesn’t prove that the message is God’s message.

c. He who knows God hears us: Those who are of God enjoy fellowship with other believers; they speak the common language of fellowship with God and with each other, because one flows from the other (1 John 1:3).

i. This language of fellowship transcends language, culture, class, race, or any other barrier. It is a true gift from God.

ii. In its official doctrines, the Roman Catholic Church has claimed to be the “us” in He who knows God hears us; he who is not of God does not hear us. But John can only be talking about the apostles and their authoritative revelation in the Bible when he says us. When we know God, and are of God, we hear what the Bible says.

iii. “If this were a mere individual talking, the claim would be presumptuous. But it is not. This is one of the apostles citing the collective testimony of all the apostles and making that testimony the measure of truth and sound doctrine.” (Boice)

d. He who is not of God does not hear us: Understanding just who hears what God has taught us through the apostles, as recorded in the New Testament, helps us to know the spirit of truth and the spirit of error. If someone hears what God has said in the Bible, we know he has the spirit of truth. If he does not hear it, he has the spirit of error.

i. John makes it clear that error has a spiritual dynamic to it; it isn’t just about being educated or smart. Some very educated, very smart people can still be influenced mightily by the spirit of error. Since error has a spiritual dynamic to it, keeping in the spirit of truth is a spiritual issue.

ii. We keep in the spirit of truth by clinging to Jesus, the One who said I am the truth(John 14:6).

B. Love perfected among us.

1. (7-8) The call to love.

Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. He who does not love does not know God, for God is love.

a. Beloved, let us love: The ancient Greek sentence begins in a striking way – agapetoi agapomen, “those who are loved, let us love.” We are not commanded to love one anotherto earn or become worthy of God’s love. We love one anotherbecause we are loved by God, and have received that love, and live in light of it.

b. Let us love one another, for love is of God: John’s emphasis on love among the people of God (shown in passages like 1 John 2:9-11 and 3:10-18) is powerful. Here, he shows why it is so important. If love is of God, then those who claim to be born of God, and claim to know God, must be able to love one anotherin the body of Christ.

i. Again, John insists that there is something that is given to the believer when they are born of God; a love is imparted to their life that they did not have before. Christians are not “justforgiven” – they are born anew by God’s Spirit.

c. And knows God: There are several different words in the ancient Greek language translated “know” into English. This specific word for knows(ginosko) is the word for a knowledge by experience. John is saying when we really experience God it will show by our love for one another.

i. Of course, this love is not perfected in the life of a Christian on this side of eternity. Though it may not be perfected, it must be present – and it should be growing. You can’t truly grow in your experience of God without also growing love for one another. John can boldly say, He who does not love does not know God. If there isn’t real love for God’s people in your life, then your claim to know God and experience God isn’t true.

d. Love is of God: The love John speaks of comes from the ancient Greek word agape; it is the concept of a self-giving love that gives without demanding or expecting re-payment – it is the God-kind of love.

i. Since this is God’s kind of love, it comes into our life through our relationship with Him. If we want to love one another more, we need to draw closer to God.

ii. Every human relationship is like a triangle. The two people in the relationship are at the base of the triangle, and God is at the top. As the two people draw closer to the top of the triangle, closer to God, they will also draw closer to one another. Weak relationships are made strong when both people draw close to the Lord!

e. Everyone who loves is born of God… He who does not love does not know God: This does not mean that every display of love in the world can only come from a Christian. Those who are not Christians still can display acts of love.

i. “It is because men are created in the image of God, an image that has been defaced but not destroyed by the Fall, that they still have the capacity to love… Human love, however noble and however highly motivated, falls short if it refuses to include the Father and Son as the supreme objects of its affection.” (Marshall)

f. For God is love: This is a glorious truth. Love describes the character and heart of God. He is so rich in love and compassion, that it can be used to describe His very being.

i. When we say God is love, we are not saying everythingabout God. Love is an essential aspect of His character, and colors every aspect of His nature. But it does not eliminate His holiness, His righteousness, or His perfect justice. Instead, we know the holiness of God is loving, and the righteousness of God is loving, and the justice of God is loving. Everything God does, in one way or another, expresses His love.

ii. “He hates nothing he has made. He cannot hate, because he is love. He causes the sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends his rain on the just and the unjust. He has made no human being for perdition, nor ever rendered it impossible, by any necessitating decree, for a fallen soul to find mercy. He has given the fullest proof of his love to the whole human race by the incarnation of his Son, who tasted death for every man. How can a decree of absolute, unconditional reprobation, of the greater part or any part of the human race, stand in the presence of such a text as this?” (Clarke)

iii. “Never let it be thought that any sinner is beyond the reach of divine mercy so long as he is in the land of the living. I stand here to preach illimitable love, unbounded grace, to the vilest of the vile, to those who have nothing in them that can deserve consideration from God, men who ought to be swept into the bottomless pit at once if justice meted out to them their deserts.” (Spurgeon)

iv. Great problems come when we try to say love is God. This is because love does not define everything in the character of God, and because when most people use the term love, they are not thinking of true love, the God-kind of love. Instead, they are thinking of a squishy, namby-pamby, have-a-nice-day kind of love that values being “nice” more than wanting what is really best for the other person.

v. The Bible also tells us that God is spirit (John 4:24), God is light (1 John 1:5), and that God is a consuming fire(Hebrews 12:29).

g. God is love: There are few people who really know and really believe that God is love. For whatever reason, they won’t receive His love and let it transform their lives. It transforms our life to know the love of God in this way.

i. “There is love in many places, like wandering beams of light; but as for the sun, it is in one part of the heavens, and we look at it, and we say, ‘Herein is light.’… He did not look at the Church of God, and say of all the myriads who counted not their lives dear unto them, ‘Herein is love,’ for their love was only the reflected brightness of the great sun of love.” (Spurgeon)

2. (9-11) The meaning of love and its application.

In this the love of God was manifested toward us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him. In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.

a. In this the love of God was manifested toward us, that God sent His only begotten Son: This shows us what love is and what it means. Love is not only defined by the sacrifice of Jesus (as stated in 1 John 3:16); it is also defined by the giving of the Father. It was a sacrifice for the Father to send the Second Person of the Trinity, and a sacrifice to pour out the judgment we deserved upon God the Son.

i. We need to appreciate this fully, and receive the Fatherly love God has to give us. Some of us, for whatever reason, have come to think of God the Father as aloof and mean, perhaps the so-called “angry God” of the Old Testament. In this wrong thinking, many imagine they prefer the nice and loving Jesus instead. But the Father loves us too; and the love Jesus showed in His ministry was the same love God the Father has towards us. We can receive the healing power in our Father’s love.

b. That God has sent His only begotten Son into the world: John is careful to call Jesus the only begotten Son. This special term means Jesus has a Sonship that is unique (only) and begotten indicates that Jesus and the Father are of the same substance, the same essential Being.

i. We use the term create to describe something that may come from someone, but isn’t of the same essential nature or being. A man can create a statue that looks just like him, but it will never be human. However, we use the term beget to describe something that is exactly the same as us in essential nature and being. We are adopted sons and daughters of God, but we are not of the same essential nature and being as God – we are human beings. But Jesus is the only begotten Son, meaning His Sonship is different than ours; He was and is of the same essential nature and being as God the Father. We are human beings; He is a “God-being” – who added humanity to His deity.

c. That we might live through Him: The love of the Father was not only in the sending of the Son, but also in what that sending accomplishes for us. It brings life to all who trust in Jesus and His work on their behalf, because He is the propitiation for our sins.

i. Propitiation has the idea of a sacrifice that turns away the wrath of God. God rightly regarded us, apart from Him, as worthy targets of His judgment. We were rebels and enemies of Him, even if we didn’t know it. But on the cross, Jesus took the punishment our sin deserved – His sacrifice turned away the judgment we would have received. We easily think how this shows the love of Jesus, but John wants us to understand it also shows the love of God the Father: He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins.

ii. That we might live through Him: The greatness of God’s love is shown not only in saving us from the judgment we deserved, but also in wanting us to live through Him. Do we live through Him? This is a great way to define the Christian life, to live through Him.

d. God has sent His only begotten Son: This shows the love of God, because love gives its best. There was nothing better God the Father could give to lost humanity than the gift of the Son of God Himself. As Paul describes it in 2 Corinthians 9:15, Jesus was the Father’s indescribable gift.

i. “If there was to be reconciliation between God and man, man ought to have sent to God; the offender ought to be the first to apply for forgiveness; the weaker should apply to the greater for help; the poor man should ask of him who distributes alms; but ‘Herein is love’ that God ‘sent.’ He was first to send an embassy of peace.” (Spurgeon)

e. He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins: This shows the love of God. It might have shown enough love that the Father sent the Son, and not some lower-grade angel; but He sent the Son, not on a fact-finding mission or merely a mission of compassion – He sent the Son to die for our sins.

i. “If God had merely sent Jesus to teach us about Himself, that would have been wonderful enough. It would have been far more than we deserved. If God had sent Jesus simply to be our example, that would have been good too and would have had some value… But the wonderful thing is that God did not stop with these but rather sent His Son, not merely to teach or to be our example, but to die the death of a felon, that He might save us from sin.” (Boice)

f. For our sins: This shows the love of God. God gave His Son to die, and to die for sinners. We can think of someone paying a great price to save someone deserving, someone good, someone noble, someone who had done much for them. But God did all this for rebels, for sinners, for those who had turned their backs on Him.

i. “But who among us would think of giving up his son to die for his enemy, for one who never did him a service, but treated him ungratefully, repulsed a thousand overtures of tenderness, and went on perversely hardening his neck? No man could do it.” (Spurgeon)

g. In this is love: Real love, agape love, is not defined by our love for God, but by His love for us. His love for us initiates our relationship of love with Him, our love only responds to His love for us. We can’t love God the way we should unless we are receiving and living in His love.

i. Our love for God doesn’t really say anything great about us. It is only the common sense response to knowing and receiving the love of God.

h. If God so loved us: Having received this love from God, we are directed to love one another. This pattern of receiving from God, then giving to others was familiar to John (John 13:14).

i. When Jesus washed the feet of the disciples, and showed such great love and servanthood to them, we might have expected Him to conclude by gesturing to His own feet and asking who among them was going to do to Him what He had just done for them. Instead, Jesus said: If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet(John 13:14). The proper way to love God in response to His love for us is to go out and love one another.

ii. This love will lead to practical action. “Has anybody offended you? Seek reconciliation. ‘Oh, but I am the offended party.’ So was God, and he went straight away and sought reconciliation. Brother, do the same. ‘Oh, but I have been insulted.’ Just so: so was God: all the wrong was towards him, yet he sent. ‘Oh, but the party is so unworthy.’ So are you; but ‘God loved you and sent his Son.’ Go write according to that copy.” (Spurgeon)

iii. If we do not love one another, how can we say that we have received the love of God and have been born of Him? Love is the proof we are taught to look for. If you had a pipe that was clogged – water kept going into it, but never came out, that pipe would be useless. You would replace it. Just so, God puts His love into our lives that it might flow out. We want the Lord to clear us and fill us so that His love can flow through us.

C. The nature of a love relationship with God.

1. (12) Seeing God through the evidence of love.

No one has seen God at any time. If we love one another, God abides in us, and His love has been perfected in us.

a. No one has seen God at any time: John relates a basic principle about God the Father – that no one, no one, has seen God at any time. Anyone claiming to have seen God the Father is speaking – at best – from their own imagination, because as John plainly states, no one has seen God at any time.

i. In speaking of God the Father, Paul wrote in 1 Timothy 1:17: Now to the King eternal, immortal, invisible. Jesus declared of God the Father, God is Spirit, (John 4:24) meaning that God the Father has no tangible body which may be seen.

ii. Knowing God the Father is invisible should make us more humble in our relationship with Him. God the Father is not completely knowable by us; we can’t completely figure out God, or know all His secrets. He is beyond us.

iii. Of course, no one has seen God the Holy Spirit at any time either, though He has represented Himself in various ways. And just as certainly, God the Son, Jesus Christ, has been seen – John himself testified to this in 1 John 1:1-3. But of God the Father, it can truly be said, no one has seen God at any time.

iv. “The Old Testament theophanies, including the apparently contradictory statement in Exodus 24:10, did not involve the full revelation of God as He is in Himself but only a suggestion of what He is in form that a human being could understand.” (Boice)

b. If we love one another, God abides in us: This is the greatest evidence of God’s presence and work among us – love. Since no one has seen God at any time, this provides evidence for the presence of God.

i. Some people think the greatest evidence of God’s presence or work is power. Some people think the greatest evidence of God’s presence or work is popularity. Some people think the greatest evidence of God’s presence or work is passionate feelings. But the greatest evidence of God’s presence and work is love. Where God is present and working, there will be love.

ii. Sometimes Jesus seemed weak and lacking in power, but He was always full of love. Sometimes Jesus wasn’t popular at all, but He was always full of love. Sometimes Jesus didn’t inspire passionate feelings in people at all, but He was always full of love. Love was the constant, greatest evidence of the presence and work of God in Jesus Christ.

c. His love has been perfected in us: Perfected uses the Greek word teleioo, which doesn’t mean “perfect” as much as “mature” and “complete.” If we love one another, then the love of God is “mature” and “complete” in us.

i. John comes back to the familiar idea: if we really walk in God’s love towards us, it will be evident in our love for one another.

ii. The mature Christian will be marked by love. Again, the true measure of maturity is not the image of power, or popularity, or passionate feelings – but the abiding presence of God’s love in our lives, given out to others.

2. (13-15) Assurance of the work of the Triune God in us.

By this we know that we abide in Him, and He in us, because He has given us of His Spirit. And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent the Son as Savior of the world. Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God.

a. We know that we abide in Him: By beginning with the words by this, John connected the thought of this verse directly to the previous verse. We can know by experience that we live in God, if His love has been perfected in us. And we know that His love has been perfected in us if we love one another.

i. Plainly, Christians can say, “We know.” We don’t have to merely “hope” we are saved, and “hope” we will make it to heaven, thus having no assurance of salvation before we pass from this world to the next. We can know, and we can know now, on this side of eternity.

b. We abide in Him, and He in us: Our abiding in Jesus is not a one-sided affair, with us struggling to abide in Him, and Jesus trying to escape us. Just as true as it is that we should abide in Him, it is true that He does abide in us.

i. Jesus said in John 15:4, Abide in Me, and I in you. And in John 15:7, He said, If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you. One of the ways Jesus abides in us – lives in us – is through His word.

c. He has given us of His Spirit: John brings up the work of the Holy Spirit in us at this point for two important connections. First, it is the Spirit of God in us that is the abiding presence of Jesus – the presence of His Spirit is howHe abides in us. Secondly, it is the testimony of the Holy Spirit within us that makes it possible for us to know that we abide in Him. As Paul puts it in Roman 8:16: The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God. The Holy Spirit gives us this assurance.

d. We have seen and testify: The “we” who give testimony in this verse are those who saw Jesus originally, the eyewitnesses to His presence. They knew the Father sent the Son as Savior of the world.

e. We have seen and testify: Speaking as one who has the Spirit of God (He has given us of His Spirit), John declares three essential truths about who God is and how He saves us.

· That the Father has sent the Son.

· That He (Jesus) was sent as Savior of the world.

· Knowing and understanding Jesus is the foundation for abiding in Him (Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God).

f. Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God: It isn’t enough to know the facts about who Jesus is; we must confess the truth. The idea behind the word confess is “to be in agreement with.” We must agree with God about who Jesus is, and we find out what God says about Jesus through the Word of God. You may know something without being in agreement with it; God demands our true agreement.

i. Though John has been writing much about love, he does not ignore the issue of truth. John does not think it is “enough” if a person has some kind of love in his life if he does not confess that Jesus is the Son of God. It isn’t a matter of deciding between love or truth; we must have both.

ii. “To acknowledge that Jesus is the Son of God is not simply to make a statement about his metaphysical status but to express obedient trust in the One who possesses such a status.” (Marshall)

iii. “To believe in Christ and to love the brethren are not conditions by which we may dwell in God but rather are evidences of the fact that God has already taken possession of our lives to make this possible.” (Boice)

3. (16) The Christian’s response to God and His love.

And we have known and believed the love that God has for us. God is love, and he who abides in love abides in God, and God in him.

a. And we have known and believed the love God has for us: This is the Christian’s proper response to who God is, and how He loves us. We are called to take the love and grace God gives, to know it by experience and to believe it. This is what fellowship with God is all about.

i. People respond to the love of God differently.

· Some respond with a sense of self-superiority (“I’m so great, even God loves me!”).

· Some respond with doubt (“Can God really love even me?”).

· Some respond with wickedness (“God loves me, so I can do what I want”).

· God wants us to respond by knowing (by experience) and believing the love God has for us.

ii. The Christian must knowand believe the love God has for us. We should consider what would it take to make us stop believing God loves us. Paul knew that nothing could separate him from the love of God that was in Jesus Christ (Romans 8:35-39), and each Christian should have the same confidence.

iii. “To feel God’s love is very precious, but to believe it when you do not feel it, is the noblest.” (Spurgeon)

b. He who abides in love abides in God, and God in him: The Christian who has this kind of relationship with God will be virtually “immersed” in God’s love; it becomes his environment, his place of abiding.

4. (17-18) The perfecting of love, both now and in eternity.

Love has been perfected among us in this: that we may have boldness in the day of judgment; because as He is, so are we in this world. There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves torment. But he who fears has not been made perfect in love.

a. Love has been perfected: For perfected, John doesn’t just use the Greek word teleioo (which has the idea of “maturity” and “completeness); he writes teleioo teleioo – speaking of love that is “perfectly perfected” or “completely complete.”

b. In the day of judgment: This is when the completeness of love’s work in us will be demonstrated. As much as we can know the completeness of God’s love now, we will know it all the more in the day of judgment.

· You may know you are a sinner now; you will really know it in the day of judgment.

· You may know now you are not a better person than those who are going to hell; you will really know it in the day of judgment.

· You may know the reality of hell now; you will really know it in the day of judgment.

· You may know the greatness of Jesus’ salvation now; you will really know it in the day of judgment.

c. That we may have boldness in the day of judgment: This shows the greatness of God’s work in us. We might be satisfied to merely survive the day of judgment, but God wants to so fill our lives with His love and His truth that we have boldness in the day of judgment.

i. The Bible says that one day, all of humanity will gather before God’s Great White Throne and face judgment. This day is coming! “The day of judgment is as fixed in God’s eternal timetable as any other day in world history.” (Boice)

ii. Some think they will go there and judge God (“When I see God, there’s a few questions I have for Him!”), but that is nonsense. The only way to have boldness in the day of judgment is to receive, and walk in, the transforming love of God today.

d. Boldness in the day of judgment: How can anyone have such boldness? We can imagine Jesus being bold before the throne of God, but us? Yet, if we abide in Him, and He in us(1 John 4:13), then our identity is bound up in Jesus: as He is, so are we in the world.

i. How is Jesus now? He is glorified, justified, forever righteous and bold, sitting at the right hand of God the Father. Spiritually, we can have that same standing now, while we are in the world, because as He is, so are we in the world.

ii. Certainly, this glory is in us now just in “seed” form; it has not yet fully developed into what it will be. But it is there, and its presence is demonstrated by our love for one another and our agreement with God’s truth – and that all serves to give us boldness.

e. There is no fear in love: The completeness of love means we do not cower in fear before God, dreading His judgment, either now or in the day of judgment. We know all the judgment we ever deserved – past, present, and future – was poured out on Jesus Christ on the cross.

i. What about the many passages of Scripture, Old and New Testament (such as Ecclesiastes 12:13 and 1 Peter 2:17), which tell us we should fear God? The fear John writes of here is not the appropriate reverence we should all have of God, but the kind of fear which involves torment – that agonizing kind of fear which robs our soul of all joy and confidence before God. It is the fear that is the opposite of boldness in the day of judgment.

f. But he who fears has not been made perfect in love: If our relationship with God is marked by this tormenting fear, it shows that we have not been made perfect – that is, complete, and mature – in His love.

5. (19) The reason for our love to Jesus.

We love Him because He first loved us.

Charles Spurgeon was a man who preached the whole counsel of God’s word, and was careful to not excessively repeat himself in any one area. Yet, he preached five remarkable sermons on these eight words alone. The following comments draw much from Spurgeon’s work on this single verse.

a. We love Him: In this great statement, John begins by declaring the heart of every true follower of Jesus Christ. Simply and boldly put, we love Him.

i. This is a fact for every true follower of Jesus. “There is no exception to this rule; if a man loves not God, neither is he born of God. Show me a fire without heat, then show me regeneration that does not produce love to God.” (Spurgeon)

ii. It is something that every Christian should be unafraid to proclaim: “I love Him; I love Jesus.” Can you say that? Are you embarrassed to say it? Can you say, “I love Jesus”?

iii. “I cannot imagine a true man saying, ‘I love Christ, but I do not want others to know that I love him, lest they should laugh at me.’ That is a reason to be laughed at, or rather, to be wept over. Afraid of being laughed at? Oh sir, this is indeed a cowardly fear!” (Spurgeon)

iv. “Look through all the pages of history, and put to the noblest men and women, who seem to still live, this question, ‘Who loves Christ?’ and, at once, up from dark dungeons and cruel racks there rises the confessors’ cry, ‘We love him;’ and from the fiery stake, where they clapped their hands as they were being burned to death, the same answer comes, ‘We love him.’ If you could walk through the miles of catacombs at Rome, and if the holy dead, whose dust lies there, could suddenly wake up, they would all shout, ‘We love him.’ The best and the bravest of men, the noblest and purest of women, have all been in this glorious company; so, surely, you are not ashamed to come forward and say, ‘Put my name down among them.’” (Spurgeon)

v. “Be out-and-out for him; unfurl your colours, never hide them, but nail them to the mast, and say to all who ridicule the saints, ‘If you have any ill words for the followers of Christ, pour them out upon me… but know this – ye shall hear it whether you like it or not, – “I love Christ.”’” (Spurgeon)

b. He first loved us: This verse not only declares our love for Jesus, it also tells us when He loved us. Some people imagine that Jesus loved us because He knew we would love Him and come to faith in Him. But He loved us before that, and even before the worlds were created, when our only existence was in the mind and heart of God, Jesus loved us.

i. He loved us when we were still sinners: “Every man that ever was saved had to come to God not as a lover of God, but as a sinner, and then believe in God’s love to him as a sinner.” (Spurgeon)

ii. “Jesus loved you when you lived carelessly, when you neglected his Word, when the knee was unbent in prayer. Ah! He loved some of you when you were in the dancing saloon, when you were in the playhouse, ay, even when you were in the brothel. He loved you when you were at hell’s gate, and drank damnation at every draught. He loved you when you could not have been worse or further from him than you were. Marvellous, O Christ, is thy strange love!” (Spurgeon)

c. We love Him because He first loved us: This verse tells us where our love for Jesus comes from. It comes from Him. Our love for God is always in response to His love for us; He initiates, and we respond. We never have to draw God to us; instead, He draws us to Himself.

i. “1. We love him because we find he has loved us. 2. We love him from a sense of obligation and gratitude. 3. We love him from the influence of his own love; from his love shed abroad in our hearts our love to him proceeds. It is the seed whence our love springs.” (Clarke)

ii. “His is the fountain love, ours but the stream: his love the inducement, the pattern, and the effective cause of ours. He that is first in love, loves freely; the other therefore loves under obligation.” (Poole)

iii. “I have sometimes noticed that, in addressing Sunday-school children, it is not uncommon to tell them that the way to be saved is to love Jesus, which is not true. The way to be saved for man, woman, or child is to trust Jesus for the pardon of sin, and then, trusting Jesus, love comes as a fruit. Love is by no means the root. Faith alone occupies that place.” (Spurgeon)

d. We love Him because He first loved us: This verse tells us whywe love Jesus, and how we can love Him more.

i. “Love believed is the mother of love returned.” (Spurgeon)

ii. “Yet we must not try to make ourselves love our Lord, but look to Christ’s love first, for his love to us will beget in us love to him. I know that some of you are greatly distressed because you cannot love Christ as much as you would like to do, and you keep on fretting because it is so. Now, just forget your own love to him, and think of his great love to you; and then, immediately, your love will come to something more like that which you would desire it to be.” (Spurgeon)

iii. “Now remember, we never make ourselves love Christ more by flogging ourselves for not loving him more. We come to love those better whom we love by knowing them better… If you want to love Christ more, think more of him, think more of what you have received from him.” (Spurgeon)

e. He first loved us: This means that it is true that He loves us now. Do you believe it? “Oh, if you do really believe that he has loved you so, sit down, and turn the subject over in your mind, and say to yourself, ‘Jesus loves me; Jesus chose me; Jesus redeemed me; Jesus called me; Jesus has pardoned me; Jesus has taken me into union with himself.’” (Spurgeon)

6. (20-21) The commandment to love.

If someone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen, how can he love God whom he has not seen? And this commandment we have from Him: that he who loves God must love his brother also.

a. If someone says, “I love God”: It is often easier for someone to proclaim his love for God, because that regards a private relationship with an invisible God. But John rightly insists that our claim of loving God is false if we do not also love our brother, and that this love must be seen.

i. One may be a spiritual dwarf because one lacks love. One may know the Word, may never miss a service, may pray fervently, and may demonstrate gifts of the Spirit. Yet in it all, that one may be like Cain, offering to God the fruit of his hands and not the fruit of the Spirit.

b. If someone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar: By this crucial measure, Jesus said the world could measure our status as disciples by the measure of our love for one another. By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another(John 13:35).

i. There is a difference between the love of man, and divine love. “These verses are the equivalent of saying that a person cannot practice agape-love unless he can first practice philia-love.” (Boice)

c. And this commandment we have from Him: We have a commandment to love. Though love springs forth from our abiding relationship with God and comes from our being born of Him, there is also an essential aspect of our will involved. We are therefore commanded to love our brother in Christ.

i. Being born of God and abiding with Him give us the ability to love; but it is a choice of our will to draw upon that resource and give it out to others. Therefore we are given a command to love, that he who loves God must love his brother also.

ii. Because of this, the excuse “I just can’t love that person” (or other such excuses) is invalid. If we are born of Him and are abiding in Him then the resources for love are there. It is up to us to respond to His command with our will and whole being.

d. He who loves God must love his brother also: We can also learn how to love God by loving people. One might say, “I want to love God more; I want to grow in my love for Him. But how can I love a God who is invisible?” God would say to us, “Learn to love Me, Whom you cannot see, by loving My children, whom you can see.”

i. Jesus said in Matthew 5:23-24, Therefore if you bring your gift to the altar, and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there before the altar, and go your way. First be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift. God is more pleased when you get it right with your brother, than if you bring Him a sacrifice of praise or resources.

When a person receives Christ as his Savior, he experiences the delight of “first love” for the Lord. God’s Spirit witnesses with his spirit that he is a child of God (see Romans 8:16), and this newfound relationship brings great joy and freedom.

Unfortunately, many Christians fall away from this first love. When a believer does not depend on God to meet his daily needs, his love for God grows cold.

Jesus addressed this issue when He spoke to the church of Ephesus. Jesus said: “I have somewhat against thee, because thou hast left thy first love. Remember therefore from whence thou art fallen, and repent, and do the first works . . .”(Revelation 2:4–5). If you find yourself in this position, ask God to have mercy on you and to rekindle your love for Him.

Remember, Repent, and Do the “First Works”

Recalling your salvation experience and your first love for the Lord can help you recognize changes that have developed in your relationship with God since then. Do you have a greater or weaker sense of your need for God now? Are you cooler toward God and less passionate about spiritual things than you once were?

If so, repent of your indifference toward God. Repentance involves a change of mind, heart, and direction. Forsake the thoughts, attitudes, and actions that have drawn your attention away from wholehearted love for God. Receive God’s forgiveness, and renew your commitment to do the “first works” of your faith.

Understand the Purpose of Doing the “First Works”

In Revelation 2:5, the word firstmeans “foremost (in time, place, order or importance),” and the word works is defined as “toil (as an effort or occupation).” In other words, if you find that you have left your first love for the Lord, get your priorities back in order and do the most important things.

Obviously, from the definition of work, this involves effort; it is not something that happens without effort on your part or without grace on God’s part. First works could refer to many “important efforts,” and here we will discuss several of them: worship, prayer, Bible study, giving, fasting, and service to others. Each of these activities is designed to deepen your intimate relationship with God.

Worship

One of the ways that we bring glory to God and cultivate our love for Him is by worshiping Him. Take time to ponder God. Consider His acts in creation and in the circumstances of your life. Adore Him. Sing praises to Him. Bless His holy name.

“One thing have I desired of the Lord, that will I seek after; that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the Lord, and to inquire in his temple” (Psalm 27:4).

Prayer

Each aspect of prayer is designed to remind you of your dependence on God:

• Petitions bring to mind the spiritual, emotional, and physical needs that you face each day. Your resources cannot meet these needs—you need God’s intervention.
• Requests reveal your motives. Are you seeking to advance God’s kingdom, or are you attempting to build your own kingdom (i.e., satisfying selfish desires)?
• Confession recognizes your unworthiness before a holy God and His immeasurable mercy and love for you, His child.
• Thanksgiving reflects an understanding of your dependence on God as you thank Him for meeting specific needs.
• Intercession is the means by which you share the needs of others before God’s throne.

“In every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God. And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus” (Philippians 4:6–7).

God’s Word: Study, Memorization, and Meditation

Reading, studying, memorizing, and meditating on Scripture causes you to grow in grace and in the knowledge of your Lord Jesus Christ. As “newborn babes” you are to “desire the sincere milk of the word, that ye may grow thereby” (I Peter 2:2). The awareness of your need for God will fuel your desire for His Word.

Studying the Bible may lead to discouragement as you learn about God’s holiness and how far short you fall from His perfection. God commands Christians to be holy as He is holy (see I Peter 1:15–16), but instead of fostering discouragement, this understanding can create a deepening sense of need before your loving, merciful Father. (See Romans 5:8, Psalm 103:14, and Philippians 2:12–13.)

Giving

Jesus instructed His disciples, “Freely ye have received, freely give” (Matthew 10:8). Generosity offsets the compulsion to be “rich, and increased with goods”(Revelation 3:17), a state of life that can cool your love for God. Giving a tithe (ten percent of your income) or more is not simply a way to financially support the Church—it is a regular reminder that all you have belongs to God. (See I Timothy 6:17–19.)

Fasting

Fasting effectively demonstrates the reality that life does not consist of the things you possess (see Luke 12:15 and Deuteronomy 8:3) and deepens your awareness of spiritual, mental, and emotional needs.

Serving

Ask the Lord to give you attentiveness to His voice as He brings needs to your attention and directs you to meet them—in His strength, with His love, and for His glory. As you serve in His name, you will know the joy of the Lord, which is your strength. (See Nehemiah 8:10.)

If you have left your first love for the Lord, remember, repent, and return to the first works of your faith. May God rekindle your love for Him!

Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect(Matthew 5:48). In these words from the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus is telling His disciples—and others—about a love they had never before experienced: perfected love. They had heard of the love of the Father, but they never had been able to really absorb it all. God’s great, perfect love was a love that loved enemies, that caused people to pray for those who despitefully used them. Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect. What was Jesus talking about?—being perfect in love. We won’t be perfect to others in all of our human ways; but when we are perfect in love, we are perfect before God.

But whoso keepeth his word, in him verily is the love of God perfected (I John 2:5). If you keep His Word—the Word of God—you do not gossip, you do not talk or act in a manner unlike God, but yield your mind to the Word of God that you have kept in your heart. With the Word in your heart, the love of God is perfected in you. We must keep His Word in us. The Psalmist wrote, Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against thee(Psalm 119:11). The love of God brings healing to body and soul. Human love is kindness in perfection for others when it’s touched by God and coupled with the love of God.

Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind (Matthew 22:37). How are you going to love God?—with all your heart, mind and soul—something impossible to do with just human love. It takes the Holy Spirit to bring human love into the place you will love God and yield to God’s love in your human spirit. With God’s love and through God’s love, every part of you will love. The “whole you,” using God’s love and human love, will be complete in love.

Real human love and the love of God together are beautiful when human love is brought to that place of perfection in God the way it was in the Garden of Eden before the fall of man.

Unfortunately, since the fall, human love has been terribly contaminated by the enemy, by people giving their minds and hearts to Lucifer. Lack of love has caused countless broken homes, children to be needful and deserted. Mother and Daddy have gone astray, forgetting God, their children and each other; everything worthwhile they’ve turned their backs on. Lives and souls sold to the devil have only the love of God as their hope.

This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself (verses 38,39). You will love that neighbor as you love yourself when you use the love of God combined with your human love. You love your neighbor, in other words, as God loves that neighbor. How can this be?—through God’s love. You may not love all the ways of that neighbor—he could be an unlovable, miserable person, and you need not socialize with him—but you love the soul as you love your own soul. It is not God’s will that any should perish but that all come to the knowledge of the truth. Love your neighbor as you love your own soul to the point that you want that neighbor to go to Heaven just as much as you want to go. That’s God’s love. You have that kind of love because you have God’s love. His love brings a largeness to your soul that will embrace a lost and dying world. To love God with the “whole you” means serving God with all your strength, all your heart, all of you.

The Spirit of the Early Church

If the Holy Spirit can work with God’s love through man’s yielding, His work will be done. It happened in the Early Church. Every action was filled with God’s love until converts were just swept into the Kingdom. The Early Church praised and adored Him; they were in one mind and one accord. As long as they kept that spirit, great works were wrought in the name of Jesus. Not since Early Church days has God been able to bless people the way He wants. Why? He could not find enough true human love to combine with His love. But now in this final hour, He is blessing and pouring out His Spirit again.

For ages too few people have sought the love of God; now that love is reaching out throughout the world. We live in a reaching–out, a reaching–up time. People are seeking more of God than they have since the early rain of the Spirit when the Holy Spirit fell at Pentecost. We’re receiving the latter part of that rain in this Holy Ghost dispensation, a dispensation which will end with the Bride of Christ being taken out at the second coming of Jesus. The Bride is walking with strength; she loves Jesus with her whole heart, and she is giving all of herself in this final hour. Loving God so completely that she can rejoice evermore in His love being poured out, the Bride is strengthening her love in His. Paul told us through the Spirit of God to rejoice evermore. When you love God with all your heart, mind and soul, it’s easy to rejoice; you just bubble with the love of God.

God Hears Every Word

Pray without ceasing (I Thessalonians 5:17). Love the Lord with heart, mind and soul. Delight in prayer. Know He is listening. God’s love tells you that every time you pray, you have the ear of God; but you must have your heart filled with the love of God—completely filled—to know that God hears each word. Be conscious that every time you speak, God hears you. You don’t have to struggle to get the ear of God. He said His ears were always open to the righteous. In everything, the Bible tells us, give thanks (verse 18). In other words, give thanks for everything that comes from God. Don’t give thanks for that which comes from the devil—that would be ridiculous! Can you imagine praising God because you were mugged? In one book, parents were told to praise God that their daughter had become pregnant out of wedlock. God didn’t have anything to do with that—why praise Him for it? There was no praise for God in the situation at all. God does not want you to praise Him when people commit sin. Wake up! People are putting out all kinds of false doctrines, foolish teachings. Don’t praise God for disasters, but in everything give thanks for His blessings. All good and perfect gifts come from God. Praise God for His works and the things that glorify His name.

Come, See a Man!

I don’t claim to understand God’s love, but I’m so glad He has shown me how to use it. The learning process has taken a long time. In the beginning of my walk with the Lord, I used enough of His love to become saved; I thought His love was the greatest thing in the world. I was so full of His love I wanted to tell everybody about it, but I hadn’t begun to realize how mighty and powerful that love really was.

The disciples at first didn’t understand His love. Jesus said that He had meat to eat that they didn’t know about. Bubbling with love, the Master told the woman at the well the story of redemption. She became so excited she left her waterpots and ran to tell others. Come see a man! she cried to the townspeople. The Lord had told her all about herself, and the truth had set her free. Come see a man who told me all things that I have ever done! The weight of sin lifted and the condemnation left. Struggling with condemnation, you don’t talk about your salvation; but when condemnation is gone, liberty and freedom are yours; you are glad, so very free and happy. The woman at the well felt light as a feather; she felt more like flying than walking. How do I know? That’s the sensation I experienced when the Spirit of God came upon me.

God’s eternal love is wonderful love; it works when nothing else will. God’s love changes people who seem to be incorrigible. God’s love moves people to work for God when they have been determined in their hearts to do nothing.

Love Strong Enough to Shatter Rocks

Love, love, love. Let the Word and the love of God rule your life, your actions; and you will be a great blessing to the Kingdom in this final hour. The blessings God will pour out through you will amaze everyone around you.

God’s love moved upon the face of the earth and shook people to the very cores of their beings. At one time Jesus told people that if they didn’t praise Him, the rocks would cry out. The love of God can change a rock. God’s love is strong enough to shatter rocks. How wonderful to know you can have and use the love of God!

People talk about God’s love, but such a few know it. Never have they taken enough love of God into their hearts to have really experienced it, for it to be noticeable. Never have they mixed enough of God’s love with their human love to straighten out their own love.

Love as Christ Loved the Church

Divine love in a marriage will heal the rough edges; it will remove the fuss, the grumbles and keep a couple from interacting like dogs and cats. Many marriages do not have enough love of God in them. The love of God can enable you to overcome the lacking part of human love. To have what God calls a perfect marriage, two people must be joined together in human love and in God’s love.

Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it (Ephesians 5:25). Some men cause needless conflict by insisting their wives obey them. The Bible does say the wife should obey her husband, but it also says a husband should love his wife as Christ loved the church and gave His life for it. When a man loves his wife like that, he doesn’t consider the question of who is or who is not the boss. The marriage is filled with harmony when love is used.

The man who loves his wife like Christ loved the church and gave His life for it is loving and giving, loving and giving. There are no grumbles, only love, love, love—God’s love as well as human love. That God–love in you purifies the human love and removes imperfections if you will allow it. You will love like Christ loved the Church. Some of you love your husband or wife with only human love. You became accustomed to living like that, and when you came to the Lord you didn’t use God’s love on your marriage. You used God’s love at church or on someone else but not on your marriage. Use God’s love on your marriage, on your children, your home. A home without God’s love needs to be redecorated, remodeled. You can make those changes; the love of God will help you, but you must have both human love and God’s love working.

Your companion will not live for God? Then you simply must do the best you can. That’s all God can do—the best He can under the circumstances. That unsaved companion ties your hands and the hands of God many times. There is no need to wallow in despair over it; pity the sinner who will go to hell one day if there is no repentance. If you saw someone dropping into hell—even if you didn’t love him at all with your human love—you’d hold on and pray for him. Talk to your unsaved companion with love, letting him know the Lord loves him and you love him. Perhaps that husband or that wife has hurt you so much you don’t think you do love that one—love with God’s love. Don’t tell your mate, “I love you only with God’s love”; for God’s love is a part of you, too. God’s love is greater and deeper than your human love anyway. Don’t qualify your expressions of love. Don’t say, “I hate your nasty ways, and if you don’t change I’m going to have nothing more to do with you.” Be careful. Just say, “I love you,” knowing that by using God’s love you do love your companion! With God’s love you have love for the soul even though you hate the wicked ways.

Two children of God living together, battling, is a different situation than one being saved and one not. Two children of God living together and not getting along is a result of not accepting God’s love. Why?—different reasons. Perhaps they are too stubborn; perhaps they feel even God cannot bridge the gulf between them. They do not realize what is available to them in God. Perhaps they prefer the excitement of new relationships; perhaps they simply don’t want to make the effort to love. There are many reasons why people don’t use God’s love—but it’s still available.

You have a marvelous marriage when you love your mate better than yourself; I had that kind of marriage, and I know it’s possible. My wife Angel and I were joined together with God’s love as well as human love. I’d rather have cried than seen Angel cry—let me do the crying. I loved her too much to see her hurt. My love wanted to dry every tear Angel shed; but she cried over the lost, and those were tears I couldn’t touch. I loved her so much I’d rather have done all the fasting, but she wouldn’t have stood for that—and God wouldn’t have been pleased either. I would have made Heaven down here on Earth for her had I been able. You could hurt me but not her, and she felt the same about me. When you know you don’t want anyone to hurt the one you love, you know you won’t hurt that one either.

I don’t tell the story of my marriage so you will resent yours. I tell it so you will know what is possible in a relationship when you use God’s love.

Angel was a prayer warrior, one I could depend on. She carried the burden of the ministry as though she were doing the preaching herself. She knew the messages had come from God, and she helped me pray down the power of God so I could give it to the people.

If your human love is losing patience, God’s love can take over. God’s love is patient. Reach out to gather an armful of God’s love when your own is inadequate. Use it in your job, your marriage, your home. Home is a valuable place that should be furnished completely with love.

Make God’s Love the Center of Your Marriage

Love was the center of marriage in the Garden of Eden. God had made a garden of love; everything was love. The fruit trees were love, created by the hands of love. Heaven is made with the pure love of God. When Jesus came to buy back what was lost in the fall of man, He bought back the loving home, made it possible for a man and woman to be joined together by God in human love and in God’s love. What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder (Matthew 19:6). There is a price to pay to use God’s love, but He has given His love to bring people together, holy before Him. As people yield to God, He will give the healing balm. The love of God is sufficient.

Many are unhappy because they have not waited on the will of God. Your marriage may be on the rocks; but if both marriage partners will reach out for the love of God, it can be pulled off the rocks in a hurry. Although God can establish your goings, in a marriage it takes two to work together with Him. If your companion will not work at it, however, just show a lot of love, God’s love.

Is there something that eats away in your heart? The love of God will cover it. The love of God takes the petty grumbles out of you—and the big ones, also. It sweetens your spirit. We need a sweetening of the spirit. Too often we are like bitter waters. In Old Testament days, just a figure of the Cross sweetened the waters when Moses cut down a tree—a type of the Cross—and threw it into the waters. Suddenly the bitterness was gone. With Jesus you can be a sweet wife, a loving husband. God can put it in you if it isn’t there. What God gives you must be used if you expect to keep it. God will give you love, and only as you use it will it increase. Rather than following your impulses, follow love; follow the Word. Walk in the Word. So many go by impulse, by feelings, until discord runs wild in the home.

Perhaps you resolved to be good all day; but something happened you did not like, and on impulse you gave in to your feelings. You pouted the rest of the day—two people living together and refusing to speak! No wonder you doubt each other’s love! I’d doubt God’s love if He didn’t speak to me at times; and at other times would say, I sure do love you.

The Lord said to never let the sun go down on your wrath. Don’t go to sleep angry with your spouse. Make things right. Apologize. You weren’t in the wrong? Apologize for your bad reaction. You cannot have anger against your mate and still go to sleep with a heart full of God’s love. It’s an impossibility. What can you do? Clean house spiritually. You have things that shouldn’t be: clean them out. Take time to go into the attic. When you wake in the morning angry, you won’t have a God–day unless you change. God’s way is waking up in His love. Go to sleep in His love and wake up in His love—you can’t do it with resentment or grudges in your heart. You must love the Lord with all your heart, mind and strength.

All You Need Is in God’s Love

God’s love is wonderful! It’s the remedy for the world today, for all who will accept it. God’s love is a powerful force that could cure the whole sinful world if they would reach out for it. God so loved this world that He gave Jesus. That’s all the love this world needs, not another ounce. When God gave Jesus, He gave more love than countless worlds could use in countless ages. God gave so much love through Jesus that it will last for time and eternity, enough love to fill the universe. God sent the Holy Spirit to live and dwell on the inside of each child of God—who will accept Him—to keep the love of God flowing daily. Yield to the Holy Spirit, and all the bitterness, all the grumps will go, all the strife, envy and jealousy. Yielding to the Holy Spirit is yielding to God’s love. God’s love destroys the works of the devil. Jesus came and used God’s love for that purpose. God’s love saves, heals, delivers. God’s love purifies. There is nothing God’s love cannot do for us because in that love is Calvary, the Resurrection and every promise of God. God’s love contains all you could ever need, the whole cure for the whole person. Healing for soul, mind and body is in God’s love.

God’s love includes not only this life but the next, spanning from time to eternity, a love bridge. Love conquered death for you. The Psalmist said, Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me (Psalms 23:4). Why need you fear no evil?—because the love of God is with you.

If You Have God’s Love, You Have God

When God’s love is with you, God is with you. You can’t have God’s love without having God; it’s an impossibility. Wherever you find God’s love you find God. If you have God’s love in your heart, you have God. He’s yours. God’s love leads you to obey His commands. His love compels you to search the Scripture to find what God has planned for you. You will learn your destiny through His Love Book; His love is woven throughout. God’s love was very patient toward Noah and the building of the ark. In Abraham’s day His love was great. Moses experienced God’s love in a wonderful way. As long as the Israelites yielded to God’s love, it supplied all their needs. God’s love created a highway through the Red Sea; it turned the Israelites into wealthy people; but through Israel’s not using God’s love, they lost it all. God still loved them, although He was angry with their disobedient ways—that’s the wonderful, longsuffering part of God.

Whenever human eyes will look sincerely to Him, God moves. “God, I’m sorry. God I repent,” and God comes rushing in. Over and over He forgave the Israelites, opened up His arms and hugged them to Him. He rained down bread from Heaven for them; He wouldn’t let their shoes or clothes wear out. God was their all–in–all in the wilderness; and in the wilderness of this life, God is our all–in–all. God sheltered the Israelites from the sun with a cloud by day and warmed them at night with a pillar of fire…protection whenever they needed. Seeing how God supplied the needs of the Israelites has been a great strength to me. Since He moved so greatly for them, why should we fear; why should we worry about God’s love? If God kept loving them, providing for them, caring for them in such a beautiful way, don’t you know God will provide for you who yield to His love? You have nothing to fear, nothing to worry about.

God wants complete submission to His Word so His love can flow into us and through us. When you yield totally to God, He will give you more than your wants; He will more than supply your needs. God put much stress on love. He knows love is so valuable, that in His great wisdom, He has provided the fruit of the Spirit called love. God’s fruit of love is produced in your life by your yielding to the Holy Spirit through the human love that has already been given to you. Human love conditions and prepares the soil for the Holy Spirit to be able to bear more love, His love. The Holy Spirit bears the fruits of the Spirit in the lives of every child of God who will yield to Him. The fruits of the Spirit are divine fruits, grown in the purity of God’s love. You cannot produce them; only the Holy Spirit, only God’s Spirit can produce that which is divine. He grows those fruits inside us to the degree we yield to the Holy Spirit, the power for service.

Yield completely to God in fastings, prayers and living in the Word. Many helps are available from God to keep self under subjection. Walk in His love, and you will be in His presence. You do not need to seek His presence; just walk in His love. Walking in His love all the day long, you live a wonderful day, no matter the valleys you walk through. The power of the Lord fills the valleys for you with the glory of God.

False Doctrine Is Raging

Man has published books on how to amass wealth and gain peace of mind, and man even uses Scripture to back up his theories; but the verses are out of context, the books out of order that say you can have the peace of God and the love of God through your own efforts. God is the One who gives His love; man does not receive God’s love through a do–it–yourself kit. Success in this world is man’s goal—success that you bring about yourself—and God is left out of the picture. “Visualize success and you have it.” No, that isn’t what the Lord said. He said, If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you. If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love; even as I have kept my Father’s commandments, and abide in his love (John 15:7,10). False doctrine and deceit concerning the Scripture is raging today. People are deceived about love—human love and God’s love.

People need to know what is going on, what is false doctrine and what is not. Deceiving spirits make people think they don’t need God. False doctrine and deceiving spirits are covering our nation. What is the answer?—love—God’s love.

The thirteenth chapter of I Corinthians, the love chapter, tells some of the things God’s love will and won’t do. It gives you the truth about love; and if you will accept the truth, the truth will set you free. It is not beyond you to yield to God’s love. God’s love will help anyone who will let it. Charity [love]suffereth long (I Corinthians 13:4). God’s love is longsuffering, not human love. Only if human love is coupled with God’s love will it suffer long. Love suffereth long, and is kind. As human beings we sometimes have trouble being kind. Love envieth not; love vaunteth not itself. Love doesn’t brag and boast; it has no ego.

Scripture Misrepresented over Television

I saw an example of man’s ego on television recently, a do–it–yourself kit to make yourself over. A woman was expounding on her ideas. Scriptures were brought in to endorse self and the “magic” of self esteem. “Invest in yourself,” I was told—but Jesus said to deny self so the love of God can take over. The woman tells her husband: “I am sweet. I am loving. I am kind, and I make a lot of money.” (She said it, not her husband.) “Flaunt your prosperity. Focus on your desires. Put an image in your mind and bring about whatever you set your mind on.” There is much teaching like this today: name and claim. The occult is filled with it. “Focus only on security”; God is not mentioned as a focal point. The Lord tells us to keep our eyes on Him.

“Be grateful for what you have,” but she never said to be thankful to God. She said she felt important because she had five bathrooms. Really? Most people can only use one bathroom at a time. When you don’t know God and the reality of God, you have to substitute, to make your own life; and that life can be a mess. “The Bible says to believe you will have something, and you will have it,” she said. She forgot the qualification, IF YE ABIDE IN ME, AND MY WORDS ABIDE IN YOU, ye shall ask what ye will. If you love me,Jesus said, you will keep my commandments. This woman was not telling about God and what He would do; she was out to make money, to sell her tapes on getting rich. A lot of people have the get–rich itch. If you want God’s way in your life, you must accept the complete Word of God. It’s impossible to improve on God’s way; His way is a way of love.

This woman went on to say, “Simply decide the person you want to be, and you can be that person.” Paul said, I can do all things through Christ. He did not claim he could make himself whomever he wanted to be. Paul left self out. “Fake it until you make it,” this woman continued. Many are faking life; and they are never going to make it, never accomplish much. “Act as though you are rich when you are not.” Play rich, play you are really important. No man be good unless God is in him, the Bible tells us. This woman was teaching how to feed the ego, how to live in a false world. God’s love does not boast.

This woman wore two watches. Why? She couldn’t read the dial on the expensive one, so she wore a cheap one she could see—one for show, one for go. The more I listened to her, the more ridiculous she sounded. She was so far away from the Bible that there was no God in her words at all. “Be transformed by the renewing of your mind,” she said. “You can be everything you want to be.” She, in other words, said you could transform yourself. That isn’t what the Lord said! Your mind is transformed through the Spirit of God; you can’t do it yourself. Paul was everything he wanted to be in the world; but when he found God, he counted it all as dung that he might win Christ. If this woman ever really finds Jesus, she will agree with Paul. Self must be cast down.

A man’s life consisteth not in the abundance of the things which he possesseth (Luke 12:15). This woman is teaching people that life is in what you own. If you don’t own anything, simply visualize it, and you’ll have it. A home with five bathrooms is “living”?

I heard the story of a man who wanted to be buried in his Cadillac. The hole was dug; and, as the corpse in the Cadillac was being lifted down into the grave, a man was heard to say, “Now that’s really living!”

Jesus said, I have come that you might have abundant life. I am the way. I am truth; I am life. Since Jesus is life and truth, there is no real life without Him. Many have come and gone, built mansions, making their own lives. They did not receive life from the Master, and the lives they made were short indeed. When man and woman create their own lives apart from God, it all comes to nought.

Why do material possessions make people feel they are special? One little earthquake can destroy it all; and their lives, what they have been boasting about, are wiped out. Jesus didn’t boast on Himself when He was here. He praised the Father.

Then said Jesus unto his disciples, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me (Matthew 16:24). To have the love of God, the first thing you must do is deny self.

Let God’s Love Flow through You

Look to God. The devil will try to block it, but God’s love is greater than any other power. Let God’s love open your eyes to how the devil tries to rob you, how he cheats you out of what God intends you to have. If you have been listening to wrong teaching, let the Word of God flow into your heart; let God deliver you. Paul said, It’s not I that liveth, but Christ who liveth in me. Let God deliver you from the spirit of ego and self. Only God can set you free. Seek every particle of God’s love that you can. Like a starving man reaching out for food, reach out for more of God’s love. Seek His love. Take in more of it. Let God help you comprehend, use and apply more of His love in your life each day. Ask Him to help you work with and through it in a greater way. God goes into action when His pure love is free to flow.

What are you reaching out for: a life of your own making or a life God has prepared for you? Let the love of God perfect you. If you yield to God’s love, you need not worry about backsliding or sinning. Fear will have no dominion over you when you are completely filled with God’s love. Perfect love casteth out all fear. Don’t love in word only but in every part of your being. Let God’s love flow through you. The more you show your love for God, the more He shows you His love. It works. You cannot separate God from His love.

We will never be able to understand all about His love, but we can comprehend enough to walk in it. Love will heal your marriage; love will heal scars; love will heal on the job.

Present yourself before God and take His love. Give your best to Him, and He will give His best to you. God has a special love for you; God is moving through love. Receive from the Lord—be in a condition to receive His love; clean resentment and bitterness and sin out of your heart. God is flowing His love, and in His great love is everything needed. And Jesus said, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.

JUNE, 1987, ERNEST ANGLEY, founder & editor in chief, Vol. 32, No. 3, The Power of the Holy Ghost USPS 516-050) is published bimonthly by Grace Cathedral, 1055 Canton Road, Akron, Ohio, 44312. Periodicals postage paid at Akron, Ohio, and additional offices. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to The Power of the Holy Ghost, P.O. Box 1790, Akron, Ohio, 44309.

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