“He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love.” I Jn. 4:8
As eternal and infinite and unsearchable as God is, aren’t you glad that He explains Himself as love? You can lack intelligence and not even know how to read, but you can still know what love is. If you know what love is then you have the capacity to have a simple understanding of God.
“Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God is one LORD: 5And thou shalt love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might.” Dt. 6:4-5
A Christian said to a pastor friend of mine that there is too much preaching about love today. In response, my friend said, “You can never preach too much about love.” I have to agree with him, for God is love. The problem isn’t too many sermons about love; it is sermons preached without love. Another problem is sermons that only preach about the love God has for us and not challenging the church to love God with all their heart, soul and might. The whole message of love must be preached, and it will be, if love for God dominates the preacher.
“Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it;” Eph. 5:25
I love going to church because it’s a gathering of people who get the focus and attention of Christ’s love. He gave Himself for the church. For those who are independent of the church, they miss out on that special love.
“Let my mouth be filled with thy praise and with thy honour all the day.” Ps. 71:8
Some Christians may say that this verse is an exaggeration. Who can praise and honor God all day long? If you know a man that is going to be marrying a virgin that he loves, ask him who is on his mind. Ask the family who is going on a great vacation in a few days what their minds are on. Ask young children a few days before Christmas what they are thinking about. You can’t help but to think about and ponder on that which you are excited about.
“There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear: because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love.” I Jn. 4:18
It isn’t so much the love from people around you that casts out fear, it is love for God that casts out fear. The more you know God the more you love Him. The more you love Him the more your love for Him is perfected. It is in that love that a saint trusts the Lord with every aspect of their life, thus casting away ANY and ALL fear.
“There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear: because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love.” I Jn. 4:18
You cannot counsel fear away. You cannot reason fear away. It will not flee before psychology. Perfect love is what casts out fear.
“But the children of Israel committed a trespass in the accursed thing: for Achan, the son of Carmi, the son of Zabdi, the son of Zerah, of the tribe of Judah, took of the accursed thing: and the anger of the LORD was kindled against the children of Israel.” Josh. 7:1
Achan committed the trespass, but the children of Israel took the blame for it. That doesn’t seem right, but this can help us see how important it is to belong to a good fellowship. One that has a great love for God and one another. One that cares about the spiritual condition of one another. One that prays for each other that we all keep our lives pure and spotless before the Lord. If a fellowship can share in the blame of a trespass others commit, then they also can share in the righteousness others live. Let us encourage each other on to righteous and godly living.
“Ye have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbour, and hate thine enemy. 44But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you;” Mt. 5:43-44
This is the first time it is recorded in the gospels where Jesus teaches about love. His first mention of it is directed toward man and the obligation he has to love. Jesus goes on to teach on how man is to love God and love His neighbor, more than He teaches about how God loves us. About 16 verses in the gospels, Jesus exhorts man to love God and man, while only around 7 times does Jesus refer to God’s love for us. Some of these preachers today really have this reversed.
It is apparent that many of our politicians and most in the media have lost their ability to tell the truth. It wasn’t too long ago that one of our presidents became famous for lying. Jokes were made about his dishonesty. Instead of making jokes, this country should have been repenting. Today, the current man in the oval office has no sense of true or false anymore. He can go to an event and say one thing, and then go to another event and say the opposite and get an applause every time. It is not just him, who has mastered lying, but many others have made an art out of being dishonest, and then to have the press give a free pass to whatever they say is a source of major frustration. I often say, I am sure glad that the kingdom I belong to is an eternal kingdom that has a righteous King. Hallelujah! Now Paul tells us that we are not to judge the world, for they are judged already (I Cor. 5:12-13), so my purpose in even mentioning the bankruptcy of truth amongst the leaders of our nation is to lead up to an even more grievous situation that has to do with the church of Jesus Christ. Many times, the things that prevail in our society make its way into the church, and when it comes to this subject of truth, it seems there is a growing resistance towards it. I don’t know if saints really comprehend just what truth is and its connection with the kingdom of God.
For starters, the absolute most important thing we must understand about truth is that truth is more than just something factual. According to John 14:6 Jesus said, “…I am the way, the truth, and the life:..” Sometimes, we hear a verse so often that we never pay close attention to what it really says. Jesus said some very significant things in this verse. First He teaches that the “way” is more than just a path to follow, the way is the person, Jesus. To get to the Father you follow the narrow way, which is nothing other than being in Christ. When Christians proclaim the truth that Jesus is the only way, the world views them as very narrow minded. However, those of us that are in Christ know there is nothing narrow about Him. He is infinite! Jesus continues on to make a proclamation about truth. Jesus told His disciples more than just true things; He told them that He Himself is TRUTH. So the very first thing we must understand about truth is that it is more than a fact, it is a person by the name of Jesus Christ. That understanding alone should change the way every Christian thinks about truth. Whenever we downplay truth, we are downplaying Christ. If truth is rejected, Christ is rejected. If truth is exalted, Christ is exalted. Since Jesus is also the word of God (Jn1:14) and the word of God is truth, you therefore cannot reject the truth of the word and still claim that you accept the Lord Jesus Christ. I have seen this happen many times, where for the sake of unity, Christians will so easily lie down or compromise some elements of truth. It is impossible for true unity of the Spirit to spring forth from Christians agreeing to compromise truth. True and false will always be at odds with each other just like right and wrong. Jesus referred to the devil as the Father of lies because his kingdom is built on lies. He lied to his own heart and said 5 times in Isaiah 14, “I will.” He lied to man in the garden and he has continued to spew lies all the way to this present day. Hell is for liars; heaven is where truth lives.
Another important fact about truth is again found in John; “And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.” Jn. 8:32. What a wonderful effect truth has on mankind; truth can take a sinful bound up man and make him free. If you are a born again believer you can be certain that the truth is what made you free. So with this wonderful thought in mind, I ask, if truth is what sets people free, why does the church tinker around with truth? Why do believers think they have to cover it up when they preach to people? Why do saints think that avoiding the truth, so as not to offend anyone, is going to save them? If the truth sets people free, then let’s proclaim it from the house tops. Let’s hold it dear to our hearts, let’s promote it at all times, and most of all, may we never compromise one jot or tittle of it.
There is even more to say about truth that we learn from the gospel of John; “God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.” (Jn. 4:24). Here again we can see another serious problem. If truth is absent or diminished in a believer’s life, God will not receive worship, whether it is a time of singing and shouting, or an offering of your life to Him. Again I say, if truth is rejected, then Christ is rejected. If Christ is rejected then there is no worship to God.
I want to bring out one more aspect of truth that is overlooked. There is something Paul says about it in the love chapter 13 of I Corinthians. Since the chapter is about love, it is possible to easily gloss over the word “truth” which is found in verse 6, regarding love. “Rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth;” There are some ministers and believers who consistently resist the truth and proclaim false doctrines. I have had discussions with other believers about why they would listen to them or follow their ways. One reply I have heard many times is something like this; Well, I know they might be teaching or preaching wrong things, but I know they love the Lord. With that, let me ask you reader, if love rejoices in truth, and a Christian resists, downplays, neglects or even denies the truth, are they really someone that loves the Lord?
“Nevertheless I have somewhat against thee, because thou hast left thy first love.” Rev. 2:4
I would assume, every real believer, has at times had a fear of losing their first love. I have prayed many times that my love for and commitment to the Lord would grow stronger. I want to encourage every one of you with this beautiful thought. If you are happily married or you know some other couples that are, then realize that if two people, whether saved or lost, can maintain their love for their spouse of 30, 40 or 50 years, how much more can a believer who loves a perfect loving God, maintain a strong and growing love for their Lord.
