It is clear that there must be difficulties for us in a revelation such as the Bible. If someone were to hand me a book that was as simple to me as the multiplication table, and say, “This is the Word of God. In it He has revealed His whole will and wisdom,” I would shake my head and say, “I cannot believe it; that is too easy to be a perfect revelation of infinite wisdom.” There must be, in any complete revelation of God’s mind and will and character and being, things hard for the beginner to understand; and the wisest and best of us are but beginners.

R. A. Torrey

Can we imagine how sinful our world really is? At every turn we see troubles amplified in the anger of men who are filled with all forms of hatred. This coming Sunday we have the opportunity to study the terrible event of the attack by Hamas on Israel back in October. Never in my lifetime has there been a greater degree of hatred on display and expressed against people whom those engaged do not even know. Then additionally, instead of this being seen for what it is, many have taken up the same cause exercising their forms of hatred by vigorously supporting the same. Then there are what we would consider the more simplified forms of hate seen in such things as road rage. The letter of Romans describes mankind’s natural condition as one in which, “The poison of asps is under their lips; whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness; their feet are swift to shed blood” (Rom. 3:13-15). What is thought of as normal behavior to us who are born in sin is appalling to God.

By contrast it is so refreshing to consider the beauty of God’s love emphasized in the Bible. The great love chapter of the Bible is considered to be 1 Corinthians 13. It begins by placing such an importance on love, that no matter the degree of gifts we may possess and employ for God, or how much knowledge of God we possess, or how much faith we have and can exercise, that without love, Paul, under inspiration tells us, what we are doing is worthless. Paul’s context is to correct the Corinthian’s selfish showy use of the temporary God given gifts.  Without love their God given gifts were a self-centered practice disgusting to God and therefore no matter how they may be perceived by men, without love they are worthless. This is true of all service to Christ. Without love it is a perversion.  It cannot honor Christ. Our Lord always requires our heart!

Ultimately this is an issue of new birth. Since we are naturally born selfish and with what the Scripture calls a heart of stone (Ezekiel 36:26), our ability to love in the manner God requires is not possible. We are all under a curse because of sin which began with our parents in the garden. There because of sin, our relationship with God was ruined.  Our bond of love was fouled with God and with one another. The first man born, Cain, instead of loving his brother, murdered him, which God has given as a graphic picture of the depth of the problem of mankind’s condition. Not even what we think of as natural love can overcome man’s self-centeredness, envy, and hate.  Christ came in accord with God’s love to restore the relationship between man and God. He came to bring us back to the glorious bond of love for God and love for others which is the chief among commandments (Matt. 22:37).

The statement by John in his first epistle is so significant. “We love, because He first loved us” (1 John 4:19). This reminds us that what he is discussing is supernatural. It is from God and not from the person. The Greek word for love is agapaō, the “God-kind of love,” shown in sacrificial love and interconnected with relationships. He says, “We love, because he first loved us” (1 John 4:19). In other words, no person can have this kind of love were it not for God doing something in the person to grant this kind of love or place the person in this sphere of relational love. This love is not sourced from the person or maintained by personal determination and energy. It is something that God has done for and in the person. That does not mean that it is mechanical. For he does say, “We love.” It is the Christian actually loving yet knowing that behind it all is the work of God. God is the source and He receives the glory. This knowledge and attitude should permeate all of those who are recipients of true salvation.

Whatever the loving person has received is by grace, and the focus of gratitude toward God should mark our life now, and into eternity. In the next verse John says, “If someone says, ‘I love God,’ but hates his brother, he is a liar for the one who does not love his brother whom he has seen, cannot love God whom he has not seen” (1 John 4:20).  He is reinforcing and clarifying the argument that change must take place in every true child of God (2 Cor. 5:17). God is different than natural, unsaved men, and those who have been changed by Him, and have His Spirit within them, are in His sanctification process and are different. Those changed cannot be full of love and hate at the same time. For this reason, John uses the strongest language, “he is a liar.” God’s children will love whom and what God loves. Here he uses the lesser to greater argument (in the sense of what is seen and not seen). If a person hates someone who God loves (who is a tangible being known by sight), how can he, at the same time love God, whom he has not tangibly seen? This contradiction is the same issue stated by Christ in John 8:42: “If God were your Father, you would love Me.” There must be a consistency flowing from the heart. Just as light and darkness do not mix, neither do love and hatred. To talk about loving God is easy, for merely saying so is intangible and difficult to measure. However, the absence of love for a brother, who can be seen, betrays the absence of love for God. “And this commandment we have from Him, that the one who loves God should love his brother also” (1 John 4:21). The word “should”is not in the original Greek language. It was added by the translators. In the Greek the passage reads: “That the one who loves God loves his brother also.” It is stated as a fact, and not an option.

We are to be reminded to use the love that God has poured out in our hearts (1 John 4:19). Peter says it this way, “Above all, keep fervent in your love for one another, because love covers a multitude of sins” (1 Pet. 4:8). He is saying that love has top priority. Peter says to use your love just as Christ told Peter “tend My lambs” after He asked Peter in restoration, “Do you love Me (John 21:15-17)?”  Physically, we all have muscles, but unless we exercise them, they will atrophy. Love is essential. God is love and nothing can replace love. Christ said, “By this all men will know you are My disciples if you have love for one another” (John 13:35).

Happy Father’s Day weekend!

“If you fail, father, to teach your son to fear God, the devil will teach him to hate God. If you fail to teach your son to guard his mind, the devil will gladly teach him to have an open mind. If you fail to teach your son to obey his parents, the devil will teach him to rebel and break his parent’s heart. If you fail to teach your son to select his companions, the devil will gladly choose them for him. If you fail to teach your son to control his body, the devil will teach him to give it over completely to lust. If you fail to teach your son to enjoy the marriage partner that God has given him, the devil will teach him to destroy the marriage. If you fail to teach your son to watch his words, the devil will fill his mouth with filth. If you fail to teach your son to pursue his work, the devil will make his laziness a tool of hell. If you fail to teach your son to manage his money, the devil will teach him to waste it on riotous living. And if you fail to teach your son to love his neighbor, the devil will gladly teach him to love only himself”

John MacArthur.