p. 5 | The Golden Rule Demonstrated by T. GODFREY

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Mar 11, 1915

The Golden Rule Demonstrated

By T. GODFREY

T. GODFREY

“Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them: for this is the law and the prophets.” Matt. 7:12. These words were spoken by the Lord Jesus Christ in the Sermon on the Mount, and they have been recorded for our instruction in order that we might have a more perfect knowledge of the will of God. The law of God teaches that men should love the Lord with all their hearts, with all their souls, with all their strength, with all their minds, and their neighbours as themselves. See Luke 10:27. Jesus said, “On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.” Matt. 22:40.

The servants of God in every age of the gospel dispensation have taught these sacred truths. They are the underlying principles of the throne of God. To disregard them would be to disregard the government of heaven. God is the source or fountain of love, from which flows a constant stream of undying love. Therefore man must become connected with the great Fountainhead of love before he can really have the ability to love. To say that we love God is not sufficient. We must demonstrate our love by real acts of obedience. To say merely that we love our neighbor as we do ourselves is not enough. There must be some real manifestation of love. God demonstrated his love for this fallen world when he gave his only begotten Son to die upon the cross for our redemption. Says the apostle John: “In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him. Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.” 1 John 4:9, 10.

If we say we love God, and hate our fellow men, we are liars and have not the spirit of Christ. Said Jesus: “This is my commandment, That ye love one another, as I have loved you. Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. Ye are my friends, if ye do whatsoever I command you.” John 15:12-14. John says again: “We know that we have passed from death unto life, because we love the brethren. He that loveth not his brother abideth in death. Whosoever hateth his brother is a murderer: and ye know that no murderer hath eternal life abiding in him. Hereby perceive we the love of God, because he laid down his life for us: and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren. But whoso hath this world’s good, and seeth his brother have need, and shutteth up his bowels of compassion from him, how dwelleth the love of God in him? My little children, let us not love in word, neither in tongue; but in deed and in truth.” 1 John 3:14-18.

But before we can manifest this great love toward our brother, we must have the love of God shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost. Jesus Christ is the connecting link between heaven and earth, through whom the love of God is manifested to a dying world. Thus Jesus Christ is the love of God personified. Not only are we admonished to love our neighbor, but our enemies also. See

Matt. 5:43-48. God loved his enemies and poured out all heaven in one great gift to save them. He “sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.”

The unregenerated soul cannot comprehend the love of God toward a lost and dying world. Only he who has been born again, born from above, born of the Spirit through the word of God, can comprehend in part the undying love of God. “Love is strong as death. . . . Many waters cannot quench love.” Cant. 8:6, 7. God sent his Son into the world to suffer and die, that his deep and abiding love for a fallen world might be demonstrated. If we would have others love us, we must manifest our love toward them. Love begets love. But before we can apply the golden rule, we must have the love of God shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit. The law of God must be written in our hearts by the Spirit of the living God. The spirit of Jesus Christ must pervade the human soul, or, in other words, the human soul must become the living temple of the living God. 1 Cor. 3:16, 17; 2 Cor. 6:16.

Covetousness, like a partition wall, stands between us and the fountain of life. We become lovers of self, of money. We disregard the cries of the poor and needy. We do not do to others as we would that others should do to us, but our covetous hearts gather all unto ourselves, never distributing to the needy. We become “like the deaf adder that stoppeeth her ear,” and will not hear.

This barrier must be removed. It must be broken down and taken out of the way before we can have access to the living fountain, the fountain of everlasting love. “God is love; and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him.” 1 John 4:16.

“Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of God; and every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God. He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love.” Verses 7, 8. “If we say that we have fellowship with him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth: but if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin.” 1 John 1:6, 7.

Western, Wash.