THE GOSPEL OF LOVE by G.

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · Nov 19, 1902

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 28, No. 47.

THE GOSPEL OF LOVE.

By G.

The Gospel of Jesus Christ is based on love, the love of God (John 3:16), a love that commendeth itself in a voluntary sacrifice in behalf of persistent enemies (Rom. 5:8). Such was the spirit of Him who inaugurated the Gospel work; therefore such must needs be the spirit of all who engage in the work if they would be at all successful.

In this sin-stricken world the opposite principle prevails. With the entrance of sin came the spirit of hatred, of enmity, of jealousy, of revenge. The Gospel call is to come out of this condition into an atmosphere of love. The contrast of environment is set forth very plainly. In the world the “works of the flesh”—the natural desires of man—predominate. The result is, “adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, envyings, murders, drunkenness, revelings, and such like.” Gal. 5:19, 20.

Now the majority of people do not realize that their course is productive of such fruit. They are having enjoyment, and they imagine it is innocent enjoyment; they are giving enjoyment to others, in an innocent manner they suppose; they are also jealous, and envious, and dislike others, all of which seems all right to them. So they go on through life, may be professing to serve God, but they are striving to get all they can out of this world. They do not see the true character of the world, therefore the more deceptive it is, the more they become attached to it. But the foregoing description of it all is from the Spirit of Him who knoweth all things. That is the way it looks to Him, and the reason why men and women do not see their natural course and the fruit of it in its true light is because they do not believe the Word of God. “Man looketh on the outward appearance, but the Lord looketh on the heart.”

The Gospel is calling men out of the awful condition described as the “works of the flesh;” it is calling them to partake of the “fruit of the Spirit,” which is “love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance.” Gal. 5:22, 23. Through the Gospel the Lord is calling men “out of darkness into His marvelous light.” The call comes from the Fountain of love. “God is love.” Therefore, to be effectual, the instrument used in dissemination of the Gospel must be a channel through which love can flow.

The Sermon on the Mount is an epitome of Gospel principles, and there we find a very striking contrast. Jesus says, “Ye have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbor, and hate thine enemy.” That is the spirit of the world that had found its way into the Jewish church. “But,” He continues, “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.” The cultivation and manifestation of this spirit of love is essential, “that ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven.”

This spirit of love must come from the Fountain of love, and must be reciprocal in order to keep in touch with Him. Therefore He says, “Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him.” Why?—Because “all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world.” Then what eventually must come of it all?—Why, “the world passeth away, and the lust thereof.” See 1 John 2:15-17.

So then the love of the world must give place to the love of God, in order to benefit the individual by the new and better conditions contemplated by the Gospel. But only through a belief of the Word can the change be wrought. The carnal mind—the natural, worldly mind—can not of itself work out the change; because it is “not subject to the law of God.”

The sinner is in a state of disobedience from which he can not extricate himself, and the Gospel of love for the sinner is calling to him to accept propitiation for the past, and lay hold of Him who can imbue him with the spirit of love and consequent obedience. A simple faith in the Saviour, who gave Himself for all, and a surrender of the rebellious will to His obedient will, is all the response necessary to transfer one from an atmosphere of sin and death to the realm of love and eternal life.

The plan of redemption contemplates a restoration to the condition of obedience from which Adam by disobedience fell. Obedience is the test of love to Him who so loved us. The Saviour says, “If ye love Me, keep My commandments.” In this way is the covenant of love maintained inviolate. “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.” And the apostle John expresses the principle in one sentence: “This is the love of God, that ye keep His commandments.” Nothing short of this is acceptable in support of a profession of love. This is then an ideal condition to which the sinner is called by the Gospel of love—an implicit faith in God, a perfect obedience through faith, and an eternal embrace in the love of Him who first loved us, and gave Himself for us.