1 John 4
When this scripture was written, it was not any more than with us, merely, the setting forth of the grace and goodness of God in a world that knew Him not-in a world of sin and misery -though it was a blessed privilege to be the channel of such a testimony as the gospel, the messenger to bring in the wondrous message of love to this wretched world; which of course met with opposition, but was a wonderful and sensible blessing to man. The Spirit had another service to perform-another truth to unfold. " Ungodly men had crept in unawares," and it became necessary to warn against evil,
Now it is far more difficult to preserve blessing when it is brought in, than to testify of it at first. So we find in Jude the exhortation given "earnestly to contend for the faith once delivered to the saints:" not merely to publish the tidings of the blessing that had been brought in, and so testify of the common salvation, but earnestly to contend for the faith, that they might preserve the blessing, that had been thus brought in, pure and uncorrupted. And here we read, "Believe not every spirit." It is far happier to have to say " Believe the spirit," but because of error it had to be said " Believe not every spirit." The mystery of iniquity, which was to come in, and was already in the world, required it. All the apostles had to warn thus against the evil which had come in; and John more especially, as being the last of them. " Try the spirits whether they are of God, because many false prophets are gone out into the world. ' Men had slept, and the enemy had sown tares. Satan always seeks by violence and opposition to resist the coming in of truth, and to hinder its reception; and if he cannot do that, then, when it is come in, he will corrupt the truth.
Evil men have crept in unawares, false prophets or false spirits are gone out into the world; holy kind of men it may be in their way, but false prophets, who attack true and simple souls with great apparent power, and with the mingling of much real truth with their error. But error must be put down in the heart and conscience.
It is a great mercy to have orthodoxy professed. By orthodoxy I mean the cardinal truths of the gospel, although of course the profession of orthodoxy is not life. There may be orthodoxy and not life, especially in these days; and we have to come back to where the Spirit of God will keep the soul in the profession of the truth. There may not be salvation, though there may be orthodoxy of profession. The Lord may allow intellect to work, and then the question may arise as with Pilate " what is truth?"
We find in men two things, skepticism and infidelity. The skeptic doubts all truth; the infidel denies the truth altogether, and says, there is no truth, no knowledge, no doctrine. That is what infidelity always will do. But there is difficulty in every truth. The consequence is, when men get tired of their sins, and think about giving them up, they begin to inquire about truth, turn very serious for awhile, and attend to their religious duties as they call it; but, finding it difficult, they tire and soon grow weary of it, and seek to get hold of something that promises certainty, and at the same time saves them the trouble of knowing truth for themselves. So they look for something established on human authority, and lean on the judgment and opinions of men. This is authority in a bad sense, man's word. God exercises true authority over the conscience. The truth is authority. But men want something that will save them the exercise of their hearts and consciences before God. In human authority the conscience is not with God, and man would be independent of God. Now this degrades man beneath what he was intended to be, for his true position is to be dependent on God. This is man's true glory. The conscience must be brought into contact with God, into the presence of God; and that which accomplishes this is true ministry. Whatever ministry fails to do this, or has not this for its object, is not of God; because it is putting something between the soul and God. If ministry be real, it brings God directly to the conscience through the word; whereas that which is false, stands between God and the conscience; and this will enable us to detect the difference, and to discern at once whether ministry be false or true.
God has promised to guide the humble, and He will secure the humble soul against false prophets.
The word of God never treats man's mind as being competent to judge it; for it would be the judge itself of what is authority over the conscience. People have confounded the power of the word to work in the conscience with a competency to judge the word; and it is an awful thing. Man's mind is incapable of judging God's word. If it were capable, the word would not be God's at all, for that would be supposing man's mind to be equal with God, and there would be no God. The natural conscience may judge of individual commands, such as, "Thou shalt not steal," &c. I am capable also of judging so far as to know that it is good, when it has acted on my soul. It is like taking food. I may be entirely ignorant of the processes of nutrition and digestion, yet I may know the full value of food, and be conscious of the invigorating effect produced by the food when eaten. There are many things that may be estimated when they have acted on me, though I may have no competency to judge of them but by their effect. God's word tells me that I am thus and thus, the soul receives the effect by divine power; that is the word judging me, not my judging the word. But the word can produce in me the competency to judge, and these are often confounded in reasoning.
Where am I to find the competency? That is the question. It is in the word, because it comes and approves itself to the heart by acting with power on the conscience. " Every spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God," it begins with power.
" Believe not every spirit." It is not simply the truth and man's mind are at work: there are false spirits acting on man's mind. While poor man thinks himself independent, there is a spirit working which is either of God or the devil, either bringing truth or error to the soul. " False prophets are gone out into the world." The confession of " Jesus come in the flesh is of God." That which puts all to the test is the real acknowledgment of Christ come in the flesh. It proves the truth of the person; it is the proper faith of him who speaks, and not a mere confession. Because if I have faith in a thing I am subject to it; that is, confessing Christ, I am subject to Christ. No evil spirit is that; it would not be an evil spirit if it were. " Try the spirits." Unless Jesus Christ is owned as God manifest in the flesh it is not of God. " Many false prophets are gone out into the world," and the owning the lordship and authority of Jesus is to be the test of everything. You will find a thousand things set up instead, but whatever spirit does not bow to the Lord Jesus Christ is not of God.
" Ye are of God little children." He had no thought of putting them on their own competency or ability to judge, or on the authority of other men, but on the Spirit of God. " And have overcome them, for greater is he that is in you than he that is in the world." It is as though he said, if the Holy Ghost is in you, it will overcome, if not, Satan will surely get the better. The Church of God is, as it were, the great prize between Satan and God. So with Pharaoh and Israel when he refused to let the people go. " Thus saith the Lord, let my people go." Immediately the answer is, who is the Lord that I should obey him," though there it was to bring out the manifestation of the power of God in His judgments upon Pharaoh that He might prove Himself the mightier, as Jethro said, " now know I that the Lord is greater than all Gods, for in the thing wherein they dealt proudly He was above them. (Ex. 18;11.) By and by He will skew this out more fully when the Lord appears and Satan is bound. Then there will be an end of this conflict; but now it is carried on in our individual walk; and God would now exercise men's faith and consciences, and manifest His power in keeping them.
We get here the power of walk, " greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world." One of the most alarming symptoms in the world, the religious world, in the present day is the idea that there is power in the truth to preserve. There is power in the truth to preserve; but the question is whether the soul holds fast the truth. Unless my thoughts and my heart are in the truth, there will be no power in the truth to me. It is very certain God will keep His truth, but is my heart kept? if not, the expectation of being kept is the mere confidence of man's mind. " Greater is He that is in you than he that is in the world." The only power of victory is the power of the Spirit of God on the affections and consciences of the saints, and then the heart will be set on Christ and the things of Christ, to love Him, enjoy Him, and serve Him better. The conflict and difficulty are rather when the truth is brought in question, than when it first goes forth in power. If I am not kept by the Spirit of God, I shall not be able to resist the daily solicitations of sin.
Man may grow tired of his sins, and tired of the world, for he has long been in bondage to them, and desire sincerely to break off his sins. He is attracted at first by that which promises him deliverance, and is glad to close with the offer, and so breaks off from his sins for awhile, and is very religious, and seems devoted too; but his soul does not continue; he does not like the trials and tribulations which arise; he cannot bear to lose his friends, and his prosperity and his place in the world; and then error is found. the easier thing, and there must come a falling away, and so it will be but a little flock. False religion might make a monk, but can never put the conscience into the presence of God. Error quarrels not with men's passions, for false religion, in the main, ever ministers to the passions, the thoughts, the feelings of men: and thus it is false religion which suits the world better than truth, because it suits itself to man, and the mass will ever follow error. So Paul had to say, " All Asia is turned away from me." The apostle did not expect that truth would have power over the world, but plainly declared that error would. So we see when the Lord allows the sifting of a large body of people on a point of truth, the greater number will adopt the error. " They are of the world, therefore speak they of the world, and the world heareth them." " But ye are of God, little children, and have overcome them." If God were in them, they were kept; if not, they would fall away from the truth. We must rely on what has been declared by the Spirit of God, rather than upon what is the expectation of man. The apostle himself believed in the power of truth as much as any now, but he had not the vain expectation that the truth had power to reform the world. " Ye are of God, little children." This is the guard, not of the power, but of the means.
" We are of God; he that knoweth God heareth us." It is not said 'he that overcomes,' but he that heareth us is of the truth. He had the spiritual power of discerning what was truth. The means of ascertaining truth from error was the recognition of the word; whosoever did not submit to the written word was not listened to. Though they speak like angels, it was not of God, it was of themselves, " He that is of God heareth us." I could not say, you must hear me or you will be lost; but I could say this, if you do not hear the message of the gospel, which I speak to you, you will perish, because it is the truth of God, and you are to search for yourselves and see. I am no guarantee of truth; I have it from God; but in the apostles I get the guarantee and the test of truth. They could say, a man must hear them or be lost: they were, so to speak, the depository of truth. One may come to me and say, it is difficult; well, I reply, be humble, be patient, and you will learn. God has given something that is to be the test of truth; if you are of God you will believe it. But if any one hindered any from hearing an apostle, he could say at once he was not of God; for " he that is of God heareth us." Their immediate testimony is the test; God was telling of truth and error. No man now is the immediate vessel or guarantee of truth.
Mark further. The moment I require anything to establish the authority of the word, I take away the authority of the word: for the thing rested on is of course that which is supposed to establish the word, and not the word itself. If I take anything as proving the word of God, and so believe it, that is not believing the word. The Spirit of God and the word of God must go together. The word will not do alone; for I may attempt to judge of the word by my own private judgment, and so get wrong. The Spirit of God will not do alone either, for I may mistake my own fancy for the Spirit; they go together. Then the moment the word reaches my heart, it is absolute authority, and the word judges me. When they are both received into the heart, when thus in complete possession of me, Satan cannot touch me, because they will allow nothing of the flesh (self-will, &c.) to work. Is there evil in me? They will enable me to judge it in myself, and in everything around me. Such an one is guaranteed against all error. He has the Spirit and the word. These are the comforting, peaceful, blessed means of guarding us from all evil.
The effect of a man's being regenerated is, he is brought to God, having perfect peace; brought into an entirely new world, where God. is revealing Himself in His word; and he has his soul constantly delighting in the word. There all the wisdom of God is brought out for my soul to be exercised in, (endless and safe!) learning all that God is; and what we have all to seek is to be occupied with the truth, every day knowing more and more of Christ; delighting in and feeding on Christ as the true God and perfect man, subject in all things to His Father: and all this not so as to be able to write an essay, but as the Christ in whom I know God and man; loving Him every day; living by Him every day, as He lived by the Father; depending on the Father. Then everything that is not of Him strikes upon my soul; it is THAT CHRIST who is touched, and it affects the whole harmony of the soul. Be sure of this, if it is not the living power of a living Christ, known and enjoyed in your soul, you cannot with. stand error. It must be truth held in communion with the person of Christ, or it will not guard you against error. The mere truth is no match for Satan. I would not venture to meet Satan on the truth, if I were not called to do it to serve the saints and for the glory of God, because I should be afraid. I know God will keep me when in His service, but I do not therefore cast myself down from off the pinnacle of the temple because it is written in His word, " He will give his angels charge over thee, to keep thee in all thy ways."
We get the traits of the two families set forth in Cain and Abel; in Cain, hatred, violence, and wickedness; in Abel, suffering, righteousness, and love. The eternal life which was with the Father is communicated to the Christian, producing in him Christ's ways, thoughts, and feelings. "Every one that loveth is born of God." " He that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, for God is love." Love is the inner development of the divine nature. As I cannot enjoy or exercise the faculties and affections of a man if I have not the nature of a man, no more can I enjoy God's affections unless I have the nature of God. It is an old remark that "knowledge cannot love;" you must have this nature, you must be born of God, for God is love, or you cannot love. Man's searching gets nothing. Unless he knows the love of God in the Lord Jesus Christ, he cannot love. Suppose there is a general notion of God, and that His eternal Godhead is seen and acknowledged; if I have knowledge and try to understand things I shall be confounded; for when the state of the whole world is looked upon what do I see? Why, three-fourths of it given up to idolatry, worshipping the devil; and oppression, degradation, and misery overwhelming all; aye, multitudes even in this great city: (London:) and the mind gets into confusion. Men may try to say that it is all needful for the general government of man, but this will not do for those who are suffering. If it be said, sin is the cause of it all, then I say, if sin has come in, what can I, as a sinner, have to say to God? how can I meet God? It is of no use to tell me that He is good: He is that; but I am responsible to God; and the more I get into the truth, the more I am confounded and thrown almost into despair. Neither skepticism nor authority will do anything for me here. But the moment I get Christ, the whole thing is clear; Christ clears up all. I have not got something now that can deal with it, but God who has dealt with it. God is seen in Him as dealing with this creation in all its sin and misery. Then I say, sin has ruined us; all are guilty; I am guilty; but He has met my sin in the very way I wanted it. When I was in perplexity and despair about my sins, and when I found no way of meeting God, then it was God who met me, and showed me how He had settled it all to His glory in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ, who met all for me, coming into the world to be a propitiation for our sins, coming into all the misery to put it away and give Himself as the source of life and putter away of that sin which would hinder the enjoyment of God; and then for the perfecting of this love to introduce us into that which is above. He came down that He might take us up with 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." " Herein is our love (or love with us) made perfect, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment, because as He is, so are we in this world." I get the love manifested in His coming to me and taking me up into the presence of God perfect in Himself. The communication of the nature gives the power to love; and then we get the object, "Not that we loved him, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins." Thus we get the object for our love to rest upon and be occupied with; always elevating, always satisfying. It is not the mysticism that delights in its own exercise, working on itself; but there is an infinite and blessed object, and we are brought into association with, and likeness to, that blessed object; not allowing in us the least fear, all being taken away by His divine work, and we at rest perfectly and happy with God.
Whatever does not make our hearts know God as perfect in love to ourselves and in ourselves is not the whole truth; whatever does not set me in the presence of God without a single fear remaining so that I can enjoy His love, is not adequate to His love to me. The Lord make us of quick understanding in His fear, and direct our hearts into His love, and into the patient waiting for Christ.