LAWTON CHURCH OF GOD, LAWTON,
OKLAHOMA
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49
PERFECT LOVE TEXT:
Herein is our love made perfect, that we may have boldness in the day of
judgment because as He is, so are we in this world. 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. In
almost every congregation there are three classes of people; first, those who
are destitute of love and impelled by fear; second, those who have a measure of
love mingled with fear; third, those who have love perfected and hence are
without fear. I.
FEAR Slavish
fear is the inevitable consequence of guilt. Sin makes men cowards. It is this
alarm within that disturbs the rest of the sinner, and often through the mercy
and grace of God, is appealed to by the Holy Spirit to bring men to repentance
and salvation. Fear of penalty, fear of the judgment and fear of eternal
damnation have led many to forsake sin and turn to God. The man who transgresses
the law will naturally seek to evade and avoid the officers of the law. A guilty
conscience needs no accuser. “The wicked flee when no man pursueth: but the
righteous are bold as a lion.” When Adam had sinned, he said, “I was afraid
. . . and I hid myself.” II.
LOVE The
religion of Jesus Christ is Love. If a person have not love he may “speak with
the tongues of men and of angels,” “have the gift of prophesy and understand
all mysteries, and all knowledge,” and have “all faith,” so that he could
remove mountains, and bestow all his “goods to feed the poor” and even die a
martyr by giving his “body to be burned” for what he believed to be the
truth and yet it positively profiteth him nothing. “Love is the fulfilling of
the law.” This divine love in the heart is not something worked up, or the
result of human effort, but “the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by
the Holy Ghost which is given unto us.” “God is love; and he that dwelleth
in love dwelleth in God, and God in him.” III.
PERFECT LOVE All
Christians have love, but not all Christians have perfect love. With many there
is ever present the fear of man, the fear of ridicule or criticism, and the fear
of the judgment. While they love God, and are impelled by love to serve Him,
they nevertheless have a continual inward conflict with fear, and at times have
a real “torment” because of it. “Perfect love casteth out fear.” “He
that feareth is not made perfect in love.” In justification love is imparted;
in sanctification love is perfected. Perfect love is pure love in a pure heart,
loving God perfectly with all the heart, soul, mind and strength and our
neighbor as ourselves. It is called “perfect love,” because that is the
measure of love required. We
would note that “perfect love” is not obtained by growth or works, or any
other human effort, but that the soul is “made perfect in love.” It is a
work divinely inwrought. A person cannot grow into regeneration because it is a
work that God must do in him; exactly this is true concerning “perfect
love.” Again, we would note that “perfect love” is the proper fitness and
preparation for the judgment. “Perfect love” and “holiness, without which
no man shall see the Lord” are identical.
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