LOVERS OF GOD
[p. 401] LOVERS OF GOD
2 Timothy 3: 1 - 4; Romans 8: 28; Judges 5: 31
My thought is to speak of lovers of God. That there are such in this world at the present time is undoubted. Indeed, Jehovah, as about to demand love from His people, said at Sinai that He had thousands of lovers even then — a matter that must have been of great moment to Himself, for God is said to be love; love is of Him. And so He values, more than any, love in others. He loves it, or rather, He loves the lovers, His lovers. He loves them because they are of Him, and the love that they have is of Him, and so He was not in this sense in poverty even at Sinai when about to assert His right to men’s hearts, to their love. He had lovers already, and so today. Many of us here could count them even by the thousands, were we put to the test — thank God! — and it is fair to assume that most here, if not all, are amongst them. Hence, how delightful to God is this meeting; one’s heart is sensible already of being in an atmosphere, in this sense, in that one is speaking to lovers of God and that God is pleased with them, whilst at the same time He would desire more and more such. There is to be a constant increase of love, and the idea is introduced in this first scripture amid that sorrowful list, dear brethren, of persons, nominal christians — a depressing list. What you will observe, especially if you are looking at the New Translation, is the recurrence of the word “love”, but only once as applied in a good sense, as applied to persons who love God. We have in the passage for instance, “lovers of their own selves” — a phrase that comes home in the way of a challenge as to how much selfishness may be lurking with us, although in the main we may be “lovers of God”. Then it is said as to the word “covetous” — “lovers of money”, which is the proper rendering. If I love myself I shall certainly love money,
[p. 402] and we are told elsewhere that the love of it “is the root of all evil” — a remarkable thing! — and yet we may not discern that in our hearts there is that love, a love called the love of money, or covetousness. The passage is not treating of real christians, but I am speaking to real christians and suggesting that, although we are real christians and lovers of God, too, yet there may be something of this lurking in our hearts — love of self and love of money, for they go together. Self is the most difficult to get rid of, I quite believe. It is surprising, and one has to admit it, how much of self there is in us, in oneself, at times quite unknown to us, through our minds moving in a certain groove. Indeed, we clothe self, we ornament it, without thinking that we are doing it, telling of our good deeds without meaning to do so in a premeditated way, but in our little tales we see to it that self, in some way or another, perhaps ornamented, is in the very middle of the picture.
Now, as James would say, “My brethren, these things ought not so to be”, and the constant ministry of Christ, the ministry of His death in the power of the Spirit, is to lead us to discern self. We are told that the Lord Jesus came by water and blood, meaning that in becoming incarnate, He intended to die. He did not come into this world to live as a man in flesh. He intended to die. He came by water and blood. He must furnish the water and the blood, and these are in His death, that is, when the soldier’s spear pierced His side on the cross, there came forth the means of cleansing; and then we are told that the Spirit is the Witness. He keeps on applying the water and the blood. That is the order in John’s epistle. In the gospel, it is the blood and the water. The blood is the first mentioned as the fundamental thing, as the great fundamental doctrine of atonement, but the water is the first in view of christians being led to judge themselves — not only what they do and say, but the thing, that thing self that [p. 403] we so cling to and love. The Spirit constantly keeps reminding us of it, bringing before us the means of cleansing, for the water is for the removal of the person, so to say, in a moral sense, so that one can say, “I am crucified with Christ”. What liberty there is in that! What victory when he looks at himself as not only worthy of death, but of crucifixion! He has found himself out to be so mean, so incorrigibly mean, that only crucifixion could meet the case: So he says, “I am crucified with Christ, and no longer live, I, but Christ lives in me”. Christ takes the place of self — the real Being, as it were, to actuate and control one, is Christ in the heart. “No longer live, I, but Christ lives in me; but in that I now live in flesh, I live by faith, the faith of the Son of God, who has loved me and given himself for me”.
Then this love of money goes with love of self. Money is power. Other things are power. Knowledge is power according to man’s estimate; and many other things that one could mention, but money is peculiarly power in this world. The love of it means that I want to acquire something to enhance myself. So that if self goes, if love of self goes, dear brethren, the love of money goes. Not that money may not be used, but there is a time when you have to apply Peter’s judgment of this — “Thy money go with thee to destruction”. After that, what is it? It is only what you get for it. It is well to have a judgment like that as to it. The Spirit of God uses terms of scorn as to it by itself, viewed in this sense, as acquiring things in this world that enhance one in it and make one more powerful. Simon Magus would buy the Spirit of God with money. How revolting to the spiritual mind that money should be used in any sense to influence the service of God here. So Peter and John came down from Jerusalem to see what transpired in Samaria, and this man had money. How he acquired it we are not told — no doubt by his magic arts; nefariously acquired, and he offers to [p. 404] buy the blessed Spirit of God with money. Peter says, “Thy money go with thee to destruction”. That is heavens scorn of the thing by itself. And so, beloved, the danger of the love of it! Young people think of it — the increase of salaries; young wives think of it, as to what they may buy to adorn themselves. All that is the enemy’s working, beloved brethren, among young people especially, “the love of money is the root of all evil”.
Well, then, it says moreover here, non-lovers, or “having no love”, in the end of the third verse, “for what is good”. We are told what was loved — self and money. Now, what is not loved. These things are most practical, and what is not loved is what is good. One might, of course, give a list of things that are good — all that is of God is good. What an abundance of good there is, and yet in the last days, these very days in which we are living, nominal christians are non-lovers of God, having no love for what is good. Dear young people, let me appeal to you to classify the good, to look at it straight and see if you do not love it. Young sister, challenge your heart and say to yourself, Can it be possible that I do not love good? These verses depict what is all around us, as you can see in almost all countries, in England and in other so-called Protestant countries; on the Lord’s day you see people going by the thousands out into the country, some of them in objectionable, unseemly attire. It is day of apostasy, and we have to face it, and it works out in this way. Timothy says, “no love for what is good”. It is evil and only evil every day.
The apostle finally says, “lovers of pleasure”. The enemy is building up his world in these modern times in order to gratify the great demand for pleasure. Pleasure has a great market abroad in christendom. The prices, the salaries, that are paid to the ministers of pleasure are fabulous. I am speaking of what I know, especially in countries that I am conversant with, the [p. 405] salaries that are paid to persons who furnish degrading, filthy pleasures to people are enormous. There is a great market for pleasure and people love it. That is what marks these last days, and young brothers and sisters are to look into this matter and test their hearts as to whether they are in any sense in this stream of love of pleasure. Then he adds, “rather than lovers of God”. God has been wonderfully set out, you know. He is no longer in thick darkness as in the Old Testament. In the tabernacle He dwelt behind the veil. There were no lights there. The candlestick was outside the veil. Jehovah dwelt in thick darkness, but now John says God is in the light. “God is light”, and He is in the light. He is declared and He is revealed. He has been shining all these centuries, and now in these last days we are all tested as to whether we love Him, and the verdict here is, by the Spirit of God, that the generality of the profession are “lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God”.
Well now, I go on to the second scripture, the positive side, just to point out what has oftentimes been brought before us. The apostle says, “We know not what we should pray for as we ought”. Then he says, alluding to that, “we do know that all things work together for good to those who love God”. Thank God for such a person as this great servant. We continually have reference to him in our minds, this great servant who is intended to represent the mind of the Lord as to christianity in its fulness. He says, “we do know” — someone knew; he did, with others — “that all things work together for good to those who love God”. All things. Now that is victory, because the “all things” are workers, however adverse they may seem to be. Some of them may seem overwhelmingly adverse, but in time we shall prove that they are workers for good, that those seemingly adverse things are poised divinely, so as to work with what is not adverse, but manifestly in our favour, so as to produce good. It is the balancing,
[p. 406] as I may say, of the clouds. God balancing our circumstances perfectly, so that good is the result. You need them all — all the circumstances, “all things”, he says, “work together for good” — but to a certain class. One loves to think that one is in that class, the class that love God. There are such in the world, “lovers of God”, and “all things” — dark clouds, north winds, on the one hand, and south winds on the other, are all perfectly poised by God who loves us, so that they should work together. It is a combination. The whole physical universe, dear brethren, is on that principle, one element working with another element. I believe the whole system if we understood it, is so perfectly balanced, so divinely poised, that what may seem to be adverse is working for what is good, to produce an effect, and that effect is for the good of those that love God. The varying winds and climatic conditions are for good physically in the universal system, and what they set forth are for good morally for those who love God. You see, dear brethren that this is victory. Anyone who understands it and accepts the combination that God orders, comes in for the good — no such person can be overwhelmed; he sees that God is ordering things. Just as He has ordered the physical universe. He has ordered my circumstances, and all to the end that one thing should be produced, and that is good, thank God!
Well then, finally we have Deborah’s song (for that is what is the theme of the chapter) — “then sang Deborah”, as you will observe, and Barak sang. This song is from victorious lips, triumphant lips, and the leader is a sister; the leader, too, in the great movement that overthrew the enemy. Deborah represents victory in sisters, beginning with victory over themselves, for she sat, as we are told, she judged Israel, dwelling under her own palm-tree — the palm denoting undoubtedly her victory over herself. Otherwise how could she judge Israel? No true Israelite, viewed spiritually, would go to a person who is not self-judged, for judgment.
[p. 407] They came to her for judgment, we are told. Why did they do that? Because she was capable of judging. How had she become capable to judge? She had learned to judge herself, to acquire the victory over herself. “He that ruleth his spirit”, we are told by the wise man, is better than he that takes a city. She did that, and she soon acquired a reputation among the spiritual for being capable of judging, and they came to her. We never need to advertise ourselves if we are self-judged. Those who advertise are conscious of the poverty of their commodity. It is as I am conscious of the wealth of my commodity that I use it, I know that those who need it will make a path to my door, and that is what they did to Deborah. A beaten path was made to that woman’s door. Why? Because she was a self-judged person. They came to her for judgment and now she sings — she and Barak. The chapter is well worth studying from this point of view, and it ends with this — this beautiful note which I read: “Let them that love him be as the sun when he goeth forth in his might”. What a figure that is! She had spoken directly to Jehovah. “So let all thine enemies perish, O Lord”, she says. I did not read that part, for it is not now a time for calling down retribution on the enemies of God; it is the period of grace; but then we have, “let them that love him be as the sun”. It is like a jewel inserted after the tribute, after the appeal to Jehovah in regard to His enemies. It is set beautifully, not in the address to Jehovah, but as to the saints — to us — “let them that love him”, as if it were to stand out before us as a great thought throughout the ages, that those who love God are to shine as the sun in his might. What an incentive, dear brethren, to be amongst the lovers of God! The sun in his might is beautifully presented in Psalm 19, as many of you will remember. He is pictured by David in that psalm as a bridegroom going forth out of his chamber. A bridegroom — it can only find full expression in Christ. No mortal man is capable of conveying the [p. 408] divine thought in a bridegroom, only Christ. The sun is used as a symbol by David, and I may say here, dear brethren, that David stands for the heavenly side of the position, Solomon for the earthly. So David beautifully pictures Christ as “a bridegroom coming out of his chamber”, rejoicing “as a strong man to run a race”. That is Christ. Can we not advance the thought and think of Christ during all these centuries in this attractive powerful way, seeking and securing His bride through the gospel? That is what has been going on, but I am speaking now of the lovers of God, and how they are to shine like that. It really means that the warmth and the radiance that is pictured finds an expression in us. Lovers of God reflect God, and they shine in love and warmth, and the warmth of it here is “as the sun ... in his might”.
In closing, one would say at this time to the dear brethren that we may see to it that we are lovers of God, and continue to be that, so that there may be the shining, the victorious shining, the beneficial shining, too, not only light but warmth, for it is the sun in his might — as Matthew presents the Lord on the mount of transfiguration. His countenance characteristically in that gospel shone as the sun. It is Christ in His majestic glory, presently to appear in this world, but now to be reflected there in the lovers of God.
May the Lord help us to be amongst them, and to continue amongst them until the end.