Jesus says, “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” (John 15:12-13). The only commandment the Lord Jesus has given us is that we love one another just as He has loved us. Love compelled Jesus to lay down His life for us, and we are commanded to love others in like manner by laying down our lives for them. Jesus gave us this one commandment because selfless love is the only thing that fulfills the righteous will of God. The apostle Paul wrote, “For all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this; thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself” (Galatians 5:14). Love fulfills the righteousness of the law (Romans 8:4) because it is impossible to sin against God, or other people, when all of our thoughts, words, and deeds are being generated by love.

The problem facing man is that his nature is not one of selfless love, but rather a nature of self-love. Human love only works in the interest of self-gratification, self-advancement, self-preservation, personal reputation, and so on. If asked, “Do you walk in love?”, most people would probably answer, “Yes”, and think they were being honest. But look at the words of Jesus in Matthew 5:43-48- “Ye have heard that it hath been said, thou shalt love thy neighbor and hate thine enemy. But 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; that ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for He maketh His sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust. For if ye love them which love you, what reward have ye? Do not even the publicans the same? And if ye salute your brethren only, what do ye more than others? Do not even the publicans so? Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect”. Yes, the masses do love those who love them and those with whom they share common interests, social status, etc. But, do they love their enemies, those who use them, and the socially unacceptable? Do they love the co-workers who treat them wrongfully, the rude and inconsiderate drivers on the roadways, and those who always seem to need some kind of help? Consider this example: the love of most mothers will compel them to go great lengths for their children, even the children who are disobedient, disrespectful, and always in trouble. Yet, the same mother will curse and slander the children next door for walking through her flower garden. Why? Because loving deeds toward her own children tend to produce an end that benefits her personal interests- she has good children, she’s done a good job raising them, she’s a good mom, and so on. On the other hand, the children next door won’t be any reflection upon her as a mother, and she’s not responsible for their well being. Subsequently, according to human nature, there’s no reason to love them. There is, of course, the mother who loves the children next door because she wants them to befriend her own, or because she wants the admiration of her peers. In every case, the love manifested out of the carnal nature is selfish and, therefore, false. Lost people, those who are still carnal and unregenerated, may think they walk in love, but their perspective of love is corrupted by the knowledge of good and evil which prevents them from being able to realize, or see, their actual condition.

Jesus says, in the text from Matthew 5, that we must have selfless love to be the children of God. This brings us to our need for the gospel. Blinded to his actual condition, and having a selfish nature that is incapable of producing selfless love, man could never fulfill the righteousness of God. All of his thoughts, words, and deeds, being generated out of self-love, would continue to be unloving, unrighteous, and unholy. This bondage, or slavery, to sin keeps man in the state of condemnation and death. “For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord” (Romans 6:23).First, the gospel reveals what true, or godly, love is- “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). The Father reveals that true love is selfless by allowing Jesus to die on the cross for us, His enemies. This manifestation of the Father’s selfless love awakens us to see that our selfish love is not love at all. The cross of Jesus is also the expression of God’s love that compels man to stop loving himself and start loving God. Speaking of His death on the cross, Jesus said,“And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto Me”(John 12:32) and 1 John 4:19 says, “We love Him, because He first loved us”. Having been awakened and compelled to turn to God, a man has been brought to repentance. In true repentance, a death occurs. It is a death to the former life that was generated by self-love. Then, by the resurrection of Jesus, God has provided justification for man to have the indwelling of the Holy Spirit (Romans 4:25, Galatians 3:21-22). Having repented, man receives justification to partake of the Holy Spirit by faith; believing that the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus is the power of God to destroy the old man and to regenerate, or recreate, a new man with the same nature that generated the thoughts, words, and deeds of Jesus Himself. Read Romans 6, Romans 8:28-29, 2 Corinthians 5:17-21, and 2 Peter 1:1-4. With the former life now put to death, and the impartation of the Holy Spirit, man’s heart is flooded with the love of God- “And hope maketh not ashamed; because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us” (Romans 5:5). Now, the thoughts, words, and deeds of the new man are being generated by the selfless, loving nature of God. A child of God does not love selflessly because he/she is more disciplined or more religious than the next person. The true believer loves selflessly and fulfills the righteousness of God because God has awakened, compelled, and regenerated him through faith in Jesus. This is the power of God unto salvation. Hallelujah to the only true God and His beloved Son, Jesus Christ!!

Selfless, godly love, the love through which we keep the commandment of Jesus whereby we lay down our lives for one another, is not possible out of the carnal Adam nature. The selfish Adam nature can not grow, or be disciplined, to generate selfless, loving righteousness. Read Matthew 7:15-23. Our fulfillment of the commandment is solely dependent upon the divine nature, the love of God that is imparted to our soul. 1 John 4:7-8 shows us that the selfless love Jesus has commanded can only come from God, and it is only through being “born of God” that it is possible to keep the commandment- “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”. Those who don’t have selfless love in their thoughts, words, and deeds simply do not have God in their heart. They are still in sin and abiding in death. Looking at 1 John 4:12-13 we read, “No man hath seen God at any time. If we love one another, God dwelleth in us, and His love is perfected in us. Hereby know we that we dwell in Him, and He in us, because He hath given us of His Spirit”. True believers love one another because the Holy Spirit dwells in them. He, Jesus, the Holy Spirit in the believer, generates the selfless love that fulfills the righteous requirement of God. We can know we dwell in God and that He dwells in us because the Spirit residing in those of us who believe produces the love which compels us to lay down our lives for others. With thoughts, words, and deeds being generated by the love of God, sin has no place to be conceived or manifested in the believer’s life. Thereby, the righteousness of the law is fulfilled by those “who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit” (Romans 8:4).

Reading on in 1 John 4, we see that the selfless love God imparts to our soul is the factor that perfects us. “And we have known and believed the love that God hath to us. God is love; and He that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him. 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” (vs. 16-18). The indwelling of God and His love produces our perfection and conforms us to the image of Jesus. This provides for boldness in the day of judgment “because as He is, so are we in this world”. True believers will have no fear in judgment because the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, pouring God’s love into our hearts, will always produce righteous fruit. “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance: against such there is no law” (Galatians 5:22-23).

The deception, false teachers, and the false church, which are operating in the name of Jesus, were exposed in our teaching titled, “Warning! Warning!”. The false church and its ministers are missing the mark because they, for whatever reasons, have not received “the love of the truth” (2 Thessalonians 2:10). By rejecting the power of the gospel to be regenerated into the image of Jesus, to partake of His nature, to be as He is in this world, to walk even as He walked (1 John 2:6), the false church and its ministers are still enslaved to the selfish Adam nature. Selfless love is impossible to them because they have denied the only provision for it. 1 Corinthians 13:1-3 says, “Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I have become as sounding brass or a clanging cymbal. And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, but have not love, it profits me nothing” (NKJV). The false church is speaking in tongues, prophesying, gaining knowledge, having faith, and giving to the poor, but they do not have love, so they have nothing. All they do is being generated out of the selfish Adam nature. These, having a form of godliness while denying its power, speak in tongues to appear spiritual and prophesy according to carnal understanding. They gain knowledge in vain efforts to discipline themselves or to be esteemed among men. They are trying to have faith to acquire wealth, get healed, and make a name for themselves, but they do not pursue faith for the purpose of being dead to sin and alive to righteousness. They give to the poor because they have an image to uphold, and by giving, they expect to receive. They are following the wrong Jesus, the anti-christ. The true Jesus, the Son of God, delivers from selfishness to selflessness. The wrong Jesus, the anti-christ, the son of perdition (2 Thessalonians 2:3) keeps his disciples enslaved to selfishness and drowning in their ungodly ways.

Going on in 1 Corinthians 13, Paul wrote, “Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things” (vs. 4-7 NKJV). These are the virtues of the love God sheds abroad in the hearts of everyone who truly repents and believes the gospel. With very little examination, you see that true love is totally selfless, righteous, and holy. We must each examine ourselves, by the light of God’s Word, to see if we’ve really repented and believed. Things to consider: are my thoughts, words, and deeds being generated by the love of God?; have I really known the truth until now?; have I been following the wrong Jesus?; do I really believe the gospel is the power of God to regenerate me into a selfless, loving, and righteous being? There is no salvation without receiving “the love of the truth”.