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THE KING'S BUSINESS
of the Father that you will overcome the love of the world, and then you will be in the world, yet not of the world. The diver goes down to the deeps, but he is in contact with the air above. As long as he is in touch with the air above he is safe, but the mo ment the communication is cut he is in danger, and, perhaps, death will come. The Christian, so long as he keeps in contact with the love of the Father, can go as deep as he likes into the world, in order to glorify God and do service for Him. In the world, yet not of the world! Fill the heart with the love of the Father, and the love of the world has no power. 2. Our protection is in the Son. This is opposed to the Devil (3 :8 ),, “ For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that He might. destroy the works of the Devil.” Notice care fully how. the Lord'Jesus Christ is brought before us in this epistle as our protection against the Devil. First of all, His past work is mentioned. The foundation facts of His revela tion are given in the first three verses. Then His past work, His work of re demption is emphasized. “ The blood” (1 :7 ), “ the propitiation” (2:2 and 4: 10). Then His present work is em- ,phasized—His advocacy above (2 :1 ), His indwelling (4 :4 ). It is the Lord Jesus Christ, in the past and in the present our perfect Divine Redeemer, who meets and overcomes the power of the Devil. 3. Our protection is in the Spirit as opposed to Antichrist. In 2 :20, you have the anointing of the Spirit; in 4: 12, the indwelling Spirit. The anoint ing enables us to distinguish, to know the difference between truth and er ror. “ Ye have an unction . . . . and ye know.” r The indwelling en ables us to maintain the difference be tween the wrong and the right,' in the power of the Holy Spirit. As we look at this, our threefold
Christ. In other words, no need is felt of redemption ; and whenever any movement sets light store on redemp tion it stands condemned. There is a little book, “ Salvation by Character.” The New Testament says “ Character by salvation.” Salvation by culture, by civilization, by character—these are wrong, because there is no redemption in them. It is culture, civilization,' character through salvation. There is a story of the Middle Ages about a monk in his cell being visited by Satan in disguise. Satan said, “ I am the Lord Jesus Christ.” The monk said, “ I would like to see the mark of the nails in your hands.” That was quite enough. Satan soon vanished. Every error—mark this—one way or another, is directly opposed to the Atoning Sacrifice of Jesus Christ, be cause that Atonenlent. involves Deity and Incarnation. They oppose Deity and Incarnation because they oppose the Atonement, winch is the culminat ing point from the standpoint of re demption. II. P rotection . I turn now to O ur P rotection . Here again, our protection is three fold : 1. First, the Father, “ If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him.” The Father is op posed to the world, and the revelation of the Father in this epistle is two fold. “ God is light” ( 1 :3) and “ God is love” (4:16). One is knowledge, and the other is power. No negative protection will suffice ; you cannot meet the world by anything negative— you must have something positive. A mother once said to her oldest daugh ter, “Go out and see what Johnny is doing, and tell him not to.” Nò nega tive attitude will do in regard to the world. You must have what Chalm ers calls “ the expulsive power of a new affection.” It is only b.y the love
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