Amen, Richard! We can praise the Lord that God lays out truth to us in this chapter so clearly that none need err and fail to experience the gift of eternal life. We can give thanks that God plans to restore His image in us--and His image is self-sacrificing love which His Spirit imparts. True self-sacrificing love will ALWAYS be revealed in ALL of the fruits of the Sprit. The devil may seek to counterfeit many truths, but there is one thing he cannot perfectly counterfeit: Christian character. Those who become polished instruments in his hands to do "much good" (on the outside before men, like the Pharisees, lawyers, and scribes) will not be able to manifest genuine love with all of the fruits of the Spirit because they are bad trees--they are disconnected from the source of life, Christ. Unless one makes the entire surrender to Christ by beholding the loveliness of Jesus, it is impossible to reveal His Spirit. And what does the Scripture say if we have not His Spirit?
Romans 8:9 "But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his."
We are not experiencing salvation (eternal life, which begins now when we entirely surrender the heart for Jesus to recreate and make pure and holy by His Spirit) unless we have His Spirit. Without it we are dead branches, bad trees, and can do no good thing. Even the "good" that others may think we are doing will be polluted by selfishness. Only when Christ abides within is it possible to have a pure heart that performs good actions from right motives. This is the miracle of grace.
Today in our reading we see the power of deception in the Laodicean condition:
Job had said, "The stranger did not lodge in the street: but I opened my doors to the traveler." And when the two angels in the guise of men came to Sodom, Lot bowed himself with his face toward the ground, and said, "Behold now, my lords, turn in, I pray you, into your servant's house, and tarry all night." Job 31:32; Genesis 19:2. With all these lessons the priest and the Levite were familiar, but they had not brought them into practical life. Trained in the school of national bigotry, they had become selfish, narrow, and exclusive. When they looked upon the wounded man, they could not tell whether he was of their nation or not. They thought he might be of the Samaritans, and they turned away.
In their action, as Christ had described it, the lawyer saw nothing contrary to what he had been taught concerning the requirements of the law.
Interesting that Job is brought into this chapter today. As long as Job was connected to Christ, his actions were pure and unselfish. But as soon as Job took his eyes off Christ, even his "good works" became a stumbling block to himself and others, for he looked to them for assurance of salvation rather than to Christ. The point here in bringing Job into this chapter was to show that loving deeds are required by the law (as they will spring forth when the heart and soul is submerged in Christ).
Strikingly, the lawyer felt that what had been done by the Levite and priest in passing by the wounded man was just fine. This is amazing! So terrible is spiritual blindness, that when truth is brought right to the heart, the one who is blind sees not his true condition! Let us pray that Christ may revive and reform us by responding to the counsel of the True Witness if we are not abiding in Him and manifesting His Spirit in all we think, do, and say:
Revelation 3:14-21
14 And unto the angel of the church of the Laodiceans write; These things saith the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of the creation of God;
15 I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot: I would thou wert cold or hot.
16 So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth.
17 Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked:
18 I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich; and white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear; and anoint thine eyes with eyesalve, that thou mayest see.
19 As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten: be zealous therefore, and repent.
20 Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me.
21 To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with my Father in his throne.
May we see our continual need of Jesus, and today be in constant communion with Him, that the souls around us who are wounded by Satan we may minister unto, as through Christ the completeness of Christian character is attainable:
"Love is the basis of godliness. Whatever the profession, no man has pure love to God unless he has unselfish love for his brother. But we can never come into possession of this spirit by trying to love others. What is needed is the love of Christ in the heart. When self is merged in Christ, love springs forth spontaneously. The completeness of Christian character is attained when the impulse to help and bless others springs constantly from within—when the sunshine of heaven fills the heart and is revealed in the countenance." {COL 384.2}