From the Pastor: Dr. M. J. Seymour, Sr.
“I have no greater joy than to hear that my children walk in truth. … Beloved, follow not that which is evil, but that which is good. He that doeth good is of God: but he that doeth evil hath not seen God.” (III Jn. 4, 11)
Notice how “truth” and “good” walk hand-in-hand in the things pertaining to God. Are not we the sons of God? If it is so, then does not the course of our whole existence in this world and in the next pertain to God? Then is it not reasonable to understand that the sons of God must of natural necessity walk hand-in-hand with truth and good? He who is born out of God assumes His character; and is it not a truth that God is good and there is no evil existing in Him?
We all have discovered that not all who profess Christianity are in truth born of the goodness of the Father through the blood of the Lamb. Many speak of things they do not have, nor are they able to bear the good fruit of that which they proclaim to possess. Speaking out of ignorance is an easy thing for the flesh, but the production of good fruit out of the Spirit of God is an impossible task where He does not exist. Professing does not require possessing, but possessing does require professing. An apple is an apple and an orange is an orange; paint them as you will, but proof is in the taste of their substance. So it is with people; they may say as they wish, but the truth is in the substance of your experience with them.
The word “seen” in verse eleven speaks to the unveiling of “who is and who is not” of the sons of God. This word does not only carry the idea of visual perception, but it equally transmits the fact of truthful experience. Thus, the precept is that “he that doeth evil hath not perceived or experienced God.” If there is no rebirthing encounter with God, then one has not come into an experiential contact with Him. God never inserts Himself into a person without that person experiencing a change. That knowledge of the very essence of the goodness of God can only come with a truthful quickening interaction within God. Godlikeness bears good fruit.
The life of a genuine child of God gives an abundance of evidence of the goodness of God in truth. All pretenders are manifested by the evil they do. “He that doeth evil hath not seen God.” Spiritual experience is the difference in doing good and evil.
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