The Truth of the Matter...

In this all shall know that ye are disciples to me, if ye have love in one another. (John 13:35)

This is the message you have heard from the beginning: We should love one another. (1 John 3:11)

And this is His commandment: that we should believe in the name of His Son, Jesus Christ, and we should love one another just as He commanded us. (1 John 3:23)

We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love our brothers. The one who does not love remains in death. (1 John 3:14)

Whoever loves his brother remains in the light, and there is no cause of stumbling in him. (1 John 2:10)

And this I pray, that your love may abound more and more [displaying itself in greater depth] in real knowledge and in practical insight;

so that you may learn to recognize and treasure what is excellent [identifying the best, and distinguishing moral differences

so that you may be men of character] not stumbling to the day of Christ. (Philippians 1:9-10) Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations [help the people to learn of Me, believe in Me, and obey My words], baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe everything that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always [remaining with you perpetually--regardless of circumstance, and on every occasion], even to the end of the age.(Matthew 28:20)

Concerning this we have much to say, and it is hard to explain, since you have become dull and sluggish in [your spiritual] hearing and disinclined to listen. For though by this time you ought to be teachers [because of the time you have had to learn these truths], you actually need someone to teach you again the elementary principles of God’s word [from the beginning], and you have come to be continually in need of milk, not solid food. For everyone who lives on milk is [doctrinally inexperienced and] unskilled in the word of righteousness, since he is a spiritual infant. But solid food is for the [spiritually] mature, whose senses are trained by practice to distinguish between what is morally good and what is evil. (Hebrews 5:11-14)

For My people are fools; they have not known Me. They are foolish children, without understanding. They are skilled in doing evil, but they know not how to do good. (Jeremiah 4:22)

And we have come to know and believe the love that God has for us. God is love; whoever abides in love abides in God, and God in him. (1 John 4:16)

Brothers and sisters, do not be children [immature, childlike] in your thinking; be infants in [matters of] evil [completely innocent and inexperienced], but in your minds be mature [adults]. (1 Corinthians 14:20)

For everyone who lives on milk is [doctrinally inexperienced and] unskilled in the word of righteousness, since he is a spiritual infant. (Hebrews 5:14)

And so, brothers, I was not able to speak to you as if to those who are spiritual, but rather as if to those who are carnal. For you are like infants in Christ. I gave you milk to drink, not solid food. For you were not yet able. And indeed, even now, you are not able; for you are still carnal. And since there is still envy and contention among you, are you not carnal, and are you not walking according to man? (1 Corinthians 3:1-3)

To whom can I give this warning? Who will listen to me? Look, their ears are closed, so they cannot hear. See, the word of the LORD has become offensive to them; they find no pleasure in it. (Jeremiah 6:10)

Why do you not understand what I am saying? It is because you are unable to accept My message. You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out his desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, refusing to uphold the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, because he is a liar and the father of lies. But because I speak the truth, you do not believe Me. (John 8:43-47)

And they bend their tongues like their bow for lies: but they are not valiant for the truth upon the earth; for they proceed from evil to evil, and they know not me, saith the LORD. (Jeremiah 9:3) For these are rebellious people, deceitful children,

children unwilling to listen to the Lord’s instruction.

They say to the seers,

See no more visions!

and to the prophets,

Give us no more visions of what is right!

Tell us pleasant things,

prophesy illusions.

Leave this way,

get off this path,

and stop confronting us

with the Holy One of Israel! Therefore this is what the Holy One of Israel says:

Because you have rejected this message,

relied on oppression

and depended on deceit,

this sin will become for you

like a high wall, cracked and bulging,

that collapses suddenly, in an instant.

It will break in pieces like pottery,

shattered so mercilessly

that among its pieces not a fragment will be found

for taking coals from a hearth or scooping water out of a cistern.

This is what the Sovereign Lord, the Holy One of Israel, says:

In repentance and rest is your salvation,

in quietness and trust is your strength,

but you would have none of it. (Isaiah 30:9-15)