Posts Tagged ‘God’s love’
Simplistic Christianity
What does it mean to become a Christian? Simply put, it means to become a disciple of Jesus. So, how does one become a Christian?
That is a good question. Let us see what the Bible says about becoming a Christian in a very simplistic way.
In the Gospel of Mark 1: 14, 15 we read the following quote by Jesus:
Mar 1:14 Now after that John was put in prison, Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God,
Mar 1:15 And saying, The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand: repent ye, and believe the gospel.
Here Jesus simply says, “You repent and believe the gospel.” The word repent means “to think differently, that is, reconsider morally to feel compunction.” We are to admit our sinfulness, have a desire to change morally, and to ask for forgiveness for having lived our lives as we want instead of what God wants; to want to live for God and not for ourselves.
The second thing that Jesus said was to believe the gospel. What is the gospel? In First Corinthians chapter one and beginning with the first verse, the Apostle Paul states very clearly what is the gospel:
1Co 15:1 Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto you, which also ye have received, and wherein ye stand;
1Co 15:2 By which also ye are saved, if ye keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless ye have believed in vain.
1Co 15:3 For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures;
1Co 15:4 And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures:
Now we have the simple basics of how to become a Christian; repent and believe the gospel. You have seen what it means to repent and you now know what the gospel is in a very simplistic way. So, how does this all work together?
When God draws someone to Jesus, in doing so, He also gives them the power to repent and to believe the gospel, giving them the ability to do the following as we read in Romans 10: 8 – 10:
8. The word is nigh thee, even in thy mouth, and in thy heart: that is, the word of faith, which we preach;
9. That if thou you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in your heart that God has raised him from the dead, you will be saved.
10. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.
So now, you know what it means to “repent and believe the gospel”. In doing so you will receive forgiveness for your sins, have everlasting life with Jesus in Heaven, and you will know what it is truly like to feel the love of God.
The alternative? Read this from the Gospel of John 3: 36:
Joh 3:36 He that believeth on the Son has everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abides on him.
When you compare the two choices, and you have “only two” from which to choose, Simplistic Christianity does not seem like a bad choice after all.
Why A Christian Should Not Say “This” To A Non-Christian
We have all heard it before. It may have been in an evangelistic meeting, a bible study or even in a personal evangelistic encounter. The one thing that we hear the most at the beginning is that “God loves you just the way you are.” But, does God really love the sinful person?
Think about this. If you are a non-Christian and you hear someone say that “God loves you”, would you not be happy to hear that? Of course you would. So, if you then are told that you need to come to Jesus and be saved your first thought might be … Saved? … Saved from what? … And why?
This is why a Christian should never tell a non-Christian that God loves Him. The fact is that God does “not” love the non-Christian. In Psalm 5: 4, 5 we read:
4. For you are not a God who takes pleasure in wickedness, nor shall evil dwell with you.
5. The boastful shall not stand in Your sight; You “hate all” workers of iniquity.
Basically the word iniquity means “sinful”. Who is it among us that are without sin? The answer is no one is without sin. We are all sinful people. Not only is God not pleased with they who are not disciples of Jesus, He hates them as well; not just their sin but “them” the non-Christian.
There are other verses in the bible that explain this, and many more that say specifically who it is that God does love, and we may look at them in a later post.
Because we stand in a sinful state before God He demands from us that we pay the penalty for the sins we have committed; having been found guilty for not being obedient to His holy Law that He has given to us to follow.
You see, God is a holy God; perfect in every way. He expects from us to be perfect as well, but we are not perfect. We are workers of iniquity, doing what we want and not what God wants. We always seek to do our will and we do not want the things of God. We are actually hostile, or enemies, to God. In short, we have offended this holy God and in His justice He demands retribution because of it. This is what angers Him and why it is that He hates they who do offend Him.
However, even in our sinfulness, being enemies of God, we are given an opportunity to make amends to God for our sins. For God knows that we are acting in ignorance to what we are doing. That is why God tells us in Acts 17: 30 the following:
30. Truly, these times of ignorance God overlooked, but now commands all men everywhere to repent,
So, even though God does not love us in our sinful state, He does give us a chance to turn from our sinful activities and come back to Him so that we can know His love. But, before we can do that, we need to know what the consequences are for our sinfulness, and what needs to be done in order not to be found guilty for our sins on the coming judgement day.
Sinful man does not know that God has a hatred for him, and that he already stands condemned before Him. The unsaved person needs to be told about this and be given the chance to repent for his sins, and be told in Whom it is that he must believe in order to receive forgiveness.
In our next message we will look at what the two choices are for the sinful person, and why we must, by faith, believe in Jesus in order to receive forgiveness for our sinful life and be brought into the family of God where we can know and truly experience the love of God.
So You Think That God Loves You?
I can hear you now. Of course God loves me. Isn’t that what the Bible says? Seriously, does it really?
This will be one of the shorter essays I have done because the verse that I will quote says it all. It’s found in the Gospel of John and it is in chapter 16. In verses 26 and 27 we read:
In that day you will ask in My name, and I do not say to you that I shall pray the Father for you; for the Father Himself loves you, because you have loved Me, and have believed that I came forth from God.
So, let me ask you one question. Do you love Jesus and believe that He came forth from God the Father?
Before you answer here’s what Jesus said in John 14: 21 about those who say they love Jesus:
He who has My commandments and keeps them, it is he who loves Me. And he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and manifest Myself to him.
Do you follow Jesus and obey Him? Not looking good is it? Well, here’s one more thing that Jesus said about following him. In Luke 14: 33 we read:
So likewise, whoever of you does not forsake all that he has cannot be My disciple.
In short, unless you are a born again follower of Jesus, God does not love you. In fact, well, here’s what we read in John 3: 36:
He who believes in the Son has everlasting life; and he who does not believe the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him.
Do you really want to face the wrath of God? I can understand that you do not want to come to Jesus. You see, it is because of your sinfulness that you don’t want to come to Him. In John 3: 18 – 20 we read:
He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. And this is the condemnation, that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. For everyone practicing evil hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed.
Basically you are ashamed of the person you are. You do not want to give up your sin and you would rather stay in your sinfulness than come to Jesus and be cleansed and forgiven. The problem is, if you do not come to Jesus and submit to Him as Lord and believe that God has raised Him from the dead you will stay condemned to face the wrath of God.
And you will “never” know the Love of God.
God knows that you are a sinful person and in this sinfulness you can do nothing to be worthy of receiving forgiveness of your sins. That is why God, as Jesus, came to earth to do for us what man cannot do for himself.
Jesus has satisfied all of the demands of God the Father for receiving salvation and it is the work of God that you believe on Jesus and to come to Him for forgiveness. When you do, when you confess your sinfulness and submit to Jesus as Lord, you will then know the full love of God. The love that He has for those who love Jesus. There is no other way.
for the Father Himself loves you, because you have loved Me,
You can stay in you sinfulness and never know the love of God or you can come to Jesus, be forgiven and cleansed of your sin, and experience the greatest love that man will ever know. Now, in this life, and for eternity.
Why would you not do so now? If you want to be loved by God, if you want to know what true love really is, then you must love Jesus. Come to Him now, submit to His Lordship over you and be saved.
Then you can answer the question, “So You Think That God Loves You?”, with a resounding… YES!
Who Does God Love?
For most of you the answer to that question would be “everyone”. I mean, isn’t that what everyone says? Yeah, that is what just about everybody would say, but is that what the Bible says?
Now I know that everyone basis that thought on John 3:16, and we will take a look at that verse a little later; and we will do so in the context of what was being said and in connection on what the Bible has to say elsewhere.
So, before we can give this question a good answer we should first look to see if the Bible says anything about God hating anyone. Let’s look at a few verses:
Malachi 1
1 The burden of the word of the LORD to Israel by Malachi.
2 “ I have loved you,” says the LORD.
“ Yet you say, ‘In what way have You loved us?’
Wasnot Esau Jacob’s brother?”
Says the LORD.
“ Yet Jacob I have loved;
3 But Esau I have hated,
And laid waste his mountains and his heritage
For the jackals of the wilderness.”
Romans 9:12-14 (New King James Version)
12 it was said to her, “The older shall serve the younger.” 13 As it is written, “Jacob I have loved, but Esau I have hated.”
14 What shall we say then? Is there unrighteousness with God? Certainly not!
Proverbs 6:15-19 (New King James Version)
15 Therefore his calamity shall come suddenly;
Suddenly he shall be broken without remedy.
16 These six things the LORD hates,
Yes, seven are an abomination to Him:
17 A proud look,
A lying tongue,
Hands that shed innocent blood,
18 A heart that devises wicked plans,
Feet that are swift in running to evil,
19 A false witness who speaks lies,
And one who sows discord among brethren.
Psalm 5:4-6 (New King James Version)
4 For You are not a God who takes pleasure in wickedness,
Nor shall evil dwell with You.
5 The boastful shall not stand in Your sight;
You hate all workers of iniquity.
6 You shall destroy those who speak falsehood;
The LORD abhors the bloodthirsty and deceitful man.
Very clearly we see, here, that God does hate individuals for various reasons or because He has decided to do so of His own choice. So, if God does hate individuals, for whatever reasons, then it cannot be said that God loves everyone. Now the Bible is very clear about whom God does love, and Jesus said the most about it.
However, before we look at these verses let’s take a look at John 3:16.
John 3:16 (New King James Version)
16 For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.
Now Jesus has been talking Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews, about the need for being “Born Again”; and Nicodemus could not understand what He was talking about.
You see, the Jews believed that God’s love was only for them, that His favor was upon Isreal alone and no one else. Jesus tells Nicodemus that “as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life.” The keyword is “whoever”.
Jesus also said “For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.” Now we know that not everyone in the world is going to be saved so we can determine from these verses that Jesus is speaking in general and not in specific or particular terms.
He follows up these verses with this, “He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.” So, again we see that He is talking about those who will believe are the ones who will be saved.
However, in the whole context of what Jesus is saying is that this salvation is not just for those who are Jews but for anyone of any nation, creed or color who lives anywhere in the world. He is speaking in terms of generalities and not in specifics about whom will be saved.
In other words, the salvation that He is talking about to Nicodemus, that of being “Born Again” can be had by anyone whether a Jew or a Gentile. So, John 3:16 does not speak of individuals but of peoples in general; this does not, in anyway, speak of God loving everyone.
So, if God doesn’t love everyone then – who does God love?
Let us now look at some verses that are specific in nature and that which will tell us who God does, or will, love.
John 13:1 (New King James Version)
1 Now before the Feast of the Passover, when Jesus knew that His hour had come that He should depart from this world to the Father, having loved His own who were in the world, He loved them to the end.
John 14:21-23 (New King James Version)
21 He who has My commandments and keeps them, it is he who loves Me. And he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and manifest Myself to him.”
22 Judas (not Iscariot) said to Him, “Lord, how is it that You will manifest Yourself to us, and not to the world?”
23 Jesus answered and said to him, “If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our home with him.
John 17:20-23 (New King James Version)
20 “I do not pray for these alone, but also for those who will believe in Me through their word; 21 that they all may be one, as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You; that they also may be one in Us, that the world may believe that You sent Me. 22 And the glory which You gave Me I have given them, that they may be one just as We are one: 23 I in them, and You in Me; that they may be made perfect in one, and that the world may know that You have sent Me, and have loved them as You have loved Me.
As you can see by these verses that Jesus is very specific about whom He, and the Father, will love – those who believe in Him, who love Him and who obey Him.
Now I know you are being very skeptical about all of this but these verses don’t lie. You’ve been told a lie for so long that naturally you want to believe that God loves everyone, but He doesn’t; the above verses say otherwise.
The only way anyone of us will know or experience the love of God is by being “Born Again” as Jesus was telling Nicodemus, and if Nicodemus did not understand what Jesus was saying, how can you? That, my friend, is the topic for another post, but for now all you need to know is this.
You must be “Born Again”. If you are willing to confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord – by bowing the knee to Him as Lord of your life – and if you will but just believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the grave – you will be saved. Whoever will call upon Jesus as Lord will be saved.
As for the answer to the question “Who Does God Love?”, the answer is quite simple, they are those who are “Born Again”. Those who are not born again – well, they will only know and experience the judgement, the hatred and the wrath of God.
John 3:36 says, “He who believes in the Son has everlasting life; and he who does not believe the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him.”
Do you have that life or does the wrath of God abide upon you still? You can know and experience the love of God, but only if you will bow to Jesus as Lord of your life. If you won’t you will only face God’s wrath. There really is no choice.
So, does God love You? You now know what you need to do if you want to be loved by God. You must be “Born Again”.
Jesus will not be a Savior to anyone who will not first bow the knee to Him as Lord.
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