"But I know you, that ye have not the love of God in
you." —John 5:42
Only a born-again Christian can have the Love of God. God
doesn't have love, God is love. The Bible states in Romans 5:5, "And hope
maketh not ashamed; because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the
Holy Ghost which is given unto us." An unsaved person cannot understand
the Love of God, for how can they comprehend what they do not possess?
An unsaved person does NOT have the Holy Spirit of God
indwelling their body... "Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and
that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?" (1st Corinthians 3:16).
"...Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his"
(Romans 8:9). The Love of God is something that only a genuine born-again
Christian can possess, understand, and express.
God's Love is unconditional, i.e., it is not dependent upon
anything we say or do. Romans 5:8 states, "But God commendeth his love
toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us." God,
knowing exactly how sinful and undeserving we are, was still willing to send
His only begotten Son into the world to die for our sins. This is the Love of
God. Jesus Christ paid our sin debt, asking nothing in return. Salvation is a
"free gift" (Romans 5:15; 6:23). Thus, the gift of eternal life
cannot be meriting, earned or obtained by self-righteousness.
The World's Synthetic Love
In sharp contrast, the world's love is shallow, temporal,
and conditional—which is no love at all. I can think of so many examples of the
world's type of synthetic "love." Many relationships and marriages
today are wrongly based upon sex, money, security, an unwanted pregnancy, etc.
This is why the divorce rate is so high in America. Such marriages are doomed
from the start. Much of the charity we see in society is only donated for
tax-write-off purposes, public image, or for self-gratification.
The world's love is conditional. A perfect example is when
one says to their spouse, "I don't love you anymore." There is NO
such teaching in the Word of God. We read in 1st Corinthians 13:8,
"Charity never faileth..." The word "charity" in this
Scripture comes from the Greek word agape and means "love." God's
Love never fails. This is why we read in Hebrews 13:5, "...for he hath
said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee." Unlike many
today who abandon their marriage vows and sinfully divorce, God keeps His
promises (Titus 1:2), and has promised to never leave nor forsake His own. What
a precious Savior! Phileo is loving you because of who you are; but Agape is
loving you because of who I am.
Love is Not Sinful Compromise
We hear much talk about "love" in today's world,
but it is a false love, conditioned upon one's acceptance of the SINFUL
WORLD... "If ye were of the world, the world would love his own: but
because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world,
therefore the world hateth you" (John 15:19). The "love" which
we hear so much about nowadays by singers, actors, psychologists, politicians,
secularists, TV hosts and apostate ministers is conditioned upon the acceptance
of SIN. Although the Bible teaches that Christians ought to love others
(Galatians 5:14); we are also taught to "have no fellowship with the
unfruitful works of darkness" (1st Corinthians 5:11).
There is an unbiblical philosophy in many of our churches
today, which seeks sympathy towards fornicators, abortionists and homosexuals
under the pretense of "love," and refrains from speaking out against
such sins from the pulpit. This is apostasy! The Word of God plainly teaches
that Christians have a duty to expose sin... "And have no fellowship with
the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them. For it is a shame
even to speak of those things which are done of them in secret" (Ephesians
5:11,12). The Greek word for "reprove" in Ephesians 5:11 is elencho,
and means "to expose." This is every Christian's responsibility
concerning sin.
Scriptures that Teach God's Unconditional Love
John 3:16 proclaims, “For God so loved the world, that he
gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish,
but have everlasting life.” The Bible plainly teaches that God loves the world
so much that He gave His only begotten Son to redeem us from the curse of sin.
Jesus Christ died for ALL men. 1st John 2:2, “And he is the propitiation for
our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world.”
Anyone who says that Jesus didn't die for all mankind is a liar.
We are taught in Romans 5:8, “But God commendeth [i.e., to
introduce] his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died
for us.” 1st John 3:16 further states, “Hereby perceive we the love of God,
because he laid down his life for us: and we ought to lay down our lives for
the brethren.” Some errant Bible teachers claim that the word “us”
only refers to believers, and not the unsaved. However, 2nd Peter 2:1 plainly
puts them to shame, “But there were false prophets also among the people, even
as there shall be false teachers among you, who privily shall bring in damnable
heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them, and bring upon themselves
swift destruction.” Did you read that? The Lord bought those false
prophets! If you go to Hell, it will be by your own choice, because
you died in your sins without Christ.
2nd Peter 3:9 tells us, “The Lord is not slack concerning
his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not
willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.”
Calvinists foolishly teach that God chooses who will be saved or remain
unsaved. Nothing could be further from the truth of God's Word. 2nd Peter 3:9
clearly reveals that God is willing and waiting for ALL mankind to repent. The
choice is ours alone to make as individual human beings.
Those who teach that God's love is conditional upon our
obedience to Him are self-righteous, for we are all sinful and deserving of
hellfire. Those who obey the Gospel of Jesus Christ are saved by Christ's
righteousness, and by His righteousness alone. For anyone to say
that God only loves those who obey Him is to imply that God is somehow
impressed with our self-righteousness. We are all unconditionally loved by God
and the objects of His dear love.
Certainly, God's wrath abideth upon the unsaved. John 3:36,
“He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not
the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him.” Romans 5:9,
“Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath
through him.” Howbeit, just because God's wrath abideth upon the
wicked does not mean that God does not love them. No Christian
parent who is right with God, who is angry at their child for doing wrong,
would fail to unconditionally love that child the same. People who question the
Biblical doctrine of God's unconditional love clearly reveal their woeful
ignorance of God and the Scriptures.
Matthew 5:45, “That ye may be the children of your Father
which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good,
and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust.” If God didn't unconditionally
love wicked sinners, the ground would immediately open and swallow them all
into Hell beneath. The Bible teaches that evil and unjust men enjoy the same
blessings of the sun and rain as do the righteous.
The Depths of the Love of God
Sadly, most married couples today have a 50/50 attitude
towards their relationship. Biblical love ought to be 100%, even if the other
spouse is giving 0%. In every case, when people write to me in an attempt to
justify their divorce, they blame their spouse. In reality, they are basing
their divorce on the failures of their spouse. This is no love at all. The Love
of God says, "I don't care what you do, or don't do, I love you
unconditionally and nothing will ever change that." This is the Love of
God.
If you don't remember anything else from this article,
please remember that God's Love is UNCONDITIONAL, which means that it has
absolutely nothing to do with the person we love. Thankfully, God doesn't love
us for who we are; but because of WHO HE IS. Likewise, we shouldn't love people
because of who they are; but because of WHO WE ARE.
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