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Chapter 3 THE LOVE AND CHARACTER OF GOD
INTRODUCTION
Having established beyond question the infinite sovereignty and limitless
power of God, and having also begun to examine His beautiful plan and purpose,
it would be appropriate to look into the character of such a Lord. What propels
His sovereignty? What is the nature of Him exercising such awesome might? What
is the essence of He whose plan leaves us so breathless and excited? Brethren,
the great revelation that broke in upon mankind as the light of the Gospel
dawned in human hearts, is that God is Love! I would hasten to clarify
that love is not a decision God makes, or an attribute of God, but the very
essence and substance of who He is.
8 He who does not love does not know God, for God is love.
(1 John 4:8)
The apostle John makes this awesome statement: that Love is who God is,
to the degree that one who does not love does not know God! What a stunning
truth! This is not taught much in the religious world, but the implications are
staggering. One may have all kinds of attributes, but if one has not love,
they do not even know God!
UNCONDITIONAL LOVE
It is important to specify that God, being the very embodiment of Love,
must therefore be a God of unconditional love, because His loves stems from His
very being, not from the object of His love. For centuries, many
Christians have felt as if they may cross an invisible line somewhere that
causes them to lose the love of God. Indeed, many have been held in bondage to a
works mentality simply by making an effort to ‘stay on the right side of God’.
Yet the truth liberates us all from such shackles of doubt. God’s love is not
subject to the ebb and flow of circumstances, because God is Love as much as God
is God! What joy is ours when we realize that God cannot do anything but love,
because He cannot BE anything but love!
In pursuing the theme of this great love, let us read the next two verses in
the first epistle of John:
9 In this the love of God was manifested toward us, that God has sent
His only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him. 10In
this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us
and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. (1 John 4:9-10)
We see here the source of love, and also the impossibility of fallen man
generating this ‘agape’ love. If God is Love, and Love is God, from whence comes
the ability to love Him, except from He Himself? And again, we see the sovereign
purpose of God being fulfilled in Him manifesting this Love toward mankind in
the person of His Son, Jesus Christ. This love is a love that will not let go,
nor forsake, and in the book of Romans we find one of the most majestic chapters
in the Bible, dealing with the impossibility of being separated from the love of
God in Christ:
31 What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be
against us? 32He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up
for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things? 33Who
shall bring a charge against God's elect? It is God who justifies. 34Who
is he who condemns? It is Christ who died, and furthermore is also risen, who is
even at the right hand of God, who also makes intercession for us. 35Who
shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or
persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? 36As it is
written:
"For Your sake we are killed all day long;
We are accounted as sheep for the
slaughter."[c]
37Yet in all these
things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. 38For I
am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor
powers, nor things present nor things to come, 39nor height nor
depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love
of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 8:31-39)
This beautiful passage, breathed of divine breath, awakens us to many
glorious truths pertaining to the Almighty and the Gospel of His Son, Jesus
Christ. It shows God as completely on the side of His creatures, beginning with
the elect. Giving up His Son, who has risen and also stands interceding! It
shows that, God having sovereignly justified, none can now condemn! And to the
thrill of our hearts, it reveals that we can rest in God’s love without fear of
rejection, for there is nothing that can separate us! Brethren, it has been said
by religious men that "no-one can separate us from His love, but we can walk
away." Saints – give credence to no such rubbish. Nothing can
separate us from this great love of God! Nothing in heights nor depths, nor any
other created thing! And if thy gaze, Oh saint, should cloud with doubt, lift
thine eyes again to the cross, where the infinite, limitless, unconditional love
of God was displayed for all ages in its perfection!
NO PROFIT WITHOUT LOVE
Paul, in the twelfth chapter of his first letter to the Corinthians,
presents the mystery of the working of the Body of Christ. We are given a vivid
insight into the distribution of gifts by the Spirit, and how the Body edifies
and builds itself up in love. These truths are described by the Spirit so
beautifully, that one might think the very fulfillment of our lives as
Christians was contained therein. Yet, after these timeless words have been
recorded, the Spirit moves Paul to reveal "a more excellent way."
1 Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but
have not love, I have become sounding brass or a clanging cymbal. 2And
though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries and all
knowledge, and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, but
have not love, I am nothing. 3And though I bestow all my goods to
feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned,[a] but have
not love, it profits me nothing.
4Love suffers long and is kind; love does not
envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; 5does not behave
rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; 6does
not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; 7bears all
things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
8Love never fails. (1 Corinthians 13:1-8)
This passage is parroted endlessly by religious men, and has become
somewhat of a pious cliché when falling from carnal lips. But let us take in
what is being said here. Love is spoken of, not as an emotion, nor yet as a
choice (as many say), but it is personified – it is shown to be a nature.
The Spirit reveals the necessity of this nature being found in us:
1 Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but have not
love, I have become sounding brass or a clanging cymbal.
One can be in possession of an impressive eloquence, and yea, can even
speak in angel’s tongues, but be profited NOTHING, if such gifts are not
propelled and motivated by a character, a being of love. Saints, when I think of
this verse, I think of the grandiose preaching, the showy messages, and
oratorical gurus that stand behind the pulpits. And yes, I even think of those
among us who have been blessed with the gift of tongues. Such men, such
giftedness, must surely be due great reward? The answer: only if they ARE
Love! Only if their nature is that of Jesus Christ, coming to fruition and
conformity within them. If not? They are merely a clanging, discordant cymbal.
2 And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries
and all knowledge, and though I have all faith, so that I could remove
mountains, but have not love, I am nothing.
What now? If one has the gift of prophecy and faith that moves mountains,
such a one is still nothing without love? Brethren, faith is a beautiful gift,
and indeed necessary to our growth in the Lord – yet it can be empty and yes,
might even become an idol without love, (for indeed, there are many who
make an idol of their faith). Yea, one may have such faith to the degree of
moving those very mountains Jesus spoke of in the days of His flesh, and yet be
NOTHING without love!
3 And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give
my body to be burned,[a] but have not love, it profits me nothing.
Ah, another religious banner is torn down – that of service. How many
times are ‘good works’ lifted up as a justification for some organization or
ministry, or one individual or another – yet such deeds are stated here to be
worthless without love! They profit NOTHING! Yea – even a valiant
martyrdom would profit NOTHING without love!
4Love suffers long and is kind; love does not
envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; 5does not behave
rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; 6does
not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; 7bears all
things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
8Love never fails.
It is now we see Love personified, and presented as a nature.
This, my beloved brethren, is the nature of God Himself! This is what is of
value! This is what makes our faith, our preaching, our service, and our
martyrdom worthy! Having the nature of God! Knowing Him! Being found with
His character! God suffers long and is kind, God does not envy, God does not
parade Himself, is not puffed up, does not behave rudely, does not seek His own,
is not provoked, thinks no evil, does not rejoice in iniquity but rejoices with
the truth! What a God! What a beautiful nature and character! Bearing,
believing, hoping, and enduring all things! Yet brethren, what sweet words are
the last three quoted!
8Love never fails.
True love – the love that is the essence of God’s being, never fails!
Here we see that, not only must God’s love be unconditional, but that true
love can never be conditional! What joy, when we realize that this is
the God we serve, who loved the world so much that He sent Jesus Christ His only
begotten to save it! A God of unconditional love that never fails!
CORRECTIVE LOVE
It is appropriate at this juncture to contemplate and acknowledge the truth
that God’s love is not a saccharine, sugary, sentimental love, with no strength
of character behind it. We do the truth great harm if we present God as a senile
old man who can’t stop smiling and handing out candy – and we are destined to
resemble that which we follow, there being many ‘sweet-tooth’ believers, who
just want another chocolate from God (though strangely, some of these are the
staunchest defenders of a ceaseless hell!). Indeed, one of the surest evidences
of His love is His discipline, and His judgments, which He measures into our
lives to bring us to repentance, to restoration, and to growth in Him. The very
words disciple and discipline are of the same root, and we would do well to
understand the connection:
3 For consider Him who endured such hostility from sinners against
Himself, lest you become weary and discouraged in your souls. 4You
have not yet resisted to bloodshed, striving against sin. 5And you
have forgotten the exhortation which speaks to you as to sons:
"My son, do not despise the chastening of
the LORD,
Nor be discouraged when you are rebuked by
Him;
6For whom the LORD loves
He chastens,
And scourges every son whom He
receives."[a]
7If[b] you endure chastening,
God deals with you as with sons; for what son is there whom a father
does not chasten? 8But if you are without chastening, of which all
have become partakers, then you are illegitimate and not sons. 9Furthermore,
we have had human fathers who corrected us, and we paid them respect. Shall we
not much more readily be in subjection to the Father of spirits and live?
10For they indeed for a few days chastened us as seemed best to them, but
He for our profit, that we may be partakers of His holiness.
11Now no chastening seems to be joyful for the present, but painful;
nevertheless, afterward it yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness to those
who have been trained by it. (Hebrews 12:3-11)
This truth illuminates our understanding yet more, as we realize that the
love of God is a love that will chasten and prune, with the best interests of
the child at heart. It is vital to comprehend this aspect of God’s love, if we
are to perceive and embrace the truth behind the suffering in our life, and His
righteous judgments upon all mankind. If we add this revelation to what we have
already established, we now see a His love as an unconditional love that
chastens and disciplines in order to correct.
THE ESSENCE OF LOVE
Brethren, though we have established that the love of God is
unconditional, and that it is His very nature, it would still be possible to err
concerning the essence of what love is at its root. We in the western world are
constantly bombarded with an idea of love that is based purely on emotion, or
indeed is not love at all, but lust. We are told that one may "fall in love",
"fall out of love", or indeed "lose love" for someone. We must fully understand
that the greatest identifying trait of true love is that of self sacrifice:
12 This is My commandment, that you love one another as I have loved
you. 13Greater love has no one than this, than to lay
down one's life for his friends. 14You are My friends if you do
whatever I command you. (John 15:12-14)
Understand, saints, that the cross of Jesus Christ was the very peak and
apex of history, and the definitive revelation of the love of God. And at the
very heart of it, was self sacrifice. The cross could not be a response to the
merits of man, for our very natures were at enmity with God. No, brethren, the
cross was a freely given sacrifice of God Himself, with His own blood being shed
for those who hated Him, and His own life being poured out for those who were
hopelessly unworthy of such an atonement. When seeking the essence of love, we
must fix our gaze upon the scene of Christ’s sacrifice, for it is never seen
more fully than on that hill. And this, brethren, is the love that now resides
in us, that must flow out as a river of life both to the Body and to the broken
world:
34A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another;
as I have loved you, that you also love one another. 35By
this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one
another." (John 13:34-35)
Having just contemplated the cross, and the amazing sacrificial love of
God, we must solemnly receive this commandment, as it entails loving one another
even as He loves us! And not only that, but Christ reveals this to be the
mark of His disciples! Too long has religion tried to ignore or smother
these words! Too long has the carnal mind rejected the love of God in favor of a
fleshy self righteousness! Brethren, this love must become our nature,
even as death and rebellion was once our nature!
THE FRUIT AND AUTHORITY OF GOD
Brethren, we are encouraged in God’s word to bear fruit, to test fruit,
and to know people by their fruit. This point cannot be emphasized enough. For
alas, we live in such an age that lip service has taken precedence over genuine
love, and style has triumphed over substance in the minds of many. The apostasy
is so deplorable, that a man may bear all the fruits of unrighteousness, yet be
acclaimed for his works, sermons, or theology.
22But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering,
kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23gentleness, self-control. Against
such there is no law. (Galatians 5:22-23)
These fruits are the very fruit of God, brethren! The fruit
of an abiding in Jesus Christ, the fruit of the working flow of His Spirit – and
the very fruit of Him we worship! His very nature and character is demonstrated
through these attributes, and those who are born of Him are brought up to bear
such fruit also!
Brethren, consider the following account of Jesus as He taught:
28And so it was, when Jesus had ended these sayings, that the
people were astonished at His teaching, 29for He taught them as
one having authority, and not as the scribes. (Matthew 7:18-29)
Jesus taught with authority, not because He had spent endless hours
inside a dusty library, poring over the scriptures, nor yet because He had sat
at the feet of ‘great theologians’ for years on end. He had done neither of
these things. Indeed, being a peasant, He had not even gone to school! You see,
Brethren, Jesus taught with authority because He spoke of God, whom He knew
personally, whom He had been sent by, and whom He was the express image of!
Think of it, saint – if your earthly parents were memorialized, to the point
where men who had never met them wrote great speeches about them, and wrote a
multitude of books concerning them, you would still be a far greater authority
than them all! Personal relationship trumps distant intellectual reasoning every
time! Christ spoke of that which He knew, which He was a partaker of, and He was
also the perfect embodiment of every word He spoke! If He spoke of
Love, behold, He IS Love! If He spoke of forgiveness, behold the spotless Lamb!
If He spoke of judgment, behold, the great Judge! And saints, this is the same
authority that all the saints are destined for! To speak of that which we know!
That which we have tasted in the Spirit, that which we have become the very
embodiment of!
GOD’S LOVING PLAN
Having contemplated God’s nature, character, and person, and having
established His great, unconditional love, let us look again at His plan and
purpose. Can we not safely establish that, if God loved us while we were yet
sinners, He loved ALL mankind while they were sinners? For He is no respecter of
persons. And furthermore, if we look at some of His commands, can we not see
that He must be exemplifying what He requires?
43 "You have heard that it was said, "You shall love your neighbor[g]
and hate your enemy.' 44But I say to you, love your enemies, bless
those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for
those who spitefully use you and persecute you,[h] 45that
you may be sons of your Father in heaven; for He makes His sun rise on
the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust. 46For
if you love those who love you, what reward have you? Do not even the tax
collectors do the same? 47And if you greet your brethren[i]
only, what do you do more than others? Do not even the tax collectors[j]
do so? 48Therefore you shall be perfect, just as your Father in
heaven is perfect. (Matthew 5:43-48)
Jesus here is plainly declaring the nature of God. He loves His enemies,
blesses those who curse Him, and does good to those who hate Him! Brethren – if
this is God’s nature, at what point does the unchanging God suddenly turn
and become eternally vindictive? Now, I would hasten to add that the good God
does His enemies will undoubtedly involve judgment, just as the good He does
the firstfruits involves judgment. My point is that a God whose nature is
Love, will judge correctively and redemptively.
It is a sad testimony to the blindness of religion that the majority of those
who profess to know the love of Jesus Christ claim that His love entails
mercilessly torturing the vast majority of His creatures without end. To be
sure, the carnal mind tries to make excuses for God, such as "He didn’t mean
anyone to go to hell – He has tried His best." Brethren, understand that it was
God who framed the ages, who spoke the oceans and mountains into existence, and
who knew every detail of His plan before the foundation of the world!
If you are one of those who subscribe to the senseless idea that God is
giving man complete free will and that salvation is our choice, consider the
following: The result of creation, according to that belief, would be worse than
if God had never begun it! His great plan, according to tradition, culminates in
a tiny island of saints, angelic and pious, strumming on harps, while the rest
of humanity is in complete agony! This is what religious tradition testifies
that the plan of God is! To finish with things in a far worse state than when He
begun! What kind of a plan is that? Far better to have never created than to
create only to condemn! It would be like drawing up plans to build a beautiful
city on the site of a gorgeous, verdant pasture, and instead build one
impressive mansion with a gigantic trash heap stretching out around it for mile
after endless mile! Far better to leave the pasture alone, yet this trash heap
is the ‘gospel’ of so many in the religious realm!
But indeed, those who claim to believe in endless hell contradict themselves.
On the one hand, they say ninety nine percent of mankind is going to burn
forever. Then, they say the little babes and unborn fetuses will be saved
because they have not yet reached the ‘age of accountability’. Finally, they
fight abortion tooth and nail!!! Brethren, if babies are all going to be saved
because they have not reached the age of accountability, abortion is the
best evangelistic tool in the world! Far better to kill at birth to
guarantee eternal life, than to allow them to take their chances at passing the
age of accountability and having a ninety-nine percent chance of being tortured
forever! So you see, the hell preachers do not even fully believe their own lie.
But let us move on from such darkness. Dear saints, God is indeed love, and
He indeed has a loving plan that will result in all being established in Jesus
Christ:
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. 17For
God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but
that the world through Him might be saved.
18"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. 19And this is
the condemnation, that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness
rather than light, because their deeds were evil. (John 3:16-19)
It is important to emphasize the mission of Christ: to save the world,
not to condemn the world. John 3:16 is quoted endlessly, but the passage is
rarely taken as a whole. We must understand that Christ did not come to condemn
– he who does not believe is already under condemnation! (verse 18). He who does
not believe is already under the penalty of Adam’s transgression, is already in
decay and corruption, is already blind and wretched! This verse is one of the
strongest testimonies to the nature of fallen man. Condemnation is not some
future verdict as much as something that is already being experienced as a
result of our death in Adam. Only faith in Christ can save, and that faith only
comes by grace, as we examined previously.
The point at which tradition has cast a stumbling block is to assume that
condemnation is a future verdict that endures forever, and that there is no
restitution or restoration. But how then could it be said:
11 He shall see the labor of His soul,[b] and be satisfied.
(Isaiah 53:11)
If Christ was sent to save, are we going to believe He is satisfied with His
labors if He only saves a mere one percent? Is a one percent success rate cause
for satisfaction in any area known to man? Brethren, there is a reason Christ
shall be satisfied:
9 Therefore God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which
is above every name, 10that at the name of Jesus every knee should
bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth,
11and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to
the glory of God the Father. (Philippians 2:9-11)
Christ will be satisfied because He is fully triumphant! His love has
conquered the world. He gave everything He had to purchase the pearl of great
price.
29 Or how can one enter a strong man's house and plunder his goods,
unless he first binds the strong man? And then he will plunder his house.
(Matthew 12:29)
The Lord has indeed bound satan, and has plundered his house also.
Everything that was under the sway of the wicked one has been purchased back,
and Jesus Christ is going to subdue every power and every principality, to the
point where there is one enemy left, even death itself. Death – the carnal mind,
the corruption of a godless existence, the decay of sin. And when He has beaten
down every other mountain, behold, by His great and limitless love this final
enemy shall fall too!!!
25 For He must reign till He has put all enemies under His feet.
26The last enemy that will be destroyed is death. 27For
"He has put all things under His feet."[a] But when He says "all
things are put under Him," it is evident that He who put all things under Him is
excepted. 28Now when all things are made subject to Him, then the Son
Himself will also be subject to Him who put all things under Him, that God may
be all in all. (1 Corinthians: 25-28)
Consider that awesome statement – the last enemy to be destroyed is
death! The wages of sin is death, yet instead of receiving these wages in waves
of endless agony, all shall be subdued and reconciled. All shall be made subject
to the Lord Jesus. This is such a plain statement of God’s final intent and such
a wondrous declaration of His abounding mercy that I grieve to see how ignored
this truth has become.
LOVE CONQUERS ALL
Dear saints, we must soberly understand that we will never know the love of
God unless we believe in the love of God. We will never love all men dearly
unless we believe that God loves all men dearly. And we will never become
ministers of life until we believe that Christ became a life-giving spirit.
There is so much death preached from the pulpits that saints become more
burdened than before they believed! Brethren, I would encourage you this very
day to spend time contemplating God’s nature, His character, and His love, and
ask Him to reveal this great love to you yet more and more. Become alive to Him,
become aware of Him, because He will lead you into all truth, and the truth
shall set you free.
For His love never fails!
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