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 posses, 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 marriages today are wrongly based upon sex, money, security, an unwanted pregnancy, et cetera. 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 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.
“There's nobody in this world that deserves your trust! And if you only trust folks that deserve it, you're never going to trust anybody. Now I don't know what you're going to do, but I'm going to trust everybody!” —Dr. Jack Hyles, a life-changing quote from the excellent MP3 sermon titled, "Take The Shield Down."
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. John Calvin and his followers are liars.
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.
“Let emotion in. Let tears in. You're missing life. Let love in! ... America's dying for a lack of love and compassion! And our churches are dying...” —Dr. Jack Hyles, a life-changing quote from the excellent MP3 sermon titled, "Take The Shield Down."
The Depths of the Love of God
The world doesn't understand the Love of God. I know a Christian man whose wife divorced him. His lawyer told him to "move on." A year passed and the man hadn't heard from his wife. He cried often. His friends said, "You're a fool if you take her back." Others heartlessly said, "Isn't it great to be single?" He was grieved and missed his wife. He wanted her to come home, but she said "I don't love you anymore." He prayed and continued to hope for years that perhaps his wife would return, but she didn't. She had cost him his life's retirement in the divorce. She dragged him into court. She assassinated his good name. She caused him much grief. She abandoned him when his health was poor. What was the brokenhearted man to do? I personally felt that Christian man's suffering and pain. He has an unconditional love for his wife. Nothing she did to hurt him was able to diminish his love for her. This is the Love of God.
The world cannot understand such depth of love. 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.
