Do I love the Bob Jones crowd that I
constantly preach against? Yes, more than they could ever know. I love my
enemies as much as anyone with God's unconditional love. God knows that I would
help my worst enemy if I saw them in need. One of my favorite Scriptures is
Luke 6:35, “But love ye your enemies, and do good, and lend, hoping for nothing
again; and your reward shall be great, and ye shall be the children of the
Highest: for he is kind unto the unthankful and to the evil.”
Isn't our God amazing! The Lord is “KIND UNTO THE UNTHANKFUL AND TO THE
EVIL.” God still blesses men who curse and blaspheme His holy name, allowing
them to enjoy the blessings of life. That is an uncommonly good God!!!
Micah
7:18, “Who is a God like unto thee, that pardoneth
iniquity, and passeth by the transgression of the remnant of his heritage? he
retaineth not his anger for ever, because he delighteth in mercy.” None of
us deserve the bountiful blessings from the Lord. Psalms 145:18, The LORD is
nigh unto all them that call upon him, to all that call upon him in truth.
Psalms 86:5, “For thou, Lord, art good, and ready to forgive; and plenteous in
mercy unto all them that call upon thee.” Oh my friend, if you want to be
like unto our great God, then you must be ready to forgive others! You must
be plenteous in mercy, willing to oft forgive again and again to all who
seek our forgiveness. Like Dr. Hyles said, I just decided years ago to
forgive everybody, even before they ask for it. That is what our Lord did.
On the cross Jesus cried out, “Father forgive them!,” because He already
had.
You'll hardly ever see me without smile and shine on my face, because that
is my dear Savior in me. Evangelist Billy Sunday said, “Give your face to
God and He'll put His shine on it!” I like that! Psalms 16:11, “Thou
wilt shew me the path of life: in thy presence is fulness
of joy; at thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore.”
The blessed presence of the indwelling Holy Spirit is my constant joy, and I
love God and He loves me, and we walk together in sweet fellowship! I am far
from perfect, but being honest with God is the most important part about
walking with Him, for you cannot walk with God if you are in self-denial.
God already knows everything about you (Psalms 139:1-6), even secret things
that perhaps you don't see. Psalms 19:12, “Who can understand his errors?
cleanse thou me from secret faults.” It is always easy to see the faults
and hypocrisies in others, but many times we have difficulty seeing our own
shortcomings, because we do not see what others see. The Word of God is like
a mirror, showing us who we really are.
The
many PROMISES of God (as recorded in His inspired Word) are my constant joy!
Philippians 3:21 promises me a new resurrected body at the Rapture,
“fashioned like unto his glorious body.” Romans 8:32 promises me
“all things” in eternity that will make me happy. John 14:1-2
makes a promise to believers of owning “mansions” in Heaven. I have a
home just over in the Glory Land! 2nd Timothy 2:12 promises that just
as believers suffer with Christ, so also will we one day “reign with him”
in His millennial kingdom. I could mention literally hundreds of precious
promises in the Holy Scriptures, that pertain only to the born-again child
of God. I thank God for the precious blood of Jesus Christ, which redeemed
me from the curse of the law and Hell, and has washed all my sins away
forever (Revelation 1:5). What an awesome God, Lord, Creator and Savior!
You are greatly loved my friend, whoever you may be. God's unconditional
love knows no boundaries. It matters not who you are or what you have done,
God still loves you! And if a believer is right with God, they will love you
too! A man can commit a horrible crime and be sentenced to death in a gas
chamber, but that is no reason to stop loving him with God's love. What if
God stopped loving us when we were still in sin, before we were saved? The
Holy Bible says that scarcely a person would die for a righteous man;
perhaps someone might even die for a good man; but who in their right mind
would die for a criminal? JESUS THAT'S WHO!!! ...
Romans 5:6-9, “For when we
were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. For
scarcely for a righteous man will one die: yet peradventure for a good
man some would even dare to die. But God commendeth
his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for
us. Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we
shall be saved from wrath through him.”
God sent His only begotten Son
into the world, to be beaten, mocked, rejected, mistreated, cursed, spit
upon, stripped naked publicly and crucified to a cross for OUR SINS. The
perfect, sinless, spotless, Lamb of God—He Who knew no sin—became as sin for
us wicked sinners, criminals in the eyes of God, woeful sinners like YOU and
ME! We are so undeserving of such great unimaginable love! God does hate our
sin, and we are ALL woeful sinners (Romans 3:23). The only difference
between the vilest unsaved sinner and the most righteous saint is the
precious BLOOD of Jesus Christ!!! Apart from Christ's redeeming
blood, I don't care how self-righteous you may “think” you are, you are an
unrighteous person in God's sight if you have rejected Jesus Christ as your
Savior, and you are under the WRATH OF GOD (John 3:36) and God IS ANGRY WITH
YOU EVERY DAY (Psalms 7:11); BUT, God still loves you!!!
Can God still love a man while
still sending him to Hell forever? Absolutely! God NEVER stops loving
anyone!!! I am a mere sinful man, and yet I could never stop loving anyone;
so how could my great holy God, Who loves with a love greater than I could
ever understand, not love everyone? God's love is inseparable from His
holiness!
I am against the form of “Reprobate
Doctrine” that says God hates unrepentant homosexuals. God HATES the
sin, but He never hates the person sinning! This does not mean that God
welcome queers into the church as good standing members, He does not! I am
not saying that open sin should be permitted into the church, it ought never
be allowed!!! Albeit, the unrighteous are welcome at church!!! Jude 1:22,
“And of some have compassion, making a difference.” Loves makes a
difference!!!
Dr. Jack Hyles used to often say,
“The Christian army is the only army in the world that slays its
wounded!” Brother Hyles was so right! That is so true, because believers
don't walk with God as they ought and; therefore, they do not love as they
ought! That is why I am shunned from church, told to go elsewhere, and
nobody cares for my soul at the local Baptist church down the street from
me. That is not God's love. Snobby believers do not exemplify God's love!
Self-righteous Christians are the
most arrogant, unforgiving and religious snobs in the world (aka, the Bob
Jones crowd). The Bible says TO WHOM MUCH IS FORGIVEN, the same LOVETH MUCH!
Luke 7:47, “Wherefore I say unto thee, Her sins, which
are many, are forgiven; for she loved much:
but to whom little is forgiven, the same loveth little.” Perhaps it is
because I grew up around Skid Row in Chicago, tagging along with my father
to different rescue missions, as he preached and ran his own rescue mission
for over 30 years, that I learned to love, having seen so much of the
consequences of sin. And also, I have made plenty of mistakes in my own
life, and I have learned to LOVE MUCH, since I have been FORGIVEN OF MUCH.
Some of the most loving people were at one time the worst of sinners. No one
appreciates the depths of God's grace and forgiveness than those who have
known the depths of sin. It is God's great love for me that compels me to
greatly love others, for God is love.
I am going to love everyone, and
keep preaching THE TRUTH, even if it harelips every dog in the county! I am
going to love everyone with God's unconditional love, regardless of what
wrong they do to me because I am telling THE TRUTH. Romans 3:4, “God
forbid: yea, let God be true, but every man a liar; as it is
written, That thou mightest be justified in thy sayings, and mightest
overcome when thou art judged.” I love the last part of that Bible
verse, which basically means you cannot go wrong if you stick to the Word of
God! If we always follow God, and not man, then we will overcome on judgment
day. That is why Dr. Hyles rightly said, “The King James Bible crowd is
going to come out on top!” (an awesome quote from the MP3 sermon, “THE
BATTLE OF THE AGES”).
I love everyone with God's unconditional love, regardless of who you are! I do
not hate anyone in this world. I may get upset briefly with some people
sometimes (which is rare), but I always counsel myself with the truths of
God's Word, to realize that Jesus died for the least person in this world.
If God loved the whole world enough to send His only begotten Son to the
cross to die for them, then who am I to deny that person my love? John
3:16, “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.”
I want to love everyone, just like God loves everyone! 