How God Shows Love

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A Bible believing seminary student attended a postmodern church service one Sunday. The pastor announced his sermon theme that all religious beliefs are true. He assured the congregation it was quite true. The Bible believing student squirmed uncomfortably in his seat. After service, he tried to slip out of church unnoticed. But the heavy-set robed pastor waited at the door bear hugging everybody. He shook the student’s hand and asked where he was from.

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“I’m a seminary student visiting here from Bowling Green,” the student replied. “Wonderful” the pastor responded. “And what do you believe young man?” “I’d rather not say sir,” said the student. “Oh it’s alright son” assured the pastor. “I believe all the doctrines are true. Tell me what you believe son.” Leaning over toward the pastor, the student whispered, “I believe sir that you’re going to Hell.” Surprised with face red as a tomato the pastor said, “Well, I guess I don’t believe every doctrine is true after all.”

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Many people claim Hell is a torture chamber and the very opposite of a loving God. Even schools, churches and Christians who claim to believe and teach the Bible are afraid or ashamed to mention Hell. They fear non-Christians might think the doctrine incredible, irrational or cruel. It would scare persons away from church. Let me give you six reasons that show how Hell actually proves God’s love.

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God Shows Love by Punishing Human Abuse and Injustice

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Unjudged sin would show a God indifferent to human abuses and injustices. Does God not notice our misery, feel our pain, hear our cries, or see our tears? Then He’s not even as compassionate as persons are. Does He care about us—are we not worth His time? An indifferent uncaring God is not the God of the Bible. At Lazarus’s tomb, Jesus wept. And God weeps at all our agony and adversity. Civilized nations protect their citizens--they justly put criminals in jail. Why then wouldn’t a caring God do the same? Lofty mountains of human abuse go unpunished and no punishment of injustice condones and encourages further injustice.

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Unjudged sin would mean our defiance defeats God. Who’s in charge God or man? If it’s man, then God’s defeated and evil terrorizes us. But if God’s in charge, then He’ll judge and punish evil doers confining evil to Hell. The Almighty can never be defeated. Unjust kings and heartless conquers bring untold devastation and misery to human lives and lands. But God will right all wrongs when sinners come before the King of kings, the Lord Jesus Christ. Mighty Satan and his followers have no power to stand before the Lord Jesus. Paul told the Philippians

“At the name of Jesus every knee shall bow . . . and every tongue shall confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father”. Phil. 2:10.          

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Unjudged sin would mean God is not even as just as man is just. Unlike prejudiced fallible man, God knows the whole truth making Him alone the only perfectly just judge. And God judges each sinner according to their own knowledge and works—that means different degrees of punishment in each case. Serial killers will be more severely punished than liars will be. Thus, in these three ways God punishing sin demonstrates his love.

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God Shows Love through His Word Warning Us of Hell

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A loving parent will warn their child to look both ways for oncoming traffic to avoid disaster or not to play with fire. So God’s Word gives us metaphors or pictures to describe Hell’s nature and warn us of it. Hell is like outer darkness (Matt. 8:12), a wandering star (Jude 13), a waterless cloud (Jude 12), burning in a city dump (Mark 9:44-48), a bottomless pit (Rev. 20:1-3), an everlasting prison (1 Peter 3:19) a place of torment (Luke 16:28), a lake of fire (Rev. 21:8), and God’s abiding wrath (John 3:36). It’s our responsibility to heed the warning.  

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“Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived. Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals, nor sodomites, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, will inherit the kingdom of God”.

1 Cor. 6:9-10.

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God’s Shows Love by Giving us a Conscience to Discern Good and Evil.

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Everyone has a conscience, a sense of right and wrong, a feeling of what behavior is fair and unfair, good and bad. But we can choose to make our conscience insensitive, oversensitive or irrational. We can suppress our natural feelings of compassion for others like ourselves. We can learn to hate and to twist things believing evil is good and good evil. See Jer. 17:9-10; Isa. 5:20.

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We may overlook evils when others are mistreated. We may excuse ourselves saying it is not my business, or I don’t know the circumstances, or maybe even that they deserve it. But how quick we are to protest and scream unfair when someone abuses us. We have no difficulty of discernment then. We don’t suppress our conscience or make excuses then. The reality of good and evil is deeply impressed upon us then.

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Our conscience is not imaginary—it’s real. But it makes no ultimate sense unless there be a standard to which we are accountable. We can’t be accountable to the energy of the universe as pantheist religions suppose. Universal energy can neither know nor care anything about us or can be a standard of good and evil. We can’t be accountable to an uncaring God who abandoned us as deists suppose. And the ignorant dependent God evolving with the world that process theologians imagine can’t hold us accountable either.

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Jesus, however, confirmed our accountability as he fulfilled ancient prophecies, performed many miracles and plainly told us he is our God. And his death for our sins and bodily resurrection demonstrated both God’s justice and love. No world religion or dead religious philosopher has anything to match that.

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Our conscience and ethics makes no ultimate sense unless there’s an Absolute Moral Lawgiver who holds us accountable. That infinite, personal ethical God revealed Himself in biblical history. God’s Word is true and dependable and there’s no law that God must excuse religions contrary to his Word no matter how sincere their devoted followers. The Bible’s God is our Creator, Owner, Life-giver, Judge, and his will not ours is the law.

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God Shows Love by Bearing our Punishment on the Cross

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Jesus did only good and delivered oppressed persons from the devil. But, he was ridiculed, spit on, falsely accused, condemned as a common criminal, merciless beaten, nailed to a cross, exposed naked to gazing eyes, and forsaken by the Father. He took our sins upon himself—it was the just willingly bearing the punishment of the unjust. This is the greatest expression of love known to man. A God of love was unthinkable before Christ’s cross and remains so today among peoples who have never heard of the Savior.  

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 As selfish, self-centered persons, we don’t see ourselves as immoral or filthy sinners that need cleansing and saving. What God calls sin we think is fun and a good time. God seems like a tyrant trying to impose impossible rules upon us and spoil our fun. We generally feel this way until God opens our spiritually blind eyes, softens our hard heart and floods our soul with his love, peace and purity.

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God Shows Love by Letting Us Choose Our Own Destiny

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God can’t force us to accept Him—forced love is rape. Forced love would dishonor God saying his abundant blessings and Christ’s death in our place is of no avail. Anyone—the worst sinner—may come and millions have. Heaven or Hell then is our choice. The Bible’s unmistakable that without Christ unbelievers will dwell in outer darkness in tears and torments forever.   

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There is no second chance, neither annihilation nor reincarnation. “It is appointed for men to die once, but after this the judgment (Heb. 9:27).” God must keep his promise to provide a perfect home for believers (John 14:1-3). So we read, “There shall by no means enter it anything that defiles, or causes an abomination or a lie, but only those who are written in the Lamb’s Book of Life (Rev. 22:11)”.

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God Shows Love by His Patience with Our Excuses

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 Procrastination and good intentions have sent many persons to Hell. Don’t let them send you. Now is the time to be saved. Evolution is no excuse to deny God’s providence and judgment—it’s only a lie. Problems with the Bible have solutions if you’re willing to take the time to look for them. Hypocrites inside or outside the church are a poor excuse to go to Hell. Don’t take the most serious risk of your life. The grim reaper may be knocking on your door. God gave his Son that whoever believes in him will not perish but have everlasting life with him in paradise. Delay may prove fatal! Humbly trust the Savior of sinners. Then get with God’s Bible believing people and serve the Lord. Let the goodness and love of God lead you to faith and repentance. Then link this blog with yours & tell others about it so they can trust the Savior & go to heaven. God bless your ministry.

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Why Forbidden Fruit in Paradise?

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This account of our first parents in the Garden of Eden has always intrigued and fascinated us (Genesis 2-3). Some have claimed the whole problem was the apple on the tree while others said no it was the PARE on the ground. Ignorance misrepresents the text that never mentions any apple. Since Adam and Eve made aprons of fig leaves to cover their nakedness, more likely the forbidden fruit was figs. And the sin of the PARE on the ground was not sex as some imagine, but disobedience to God. But all this is only a sidelight.

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Now some persons think the account a fictitious story or myth since it seems utterly fantastic for trees to have properties to give eternal life or knowledge of good and evil and a talking snake is impossible. But we don’t have to understand the account that way.

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The trees didn’t have to have such properties but only to represent such properties and to provide mankind the choice of a beautiful and completely good world in fellowship with God or a world mixed with good and evil. And the serpent the Bible explains is a fallen angel or spirit called Satan. Spirit beings can inhabit persons and animals and speak through them as we see when Jesus caste the demons out of Legion and they went into the pigs causing them to wildly jump into water and drown. Persons today who have witnessed demon possession know it’s real. I’m one such witness.

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It’s crucial that we take the account as historical fact in a prescientific setting that peoples everywhere and all times can understand. The rest of the Bible takes the temptation account as historical fact (Gen. 5:1; 1 Chron. 1:1; Luke 3:38; Rom. 5:12-21). Jesus Christ, the God-man who lived in our world took it as fact (Mark 10:6; John 8:44). Paul, his inspired apostle, took it as fact (1 Cor. 15:39, 45; 1 Tim. 2:13).

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If the account’s fiction, then there’s no sin, no need of a Savior, no Heaven or Hell, no need even for God. In fact, the whole world and life becomes nonsensical—absolute truth, human dignity and rights, ethics, justice, purpose in life, life after death--all become baseless hopeless futility. Everything is accident and chance. Think about it.

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The real problem is why Adam and Eve who lived in a perfect world, decided to ignore God’s warning and disobey God. Had they not sinned we would not have inherited our sinful nature or tendency to be self-centered caring little for God and our fellowman. Had they not sinned the world would not be such a mess of good and evil, joy and sorrow. Had they not sinned they could have lived eternally with God and maybe our exploding population could inhabit other planets. Could that be why other planets exist, or is there another reason? And wouldn't we have not sinned in our parent’s place?

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Why then did God allow evil in to corrupt his paradise? God cursed Adam, Eve, the serpent, even the ground. Why did he do that? He even expelled our first parents from paradise. Was he just being mean? The Bible says God is holy and can’t sin but he sure can allow us to do it.

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But don’t we have several ways to justify our sins? We say it’s not my fault since God made me. Or, the devil makes me to it. Or, I was raised--actually lowered--by a bad environment and deserve to compensate my loss. Or, my genes have programmed me this way and I can’t help it. They are all lies of course, but we try not to feel guilty. Could our guilt feelings be telling us something? Does real guilt make any sense without a perfect standard of righteousness and a moral Lawgiver who can know and judge our actions?

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God certainly could have prevented Adam’s sin; he prevented sin many times as Pharaoh’s sin of taking Abraham’s wife Sarah into his harem (Gen. 12:17-20). A sovereign God upholds the existence of every atom in the universe. But in God’s mind, Jesus was the Lamb slain before He created the world—it was part of His perfect plan (Rev. 13:8). Everything falls out according to God’s plan, “Known to God from eternity are all His works” and God’s works and ours are interrelated (Acts 15:18; Luck 19:10). Jesus described the details of his death before hand even telling Judas to do his part (John13:26-27). Every fulfilled Bible prophecy demonstrates God knows all and is in control.

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Here is the answer to the great mystery so few people can understand, accept and value. The Fall of man and the most heinous things men can conceive and do throughout history is worth it for two momentous reasons. And I feel so inadequate at this point.

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God’s promises of the new paradise right here on our renewed earth will be far more glorious than the Garden of Eden. This isn’t the best world but the necessary way to the best world. And Jesus is its Door.

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“Eye has not seen, no ear heard, nor have entered into the heart of man the things which  God has prepared for those who love Him.” 1 Cor. 2:9

“The sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which  hall    be revealed in us. Romans 8:18

 “Our light affliction, which is but for a moment, is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory.” 2 Cor. 6:17

 “Therefore, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all for the glory of God. 1  Cor. 10:31.

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What Value Is the Blood of Jesus Christ?

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On a farm, I once saw a hog killed for food. The farmer jumped into the hog pin, hit the hog in the head with an axe, and slit its throat. To see the hog helplessly lying there with blood spurting from its neck was repulsive and made me feel weak and faint. Until Christ died and God tore the thick temple veil in two from top to bottom, Jewish priests slit the throats of thousands of innocent unblemished lambs upon sacrificial alters. Critics decry Judaism calling it a slaughterhouse religion. One Protestant denomination thought the blood songs in their hymnal so repulsive they omitted them.

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In town, I sometimes went to the bus station to give out gospel tracks and tell of my Christian faith. But on one occasion when I was merely passing by I heard a man shouting profanities walking back and forth in front of the bus station. He turned and looked directly at me watching him. If ever a human face could express evil, it was that man’s face. And most unusual and surprising, he screamed out the words “And the blood of Jesus Christ doesn’t mean a thing.” Knowing what the Bible said about demons, I wondered if this man was possessed.

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According to the Bible, all the slain lambs pictured the one final sacrifice to come in the death of the Lamb of God, the Lord Jesus Christ (John 1:29). The Jews rejected Jesus as the suffering servant and Messiah because they were looking for a political king.What does the blood of Jesus Christ mean according to the Bible?

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The Lord Jesus’ Blood Was His Suffering the Punishment Our Sins Deserved

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He (God) made him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him. 2 Cor. 5:21

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Who Himself bore our sins in His own body on the tree. . .For Christ also suffered once for sins, the just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive by the Spirit. 1 Peter 2:24; 3:18

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Not Jesus’ deity, but his humanity died as our substitute bearing our sin and punishment. All sin is ultimately against God. Jesus’ death exhibited both God’s justice and love—it was the world’s worst evil to bring about humanity’s greatest good. Jesus’ death satisfied God’s justice, demonstrated his love, and sealed our pardon. See also Isaiah 53:11; 1 John 2:2.

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The Lord Jesus’ Blood Frees Us from Slavery to Sin and Condemnation

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In him, we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses. Ephesians. 1:7.

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Redemption is Christ’s death paying the penalty to free us from slavery to sin (1 Pet. 1:18; Rev. 1:5-6). Not just sins committed before salvation, nor only sins confessed since salvation, but all sins past, present, and future. Unless that’s true, Christ could not be our true and sufficient Savior. Believers are no longer judged for sins condemned and paid for at the cross (Rom. 8:1; John 5:24), but judged as God’s fellow workers on the foundation of Christ to receive their rewards for service at the Judgment Seat of Christ (1 Cor. 3:9-15; Rev. 22:12).  

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The Lord Jesus’ Blood Empowers Us to Overcome Sin Daily

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If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar and His word is not in us. 1 John 1:8-9.

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While we are free from slavery to sin and its penalty of Hell, we never become perfect in this world. We still struggle with sin in our daily lives. First John 3:9 is in the present continuous tense and can better translated habitual sin. The new birth in God’s Spirit makes us new persons with a new sensitivity to wrongdoing. Paul explains the way to victory in the struggle with sin is to yield ourselves to God as his instruments of righteousness and not to sin which leads to death (Rom. 6). A pig and a lamb may fall into mud. The pig enjoys it but the lamb struggles to get free.

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The Lord’s Resurrection Visibly Established the Value of His Shed Blood

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If Christ is not risen, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins! 1 Corinthians 15:17.

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If Jesus’ body had not risen from the dead, Christian faith would never have come into being. Jesus would be seen as a false prophet. His death would mean nothing. We would have no proof of life beyond the grave. And human beings have no reason to believe we’re anything more than perishing animals--atheism, or recycled energy--pantheist religions, meaning utter extinction and futility of life.

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Jesus gave his life voluntary and had power to take it up again (John 10:18; Acts 2:23). Arrogant persons brag about their greatness and despise, offend, and degrade others as unworthy of their time and attention. In contrast, Jesus’ greatness is that he left Heaven’s glories, came into our sin cursed world, took the form of a servant, suffered all the indignities men could heap upon him, and died a criminal’s death for us despicable sinners. That’s love! There’s no greater love--and when it touches us, it can melt our hard sinful hearts and fill us with love, gratitude and joy.

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“I will sing of my Redeemer and His wondrous love to me;

On the cruel cross He suffered from the curse to set me free.

I will praise my dear Redeemer, His triumphant power I’ll tell,

Of the victory He gives over sin and death and hell.”

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The Lord Jesus’ Blood Enables Us to Live for Him and Not Just Ourselves

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He died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves, but for him who died for them and rose again. 2 Corinthians 5:15.

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Jesus said, “The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.” John 10:10 There certainly are many such thieves in the world today—but not Jesus, nor his true followers.

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“Living for Jesus a life that is true, Striving to please Him in all that I do,

Yielding allegiance, glad hearted and free, This is the pathway of blessing for me.

Living for Jesus who died in my place, Bearing on Calvary my sin and disgrace,

Such love constrains me to answer His call, Follow His leading and give Him my all.

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O Jesus, Lord and Savior, I give myself to You;

For You in Your atonement, did gave Yourself for me;

I own no other Master, My heart shall be Your throne;

My life I give, henceforth to live, O Christ for You alone.”
                                       ---Hymn by Thomas O. Chisholm

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The Lord Jesus’ Blood Has Broken Down the Hate Walls Between Peoples

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He has made from one blood every nation of men to dwell on all the face of the earth. Acts 17:26.

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There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus. Galatians 3:28.

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In Jesus time, Jews hated Gentiles and Gentiles hated Jews; women and slaves were less valued. People hate and devalued each other the world over. And whoever gets the upper hand dominates and enslaves the others. But Christ came to break down these hate walls of separation between races and peoples. Paul rebuked Peter’s separating from the Gentiles saying it was not according to the gospel (Gal. 2:14). Peter by example was building walls between people instead of tearing them down.

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All persons are in God’s image, descended from Adam and Eve and of one blood. Different genes give us different characteristics but we’re a common humanity deserving the same respect. God’s church is one body and he loves us all. We’ll all be together in either Heaven or Hell. So everybody is entitled to the same respect and concern. Christian tear down those hate walls--only the practice of true biblical Christianity can do it.

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 Hymns about the blood are most precious to the true believer.

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“There is a fountain filled with blood Drawn from Immanuel’s veins;

And sinners, plunged beneath that flood, Lose all their guilty stains;

Dear dying Lamb, Thy precious blood Shall never lose its power

Till all the ransomed church of God Be saved, to sin no more.”
                                                       ---Hymn by William Cowper

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Many fine scholarly books are written about Jesus’ cross or atonement. I think the little 127-page book, The Passion of Jesus Christ by John Piper is best for the average person. It briefly and clearly discusses 50 reasons why Christ died. Jesus' death & resurrection is humanity's only hope & salvation. Do U have a love-trust relationship with the Savior issuing in obedience?

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