(I John 4:7-8) “Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God; and every one who loves is born of God, and knows God; whoever does not love, does not know God, because God is love.
Love is God’s character. Every other attribute and facet of his nature is just another glimpse of love in a different manifestation. All his virtues and attributes spring forth from the fountain-head of Love, pure love.
READ: HE THAT ENDURES TO THE END, THE SAME SHALL BE SAVED
The love of God is 100% pure. To whatever degree love is not pure, to that degree it cannot be the love of God. Every degree or percent of impurity falling away from the pure love of God presents something less than the love of God and causes problems or harm in our lives and the lives of humanity.
READ: SEATED WITH CHRIST IN HEAVENLY PLACES
It may look like the genuine item, but in some way it is off and cannot take the place of the real thing. ‘SELFISHNESS‘ is probably the deadliest element mixed into the ‘Love of God’ that destroys the effectiveness of what started out to be the pure love of God.
GOD’S LOVE IS ALL INCLUSIVE. HOW GOOD IS THAT?
(John 3:16) “For God ‘soooooooo’ loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whoever believes in him, should not perish, but shall have ever lasting life”.
God was not obligated in the least to offer salvation to sinful, fallen man. He would have been justified to send fallen, rebellious mankind to hell.
Then why didn’t He?
READ: THE DEVIL FLEES WHEN YOU BATTLE HIM WITH HOLY GHOST TONGUES
Because of His great love. God is love. God’s nature is love and he created man/woman in His image and likeness, and loved him with a love that defies understanding.
How far did God go to Redeem humanity?
As far as it was possible for God to go. He gave a part of Himself. He gave ‘HIS VERY OWN BEGOTTEN SON, THE SPECIAL LOVE OF HIS HEART TO DIE ON A CROSS, CARRY OUR SINS, THE SINS OF THE WHOLE WORLD, PAST, PRESENT, AND FUTURE GENERATIONS.
One might say, “How cruel is that. God subjected His very own Son to the cruelest of deaths, death on a cross. It’s prolonged agonies worsened as they hung there hour after hour, and up to three days. But, remember dear Reader, Jesus wanted only what the Father wanted, and He too loved mankind and wanted to redeem him.
(Hebrews 10:7, 9, 10) “Then said I, lo, I come (in the volume of the book it is written of Me (Jesus), – to do Your will, Oh God…by the which will we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ, ‘ONCE FOR ALL‘.
READ: SEATED WITH CHRIST IN HEAVENLY PLACES
A Loving God gave His only begotten Son, and infinitely loved Son to die the death we deserved, He, carrying the most vile, abominable, sins, of every kind that we and mankind were ever involved in.
He carried and paid the price for our freedom, peace, and eternal happiness. He took the blow of the mighty fist of God’s wrath and justice directly upon himself for the sins of our perversion, lust, violence, cruelty, hatred, jealousy, abuses of all kinds, un-forgiveness, bitterness, idolatry, witchcraft, and even hatred of God Himself.
YOU ASK, ‘I THOUGHT GOD WAS LOVE? NOW YOU’RE TALKING ABOUT HIS WRATH. HOW CAN HE BE BOTH?
(I Peter 1:16) “Because it is written, “You shall be holy for I am holy”.
READ: SHOULD I SPEAK IN TONGUES?
Listen to Charles Finney’s definition of Holiness: “It is plain that the Bible uses the term as synonymous with ‘MORAL PURITY‘. (Moral Purity is ‘Moral Fitness’, that which we see to be morally appropriate; it is in substance moral propriety; in other words — ‘PERFECT LOVE‘, such as God requires.
It is sympathy with God and ‘Likeness to Him‘; the state of mind that God has. Holiness in God is not a part of His nature in the sense that it is not voluntary in Him; but it is a voluntary exercise and state of His mind.
READ: SHIELD OF FAITH
The same is true of all Beings. Holiness is not a thing of nature as opposed to free action, but must always be a free and moral thing. They all must have free will, and then must voluntarily conform themselves to morally correct behavior (righteousness).
Nothing less than, or other than a voluntary conformity of themselves to the moral law can be holiness. In all God’s children there must be that state of mind expressed in one word, ‘LOVE‘, meaning by this ‘GOOD WILL TO ALL’.
READ: THE LIFE-LINE OF PRAYER
Hence, this command to be holy requires that we bring ourselves into a moral adjustment to God and our entire moral duty.
NOW, BRINGING SOME UNDERSTANDING AND SANITY TO WHAT ARE OPPOSING ATTRIBUTES OF GOD, AND HOW GOD CAN BRING MANKIND INTO ‘PEACE WITH GOD’.
READ: FAITH CHANGES EVERYTHING
Because God so loved the world He gave His only begotten Son to die for our sins and bring us into peace with God.
But, there was still a great problem ‘BECAUSE GOD IS SO MORALLY PERFECT, AND DEMANDS PERFECTION IN US, – WHO OF US COULD EVER MEET THAT IMPOSSIBLE HIGH STANDARD? And God also says, (Matt 5:8) “Be perfect, even as Your Father in heaven is ‘PERFECT’.
All right, that’s it. THERE’S NO HOPE FOR ME, OR IS THERE?
GOD WHO IS ABSOLUTELY PERFECT, ALSO HAD A PERFECT PLAN FOR OUR REDEMPTION. PRAISE THE LORD FOR EVERMORE.
READ: WE ARE NOT IGNORANT OF SATAN’S SCHEMES, – OR ARE WE?https://www.portalsofglory.com/2019/10/07/we-are-not-ignorant-of-satans-devices-or-are-we/
Remember now, God who is love, (perfect Love), wants YOU IN HIS FAMILY BEYOND ANY WORDS TO DESCRIBE. BUT HE’S SO, SO, VERY HOLY HE CAN’T LOOK ON, OR TOLERATE WEAKNESS OR SIN OF ANY KIND. SO WHAT IS HE TO DO?
He sent His Son Jesus to die on the cross, shed His blood for our sins, and redeem us and buy us back from the Devil and His kingdom. God is about to make us holy through Jesus death on the cross, and by his shed blood cleansing us from all sin.
(Eph. 1:7) “In whom (Jesus) we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sin, according to the riches of His grace.”
(I John 1:7) “If we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son, cleanses us from all sin”.
READ: IS THE DELIVERANCE MINISTRY NEEDED ANY LONGER?
HALLELUJAH. PROBLEM SOLVED. God’s love planned our redemption and gave His Son to be our Savior. Jesus death on the cross paid the debt of sin that we owed, that was too great for us to ever pay, therefore, by Jesus blood he bought us back from Satan’s kingdom, forgave us, cleansed us from all sin, and redeemed us. Jesus blood has made us holy and pure and clean. Praise God.
Though we cannot save ourselves, and we cannot keep a perfect law, and must be saved by His grace as we place our faith in Jesus Christ as our sin-bearer, and Savior, it if very important that we cooperate with God, and lovingly obey the Word of God or it is futile to expect imputed righteousness to keep us.
TRUST AND OBEY FOR THERE’S NO OTHER WAY TO BE HAPPY IN JESUS (AND EVEN REMAIN SAVED) BUT TO TRUST AND OBEY.
AS GOD LOVES YOU, YOU (AND ME) MUST LOVE GOD, AND LOVE OUR NEIGHBOR AS OURSELVES.
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