Lesson for July 26, 2020
The Perfected Love of God
Lesson 2
Believers in Jesus Christ are engaged in a spiritual warfare called the Angelic Conflict. This conflict began in eternity past when Satan (Lucifer) and one third of the angelic host rebelled against God. Since the creation of mankind, Satan has been distorting and counterfeiting the nature and Person of God. This is true with regard to the love of God. It is Satan’s desire to humanize the love of God by influencing people to equate emotion and sentimentality to God’s love. Emotion and sentimentality are human characteristics that God does not possess. Therefore, attempting to understand the love of God apart from accurate Bible doctrine found only in the Word of God, the Bible is impossible.
This “new idea” (which really isn’t new) of God as an emotional, sentimental God is totally erroneous and in fact it is blasphemous. There is absolutely nothing in mankind that would cause God to become emotional or sentimental when dealing with the human race. Any reference to a term in the Bible that would cast God in the light of being emotional or sentimental in human terms is an antropropathism. An antropropathism assigns to God a human emotion or passion that He does not have in order for mankind to understand God’s policies and thoughts.
God deals with people on the basis of His integrity which is made up of His divine attributes of righteousness, justice and love. God’s love cannot be attained by good deeds, money, church attendance, attractiveness, personality, Christian service or any other human factor of worthiness. God’s love is not for sale! If you desire the love of God, then you must follow God’s plan for receiving it, and you can do that if you know accurate Bible doctrine. First, you must be a believer in Jesus Christ having received eternal life by a simply act of faith alone in Christ alone. Then you must begin a lifetime of serious study of the Word of God under the filling of the Holy Spirit and the teaching ministry of a man with the spiritual gift of pastor-teacher who teaches accurate Bible doctrine.
If we are to understand the love of God, we must begin with God’s love for Himself. God loves Himself because He is worthy of His own love since He is perfect righteousness. He knows Himself to be beyond comparison with anyone or anything to an infinite degree. This is not an arrogant attitude since God is deserving of love. Since all members of the Godhead possess divine attributes equally, they love one another personally and eternally. That love has not and will not ever change.
So, how can a perfectly righteous God love an imperfect and corrupt human being and still be in keeping with His other divine attributes. The answer is that the love of God must be considered in two distinct categories: personal and impersonal. The basis of God’s love in both categories is His perfect righteousness. God personally loves His own righteousness wherever it is found. God therefore loves every believer in Christ personally because they possess the perfect righteousness of God given to them at salvation and is therefore conditional. (II Corinthians 5:21; I John 4:16) The impersonal love of God is unconditional for those who do not possess the righteousness of God. (John 3:16; I John 4:10)
In the status of unbelief in Jesus Christ, a person cannot experience the personal love of God. God’s personal love is reserved for those who possess His righteousness received by faith in Christ as Savior. Having become a child of God at salvation, a believer is loved personally by God and receives many benefits as a result. God’s love for His children never diminishes as a result of their spiritual status. However, those believers who continue to advance in their spiritual lives will experience the love of God in a much greater manner because of their greater understanding of God’s essence, character and attributes. God’s love for believers desires to pour out much greater blessings to them. The only thing that stops God’s love from pouring out these blessings into a believer’s life is a believer’s negative volition toward God and His Word. (I John 4:15-17)
God’s love never fails, and it is the unfailing love of God that is expressed in all of His grace policies. God’s grace has existed eternally and has always been the policy of God. It is because of the grace of God that He sent His Son Jesus Christ into the world to become our Savior. It is the grace of God that provides believers in Christ with everything they can possibly need to fulfil the Protocol Plan of God. In eternity past, God’s grace designed a plan every believer in Jesus Christ. This plan is called the Protocol Plan of God because there are certain procedures that believers are to follow in order to glorify God while here on earth. (I Corinthians 13:8; Ephesians 2:8-9; Titus 2:11-14) God expresses His love to all believers by providing for them certain basic blessings such as food, shelter and clothing. (Matthew 6:25-33)
When a believer becomes familiar with the grace policies of God, they are able to relax knowing that it is God Who is at work of their behalf and is working all things for their good because they love God. (Romans 8:28) The life of grace as a believer in Christ is able to eliminate mental attitude sins such as worry, guilt and fear. (Philippians 4:6-7; Romans 8:33; I John 4:18) Therefore, it is of extreme importance for every believer in Christ to become grace-oriented and fully experience the love of God.
Grace is all that God is free to do for mankind on the basis of the work of Jesus Christ on the Cross. Grace is undeserved mercy and unmerited favor. Grace is the title of God’s plan and His policy for mankind. Orientation is defined as familiarization with a particular person, thing or field of knowledge. To orient means to set right by adjusting to facts or principles; to put oneself into correct position or relation, or to acquaint oneself with the existing situation. Grace orientation, therefore, means to become familiar with God’s grace plan and grace policies by adjusting to the facts and principles found in the Word of God, which puts you in correct relation to God and others. You will never be grace-oriented until you understand that your personal sins don’t condemn you. Adam’s original sin, which was credited to you at birth, is what condemns you (spiritual death). This means that God’s grace was operational when He credited Adam’s original sin to you, because condemnation must precede salvation. This is just another part of God’s ingenious grace plan of salvation.
The maximum expression of God’s grace is the Cross. Jesus Christ paid the penalty for all sin. Therefore, sin is not an issue in salvation. (I Peter 2:24) We are free to accept or reject God’s free gift of eternal life. The plan of God is for all of mankind to come to know His Son, Jesus Christ. (II Peter 3:9) Because Jesus Christ completely satisfied the righteousness and justice of God, God is now free to give eternal life and the other 40+ spiritual assets at salvation. (John 2:1-2) Our salvation brings glory to God. (Hebrews 2:9) When we trust Christ as our personal Savior we are adjusting to God’s grace. (Romans 3:24)
God’s grace has always been operational in relation to mankind. Even under the Law, God’s grace was at work in the lives of believers and unbelievers alike. God, in His grace, has revealed Himself to the entire human race beginning with Adam. Salvation for mankind has always been on the basis of God’s grace by faith alone in Jesus Christ. Even the Mosaic Law was a grace gift from God, to show the unbeliever his need for a Savior and to guide him to the Cross. The Levitical offerings pointed to the coming Messiah, Jesus Christ. (Romans 1:20, 4:3; Genesis 15:6; Galatians 3:24)
In the Christian life, when allowed to do so, God the Holy Spirit does all the work of producing the character of Jesus Christ in a believer. (Romans 8:29, Galatians 5:22-23) We should be truly thankful that God’s plan does not depend upon us, but upon Him. If you have your eyes on what you are doing for God, or even what someone else is doing for God (even the pastor), you will never be grace-oriented. Our focus should always be on what God is doing. God treats us in grace because of His character. Therefore, we are able to treat others with grace by using Divine Viewpoint Thinking.
God has a perfect plan for each one of us, but it is up to us to discover that plan. The filling of the Holy Spirit, which means we are being controlled and guided by Him, is a grace provision from God. This gives every believer the potential to understand His Word, regardless of education or IQ. Therefore, we are commanded to be strong in grace. (II Timothy 2:1) We are to grow in the grace and the knowledge of Jesus Christ. (II Peter 3:8) We find grace in our prayer life. (Hebrews 4:16) There is stability in grace. (I Peter 5:2) God gives us grace to become the person He wants us to be. (I Corinthians 15:10) God’s grace is always sufficient in our time of suffering. (II Corinthians 12:9) God is waiting to show His grace to every believer. (Isaiah 30:18-19) The Christian life under grace is a system of thinking. (Romans 12:1-2)
The opposite of grace is legalism (keeping the Mosaic Law or doing human good works). (Romans 11:6) Legalism is performing human good works in an attempt to gain the favor or approval of God, either for salvation or spirituality. Producing human good brings glory to man. Producing divine good brings glory to God. Human works added to faith in salvation cancels grace. (Galatians 2:16) Human works added to the Christian life cancels grace. (Galatians 5:1)
Galatians 5:1 says to stand fast in the liberty wherewith Christ has made us free and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage. Liberty means that Christ has set us free from law-keeping and legalism (the yoke of bondage). He accomplished this by introducing a new covenant between God and man called Grace.
“But He gives more grace. Wherefore He said, God resists the proud but gives grace to the humble.” (James 4:6) Grace is never divided but is always multiplied. God has plenty of grace to go around. From the day a person becomes a believer, God’s grace begins to be multiplied to them and will go on forever. God’s resources are infinite, and He always has something for you in His grace plan. It is impossible to remove yourself from the sphere of God’s grace as a believer (eternal security is grace). Even discipline from God is grace. Even if you don’t understand God’s grace, you can never escape it! However, you can experience more of it if you will consistently study and apply accurate Bible doctrine. (Romans 8:38-39; II Timothy 2:15; Titus 2:11-14)