The Love of God That Overcomes Condemnation (Part 2 of 2) Go to Part 1
Why God Judges Unbelief
Now that we have looked at what the love of God is, let’s look at why a loving God would allow people to die in their sins if they do not believe on Christ. What we fail to realize is that through our sinful nature, we are fallen from grace. It is not that God is angry because we haven’t believed. It is that we are already under condemnation as part of our natural state. Look at John 3:17-19
17 "For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.
18 "He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.
19 "And this is the condemnation, that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.
The Bible tells us that Jesus wasn’t sent to condemn the world, yet any who don’t believe are under condemnation. We are already under condemnation, or as Romans 3:23 puts it, we have all sinned and fallen short of God’s glory. By nature, man falls short of God’s glorious nature and cannot enter into the perfect fellowship of God’s love. We are already under condemnation because we have sinned from the time we could act upon our own will, and anything that contradicts or rebels against the nature of God cannot have fellowship with God.
Sin is anything that rebels against God’s nature and character. There are those who love sin and choose to remain under condemnation because they love evil. Evil is anything that opposes the goodness of God. Each sin marks us for condemnation, and since we have a fallen nature, we cannot produce the righteousness necessary to stand in God’s presence. The commandments in scripture are the instructions that lead us to God’s character so that we can conform to his image, draw near to him, and abide in his love. And the first command we must obey is to come to Christ so our sins can be lifted from our burden, and born by him.
Those who oppose God say, “How can God condemn me for not believing in him?” But the truth is that they are already under condemnation, and faith calls them to redemption. When man loves his fallen state, he will not love the goodness of God. Unless we believe and surrender to the redemption of Christ, we remain in our current state. We are fallen, born in sin, and have minds that naturally oppose God. We may be born with a fallen nature, but it is our own sin that condemns us. From birth, we are selfish and sinful. Even a toddler rebels against what is good, and continues to grow in rebellion as they reach adulthood. We may learn to curb our behavior through the fear of consequences and the desire for benefits, but in our heart, we remain self-serving.
Jesus declared, “I am the door. If anyone enters by me, he will be saved.” Jesus, God in the flesh, entered into our world, fulfilled the law that man could not keep, and bore the penalty of our sins so we could be reconciled to God. It is the love of God, poured out for us on the cross that created a door for us to pass from fallen humanity, and into a redeemed life where we can become partakers of God’s own divine nature. Or as the Bible puts it in 2 Peter 1:3-4
3 as His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us by glory and virtue,
4 by which have been given to us exceedingly great and precious promises, that through these you may be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.
It is God’s divine power that transforms us so that we are partakers of his nature. We, who are not divine, become partakers of God’s divine nature. God reaches out his loving hand to guide us into fellowship with him through Christ. We then have the incredible privilege to enter into the fellowship of agape love. It isn’t our love, it is God’s love that we are walking in and experiencing. We then take the commandments (that are not a burden) and obey them so we are guided deeper into the love of God, which puts us deeper into fellowship with our Creator.
God’s love is not greater for one person than another. The difference is how we experience the love of God. As we grow closer to God, we experience a deeper fellowship of love. When we walk contrary to God, we lose that fellowship. This is explained in 1 John 1:6-9
6 If we say that we have fellowship with Him, and walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth.
7 But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin.
8 If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.
9 If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
It is impossible to have fellowship with God and walk in our own self-centered ways. When we sin, we are stepping out of the fellowship of God’s love, and walking into darkness. It’s not a loss of salvation; it’s a loss of fellowship. God guides us back, convicts our heart, and even chastises us so we see the futility of our own ways and repent. Repentance is turning from our ways, confessing our sins, and allowing God to restore us into fellowship with him.
The glory of God is the central theme of the gospel. The Bible says that works cannot please God because the flesh cannot produce good (Romans 7:18, John 6:63), and God will not allow anything of the flesh to glory in his presence (1 Corinthians 1:29). Instead of bringing what we hope will make God accept us, we are laying down all that is of the flesh, and receiving the love of God into our lives by taking on the new nature he as created for us. We are answering the call to enter into the union of perfect love so we can have fellowship with God. We are receiving the love of God, abiding in it, and giving his love back through our obedience and keeping his commandments.
Works Born through Love.
I want to take a moment to look at works. The Bible speaks volumes on this topic and there is much to be discussed, but I want to address one important misconception of works. Often it is taught that salvation is by grace, through faith, plus works. Yet the Bible says if we seek grace by works, it is no longer grace. Also consider Romans 9:31-32
31 but Israel, pursuing the law of righteousness, has not attained to the law of righteousness.
32 Why? Because they did not seek it by faith, but as it were, by the works of the law. For they stumbled at that stumbling stone.
Israel pursued the righteousness of God by trying to keep commandments, yet they missed the grace of God. In fact, grace became a stumbling stone that caused them to fall. In Galatians, the Church attempted to please God by keeping the ordinance of circumcision, thinking their works would please God, yet they were told, “You have fallen from grace.” The problem was that they shifted their focus from faith in Christ, to needing to do something extra by their own efforts.
It is true that God does not save us so we can live contrary to his will, but we also must realize that those who belong to Christ will be judged by their works. Not judged for their salvation, but for their reward. Consider 1 Corinthians 3:11-15
11 For no other foundation can anyone lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ.
12 Now if anyone builds on this foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw,
13 each one's work will become clear; for the Day will declare it, because it will be revealed by fire; and the fire will test each one's work, of what sort it is.
14 If anyone's work which he has built on it endures, he will receive a reward.
15 If anyone's work is burned, he will suffer loss; but he himself will be saved, yet so as through fire.
Even those without works will be saved, but there is no reward. This is why the Bible warns us not to fall into the trap of Esau, who sold his inheritance for a bowl of stew. Esau had a birthright and would have inherited a lifetime of benefits, but he despised his inheritance and chose to give it up for a moment of gratification. We make the same decision in our daily Christian walk. We can sell our inheritance for a moment of gratification in this life, or we can sacrifice the cravings of our flesh and reach for the promise.
Works do not justify man. Works cannot justify man. God has declared that he will not allow any flesh to glory in his presence. Anything you do for God is wood, hay, and straw. Jesus said that the flesh cannot produce the things of the Spirit. What is born of flesh is flesh, that which is born of Spirit is spirit. That means, by human effort, we can never please God. The same principle that applies to the world trying to merit salvation also applies to the Christian trying to merit rewards.
Fruitless works are what we do for God; precious works are what God produces in us. Look at the words of Jesus in John 15:4-5
4 "Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me.
5 "I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing.
…
7 "If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you.
8 "By this My Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit; so you will be My disciples.
Jesus explained that one day men will stand before him and declare all the good works they have done in his name, yet he will declare their works to be lawlessness. How can we do good in the name of Jesus and have it be a lawless act? The reason is that man cannot bear fruit of himself. The Spirit bears fruit and this will only happen if we are abiding in Christ and his words abiding in us. Even our asking is for the purpose of glorifying God and bearing fruit to him. If you treasure his word in you, so you abide in Christ, fruit is a product of a healthy relationship with him. Also consider this foundational passage in Ephesians 2:8-10
8 For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God,
9 not of works, lest anyone should boast.
10 For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.
Works are not something we do for God; it is the work of God that we walk in once we understand faith. The problem is that many Christians are putting works ahead of faith instead of the other way around. Works cannot produce faith. Faith is a gift of God. Works cannot merit grace, for then grace would no longer be grace (Romans 11:6). Your works can never merit anything of God, for then we would have something to boast of. Our efforts would have earned favor, and then we could glory in God’s presence, and 1 Corinthians 1:29 says that God will not allow this. In the passage above, we see the same thing explained. Works cannot merit grace, because it is a gift. We can never boast about the Lord’s blessings or favor in our lives, for his grace is always a gift.
Only after we have received unmerited grace do we see works mentioned. Even then, it is not our work. We are God’s workmanship, created for good works that God prepared before hand that we should walk in them. Does it say, “Find something to do for God?” Does the Bible say, “Get busy for God?” No, works have been prepared by God beforehand, and all we must do is walk in them through our abiding fellowship in Christ.
Another example of this is found in Hebrews 4. The Bible explains how Israel could not enter the rest God prepared for them because of their unbelief, and then scripture says something interesting about works. Look at Hebrews 4:
3 For we who have believed do enter that rest, as He has said: "So I swore in My wrath, 'They shall not enter My rest,' " although the works were finished from the foundation of the world.
This is the same principle found in Ephesians above. The works of God were finished before the world was founded. We are not doing anything for God that he has not already established within his own foreknowledge and plan. I have several children. Each of them delighted in doing things for their daddy. Their assistance was never needed, in fact, their help was a hindrance. When a three year old helps their father, they think they are doing something big. For them it is a mighty effort and a big task. They would falter in their efforts and then say, “I helped daddy.”
They could not see that I was guiding them in the work, preventing them from doing irreparable harm, and patching up their futile efforts. One of my young daughters helped me replant strawberries early this spring. She put forth her best effort, but left the roots showing, dug the holes too shallow, and watered too little. As we worked, I deepened the holes, covered the roots, and made sure it was watered. Unbeknownst to her, I continued to sustain the plants long after she finished her work. The other day we were looking at the blooming strawberry plants, some with twenty or more budding strawberries. They are producing much fruit. She looked at one of the productive plants and said, “That’s one that I planted!”
She saw the fruit of her labors, knew she helped her father, but has no idea that if I left her work to her efforts, the plant would be struggling or even dead. So why do I let a three and four year old child work with me in the garden? I can be more productive without them. The work would be fast, efficient, and productive. I bring my children into my work because I love them. I want to have fellowship with my kids, and their role in the work serves no other purpose than for them to know the joy of enjoying the experience with me. They look at the garden, eat the fruit of the work, and are satisfied with both the relationship of working with Dad, and knowing that they were part of the work.
Do we, as mortal men and women, think we can do anything for God that he cannot do for himself? He created the world, stars, universe and all that is within it. God created life and sustains all things by the word of his power(Hebrews 1:3). And he accomplished this without our help. Yet, he calls us into the work, knowing that we will dig too shallow, goof things up, and leave messes for our heavenly father to clean up. Why does God do it? It is for one thing, and one thing only. Love – agape.
God calls us to walk in his works, which he prepared before hand and has already finished, so that we can share in his fellowship and enjoy the fruit produced through his hand. It is the work of God that he desires to share with us because he loves us. We see the fruit he is producing, and he gives us the benefits that in truth we don’t deserve. Like my children sitting at the table and saying, “I helped grow this,” God invites us to the table of his fellowship and allows us to enjoy the fruit of a life in Christ. The fruit of our life is a gift of love, not a merit from our labor.
Paul said it best when he said that he was called to preach the gospel. “If I do this willingly, I have a reward. But if unwillingly, I still have the dispensation of the gospel given to me.” In other words, obedience is necessary in order to remain in fellowship with God, but the reward is not for the labor, but our heart of willingness. We are willing because we act out of love for our God. The work is already finished. We are just called to walk in it. If we pout and grumble, we have no reward. If we refuse to work, God will chastise us. If we are never chastised, the Bible warns that we may not be children of God at all. But if we serve willingly, because we are making God our first love and walking in fellowship with him, he rewards us. Look at Hebrews 11:6
6 But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.
The reward is not in the labor, but in a heart that believes the Lord and seeks him diligently. It is a child who says to her father, “I want to go with you,” and is then willing to be led, and does so by taking joy in the fellowship with her father. My three year old has no fear of fouling up the work, because her focus is on the fellowship. Those who are fearful of the work have missed the point. They are focused on their abilities rather than God’s completed work. It is completed within his plan, but we are walking in it as we journey to that final day of completion, which God has already foreordained.
Also, those who serve God out of fear are missing the joy of fellowship. If I am only serving out of fear, I am not working out of love. Like Paul, who said (to paraphrase), “I have a reward if I do this willingly, but if unwilling, I am only fulfilling my required duties,” I am missing the reward. The reward is in the joy of fellowship. God has called me to enter the fellowship of love within himself, and I am missing the greatest gift if I am only looking at labor as an escape from fear and not looking at the joy of walking in God’s will. It is not my salvation that is at stake, it is the joy of fellowship I am striving to obtain. Look at 1 John 4:17-19
17 Love has been perfected among us in this: that we may have boldness in the day of judgment; because as He is, so are we in this world.
18 There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves torment. But he who fears has not been made perfect in love.
19 We love Him because He first loved us.
Any who serve God out of fear, has not been perfected by love. So works must begin with a heart of love. Working to appease is worthless and has no merit. Working to appease is a failure to realize that our labors are not to accomplish God’s will, but to join him in his labors, and experience the unmerited reward of his fruitful work. God wants to give us what we don’t deserve, and produce fruit that our labors cannot accomplish. It is all rooted in the love of God. The fruit will be produced, with or without your help. The finished work was built into creation and will be accomplished. The labor is God’s love, offered to you, so you can share in the rewards of what God is producing. It is unmerited, underserved, pure love. It is God’s gift to you, not your gift to him. God calls you to walk in the works he established before the world began so you can share in the fruit that will be produced by his hand.
Why does our loving God condemn?
So why won’t God allow those who reject Christ to enter into fellowship with him? Maybe a better question would be, how can we expect someone who is in rebellion against God to have fellowship with the God they are challenging? How can love remain perfect if we allow imperfect self-love to enter into the fellowship of agape? Perfection and imperfection cannot coexist.
Man enters God’s perfect love through Christ as he lets go of the things that ensnare his soul. Anything else is corruption, and God will not compromise his perfect character, nature, or love. Someone once illustrated this well. If someone had a gallon of pure water, and added one drop of sewage to it, would you drink it? What about half a drop? The truth is, any amount of sewage introduces something harmful to the water and makes it impure. A few bacteria can start a disease that will destroy our bodies. The same is true with God’s perfect love. To allow man to bring his corrupt nature into fellowship creates an impure love that is no longer agape. We cannot expect God to cease from his perfection in order to have fellowship with man. It is as if many are asking God to fall and corrupt himself, rather than allowing him to redeem and cleanse fallen man.
With what we have learned from scripture, we can understand what it means to love God with all our heart. The Bible says that when we surrender to the love of God through Christ, we are born again as a new creation, born after the Spirit (2 Corinthians 5:17). As part of that new birth, the Spirit of God indwells us (1 Corinthians 3:16, 1 John 3:9). And the love of God is poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit (Romans 5:5).
Loving God is taking the love that God has poured out in our heart, and giving it back to him through our lives by abiding in fellowship and obedience. Through fellowship with God, we naturally have fellowship with those who are drawing near with us, and we will do good works to those God is touching through our lives. We give, because we have received. Our new lives are born after the Spirit of God, and in order to draw near to God, all we must do is walk in the Spirit. This is accomplished through studying and yielding ourselves to obey his word.
The scripture has been given to us as a glimpse into the infinite nature of God. We know him by seeking the Lord through the word. Because God is infinite, we never exhaust the depth of what there is to seek. Think of the scriptures as a fraction of infinity. God has taken part of himself, and revealed it to us. I can divide the scriptures infinitely, and never exhaust what he can reveal about himself through the Bible. This is why we can study the Bible all our life, and continuously discover new truths in passages we’ve read hundreds of times.
Consider this passage from 2 Timothy 2:15
15 Be diligent to present yourself approved to God, a worker who does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.
Notice that God instructed us to ‘rightly divide’. To rightly divide, means to take a portion of scripture, dig it out to examine it closer, search its depths, and keep it within the whole of scripture. To divide the word, we examine another fraction, but we do not divide it from the whole. To rightly divide the word, each passage and doctrine must remain in harmony with the rest of scripture. To divide one scripture from another is to separate it from God’s perfection, thus making it corrupt. We can then no longer accurately call it the truth. We divide by exploring, not separating. The scriptures show us all that God has revealed about himself, but not all that God is. Yet through this small revelation of God, we can explore God to the limits of man’s ability to understand as the Holy Spirit enlightens our understanding.
Through the word, salvation is revealed, our path is made clear, we are cleansed from our sins, and we learn to have fellowship with God. Let’s conclude this study by looking at John 14:23-26
23 Jesus answered and said to him, "If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our home with him.
24 "He who does not love Me does not keep My words; and the word which you hear is not Mine but the Father's who sent Me.
25 " These things I have spoken to you while being present with you.
26 "But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all things that I said to you.
Through keeping the word, we discover the love of God, and find the promise that both the Father and Son will abide in us. God indeed loves us, and came to deliver us from our condemnation so we could be partakers of the divine nature through Christ.
Eddie Snipes
Exchanged Life Outreach
Follow me on Twitter at http://twitter.com/eddiesnipes
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