Romans 13:8-10 ESV
Owe no one anything, except to love each other, for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law. For the commandments, “You shall not commit adultery, You shall not murder, You shall not steal, You shall not covet,” and any other commandment, are summed up in this word: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfilling of the law.
The Word “Love”
The word “love” is a word that is thrown around rather
loosely these days, and it can encompass so many different things. It is also a
word that is often taken very lightly and glibly to where it has pretty much
lost the context of what it means in the Bible.
For this word translated as “love” in the English language
is the word “agape,” in the original Greek (1). And, it means to prefer what
God prefers; to prefer to live through Christ and to embrace God’s will for our
lives – which is why Jesus said that to love him is to obey him. So, it isn’t
some mushy-gushy feeling, although emotions are definitely involved, but it is
what we do. It is choosing to obey our Lord through his power and strength.
And, it is to follow in our Lord’s footsteps and to do what
he did, i.e. it is to walk as Jesus walked (Jn. 14:23-24; 1 Jn. 2:3-6).
And, how did he walk? He walked (conducted his life) in
purity, holiness, righteousness, truth, obedience to the Father, and in faithfulness.
And, not only did he reach out to meet people’s legitimate needs on a physical
level, but he also ministered to their spiritual needs by telling them the
truth about sin, judgment, hell, heaven, repentance and obedience, and about
the cost of following him, too (Lu. 9:23-26; Jn. 6:35-66).
So, again, the kind of love God wants us to have for one
another here is not superficial. And, it isn’t based on our feelings. It has to
do with how we treat God, and with how we treat other human beings with God’s
love.
For example, if you are married, and if your spouse says “I
love you,” and if he/she brings you candy and flowers, etc. all the while
he/she is cheating on you with another lover on a consistent habitual basis,
would you feel loved? No, you wouldn’t. Because love is not what we say,
either, it is what we do.
So, we need to understand here that love doesn’t cheat on
another, doesn’t lie to another, doesn’t commit adultery, doesn’t steal, doesn’t
hate, and doesn’t slander or gossip against others with the intent to do harm
to the other. It doesn’t play tricks on you, or try to manipulate you, or
attempt to deceive you.
And, true love is not going to try to lead you into sin,
either, or away from your pure devotion to Jesus Christ. For, love does not
intentionally wrong other people. So (agape) love fulfills the law.
Gospel of Love
Thus, the gospel that many people are promoting these days
is not based on the love of God that we are to have for one another. But, it is
based in the flesh, instead, for it is intended to appeal to and to coddle the
flesh of man. For, it makes no demands for dying with Christ to sin, submission
to Christ as Lord (owner-master), or walks of obedience to Christ and his
commands. So, it doesn’t prefer what God prefers, but it prefers what the flesh
prefers.
Also, this “love” that many are promoting these days for
Christians to follow is a very worldly love, not agape love, for its goal is
just to make everyone feel good and to be happy and to be happy about us, too,
and to like us, and to think we are great because we are so kind and loving.
But, that isn’t how Jesus loved or they would not have hung him on a cross to
die!
This “love” that is being promoted these days also pulls
people away from the true gospel of our salvation and it leads them to follow
after a more ecumenical and all inclusive “gospel of grace” which tolerates sin
and which gives free license to continue in habitual sin without guilt. And,
that is because its goal is to not make anyone feel uncomfortable, because its
ultimate goal is to lead everyone away from the Jesus of the Bible, and away
from the cross of Christ, so they will follow the flesh, instead.
So, they teach a love and a grace that does not require
change of thought, belief, attitude or action. And, this love they are
promoting also teaches that the people of the whole world need to unite
together as one and to break down everything that divides us as the people of
the world, so that we can all live at peace with one another. But, Jesus didn’t
come to bring that kind of peace, especially if it means sacrificing the truth
of the gospel.
He said he came to bring a sword and to turn people against
one another. For, the true gospel of grace does divide people as saved and as
unsaved. And, even members of our own families will reject and despise us
because we teach the true gospel of grace.
In reality, this cheap grace they promote, although it looks
good and it feels good to many, is a departure from God and from his standards,
from his morals and from the teachings of his word, and from his holiness and
righteousness. And, this is because Satan is behind this, and he wants to get
everyone back on his ball court playing his game, and denying Jesus Christ as
Lord.
But, he is not content with just trying to destroy the truth
of the gospel, and with feeding people’s minds with the lies he makes up, but
he is on an all-out affront against the true gospel, to convince people it is
false. And, he is out to discredit, censor and/or to destroy or kill those who
are still teaching the true gospel of grace, with regard to repentance and
obedience to Christ.
Romans 13:11-14 ESV
Besides this you know the time, that the hour has come for you to wake from sleep. For salvation is nearer to us now than when we first believed. The night is far gone; the day is at hand. So then let us cast off the works of darkness and put on the armor of light. Let us walk properly as in the daytime, not in orgies and drunkenness, not in sexual immorality and sensuality, not in quarreling and jealousy. But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires.
Wolves Among Us
There are many wolves in sheep’s clothing, both within our
governments, and within the institutional church, who are teaching this cheap
grace gospel and ecumenisms in a global effort to draw Christians away from
pure devotion to Jesus Christ so that they will follow their flesh, instead,
and ultimately so that they will follow the devil and not Jesus.
They give off the appearance of being Christians and/or
followers of Jesus Christ in order to lure you into their traps of deception. And,
what they are promoting sounds good to itching ears, i.e. to people who are
wanting to continue in their sinful practices without guilt; who want to claim
Jesus as their Savior and heaven as their eternal destiny, but without having
to submit to Christ, leave their sins behind, or follow Jesus in obedience.
And, the vast majority of those who call themselves
Christians, at least here in America, appear to have fallen prey to their
spell. And, by the thousands they are rejecting the truths of Scripture in
order to follow after the lies which coddle their flesh. And, this is all
leading the way for the one world religion, as the worldly church is making
more and more compromises of faith and practice in order to be one with the
world.
Need to Wake Up!
So, definitely, more than ever before, it is time for the
church to wake up from her stupor and to see the truth of Scripture and to open
their eyes to see the lies, so that they will reject the lies and embrace the
truth, instead of the other way around.
For, eternal life with God is not promised to everyone who
says “Lord, Lord,” or to everyone who professes faith in Jesus Christ or who
calls himself or herself a Christian or a follower of Jesus. For, again, Jesus
said that to love him is to obey him, and if we don’t obey him (in practice),
then we don’t love him, we don’t know him and he doesn’t know us, and we don’t
have eternal life with God (Gal. 5:16-21; Eph. 5:3-6; Gal. 6:7-8; 1 Jn. 2:3-6).
So, not only do we, if we have not already, need to cast off
the deeds of darkness from our lives, but for those of us who are sharing the
gospel with others, which we should all be doing, we need to cast these deeds
of darkness off in our teaching by renouncing them, by exposing them for what
they are, and by shining the light of the true gospel on them.
In other words, this is spiritual warfare here, now fiercer
than a lot of us have ever known before. And, so we need to be fighting Satan’s
lies with the truth, and we need to be doing this where other people can hear
it, too, so that they will have their eyes opened to the lies and the
deceptions, so that they can reject what is false, and so they can embrace what
is truth.
We need to be putting off these deeds of darkness in our own
lives, if we have not already, and then we need to be walking in purity of
devotion to our Lord in holiness, righteousness, morality, uprightness,
faithfulness and in truth. We should be making no provision for the flesh,
either. And, that means that we should cut out of our lives anything that is
leading us into sin, too, so that we don’t fall back into sin, so we do walk in
righteousness.
Jesus Draw Me Ever
Nearer
Lyrics by Margaret
Becker
Music by Keith Getty
“Jesus draw me ever nearer
As I labour through the storm.
You have called me to this passage,
and I’ll follow, though I’m worn…”
May this journey bring a blessing,
May I rise on wings of faith;
And at the end of my heart’s testing,
With Your likeness let me wake…
*Caution: This link may contain ads
No comments:
Post a Comment