The Love I Have For You

“But thanks be to God, who in Christ always leads us in triumphal procession, and through us spreads the fragrance of the knowledge of him everywhere. For we are the aroma of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing, to one a fragrance from death to death, to the other a fragrance from life to life. Who is sufficient for these things? For we are not, like so many, peddlers of God's word, but as men of sincerity, as commissioned by God, in the sight of God we speak in Christ” (2 Corinthians 2:14-17 ESV).

“For I wrote to you out of much affliction and anguish of heart and with many tears, not to cause you pain but to let you know the abundant love that I have for you” (2 Corinthians 2:4 ESV).

When we teach the truth of the Scriptures in full sincerity and honesty, seeking to know the truth and to teach only the truth, and never the lies, as commissioned by God, in the sight of God, under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, not everyone is going to accept us, not even many who profess faith in Jesus Christ. And that is because they don’t like the message, even if it is biblical (in context) and they can read what it says for themselves. But they reject it because it doesn’t fit into their theologies and/or into their lifestyles.

And so we then get personally attacked, and we get falsely accused of things we did not do and say. And we may get called liars and heretics and false teachers just because the message we are teaching doesn’t agree with what others have come to believe. Yet so many of them won’t even look at the Scriptures, but they hold on to what they have always been taught, or to their religious traditions, or to what their pastors tell them. But so many won’t actually search the Scriptures for themselves.

And I am not claiming perfection here, but I am one who spends about 50 to 70 hours a week in the Scriptures, and I have been doing this for a very long time, with the amount of time each day increasing by the years. And I am a seeker of truth, and I get my understanding, not from men, but from the Scriptures themselves, in context. And I spend lots of time making certain that I can back up Scripturally what I teach, and that is why I provide so many Scripture references, so you can test my words against God’s Word.

And I am always open to you respectfully testing what I say, but against the Scriptures IN CONTEXT, not out of context, and not against what some man or woman taught you. And I will respect and honor what the Scriptures teach, but then I hope that you will, too. And this is exactly where Paul and the other apostles were. They had people rejecting them and calling them names and accusing them of things they did not do and say, just because people didn’t like the message and they didn’t want to have to abide by it. 

And so Paul often had to go on the defense and to let the people know that what he wrote to the people was written out of love and out of much affliction and anguish of heart and with many tears, not to cause them pain, but to let them know the abundant love that he had for them. And how did he show them that love? In many ways, but also through helping them to see when they were going in the wrong direction and by helping to point them in the right direction, for he was their pastor.

And, although I am not a man, and I am not a pastor, God has given me a writing ministry where I teach the Scriptures each day, and I have to teach what the Scriptures teach, and it isn’t always the feel-good pleasant stuff that people like to hear. I mean, what is the main theme of the New Testament? It is that if we want to belong to God/Christ, and have salvation from sin, and eternal life with God, we must die with Christ to sin and live to him and to his righteousness, in his power, and no longer in sin. 

And so that is what I have to teach. And I have to teach, if we are to be in genuine relationship with Jesus Christ and recipients of his promises, that obedience is required. We must be those who are walking (in conduct, in practice) in obedience to our Lord and not in sin or we don’t have salvation from sin, and we don’t have eternal life with God nor the hope of heaven when we die. 

[Matt 7:21-23; Matt 24:9-14; Lu 9:23-26; Rom 1:18-32; Rom 2:6-8; Rom 6:1-23; Rom 8:1-14,24; Rom 12:1-2; Rom 13:11; 1 Co 6:9-10,19-20; 2 Co 5:10,15,21; 1 Co 1:18; 1 Co 15:1-2; 2 Tim 1:8-9; Heb 9:28; 1 Pet 1:5; Gal 5:16-21; Gal 6:7-8; Eph 2:8-10; Eph 4:17-32; Eph 5:3-6; Col 1:21-23; Col 3:5-17; 1 Pet 2:24; Tit 2:11-14; 1 Jn 1:5-9; 1 Jn 2:3-6,24-25; 1 Jn 3:4-10; Heb 3:6,14-15; Heb 10:23-31; Heb 12:1-2; Rev 21:8,27; Rev 22:14-15]

And I have to teach that God said the same thing to Abraham, that if he and his descendants did not obey the Lord, they didn’t have his promises, either. See:

[Genesis 17:7-9; Genesis 18:19; John 8:18-19,38-47; Romans 2:28-29; Romans 9:4-8; Romans 11:17-25; 1 Corinthians 3:16-17; 1 Corinthians 10:1-22; 2 Corinthians 6:14-18; Galatians 3:16,26-29; Galatians 4:22-31; Ephesians 2:11-22; Ephesians 3:6; Colossians 3:12-15; Titus 2:14; Hebrews 3:1-19; Hebrews 4:1-16; Hebrews 8:6-13; 1 Peter 2:9-10; 1 John 2:22; Revelation 2:9; Revelation 3:9]  

And so many of the Israelites did not get to go into the Promised Land because of their disobedience, which God called “unbelief.” And eventually he did away with the Old Covenant he made with his people, and he made a New Covenant which now includes the Gentiles, but is only for those who obey the Lord, so it is only for Jews and Gentiles of genuine faith in Jesus Christ which is evident by their walks of obedience to the Lord in holy living.

All those who don’t believe in Jesus Christ, which includes all who give lip service only but do not obey the Lord, are not God’s chosen people. And I don’t say these things because I just love being called a heretic and a liar and being told that I should be burned at a stake for what I teach about Israel. I teach what the Scriptures teach – and you can read them for yourselves – because I love you, and because I love God and I am obeying him, and for no other reason. So, please read the Scriptures!

Oh, to Be Like Thee, Blessed Redeemer 

Lyrics by Thomas O. Chisholm, 1897

Music by W. J. Kirkpatrick, 1897

Oh, to be like Thee! blessèd Redeemer,

This is my constant longing and prayer;

Gladly I’ll forfeit all of earth’s treasures,

Jesus, Thy perfect likeness to wear.

Oh, to be like Thee! full of compassion,

Loving, forgiving, tender and kind,

Helping the helpless, cheering the fainting,

Seeking the wandering sinner to find.

O to be like Thee! lowly in spirit,

Holy and harmless, patient and brave;

Meekly enduring cruel reproaches,

Willing to suffer others to save.

O to be like Thee! while I am pleading,

Pour out Thy Spirit, fill with Thy love;

Make me a temple meet for Thy dwelling,

Fit me for life and Heaven above.

Oh, to be like Thee! Oh, to be like Thee,

Blessèd Redeemer, pure as Thou art;

Come in Thy sweetness, come in Thy fullness;

Stamp Thine own image deep on my heart.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KrYhiK2nQBg 

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