Welcome back to the final part of our series “We love Him because He first loved Us.”
Let’s complete our study
with the fifth lesson: THE
PERFECTION OF HIS REDEMPTIVE PLAN…
We love
Him because He first loved Us (Part 5 of 5)
Here’s our fifth and final doctrinal lesson
from this simple verse.
Our profound text is a clear
statement about the sovereign power of God’s love: “We
love Him, because He first loved us.” It is a lesson about the sovereignty of God’s saving
purpose. It is a celebration of the glory of sovereign love. The verse, despite
its brevity, also turns out to be incredibly rich with meaning.
It also reminds us of the perfection of His
redemptive plan.
Just consider the first two words of our verse: “We love.”
Again, that speaks of a
totally transformed heart. At first, we didn’t love:
But when the kindness and the love of God our Savior toward man appeared, not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us, through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit – Titus 3:4-5
Here the Apostle Paul speaks once again of that
regenerating work that turns our cold, unloving hearts of stone into hearts
that are capable of true love for God.
And inherent in the same loving kindness that
obtained our salvation is a guarantee that we will persevere in that love to
the very end. We love Him. We’re completely free from that sinful enmity that
once kept us hostile to Him. And He loves us. He will not permit anything or
anyone to snatch us out of His hand.
Notice these verses from the Apostle John:
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. 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 – 1 John 4:17-18
That love is a fruit of God’s own Spirit,
and therefore it is a permanent love. It “casts out fear”; it gives us boldness even in the
day of judgment. It will not fade or diminish. Why? “Because as He is, so are we in this world.”
This love conforms us to His
image, and keeps conforming us to His image, until that goal is perfectly
achieved. In other words, the same love that guaranteed our salvation from sin
in the first place guarantees our perseverance in the faith.
In closing:
You might be a believer who doesn’t affirm
these doctrines of grace. But the fact is, if you are a Christian, you do already affirm
the fundamental principle in every one of these truths. You already know in
your heart of hearts that you weren’t born again because you were morally
superior to your unbelieving neighbors. You were worthy of God’s wrath just
like them:
And you He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins, in which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience, among whom also we all once conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, just as the others – Ephesians 2:1-3
Also, according to the Apostle Paul, it was
God who quickened you and showed you a special mercy – and that is why you are
a believer:
But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus – Ephesians 2:4-6
You already know that in your heart. You
don’t really believe you summoned faith and came to Jesus Christ in your own power
and by your own unaided free will. You don’t actually believe you are morally
superior to people who don’t believe. You therefore must see, somewhere in your
soul, that God has given you special grace that He has not necessarily shown
everyone.
You also believe God is absolutely
sovereign over all things, because you lean on the promise from Romans:
And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose – Romans 8:28
And that promise would mean nothing if God
were not in control of every detail of everything that happens. If He is not in
control of all things, how could He work all things together for good?
Furthermore, you pray for the lost, which
means in your heart, you believe God is sovereign over their salvation. If you
didn’t really believe He was sovereign in saving sinners, you’d quit praying
for the lost and start doing everything you could to buttonhole people into the
kingdom by hook or by crook. But you know that would be folly. And you pray
about other things, too, don’t you? You pray that God will change this person’s
heart or alter the circumstances of that problem. When we go to God in prayer,
we’re expressing faith in His sovereignty over the circumstances of our lives.
You even believe God operates sovereignly
in the administration of all His providence. You say things like:
If the Lord will, we shall live, and do this, or that – James 4:15
Why? Because in your heart you believe that
God works all things after the counsel of His own will and nothing happens
apart from His will:
In Him also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestined according to the purpose of Him who works all things according to the counsel of His will – Ephesians 1:11
Nothing is more biblical than these
doctrines that are commonly labeled “Calvinism.”
However, it is a shame they have been given an extrabiblical name because
these truths are the very essence of what Scripture teaches – throughout the Old Testament and New Testament. The very gist of these
Biblical doctrines is nowhere more clearly stated than in the simple words of
our verse:
“We love Him, because He first loved us.”
Amen!
Thank you for reading! It is my hope that you now have a better understanding of
these theological doctrines that are rooted in the Word of God.
We are not guaranteed tomorrow – tomorrow may be too late! If you haven't yet made that most important decision of your life, won't you make Jesus Christ your personal Lord and Savior today - before it's too late? Today is the day of Salvation!
If you have been blessed by this message or have a specific question, prayer request or testimony, please send me a note to: encouragingconcepts@live.com
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Blessings!
Shane K. Morin <><
Encouraging Concepts
Truth for Today
"Living Life From a Biblical Worldview"Lighthouse Publications <><
