Hello Friends!
Welcome back to part four of “We love Him
because He first loved Us.”
Let’s continue our study
with the fourth lesson: THE POWER
OF HIS LOVING DELIVERANCE…
We love
Him because He first loved Us (Part 4 of 5)
Look at our verse again: “We love Him, because He first loved us.” John is saying that God’s love for
us is the cause – the effectual cause – of our love for Him. Once again, he is
not saying merely that God’s love is a motive or an incentive for our love.
Rather, John’s point is that God’s love is the actual productive cause of our
love.
Remember that it is impossible for an
unregenerate person to love God. The heart of fallen flesh is by definition an
enemy of God. It has no power to change itself any more than a leopard can
change its spots. It is the nature of a sinner to love sin and nothing is more
contrary to a sinful heart than love for God. So it is morally impossible for
the sinner to love God.
“Who then can be saved?” Do you remember Jesus’ answer to
that question?
With men this is impossible; but with God all things are possible – Matthew 19:26
He
does the impossible. His own love for us is such that He purchases us and
pursues us and persuades us lovingly to love Him. And in order to make that
love possible, He even graciously gives us new hearts that are capable of
loving. That’s the promise He makes to His people in the book of Ezekiel:
Then I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean; I will cleanse you from all your filthiness and from all your idols. I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will keep My judgments and do them – Ezekiel 36:25-27
That speaks of God’s regenerating work,
whereby He resurrects us to a state of vibrant spiritual life, enlightens our
minds to understand His truth and makes the glories of His love so attractive
to us that we find them absolutely irresistible. In fact, that is exactly the
expression we sometimes use to speak of this truth – irresistible grace.
Some people misunderstand that term and
imagine that there is some type of violent force or coercion involved in God’s
drawing us to Jesus Christ. But irresistible grace isn’t something that pushes us
against our wills toward Christ – it draws us willingly to
Him!
It is similar to my love for my wife Ann. I
find her irresistible. But she doesn’t force my love for her. It is her sheer attractiveness and charm that draws
me to her... But she is irresistible to me!
God’s saving grace is irresistible to the
elect in the very same sense. We speak of it as “effectual grace” because it
always secures its object. God always procures a reciprocal love from those
upon whom He has set His redemptive love. As the Apostle Paul wrote:
For the love of Christ compels us, because we judge thus: that if One died for all, then all died – 2 Corinthians 5:14
He died for us – so we cannot live unto ourselves. Think about what this means: We cannot take personal
credit for loving God. Our love for God is a fruit of the Holy Spirit. It is
the work of God in us. “We love Him,
because He first loved us.” – our love for Him is the natural fruit of His great love
for us. This is the power of His loving deliverance!
Thank you for reading! Don’t miss next week’s final edition as we investigate lesson #5…
May the
Lord Jesus Christ continue to bless you with His perfect love, mercy and grace!
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
I love hearing from you. Keep reading Encouraging Concepts!
Blessings!
Shane K. Morin <><
Encouraging Concepts
Truth for Today
"Living Life From a Biblical Worldview"Lighthouse Publications <><
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