The Love of God

The Love of God

Romans 5:5-8

 

A Love Beyond Comprehension

The love of God is beyond human comprehension, yet is in many ways accessible to us. We will never fully comprehend God’s love, as it passes knowing (Ephesians 3:10); yet we can know its character and enjoy its benefits.

The love of God is so great that John exclaimed, “Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God: therefore the world knoweth us not, because it knew him not.” (1 John 3:1, AV) John is declaring that God’s love is foreign. It is other worldly. It is not a mere human sort of love. The love of God, that makes us sons of God, can be recognized and known; yet it cannot be fully comprehended.

Why is God’s love so great? It is because God is love (1 John 4:8), and God is eternal. Therefore love is eternal in both duration and character.

Love Is of God

One of the most familiar verses of all Scripture is, “Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of God; and every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God. He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love.” (1 John 4:7–8, AV) Even small children often know, “God is love.” Notice that we are told that love is from God, because God is love. God is the source of love, and He is love.

What this means is that there is no true love apart from God. There can be ungodly and unholy love; but true love is from God. It also means that God defines love. Today the idea is that God is love, and therefore conforms to our ideal of what love is. Since God is eternal and holy, and being love, God defines what love is. He does not conform to our ideal of love, but He tells us what love is, what it does, and how it appears. Others like to say, “Love is love.” Not only is that a tautology and circular reasoning, it is also unrighteous. It is both incorrect and sinful. Let us always remember that God is love.

If you and I are to show love, it is because that we know God. Paul’s desire for the Thessalonians was that “the Lord make you to increase and abound in love one toward another, and toward all men, even as we do toward you: To the end he may stablish your hearts unblameable in holiness before God, even our Father, at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ with all his saints.” (1 Thessalonians 3:12–13, AV) The way of practical holiness is that of love; and it is because the Lord causes us to grow in love. You and I grow in love and show love as God enables us. It is He who teaches us to love one another (1 Thessalonians 4:9). God is love and is the source of all true love.

Free And Unmerited Love

God’s love is free and unmerited. There is nothing that man has ever done or ever can do to deserve it. Moses told Israel, “The LORD did not set his love upon you, nor choose you, because ye were more in number than any people; for ye were the fewest of all people: But because the LORD loved you, and because he would keep the oath which he had sworn unto your fathers, hath the LORD brought you out with a mighty hand, and redeemed you out of the house of bondmen, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt.” (Deuteronomy 7:7–8, AV) God did not love Israel because of what was in Israel. Nor did He love Israel for any reason other than the fact that He chose to love them. God’s love is free and unmerited.

When the LORD wanted to show Israel His free love, He commanded Hosea to take a harlot to be his wife. When Hosea’s wife, Gomer, was unfaithful to him and wound up as a slave on the auction block, the LORD told Hosea, “Then said the LORD unto me, Go yet, love a woman beloved of her friend, yet an adulteress, according to the love of the LORD toward the children of Israel, who look to other gods, and love flagons of wine. So I bought her to me for fifteen pieces of silver, and for an homer of barley, and an half homer of barley: And I said unto her, Thou shalt abide for me many days; thou shalt not play the harlot, and thou shalt not be for another man: so will I also be for thee. For the children of Israel shall abide many days without a king, and without a prince, and without a sacrifice, and without an image, and without an ephod, and without teraphim: Afterward shall the children of Israel return, and seek the LORD their God, and David their king; and shall fear the LORD and his goodness in the latter days.” (Hosea 3:1–5, AV) Not only did Hosea freely love Gomer and buy her as a slave, but he also committed to be faithful to her as her husband. The LORD then continues to explain that His love for Israel is similar. God’s love for Israel was not for any good within themselves, but all because of the good that is in God. He said, “I will heal their backsliding, I will love them freely: for mine anger is turned away from him.” (Hosea 14:4, AV) God promised to love Israel and to forgive them freely, because His love is free and unmerited. Israel was very unfaithful, but God is love.

God’s love to us today is the same: He loves us freely. Paul described us to Titus as being wicked, unloving, hateful, obnoxious, rebellious, and of bad hearts and minds. Then he said, “But after that the kindness and love of God our Saviour toward man appeared, Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost; Which he shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Saviour; That being justified by his grace, we should be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life.” (Titus 3:4–7, AV) When did God’s saving love come to us? How did God’s saving love come to us? It came while we were yet in our sinful rebellion, and it was in no manner deserved by us; but God freely loves us, and freely saves all who trust Him. We see this again as Paul said, “For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. For scarcely for a righteous man will one die: yet peradventure for a good man some would even dare to die. But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” (Romans 5:6–8, AV) When we were impotent, helpless, unrighteous, irreverent, and unholy, Christ died for us. We were the enemies of God, living in rebellion against Him. We did what we wanted to do, and we followed the world, the flesh, and the devil (Ephesians 2:1-4); yet God loves us so freely that He gave His only begotten Son to be crucified for our sins, so that we can be freely saved. Is it any wonder, then, that John exclaimed that this love is foreign to us? It is a love far beyond human comprehension!

Sacrificial Love

God’s love is not only free and unmerited, but it is sacrificial: it is giving. “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” (John 3:16, AV) “Hereby perceive we the love of God, because he laid down his life for us: and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren.” (1 John 3:16, AV) This is how God loves us, in that He has given His Son; He has laid down His life for us. Even when we were enemies, God gave His Son to die for our sins, that we might be reconciled to God (Romans 5:6-11;2 Corinthians 5:17-21).

When Paul would counter the self-righteous and legalistic doctrine and lifestyle that was troubling the Galatian churches, he argued that Christ’s sacrificial love is what we should trust. “I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me. I do not frustrate the grace of God: for if righteousness come by the law, then Christ is dead in vain.” (Galatians 2:20–21, AV) As of late I have encountered a group of seemingly well-intended, but unlearned and misguided people whose teaching is that of being saved by God’s power, yet maintaining salvation by our own righteousness. Their idea is that love is something soft and permissive. God’s love is not that at all. God’s love sent Christ to the cross to confirm God’s righteousness (Romans 3:21-28). Sin has to be punished, and God punished the Lord Jesus Christ in our place because He loves us. God’s love is sacrificial, and it is this love that saves us and keeps us. If I can save or keep myself, Christ died a useless death, Paul says. I, for one, thank God for the unspeakable gift of God’s sacrificial love in Jesus Christ (2 Corinthians 9:15)!

Forgiving, Saving, And Life Giving Love

Paul spoke to the Ephesians and reminded them of the depths of their depravity, which is the depravity which is common to us all, and then He said, “But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us, Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;)” (Ephesians 2:4–5, AV) God has a great love to us, and it is saving love. God, because of His great love, saves us by His grace!

Hezekiah would speak about how he was near to death and the LORD delivered Him: “Behold, for peace I had great bitterness: but thou hast in love to my soul delivered it from the pit of corruption: for thou hast cast all my sins behind thy back.” (Isaiah 38:17, AV) Why was Hezekiah forgiven, delivered from death, and saved? Because God had love to his soul.

Paul exulted in the saving love of God by telling Timothy, “And the grace of our Lord was exceeding abundant with faith and love which is in Christ Jesus. This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners; of whom I am chief.” (1 Timothy 1:14–15, AV) The chief of sinners was saved because of God’s love and grace. Let us remember that the Lord does not change (Malachi 3:6), and that Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, and today, and forever (Hebrews 13:8). This being so, all the redeemed will be saved because of God’s great love; and we shall all give Him glory, saying, “Unto him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood, And hath made us kings and priests unto God and his Father; to him be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen.” (Revelation 1:5–6, AV)

The Covenant Love of God

“Who shall lay any thing to the charge of God’s elect? It is God that justifieth. Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? As it is written, For thy sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter. Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us. For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Romans 8:33–39) 

Unmerited Covenant Keeping Love

Often people will state that the God of the Old Testament is quite different from the God of the New Testament, and they either are implying that there are two different Gods in the Bible, or they are trying to say that God has somehow changed His character over time. Neither approach is correct. In fact, the idea is that God is somehow more loving in the New Testament than He is in the Old Testament. In this lesson we shall see that God’s covenant love in the Old Testament is the foundation of our Christian confidence in the New Testament testimonies of God’s faithful love to His people.

“The LORD did not set his love upon you, nor choose you, because ye were more in number than any people; for ye were the fewest of all people: But because the LORD loved you, and because he would keep the oath which he had sworn unto your fathers, hath the LORD brought you out with a mighty hand, and redeemed you out of the house of bondmen, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt.” (Deuteronomy 7:7–8) 

Why did God love Israel and keep covenant with them? Simply because He loved them. Israel had no redeeming features about them. They were the smallest of all nations. They were also consistently rebellious and disobedient. The only thing that prompted the love of God toward them was the fact that He chose to love them, and that He had chosen Abraham and made a perpetual covenant with him. As we read Ezekiel chapter sixteen we find that the LORD took Israel as though she were an abandoned infant, rescued her, cleaned her up, clothed her, fed her, and then married her when she was grown. In short, God entered into a covenant with Israel though Israel did not deserve it. God’s love, even in the Old Testament, is an unmerited, committed, covenant love.

The love of the LORD to Israel is seen as a forgiving and heart changing love. Israel did not keep covenant with God, though they promised that they would (See Exodus 24:7;Hosea 6:7). Again, a reading of Ezekiel chapter sixteen demonstrates this truth. Despite this, God told Israel that He would change their hearts so that they would obey. “And the LORD thy God will circumcise thine heart, and the heart of thy seed, to love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, that thou mayest live.” (Deuteronomy 30:6) Again we read, “Then will I sprinkle clean water upon you, and ye shall be clean: from all your filthiness, and from all your idols, will I cleanse you. A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh. And I will put my spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep my judgments, and do them.” (Ezekiel 36:25–27) Later we see Jesus speaking to Nicodemus about being born again of water and of the Spirit (John 3:1-9), and we can see that He was alluding to this passage, in which God promises to change hearts so that we might obey Him.

When God makes a covenant, He is true to His word, faithful to His promises, and always lives up to what He says He will do. Thus it is that, when Balak would try to get Balaam to curse Israel, Balaam was led of the LORD to say, “God is not a man, that he should lie; neither the son of man, that he should repent: hath he said, and shall he not do it? or hath he spoken, and shall he not make it good?” (Numbers 23:19) God keeps covenant. Not only so, but we also read Samuel’s words of assurance to fearful Israel, when they realized they had sinned: “For the LORD will not forsake his people for his great name’s sake: because it hath pleased the LORD to make you his people.” (1 Samuel 12:22) Israel had sinned and failed to keep covenant with God, yet He promised that He would keep covenant with them!

We can continue on in the Old Testament and read how that God promised idolatrous, erring Israel that He would indeed send Babylon against them to destroy the city and humble the nation, yet He would continue to keep covenant with them. “The LORD hath appeared of old unto me, saying, Yea, I have loved thee with an everlasting love: therefore with lovingkindness have I drawn thee.” (Jeremiah 31:3) This covenant love is illustrated in Hosea’s covenant keeping love to Gomer (Hosea chapters 1-3), and highlighted by the LORD’s declaration, “I will heal their backsliding, I will love them freely: for mine anger is turned away from him.” (Hosea 14:4) Although Israel treated God as an unfaithful wife mistreats her husband, yet He chose to love them, forgive them, and continue to keep His promises!

When Jeremiah wept over the desolations of Jerusalem after Nebuchadnezzar had destroyed the temple and the city, he could take heart in the fact that the LORD is a covenant keeper. Knowing the promises of God to Israel throughout all generations, Jeremiah stated, “This I recall to my mind, therefore have I hope. It is of the LORD’S mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not. They are new every morning: great is thy faithfulness.” (Lamentations 3:21–23) Again, Malachi speaks for God, saying, “I am the LORD, I change not; therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed.” (Malachi 3:6) God’s love is an unmerited, faithful, covenant keeping love to those who are His.

God’s Covenant Love As Seen in The New Testament

“He hath holpen his servant Israel, in remembrance of his mercy;” (Luke 1:54) “Blessed be the Lord God of Israel; for he hath visited and redeemed his people, And hath raised up an horn of salvation for us in the house of his servant David; As he spake by the mouth of his holy prophets, which have been since the world began: That we should be saved from our enemies, and from the hand of all that hate us; To perform the mercy promised to our fathers, and to remember his holy covenant; The oath which he sware to our father Abraham, That he would grant unto us, that we being delivered out of the hand of our enemies might serve him without fear, In holiness and righteousness before him, all the days of our life.” (Luke 1:68–75)

The New Testament presents the same covenant keeping God to us that the Old Testament does. Our text above shows us that Jesus is the fulfillment of God’s covenant promises to Israel. Furthermore Paul tells us, “For all the promises of God in him are yea, and in him Amen, unto the glory of God by us.” (2 Corinthians 1:20) Jesus’ work was to fulfill the promises of God to Israel.

God’s covenant promises were not to Israel only, however, because He had promised Abraham that all nations would be blessed in him (Genesis 12:1-3). Thus we read of Simeon saying, “Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace, according to thy word: For mine eyes have seen thy salvation, Which thou hast prepared before the face of all people; A light to lighten the Gentiles, and the glory of thy people Israel.” (Luke 2:29–32) Jesus came to bring the blessings of Abraham to the Gentiles also. Paul told the Romans, “Now I say that Jesus Christ was a minister of the circumcision for the truth of God, to confirm the promises made unto the fathers: And that the Gentiles might glorify God for his mercy; as it is written, For this cause I will confess to thee among the Gentiles, and sing unto thy name. And again he saith, Rejoice, ye Gentiles, with his people. And again, Praise the Lord, all ye Gentiles; and laud him, all ye people. And again, Esaias saith, There shall be a root of Jesse, and he that shall rise to reign over the Gentiles; in him shall the Gentiles trust. Now the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that ye may abound in hope, through the power of the Holy Ghost.” (Romans 15:8–13) Gentiles are included in Christ’s covenant, and I’m taking the time to wrtie this because I’ve lately read a couple of people who have stated things to the effect that the New Covenant is a future covenant that pertains only to Israel; and another stated that he felt sorry for anyone who thinks that they are part of a blood covenant with God. Jesus, however, when establishing the Lord’s Supper “took the cup, and gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying, Drink ye all of it; For this is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins.” (Matthew 26:27–28) This covenant love is shed for many for the remission of sins.

We continue and see that it is through Christ’s blood that our sins are forgiven. “In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace;” (Ephesians 1:7) “Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son: In whom we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins:” (Colossians 1:13–14) “And almost all things are by the law purged with blood; and without shedding of blood is no remission. It was therefore necessary that the patterns of things in the heavens should be purified with these; but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these. For Christ is not entered into the holy places made with hands, which are the figures of the true; but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us: Nor yet that he should offer himself often, as the high priest entereth into the holy place every year with blood of others; For then must he often have suffered since the foundation of the world: but now once in the end of the world hath he appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself. And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment: So Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many; and unto them that look for him shall he appear the second time without sin unto salvation.” (Hebrews 9:22–28) “John to the seven churches which are in Asia: Grace be unto you, and peace, from him which is, and which was, and which is to come; and from the seven Spirits which are before his throne; And from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, and the first begotten of the dead, and the prince of the kings of the earth. Unto him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood,” (Revelation 1:4–5) Through Christ God is a covenant keeping God, establishing His New Covenant through the blood of the cross of Christ.

These things fulfill the promise of God to make a new covenant with Israel: “Behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah: Not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt; which my covenant they brake, although I was an husband unto them, saith the LORD: But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel; After those days, saith the LORD, I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be my people. And they shall teach no more every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the LORD: for they shall all know me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them, saith the LORD: for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more. Thus saith the LORD, which giveth the sun for a light by day, and the ordinances of the moon and of the stars for a light by night, which divideth the sea when the waves thereof roar; The LORD of hosts is his name: If those ordinances depart from before me, saith the LORD, then the seed of Israel also shall cease from being a nation before me for ever. Thus saith the LORD; If heaven above can be measured, and the foundations of the earth searched out beneath, I will also cast off all the seed of Israel for all that they have done, saith the LORD.” (Jeremiah 31:31–37) Jesus stated that this covenant comes through His blood, so that our sins can be forgiven (Matthew 26:28). Paul stated to the Hebrews that this covenant that God makes through Christ is the fulfillment of this promise (Hebrews 8:7-12). It is to be noted that this covenant is not peculiar to Israel, but is to all who are in Christ; because the promise is that “they shall all know me.” (Jeremiah 31:34;Hebrews 8:11).

The important thing about this covenant is the duration of it. God promises, saying, “Thus saith the LORD, which giveth the sun for a light by day, and the ordinances of the moon and of the stars for a light by night, which divideth the sea when the waves thereof roar; The LORD of hosts is his name: If those ordinances depart from before me, saith the LORD, then the seed of Israel also shall cease from being a nation before me for ever. Thus saith the LORD; If heaven above can be measured, and the foundations of the earth searched out beneath, I will also cast off all the seed of Israel for all that they have done, saith the LORD.” (Jeremiah 31:35–37) This is a promise that God will keep covenant with all who are in covenant with Him. He will not turn away from those who are His! It is with this in mind that we then can begin to see the glories of the eternal security that the believer has in Christ.

Paul told the Romans that our security rests in the fact that Jesus died, arose, ascended to the Father, and makes intercession for us (Romans 8:33-34). He then proceeds to explain that there is not a single thing in all of creation, ourselves included, that can separate us from this covenant keeping love of God that is in Christ. “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? As it is written, For thy sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter. Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us. For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Romans 8:35–39) I realize that there are those who say that a person can lose his salvation, but this teaches us something that is very different from that. It explains that God keeps covenant with us, and that His unmerited love is a love that never ceases to cleanse us from sin (1 John 1:5-2:2), sanctify us (Ephesians 5:25-33), and will ultimately present us before Him holy and without blame in love (Ephesians 1:3-7).

“Thanks be unto God for his unspeakable gift.” (2 Corinthians 9:15) 

The Love of God: Love And Hatred

“The LORD is in his holy temple, the LORD’S throne is in heaven: his eyes behold, his eyelids try, the children of men. The LORD trieth the righteous: but the wicked and him that loveth violence his soul hateth. Upon the wicked he shall rain snares, fire and brimstone, and an horrible tempest: this shall be the portion of their cup. For the righteous LORD loveth righteousness; his countenance doth behold the upright.” (Psalm 11:4–7)

In this final post on God’s love, we shall briefly consider love and hatred. We must understand that every affection has an opposite that exists along with it. Thus it is that mercy rejoices against judgment, so that wrath and condemnation are counteracted where mercy is received and applied. This is also true with love. One can only love something or someone truly if they hate that which is diametrically opposed to the object of their love. For example, if I truly love my family, I must harbor within my heart a hatred for anything that would harm or destroy my family. This hatred can to a degree coexist in my heart with true love for someone who would seek to destroy my family. While loving them and desiring what is best for them, I must at the same time hold a certain contempt for them as one who would murder my children if they had the opportunity.

We are not accustomed to speaking about such things, because we tend to think that love and hate cannot exist within us at the same time. Let us consider how these things actually work in us, using an example of a murderer from years past. In 1980, Robert Willie and a friend of his killed a young lady named Faith Hathaway and dumped her body in what is now Bogue Chitto State Park, near Franklinton, LA. It was a particularly gruesome crime, and was only part of a crime spree that in which Willie was the main offender. Willie was put to death in the electric chair in 1984. While we all would love to have heard of a man such as Willie getting saved, that evidently did not happen. Willie is reported to have said that he enjoyed the crime, and expressed no remorse at all. We turn from such people in great disgust, do we not? Yes, we love them and desire the best for them. At the same time, that love is rightly countered by a hatred of both the deeds done and of the person. While we are to hold no malice, yet we must rightly condemn such to death (See Genesis 9:6). David himself, a man after God’s own heart, said, “Do not I hate them, O LORD, that hate thee? and am not I grieved with those that rise up against thee? I hate them with perfect hatred: I count them mine enemies.” (Psalm 139:21–22) These verses were given by inspiration of God, are His Word, and are true and righteous. Again, he said, “Ye that love the LORD, hate evil: he preserveth the souls of his saints; he delivereth them out of the hand of the wicked.” (Psalm 97:10) Where there is love for something or someone, we will likewise hate that which is the enemy of the object of our love. Thus we see how love and hatred can righteously exist within us at the same time.

If these things are true of men, how much more are they true with God? We know that God is love (1 John 4:8). We also know that the Scripture teaches us that God hates sin. “Thou lovest righteousness, and hatest wickedness: therefore God, thy God, hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows.” (Psalm 45:7) “Thou hast loved righteousness, and hated iniquity; therefore God, even thy God, hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows.” (Hebrews 1:9) God’s love is so great that He gave His Son Jesus to die for our sins. That love is an eternal love for all who trust Christ for the forgiveness of their sins. Our text tells us that there are those who are wicked, however. These wicked are not repentant. They do not love God. They love evil. They do not seek God (Psalm 10:4), and their sin is hateful enmity to God (Psalm 36:1-4). We are told that such experience God’s wrath. In fact, as they continue in sin, they treasure up wrath (Romans 2:1-11), making their condemnation worse by the day.

The LORD speaks of certain activities as abominations to God (See Leviticus chapters 18-20 as examples.), but He also tells us that there are certain people who are abominations to God (Deuteronomy 22:5;25:16;Proverbs 3:32;6:16;11:20;16:5;17:15). An abomination is that which God finds disgusting, and both loathes and detests. Moses tells us that God’s wrath burns as a fire to the lowest hell because of abominations (Deuteronomy 32:16-22). Finally, we read, “But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death.” (Revelation 21:8) “And there shall in no wise enter into it any thing that defileth, neither whatsoever worketh abomination, or maketh a lie: but they which are written in the Lamb’s book of life.” (Revelation 21:27)

You may wonder what I am trying to say with all of this, because we know that God is love. These are words of warning to those who have not yet repented of their sins and trusted Christ. God’s love will not be shown to you forever. God’s long-suffering will someday come to an end (2 Peter 3:9). While God loves His people forever, those who do not trust Him will be cast aside as unacceptable. This happens to some in this life (See Romans 1:28-32;Titus 1:16). Finally, there is the day of judgment  in which all who did not trust Christ are told, “I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.” (Matthew 7:23) We are told of the horrible day of judgment, when all those not written in the Lamb’s Book of Life are cast into the lake of fire (Revelation 20:11-15). We have seen that those who work abominations shall not enter the eternal city, New Jerusalem. We also have seen that the unbelieving are cast into the same lake of fire as the abominable. The love of God will not negate the hatred, fury, and wrath of God upon those who persist in sin and refuse to trust Jesus. The day of grace is not forever to those who reject Jesus, because the wrath of God is coming. In that day you will be cast from Him as detestable and hated, because you refused the love of the truth and were not saved.

“God judgeth the righteous, and God is angry with the wicked every day. If he turn not, he will whet his sword; he hath bent his bow, and made it ready. He hath also prepared for him the instruments of death; he ordaineth his arrows against the persecutors.” (Psalm 7:11–13)

“The LORD is in his holy temple, the LORD’S throne is in heaven: his eyes behold, his eyelids try, the children of men. The LORD trieth the righteous: but the wicked and him that loveth violence his soul hateth. Upon the wicked he shall rain snares, fire and brimstone, and an horrible tempest: this shall be the portion of their cup. For the righteous LORD loveth righteousness; his countenance doth behold the upright.” (Psalm 11:4–7) “Like as a father pitieth his children, so the LORD pitieth them that fear him. For he knoweth our frame; he remembereth that we are dust. As for man, his days are as grass: as a flower of the field, so he flourisheth. For the wind passeth over it, and it is gone; and the place thereof shall know it no more. But the mercy of the LORD is from everlasting to everlasting upon them that fear him, and his righteousness unto children’s children; To such as keep his covenant, and to those that remember his commandments to do them.” (Psalm 103:13–18) These verses remind us of the wrath of God upon those who do not trust Christ. They also show us that God’s mercies and love endure forever to those who belong to Him through faith in Christ. Will you sin away your day of grace? Will you reject God’s free offer of salvation? Beware, lest you soon experience God’s hatred and wrath forever, because of rejecting Jesus. Today is the day of salvation!