God, The Amazing Lover
Jesus! What a Friend for sinners!
Jesus! Lover of my soul;
Friends may fail me, foes assail me,
He, my Savior, makes me whole.
Jesus! Lover of my soul;
Friends may fail me, foes assail me,
He, my Savior, makes me whole.
Refrain
Hallelujah! What a Savior!
Hallelujah! What a Friend!
Saving, helping, keeping, loving,
He is with me to the end.
Hallelujah! What a Friend!
Saving, helping, keeping, loving,
He is with me to the end.
Hymn –
Words by J. Wilbur Chapman, Music by Rowland H. Pritchard
God loves screwed up people!!!
When I say that, I mean He is CRAZY about you, madly
in love with you, and longs for you. That’s right He’s MADLY IN LOVE WITH YOU!! He
is wild
about you, crazy about you, and LOVE CRAZED over YOU!! Do you do bad things? Are you a sinner? God LOVES
YOU; HE absolutely adores you and wants to give you a bear hug! You are
precious to Him and He delights in YOU. God loves you just the way you are, sin
and all. God loves us just as we are, but He also loves us too much
to leave us in the lost state we are in. He longs to give us life, freedom and
joy! Understand, this is an invitational love to come to Him through Jesus so
He can be your Father (Abba, Daddy, and Papa – using Biblical terms). Look at
this Bible verse that shows God loves sinners, “This is a trustworthy saying, and everyone should accept it: ‘Christ
Jesus came into the world to save sinners’” (1 Timothy 1:15 , NLT). This is an invitation to come to
Jesus and then have a relationship with your Heavenly Father. Then after
(and only after) that, His Spirit comes inside of us and we learn to quit doing
things our own way and let Jesus be Lord of our life; for Him to be our guide,
our strength, our help, and our lover. But it happens by faith alone in Christ alone.
We simply trust Jesus to save us and He does. He cleanses us and gives us new
life.
Jesus will live inside of you and give you
an “abundant life” of joy, love, and peace (John 10:10 ).
It is like the marriage covenant. Jesus is the most loving groom ever and we
get to be His bride. He wants to forgive
you, liberate you from your addictions, and even free you from your bondage to
sin, and have a relationship with you; JUST
SO HE CAN LOVE YOU with a great & passionate affection!! And He will cause
you to not only be loved, but to love God and love man as well (with His kind
of Love). But He loves you now, just as you are; a sinner. He
loves you! God loves you! You may be a drug dealer, murderer, liar, or rapist
but God loves you and is saying, “Come to me and let me love you, cleanse you, heal
you, and make you into something beautiful. Let my love and life fill your
heart.” When you run to God by faith in Christ, you will find He
isn’t mad at you but will embrace you, love you, and fill you with His Spirit.
Now someone may object! Steve you are
going too far. Oh really? First of all we have to agree 1) If we are both Bible
Believing Christians Then The Word of God is His Inspired and Perfect
Revelation and 2) His Word is the LAST Word. You and I can be wrong but God’s
Word is true. Have you read the Gospels lately? Let’s take a look:
Luke
7: 36When one of the Pharisees invited Jesus to have
dinner with him, he went to the
Pharisee’s house and reclined at the table. 37A woman in that town who lived a sinful life learned
that Jesus was eating at the Pharisee’s
house, so she came there with an alabaster jar of perfume. 38As she stood behind him at his
feet weeping, she began to wet his
feet with her tears. Then she wiped them with her hair, kissed them and poured perfume on them… 48Then Jesus said to her, “Your sins are forgiven.”
Luke 5: 29 Then
Levi held a great banquet for Jesus at his house, and a a large crowd of tax collectors (tax
collectors were traitors and the equivalent
to the mafia, very sinful) and others
were eating with them. 30
But the Pharisees and the teachers of the law who belonged to their sect
complained to his disciples, “Why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?”31Jesus answered them, “It is not the healthy
who need a doctor, but the sick. 32 I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to
repentance.”
In Mark 2:17
the same thing happened Jesus was eating with sinners and the Pharisees
complained. Pharisees were the very religious people who knew a lot about The Bible
but nothing about Jesus or Grace. A woman who
was probably a prostitute; recognized love, forgiveness and life in Jesus. She
ran to Him (smart lady). Jesus said “It is not those who are healthy who need a
physician, but those who are sick; I did not come to call the righteous, but
sinners.” When is the last time a drug addict or prostitute ran to our churches
to admit their need of help and forgiveness? Maybe we are not preaching the
true Jesus.
In John’s Gospel, Chapter 8, a woman
was caught in adultery! The Religious
Pharisees wanted to kill her by stoning her. Jesus said, “He who is without sin (i.e. if you’ve never
sinned and you’re perfects then you) throw
the first stone. They all left because they knew, although on the outside they were religious, on the inside
their hearts were just as lustful and
sinful. Jesus told this woman that 1) He did not condemn her and 2) He forgave her and 3) He freed her to
“go and sin no more.”
We’ve given examples
about women. What about men? Jesus saw the greedy
tax collector Matthew, the extortionist, the mafia member, the traitor, the thief, and He said, “Follow
me.” He invited this evil man to become
a disciple!! He, in effect, said, “Yes I can change you and make you one of my preachers, a great world changer
– that’s what My power and love can do!” And when Jesus calls us He sets us
free from our sins. Jesus
unconditional love, the fact that He reached out to Mathew (also called Levi) filled Matthew’s heart
with a love and joy; a faith that caused him
to leave behind his rich and lavish lifestyle and follow the One who had this infectious joy about Him.
We all know
the story of Zacchaeus. He wasn’t just a tax collector but a CHIEF TAX COLLECTOR. In
an article by Dr.
Marcellino D'Ambrosio
he comments, “Tax collectors have never been popular. But in
Roman Palestine, they were particularly hated because they collaborated with the foreign
oppressors. It’s
understandable that the Jews
felt about the same animosity for the Romans, as the French did for the occupying Nazis
in World War II. But the Roman system of
“tax farming” made tax collectors especially despised. The
Romans wanted to collect as much tax as they could without tying up their own
personnel. So they
recruited locals and gave them a percentage of what was collected. The more they could
wring out of the people,
the more they could keep.
So these blood-suckers profited off
their countrymen’s misfortune. In
so doing, they helped raise the funds necessary to
finance the brutal repression
of the chosen people by the pagans. Obviously,
these dogs were
beyond the pale, repugnant to all decent God-fearing people, the ‘enemies of God
Himself’, or so they thought.” 1 But what did Jesus do? He said, “Zacchaeus, come down immediately. I must stay at your house today.” Luke 19:6 So
he came down at once and welcomed him gladly.7 All the people saw this and began
to mutter, “He has gone to be the
guest of a sinner.”8
But Zacchaeus stood up and said to the Lord, “Look, Lord!
Here and now I give half of my possessions to the poor, and if I have cheated anybody out
of anything, I will pay back four times
the amount.”9 Jesus
said to him, “Today salvation has come to this house, because this man, too, is a
son of Abraham. 10 For the Son of Man came
to seek and to save the lost.” That
is HIS mission: to seek out, hunt down,
and love & save the lost. He, in effect, said to Zach, “Hey I want to hang out with you and
be your friend, your Lord, your Savior, and your life. I love you and you are
my creation. I want
to set you free. Jesus entered this gangster’s house and something about His love
just melted away Zach’s greed. His greed was replaced with love, the greatest love imaginable. The
joy and laughter of Jesus set him free! Has the church lost
the joy of the True Gospel of GRACE!!
But back to you and I! What about God and us?
You are His artwork and made
in His image! (Genesis 1:27).
Malcolm Smith (Bishop of Zoe Community of The Holy Spirit) used to say
on his radio program, “You are who you are by the artist who put you together.”
He would go on to say that, “What makes a famous painting, sculpture, or piece
of art valuable is the signature of the artist.” If someone found a lost
painting from Leonardo Da Vinci it would be worth
millions! Why? It is because he is a world renowned artist. The painting would
be valuable based on the greatness of the artist and the quality, the beauty of
the art work. The Mona Lisa is valuable, the statue of David is valuable, and
the Sistine Chapel is valuable. And get this, YOU are valuable!! You’ve heard
the slogan, “God don’t make no junk.” Well it’s true and you are valuable to
Him!! You have dignity and great
worth because you are God’s artwork, made in His image. We may have
tried to damage the art through sin but we are still valuable. I could take a
Da Vinci painting stow it away in a warehouse and it could collect dust. Just
because it gets covered with dust and dirt, that does not devalue the art. Our
sin may taint us but we still have value because we are made in God’s image.
We
are His artwork and His masterpiece. As humans we are both sinners and God’s
artwork. We have, not only depravity (great sinfulness), but great dignity! We
have worth! We are so valuable to God that He thought we were worth the
shedding of Jesus’ blood, so that He could redeem us. It is true that we have
all “sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.” We have broken His
commandments and need His forgiveness. We need to run to God and ask for His
mercy. But when we do we find that He embraces us and freely gives us mercy for
our unrighteousness and forgiveness for our sins.
Let me put this another way. A preacher
once gave a brilliant illustration on this topic. He had a $100 bill. He
announced, “If I were to give this to someone as a free gift would anyone like
to take it?” Immediately all hands in the room went up. He then proceeded to
wad it up and wrinkle it. He asked, “Now it’s all wadded up, does anyone still
want it?” Again everyone raised their hands, eager to get a $100 bill. He then
threw it on the ground and stomped on it and again he asked, “Do you still want
it even though I stomped on it and it’s all dirty?” And again everyone raised
their hand. He then proceeded to explain. We are like this $100 bill. We are
valuable. Even though we sin, make terrible mistakes, blow it, and trash our
lives; we ‘get wadded up, stomped on, and messy, so to speak, like this bill’,
God still wants us and loves us because we are still valuable to Him. Just like
the wadding up, and stomping didn’t decrease that bill (you guys knew you could
still spend it and it was worth a lot to you), we still have great worth
despite sin’s damage.” We are valuable to God, we are His masterpiece of
artwork, we are worth a lot to God. We are made in His image and this is a
great honor.
Now I am not compromising on sin. God
hates sin and yet, He still is love (“God is love” 1 John 4:8). He is Love and
He is Holy. A very grace focused Christian who always spoke of God’s love,
mercy, grace, and compassion had this to say, “I
want neither a terrorist spirituality that keeps me in a perpetual state of
fright about being in right relationship with my heavenly Father nor a sappy
spirituality that portrays God as such a benign teddy bear that there is no
aberrant behavior or desire of mine that he will not condone. I want a
relationship with the Abba of Jesus, who is infinitely compassionate with my
brokenness and at the same time an AWESOME, incomprehensible, and unwieldy
Mystery. ” ― Brennan Manning. And we
want that, we, if we really search our hearts, want a perfectly just God. That
gives us security to know He will never do evil. God is tender, merciful,
gracious, compassionate, and affectionate!! But He is also Holy and Just;
however, even though He hates sin He LOVES sinners. The saying
is true, “Love the sinner but hate the sin.” On the other side He cares deeply
and passionately about us. One ancient Christian writer said “I will have
nothing to do with a God who cares only occasionally. I need a God who is with us
always, everywhere, in the deepest depths as well as the highest
heights. It is when things go wrong, when good things do not happen, when our
prayers seem to have been lost, that God is most present. We do not need the
sheltering wings when things go smoothly. We are closest to God in the
darkness, stumbling along blindly.” ― Madeleine L'Engle
In his wonderful book The
Good and Beautiful God author James Bryan Smith shares a story about a
Russian Orthodox priest who understood the love of God. John of Kronstadt,
unlike the other priests and pastors, would not wait for people to come to his
church to hear the Gospel; he would go after them and hunt them down. Smith
says that in a time when alcoholism was at it’s worst, “ John compelled by love
went out into the streets…..he would lift the hungover, foul smelling people
from the gutter, cradle them in his arms and say to them, ‘This is beneath your
dignity. You were meant to house the fullness of God.’” 2 I love
that because it is just like God. He chases you down. He wants to hold you and
heal you because He adores, delights, and passionately loves you!
You are precious to Him just as you
are –sins and all: addictions, bad past, and (as Brennan Manning used to say)
“warts and all He loves you just as you are.” And what’s important is that we
were meant to house God’s Spirit. We were meant to be His temple.
I remember one time when I was in college;
our church went on a mission trip to Mexico .
We had been out sharing The Gospel with translators and were all tired and
hungry. As we were entering a restaurant there I noticed a man sitting, really
laying, in the street. Something pierced my heart; it was God’s love for this
man. I still went in to the restaurant and ordered food, but the picture of
that man haunted me. I decided to sneak out and take my order of chicken tacos
to him. As I went to him, I squatted down and noticed several things about him.
He was so thin. It looked like he hadn’t eaten in days. He was very drunk on
tequila and when he turned to look at me, his breath smelled of whiskey and
vomit (I tried to hide the fact that I was gagging at the smell of his breath;
God gave me great grace to continue). He was covered in urine, vomit, whiskey, and
had not bathed in days or maybe weeks.
As I tried to share the truth of The
Gospel of God’s love for Him in Christ, I fed him some chicken. He was barely
sober and at first mocked and joked at what I was saying. But after a while a
couple of pastors, from the church in Mexico
that we were working with, came to help me. I could see in His eyes that the
message was getting through to him, as the pastors helped me translate. He was
beginning to understand that God loved him; that He was made in God’s image,
and that God could redeem and restore his life.
The pastors continued to minister to
him and they assured me that they would take care of this man; feed and clothe
him, and help him get sober. Most importantly they would continue to lead him
to the light of Jesus. But you need to know that when I was ministering
something happened to me. I could almost hear God say, “Steve, this is how I
love you! Know matter what condition you are in or how bad you blow it, I will
always love you unconditionally. You are precious to me and I have made you in
my image.” There were times on this mission trip (as I was the worship leader)
that I would just break down and cry. God’s grace was breaking through to my
heart and mind like the sun breaking through the clouds.
Well God not only loves you just as you
are. God also wants to set you free from guilt, sin, and bondage so that He can
give you real life! He wants to fill you with love, joy, peace, and fulfillment.
And that only comes from knowing Him. Just come to Him, just as you are! You
don’t have to try and clean yourself up, make yourself presentable, or change
yourself. I’ve heard it said that, “Jesus is a good fisherman. He catches His
fish first and then He cleans them.” That is the point. Come to Jesus just as
you are, because when you take that step of faith and believe in Jesus He will
clean you, come to live inside of you, and change anything that needs changing.
Run to Jesus and He will embrace you and love you! He promised that He
would NEVER turn anyone away. John 6:37
“Whoever comes to me I will never drive away.” We are saved simply by believing
Jesus. Faith alone in Christ alone will save anyone. “Whoever trusts in Him
will never be put to shame.” Romans 10:11. It is a free gift. It is called Free
Grace.
In fact that (speaking of cleaning) is
the point. Jesus is the cleansing. Jesus is the bathing, the shower, if you
will. I mean think about it, you don’t try to “clean up” before you take a bath
or shower. You can’t because it’s impossible. You get clean BY getting into the
shower and using soap and water. Well Jesus IS the shower, He IS the only spiritual soap and water. Go
to Him and He will love you, accept you, and give you a clean slate. He will
make you feel clean, innocent again, and brand new.
You may have never heard any of this
before. Maybe you thought God only loved good people, or that He loves some
more than you. No! That is not true.
God loves screwed up, dysfunctional
sinners!! And get this: GOD
LOVES YOU!! Jesus said in Luke 15 that when the prodigal children
who have blown it return to Him, God runs and even sprints to his children who
have gone astray; tackles them, embraces them to hug and squeeze them tightly,
kisses them repeatedly, puts a ring on their finger and a royal robe upon them,
and then He throws a big party to celebrate the return of His children. The
same chapter portrays God as going after His lost sheep with a deep passion to
bring them home; intently searching and searching until He finds them. And
rejoicing with laughter as He lovingly and joyfully carries them back to the
rest of the flock.
Well, unfortunately, many preachers
have not taught this message. But let me tell you something - they were wrong!!
This is not the “dignified” or “harsh, somber god” they lied about. He chases down screwed up sinners and showers
them with kisses and that includes you and me. Again I say- He is crazy about
us! Look at some of these verses and tell me what you think.
1Jn
4:8 God is love.
1Jn
4:9 This is how God showed His
love among us: He sent His one and only
Son
into the world that we might live through Him.
1Jn 4:10 This is love: not that we loved God, but that He
loved us and sent his Son as an
atoning sacrifice for our sins.
1Jn
4:16 And so we
know and rely on the love God has for us.
God is love.
Whoever lives in love, lives in God, and God in Him.
1Jn 4:19 We love Him because
He first loved us.
Jer
31:3 The LORD appeared to us in the past, saying:
“I
have loved you with an everlasting love (could be translated “I have loved you
from all eternity”);
I have drawn you with
loving-kindness.
Isa 62:4
The LORD will take delight
in you,
Isa 62:5 As a bridegroom rejoices over
his bride,
so will your God
rejoice over you.
Zep
3:17 “The LORD your God is with you,
He
is mighty to save.
He
will take great delight in you,
He
will quiet you with his love,
He will rejoice over you with
singing.”
Did you get that? He delights in you! There
are three important truths in theseverses above that I want to emphasize.
- God
IS Love. As the great preacher Malcolm Smith said (not the New
Ager but the Bishop and founder of Unconditional Love Ministries),
“God doesn’t just have love or give love. He
IS love.” If He IS love then His nature is to love, and our behavior cannot
affect His ability to love. He is love incarnate, that’s Who He is and What He
is. He is love. You can be a drunk, a murderer, or a rapist but that cannot
change God’s nature of Who He is. He is love, and it is in His nature to love
everyone, NOT because of who they are, but because of Who HE IS. In fact, He
already loved us from eternity past. Before the universe was created He already
“decided” (if I can use that word) to love us. And God doesn’t change His
decisions or His very nature -which is Love.
Love’s Unchanging Nature
One time I gave my congregation a very
strange illustration to drive this point home. I pointed at the wooden podium
(pulpit) beside me and asked, “Now if I walk away farther from this podium does
it change the podium?” Of course they all answered “No.” I went on to say, “If
I jump up and down, or roll on the ground, does it change the podium? I mean
will it change form, or change from wood to metal?” Again the resounding answer
was no. My illustrations continued, “If I get closer to the podium does it make
it ‘more wooden’ or make it better?” Of course not; the podium will not become
more composed of wood or change its handcrafted shape just because I get closer
to it. In fact, moving closer does not improve it or change it one bit. It
doesn’t become stronger or shinier with more lacquer or varnish. It stays the
exact same.
I then took the lesson to a level to
where it hit home. I said, “What if I sin, get drunk, or hurt someone? Will it
change the podium?” The church answered “No!” I then suggested, “Imagine this
Podium is God”, and I posted a piece of paper on the podium that said “Love.” I
went on to do the same illustrations except this time asked them, “Does what I
do change God’s nature of being Love?” The point was this; I could roll on the
ground, scream, do well, do badly, get closer or move farther away. The note
that said “Love” never changed. And get this…NEITHER DOES GOD! We cannot change
God. In fact, that would be blasphemous to think that we puny mortals could
change someone Who is The Eternal God Almighty! Our actions cannot change the fact
that He is love and that He loves us no matter what. We pastors call this
“Unconditional love.”
Another similar illustration involves a
child whose grandpa took him to the ocean. The child was amazed at how huge the
ocean was and how the waves just kept coming. They played in the water for a
little while then Ole Grandpa had to rest. The child said, “But Grandpa if we
get out of the water the waves might stop and we won’t get another chance to
play in them.” Grandpa smiled and said, “Don’t worry son. Those waves will
still be there.” The child watched as Grandpa napped in the sand. The waves
just kept coming and coming, one after another. It seemed like they would
continue to overlap for all eternity.
God is just like that. His love just
keeps coming at us no matter what we do or don’t do. The child could’ve
splashed harder, but it wouldn’t make the waves bigger. We can try harder to be
religious, but it can’t make God love us any more. He already loves us and just
like the waves, His love won’t ever stop.
Now does this mean we shouldn’t obey
God? No, we need to obey God because His commands are good for us, protect us,
and help us to live life to the fullest. Not only that but God said to do it,
therefore He is The Boss, Jesus is Lord, He is worthy of obedience. But God
wants us to obey Him because we know He loves us. Not to earn His love. Only a
neurotic, sick, and twisted parent would say, “I will love you only if you obey
me.” NO! We cannot earn God’s love. God wants us to obey Him because
we are so grateful, and because we know He loves us. In fact Paul said His
motivation for obeying God came from being loved by Christ (2 Corinthians 5:14 ). When we obey because it is because we
feel loved, we feel secure, and we are filled up with God’s affection for us;
it makes us only love Him more. It makes us want to obey Him because we are
thankful. When we become Christians The Holy Spirit comes to live inside of us
and we are to Love God in return by obeying Him. It becomes a covenant
relationship, like a marriage relationship. It is a love relationship and we
want to bless God in return for all the goodness He has bestowed upon us.
Unconditional love means just what it
sounds like, to love without conditions. My dear friend Reverend Walt Seely has
a huge banner on the front of his church that says, “God loves you, NO
exceptions.” Unconditional love means that God can love a murderer and a nun
exactly the same. That is because His love never depends on our actions
but it is His nature. It is Who He IS. He IS Love.
So when we screw up He loves us. We can
NOT make Him loves us more by doing “good deeds” because He IS love, He loves
us 100% always--and can’t possibly love us any more nor any less. When we fall
down and blow it, when we commit the same sin that we promised not to commit
(that we have committed 1,000 times over and over again), guess what? God is
still love and He loves us unconditionally. If we run back to Him He will
restore us, forgive us, and accept us again.
Read these Bible verses and I believe
they will help you understand:
Ro 5:6 You see, at just the
right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly.
Ro
5:7 Very rarely will anyone die
for a righteous man, though for a good man
someone might possibly dare to die.
Ro
5:8 But God demonstrates his own
love for us in this: While we were
still sinners, Christ died for us.
Ro
5:9 Since we have now been justified by
his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God’s wrath
through him!
Ro
5:10 For if, when
we were God’s enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son, how much more, having
been reconciled, shall we be saved
through his life! Ro 5:11 Not only is this so, but we also rejoice
in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.
It doesn’t say God (Jesus the 2nd
Person of The Trinity) died for good people or worthy people. God
loves His enemies. It says, “While we were still sinners Christ
died for us.” God reaches out to save people who hate Him, curse Him, and want
nothing to do with Him. That is unconditional love. That is God, He IS
unconditional love. And He loves those people until they are transformed. He
loves them to life.
- God
delights in us. Imagine a
homeless person who is just a “wino”, a drunk who curses and condemns
everyone who walks by. This person is slumped up against the wall of some
alley. He is filled with hate. God loves and delights in that person!!!
Now wait! I did NOT say God delights in the person’s behavior. He has
compassion on him. Just like I delight in my children, even though I do
not always approve of their choices, they are my joy and my delight!
When I find them, even when they blow
it …BADLY, I pick them up and I help them to get back on their
feet. When I look at their pictures I smile ear to ear. Now they may be out
making big mistakes, but meanwhile I am looking at THEM with delight. Look at
the following verses.
Ps
103:13 As a father has compassion on
his children,
so the LORD
has compassion on those who fear Him
Ps 103:14 for He knows how
we are formed,
He
remembers that we are dust.
Ps 103:15 As for man, his
days are like grass,
he flourishes like a flower of the
field;
Ps 103:16 the wind blows
over it and it is gone,
and its place remembers it no more.
Ps 103:17 But from
everlasting to everlasting
the LORD'S love is with those who fear Him,
and his righteousness with their children’s children—
3. God
rejoices over you and me with singing!!! (I will speak more about
this in a later chapter) Did you get that? God is in Heaven singing love songs
about you. He is giving the angels a concert and singing a song with your name
in it. As a lover writes a love song for his sweetheart, God sings about you,
His dear one.
And He rejoices
over you!!! Hebrew experts say that the word translated “rejoice” means to
twirl around shouting for joy, laughing with sheer delight. Picture God
spinning around with joy singing about you because He takes such delight in
you!! It’s true, the Bible says it and that settles the matter.
Now you may say, “But I am a sinner. I have cheated people out of their
money, beaten them to death, sold drugs to kids, committed adultery, cursed
God’s name, etc.” Or maybe you have
not committed a so called “Big scandalous sin” but you know that your
heart has jealousy, hatred, and unforgiveness. Or you may reply, “But God is
Holy and just. He cannot just overlook sin.” You would be right in saying
so because God does not overlook sin.. If God let sin slide by, He
would not be God, He would not be just, in fact He would not be Holy or fair.
God hates sin because it is bad for us and against His righteous nature. His
righteous nature is so Holy, Pure, and Perfect.
He cannot tolerate the slightest sin. You could say He is allergic to
sin (even the slightest sin). But that is where this story gets interesting.
You see I believe the entire Bible from
beginning to end, I believe every Word to be true. It may confuse us at times
or even sound kind of scary. But as a whole The Bible is God’s love letter to
us. It is a story of God pursuing mankind who has rejected Him. God cannot let
sin and rebellion be swept under the rug but at the same time He loves us so
much that, as I heard the late Rich Mullins state at a concert, “If God had
only one thing to say to you He would wet your back with tears of joy to have
you in His presence.” He is madly in love with you and I. He is crazy about us.
So there is an apparent “dilemma.” God
is crazy about us. He loves screwed up people and wants to heal us and redeem
us. He is full of mercy and grace. But He, being perfect (Which makes Him God),
cannot let sin go unpunished. How does He solve the dilemma? I could make you
wait till the following chapters but I just have to at least introduce this
idea. God punished all sins and demonstrated His love at the cross when He took
our punishment. Somebody had to pay the penalty. That’s where Jesus comes in.
You see Jesus (being God) became a
Human and lived a perfect life. In addition He took our punishment for ALL
our sins (past, present, and future) when He was crucified and died on the
cross. At the cross, justice and mercy meet. Jesus being God’s Son took all of
God’s wrath on the cross. He died the death that we deserve. By dying in our
place the penalty is paid. Sin is punished, paid for, and in addition Jesus
will impute (place upon) His perfect righteousness on us. So if we trust Jesus
as Savior, when God sees us, He no longer sees sin. He sees Jesus (and Jesus’
perfect righteousness). As far as our sins go He sees His Son who paid for all
of our sins. The Biblical Word is “justified.” The word “Justify” means to
“declare as righteous.”
So if we place
our faith in Jesus as our Savior, God The Father (The Judge) slams down His
gavel and says to our surprise, “This one is now righteous!! He/she is
justified.” But we must make a decision whether or not to receive this
“justification” by faith. Will we trust Jesus and His Word, take that step of
faith so that God can wash away all of our sins and make us righteous in His
eyes (i.e. “justified”)?
Confession Time
I have been in some form of either full
time ministry or bi – vocational ministry for over 10 years. However I did not
fully understand God’s grace. Oh as a child I prayed and asked Jesus to come
into my heart, forgive me of all my sins, and to be my Lord and Savior. I
understood that if I died I would go straight to Heaven. But I did not
understand the idea of “Justification” or being “justified.” I knew I would go
to Heaven but I still, for years, felt that I had to perform for God. I felt
that He was often mad at me or displeased with me.
It wasn’t until my early years in
ministry that I read a book called The Grace Awakening by Chuck Swindoll
and also listened to teachers such as Malcolm Smith, Steve Brown, Brennan
Manning, and Tullian Tchividjian that I realized the full ramifications of being saved;
namely that God wasn’t mad at me!! He was pleased with me!
Not only was I going to Heaven but, I
say again, God was pleased with me. Even though I sinned and failed constantly,
because God had already poured out all of His wrath on Jesus,
there was no more anger left. When God looked at me He saw Jesus; and Jesus is
perfectly pleasing to God. We Bible teachers call this “Imputation.” Imputation
is a big word that simply means Jesus clothes us with His righteousness.
Colossians 3:3 says that we are, “Hidden with Christ in God.” Our sin is hidden
if we have trusted Christ for salvation. Galatians 3:27 says we are “clothed with Christ.”
His perfect
righteousness covers us so that when God sees us, He doesn’t see our sin, He
sees that 1) Jesus paid for all of our sins on the cross and 2) He sees Jesus
perfect holiness (we are wrapped up in Christ’s righteousness).
You may say, “But Steve if I believe that I
won’t serve God or I’ll get lazy. Or even worse I will sin and not care about
holiness.” God gives us a great answer for that. His Word says, “No, that is
not true.” In Titus 2:11-12 says “The grace of God teaches us to say ‘No’ to
ungodliness.” Understanding grace produces true holiness. The Bible
says “the kindness of God leads us to repentance.” (Romans 2:4)You see grace
and unconditional love actually motivate us to serve God, but for the right
reason. I’ll go back to my story. I was trying so hard, striving, burdened, and
worn out from trying to be a “good enough” Christian. I listened to a book on
CD by Steve Brown entitled When “Being Good” Isn’t Good Enough. I
learned that Jesus is already, “Good enough” on my behalf; when I learned that
no matter what I did God would love me, and He would never leave me because I
was “in Christ”, the stress came off and guess what? I found joy and peace!! I
quit trying so hard and started feeling loved by God. I didn’t go out and sin
because I was covered by Jesus righteousness. No, I felt so loved and secure in
Christ that I wanted to serve God, but not out of guilt, but out of love for
Him.
You see (and I will reference this verse
many times) The Bible says that, “The love of Christ compels us” 2 Corinthians 5:14 . This could also be translated, “Christ’s
love for me is what motivates me.” You see when you are free not to perform,
and you know that you are accepted, that feeling of being free produces peace.
Peace in turn starts to bubble up into joy. And that joy brings gratitude and
love for a God Who loves you and accepts you just as you are (because of
Christ). You become so thankful and free that you don’t even notice it, but you
are serving God more than ever before. But this time it is not a burden, or out
of guilt, but out of pure joy of being loved by God; loved unconditionally (no
strings attached!)
For the first time I felt accepted,
perfectly accepted; and loved perfectly. I didn’t have to perform for God and
jump through hoops (religious hoops). The Bible says we are accepted in Christ.
The exact wording is by His “glorious grace by which He has made us accepted in
The Beloved” Ephesians 1:6
(King James.) God chose to use that Word
“Beloved” on purpose. Do you remember what God said about Jesus when Jesus came
out of the water and got baptized? In Matthew 3:17
it says that God The Father spoke from Heaven and said, “This is my Beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.” It says now we
are IN the beloved so that when God sees someone who has placed their faith in
Christ, He sees them as “Beloved, and pleasing to Him.” Why? Because out of His
love He chose to place us in Christ (we are wrapped up and clothed with Christ
righteousness). So when He looks at a believer He sees you as a “Beloved Son
(or daughter)” and He is “well pleased with you!!” Did you get that? In Christ
you are accepted, beloved, and God is pleased with you!! He may not be pleased
with our actions when we sin; but He loves us and because He sees Christ blood,
He is pleased with Christ’s sacrifice. That allows Him to continue to accept us
because we are hidden in Christ. He will NEVER stop loving us! He’ll always
love us.
But as I said before we have to receive
this gift by faith. It’s that simple. We simply trust in Jesus perfect
sacrifice on the cross as the sufficient payment for every sin we’ve committed
and will ever commit. So God fulfills His perfect justice and His love for
mankind.
Ro
3:21 But now a
righteousness from God, apart from (obeying) the law, has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets
testify.
Ro
3:22 This
righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no
difference,
Ro 3:23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of
God,
Ro 3:24 and are justified freely by his grace
through the redemption that came by
Christ Jesus.
Ro 3:25 God presented him as a sacrifice of atonement, through
faith in his blood. He did this to
demonstrate his justice, because in his forbearance he
had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished—
Ro 3:26 he did it to demonstrate his justice at the present time, so
as to be just and the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus.
Are you ready? We can simply bow our
knee to Jesus and say, “Ok You’re the boss now (Lord) and I trust you to save
me and put myself in your hands. I believe you right now have washed away all
my sins, and God has forgiven me. Please come live inside of me and make me the
person you want me to be.” The words don’t matter but this is just a simple way
of expressing your faith in Jesus in order to get the free gift of salvation
(justification). In His book The Ragamuffin Gospel, Brennan Manning
Defined Justification when he said that, "justification
by grace through faith means that I know myself accepted by God as I am.” He explains, "Genuine self-acceptance is
not derived from the power of positive thinking, mind games, or pop psychology.
It is an act of faith in the grace of God alone.” - Brennan Manning 3
Now does this mean we should go out and
sin because God still loves us? No! I did not say that. Sin is harmful to us,
and God knows what is best for us. God hates sin. So He wrote down His commands
in His Word so we could truly live. The point is that we should know that even
if we do sin, God will still love us. He will still be crazy about us!!
I will end with this: Almost everyone
on the planet has heard of the verse John 3:16. This verse sums up the entire
Bible and truth about God. I will add the following verses 17 and 18.
Jn
3:16 “For God
so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son,
that whoever believes in him shall
not perish but have eternal life.
Jn 3:17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world
through him.
Jn 3:18 Whoever believes in him is not condemned,
but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he
has not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son.
It requires a decision. Do you want to
be forgiven and return to The God Who loves you. It is as simple as just
believing in Jesus. Run to Jesus and Jesus will put you in The Father’s arms to
nestle and to be loved on. The reformers used to say, “We are saved by faith
alone in Christ alone.” It’s true and you can receive “eternal life”
(forgiveness, power to live righteously, and have God come fill your heart with
His love and His everyday friendship). Just believe and receive it. And we can
stand on God’s Promise that He will take you back as His beloved forever safe
in His Arms.
In the movie “Luther”, Martin Luther was
taught a prayer by his mentor that signified his believing in Jesus for
salvation, his placing his faith in Christ for eternal life. I still say it is
the best prayer I’ve ever heard. It goes like this, “I’m yours Jesus save me.”
It’s that simple, “I’m yours Jesus save me.” 4 You can pray to Jesus
right now as a way of expressing your faith in Jesus. Say those words, I’m
Yours save me, and He WILL save you.
Oh and you men and women who are
already Christians; God is NOT mad at you. He is pleased with you and loves
you. Romans 5:1 says, “Ro 5:1 Therefore, since we have been justified
through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.”
Did you get that we have PEACE! The war is over. The penalty has been paid. The
debt for all sins has already been paid. And you are justified! That means God
sees Jesus’ perfect righteousness when He looks at you. And we all know that
God The Father is Pleased with Jesus. So you have peace with God.
He is NOT mad at you but pleased with you
because Jesus has MADE you pleasing to Him. God poured out all of His anger
when Jesus took His wrath on the cross. So let go of the guilt and fear. God
loves you and will never let you go. You can’t out sin God’s covering of grace.
You cannot “lose” your salvation because salvation is never earned nor
maintained by our “works” or “obeying God’s Law”. Jesus by His sacrifice on the
cross has made you forever righteous and holy in God’s sight. In Christ you are
100% righteous (because it’s Jesus righteousness). Not only that, His Spirit
Who lives inside of you will motivate you to obey God! The Bible says that the
same power that raised Christ from the dead lives in us (Eph1, Romans 8). What is there left to do? Just enjoy God’s
love and relax. Then and only then will you notice that you just “naturally”
start truly loving God and obeying Him from a grateful heart (it will be Jesus’
nature inside of you). Now go relax, enjoy, and relish His love for you.
1 Zacchaeus - Look Who's Coming to Dinner. The Crossroads Initiative. Article by Dr. Marcellino D'Ambrosio.
2 James Bryan
Smith The Good and Beautiful God. 2009 (p.162). Intervarsity Press
3 Manning, Brennan. The Ragamuffin Gospel: Embracing
the Unconditional Love of God. Amersham-on-the-Hill: Scripture Press, 1995.
4 Luther. Directed by Eric Till. Performed by
Joseph Fiennes. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans, 2003. DVD .
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