The Love of God Part 1
Today we are living in a day that love is hard to find and even harder to define. I am surrounded by men and women in a world and society of proclaiming Christians that would pretend to love me, yet I wonder what that means? What possible benefit do I receive by being loved and what possible benefit do I give those who I claim to love? I increasingly run into those, some over the net and some in person, who make very seemingly potent and scriptural claims that they are saved by Jesus Christ and I cannot refute it on the face of it. As I become more familiar with this person, as circumstances try the mind, will and emotions of these personal relationships, I increasingly must ask, what’s the Love of God got to do with anything? Is it just a simple man emotion, as the American pop song would suggest? Was there any emotion at all or was it just a lying ploy, where people who claim Jesus as their savior get together and pretend until the circumstance become so past tolerating, that finally the reality of one’s truthful inner state and emotions takes over and strife breaks out between those who claim to love one another? What is God’s Love, is it real or just a smiley Christian thing where we attempt to appear righteous before a lost and dying world?
In John 3:12 Jesus said
“If I have told you earthly things, and ye believe not, how shall ye believe, if I tell you of heavenly things?” (Joh 3:12 AV)
If proclaiming Christians who come together cannot agree on earthly things, how shall they ever believe each other as they attempt to speak of heavenly things? We are increasingly living in a society where normalcy, earthly things, are being defined by mass media, live and in print. It is the educated elite that must determine for all of us what is normal, acceptable, what is over the top or considered excessive. We are a sound bite society who judge all things from a very shallow, outward, gut-guided, skin deep prospective, with little to no deep truth as our guide. I may appear excessive, over the top, rude in speech and you will most likely turn me off and say in your mind, “not very wise, his words betray him, his tone is unacceptable”. If you cannot believe me on earthly things, how can you possibly believe me then, if I attempted to tell you of heavenly things? I myself, started this audio site off, for the purpose of just “talking” to brothers who may be in different places around this world, I just wanted to share some of the things I know the Lord is showing me by his Word. Some of these things are extremely important and are a matter of life and death, but how do I convince you, in a shallow society, while I myself hate such shallowness, how shall you believe me when I speak of heavenly things, when you believe those who have set your senses as such to disregard my words on the face of them? In fact this audio/article was done previously, as all of these audio are going to be redone, because on the original face of them, they were unacceptable, they were not “Good enough”. They did not capture the attention and I found myself going back over them and getting very discouraged. It wasn’t because they were formerly lacking truth, it wasn’t because I used to be stupid and now I am so called “wise”. In fact I am the same person now using different tactics, so that busy people who are sound bite sensitive may find my speech acceptable and perhaps could then consider the living truth that I have learned over the years.
“And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold.” (Mt 24:12 AV)
Jesus was talking about Christianity today, when he made this statement. People have been so darkened by the sin they have committed, the Love of God is dead in most and almost dead in others. Cannot you see that what I am saying is true? Maybe you are, yourself living in a delusion, where you believe that proclaiming Christians love you because you never found out anything different yet? May be you just see these proclaiming brothers or sisters a couple of times per week in a very guarded and organized fashion, where little, outside of a disaster can go wrong? Are you sure it is the love of God or is it just a mutually beneficial good old boy club where you are as valuable as you are beneficial?
In John 5:39-44 Jesus said:
“Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me. And ye will not come to me, that ye might have life. I receive not honour from men. But I know you, that ye have not the love of God in you. I am come in my Father’s name, and ye receive me not: if another shall come in his own name, him ye will receive. How can ye believe, which receive honour one of another, and seek not the honour that cometh from God only?” (Joh 5:39-44 AV)
As you probably know, the scriptures teach that any person claiming to love God, yet hates his brother, the TRUTH is not in that person. Please do understand that there is no middle ground, you either hate your brothers or you love them. This popularized statement, I am sure you have heard it. “I Love you, I just don’t like you!” This brothers and sisters is a lie, there is no such middle position, you either hate your brother or you love your brother, it is that simple! The above passages in John tell us a little bit about those who do possess God’s Love and those who do not. There is such a man, and let me tell you that this man is a religious man, who claims the name of Jesus Christ! This man receives honor from others, this man will not stand up for truth if he can get away with it providing there is a reward or honor he will receive in turn! He doesn’t want to jeopardize his standing among his fellows which effects his living, yea, it’s about money! He will gladly throw the poor of God’s people under a bus for gain! Jesus said to the religious leaders of his day, the Jews, “Search the scriptures, you think you are saved and you are not”. And there is also a very weak group of God’s people today, who will not compromise the truth of God’s Word for anything. They do not receive honor from men, but despise honor from men, looking to the honor that can come from God alone. Just as Jesus stated in his day where he said, “these scriptures testify of me, but you will not listen to me”, today it is no different, the scriptures testify of these weak people as well, yet people are not inclined to follow weakness, they want to follow strength. No one fears God, no one calls for truth, they follow after rewards! How long dear brothers and sisters do you believe that God will remain silent on this? How long to you think that God will ignore the cries of the poor of his people? I have heard from the Lord that the season of the fat cows will soon come to an end, judgement and truth will not hide it’s self for ever!
“A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another. By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.” (Joh 13:34-35 AV)
If you carefully examine the above text, you will see why I know that the vast majority of proclaiming Christians today are not disciples of the Lord Jesus, they are not like him. If Christians were truly his disciples, would not the world know it? Most people of the world today believe that true Christianity is accurately represented by Catholics and Protestants or organized religion, do they not? Have you ever considered what kind of love would be needed to effectively show the entire world that we were his disciples? We obviously are a long way from this, are we not? Now, I must add before we go to far down this road of talking about brotherly love, you know the difference between a brother and a stranger, right? A stranger may profess Jesus Christ, yet to you he is a stranger and no brother. Your brother, you know and is walking next to you in the things of God, right? Yet it is important to understand that the Bible also warns us, “be careful how you treat strangers, for some men unaware, have entertained angels” of course this command gets little attention amongst the professing believer today.
This next reading is found in John the 14th chapter 14-21
“If ye shall ask any thing in my name, I will do it. If ye love me, keep my commandments. And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever; Even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him: but ye know him; for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you. I will not leave you comfortless: I will come to you. Yet a little while, and the world seeth me no more; but ye see me: because I live, ye shall live also. At that day ye shall know that I am in my Father, and ye in me, and I in you. He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me: and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him.” (Joh 14:14-21 AV)
Carefully examining the above scripture, the Lord promises a few things worth noting. Firstly, what are his commandments? Love the Lord your God with all your heart and love your neighbor as yourself, these two commandments are not two, but one commandment and work hand in hand. Every commandment of God is related and intertwined with this one commandment. To love your brother is a fulfilling of the law and the prophets of old. The promises above guarantees a certain response from God. If you keep his commandment, he will give you of his comforter, if you don’t he will not give you his comforter. If you keep his commandment, you will be loved by the Father and he will reveal himself to you, if you don’t he will not reveal himself to you! Of course you don’t need God to reveal himself to you, you have been told that if you study hard enough and apply the appropriate so called spiritual disciplines, you can learn about God! Isn’t that right?
“But I say unto you, That whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment: and whosoever shall say to his brother, Raca, shall be in danger of the council: but whosoever shall say, Thou fool, shall be in danger of hell fire.” (Mt 5:22 AV)
Notice in this text it says “he that is angry with his brother without a cause”, this leads me to believe that being angry with your brother, if the cause is just, is not a sin. But he that is angry with his brother, when there is no just cause is in danger of judgement, that would be judgement from the Judge himself, Jesus Christ. It is Jesus Christ who sits on the throne of David in that city, which is the Jerusalem from above, the mother of us all, where righteous judgements come forth. He who says to his brother “Raca”, which is a word that means you are worthless. Shall be in danger of the council. Do you want a list of proclaiming Christians over the years that have called me worthless? If I gave you this list, I believe that you might recognize some of them, they are probably people that you think highly of! Did any of these important, highly respected proclaiming believers attempt to turn me from my sins? Did they instruct me in righteousness? Did they reason with me and try to convince me to change? Nah! I was annoying to them, they could careless, I was in their way, they didn’t give a rat’s behind whether I was headed for hell or not! Yea, these are the religious leaders you trust to tell you the Truth about what it means to love your brother, the saying comes to mind “the fox is in the hen house”! When you call your brother a fool, you are in fact, calling him a hell bound unbeliever (Proverbs “the fool has said in his heart, there is no God”). Of course I don’t mean to say that this is a word game where the words “fool or foolish” should be banned from your lips, but in fact, if you say anything that indicates your belief that your brother is not saved, when he clearly is, you yourself are endanger of hell fire! You must know that I do not mean by this, that you are not supposed to use a sharp sword, God’s Word, where you enable your brother to check to see if he is in the faith or not. We all must fear and tremble as we read the Word of God, and none of us is past checking ourselves to make sure that we are in the faith, if we are not, we are of all men most miserable should our faith be in vain!
“Be ye angry, and sin not: let not the sun go down upon your wrath:” (Eph 4:26 AV)
This verse is used to instruct married people not to go to bed when they are still angry at each other. Don’t you see that as a rather shallow self serving interpretation? What does the sun refer to in this scripture? Doesn’t the sun refer to the light of God’s Word? This scripture instructs me to not let the light of God’s Word and the reasonableness of scriptures go down when I am at odds or angry with my brother. Doesn’t that make sense to you? Then why don’t Christians obey the scripture?
“For I say unto you, That except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven. Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time, Thou shalt not kill; and whosoever shall kill shall be in danger of the judgment: But I say unto you, That whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment: and whosoever shall say to his brother, Raca, shall be in danger of the council: but whosoever shall say, Thou fool, shall be in danger of hell fire. Therefore if thou bring thy gift to the altar, and there rememberest that thy brother hath ought against thee; Leave there thy gift before the altar, and go thy way; first be reconciled to thy brother, and then come and offer thy gift. Agree with thine adversary quickly, whiles thou art in the way with him; lest at any time the adversary deliver thee to the judge, and the judge deliver thee to the officer, and thou be cast into prison. Verily I say unto thee, Thou shalt by no means come out thence, till thou hast paid the uttermost farthing.” (Mt 5:20-26 AV)
And unless your righteousness exceeds the righteousness of the religious leaders of our day, you will in no case enter the kingdom of heaven either. Righteousness and God’s love relate to each other and can be stated as follows: Your level of righteousness, directly correlates to the way you conduct yourself, as you act, based on the wisdom of the love of God, or lack thereof in your life. True righteousness comes about, by the life of God in the believer and God is love. Any other act of outward righteousness is simply filthy rages. You may indeed seem righteous to men, but God searches out the deep and hidden things in the hearts of men, and he knows those who are his. Any man who is at odds with his brother, should not offer the Lord gifts. The worship from a wicked man is an abomination unto the Lord. If you do not have the love of God in your heart you are a wicked man and God does not accept your worship, it is an abomination unto God. This truth does nothing to stop the endless “worship services” around our country happening constantly, where no thought at all is given to whether God receives the worship or not. People have assumed that God is pleased with them and of course loves their wonderful lip service. They assume because the experience is uplifting and jubilant therefore God is pleased, assumptions from shallow people who love the experience rather than the Lord! Why, they have food and money in the bank and feelings of satisfaction, isn’t that proof that God is on their side? You know how I respond when proclaiming brothers that say they “love” me, actually hate me when put to the test? I cry out to God, the heavenly judge, and turn them in for punishment, yea, God hears the cries of the righteous, and he, being a righteous judge, is quick to carry out revenge against the ungodly! Have you ever been in spiritual prison, as the previous scriptures warn? I can tell you there is such a place and it isn’t good!
“For a bishop must be blameless, as the steward of God; not selfwilled, not soon angry, not given to wine, no striker, not given to filthy lucre;” (Tit 1:7 AV)
Men who claim to be bishops, pastors, teachers with various titles by their names, are to be blamed, they are not blameless, they are evil stewards of the riches of God, self-willed, soon angry and they are strikers. A striker is one who retaliates against those who oppose him. You don’t have to physically hit someone to retaliate, many of these men just write people off that oppose them, they don’t want to talk anymore, because they are strikers!
“Bring no more vain oblations; incense is an abomination unto me; the new moons and sabbaths, the calling of assemblies, I cannot away with; it is iniquity, even the solemn meeting. Your new moons and your appointed feasts my soul hateth: they are a trouble unto me; I am weary to bear them. And when ye spread forth your hands, I will hide mine eyes from you: yea, when ye make many prayers, I will not hear: your hands are full of blood.” (Isa 1:13-15 AV)
Just as I previously said, God hates your assemblies, he does not receive your worship, he will not hear your prayers regardless of the volume of words you utter, because your hands are full of blood. If you have hated your brother, you hands are full of blood! You don’t have to physically kill him, there is more to a person than just his physical body, a man also has a soul and spirit. The wounds that you cause can be done against any part of a person, not just the outward body, yes, your hands are full of blood!
“And the LORD said unto me, Take unto thee yet the instruments of a foolish shepherd. For, lo, I will raise up a shepherd in the land, which shall not visit those that be cut off, neither shall seek the young one, nor heal that that is broken, nor feed that that standeth still: but he shall eat the flesh of the fat, and tear their claws in pieces. Woe to the idol shepherd that leaveth the flock! the sword shall be upon his arm, and upon his right eye: his arm shall be clean dried up, and his right eye shall be utterly darkened.” (Zec 11:15-17 AV)
The reason that we have wicked shepherds in the land that do not visit those that are cut off, they do not visit the widow nor do they judge the fatherless, it is because the judgement of God does rest upon us. The reason that the shepherds in the land are losing their strength and their right eye is utterly darkened, they cannot see simple truth anymore, it is what has been promised them by the Lord.
“Then there arose a reasoning among them, which of them should be greatest. And Jesus, perceiving the thought of their heart, took a child, and set him by him, And said unto them, Whosoever shall receive this child in my name receiveth me: and whosoever shall receive me receiveth him that sent me: for he that is least among you all, the same shall be great.” (Lu 9:46-48 AV)
Unless you become as a little child, you shall in no case, enter the kingdom of heaven, that is how you become great in God’s eyes. When you become a little child in God’s eyes then you have the love of the Father and anyone who does not receive you does not receive him. Proclaiming brothers, I am one of his little children, how can you say you are saved, yet you do not receive me? Is it possible that in your shallowness of judging by appearances as men, you have been blinded to this simple straight forward teaching of Jesus? If you do not receive me, you cannot be saved! Where have you heard this before? Which of your teachers are teaching you this?
“Ye are of God, little children, and have overcome them: because greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world. They are of the world: therefore speak they of the world, and the world heareth them. We are of God: he that knoweth God heareth us; he that is not of God heareth not us. Hereby know we the spirit of truth, and the spirit of error. 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. In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him. Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we ought also to love one another. No man hath seen God at any time. If we love one another, God dwelleth in us, and his love is perfected in us.” (1Jo 4:4-12 AV)
If you don’t hear me, than you don’t love me, nor do you love God and this is how we know the spirit of error and the spirit of Truth, he who hears me, hears God, he who does not hear me, does not hear God! So, you might say, Robert, but you are not a little child, we don’t have to hear you, Robert you are just a fool, a unbeliever! Of course I have heard from “respected teachers” things like, “you are on a different frequency than us, we don’t like your tone!” You know, I looked all over the bible to find where these, no doubt, deep truths are found, but I could not find one scripture addressing frequencies or tones! Ok, be a brother and correct me if you can, it is not that I am not teachable, it is you to have to be as a little child or I won’t hear you either. Give me your strong reasons, for Jesus is the Way, the Truth and the Life! Thank you for your time, I know you have spent it well.
By Robert Begnaud : http//thestraightwaychurch.org