God is Love and God is Just

When one lacks the true concept of love it is very easy to misinterpret and abuse love.

People have different definitions of love and usually see it as anything that unrighteously meets the need of an unexplainable desire. The type of “love” that could be comprehended by those who do not have the life of Christ is a very shallow one. This type of love always eventually fails.

1 John 4:7-12 (ESV)
God Is Love
7 Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. 
8 Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love. 
9 In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him. 
10 In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. 
11 Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. 
12 No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God abides in us and his love is perfected in us.

It is no small thing that God is called Love. If He is Love then studying who He is should give us a good understanding of what Love truly is.

I’ve heard people say things like “if God loves me then this or that thing should not be happening to me…”
The interesting fact is that people who talk like this never really had a relationship with God or have no clue at all who He really is.

My wife was some time ago encouraging a wayward colleague she was ministering to repent from her evil ways only for the colleague to say “but I love Jesus…” but this colleague was not ready to do what Jesus demanded of her. Even when Jesus says “if you love me, keep my commandments” John 14:15 (KJV).

There is the love of God for us and there is also our love for God.

1 Corinthians 13 (AMPC)
13 And so faith, hope, love abide [faith—conviction and belief respecting man’s relation to God and divine things; hope—joyful and confident expectation of eternal salvation; love—true affection for God and man, growing out of God’s love for and in us], these three; but the greatest of these is love.

The Grace of God towards us is exemplified in Him loving us before we knew Him and in His giving Jesus underservedly to us.

1 John 4:10,19 (NIV)
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. 
19 We love because he first loved us.

John 3:16 (NIV)
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. 

Romans 5:8 (ESV) but God shows His love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

There is no requirement from us to have God love us. But there is a requirement for eternal life and that is the belief in Jesus Christ. Those who receive the eternal life by accepting Jesus as Saviour and Lord are seperated from a life that is Perishing. We accept and show our appreciation for the love of God by receiving Jesus.

Until a man is under the Grace of God by accepting Jesus who is the way, the truth and the life (…the only way to God), such a man is at the mercy of God, the devil and man. (Only God is truly merciful).

(John 10:10) The devil comes to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: Jesus came that we may have life, and have life more abundantly.

I am hoping that the error that is making many a prisoner of the devil will come to an end after reading this message. But true correction is only possible if there is a decision to repent or the making of a decision to change.

I do not think that you need to be a professor of theology to have some understanding about the nature of God, to know how to safely dwell with Him, there are already pointers in the Bible. So, please come along as we have a deeper look at the story of the prodigal son:

Luke 15:11-32 (NIV)
The Parable of the Lost Son
11 Jesus continued: “There was a man who had two sons. 
12 The younger one said to his father, ‘Father, give me my share of the estate.’ So he divided his property  between them.
13 “Not long after that, the younger son got together all he had, set off for a distant country and there squandered his wealth in wild living. 
14 After he had spent everything, there was a severe famine in that whole country, and he began to be in need. 
15 So he went and hired himself out to a citizen of that country, who sent him to his fields to feed pigs. 
16 He longed to fill his stomach with the pods that the pigs were eating, but no one gave him anything.
17 “When he came to his senses, he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired servants have food to spare, and here I am starving to death! 
18 I will set out and go back to my father and say to him: Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. 
19 I am no longer worthy to be called your son; make me like one of your hired servants.’ 
20 So he got up and went to his father.
“But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him; he ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him.
21 “The son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’
22 “But the father said to his servants, ‘Quick! Bring the best robe and put it on him. Put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. 
23 Bring the fattened calf and kill it. Let’s have a feast and celebrate. 
24 For this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’ So they began to celebrate.
25 “Meanwhile, the older son was in the field. When he came near the house, he heard music and dancing. 
26 So he called one of the servants and asked him what was going on. 
27 ‘Your brother has come,’ he replied, ‘and your father has killed the fattened calf because he has him back safe and sound.’
28 “The older brother became angry and refused to go in. So his father went out and pleaded with him. 
29 But he answered his father, ‘Look! All these years I’ve been slaving for you and never disobeyed your orders. Yet you never gave me even a young goat so I could celebrate with my friends. 
30 But when this son of yours who has squandered your property with prostitutes comes home, you kill the fattened calf for him!’
31 “‘My son,’ the father said, ‘you are always with me, and everything I have is yours. 32 But we had to celebrate and be glad, because this brother of yours was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’”

1. There were two sons, both had access to all their father had, both had free will, yet one (the prodigal son) made a decision against the father to leave home with the portion of his inheritance, the other (the good son) chose to continue to dwell happily with the father.

2. The father unhappily permitted the prodigal son do as he willed. The prodigal son uncaringly did as he willed.

3. The father, nor brother nor the roots of the prodigal son had no importance to him for as long as the going was good.

4. The prodigal son did not realise nor did he care that he was cut off from the source of his wealth until he had nothing left.

5. Pride blinded the prodigal so much for a while that rather than returning in shame he chose to eat with pigs.

6. The prodigal son had (in Luke 15:17) a Divine encounter: He came to his senses.

Divine encounters are not a finality but must be followed with a decision, internal repentance, the asking for forgiveness and physical act to stamp that decision.

In the Bible when people who were going in the wrong direction (towards destruction) had a Divine encounter and asked the question “what must we do”? There was repentance, a decision was made and there was a corresponding action. The prodigal son realized that he was in the wrong place, doing the wrong thing, going in the wrong direction and he knew death awaited him if he continued on the path he was on.

Before this time did the father send out a search party? No! The prodigal son was an adult, he was allowed to take responsibility for his actions. God gave us free will and whenever we choose to exercise that free will, we are responsible for our actions.

Were there consequences for the choices that the prodigal son made against the will of his father? Yes, he became extremely poor and lacking the means to provide for himself. There is no man who chooses to a life seperated from God that truly prospers. Even if such starts off full they end up very empty.

7. So the prodigal son returned home and who was waiting for him…the father of course. (Luke 15:20) The father ran towards the prodigal son and embraced him.
The response of the boy out of regret and guilt (self-condemnation) was to renounce his right to sonship but the words and actions of his father was to reaffirm his sonship status.

The Father quickly told one of his servants to bring out and put upon his son, who stood in rags, the best robe, ring and sandals (Luke 15:22). Each individual item contains priceless and profound insight into the character of Father God’s love toward all those who are His and bear the title of son.

“Bring forth the best robe and put it on him” In having the best robe placed on him, the Father was telling the Prodigal as well as all observers that his position as son was being restored. It was an immediate demonstration of complete approval, love and mercy as well as protection – major benefits of being a son. 

Luke 15:10 (NIV)
In the same way, I tell you, there is rejoicing in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.”

Did all these cancel the ultimate consequence of the prodigal son’s sin? Yes, the ultimate consequence would have been for him to die alone in poverty like one who did not have a benevolent father who deeply loved him. He would not have known that nothing could have changed the love his father had for him. Only if many who have died and gone had repented and returned to God; it would have amazed them the great love God has for them. “Jesus loves you” is not just a cliche it is the Truth!

However the justice of God does not reward sin at all and righteous activities are not unequally rewarded. The brother who remained with the father had the greater reward and all the prodigal son would ever have is what is contained in the rest that belonged to the brother. Things that the brother may graciously give him.

Praise be to God Who has inexhaustible wealth…it is more rewarding to remain with Him and not practice vagabondary.

Now please read…
John 3:16-21 (NIV)

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. 
17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. 
18 Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son. 
19 This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but people loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. 
20 Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that their deeds will be exposed. 
21 But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what they have done has been done in the sight of God.

The Love of God like the love that father had for his prodigal son, it is a never diminising love and whilst the prodigal did his own thing, at his own time and in his own way, the father waited lovingly and patiently for his prodigal son. There are many who God is lovingly and patiently waiting for.

The love of God is everlasting but the life we have on earth is time bound. If the prodigal son did not repent and return, the father would have continued to wait.
If however the son had died and so lost the opportunity to repent, return and be restored, the love of his father for him would have brought pain to his father’s heart and tears to his father’s eyes. But that would not have fixed the prodigal son’s death nor prevented his everlasting damnation.

The patience of God is demonstrated in the mercy of God. As it was the joy of the prodigal son’s father that his son returned home, it is God’s greatest delight for every sinner to repent and be restored.

Some fail to understand that God is omniscient; sees, hears and knows…yet God’s love is everlasting and His patience is extensive. But the life of an unbeliever is time bound and the devil does everything to hasten such to the end of his/her life span so he/she loses the opportunity to repent and be restored.

A sinner does not and will not R.I.P. (Rest In Peace) after his or her death is judgement and damnation to everlasting torment. Anyone refusing the love of God, refuses Him as a Father and such would be fathered by the devil (the deciever) whether they want it or not.

John 8:44 (KJV) Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it.

Revelation 20:10-15 (NIV)
10 And the devil, who deceived them, was thrown into the lake of burning sulfur, where the beast and the false prophet had been thrown. They will be tormented day and night for ever and ever.

The Judgment of the Dead:
11 Then I saw a great white throne and him who was seated on it. The earth and the heavens fled from his presence, and there was no place for them. 12 And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Another book was opened, which is the book of life. The dead were judged according to what they had done as recorded in the books. 13 The sea gave up the dead that were in it, and death and Hades gave up the dead that were in them, and each person was judged according to what they had done. 14 Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. The lake of fire is the second death. 15 Anyone whose name was not found written in the book of life was thrown into the lake of fire.

It is those who die as believers of Christ Jesus who R.I.P.

Good people pass away; the godly often die before their time. But no one seems to care or wonder why. No one seems to understand that God is protecting them from the evil to come. For those who follow godly paths will rest in peace when they die.
Isaiah 57:1‭-‬2 NLT

Isaiah 26:19 (NLT)
19 But those who die in the Lord will live; their bodies will rise again!
Those who sleep in the earth will rise up and sing for joy!
For your life-giving light will fall like dew on your people in the place of the dead!

Now we do not want you to be ignorant, brothers, concerning those who have fallen asleep, so that you will not grieve as also the rest, who have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, thus also God will bring those who have fallen asleep through Jesus together with him. For this we say to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive, who remain until the Lord’s coming, will not possibly precede those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a shout of command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive, who remain, will be snatched away at the same time together with them in the clouds for a meeting with the Lord in the air, and thus we will be together with the Lord always.
1 Thessalonians 4:13‭-‬17 LEB

2 Peter 3:8-10 (AMPC)
8 Nevertheless, do not let this one fact escape you, beloved, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years and a thousand years as one day.
9 The Lord does not delay and is not tardy or slow about what He promises, according to some people’s conception of slowness, but He is long-suffering (extraordinarily patient) toward you, not desiring that any should perish, but that all should turn to repentance.
10 But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then the heavens will vanish (pass away) with a thunderous crash, and the [material] elements [of the universe] will be dissolved with fire, and the earth and the works that are upon it will be burned up.

This might be a hard message for many but see it is a message of love. God the father has been patiently waiting for all whom He loves very much and that patience is not about to run out. However, for anyone who has not repented and returned to be restored, time is running-out. If they should die, there would be nothing that God’s great love, mercy and patience can do anymore. Judgement takes over.

Hebrews 9:27 (KJV)
And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment:

I pray for the preservation of life of anyone reading this message who is yet to make the conscious decision to repent, return and be restored by God the Father by accepting Jesus as Saviour and Lord.

Will you respond to the love of God today. Will you choose to repent, return and be restored?Jesus is the way and the truth and the life. No one can come to the Father except through Jesus. (John 14:6). And “There is no other name under heaven that has been given among people by which we must be saved [for God has provided the world no alternative for salvation].” (ACTS 4:12 AMP).

Salvation through Christ Jesus is free but you must make the decision to receive it. “For this is how God loved the world: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life. (John 3:16 NLT).

If you acknowledge and confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord [recognizing His power, authority, and majesty as God], and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart a person believes [in Christ as Savior] resulting in his justification [that is, being made righteous—being freed of the guilt of sin and made acceptable to God]; and with the mouth he acknowledges and confesses [his faith openly], resulting in and confirming [his] salvation. (ROMANS 10:9‭-‬10 AMP)

Now pray this prayer meaningfully if you would: “Lord Jesus, for too long I’ve kept You out of my life. I know that I am a sinner and that I cannot save myself. No longer will I close the door when I hear You knocking. By faith I gratefully receive Your gift of salvation. I am ready to trust You as my Lord and Savior. Thank You, Lord Jesus, for coming to earth. I believe You are the Son of God who died on the cross for my sins and rose from the dead on the third day. Thank You for bearing my sins and giving me the gift of eternal life. I believe Your words are true. Come into my heart, Lord Jesus, and be my Saviour. Amen”.

Congratulations if you’ve just said that prayer and I joyously welcome you to the higher life in Christ Jesus. You are now on the path of your divine destiny and your God given dreams are very possible. Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.
(2 Corinthians 5:17 KJV)

If you do not have a bible believing Church that you know God brought you into, and that you are faithfully attending then please join us today at http://www.lifeoasisinternationalchurch.org and do well to complete the first-timers form on the pop-up screen and an ordained minister will get in touch with you ASAP.
There is so much more about life for a child of God, there is so much more that the Spirit of God will yet reveal to you.
Glory be to God!

The Message Bearer
Cornelius Bella