Love Series

LOVE OF GOD # 11

Paul and Love

Fred Coulter – July 1, 1995

Now I want to finish up the series we’ve been doing on the Love of God, and as I mentioned I want to finish with Love in the Epistles of the apostle Paul other than I Corinthians 13. And there’s quite a bit here showing us what love will do for us and what love will accomplish. But before we begin there we have to have another love before we can have the love of God.

Let’s go to II Thessalonians 2:10. This is something we have to have before we can truly love God. It talks about Satan coming with all power and signs and lying wonders. And I tell you, when he comes it’s going to be something else. It is going to be spectacular. And the reason he’s going to succeed, verse 10: "And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved." In order to receive the love of God you have to have the love of the truth first. And God’s Word is truth. Christ is the truth. All the commandments are true. Everything that God does is true and righteous. There is nothing that God does not do that is not true and righteous all together – everything. So you have to come to love that before you can love God. And then when you love God, God shows us that we have to love Him with all our heart, and mind, and soul, and being. He doesn’t want it part-time. He doesn’t want it one day a week. He wants you to love Him completely, devoted with your whole mind and being.

And so for people who do not have this kind of love and love the truth and even start there, then God does something else: "And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie…" (II Thes. 2:10-11, KJV). Is this not happening? Did we just not read part of it right here because they didn’t love the truth? Is not God’s judgment coming upon one of the largest churches of God because they don’t love the truth and don’t love God? And their latest beliefs booklet, they don’t even have a word about it, yet Paul says it’s the greatest. If any of you want to know what’s happening to the churches of God today it’s because of the lack of the love of truth and lack of the love of God. That’s the quickest summary I can give you. When I tell you that God’s judgment is because there is no love, you know that’s according to the truth and Word of God.

Matthew 24:12 says: "And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall [grow] wax cold." And it’s happened in the church, brethren. And it’s happened in the lives of too many people. And so that’s what we need to get back to. Let’s see what the love of God will do for us, and we’re going to see that the love of God and faith together … many of the verses we will cover today, you will see, has an awful lot to do with love and faith because they all go together. And remember what the apostle Paul said. He said, "Faith, hope and love, they abide; but the greatest of these is love" (I Cor. 13:13, paraphrased).

Let’s go to Romans 1:17. There’s an awful lot in the book of Romans. It’s really something. The whole book of Romans is such a tremendous epistle and one of these days we’ll get around to studying that. Here in Romans the first chapter here’s something we need to understand about faith. Verse 17: "For therein [that is, in the gospel of Christ] is the righteousness of God revealed…" And this is the imputed righteousness that God gives to us through Jesus Christ – it’s revealed: "…from faith to faith…" And the Greek there for "to" is "eis," which is "into." "…Faith [into] faith as it is written, The just shall live by faith." Why shall the just live by faith? Because that’s the only way that love is going to work.

Let’s go to Galatians 5:6: "For in Jesus Christ neither circumcision availeth any thing, nor uncircumcision; but faith which worketh by love." So if you’re loving God with all your heart, and mind, and soul, and being, Christ is sending faith to you to be in you, and from in you back to Christ, and this helps develop and increase the love. Now notice if you have a King James Version it says "worketh." Faith which "is working" by love. That’s why faith, hope, and love always go together.

Let’s turn to Hebrews 11 and let’s understand something about faith. Faith is one of the fruits of the Spirit of God, is it not, as well as love? It has to be given. You cannot within yourself generate love of God because it has to come from God. It’s God’s own love. Same way with faith.

Now Hebrews 11, let me ask you a question: Is not the Holy Spirit a spiritual substance from God? Yes, it is. And the proper use of the term "hypostasis," which is here, is "substance" or "foundation."

Now let’s put it in it’s proper context for us, verse 1: "Now faith is the substance…", which comes from God, and that unites with the spirit of your mind. And when you are growing and overcoming and using the Spirit of God, your mind is being converted. And that literally means "changed." They know scientifically that when part of your brain is not working you can train another part of the brain to take over the same function. And they have actually been able to detect that the brain reconstructs itself to make it work. Now then, this is what conversion is all about, brethren. This is why we have received the Holy Spirit as a begettal. This is why Christ is to be formed in us, as the apostle Paul said, because the Holy Spirit is that substance of things hoped for – that is faith. Also then love; also then hope; also then being able to use and explain and think with the Scriptures of God.

Now I got a nice tape from Dwight Blevins, which really inspired me a lot and kicked off a lot of thoughts. Learning to think with the truth and the Word of God in your mind is very, very important. That’s what makes faith work; that’s what makes love work.

Now let’s go to I Thessalonians 1. So what we’re going to learn here is that 1) love is from God by faith; and 2) faith is working by love. If we can think of it this way: The Word of God is like a sphere, which you can run almost an infinite number lines through it and an infinite number of angles, and every one of these connections is truth agreeing with truth.

Now when we have this love from God we receive it once we begin to receive it, you see. God has given us a whole lifetime to grow and develop in love and be perfected. That’s why the Word of God was meant to be a challenge for your whole life to learn and relearn, and learn and relearn, and grow in knowledge and depth and understanding over and over again to where it just becomes such a profound thing in your life, and that Christ will lead you in knowing that God loves you and has called you. Very, very important.

Let’s go to Romans 4 please, because we begin to receive the love of God when we are justified. Now we’ll see that here. Verse 21: "…And being fully persuaded…" Now that’s what we all need to be of God, brethren – fully persuaded. Has God ever told us a lie? Has God ever told us anything that’s not true? No. Should we not be fully persuaded as Abraham was: "…that, what He had promised…" And a promise was what? What He promised was something that He spoke, right? And what was Abraham commended for? Not only faith – that’s true. "Abraham obeyed My voice." See, the thing that’s so important is, God only has to say it once. That’s all, just once. Now you think on this: Shall the created tell the Creator what to do, as Paul said there in Romans 9? Shall the thing that’s created walk up to God and say, "God I don’t like this"? Of course not. Shall the thing that is created tell God what laws are good and what are not good? Which laws and commandments they should or should not keep? Of course not. So: "…what He had promised, He was able also to perform." Because once we get over this elementary stupidity of people arguing with God, and begin to see the fullness of God’s Word, then we know that what God has for us is absolutely fantastic.

"And therefore it was imputed to him for righteousness." That means right standing with God. And that’s why God imputes the righteousness to us because we can never earn it or do it because we have the law of sin and death in us, so therefore anything we do, even though it’s perfect in the letter, is automatically flawed because we ourselves are inherently imperfect. Only true perfection can come from someone who is truly perfect, which is God. Would you not agree to that? Yes. That’s why with the Spirit of God in us then God does something for us. He imputes the righteousness of Christ, not so that we can go out and break the commandments of God but so that we can be inspired to keep them in the spirit and to do it with all our heart. That’s what God wants. These things are to inspire us.

"Now it was not written for his sake alone, that it was imputed to him; but for us also, to whom it shall be imputed, if we believe…" And of course "believe" is the verb for the noun "faith." You don’t catch that in the English like you do in the Greek. "…If we believe on Him [that is God the Father] that raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead; Who was delivered for our offences, and was raised again for our justification" (Rom. 4:21-25, KJV). That’s why if Christ be not raised then your faith is vain and you’re still dead in your sins, because He had to be resurrected to go to God the Father so there would be justification – the proper payment for the sins of the whole world. That is justification.

Now Chapter 5:1: "Therefore being [having been] justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ: by whom also we have access by faith into this grace…" Now it’s important that we understand the grace of God because this means that we do not go around with a guilty conscience. Grace is more than the forgiveness of sins. It’s like a great umbrella under which we are standing, which then comes God’s love, God’s faith, God’s Spirit, God’s blessing, knowledge of the commandments of God, how to keep them in the spirit. And all of this comes by the grace of God. It is just so encompassing. So you might say that the first expression of God’s love is His grace. Or you might say the first expression of God’s grace is His love because it comes hand in hand to us. So please go through that and really understand that.

Now notice it is something in which we are standing: "….wherein we stand…" We are standing in it. It’s not just a quality given. It is something which has to do with the way of life. "…And rejoice in hope [there again we have faith and hope] of the glory of God." Can you imagine the tremendous hope that God has given, the tremendous promise and blessing of what we are going to be? That is something brethren. I just really don’t think we have fully grasped that, but it is magnificent.

"And not only so, but we glory in tribulations…" I haven’t quite arrived at that point yet, but hopefully I can begin to understand with better hindsight. "…Knowing that tribulation worketh [endurance] patience…" It says "patience" here but it should be "endurance." Now if you endure the trial or if you endure the things there, that’s fine. You’re going to grow.

"…And [endurance] patience, experience…" That’s what we all need. And all of us now we have experienced a lot of things. And from experience we can know and understand what’s going on. One man came up to me and said, "Boy, you sure know how to prophecy." And I said, "No, I don’t." I said, "But one thing which will really work out: if you tell the truth; if you compare things with the truth it’s going to happen because the truth is the truth and never changes." It never does, so if we go through in some of the things we’ve covered here and we analyze and understand what the truth is then it’s going to happen that way.

"…And experience, hope: and hope maketh not ashamed; because the love of God is shed [poured out] abroad…", that’s what it means in the Greek. That’s what God wants us to receive – His love poured out upon us. That’s why it’s very important. And as I have said before, and I hope all of you, that God will lead you to this in your prayers and in your trials, in your difficulties and everything that you go through, will all one day all come together, and you’ll be praying and you’ll be asking God for His love and understanding and God’s Spirit is going to convict you in heart and in mind and you are going to know the love and the Spirit of God more than ever before. And it’s going to be something you will feel. It will be something that you will experience. It will be something that you will know, but it’s also something that’s directly between you and God the Father and Jesus Christ. And when that happens, which it will, then you will begin to truly, truly understand the love of God and how important it is and what it will do in our lives. "…[Which] is shed [poured] abroad in our hearts by the Holy [Spirit] Ghost which is [He has] given unto us."

Then he wants to make another point here, verse 6: "For when we were yet without strength, in due time [and that means at the set time, at the exact time that God prophesied it would happen] Christ died for the ungodly." Christ did not make us go prove ourselves to Him before He would give His sacrifice to us. He died for us while we were still enemies. Now that takes a profound love. That’s why the Protestants, even though they have a corner on the end-zone of the footballs games… Now with football coming up, you’re going to see whenever they kick a field goal and they line up to show it, there is John 3:16, always. "God so loved the world He gave His only begotten Son that whosoever believes on Him should not perish but have everlasting life." However they don’t go beyond that in many cases. And we need to, brethren, to understand the profound love it took for God to do that while the whole world hated Him. And not only that, when He was on the earth He was in the midst of His enemies. And even Peter gave Him a hard time, and the other disciples gave Him a hard time. Remember that? Could you take that? I mean you think about if you think you had a hard week, you think you’ve had it hard, God has dealt with you tough, and as it were, and you’ve had a lot of trials and difficulties. You know, think on that for a while.

"…Yet peradventure for a good man some would even dare to die. But God commendeth His love toward us…" So we need to know first that God loves us first. God wants us to respond to His love because it’s going to do so many things for us. "…That, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us." Then he says: "Much more then [now that you understand this], being [having been] now justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him [for the whole great and tremendous purpose of God]. For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of His Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by His life. And not only so, but we also joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by Whom we have now received the atonement [or the redemption]" (Rom. 5:1-11, KJV).

So, 1) Love comes from God by faith after we have been justified.

2) The love of God reveals God’s plan and purpose – I Corinthians 2. And this is so awesome and this is so great that only God can make it known to us. We can’t think of it and we can’t understand it on our own. We can’t think of it; philosophy can’t think of it, and that’s the whole purpose of why Paul was writing to the Corinthians here, because they thought with wisdom – Ho-ho, they’re smart, they’re great intellects.

Well, here’s what he says, I Corinthians 2:9: "But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love Him." So the love of God is going to do an awful lot for us. You have to love Him. Now notice what it will do: "But God hath revealed them unto us by His Spirit…", which means the more we love God; the deeper and more profound we love God and understand that, the more God is going to reveal to us His plan and purpose. "…For the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God" (I Cor. 2:9-10, KJV). Brethren, I crave and desire to know the deep things of God, and I know you do too. Isn’t that something we should all want – the deep things of God? To know the profound love of God, to know what Christ is doing for us in a greater and greater way? Oh, yes. See, because then that gives us hope; that heals all wounds; that gives us understanding of all the experiences we have gone through, reveals things to us.

Let’s go to Chapter 8:1. Now knowledge of this world does not do that. What is it that men have always wanted to do? When they say, "God, we don’t want You," what do they want? They want knowledge. More knowledge – has it cured the AIDS epidemic? No. Has it solved mans problems? No. Is that not what Adam and Eve started out to do? Yes. "If you eat of this tree of the knowledge of good and evil you will be knowers just like God." That kind of knowledge, it says here the last sentence: "Knowledge puffeth up, but charity [love] edifieth." Now I don’t know why the translators of the King James Version used charity there. It’s just beyond me. But love edifies. That’s what God wants. Now what is edification? Edification is to build up and to inspire. Like Solomon said, "With much knowledge comes much sorrow." So if you don’t have the edification and love of the Spirit of God, it’s to uplift you, it’s to inspire you, brethren. Do you know what we need to do? We need to ask God to help us just draw close to Him and fellowship with Him and Christ on the Sabbath to make the Sabbath the greatest day of the week – not just something you do because you’re commanded to do, but something you do because you love God; something you do because you’re going to be inspired and uplifted. That’s what God wants. He doesn’t want a lot of beaten down saints, whipped and beat into the Kingdom of God. He wants us charging the gate because we’re inspired. And love will do that.

Then he says, verse 2, concerning knowledge: "And if any man think that he knoweth any thing, he knoweth nothing yet as he ought to know. But if any man love God, the same is known of Him" (I Cor. 8:1-3, KJV). May we have the knowledge of God.

Let’s go to Colossians 1 and let’s see how this follows right through. Now remember that Ephesians, Philippians, and Colossians were written while Paul was in prison in Rome. Now the second imprisonment is what it was. Let’s pick it up here in verse 8: "…Who also declared unto us [that is Epaphras, the minister who was teaching the Colossians there] your love in the Spirit [notice it’s got to come from God’s Spirit]. For this cause we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you, and to desire that ye might be filled with the knowledge of His will…" Now that’s something – filled with the knowledge of His will. "…In all wisdom and spiritual understanding…" That’s what the love of God will do. That’s something brethren. This to me is very exciting things. They’re very spiritually uplifting. God is not up there trying to say, "I’m a mystery. Try and figure Me out if you can." No, He says, "I’ve called you. I’ve given you My Spirit. I want you to be in My kingdom. I love you. I want you to grow and overcome. I want you to be able to receive the fullness of the knowledge of God." That’s something, isn’t it? Yes. "…That ye might walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing, being fruitful in every good work, and increasing in the knowledge of God…" (Col. 1:8-10, KJV). So all of this comes from the Spirit of God.

Now let’s go to Ephesians 1, let’s see how he says it here. And this is one of my favorite places right here in Ephesians 1. This is what God wants. Now sometime if you’re sitting there and all of a sudden a thought comes to you, "I wonder why God called me?" Have you ever had that thought come along? Especially when you stand up and look in the mirror. Hopefully it’s not full-length, it might get a little more discouraging. But nevertheless God has called us. Why has He called you? To torment you; to put you through problems? No. He’s called you for the greatest and most profound thing that there is – to receive His love and His knowledge.

Ok, let’s pick it up here in verse 15: "Wherefore I also, after I heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus, and love unto all the saints…" So there again we have faith and love. We’ll see this follow through all the way through. "…Cease not to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers…" And here’s the prayer. And this prayer is for all of us because it’s written here in the Word of God for us: "…That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory [Now who’s going to do this? The Father Himself], may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him…" That’s the kind of knowledge that comes by the love of God. "…The eyes of your understanding being enlightened…" Isn’t that something – "the eyes of your understanding"? That’s pretty profound. It means what you think in the deepest recesses of your mind.

"…Being enlightened; that ye may know [not guess, not wonder, not a mystery] what is the hope of His calling, and what the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, and what is the exceeding greatness of His power [that’s what God wants us to know] to us-ward who believe, according to the working of His mighty power, which He wrought in Christ, when He raised Him from the dead…", contrary to what they say, "Well, the resurrection was just kind of an ecstatic thought in the minds of the disciples, and it really doesn’t matter what happened to His corpse." Yes, it does. Don’t you believe that if He wasn’t resurrected that His corpse would have been traipsed around all over the place as evidence that He was a liar? Yes, it would have been. Did they not secure the tomb with guards and seal it so no one could get it? Yes, they did. No one can deny the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Has not every human being in the world tried to defer or escape death, and none have overcome it except Christ? And the older we get the more we comprehend that statement.

"…He raised Him from the dead, and set Him at His own right hand in the heavenly places, far above all principality, and power…" Now he’s talking about the powers that work in the world. See, there are wicked spirits in high places – the principalities and powers. "…And might, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come: and hath put all things under His feet, and gave Him to be the head over all things to the church, which is His body, the fulness of Him that filleth all in all" (Eph. 1:15-23, KJV). Now I’m going to have to bring a sermon on the fulness of Christ. Fullness comes from the Greek word pleroma. Pleroma is also part of the scheme of philosophy and philosophical salvation through the mystery religions. I’m amazed how much this is written to refute every one of these things. It is something.

3) God’s love makes us accepted in the Beloved one. Now the Beloved one is Christ, or "the Son of His love." Now we covered some of those Scriptures previously – how much Christ loved the Father and the Father loved Christ, always. That’s why they did what they did for all of humankind. But number three, it makes us accepted in the Beloved.

Ephesians 1:3: "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, Who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings…" Isn’t that something? He wants to bless us with every spiritual blessing. Think about what God wants to give us. Think about how much God is for us. That’s something. "…In heavenly [things] places in Christ…" Now it says "places" in the King James. It should be "things" or "heavenlies" because we are not in heavenly places yet. Chapter two tells us that’s in the ages to come. But if we received of the Holy Spirit, which comes from God the Father in heaven above, we have received of the heavenly things.

"…According as He hath chosen us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love…" Look, if you’ve got some deep problem that’s just really bothering you, let me ask you a question: Does God know? Sure He knows. He knows every hair that you have. So what do you do then? You take it to God and ask Him to help you overcome. That’s how you do it. Because He wants you to be holy and without blame. Irreproachably blameless – that’s what it means in the Greek. Another way of saying it is "without spot and without stain and without wrinkle."

"…Before Him in love: having predestinated us unto the [sonship] adoption of children…" Not "adoption" because adoption is you adopt someone who is not your own flesh and blood – your own children. This should be "sonship" because we are begotten of God the Father. We are His children by begettal and will be, by birth, belong to Him of His kind. "…By Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace, wherein He hath made us accepted in the Beloved." Through Christ Jesus we are accepted. That is tremendous, brethren. I don’t know about you but that just inspires me every time I read it.

Verse 7: "In Whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace; wherein He hath abounded toward us in all wisdom and prudence; having made known unto us the mystery of His will, according to His good pleasure which He hath purposed in Himself…" (Eph.1:3-9, KJV). No wonder Satan wants to destroy that knowledge, brethren. No wonder Satan wants to stamp that out, because this is so absolutely marvelous and loving and kind and good that it’s just amazing.

Let’s go to I Thessalonians 3:12: "And the Lord make you to increase and abound in love…" That’s what we want. And that’s going to help, and that’s going to inspire, and that is going to heal, and that is just going to help so many of the brethren. "…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…" Now there it is again – unblameable. That’s why He imputes the righteousness of Christ to you, that you have no blame, you have no fault. Not to give you license to go sin, but to just inspire you to really want to love God and do what He wants. "…In holiness before God, even our Father, at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ with all His saints" (I Thes. 3:12-13, KJV). So that’s when it will be perfected in us.

4) Love covers our sins by grace and faith. Let’s go to Titus 3 please. That’s why the love of God is so important. I think if we understand the love of God and what He’s doing for us, and understand that so many brethren have just been beaten down and discouraged and depressed – you know, that’s why we nick-name ourselves the "No hassle, recycle, last resort church of God" because there’s got to be hope somewhere on this earth. You know God is there and God is love, and we need to get around all this stupidity of what we do to each other and what men do to each other. There is God.

Titus 3:3: "For we ourselves also were sometimes [that means, in the time past] foolish…", still am to this day in many things. Do you ever go around saying "Dodo" to yourself? Yes. Do you ever do something stupid? Yes. I just did yesterday. I won’t tell you about it. "…Disobedient, deceived…" Isn’t that something – walk around deceived, don’t know a thing, just bldu-bldu-bldu, you know – terrible. "…Serving divers lusts and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful, and hating one another." My, my, my, that just tells us so much about the way that it is. And unfortunately it’s been that way in the church. Why has it been that way in the church? Because they haven’t had the love of God.

"But after that the kindness and love of God our Saviour toward [all men] 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 [Spirit] 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 3:3-7, KJV). So there it is again – the hope of eternal life and the love of God working together.

Let’s go to I Timothy 1 now and let’s see what the apostle Paul said of himself, how he viewed himself. Now you see, you can only truly accept and understand your evil condition if you have the love of God. You can’t accept it otherwise. That’s why you can’t run up and tell the full truth to people in the world. They can’t take it. They are deceived and their eyes are closed. So that’s why in some things you can give it to them bit by bit, but as God’s Spirit works with you through your life long, as it did with the apostle Paul here…let’s pick it up in verse 11: "…According to the glorious gospel of the blessed God, which was committed to my trust." This is something that needs to be for all ministers and elders – they need to know and understand that they have been committed with a trust from God. It is not a political reward. It is not something to give you authority to use and abuse, but it is a trust.

"And I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, Who hath enabled me, for that He counted me faithful, putting me into the ministry; who was before a blasphemer, and a persecutor, and injurious [yes, even killing the saints]: but I obtained mercy…", why? Because God said, "All right, I’m going to convert one of the enemy." That’s why what he writes is so profound: "…because I did it ignorantly in unbelief. And the grace of our Lord was exceeding abundant with faith and love [there again – 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 [the] chief." That’s how he viewed his life. And the more that you are converted and the more of the love of God that you receive, the more that you understand your own human condition and sinfulness, therefore there won’t be any bragging and boasting of how good a person is.