Praise the Lord and we are thankful that you tuned in to the God of Wonders radio program for part 4 and the conclusion of the message entitled Real Love with Dr. Pradeep Stephen. And if you have missed any of the series you may login to our website at www.elbim.org. May the Lord bless you! Let’s listen.
We have to keep ourselves in the Love of God, there is a responsibility it’s not automatic. There are those who believe that once God has saved us, automatically we will be safe. That is, we have no responsibility. Very clearly here, in this next to the last book of the Bible, the chapter book of Jude; He says, “Keep yourselves in the love of God.” It is our privilege and responsibility to make sure we are in the love of God. And what to do we say the love of God was? It is a self-sacrificial lifestyle to help others seeking nothing in return, no false motive of self-gain, but clearly and only for the welfare of the others. But also the love of God’s truth that saves others who are in error from a multitude of sins and death. Here Jude says we have to keep ourselves in the love of God. He also says this, in verse 22: 22. Be merciful to those who doubt; 23. save others by snatching them from the fire; to others show mercy, mixed with fear—hating even the clothing stained by corrupted flesh”.
Did you know that the love of God includes hate with it? That may seem illogical or paradoxical but it’s not. “Ye that love the Lord hate evil.” That’s what the scripture says in the Old Testament. If you love the Lord, you will not only be self-sacrificial, do good works, help others, encourage others; you will love His word enough to be knowledgeable about His word, to care about His word, to magnify His word, to preach His word. But you will also have God's love to the point of hating evil with a passion. Human love does not hate evil with a passion. It may hate certain things that result from evil but not necessarily the evil. God's love hates the very root of that evil, which is satanic.
So when one ministers to another soul, according to Jude; to some we show mercy, encourage, gently restore; to others we mix our message with the fear of God, hating even the garment or clothing contaminated by sin. That is, we have a hatred against sin and we also convey that to that person. What is unlovable in the world’s eyes and a lot of lukewarm Christians, so called “Christians,” to God is the essence of Love. That when necessary we do not hold back the truth because we love. But because we love, we tell the truth. Holding back the truth of God or having respectability as a factor because one is older, because one is in the ministry, or because one is more popular, more influential, one is more wealthy; holding back God's truth at that point is clearly showing, “I don’t have the love of God. I have a worldly love.” I have to identify these things. The more I identify exactly the nature of the love that I profess, the more I will know whether I am in line with God Almighty. The more in line with God Almighty I am, with His love; not like Peter who tried to stop the Lord from going to the cross but going with a steadfast will. That I will accomplish God's purpose, because He is love; the more God will be able to use me to effect genuine revival in the people around me. It begins with me.
First, I must love God with all my heart, mind, soul and strength, love my neighbor as myself. The neighbor part, most people understand to an extent that is the good works. Paul says by the Holy Spirit to Titus, “Let our people, that is the church, make sure that they continue, they are zealous for good works” (Titus 2:14).What are they? We see in the book of Acts, Dorcas who died. Peter came and raised her from the dead. The testimony she had in the mouths of her friends was that she was faithful to take care of other’s needs. And they showed the garments that she stitched. That was good works. She cared about others. That is love. But there is more to it than that. And no doubt, Dorcas would have had that love with the truth.
Biblical definition of love also includes love for God's truth, giving God’s truth, saving people from a multitude of sins by giving the truth, saving them from error and from death. So God's love has truth of God. Do we have God’s love? That’s the question. Do we have human love, worldly love on the one side, the other hand God's love? Can we mix the two? It’s impossible. Either we love God or we have the human love, not love for humans. See God's Love loves humans but this is not a human love. A human love is a love that is concerned with the temporal. Love that is concerned with the social etiquette that is how nice I can appear, the social protocol but the motives are not there. It is not a disinterested love, it is a self-interested love. God’s love is giving to others expecting nothing in return, even a thank you. That is God’s love. That love shows Jesus to the world.
But, also if you noticed if God is Love, according to first John and Jesus is God; why didn’t Jesus just go and raise the dead, heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, restore sight to the blind and so on? Why did He talk so much? Because He is the Word of God, the Truth. You shall know the truth and the truth shall set you free (John 8:32). No healing ever saved a soul. No one raised from the dead got saved eternally. Those were manifestation and signs that were token of God's love and His power and His liberating gifts to the people, to help them to walk with the restoration of their, at times their physical capabilities, life itself, physical life to glorify God. But the thing that set them free from hell, going to hell, the thing that caused them to go to heaven was they heard the truth. That never changes for the church. No one, whether the person is a lay person or a minister in the church, no one is exempt from having the truth repeatedly sanctifying us. Lord says in John 17, “Sanctify them through thy Truth thy word is Truth.” We need that again and again.
So the love of God, Real Love, as the title of the message is, Real Love loves God first, which includes His Word, no compromise; being ready to preach the word in season, out of season to whomever, whenever; never holding back the truth because of the fear of man or the love of man, the human love. But being ready to give the truth because it is the truth that will set the person free. At the same time, doing good works. So I pray that the Lord has helped us to come back to the definition of biblical love, and in doing that, returning to this biblical love; we will be able to live for Him, exactly the way He wants, in these end times and to be an agent, as I said in beginning, of spiritual revival that the people will return back to the counsel of God. It will not be a fuzzy worldly love that has no place for God's truth. It won’t be a fuzzy worldly love. It will be a solid love grounded on the Word of God that will say Lord, “I love You and love Your Word above all and I will adhere to Your Word, live my life by Your Word, while showing the good works that You created me in Christ Jesus before the foundation of the world.”
So praise God. This is the definition of Real Love. We have a lot more that we can go into. It will help to read First John because in that epistle, love is again and again brought out with different definitions; but essentially loving God, loving the neighbor, but having the love for the Truth. It is the same John who might be referred to as the apostle of love who leaned upon Jesus’ chest, so close and intimate with the Lord. The same one that says you have no need that any man teach you because the anointing abides in you. He was speaking that in the context of the false doctrines coming into the church, the anti-Christian spirit. The same apostle of love because he loved God, he really loved His Word, he said, the truth is all important. It’s the truth that will keep you safe and will keep you in the love of God as Jude said. Shall we pray? Praise Your Holy Name Father, we thank You Lord! Thank You Lord for this brief message on Your Love, the Love of God that sets us free, the Love of God, the Truth that was made known to us Lord, that set us free. Same truth, Oh Father, Holy Spirit we pray. Cause us to love You more than ever. To have that Divine kind of love. To forgo, forgo the worldly love, the love that seeks to block your will. Heavenly Father, help us always to know that to love You means to keep Your commandment, to follow Your will. Help us to be dedicated, committed, purposeful about keeping Your Word Oh God, to fulfilling Your calling on our lives, to acting, behaving Lord, with the Divine Love and not the worldly love. Help us Lord never to dismiss the Word of God. Never Lord to minimize it in our lives, but always to put it first. That the Word of God may direct our hearts .It is Your Word that we have hid in our hearts that we might not sin against thee. It is Your Word that saves us from a multitude of sins and saves our fellow brothers and sisters from a multitude of errors and from death itself, spiritual death. Lord, help us to know what it means and to put into practice the exact things that You teach us, when we Lord, relate with other people; people in the world and also the people in the church, in the household of faith. That we would Lord, when we seek to counsel others and help others, not only restore them with the spirit of meekness and gentleness, but to show mercy, to some mixed with fear, hating even the garment spotted by the flesh. Heavenly Father, help us to understand the Divine Love. Lord, help us to repent if we have not had the Divine Love. If we have Lord, compromised and sought to confuse by trying to merge Divine and human love. Help us to love You, to be transformed Lord to do Your will. At all times we thank you. That the purity of Your Church, the purity of Your church Lord, may be preserved. That everyone Lord will grow in holiness. Keep ourselves in the Love of God, as we wait, as we wait for the final redemption of the Lord Jesus Christ; who is the Way, the Truth and the Life. And in His Name, we thank You and praise You Lord. Thank You for Your Word, Oh Father. We praise Your matchless Name Oh Father. In Jesus Name, Amen! Now may the Grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the Love of God the Father and the communion of the Holy Spirit, rest and abide with each and every one of us. Amen!
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Now, may the Lord bless and keep you. Until next time, walking in His Love and in His Truth. Good bye.
