Love | February 14, 2016

As per the traditions of this world, it is observed that majority of people observe Valentine's Day. So on this day, i.e. today, we will like to talk about, "Love!"

Illustration: A pastor visits a family. There, the husband used to talk very sweetly, stating," Sweetheart, can I get coffee?", "My love, can you get me the newspaper?" Pastor was surprised and said, "You are married for more than 50 years still the love you have between you is amazing that you call these beautiful names to your wife after so many years." To which he responds, "Pastor, actually 10 years back I forgot her name!"

People of God, all of us we need that someone loves. And the good news is that's someone actually moves us. Jesus loves. His love is not cards, rose given on particular day, jeweller and these worldly possession. His love is eternal that brings peace to us. 

Illustration: In Canada, a large hungry pack of wolves saw a group of people and children going in a cart of three horses. So this group released this horse to which the lack attacked and ate and traveling further the pack returned and attacked the cart. So the young gentleman sitting inside the cart jumped and that pack devoured this man and ate him. In the meantime this cart reached at safety and this group jumped inside the home and locked themselves inside. They all were scared and shattered about the loss of their friend. They said, our friend gave himself for us. We are living now because he is dead. "Love in action which is expressed in giving."

We cannot talk about love without more than one people are involved. The bible says, "God is love!" So if bible says this, then who God loves? He loved us and the demonstration was His life. 

John 15:13, “Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.”

John 3:16, “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth on him should not perish, but have eternal life.”

Bible says Jesus came to this world for only purpose. He came to die! Jesus sacrificed Himself for giving us everything. Thank God for His love. 

God's love is different from present day love among lovers. 

1- God loves us un-selfishly by paying the highest cost and without expecting anything in return.

Today is Valentine's Day and we don't know how many chocolates are going to be sold today as a return for favour. However if we look at the life of Jesus, wherever He went, people followed Him as Jesus gave a new life to many who met him. He gave eyes to blind, health to unhealthy, love to robbers, Samaritans. Prostitutes, poor etc. But there was something greater that Jesus came to do in this earth. He came to die for us. Not because we deserve it, but that He loved us. 

Why Christ has to die? The bible says, "In order to demonstrate His love."

Illustration: Bill Gates formed a charity, "Gates Foundation" and in India he donated billions of dollars for health, food, hospitals. This proves that he is a super rich guy who can donate this much money and even after donations he will not be going in  debts. He does in this because of love for poor and needy. Imagine how much he has in his savings that God has given him. 

The love of God is different from this because God have His 'Only' son for us.! 

John 3:16 is one of the greatest Verse in the bible because He genuinely loved us without expecting any return. 

Romans 5:8, “But God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”

2- You don't have to be worthy to receive the love of God. 

You don't have to be rich, wealthy, impressive, smart, handsome/beautiful, ugly, same, insane etc. This is one of the most amazing thing of God. 

We live in this world and we show our love to people who loves us back. And we love less to those people who we don't love. At times children loves us when they need something. But at times they get angry if we don't fulfil their demand. But God is different. He has chosen us 'ALL'. 

It is very easy to live our children when they obey us and when they disobey we don't like that. 

Bible says, "When I was in the 

1 John 4:9-10, “Herein was the love of God manifested in us, that God hath 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.”

Don't condemn yourself what happened to you in the past or wrong things you have done. All you need to come to the feet of the Christ for unconditional love. 

Illustration: Akbar used to ask many questions to Birbal. One fine day King asked, "Which love is the greatest love in this love." He got several answers, "Lovers love", "Mothers love etc."

Love for self is the greatest love. 

King asked to prove that. The next day during the gathering and he brought one monkey who was a mother and baby if that monkey. So Birbal kept than in the tank and Birbal asked to release the water. As the water increased, the monkey kept her child on the head and King said, see mothers love. Now as the water rose, mother removed the baby and jumped out of tank." 

Even Mother may forget the love for children also but God will not. 

Romans 5:6-8, “For while we were yet weak, in due season Christ died for the ungodly. For scarcely for a righteous man will one die: for peradventure for the good man some one would even dare to die. But God commendeth his own love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.”

Colossians 1:21-22“And you, being in time past alienated and enemies in your mind in your evil works, yet now hath he reconciled in the body of his flesh through death, to present you holy and without blemish and unreproveable before him:”

Can you imagine someone sacrificing for someone else and in other worlds, complete strangers.

Isaiah 53:5, “But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.”

Love of this world is a conditional love but the love of God is eternal, it is eternal. 

Illustration: There used to be a banker who used to write accounts on a book. One day I was filling the accounting, I imagined heaven where I saw David said that "I have to pay this much." So he told that I will transfer something from his own accounting book to the account book of David. But then Jesus appeared who said, "You don't need to pay anything." That is the love of God. 

3- Love of God is not temporary, but eternal. 

Lovers claim that they have fallen in love. This is temporary love. The bible tells us, God's love is given to us.

Jeremiah 31:3, “Jehovah appeared of old unto me, saying, Yea, I have loved thee with an everlasting love: therefore with lovingkindness have I drawn thee.”

Romans 8:39, “nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

Max Lucado once said, There are many reason God saved us. To give you His love to demonstrate His sovereignty. Not only this, but He loves you. "If God had a refrigerator, your picture would be on it. If He had a wallet, your photo would be in it. He sends you flowers every spring and a sunrise every morning…   Face it, friend. He is crazy about you!"

We don't need to do anything but love Him back. We need to love Him not because it is our duty but because He loves us unconditionally. 

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The fall of man | February 7, 2014

Praise God for this beautiful day. As we all learning from the ongoing series, ‘the Salvation/Deliverance of Man’, today specifically we will learn about ‘The Fall of Man’.

We all have different kinds of needs.  But Bible gives us the greatest need of mankind - forgiveness of sins and eternal life.

We all have sinned

Romans 3:23, “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.”

Psalm 51:5, “Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me.”

Proverbs 22:15, “Folly is bound up in the heart of a child, but the rod of discipline drives it far from him.”

Must guilty man remain under wrath? Is the wound for ever incurable? No; blessed be God, there is another way laid open for us. This is the righteousness of God; righteousness of his ordaining, and providing, and accepting. It is by that faith which has Jesus Christ for its object; an anointed Saviour, so Jesus Christ signifies. Justifying faith respects Christ as a Saviour, in all his three anointed offices, as Prophet, Priest, and King; trusting in him, accepting him, and cleaving to him: in all these, Jews and Gentiles are alike welcome to God through Christ. There is no difference, his righteousness is upon all that believe; not only offered to them, but put upon them as a crown, as a robe. It is free grace, mere mercy; there is nothing in us to deserve such favours. It comes freely unto us, but Christ bought it, and paid the price. And faith has special regard to the blood of Christ, as that which made the atonement. God, in all this, declares his righteousness. It is plain that he hates sin, when nothing less than the blood of Christ would satisfy for it. And it would not agree with his justice to demand the debt, when the Surety has paid it, and he has accepted that payment in full satisfaction.

Since there's too much preaching of ‘blessings only’, now even the church is having side effects.

Genesis 1:10, “God called the dry land Earth, and the waters that were gathered together he called Seas. And God saw that it was good.”

Genesis 1:12, “The earth brought forth vegetation, plants yielding seed according to their own kinds, and trees bearing fruit in which is their seed, each according to its kind. And God saw that it was good.”

Genesis 1:18, “To rule over the day and over the night, and to separate the light from the darkness. And God saw that it was good.”

God made Adam in His image and gave all capabilities - righteousness, holiness - spiritual & ethical abilities.

Genesis 1:26, Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.”

Genesis 1:31, “And God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day.”

Ecclesiastes 7:29, “See, this alone I found, that God made man upright, but they have sought out many schemes.”

Colossians 3:10, “And have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator.”

Ephesians 4:24, “And to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.”

God required personal obedience as against the penalty of death

Gen 2:15-17, “15 The Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to work it and keep it. 16 And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, “You may surely eat of every tree of the garden, 17 but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.””

Galatians 3:10, For all who rely on works of the law are under a curse; for it is written, “Cursed be everyone who does not abide by all things written in the Book of the Law, and do them.”

Romans 5:12-20, “12 Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned— 13 for sin indeed was in the world before the law was given, but sin is not counted where there is no law. 14 Yet death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those whose sinning was not like the transgression of Adam, who was a type of the one who was to come.

15 But the free gift is not like the trespass. For if many died through one man's trespass, much more have the grace of God and the free gift by the grace of that one man Jesus Christ abounded for many. 16 And the free gift is not like the result of that one man's sin. For the judgment following one trespass brought condemnation, but the free gift following many trespasses brought justification. 17 For if, because of one man's trespass, death reigned through that one man, much more will those who receive the abundance of grace and the free gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man Jesus Christ.

18 Therefore, as one trespass led to condemnation for all men, so one act of righteousness leads to justification and life for all men. 19 For as by the one man's disobedience the many were made sinners, so by the one man's obedience the many will be made righteous. 20 Now the law came in to increase the trespass, but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more”

Romans 10:5, “For Moses writes about the righteousness that is based on the law, that the person who does the commandments shall live by them.”

Satan put a doubt in Eve's mind which lead to sin.

Genesis 1:16-31

What is Sin?

Actions by which people rebel against God, missing the purpose for their life.

Proverbs 22:15, “Folly is bound up in the heart of a child, but the rod of discipline drives it far from him.”

Deuteronomy 6:24-25, “24 And the Lord commanded us to do all these statutes, to fear the Lord our God, for our good always, that he might preserve us alive, as we are this day. 25 And it will be righteousness for us, if we are careful to do all this commandment before the Lord our God, as he has commanded us.”

According to the Old Testament, sin is transgressing the law. We aren't capable enough to keep the law.

Sin is an ‘unbelief’!

John 3:18, “Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God.”

Bible mentions the word Hamatia (Greek) - To miss the mark - Sin It is also about the attitude of the heart.

Target of worship is not how you feel. You worship God because who God is.

Heart produces all evil - Matthew 7:21-23, 21 “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. 22 On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ 23 And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’

Inward is more important that outward - Matthew 15:18, “But what comes out of the mouth proceeds from the heart, and this defiles a person.”

Matthew 15:20, “These are what defile a person. But to eat with unwashed hands does not defile anyone.”

We were children of wrath - Ephesians 2:3, “among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind.”

Sin is the death of the soul. A man dead in trespasses and sins has no desire for spiritual pleasures. When we look upon a corpse, it gives an awful feeling. A never-dying spirit is now fled, and has left nothing but the ruins of a man. But if we viewed things aright, we should be far more affected by the thought of a dead soul, a lost, fallen spirit. A state of sin is a state of conformity to this world. Wicked men are slaves to Satan. Satan is the author of that proud, carnal disposition which there is in ungodly men; he rules in the hearts of men. From Scripture it is clear, that whether men have been most prone to sensual or to spiritual wickedness, all men, being naturally children of disobedience, are also by nature children of wrath. What reason have sinners, then, to seek earnestly for that grace which will make them, of children of wrath, children of God and heirs of glory! God's eternal love or good-will toward his creatures, is the fountain whence all his mercies flow to us; and that love of God is great love, and that mercy is rich mercy. And every converted sinner is a saved sinner; delivered from sin and wrath. The grace that saves is the free, undeserved goodness and favour of God; and he saves, not by the works of the law, but through faith in Christ Jesus. Grace in the soul is a new life in the soul. A regenerated sinner becomes a living soul; he lives a life of holiness, being born of God: he lives, being delivered from the guilt of sin, by pardoning and justifying grace. Sinners roll themselves in the dust; sanctified souls sit in heavenly places, are raised above this world, by Christ's grace. The goodness of God in converting and saving sinners heretofore, encourages others in after-time, to hope in his grace and mercy. Our faith, our conversion, and our eternal salvation, are not of works, lest any man should boast. These things are not brought to pass by any thing done by us, therefore all boasting is shut out. All is the free gift of God, and the effect of being quickened by his power. It was his purpose, to which he prepared us, by blessing us with the knowledge of his will, and his Holy Spirit producing such a change in us, that we should glorify God by our good conversation, and perseverance in holiness. None can from Scripture abuse this doctrine, or accuse it of any tendency to evil. All who do so, are without excuse.

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