Real Love Part 4 Series

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 Jude 1 verse 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 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 others’ 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.

The 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 the 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 human love, not love for humans. See God's Love loves humans but this is not human love. 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.