Joshua and Judges: The allotment of the land, part 28 - Predestination - what is love? Jos 14-17

Title: Joshua and Judges: The allotment of the land, part 28 - Predestination - what is love? Jos 14-17.  

 

Announcements/opening prayer:  

 

Only in Jesus Christ do we know what love is, namely in His deed for us.

 

The Romans nailed thousands of men to crosses, but the believer knows the deed of Christ in willfully being judged for the sins of the world though He was guilty of none of them.

 

1JO 3:16 We know love by this, that He laid down His life for us; and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren.

 

Love is defined, not in some general way, but in a deed - Christ laying down His life for us. It is not only a deed, but a person, and in fact, this one deed cannot be separated from the person of Christ since it was His entire life, both spiritual and physical that was given up so that man could be saved.

 

Love is defined as wrapped up in the person and the deed of Christ. This is love and by reconciling us to Himself, God has given us this love.

 

Love is not what He does alone or what He suffers alone but it is Him as if anyone else could have done what He did or suffered what He suffered. It is precisely who He is that brought about the work and the suffering. He was born for this very purpose.

 

So the emphasis is not on the doing or the suffering but on He who did and He who suffered. Jesus Christ is love. Love is not an abstract idea. It is a living person.

 

The person of Jesus Christ is the action, the work, and the suffering. He is the sacrifice and the peace and the joy. He is the faithfulness, compassion, and gentleness. He is the grace and mercy and forgiveness. He is the way, the truth, and the light.

 

After all, the New Testament does not consist in an endless repetition of the name of Jesus Christ, but that which this name comprises is displayed in events, concepts, and principles which are intelligible and are to be used by the believer in action. The believer is to be and do and act the image of Christ.

 

Any truth that might be within man's concept of love has come from love's true origin in God. Yet man's love is so fallen, selfish, limited, and perverted that any truth within it is soiled and very difficult to recognize, and even if it could be recognized, only saved man could see it. Man's fallen love is rightly termed as human refuse by Paul. "I count all such things to be rubbish," which were all the things he used to love. Rubbish doesn't start out as rubbish. Food and water that went into a man and delivered calories for energy and material for cell repair and immunity from disease and electrical impulses, in other words, it was good. But then it was digested and the byproduct of digestion exited the man. Is the refuse good for anything? This is the word love in the mind of fallen man - rubbish.

 

Christ reconciled man to God and so love is reconciliation as well as sacrifice for the benefit of others. Blessed are the peacemakers for they shall be called sons of God. In his heart the believer is reconciled to all men, though so many men will not reconcile to him. He does not judge though he is persecuted. He is at peace with all men since that peace only depends upon him and his walk with God. If others do not reconcile to him then he can separate if it be God's will but without mental attitude sins. Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God.

 

The disunion with God, self, and men is at an end. Man's origin is given back to him. God is love and God has drawn him to Himself.

 

The removal of shame and fear is the result of God's love. The conflict and loneliness of disunity is removed as a result of God's love.

 

Love is the name for what God does for man and to man in reconciling and sanctifying him.

 

Man doesn't find this love or do something to get it. He is in union with God and so he receives it from God. His mind does not yet know what it is, but it is given to him. We have seen that love is Christ and Christ has been given to him; indeed, He lives inside him. Christ is the cross and that has been given to him as well. It is only a matter of learning in time, but time is short and compared to eternity, it is practically non-existent. The time spent learning who God is and thus learning His love (God is love) does not at all mean that love is slowly being accumulated. Christ fully belongs to the believer and just as the believer learns of Christ, he learns of His love.

 

ROM 5:5 hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us.

 

ROM 5:6 For while we were still helpless, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly.

 

Love is not man's choice, but it is the election of man by God.

 

We often want a definition of love so we can follow it like a laundry list, but it is not a troubleshooting manual or a procedure. God is love - define God. Christ is love - define Christ. When we look to a person like God the Father and God the Son as the humanity of Christ we don't think of definitions, but rather we think of a wide scope of things that make up that person. So also, the definition of love in 1CO 13:4-8 is a wide scope of virtues, and actions, and determinations that are more suited for a person than an abstract definition. And as we have seen, that definition of agape love in 1Co is mimicked in Gal 5's revelation of the fruit of the Spirit, and again, the Spirit is a person. Love is a person and that person has certain characteristics and we are in union with that person and have been predestined to be conformed to His image.

 

We love because He first loved us, 1Jo4:19, means that our love for God and others rests solely on our being loved by God.

 

As we are accepted in Christ so we love God and find our entire being in Him and obey Him. As we are accepted unconditionally in Christ so we accept all others in the same love. Our love rests fully on our being loved by God.

 

1CO 8:1 Now concerning things sacrificed to idols, we know that we all have knowledge. Knowledge makes arrogant, but love edifies.

 

As we saw in 1CO 13:1-2, a man can have much knowledge without love. Knowledge without love always makes one arrogant. The little child who is afraid of the dark will not be assured by arguments, especially if the adult adopts a superior attitude. Knowledge can be a weapon to fight with or a tool to build with, depending on how it is used. If it puffs up then it cannot build up [edify].

 

A know-it-all attitude is only an evidence of ignorance. The person who really knows truth is only too conscious of how much he does not know. Furthermore, it is one thing to know doctrines intellectually and quite something else to know God personally. It is possible to grow in Bible knowledge and yet not grow in grace or in one's personal relationship with God.

 

A famous preacher used to say, "Some Christians grow, others just swell."

 

Such a person is greedy for knowledge like another may be greedy for wealth. A man may accumulate much wealth, but if he is not gracious then his wealth is his master and his snare. If he accumulates wealth only to store away for himself, for his own pleasure and he does not give graciously he is like the man who accumulates knowledge, but not for the purpose of serving God or others. He is a miser in knowledge as one would be in wealth. Imagine that all the water on the earth was confined to one ocean that had no outlets as in rivers, streams, etc. The same amount of water would exist but it would not be distributed in order to refresh the earth.

 

Also, love cannot exist without knowledge from God. Love rejoices with the truth.