Sue J Love
Loyal
- Joined
- Mar 27, 2015
- Messages
- 3,222
“Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?” And He said to him, “‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the great and foremost commandment. The second is like it, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ On these two commandments depend the whole Law and the Prophets.” (Matthew 22:36-40 NASB1995)
To love like this is to prefer what God prefers, to choose his choices, and to obey them in his power. It means we are actively doing what the Lord prefers by his power and under his direction. And what God prefers is all that is holy, righteous, godly, upright, morally pure, honest, faithful, and obedient to him and to his commands, by the grace of God, by God-persuaded faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, which is of God, and which is not of human flesh.
So, if we love God, in truth, and in righteousness, then we will submit to him as Lord (Owner-Master) of our lives. We will surrender our wills to the will of the Father, and we will follow him wherever he leads us in doing whatever he commands us to do, as his followers (his servants, his disciples). We will, thus, die with him to sin, and be raised with him to walk in newness of life in him, no longer to live as slaves to sin, but to God and to his righteousness.
And the Scriptures teach that if we love God that we will obey him, but if we do not obey him, in practice, we do not love him, and we do not know him, and we are not in fellowship with him, and we do not have eternal life in him. For to love involves action on our part. It is doing to/for God and to/for others what is loving, as God defines love, not as human flesh often defines love. It is doing for others what is for their good, even if they don’t see it.
So this kind of love is not just feelings and emotions, which tend to fluctuate depending upon our circumstances and on the one we are loving. We love even if we are hated and mistreated and lied about, in return. For that is how Jesus loved the people of the earth when he lived on the earth, and that is how he loved all of us when he went to that cross to take upon himself the sins of the entire world so that, by faith in him, we will die with him to sin.
Does this mean that God demands of us absolute sinless perfection? No (1 John 2:1-2). But lack of perfection is never to be used as an excuse for deliberate and habitual sin against the Lord Jesus. We can’t just say, “Well, nobody is perfect,” and then go on living by the flesh and not by the Spirit. Might we fail at some point? We might, because we are human. But deliberate and habitual sin, in rebellion against God, is not the same.
And why do I dwell on this subject? Because God’s word does, all throughout the Old Testament and the New Testament. Jesus dwelt on this subject, as did Paul and the other New Testament apostles. Why? Because we are humans, and as humans we might have a tendency to drift back into living by the flesh and not in walks of obedience to our Lord. And that is why we are instructed to exhort one another so we are not deceived by sin’s traps.
And another main reason is the same reason as did Paul continue to go back to this subject over again, because so many liars and deceivers and false teachers were convincing the Christians that they did not have to obey God and that they did not have to forsake their sins, which is where we are today. So many professing Christians are buying into a distorted gospel message which is convincing them that obedience is not required of them.
And they are also being taught that God does not demand of them that they die with him to sin and that they now live godly and moral and pure and honest and faithful lives to God. And they are being convinced that no matter how much they sin that they will not be judged by God for their sins and that they will still get to enter into God’s heaven. So they are being lied to by the masses, and this requires biblical rebuttals to the many lies.
Why? Because we love God and we love other humans, and we want what God wants for all of us, that we die with him to sin and now walk in obedience to his commands, and because we don’t want to see anyone end up in hell, especially on the basis of believing a lie. And so we tell them the truth because we love them, even if they hate and misjudge and speak evil of us in return. And the truth is that we must die to sin and obey our Lord, in practice, or we will not see heaven. Not my words! Read the following:
[Matthew 7:13-14,21-23; Luke 9:23-26; John 1:12-13; John 6:44; John 10:27-30; Acts 26:18; Romans 2:6-8; Romans 6:1-23; Romans 8:1-14; Romans 12:1-2; 1 Corinthians 10:1-22; Galatians 5:16-21; Ephesians 2:8-10; Ephesians 4:17-32; Ephesians 5:3-6; Titus 2:11-14; Hebrews 3:1-19; Hebrews 4:1-13; 1 Peter 2:24; 1 John 1:5-10; 1 John 2:3-6; 1 John 3:4-10]
The Lord’s My Shepherd
Lyrics by Francis Rous (1579-1659)
Music by Jessie Seymour Irvine (1836-1887)
The Lord’s my Shepherd, I’ll not want;
He makes me down to lie
In pastures green; He leadeth me
The quiet waters by.
My soul He doth restore again,
And me to walk doth make
Within the paths of righteousness,
E’en for His own name’s sake.
Yea, though I walk in death’s dark vale,
Yet will I fear no ill;
For Thou art with me, and Thy rod
And staff me comfort still.
My table Thou hast furnished
In presence of my foes;
My head Thou dost with oil anoint,
And my cup overflows.
Goodness and mercy all my life
Shall surely follow me,
And in God’s house forevermore
My dwelling-place shall be.
Caution: this link may contain ads
The Greatest Commandment
An Original Work / February 25, 2025
Christ’s Free Servant, Sue J Love
To love like this is to prefer what God prefers, to choose his choices, and to obey them in his power. It means we are actively doing what the Lord prefers by his power and under his direction. And what God prefers is all that is holy, righteous, godly, upright, morally pure, honest, faithful, and obedient to him and to his commands, by the grace of God, by God-persuaded faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, which is of God, and which is not of human flesh.
So, if we love God, in truth, and in righteousness, then we will submit to him as Lord (Owner-Master) of our lives. We will surrender our wills to the will of the Father, and we will follow him wherever he leads us in doing whatever he commands us to do, as his followers (his servants, his disciples). We will, thus, die with him to sin, and be raised with him to walk in newness of life in him, no longer to live as slaves to sin, but to God and to his righteousness.
And the Scriptures teach that if we love God that we will obey him, but if we do not obey him, in practice, we do not love him, and we do not know him, and we are not in fellowship with him, and we do not have eternal life in him. For to love involves action on our part. It is doing to/for God and to/for others what is loving, as God defines love, not as human flesh often defines love. It is doing for others what is for their good, even if they don’t see it.
So this kind of love is not just feelings and emotions, which tend to fluctuate depending upon our circumstances and on the one we are loving. We love even if we are hated and mistreated and lied about, in return. For that is how Jesus loved the people of the earth when he lived on the earth, and that is how he loved all of us when he went to that cross to take upon himself the sins of the entire world so that, by faith in him, we will die with him to sin.
Does this mean that God demands of us absolute sinless perfection? No (1 John 2:1-2). But lack of perfection is never to be used as an excuse for deliberate and habitual sin against the Lord Jesus. We can’t just say, “Well, nobody is perfect,” and then go on living by the flesh and not by the Spirit. Might we fail at some point? We might, because we are human. But deliberate and habitual sin, in rebellion against God, is not the same.
And why do I dwell on this subject? Because God’s word does, all throughout the Old Testament and the New Testament. Jesus dwelt on this subject, as did Paul and the other New Testament apostles. Why? Because we are humans, and as humans we might have a tendency to drift back into living by the flesh and not in walks of obedience to our Lord. And that is why we are instructed to exhort one another so we are not deceived by sin’s traps.
And another main reason is the same reason as did Paul continue to go back to this subject over again, because so many liars and deceivers and false teachers were convincing the Christians that they did not have to obey God and that they did not have to forsake their sins, which is where we are today. So many professing Christians are buying into a distorted gospel message which is convincing them that obedience is not required of them.
And they are also being taught that God does not demand of them that they die with him to sin and that they now live godly and moral and pure and honest and faithful lives to God. And they are being convinced that no matter how much they sin that they will not be judged by God for their sins and that they will still get to enter into God’s heaven. So they are being lied to by the masses, and this requires biblical rebuttals to the many lies.
Why? Because we love God and we love other humans, and we want what God wants for all of us, that we die with him to sin and now walk in obedience to his commands, and because we don’t want to see anyone end up in hell, especially on the basis of believing a lie. And so we tell them the truth because we love them, even if they hate and misjudge and speak evil of us in return. And the truth is that we must die to sin and obey our Lord, in practice, or we will not see heaven. Not my words! Read the following:
[Matthew 7:13-14,21-23; Luke 9:23-26; John 1:12-13; John 6:44; John 10:27-30; Acts 26:18; Romans 2:6-8; Romans 6:1-23; Romans 8:1-14; Romans 12:1-2; 1 Corinthians 10:1-22; Galatians 5:16-21; Ephesians 2:8-10; Ephesians 4:17-32; Ephesians 5:3-6; Titus 2:11-14; Hebrews 3:1-19; Hebrews 4:1-13; 1 Peter 2:24; 1 John 1:5-10; 1 John 2:3-6; 1 John 3:4-10]
The Lord’s My Shepherd
Lyrics by Francis Rous (1579-1659)
Music by Jessie Seymour Irvine (1836-1887)
The Lord’s my Shepherd, I’ll not want;
He makes me down to lie
In pastures green; He leadeth me
The quiet waters by.
My soul He doth restore again,
And me to walk doth make
Within the paths of righteousness,
E’en for His own name’s sake.
Yea, though I walk in death’s dark vale,
Yet will I fear no ill;
For Thou art with me, and Thy rod
And staff me comfort still.
My table Thou hast furnished
In presence of my foes;
My head Thou dost with oil anoint,
And my cup overflows.
Goodness and mercy all my life
Shall surely follow me,
And in God’s house forevermore
My dwelling-place shall be.
Caution: this link may contain ads
The Greatest Commandment
An Original Work / February 25, 2025
Christ’s Free Servant, Sue J Love
