Radio Broadcast Tuesday 01/04/2022

Classic Christianity – A Closer Look at The Reality of The Resurrection P16 (01-04-22)

Perfect Love Drives Out All Fear

Do you really love God? People are living in fear today, and those that are living in fear are not really loving God. People think they love God, yet they don’t know the Love of God. They don’t know that God loves them. They are still trying to perform for God so in turn God would do something for them.

When we understand God’s love for us, it changes our world completely. We may understand God’s love for us when we first come to Him for salvation (eternal life), but then we lose sight of it for our daily living. We get on our own performance track, thinking that we’ve got to do something in order for God to do something ongoing with us. We need to learn that is NOT how God deals with us at all. God is love, and His Love lives in us. This is key to our understanding and walking in the love of God.

1 John 4:16-21
¹⁶ And so we know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them. ¹⁷ This is how love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the day of judgment: In this world we are like Jesus. ¹⁸ There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love. ¹⁹ We love because he first loved us. ²⁰ Whoever claims to love God yet hates a brother or sister is a liar. For whoever does not love their brother and sister, whom they have seen, cannot love God, whom they have not seen. ²¹ And he has given us this command: Anyone who loves God must also love their brother and sister.

Once we begin to understand God’s love for us, and in us, then we begin to allow God to live His life through us, loving others as He loves us. This is not some lovey-dovey form of earthly love. This is based on Truth and truth from the word of God.

Today the Love of God resides in a believer’s heart. As we come to know His love for us, we grow in the Grace and knowledge of God immensely. The Apostle Paul prayed for the Ephesians to know about this love, for the power of God!

Ephesians 3:14-19
¹⁴ For this reason I kneel before the Father, ¹⁵ from whom every family a in heaven and on earth derives its name. ¹⁶ I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, ¹⁷ so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in LOVE, ¹⁸ may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the LOVE of Christ, ¹⁹ and to know this LOVE that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.

A Closer Look at The Reality of the Resurrection

God’s Desire is For You to Know of His Love For You

God’s love changes a person. You can see that, when a person understands the love of God for them and in them, it changes a person’s personality. God’s love is forever. We have confidence on the day of judgement!

1 John 4:17-18
¹⁷ This is how love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the day of judgment: In this world we are like Jesus. ¹⁸ There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.

Are you convinced in the Love of God? It’s one thing to verbalize God’s love, it’s something else to be totally convinced of it.

The Apostle Paul was convinced of the love of God. Are you?

Romans 8:38-39
³⁸ For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, ³⁹ neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Paul realized and became convinced that nothing could separate him from the love of God. This is powerful! Once you become convinced of this you will not be shaken by anything in the world. When you are walking in His love you have eternal security in your heart. You are not fearful of His judgement. Why? Because you know and are convinced of the love of God.

1 John 4:18
¹⁸ There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.

We love because he loved us first. We need to place our confidence in the love of God.

When we abide in His love, we are not worried about our flesh. For we know that flesh and blood will not inherit the Kingdom of God. This flesh is going to the grave. There is nothing in our flesh that is loving. No matter how hard we try and clean up the flesh, it is not going anywhere. You can try and clean it up all you want, but there is no good thing in the flesh. That’s why Jesus didn’t come to make an improvement in your old nature, but He came to give you a new nature. This is why, until we understand God’s love for us, we can not respond in love to Him or to others. Because without an understanding of His love in and through us, we can not love others with His love.

Forgiveness under the law was forgive others before God would forgive you. Under the New Covenant it is forgive others as Christ Jesus has forgiven you. Do you see it? God forgave you completely. God doesn’t forgive based on what you do or don’t do. He doesn’t forgive you “if” you do this or do that. He doesn’t forgive you “if” you go to the day of atonement, or if you go to the confession booth or if you keep short accounts with God. No, he forgave you completely on the cross. You are completely forgiven. You are a forgiven saint if you are in Christ Jesus. There is no more forgiveness of sins! He forgave you of all of your sins on the cross!

In Christ Jesus we are forgiven, and we are redeemed.

Ephesians 1:7
⁷ In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace

Furthermore, when we come to Christ Jesus in faith, the Holy Spirit is given to us in life. Also, scripture tells us that we are also given the mind of Christ Jesus. This is wonderful news! We have the mind of God renewing our minds in His love for us. He is teaching us all truth. Yet people of the world and America are going around and attempting to instruct the Lord. People are arrogant in all their ways. People are telling God, “God you don’t know what you are doing. You don’t know what you are talking about.” The world has changed the truth of God into a lie. People call various sins good. They have changed the standard of truth into what they themselves have determined to be true. Let’s call sin something else.

We are instructed to call sin – sin. We are told to point out truth and not call it something else. We are not to place other names on various sins like homosexuality and call things gay or alternative lifestyles. This is changing the truth of God for a lie. The truth is these are sins. Call them for what they are.

1 Corinthians 2:16
¹⁶ for, “Who has known the mind of the Lord so as to instruct him?” But we have the mind of Christ.

James 1:8
⁸ A double minded man is unstable in all his ways.

Don’t walk in double mindedness.

Yet man still tries to instruct God. People of the world say they don’t need God. People call things right that are wrong. People make up their own rules for sins. Their standard of truth is based on what they think. They become their own god.

No man determines what is right and wrong. God has declared what is right and wrong. We don’t get to decide what is right and wrong. No person, no president gets to determine what is right and wrong. Why do we want to rely on the wisdom of man instead of the wisdom of God? For we are told (those who are in Christ Jesus) have the mind of Christ. And, if we do indeed have it, then why aren’t we using it?! Why do I want to rely on the wisdom of this world, when God says it is foolishness to God? Why are we not standing in the wisdom of God?

Instead, God wants us to walk in the Spirit. Walk in Truth. Then you will not carry out the desires of the flesh. And the flesh is not the filthy five or the dirty dozen. No, the flesh is not believing God but instead, believe in what the world has to say or believe in your psychiatrist or others. We have to even stand guard against believing in ministers too. For there are many ministers that preach contrary to the word of God. There are so many ministers that are lying according to the word of God. A lie is always against the truth. There are ministers that are out there preaching that Jesus isn’t God. They are liars and need to be called out for what they are.

Galatians 5:16-18
¹⁶ So I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. ¹⁷ For the flesh desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the flesh. They are in conflict with each other, so that you are not to do whatever you want. ¹⁸ But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.

There is something in us that wants to believe in a lie.

People justify their actions by being so proud in their fleshly desires. We hear the old Frank Sinatra song of doing it my way and we say to God the same thing. I’ll do it my way God. You don’t know what you are talking about God. And then we face all types of repercussions of our fleshly desires. There is a conflict between doing things the fleshly way or doing things God’s way. A person in Christ still has that conflict to deal with but He tells us that if we walk in the Spirit we will not gratify the desires of the flesh.

In Philippians 2:13 we read:

Philippians 2:13
¹³ for it is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfill his good purpose.

Now once we realize that God is living in us, and He is the one that works in us for His good purpose, and we walk by faith. Then He works in us by allowing (abiding in Him) to do it. This is walking by faith.

Romans 8 teaches us that the flesh can not please God. Those that are lost only have the flesh, and they can not please God. But we who are in Christ Jesus, have the Spirit. And we who have the Spirit, and walk according to the Spirit please God. And we also know that God will give us a new body someday.

Romans 8:9-11
⁹ You, however, are not in the realm of the flesh but are in the realm of the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God lives in you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, they do not belong to Christ. ¹⁰ But if Christ is in you, then even though your body is subject to death because of sin, the Spirit gives life because of righteousness. ¹¹ And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies because of his Spirit who lives in you.

Everyone must be born again of the Spirit. When the Spirit of God comes to give a person life, we are now included in Christ Jesus. He lives in us and we live in Him! We are marked in Him with a seal. The Holy Spirit is our Seal. He lives in us and never will leave us!

Ephesians 1:13-14
¹³ And you also were included in Christ when you heard the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation. When you believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, ¹⁴ who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s possession—to the praise of his glory.