God's Love Always Saves

God's love always saves.

Think about that statement for a moment.

Do you agree with it?

Let me help.

Do you believe God loves everyone in some sense?

Do you believe some people will perish in hell?

If the answer to the above two is "yes", then you believe that God's love doesn't always save.

Then let me ask you:

Do you believe that God is almighty (can do all things)?

If so, why doesn't He save everyone He loves?

If you answer, "because of Free Will", then ask yourself:

If God is almighty, couldn't He make it so that everyone would freely and willingly trust Christ and be saved?


An (imperfect) analogy might help:

Imagine a woman who suffers from bipolar disease. She is married, and one day her and her husband go swimming in the ocean. They swim too far out. He is a strong swimmer, but she begins to drown. Immediately, he comes to help her. But being currently in a really depressed mood, she irrationally tells him to leave her alone.

Even though he knows full well that she was simply in a "down" mood and would of course never reject his help when normal, he says "well, I love you, but if that's what you want..."

Then he watches her drown, shedding some tears and expressing his love for her.

Since she was being irrational, would you not have saved her against her will, knowing that when she came to her sense, she would thank you heartily?

And now comes the moral of the story:

Did he really love her?

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Finally, most importantly, where in God's Word does it teach that God's love always saves?

"For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, 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." Romans 8:38-39.

Notice: Nothing you can possibly think of (including "free will") can separate from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus.

Hell is the absence of God's love. There is only His wrath.

Therefore, God can never throw anyone into hell that He loves.

And Scripture clearly testifies that God hates some sinners, and not just their sin:

"The LORD trieth the righteous: but the wicked and him that loveth violence his soul hateth." Psalm 5:5 (c.f. Psalm 11:5, Rom 9:13)

In short, God loves those who are saved despite of their sin, and He justly hates those humans who perish in hell in the way of their sins. This love for the elect He testifies to all the world by infallibly and graciously saving them, while He testifies His hatred for the reprobate by justly sending them to hell for their sins.

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And how do I know He loves me? And how can you know He loves you, without a shadow of a doubt?

"For God so loved the world, that whosoever believeth on him should not perish, but have everlasting life", John 3:16.

I know I am part of the world that God loves because I believe on him, and trust in His Son alone for my salvation.

This is my only comfort. In life and in death.

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For further reading on the question of God's love, please click here.

P.S.: I wholeheartedly believe God loves the world (John 3:16a), that is, the world of those who believe, the "whosoever believeth" of the second half of that verse. I also believe Caesar Augustus actually taxed the world (Luke 2:1). This is further explained in the above link.

God's Covenant with Abraham and the Children of Believers

This morning I was reading Genesis chapter 17, and was amazed how much God teaches in one single verse.

Genesis 17:7:

"I will establish my covenant between me and thee and thy seed after thee in their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be a God unto thee, and to thy seed after thee."

Notice what is taught here:

1. The covenant is unilateral (one-sided) - "I will establish my covenant", and unconditional. It is not, "Abraham, thou and I are going to establish this covenant together", neither is it, "I will establish my covenant with thee if thou..." It is an operation of the sovereign power of God, in which He does as He pleases.
2. The essence of the covenant is not justification or outward blessings, but that God will be the recipient's God - "to be a God unto thee". That is, the covenant is fellowship with God, it is life itself. Justification is a means toward, and only a part of, the establishment and realization of the covenant.
3. This covenant (fellowship with the Triune God) is promised not to Abraham only, but also to his children - " between me and thee and they seed after thee in their generations... to be a God unto thee and to they seed after thee". And to point toward this inclusion of the children, God commanded Abraham not only to circumcise himself, but also his (male) children, verses 10ff.
   

The modern Baptist, who refuses to baptise the infants of believers, thinks that this covenant is not for us New Testament believers, or if it is, that it no longer includes the promise for our children.

But first, we notice that the covenant with Abraham is "everlasting". And then we ask, what does the New Testament teach about the covenant with Abraham, and its place in the New Testament Church?

Romans 4:16

"Therefore it is of faith, that it might be by grace; to the end the promise might be sure to all the seed; not to that only which is of the law, but to that also which is of the faith of Abraham; who is the father of us all."

Galatians 3:14,29

"That the blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles through Jesus Christ; that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith... if ye be Christ's, then are ye Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise."

Can it be any clearer? We, New Testament Gentile believers, are "heirs according to the promise". We are the children of Abraham, who is "the father of us all". And in case there was any confusion, the Apostle Paul says explicitly:

"For he is not a Jew, which is one outwardly; neither is that circumcision, which is outward in the flesh: But he is a Jew, which is one inwardly; and circumcision is that of the heart, in the spirit, and not in the letter;" (Rom 2:28-29)
"For we [Jew & Gentile believers] are the circumcision, which worship God in the spirit." (Phi 3:3).

We are the seed of Abraham, the true Israel, the Jews by heart; we are the children of Abraham, the recipients of the promise. And the covenant still includes our children, for it is "everlasting". And to this the New Testament agrees:

"Then were there brought unto him little children [that is, believing parents brought their "little children" to Jesus to be blessed by him], that he should put his hands on them [think of believers bringing their babies to the church to be baptised], and pray: and the disciples [the modern-day Baptists] rebuked them. But Jesus said, Suffer little children, and forbid them not, to come unto me: for of such is the kingdom of heaven." - Matthew 19:13-14

"For the promise is unto you, and to your children" - Acts 2:39

"Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house" - Acts 16:31

"For the unbelieving husband is sanctified by the wife, and the unbelieving wife is sanctified by the husband: else were your children unclean; but now are they holy." - 1 Corinthians 7:14

And for this reason, the Reformed Church has always confessed,

"Are infants also to be baptized?
Yes: for since they, as well as the adult, are included in the covenant and church of God; and since redemption from sin by the blood of Christ, and the Holy Ghost, the author of faith, is promised to them no less than to the adult; they must therefore by baptism, as a sign of the covenant, be also admitted into the christian church; and be distinguished from the children of unbelievers as was done in the old covenant or testament by circumcision, instead of which baptism is instituted in the new covenant." (Heidelberg Catechism, Q74)

Praise God that the promise is not only for us, but also for our children! And because of this everlasting, unfailing promise of God, we baptise our children.