GOD’S LOVE IS NOT PERMISSIVE

 

 

 “God is love. Therefore, according to many young people, “You just need to be you. Nothing more!” However, this is not the love of the Bible. Instead, there are requirements to receive His love - faith and repentance. Jesus died to redeem those who would follow Him. He purified us to live for Him:

·       For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people, training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age, waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a people for his own possession who are zealous for good works. (Titus 2:11–14)

 

Christ came to die for us to purify us so that we would do good and to avoid evil. This doesn’t mean that He saves us because we have earned it through our good deeds. None of us could ever be good enough to pay such a price. Instead, if we trust Him, we will do what He tells us to do – avoid sin and to do what is right. If we refuse to, it means that we do not trust Him for our salvation. Instead, we deny Him with our deeds – a non-repentant life:

·       They profess to know God, but they deny him by their works. They are detestable, disobedient, unfit for any good work. (Titus 1:16)

 

This testifies that we are not saved, despite what our mouths might claim.

Granted, our obedience is never perfect. We always fall short of His standards, but if we sincerely confess our sins and try to turn from them, we can trust that He loves us and has saved us:

·       But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin. If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. (1 John 1:7–9)

 

Partaking of Jesus depends on “walking in the light” and sincerely confessing our sins (with the intent of turning away from them), when we fall on our face. This requires more than just “being yourself.” It also requires repentance (turning from sin):

 

·       As it is, I rejoice, not because you were grieved, but because you were grieved into repenting. For you felt a godly grief, so that you suffered no loss through us. For godly grief produces a repentance that leads to salvation without regret, whereas worldly grief produces death. (2 Corinthians 7:9–10)

 

Salvation depends on regeneration, which leads to a repentant heart. This suggests that we must understand God’s love as it is Biblically taught and not as a license to live in any way we choose.

 

Grace –> Regeneration –> Faith/Repentance -->

(the causes of) Salvation -->

Obedience (the proof, fruit, result, or necessary evidence of Salvation)

 

To put it simply, to refuse to follow Jesus means that we never had Him.