Grace and Truth
Bible Ministries

Celebration of The Lord's Table and the Doctrine of Love cont...

1John 4:7-8; NET Dear friends let us love one another because love is from God and everyone who loves has been fathered by God and knows God. The person who does not love does not know God because God is love.

When we stopped last time with the idea that love is the visible manifestation of capacity and integrity in the soul because love is based upon integrity, virtue, and capacity.

Bible doctrine in the soul is how impersonal love for others is developed.

Rom 8:28 "We know, therefore, that to those who love God, He works all things together for good, even toward those who are elected according to a predetermined plan

The place where circumstances are being worked out for the absolute good is inside the PPOG.

1Cor 2:9; "But just as it stands written (Isa 64:4), `Things which the eye has not seen and it has not entered into the heart of mankind all that God has prepared for those who love Him.'"

Deut 6:4-6,12; "Hear, O Israel, the Lord is our God, the Lord is unique. And you shall love the Lord your God with all of your heart (right lobe of the soul-the stream of consciousness), with all your soul (self- consciousness, mentality, emotions, left lobe of the soul), with all your strength (soul strength-your capacity, tranquility, contentment, happiness). And these doctrines, which I am commanding you today, shall be in your heart (metabolized doctrine).

v12 Then watch yourself, lest you forget the Lord who brought out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery."

Personal love for God is a response to God's love for us. In the Church Age, it is called occupation with Christ. Heb 12:2

Personal love for God was a mandate given to Old Testament believers, Deut 6:5, 10:12, Deut 11:1,13;

Neglect of or negative volition toward Bible doctrine results in blackout of the soul that causes scar tissue of the soul. When this exists, there is no capacity for personal love for God.

Eph 4:18;, "They (those that have rejected Bible doctrine) have been darkened in their thinking, and they have been alienated from the life of God because of ignorance that is in them and because of scar tissue of the heart."

When believers fail to advance in the spiritual life, they have no capacity for love, no capacity for tranquility, and no capacity for life.

1Cor 16:22; states that the believer who doesn't love Jesus Christ is under a special curse called "anathema maranatha" or "cursed till our Lord returns."

Christian degeneracy is the antithesis of love for God. John 5:42; "You do not have the love for God in yourselves."

This statement is true of all believers who fail to make Bible doctrine the highest priority in their lives.

2Thes 3:5, "May the Lord direct your hearts toward the love for God." Love for God is always connected with the believer's thinking.

Jesus Christ is the initiator of love. He initiated this love in eternity past under the principle of grace, Eph 5:25-27; 1John 4:8-10;

The believer's response to this love is the true motivator for Christian production.

Divine love is initiated through grace. Therefore the capacity of the believer for personal love for God is intensified by grace orientation.

In grace, believers naturally take in the Word because of their occupation with Christ.

Grace orientation means that nothing is forced. Dan 9:4; Psa 31:23; Psa 119:132; 1Cor 2:9;

Personal love for God also provides courage in battle, Joshua 23:10-11;

There are two Greek words that are translated " love" in the New Testament: " phileo" and "agapo".

God uses the Greek word "agapo" for His mandate to love everyone. This is the impersonal love that believers attain in spiritual adulthood. "Phileo" is used for personal love.

"Agapo" is a specialized soul love that requires the filling of the Holy Spirit along with grace and doctrinal orientation. " Phileo" involves rapport and can only develop over a period of time.

God does not command believers to do something that is impossible. To have personal love for everyone is impossible.

Only impersonal love has virtue and problem solving characteristics. It is the professional love of the Christian that results from their life in God's power system that is created when the believer is filled with the Holy Spirit and is learning, metabolizing, and applying doctrine.

It is impossible for new believers to fulfill this mandate because they have not yet acquired the capacity from doctrine to do it. This is why it is stated as a potential with the use of the 3rd class condition of "if" in John 13:35;

 

© Copyright 2007, Michael Lemmon Bible Ministries. World Rights Reserved.  This document was created on 7/4/2010