The Lie Surrounding God's Love

Yesterday's blog is an important blog but it is not complete. Before I continue with our walk through Galatians I just want to add something to what I wrote yesterday. Realizing that God loves everyone, sinner and saint alike, is game changing. What I mean is that, realizing this, we find our motivation for introducing people to Jesus. It is important to do simply because Jesus told us to do it, but it becomes more urgent when we understand why. Why do we need to go to our neighbour and the entire world and tell them about Jesus? Because our Father loves them and wants all of us back in his tender care.

Now the tendency of some is to draw the conclusion that God's love alone will save us. They figure that God's love is so great that it will transcend our will and leave us no choice but to accept this act of redemption even if we do not want to be saved. They figure that, if hell exists, it is not something that God would allow anyone to face; that his love will win out. Sadly these people are wrong.

There is no doubt that the greatest force in all of creation is God's love. That love moved him to see his son become a curse by being hung on a tree. He became a curse to save us, the objects of our Father's affection, but those who do not accept that sacrifice remain in the rebellion that separates us from God. They are doomed to destruction; the destruction Jesus came to save us from; the destruction the Father has done everything he can to pull us back from; the destruction that some people are determined to face. God's choice is to save us, but if we do not accept that salvation, the choice is ours. It is we who condemn ourselves by rejecting God's love.

I don't have to go far to prove my point because Jesus spoke more about hell than he did about heaven. Just picking one example, something Jesus said as he explained one of the parables to his disciples:

The Son of Man will send out his angels, and they will weed out of his kingdom everything that causes sin and all who do evil. They will throw them into the fiery furnace, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.  (Matthew 13:41-42)

I believe the whole "weeping and gnashing of teeth" gives us a pretty good idea what hell will be like. It is the just punishment for the rebellion in which we have lived. We all deserve such a punishment, but through Jesus, the grace of God, he has provided us a way out of this consequence. But don't be fooled by the fanciful wrong teaching that we are hearing in the Church today. God's love is for everyone, but salvation only belongs to those who repent of their rebellion and accept the sacrifice of Jesus.

Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. (Romans 10:13)

There is no other way to the Father. There is no other way to receive the great blessings of his love. The great desire of our God is that everyone would be saved as a result of his love, but he has left the choice up to us. Remember, there is a terrible day of judgement coming. Are you ready?