Lesson for August 2, 2020
The Perfected Love of God
Lesson 3
God’s impersonal love for all mankind has been manifested beginning in eternity past when God designed a plan of salvation for the human race. On the Cross, Jesus Christ paid the penalty for the sins of the entire human race, past, present and future, which was a demonstration of God’s impersonal love. (John 3:16) At the point of God-consciousness, God once again demonstrates His impersonal love when positive volition is expressed by a person who wants to know God. This positive volition on the part of a person means God will be moved to provide them a clear presentation of the Gospel. This is the first point at which a person has the opportunity to make a positive or negative decision to believe in Christ as Savior. This opportunity to believe in Christ is always available to the unbeliever as long as they are alive on earth. Therefore, the impersonal love of God is in constant contact with unbelievers throughout their lifetimes. This is verified in II Peter 3:9, “The Lord is not slow about His promise (to return for the Church), as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance (change of mind about Christ).”
The perfect plan of God for mankind was demonstrated at the Cross. The greatest demonstration of the impersonal love of God was the imputation of the sins of the human race to Jesus Christ on the Cross. Because of Christ’s payment for sin, God’s righteousness and justice were satisfied and the potential for eternal life became a reality. The justice of God always condemns sin but His grace, as a demonstration of His impersonal love, provides the solution to that condemnation in the Person of Christ. God gave His Son as a gift to mankind and when that gift is accepted by faith alone in Jesus Christ as Savior God’s impersonal love is fully demonstrated. (John 3:16, 36; Romans 3:21-26, 5:8, 8:1)
Ephesians 2:8-9, “For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.”
Salvation is by grace through faith in Christ. Faith is the only system of perception which is totally devoid of any human merit. Only the object has merit, and in salvation the object of faith is Jesus Christ. How much faith does it take to be saved? Just a little bit more than no faith at all. (Luke 17:6) The salvation work of Christ on the Cross excludes anything being added to faith.
Grace is all that God is free to do for mankind on the basis of the work of Christ on the Cross. Grace is extended to mankind as unbelievers, living under spiritual death, controlled by their sin nature and total helplessness regarding salvation. Therefore, as a matter of grace, salvation is entirely the work of God. It is the work of the Father in judging our sins, of the Son in being judged for our sins, and of the Holy Spirit in making the Gospel clear. This is why the way of salvation is by faith alone in Jesus Christ with no human works added to it. Human works are human efforts to please or gain the approval of God for salvation or spirituality including, but not limited to, such things as church membership, water baptism, religious rituals, performing good deeds, obeying the Ten Commandments, good behavior, being sincere or keeping certain rules. (Titus 3:4-7)
Saving grace is called “efficacious grace,” meaning effective grace. When a spiritually dead person responds to the invitation from God (all are invited) to have eternal salvation, a person simply responds by believing in Jesus Christ as Savior. This is classified as “faith alone” or “faith plus nothing.” It is the ministry of God the Holy Spirit to “invite” all unbelievers to believe in Christ.
So, the Holy Spirit makes the Gospel clear to an unbeliever who in spiritual death is unable to understand spiritual things (I Corinthians 2:14) and then they are able to believe in Christ. Upon faith alone in Christ alone, the Holy Spirit makes that faith effective for salvation, eternal life and the 40 spiritual assets that we receive as a result. (I John 5:13)
The faith of an unbeliever who is spiritually dead means that they have positive volition at the point of Gospel-hearing and exercise their faith which is a non-meritorious function and is compatible with God’s grace. The Holy Spirit makes faith alone in Christ effective for salvation. Works such as being water baptized, giving money, doing good deeds, observing certain rituals added to faith in Christ are dead (useless) works, and the Holy Spirit does not make dead works effective for salvation. So, if you add any works to your faith when you believe in Jesus Christ, there is no efficacious grace and you’re not saved at that point.
The pre-salvation grace ministry of God is as follows. In common (available to all) grace, the Holy Spirit makes the Gospel message clear. God invites the spiritually dead person to believe in Christ, which is called “the divine call.” The spiritually dead person believes in Christ, and the Holy Spirit causes faith to be effective for salvation, which is called efficacious grace. Again, when any human works are added to faith in Christ as a requirement for salvation, the Holy Spirit cannot cause that faith to be effective. The reason is that divine power and human power actually cancel each other out. Human works is human power, which is rejected by grace. Consequently, human works added to faith in Christ as a requirement for salvation cancels faith. Therefore, salvation is not from ourselves since it is a matter of common grace, the divine call, and efficacious grace. That’s why it is a gift from God. (Romans 11:6)
A spiritually dead person is incapable of doing anything to obtain salvation. Spiritual death at birth means separation from God, total helplessness to attain a relationship with God and the status of dichotomy, meaning only a body and soul but no human spirit. Without a human spirit, a person is unable to understand the simplest concepts of the Gospel. The very nature of common grace, the divine call, and efficacious grace eliminate any system of salvation by works. (I Corinthians 2:14)
Failure to accept the impersonal love of God by faith in His Son Jesus Christ for salvation means an unbeliever will stand before the Lord Jesus Christ at the Great White Throne Judgment. Any human achievement in this life will count for nothing at this point. At this point it is too late to believe in Christ as Savior and the unbeliever will only then realize what Christ accomplished on the Cross and what the rejection of God’s impersonal love means. For rejecting the work of Christ on the Cross, which He accomplished because of impersonal love, the unbeliever will be sentenced to the Lake of Fire for all eternity. (Revelation 20:11-13)
Amazingly, God’s love for the unbeliever never changes, but He cannot violate His justice and righteousness by disregarding the rejection of Jesus Christ as Savior. Therefore, even when a person rejects God’s impersonal love by not believing in His Son Jesus Christ, God still loves them. So, God never fails the unbeliever, but the unbeliever fails the love of God. We must never forget that our point of contact with God before salvation is His justice and righteousness, and His love never overrides His justice and righteousness. Only negative volition toward God and His Son Jesus Christ sends a person and an angel (including Satan) to the Lake of Fire and demonstrates that God is perfectly fair, just, righteous and consistent with all of His attributes, even His love. (John 3:18, 36)
God’s personal love is for believers only because they receive the righteousness of God at salvation and God loves His own righteousness. Believers also become Royal Family of God and receive at least 40 spiritual assets at salvation. As a child of God, a believer also becomes an heir of God and a joint heir with Jesus Christ. This means that all believers have an inheritance from God that is waiting for them in eternity. For those believers who chose to fulfill God’s plan, purpose and will receive even greater blessings in a portfolio designed specifically for them by God. (II Corinthians 5:21; Galatians 3:26; Romans 8:17; James 4:6)
God’s personal love for believers secures forever eternal life that He imputes to them at salvation. There nothing that can separate a believer from their eternal relationship with God. No sin or failure can undo what God has done and therefore your salvation cannot be cancelled for any reason. A believer’s relationship with God is permanent and he can never be separated from the love of God. Even if a believer turns his back on God and denies his faith, his eternal life is secure forever. (Romans 8:38-39; II Timothy 2:13; Jude 24-25; Psalm 37:24)
Church Age believers are the most privileged people of any dispensation. As Church Age believers, we have more spiritual assets than any age before us or after us. In God’s matchless grace, He has given us all the equipment we need to do battle in this intensified phase of the Angelic Conflict. Because we are in a spiritual battle, we need a power greater than ourselves to empower and sustain us. When Jesus was about to return to Heaven, He promised to send the help we would need for this spiritual battle in the Person of God the Holy Spirit. At salvation, every believer in Christ receives the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, which sets up the potential for the filling of the Holy Spirit. The indwelling and the filling of the Holy Spirit are different. The indwelling is permanent, and the filling is temporary. The filling ministry of the Holy Spirit provides the spiritual power a believer needs to fulfill the Protocol Plan of God.
The filling of the Holy Spirit is for every believer in Christ. The purpose of this filling is to empower the believer to live the Christian Way of Life. When a believer is living the Christian Way of Life, he brings glory and honor to Christ. All believers are immediately filled with the Holy Spirit the moment they trust Christ as their Savior. The first time we sin after salvation however, we lose the filling of the Holy Spirit and we are out of fellowship with God. In order to restore both the filling of the Holy Spirit and our fellowship with God, we must simply name our known sins to God. (I John 1:9) We are then commanded to move forward with the execution of the Christian Way of Life, which the Scripture calls “walking in the light.” (I John 1:5-10) The filling of the Holy Spirit is potential, depending on the volition (free will) of the believer. It is also a command and literally means “keep on being filled with the Spirit.”
The Greek word for “filling” is “pleroo” and has four meanings, which all apply to the filling ministry of the Holy Spirit.
- To fill up a deficiency – Without the power and control of the Holy Spirit, the believer has no ability to learn and apply Bible doctrine. In other words, he is deficient of the doctrinal information necessary to execute the Christian Way of Life. (Colossians 1:25; I John 4:4)
- To be fully possessed – Since God the Holy Spirit indwells every believer in the Church Age, the potential exists for him to be fully controlled by God’s supernatural power. This means that the believer can reside in God’s plan by utilizing God’s system. (I Corinthians 6:19-20)
- To be fully influenced – If the Holy Spirit is allowed to fill the deficiency and fully possess the believer’s life, then every area of that life will be influenced by the power of the Holy Spirit. If the power of the Holy Spirit is rejected, the believer is going to be fully influenced by Satan’s cosmic system. (Galatians 5:16; Ephesians 5:18)
- To be filled with a certain quality – There is no higher quality than the integrity of God. It is this quality that becomes resident in the soul of the believer as the Holy Spirit is allowed to control, possess and influence the soul. It is also this quality that leads a believer to spiritual maturity. (Ephesians 3:19, 4:10; Philippians 1:11; I John 1:4; Revelation 3:2)
This unique spiritual life that we have in this dispensation provides advantages, privileges and capacity for spiritual blessings that are beyond compare. (Romans 11:33; Ephesians 1:18; Colossians 2:2) However, every believer in Christ must make their own individual decision regarding this unique spiritual life. Some believers will choose to live this unique life and others will choose not to live it. Living this unique life that God has provided is accomplished by means of knowledge and application of the Word of God. (II Timothy 2:15; Hebrews 4:12; II Peter 3:18)
Knowledge of the Word of God must be more than mere academic knowledge (called gnosis in Greek). For the doctrines in the Bible to useful they must be understood spiritually (called “epignosis” in Greek). “Epignosis” doctrine is the only doctrine that can be applied to the Christian Way of Life because it alone has spiritual value. Without “epignosis” knowledge, a believer will never be able to comprehend the infinite, eternal wealth and love that God has provided.
Ephesians 3:14-21, “ For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth derives its name, that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with power through His Spirit in the inner man, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; and that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled up to all the fullness of God. Now to Him who is able to do far more abundantly beyond all that we ask or think, according to the power that works within us, to Him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations forever and ever. Amen.”
The Apostle Paul was offering a prayer for the believers in Ephesus wanting for them to have an “epignosis” knowledge of God and His tremendous spiritual wealth. To be strengthened with power through His Spirit refers to the filling of the Holy Spirit. Please notice where this strengthening takes place – in the inner man, which is a reference to the soul of a believer. The result of this strengthening is that Christ will be at home (dwell) in your soul (heart) through Bible doctrine (faith), that you will be rooted (firmly planted in your soul) and grounded (a firm foundation) in the perfected love of God. Also, that you may be able to comprehend the breadth, length, height and depth of God’s wealth, know the surpassing love of Christ and be filled up with all the fullness (complete knowledge) of God.
Paul in his ingenious way used an analogy from Roman buildings to describe the ideal spiritual life. Using four different dimensions, all of which are unified or viewed as a whole, Paul laid out the spiritual life of the believer. Therefore, breadth, length, height and depth are used to represent different aspects of the Christ Way of Life that equip the advancing believer to reach spiritual maturity and glorify Jesus Christ.