Unconditional love
God’s love for Manasseh.
2 Chronicles 33:1-16.
He sacrificed his children in the fire in the Valley of Ben Hinnom, practiced divination and witchcraft, sought omens, and consulted mediums and spiritists. He did much evil in the eyes of the Lord, arousing his anger.
He took the image he had made and put it in God’s temple, of which God had said to David and to his son Solomon, In this temple and in Jerusalem, which I have chosen out of all the tribes of Israel, I will put my Name forever.
God’s love for Manasseh.
2 Chronicles 33:1-16 (continued)
But Manasseh led Judah and the people of Jerusalem astray, so that they did more evil than the nations the Lord had destroyed before the Israelites.
The Lord spoke to Manasseh and his people, but they paid no attention. So the Lord brought against them the army commanders of the king of Assyria, who took Manasseh prisoner, put a hook in his nose, bound him with bronze shackles and took him to Babylon. In his distress he sought the favour of the Lord his God and humbled himself greatly before the God of his ancestors. And when he prayed to him, the Lord was moved by his entreaty and listened to his plea; so he brought him back to Jerusalem and to his kingdom.
God’s love for Nineveh.
Assyrian policy was to deport conquered peoples to other lands within the empire, to destroy their sense of nationalism, and break any pride or hope of rebellion and replace them with strangers from far away. Assyrians were great warriors. Most nations at that time period were looters, building their state by robbing other nations.
Assyria was the most ferocious of them all. Their very name became a byword for cruelty and atrocity. They skinned their prisoners alive, and cut off various body parts to inspire terror in their enemies.
There are records of Assyrian officials pulling out tongues and displaying mounds of human skulls all to bring about stark horror and wealthy tribute from surrounding nations.
God’s love for Nineveh.
Jonah 4:1-11. .. He wanted to die, and said, It would be better for me to die than to live. But God said to Jonah, Is it right for you to be angry about the plant? It is, he said. And I’m so angry I wish I were dead.But the LORD said, You have been concerned about this plant, though you did not tend it or make it grow. It sprang up overnight and died overnight. And should I not have concern for the great city of Nineveh, in which there are more than a hundred and twenty thousand people who cannot tell their right hand from their left and also many animals?
Do you love your neighbour?
Luke 10:25-29.
On one occasion an expert in the law stood up to test Jesus. Teacher, he asked, what must I do to inherit eternal life? What is written in the Law he replied. How do you read it?
He answered, Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind; and, Love your neighbour as yourself.
You have answered correctly, Jesus replied. Do this and you will live. But he wanted to justify himself, so he asked Jesus, And who is my neighbour?
Who is my neighbour?
Luke 10:28-35.
In reply Jesus said: A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, when he was attacked by robbers. They stripped him of his clothes, beat him and went away, leaving him half dead. A priest happened to be going down the same road, and when he saw the man, he passed by on the other side. So too, a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side.
Who is my neighbour?
Luke 10:28-35.
But a Samaritan, as he travelled, came where the man was; and when he saw him, he took pity on him.
He went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he put the man on his own donkey, brought him to an inn and took care of him.
The next day he took out two denarii and gave them to the innkeeper.
Look after him, he said, and when I return, I will reimburse you for any extra expense you may have.
Who is my neighbour?
Galatians 5:11.
You, my brothers and sisters, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the flesh; rather, serve one another humbly in love. For the entire law is fulfilled in keeping this one command: Love your neighbour as yourself.
Who is my neighbour?
Luke 16:19-24.
There was a rich man who was dressed in purple and fine linen and lived in luxury every day.At his gate was laid a beggar named Lazarus, covered with sores and longing to eat what fell from the rich man’s table. Even the dogs came and licked his sores.
The time came when the beggar died and the angels carried him to Abraham’s side.
The rich man also died and was buried.
In Hades, where he was in torment, he looked up and saw Abraham far away, with Lazarus by his side. So he called to him, Father Abraham, have pity on me and send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue, because I am in agony in this fire.
You cannot be saved by an unproductive faith.
Vines dictionary: love - can only be known from the action it prompts.
James 2:14-18 & 26.
What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if someone claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save them?
Suppose a brother or a sister is without clothes and daily food. If one of you says to them, “Go in peace; keep warm and well fed, but does nothing about their physical needs, what good is it? In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead. But someone will say, You have faith; I have deeds. Show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by my deeds…
As the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without deeds is dead.
God’s Agape love.
1 John 3:16-18.
This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters. If anyone has material possessions and sees a brother or sister in need but has no pity on them, how can the love of God be in that person? Dear children, let us not love with words or speech but with actions and in truth.
Galatians 5:6.
For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision means anything, but faith working through love.
Faith is important, it is impossible to please God without faith, but faith works through love and perhaps the real problem with the Church today is not our lack of faith but our lack of love.
God’s Agape love.
1 John 4:16.
And so we know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love, whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them.
Ephesians 3:16-19.
I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.
Paul does not pray that we would understand God’s love, because it surpasses knowledge, but that we would know it.
God’s Agape love.
Do you know God’s love?
Do you know that God loves evil people, even you?
Now I am not the one calling you evil, Jesus said that we are evil!
Matthew 7:7-12.
Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened. Which of you, if your son asks for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake?
If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him! So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets.
God’s love in us is proof of our Salvation.
1 John 4:7-13.
Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.
No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us.
This is how we know that we live in him and he in us: He has given us of his Spirit.
God’s love in us is proof of our Salvation.
At Salvation we receive the Holy Spirit just as the Disciples did when Jesus appeared to them when he was resurrected and he breathed on them. The Holy Spirit then transforms our lives and part of this is placing God’s love in our hearts.
Romans 5:5-8.
And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us. You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous person, though for a good person someone might possibly dare to die. But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
God’s love for the unloved.
Matthew 11:18-19.
For John came neither eating nor drinking, and they say, He has a demon. The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they say, Here is a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners.
Matthew 9:11-13.
When the Pharisees saw this, they asked his disciples, Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners? On hearing this, Jesus said, It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. But go and learn what this means: I desire mercy, not sacrifice. For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.
God’s love for the prostitutes.
Luke 7:36-48.
When one of the Pharisees invited Jesus to have dinner with him, he went to the Pharisee’s house and reclined at the table. A woman in that town who lived a sinful life learned that Jesus was eating at the Pharisee’s house, so she came there with an alabaster jar of perfume. As she stood behind him at his feet weeping, she began to wet his feet with her tears. Then she wiped them with her hair, kissed them and poured perfume on them. When the Pharisee who had invited him saw this, he said to himself, If this man were a prophet, he would know who is touching him and what kind of woman she is that she is a sinner.
God’s love for the Samaritan woman.
John 4:7-7&16-18.
Soon a Samaritan woman came to draw water, and Jesus said to her, Please give me a drink. He was alone at the time because his disciples had gone into the village to buy some food. The woman was surprised, for Jews refuse to have anything to do with Samaritans. She said to Jesus, You are a Jew, and I am a Samaritan woman. Why are you asking me for a drink?... ..
Go and get your husband, Jesus told her. I don’t have a husband, the woman replied..Jesus said, You’re right! You don’t have a husband for you have had five husbands, and you aren’t even married to the man you’re living with now. You certainly spoke the truth!
God’s love for an adulteress.
John 8:3-11. As he was speaking, the teachers of religious law and the Pharisees brought a woman who had been caught in the act of adultery. Teacher, they said to Jesus, this woman was caught in the act of adultery. The law of Moses says to stone her. What do you say?...
All right, but let the one who has never sinned throw the first stone! Then he stooped down again and wrote in the dust… Then Jesus stood up again and said to the woman, Where are your accusers?
Didn’t even one of them condemn you? No, Lord, she said. And Jesus said, Neither do I. Go and sin no more.
God wants us to even love our enemies.
Matthew 5:43-48.
You have heard that it was said, Love your neighbour and hate your enemy. But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be children of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.
If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that?
And if you greet only your own people, what are you doing more than others? Do not even pagans do that?
Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.
Jesus commanded us to love as He loves
Luke 6:27-35
Listen, all of you. Love your enemies. Do good to those who hate you. Pray for the happiness of those who curse you; implore God’s blessing on those who hurt you. If someone slaps you on one cheek, let him slap the other too! If someone demands your coat, give him your shirt besides. Give what you have to anyone who asks you for it; and when things are taken away from you, don’t worry about getting them back......
Love your enemies! Do good to them! Lend to them! And don’t be concerned about the fact that they won’t repay. Then your reward from heaven will be very great, and you will truly be acting as sons of God: for he is kind to the unthankful and to those who are very wicked.
God’s love for Barabbas.
Jesus or Barabbas
Luke 23:18.
But the whole crowd shouted, Away with this man! Release Barabbas to us!
But God the Father
also chose Barabbas.
God’s love for Paul.
1 Timothy 1:12.
I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who has given me strength, that he considered me trustworthy, appointing me to his service. Even though I was once a blasphemer and a persecutor and a violent man, I was shown mercy because I acted in ignorance and unbelief.
The grace of our Lord was poured out on me abundantly, along with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus.
Here is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners of whom I am the worst.
But for that very reason I was shown mercy so that in me the worst of sinners, Christ Jesus might display his immense patience as an example for those who would believe in him and receive eternal life.
God’s love for a tax collector.
Luke 19:1-10. Jesus entered Jericho and was passing through. A man was there by the name of Zacchaeus; he was a chief tax collector and was wealthy. He wanted to see who Jesus was, but because he was short he could not see over the crowd.
So he ran ahead and climbed a sycamore-fig tree to see him, since Jesus was coming that way. When Jesus reached the spot, he looked up and said to him, Zacchaeus, come down immediately. I must stay at your house today. So he came down at once and welcomed him gladly. All the people saw this and began to mutter, He has gone to be the guest of a sinner.
God’s love for a tax collector.
Luke 19:1-10.
But Zacchaeus stood up and said to the Lord, Look, Lord! Here and now I give half of my possessions to the poor, and if I have cheated anybody out of anything, I will pay back four times the amount.
Jesus said to him, Today salvation has come to this house, because this man, too, is a son of Abraham.
For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.
God loves you and I even though we are evil.
This is how God views mankind.
Romans 3:10-18.
There is no one righteous, not even one; there is no one who understands; there is no one who seeks God.
All have turned away, they have together become worthless; there is no one who does good, not even one.
Their throats are open graves; their tongues practice deceit. The poison of vipers is on their lips.
Their mouths are full of cursing and bitterness.
Their feet are swift to shed blood; ruin and misery mark their ways, and the way of peace they do not know.
There is no fear of God before their eyes.
God loves you and I.
To many Christians, homosexual acts, prostitution, rape, forced human bondage, incest, abortion, murder, and violent crime have a horrible odour that really turns most Christians off.
Many can't stand to be around "those kinds of people.“
Many believe the gospel cannot help "those kinds of people.“
To many Christians, adultery, "living together" arrangements, "one night" stands, white collar crime, recreational drugs, and gambling have some odour--but the odour is not that bad.
It would be bad to do those things openly.
But if we can do those things secretly and
quietly with "the right people,”
its okay--“ no big deal."
God loves you and I.
To many Christians, deceit, greed, jealousy, selfish ambition, and hate do not have an odour, But
Deceiving a person insults God (Matthew 5:33-37).
Greed is idolatry (Colossians 3:5).
Jealousy and selfish ambition are ungodly arrogance (James 4:14).
Hate nourishes murder (1 John 3:15).
To many Christians, getting high on alcohol, entertainment that is sexually stimulating,
their attitude is
“Well If they don't smell bad to me,
they cannot possibly smell bad to God."
God’s love in us is proof of our Salvation.
1 John 3:1-3 & 8-9.
See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him. Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when Christ appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is.
All who have this hope in him purify themselves, just as he is pure. No one who is born of God will continue to sin, because God’s seed remains in them; they cannot go on sinning, because they have been born of God.
This is how we know who the children of God are and who the children of the devil are:
Anyone who does not do what is right is not God’s child, nor is anyone who does not love their brother and sister.
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