THE LOVE OF GOD IN JESUS CHRIST

It's so easy, when we want to do the thing that seems right to us, but which God forbids, to paint God in our minds as a killjoy, or worse, as someone who hates us.  But God isn't like that.  Christians know God as a loving heavenly Father:

In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him.  1 John 4:9

Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.  1 John 4:10

Those are the words of the Apostle John, from the Holy Spirit Himself.  And the Apostle Paul, detested by homosexual activists for his denunciation of homosexuality in his letter to the church in Rome (the book of Romans,) says in the very same letter:

But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.  Rom. 5:8

Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him.  Rom. 5:9

Even before he spoke of how homosexual men and women have gone against the purpose of God, Paul wrote:

For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek.  Rom. 1:16

One of the loveliest Bible passages is that in the Gospel of John, in which Jesus says that His salvation is available to whosoever believes in Him.  Your sins can be as bad as anyone's could be, and yet He reaches out his saving hands to you:

For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.  John 3:16

For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.  John 3:17

The message of God is a message of love, hope and forgiveness.  God's earnest hope is not to condemn people, but to reconcile them to Himself by them having faith in Jesus.  Jesus came that through him the world might be saved.  But the terrible downside of that is that those who turn their backs on Jesus are condemned already, because that same passage of hope goes on:

He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.  John 3:18

In another place in the New Testament, in the letter to the Hebrews, it is written:

How shall we escape, if we neglect so great salvation; which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord, and was confirmed unto us by them that heard him;  Heb. 2:3

The new life we have in Jesus is a life of fullness, because He lives:

... I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.  John 10:10

I am the good shepherd: the good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep.  John 10:11

It is a life free from spiritual hunger:

And Jesus said unto them, I am the bread of life: he that cometh to me shall never hunger; and he that believeth on me shall never thirst.  John 6:35

It is a life which puts light where there was darkness:

Then spake Jesus again unto them, saying, I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.  John 8:12

And it is eternal:

Jesus said unto her, I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live:  John 11:25

So can we gain salvation by doing good?  No because the Bible says, in the words of the prophet Isaiah:

But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away.   Isa. 64:6

So if our righteousness is filthy before God, we need Jesus's righteousness.  God puts our sins on Jesus when we believe in Him, and he clothes us in His righteousness:

But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.   Isa. 53:5

Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted.   Isa. 53:4

All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us all.   Isa. 53:6

He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth: he is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he openeth not his mouth.   Isa. 53:7

Adam and Eve tried to cover their sins with fig leaves in the garden of Eden, but they still knew they were naked.  Look it up in Genesis chapter 3.  And right at the end of that chapter is the first time in the whole Bible we read of God's redeeming grace:

Unto Adam and his wife did the Lord God make coats of skins, and clothed them. Gen. 3:21

When God clothes you with his righteousness, all your sins are covered.

Is there is some other way of being saved?  Can some prophet or guru, or avatar do it?  The Apostle Peter stood up just after he had seen Jesus ascend into heaven, and said this:

Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.  Acts 4:12

And Jesus Himself said:

I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.  John 14:6

So that's clear enough.  Either Jesus is right, and He is God incarnate, the eternal perfect Saviour, and the only way, or he is a liar.  There is no middle way.

But is the Christian life easy?  Is it some sort of crutch for the weak?  No, it is full of challenges, and it gets tough:

And he said to them all, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me.  Luke 9:23

For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: but whosoever will lose his life for my sake, the same shall save it.  Luke 9:24

For what is a man advantaged, if he gain the whole world, and lose himself, or be cast away?  Luke 9:25

For whosoever shall be ashamed of me and of my words, of him shall the Son of man be ashamed, when he shall come in his own glory, and in his Father's, and of the holy angels.  Luke 9:26

Those who are newly Christians, young in the faith, nearly always come under attack from Satan, another name for the rebellious fallen angel Lucifer, who is always angry when a bit of his kingdom is taken away.  But Peter warns all Christians:

Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour:  1 Pet. 5:8

Whom resist steadfast in the faith, knowing that the same afflictions are accomplished in your brethren that are in the world.  1 Pet. 5:9

James, too is encouraging about resisting attacks from the devil:

Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.  Jas. 4:7

Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. Jas. 4:8a

But you have to want to draw close to God.  Which brings us to another question.  OK, so being a Christian isn't easy, but Jesus has saved me just as I am, right?  So can I stay as I am?  In particular, can I stay doing things which the Bible says are wrong?  Well James, who was so encouraging above about resisting the devil, then goes on to say:

Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; and purify your hearts, ye double minded.  Jas. 4:8b

Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he shall lift you up.  Jas. 4:10

Peter also says:

Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time:  1 Pet. 5:6

Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you.  1 Pet. 5:7

We have to be humble before God.  How is it humble to say, "Thanks for the salvation Jesus, now if you don't mind I'll just carry on as I was before."?  It's even worse to pass judgment on God's word, and filter the Bible through your own preconceptions, or through your own preferences.  James again:

There is one lawgiver, who is able to save and to destroy: Jas. 4:12a

Jesus is perfect, which is why only He can take away your sin.  But He expects obedience to His commands:

And being made perfect, he became the author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey him;  Heb. 5:9

The book of the prophet Isaiah, from which we quoted earlier, is sometimes referred to as the 'Fifth Gospel', so full is it of the hope and salvation of Jesus.  But he is strong on keeping the laws of God as well:

Thus saith the LORD, Keep ye judgment, and do justice: for my salvation is near to come, and my righteousness to be revealed.  Isa. 56:1

And in one of the Psalms, it says:

Salvation is far from the wicked: for they seek not thy statutes.  Ps. 119:155

So seeking to live a righteous life according to what we read in the Bible is important to please God.  And after all that Jesus has done for you on the cross, who would not want to please Him?  But how do we find out about the ways in the Bible if we don't read it?  If you have someone you love on earth, and who loves you, and they write you a letter, wouldn't you be desperate to read it?  Then how can people who say they love God and that God loves them not want to read what God has written to them?  It only takes one year setting aside fifteen minutes a day to read the whole Bible all the way through.  And the impact on your faith is immeasurable.  Click here to see how! 

But supposing you have put your faith in Jesus, and you are reading your Bible, and you realise how far away from God you really are in your life, and that you are locked into a lifestyle which is not pleasing to God, what then?  God loves you as you are, that's true, but you don't want to stay as you are, you want to grow closer to Him.  As Paul writes to those Romans again:

I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.  Rom. 12:1

And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.  Rom. 12:2

Sexual sins in particular can be difficult to break free from, but your body is to be a living sacrifice to God, and you were bought from Satan at the price of the blood of Jesus, as Paul tells the church in Corinth :

Know ye not that ye are the temple of God , and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?  1 Cor. 3:16

If any man defile the temple of God , him shall God destroy; for the temple of God is holy, which temple ye are.  1 Cor. 3:17

Flee fornication. Every sin that a man doeth is without the body; but he that committeth fornication sinneth against his own body.  1 Cor. 6:18

What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own?  1 Cor. 6:19

For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's.  1 Cor. 6:20

So those sexual sins have to be conquered, by the grace of God and in the power of the Holy Spirit.  That means, if you are involved in fornication, which is sex outside marriage, it must stop.  If you are sleeping with another man's wife, or another woman's husband, that has to stop.  And if you are involved in homosexual activity of whatever kind, that must stop too, if you want to be in fellowship with Jesus.  You are sinning against your the temple of the Holy Spirit, and in the Temple of God the Holy Spirit there is no darkness and no unrighteousness.

For ye were sometimes darkness, but now are ye light in the Lord: walk as children of light:  Eph. 5:8

(For the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness and righteousness and truth;)  Eph. 5:9

Proving what is acceptable unto the Lord.  Eph. 5:10

And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them.  Eph. 5:11

For it is a shame even to speak of those things which are done of them in secret.  Eph. 5:12

But all things that are reproved are made manifest by the light: for whatsoever doth make manifest is light.  Eph. 5:13

Wherefore he saith, Awake thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light.  Eph. 5:14

This then is the message which we have heard of him, and declare unto you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all.  1 John 1:5

And one thing is certain, we cannot stay in sin and say we are in Christ:

Whosoever committeth sin transgresseth also the law: for sin is the transgression of the law.  1 John 3:4

And ye know that he was manifested to take away our sins; and in him is no sin.  1 John 3:5

Whosoever abideth in him sinneth not: whosoever sinneth hath not seen him, neither known him.  1 John 3:6

Little children, let no man deceive you: he that doeth righteousness is righteous, even as he is righteous.  1 John 3:7

He that committeth sin is of the devil; for the devil sinneth from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil.  1 John 3:8

Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin; for his seed remaineth in him: and he cannot sin, because he is born of God.  1 John 3:9

In this the children of God are manifest, and the children of the devil: whosoever doeth not righteousness is not of God, neither he that loveth not his brother.  1 John 3:10

It is not easy for a homosexual to walk away from that lifestyle, and the devil will not want to let him go.  But no Christian will grow in faith if that community is holding him back:

Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness?  2 Cor. 6:14

God is able to stop us sinning and make us righteous before him if we want it enough:

Commit thy way unto the LORD; trust also in him; and he shall bring it to pass.  Ps. 37:5

And he shall bring forth thy righteousness as the light, and thy judgment as the noonday.  Ps. 37:6

To stop sinning in the face of sexual temptations is a strong test of character, and thank God that He is gracious and merciful to forgive us when we fail.  But He is also loving enough to want to reach out and heal us of those desires which lead to the temptations in the first place:

But unto you that fear my name shall the Sun of righteousness arise with healing in his wings; and ye shall go forth, and grow up as calves of the stall.  Mal. 4:2

Growing up is the key to why a lot of men and women become homosexual, of course.  Something disrupts the growing up process.  Someone to whom that has happened will be physically an adult, but still emotionally a child, and still searching for whatever it is that makes you an adult, still looking for a father's or a mother's arms. 

It could be that the relationship with the parent of the same sex was distant or disrupted in some way, and with divorce all around us, who can be surprised at that.  Or it could be that some trusted adult, like a youth worker or a live‑in boyfriend, committed some form of sexual abuse. 

As we are all different, the same event that might wash off one person like water off a duck's back, could affect another deeply.  The heart of God is grieved and angered at things like that done to the young, and His heart is to heal and bring freedom.  The prophet Isaiah says of the Messiah, Jesus:

The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me; because the LORD hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek; he hath sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound;  Isa. 61:1

To proclaim the acceptable year of the LORD, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all that mourn;  Isa. 61:2

To appoint unto them that mourn in Zion, to give unto them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; that they might be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the LORD, that he might be glorified.  Isa. 61:3

When Jesus was on earth he healed the sick and the oppressed:

How God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and with power: who went about doing good, and healing all that were oppressed of the devil; for God was with him.  Acts 10:38

And it was not just the Jewish people in Galilee he healed, but they came from far and wide, in faith that Jesus could heal not just disease but torment as well.  And if a spiritual force is holding you back, Jesus has power over that as well:

And Jesus went about all Galilee , teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing all manner of sickness and all manner of disease among the people.  Matt. 4:23

And his fame went throughout all Syria : and they brought unto him all sick people that were taken with divers diseases and torments, and those which were possessed with devils, and those which were lunatic, and those that had the palsy; and he healed them.  Matt. 4:24

Even when it seems a hard road to travel, Jesus has said: "I will never leave thee nor forsake thee." (Heb 13:5)  In the specific case of homosexual temptation, homosexual activists always rubbish Christian healing, and it is in their interests to do so.  They will keep claiming to the end that "God made me gay" but they can only do that by ignoring the very word of God, for what God would make you 'gay' and then forbid homosexual activity?  God does not have a laugh.  God has made His intentions clear, and homosexuality is not what He intends for men and women.

Here are some links to do with sexual healing:

And finally, here are some Bible verses to comfort you in your Christian walk:

These first are known as "The Beatitudes".  They express our dependence on God.  Each one of these verses is a restatement by Jesus of a passage He Himself wrote (as Second Person of the Holy Trinity) in the Old Testament:

Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth. Matt. 5:5

Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled. Matt. 5:6

Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy.  Matt. 5:7

Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God.  Matt. 5:8

Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God.  Matt. 5:9

Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness' sake: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.  Matt. 5:10

This is the Lord's prayer, which He taught to the disciples, as recorded by Matthew.  (We normally put 'trespasses' for 'debts' and 'those who trespass against us' for 'our debtors' when we say this in company).  If you have been the victim of sexual abuse, this prayer brings you to the point of forgiving whoever did that, and is an important lever to break the power of the devil:

Our Father which art in heaven, hallowed by thy name.  Matt. 6:9

Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.  Matt. 6:10

Give us this day our daily bread.  Matt. 6:11

And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.  Matt. 6:12

And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen.  Matt. 6:13

And finally, these words from the Apostle Paul are your assurance that if you stay in Christ, no power in earth or heaven can snatch you out of His hand.

What shall we then say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us?  Rom. 8:31

He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things?  Rom. 8:32

Who shall lay any thing to the charge of God's elect? It is God that justifieth.  Rom. 8:33

Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us.  Rom. 8:34

Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?  Rom. 8:35

As it is written, For thy sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.  Rom. 8:36

Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us.  Rom. 8:37

For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come,  Rom. 8:38

Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.  Rom. 8:39

May God bless you as you try by His grace to do His will.