Learning to Lean: Real Love

Monday, September 8, 2008

Real Love

Pastor Sam Davison preached a sermon yesterday on Romans 12:9. He preached about love without dissimulation. Dissimulation means hypocrisy. It has to do with being fake. This was so convicting for me. I have such a problem with fake people. It's like a pet peeve. I hate finding out that people are not what I thought they were and that seems to be happening a lot lately!!!!!!!!! But the Lord convicted me yesterday about my own love for people and for Him. I don't want my love for Him to ever be fake but I am afraid it sometimes gets that way. It all comes down to pride- wanting people to THINK I love the Lord, when in all reality, on the inside, I'm as far away from Him as I can be. (Just being totally honest right now) I really want to work on loving Him for the right reasons. I'm praying that the Lord will help me to truly fall in love with Him.
I was also convicted about my love for others. One of my biggest fears in life (not even joking) is that people talk bad about me when I leave the room. Yet, I find myself sometimes doing that very thing to others or at least listening to it. I KNOW! Despicable! I also have been really having a bad attitude in my heart towards a few people that either annoy me very much or who have hurt me. But since I heard that sermon, I'm praying that the Lord would TEACH me how to love them. It is IMPOSSIBLE for me to love these people on my own! (Sad to say) But I'm praying that God will love them THROUGH me. I think it's going to be my theme for this year- "Love without dissimulation". I plan to do a study on the subject of love in my devotions.

"If stupid people fret me and the little ruffles set me on edge, Then I know nothing of Calvary's love. If by doing some work which the undiscerning consider "not spiritual work" I can best help others, and I inwardly rebel, thinking it is the spiritual for which I crave, when in truth it is the interest and exciting, then I know nothing of Calvary love. If souls can suffer alongside, and I hardly know it, because the spirit of discernment is not in me, then I know nothing of Calvary love." Amy Carmichael

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God's simple plan for salvation

First:
YOU MUST ACCEPT THAT YOU ARE A SINNER.
Romans 3:23 says- "For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God."
Romans 3:10 says- "As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one."

No one is perfect. No one has ever lived up to God's standard.

Second:
YOU MUST ACCEPT THAT AS A SINNER YOU OWE A PENALTY.
Romans 6:23 says- "For the wages of sin is death..."

This death is described in the Bible as the second death, the lake of fire. (Revelation 20:14)
If we pay what we owe as sinners, we must spend an eternity in the lake of fire (Hell).

Third:
YOU MUST ACCEPT THAT JESUS CHRIST HAS ALREADY PAID OUR SIN DEBT.
Romans 5:8- "But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us."
John 3:16- "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."

Christ was not a sinner, and the Bible teaches that God took all of our sin and placed it on Christ. While Christ was bearing our sins in his own body on the cross, God punished Him in our place to pay the debt we owe. This is not something God promised to do. This is something He has already done.
JESUS HAS ALREADY PAID YOUR SIN DEBT!

Fourth:
YOU MUST ACCEPT BY FAITH WHAT JESUS CHRIST DID FOR YOU.
The Bible says all we must do is BELIEVE!
John 3:36- "He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him."

In the verse above, Jesus divides the world into two groups: those who are believing and those who are not believing on the Son. Those who believe have everlasting life, and those who believe not shall not see life.
The word BELIEVE means to trust, to depend on, to rely on. To believe on the Lord Jesus Christ means that you accept the fact that you are a sinner, that as a sinner you owe the sin penalty (death in hell), and that Jesus Christ died on the cross to pay the debt that you owe. But it means going one step further. It means that you will completely trust Christ to get you to Heaven- that you will put the matter of your salvation in His hands and depend on Him for everlasting life. Nothing you can "do" can earn you a spot in Heaven. It is only through trusting Christ and the blood he shed for you on the cross.

The moment you do this, God promises you are not condemned but have everlasting life and that you shall live with him in Heaven forever. (John 5:24)

If you will trust Christ as your saviour, pray this simple prayer from your heart:

"Dear Lord Jesus, I know I am a sinner, and I deserve to pay my own sin debt, but I do believe that You died for me to pay the debt that I owe. Today, the best I know how, I trust You as my Saviour. I will depend on You from this moment on for my salvation. Now help me to live for You and to be a good Christian. Amen"

Learning to Lean

Monday, September 8, 2008

Real Love

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