The only way to love God, or anyone else, is to be forgiven and justified through the Lord Jesus Christ– "Now the end of the commandment is charity out of a pure heart, and of a good conscience, and of faith unfeigned (I Tim. 1:5)." The law has never made anyone love; it only reveals the lack of love that's within us. Yet, the gospel turns men and women who've given themselves to every idolatry and lust into sincere worshippers. In fact, if you're an idolater, fornicator, lawless, disobedient, ungodly, sinner, it's because you're ignorant of sound doctrine–(I Tim. 1:9-11) "According to the glorious gospel of the blessed God… (vs. 11)."
You wouldn't live the way you live, if you knew that you were forgiven. Jesus Christ, dear reader, comes to us in the gospel declaring that the sins and iniquities of God's elect are past. God told the prophet Isaiah the message that He has for all His people, "Speak ye comfortable to Jerusalem, and cry unto her, that her warfare is accomplished, that her iniquity is pardoned: for she hath received of the Lord's hand double for all her sins (Is. 40:2)." Yes! The forgiveness that you're trying so desperately to attain is ALREADY accomplished. Jesus Christ the Son of God is God, and "Who shall lay any thing to the charge of God's elect? It is God that justifieth. 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. 8:33-34)." When I pray unto God, I'm praying in the name of the God-Man. He never ceased to be God when He came into the flesh to put away my sins. Yet, becoming Man, and by the sacrifice of Himself, my iniquity is purged forever. Who dares charge me with past sins when God declares that my warfare is finished? Indeed, we are worthy of the wrath and fury of the Almighty. We turned our cannons against heaven and joined allegiance with the devil himself. Yet, "Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin (Rom. 4:8)."
Therefore, "Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword… Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him that loved us (Rom. 8:35, 37)." It doesn't matter that all of these afflictions come upon God's elect because of our transgression in Adam. God has chosen to forgive us by the death of Himself. Therefore, we are more than conquerors… not through our works, our tears, our faithfulness, our repentance, or our anything else… we are more than conquerors entirely through His love.
The forgiven also possess a clean conscience. Not only have our sins never been charged to us, but we've also received of the Lord's hand righteousness for all our sins. Do you have a clean conscience before God? I'm not talking about a god that accepts man's best efforts, or a god that can be moved by anything short of perfection. I'm declaring to you the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Do you possess His righteousness? Is the obedience that He rendered to God, received on your behalf? The doctrine of SUBSTITUTION is the gospel of salvation. It declares that God has dealt with His elect ENTIRELY upon the merits of Another– "To the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved." Jesus Christ obeyed God for us. He loved God for us, and He loved our neighbor as Himself. His obedience is so glorious that God raised Him from the dead, and us, with Him.
If you possess forgiveness and righteousness in Christ the Lord, then you have "faith unfeigned". You trust Him. When I was in religion, and heard the grace of God for the first time in my life, I exhaled. No longer did I have to trust in something of myself while supposing that I was trusting in God. Now, for first time, I let go my filthy works and leaned entirely upon Christ the Lord. And, if you sincerely trust Him, it's because He's shown Himself worthy of your love. In marriage, the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the Head of His church. In a good marriage, the husband has earned the wife's respect, so that she knows he rules with her best interest in mind. But, this is exactly what Christ has done with His church. He convinces by the gospel that His rule over us is nothing but love. Although He will not compromise His sovereignty nor abdicate the government of His throne, He convinces us, that in love, and as Lord and Master, He washes our feet (John 13). Therefore, being forgiven and being justified we submit to Him with "faith unfeigned".
This pure heart, good conscience, and true faith produces love– (I Tim. 1:5) "Now the end of the commandment is charity out of a pure heart, and of a good conscience, and of faith unfeigned." It cannot be worked up; it is a given to us through the Holy Spirit alone (Eph. 3:16-19). Therefore, "… grieve not the Holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption (Eph. 4:30)." (Phil. 2:2-5) "Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory; but in lowliness of mind let each esteem other better than themselves. Look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others. Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus." In the context of Eph. 4, the Holy Spirit is grieved when we do not walk in love. He withdraws revelations of Jesus Christ when we forget that we're new creations and walk in the vanity of the ungodly. Therefore, our Father will show us His love, so that we can love someone else.
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