BULLSEYE!
ACCURATE
BIBLE
KNOWLEDGE!
QUESTION:
“CAN YOU SHOW THE LOVE OF CHRIST TO OTHERS?”
ANSWER: “NO”
Everyone has heard about the love of Christ. It seems
that it is one of those intuitive things that everybody seems to know
what it
is… but the opposite is true.
According to popular belief, it is something that
shouldn’t have to be explained.
It seems obvious to anybody, unsaved or saved whether
someone has it or not.
“Oh! He’s showing the love of Christ.”
or
“I didn’t like him at all, he was too cold or harsh. He
didn’t show me the love of Christ!”
DO PEOPLE WANT
THE LOVE CHRIST OR DO THEY JUST WANT TO BE LOVED?
The unsaved just want to be loved on a human level.
They want to be shown kindness, respect, tenderness, care. Generally
speaking,
this is the love of Christ to them.
WHAT IS THE
LOVE OF CHRIST?
When the love of Christ is mentioned in scripture it
is associated with his death on the cross.
“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. Who shall
separate
us from the love of Christ?” (Romans
8:34-35)
“For the love
of Christ constraineth us; because we thus judge, that if
one died for all, then were all dead:” (2 Corinthians 5:14 )
Furthermore, Christ so loved us that he died for
all men.
“For when we were yet without strength, in due time
Christ died for the ungodly.” (Romans 5:6)
WHAT IS THE
LOVE OF GOD?
The love of God is found in Christ Jesus
our Lord.
The love of God is that he spared not his own son
(Romans 8:32) in
that while
we were sinners Christ died for us.
“But God commendeth his love toward us, in
that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” (Romans 5:8)
IS THE LOVE OF
GOD THE SAME AS THE LOVE OF CHRIST?
In a way – yes as Christ is God in the flesh, so when
God gave us his Son, God gave us himself. God so loved us that he gave
Jesus
Christ. The Bible says
“For God so
loved the world, that he gave
his only begotten Son…” (John 3:16)
and further
“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.” (Romans 8:39)
“But God commendeth his love toward us, in
that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” (Romans
5:8)
CAN WE
DEMONSTRATE THE LOVE OF CHRIST?
No, but we can explain what it is to people and how
they can get it. God the Father himself doesn’t demonstrate the love of
Christ
in that he commendeth his love toward us in the form of his Son
Jesus
Christ.
IS LOVING MY
NEIGHBOUR THE SAME AS SHOWING SOMEONE THE LOVE OF CHRIST?
No.
CAN WE SHOW
PEOPLE THE LOVE OF CHRIST WITH OUR GOOD WORKS?
No, but we show the effect of the love of
Christ in our lives by our good works.
“The love of Christ constraineth us” (2 Corinthians 5:14).
Because of the love of God found in Jesus Christ our
Lord, we are constrained and compelled that we should not
henceforth
live to ourselves. (2Co 5:15)
and exhibit the works of the flesh, such as
“Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are
these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, Idolatry,
witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions,
heresies,
Envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like:” Gal 5:19
IS THE LOVE OF
CHRIST THE SAME AS THE FRUIT OF THE SPIRIT?
No. Christ on the cross is not the same as a
Christian’s behaviour.
For the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness and
righteousness and truth;(Ephesians 5:9)
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace,
longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance:
against
such there is no law. And they that are Christ's have crucified the
flesh with
the affections and lusts. (Galatians 5:22-24)
IS CHARITY
(love between Christians) THE LOVE OF CHRIST?
No charitable works are the results and outworkings of
having the love the Christ and believing on him.
Charity suffereth long, and is kind; charity envieth
not; charity vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up, Doth not behave
itself
unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no
evil;
Rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth;1Co 13:4
WHAT IS THE
LOVE OF CHRIST? IT IS …
1.
A past historical event … it happened 2,000 years ago.
2.
An external event … it happened out side of us.
3.
A legal event … a written promise from God.
4.
A
non-experiential event … we were not involved when Christ went to the
cross.
It is something to believe and
can’t be
experienced …
5.
A non-repeatable event …
Christ died only once
THE
LOVE
OF CHRIST IS NOT
1.
A present event as it happened 2,000 years ago
2.
An internal event in the believer
3.
An experiential event … we don’t experience the cross, only Christ
did.
4.
A repeatable event as Christ will die no more.
SO
WHAT
POINTS SHOULD WE EMPHASIZE TO PEOPLE WHEN TELING THEM ABOUT THE LOVE OF
CHRIST?
1. God is pure and holy and
without sin,
and will not let sin or sinners into heaven.
2. Show that when Adam sinned
we had his sin put into our
accounts.
3. We sin because we are born
as sinners. Our parent was
Adam.
4. God’s Ten Commandments
clearly show
that no-one can keep his commands.
5. Use the Ten Commandments,
to produce conviction of sin.
6. Not living up to one’s own
standards
is a sin, as the scriptures say
Therefore
to him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is
sin. James 4:17
7. If you have broken one
part of God’s
law, you are as guilty as breaking them all.
For
whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he
is guilty of all. James 2:10
8. Clear preaching on the
doctrine of sin is needed leading
to the conviction of the curse of the law and the wrath of God.
9. No future good behaviour
can atone (pay) for past sins.
10. Nothing people can do,
have done, or will do can rescue
them from an eternity in hell.
11. All and any
self-righteousness must be recognized …
beaten down and defeated and seen as a false hope.
12. To break God’s laws is to
immediately fall under the
curse of it … separation from God & punishment in the flames of
hell.
13. Hell is a real place.
14. There is no
purgatory, reincarnation or ‘six-foot
under’ – only heaven and hell.
15. God’s love in the Old
Testament let
the Jew sacrifice animal blood for their sins.
For
the
life of the flesh is in the blood: and I have given it to you upon the
altar to
make an atonement for your souls: for it is the blood that maketh an
atonement for the soul. Lev 17:11 .
Today,
it’s
the blood of Christ that washes away our sin (Rev 1:5).
16. Show that when Jesus
died/rose again we can have his
righteousness put into our accounts … if we believe.
17. Rev 21:8 outline the
destiny for sinners.
But
the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and
whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have
their
part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the
second
death. Revelation 21:8
**** ****
Harley Hitchcock
This
website’s front page is:
www.AustralianBibleMinistries.com
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