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God's views on love.

If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners love those who love them.     Luke 6:32

But love your enemies, and do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return; and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High; for He Himself is kind to ungrateful and evil men.      Luke 6:35

He who has My commandments and keeps them is the one who loves Me; and he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and will disclose Myself to him.      John 14:21

Love is patient, love is kind and is not jealous; love does not brag and is not arrogant, does not act unbecomingly; it does not seek its own, is not provoked, does not take into account a wrong suffered,  does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but ⁽ejoices with the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.      1 Corinthians 13:4-7

The one who does not love does not know God, for God is love.       1 John 4:8

Sin

But those who want to get rich fall into temptation and a snare and many foolish and harmful desires which plunge men into ruin and destruction.
For the love of money is a root of all sorts of evil, and some by longing for it have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs.  But flee from these things, you man of God, and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, perseverance and gentleness.       1 Timothy 6:9-11

I don't know what to do.

Just as cars come with an owners manual so that you can understand how it works (to prevent damage and enjoy it to the utmost) so does the Bible represent the owners manual for our life. 

All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work.  2 Timothy 3:16-17

He who heeds discipline shows the way to life, but whoever ignores correction leads others astray.  Proverbs 10:16-18

There is only one way to heaven.  Don't listen to anyone except God - your eternal life depends on it.

"Jesus said to him, 'I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father, but through Me.'" (John 14:6).

Love God as He loved us.

"For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have eternal life."
 John 3:16

But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.  Romans 5:8

But now faith, hope, love, abide these three; but the greatest of these is love.   1 Corinthians 13:13

"You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might."  Deuteronomy 6:5

And he answered, "YOU SHALL 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 YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF."  Luke 10:27

Love your neighbor - 

If, however, you are fulfilling the royal law according to the Scripture, "YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF," you are doing well.  James 2:8

For the whole Law is fulfilled in one word, in the statement, "YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF."  Galatians 5:14

"If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners love those who love them.  "If you do good to those who do good to you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners do the same.  "If you lend to those from whom you expect to receive, what credit is that to you? Even sinners lend to sinners in order to receive back the same amount.   Luke 6:32-34

"Give to him who asks of you, and do not turn away from him who wants to borrow from you.   Matthew 5:42

"For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same?   Matthew 5:46

Love never fails; but if there are gifts of prophecy, they will be done away; if there are tongues, they will cease; if there is knowledge, it will be done away.  1 Corinthians 13:8

Sacrifice

⁴ But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy,
⁵ made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions--it is by grace you have been saved.
⁶ And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus,
⁷ in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus.
⁸ For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith--and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God--
⁹ not by works, so that no-one can boast.
¹⁰ For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.
Ephesians 2:4-9

God gives us the choice to accept His free gift of salvation so that we cannot ever say that it was something we did to earn it.  Read this verse again - carefully.  It is very important to know that you cannot earn your salvation - but rather all you have to do is accept it from God.

⁸ For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith--and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God--
⁹ not by works, so that no-one can boast.

Christ became sin on our behalf so that we might experience the love of God and be recconciled to Him.  

He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, that we might become the rightesnous of God in Him.  II Corinthinans 5:21

We are warned not to marry non-believers because there can be no fellowship between light and darkness.  

Do not be bound together with unbelievers; for what partnership have righteousness and lawlessness, or what fellowship has light with darkness?  2 Corinthians 6:14

We cannot pretend to be good - God knows everything.

For where your treasure is there will your heart be also.  (Luke 12:34)

For whoever is ashamed of Me and My words, the Son of Man will be ashamed of him when He comes in His glory, and the glory of the Father and of the holy angels.   Luke 9:26

Therefore, to one who knows the right thing to do and does not do it, to him it is sin. 
James 4:17

Gifts

God gives gifts to all of us for His glory.

Ask and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you.  Matthew 7:7

Life and death - and the free gift from God

The age old question is...  where will we go after we die the physical death? 

"For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have eternal life."
John 3:16

He who has believed and has been baptized shall be saved; but he who has disbelieved shall be condemned.  Mark 16:16

We all deserve to die because we have all sinned against God. 

For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.  Romans 6:23

⁸ For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith--and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God-- ⁹ not by works, so that no-one can boast.  ¹⁰ For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do. 
Ephesians 2:4-9

There is therefore now no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus.  Rom 8:1

Why is there evil in the world?  Without evil there would be no freedom to choose good or evil.  Without freedom there cannot be love – love does not demand – it offers and with freedom you have the choice to choose.  If God destroyed evil that in itself would be evil.  Instead of destroying evil He will defeat evil with good.  In the beginning there was Adam and the Garden of Eden and man ruined things for all mankind. But then in a parallel move the perfect Christ came to the Garden of Gethsemene and brought life back to man through His death on the cross..

Baptism

We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life. For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his. Romans 6:3-5

He who has believed and has been baptized shall be saved; but he who has disbelieved shall be condemned.  Mark 16:16

Why attend Church?  We are told to not forsake the assembly.

Why is it sinful to forsake the assembly of the church for which the Lord shed His blood and died?  The Bible says that by forsaking the assembly one "has trampled the Son of God underfoot, counted the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified a common thing, and insulted the Spirit of grace"   Hebrews 10:29

By forsaking the assembly one is saying that he no longer cares to be a part of the church for which Christ shed His blood and died. What will happen to one who continues to forsake the assembly?

God says "vengeance is Mine, I will repay, says the Lord…it is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God"   Hebrews 10:30-31 

By forsaking the assembly one throws away his inheritance in Heaven and will inherit the eternal torment of Hell. 

There are many other reasons not to forsake the assembly of other Christians.  The assembly provides security,  encouragement and a resource for a deeper understanding of the scripture.  The assembly also gives a sense of belonging and helps us be accountable to one another.

Do not be deceived: "Bad company corrupts good morals.  1 Corinthians 15:33

Separation from God, because of our sin, condemns us to an eternity in hell - but God provides us a way out.

"There is none righteous, no, not one"  Romans 3:10 

"For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God."  Romans 3:23

"For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord."  Romans 6:23

Good works cannot purchase the Christian life - rather they are used to compliments the Christian life

For just as the body without the spirit is dead, so also faith without works is dead.  James 2:26

For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith--and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God-- ⁹ not by works, so that no-one can boast.  Ephesians 2:4-9

Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.  Hebrews 11:1-3

I tell you that in the same way there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety­nine righteous persons who do not need to repent.
Luke 15:7

The bottom line is this.  We are separated from God because we sinned and because we sinned we fall short of perfection and because we fall short of perfection we deserve to die.  To be reconcilled to the perfect God we need a perfect sacrifice to cover our sins.  After all, perfection (God) and imperfection (man) cannot be reconciled unless the imperfection is made perfect with a perfect sacrifice.  This is why the perfect Christ had to die for us - so that we could be reconciled to a perfect God.

If you have accepted the free gift of salvation from Jesus then you have been given a new life because you rose with Christ. The new life is not an illusion that helps us pretend that we are not sinners for we still live in a sinful body and a sinful world but the reason our resurrection with Christ changes us is that we now have the capacity to do things that please God – God sees His son in us.  However, if we choose to pass on the free gift of salvation then we are telling God that we do not need Him and we do not want any association with Him.  After we die - God will discard those who did not want that association with Him and they will have eternity to feel untold remorse for their decision . Make no mistake - hell is an evil place.  God did not create evil and it is not a part of God - it is the total absence of God - just as darkness is not a part of light but rather a lack of light.  Don't believe it when people laugh about going to hell and seeing all their friends and it being a big party.  Take everything that is good and put it in one place.  Now take everything that is bad \ evil \ painful and put that in another place.  Now choose where you want to be for eternity.  You cannot EARN your way into heaven - it is a GIFT from God.  You can choose to accept the gift - but you cannot buy the gift.  If there were some way you could earn your way into heaven by "being a pretty good person" then there would have been no reason for God to send His only son to die on a cross. 

⁸For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— ⁹not by works, so that no one can boast.     Eph 2: 8-9

John 14:6
Jesus said to him, "I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me.    John 14:5-7 (in Context) John 14

Acts 15:11
"But we believe that we are saved through the grace of the Lord Jesus, in the same way as they also are."    Acts 15:10-12 (in Context) Acts 15

2 Corinthians 8:9
For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though He was rich, yet for your sake He became poor, so that you through His poverty might become rich.     2 Corinthians 8:8-10 (in Context) 2 Corinthians 8

Colossians 3:17
Whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through Him to God the Father.  Colossians 3:16-18 (in Context) Colossians 3