Hello beloved creatures of God, I hope you’re fine by God’s grace.
Today in Salvation 101 we’ll talk about the love of Jesus Christ for sinners.
If you’ve not read the previous posts I invite you to check them out here
Over the years, the love of Christ for sinners has probably been one of the most mentioned times themes in megachurches. The Bible tells us that Jesus Christ loves the world, but not the sinful system of the world. Jesus Christ loves the people of the world, even those who are still sinners. He desires for all to be saved. I’ll show this to you through Scriptures.
1. Jesus’ love saves us from sin
For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved. “He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.
John 3:16-18 NKJV
The Lord Jesus Christ wants all human beings to be saved. God loves us so much that He sent Jesus to die for our sins. His ultimate desire is not to condemn us but to save us.
This is My commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends.
John 15:12-13 NKJV
By this we know love, because He laid down His life for us. And we also ought to lay down our lives for the brethren.
I John 3:16 NKJV
Real love gives, real love sacrifices and Jesus Christ The Son of God laid down His life for you and me out of love.
and from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn from the dead, and the ruler over the kings of the earth. To Him who loved us and washed us from our sins in His own blood,
Revelation 1:5 NKJV
Remember that Jesus Christ is The Son of God but He humbled Himself even unto death to save us. He doesn’t want you to spend eternity suffering in hell and He knows that no matter how hard you try you will never be able to meet the requirements for righteousness through your own efforts. As such, He sacrificed Himself out of love and received the punishment for your sins and my sins.
But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; The chastisement for our peace was upon Him, And by His stripes we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; We have turned, every one, to his own way; And the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all. He was oppressed and He was afflicted, Yet He opened not His mouth; He was led as a lamb to the slaughter, And as a sheep before its shearers is silent, So He opened not His mouth. He was taken from prison and from judgment, And who will declare His generation? For He was cut off from the land of the living; For the transgressions of My people He was stricken. And they made His grave with the wicked— But with the rich at His death, Because He had done no violence, Nor was any deceit in His mouth. Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise Him; He has put Him to grief. When You make His soul an offering for sin, He shall see His seed, He shall prolong His days, And the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in His hand. He shall see the labor of His soul, and be satisfied. By His knowledge My righteous Servant shall justify many, For He shall bear their iniquities. Therefore I will divide Him a portion with the great, And He shall divide the spoil with the strong, Because He poured out His soul unto death, And He was numbered with the transgressors, And He bore the sin of many, And made intercession for the transgressors.
Isaiah 53:5-12 NKJV
For when we were still without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. For scarcely for a righteous man will one die; yet perhaps for a good man someone would even dare to die. But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him. For if when we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life. And not only that, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received the reconciliation.
Romans 5:6-11 NKJV
Notice that none of us deserved that The King of kings and Lord of lords, pure, holy, righteous and blameless would lay His life down for us. None of us deserved it, yet He did it. Which means that Christ hates sin, but He loves the sinner, not for them to remain in sin but to set them free from sin.
2. Jesus’ love changes us
Now it happened, as Jesus sat at the table in the house, that behold, many tax collectors and sinners came and sat down with Him and His disciples. And when the Pharisees saw it, they said to His disciples, “Why does your Teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?” When Jesus heard that, He said to them, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. But go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy and not sacrifice.’ For I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance.”
Matthew 9:10-13 NKJV
Jesus, during His public ministry on earth before His crucifixion, in His Holiness and righteous could have decided to spend time only with people who looked morally righteous. However, He would spend time even with sinners, all that out of love. He didn’t join them in sin, but His simple presence convicted those who accepted to be convicted of their sins such that they would repent. This is also love, loving someone at their darkest, and having such a positive impact on their life that they change radically. This is what happened with Zacchaeus the tax collector. Jesus’ love changed him.
Then Jesus entered and passed through Jericho. Now behold, there was a man named Zacchaeus who was a chief tax collector, and he was rich. And he sought to see who Jesus was, but could not because of the crowd, for he was of short stature. So he ran ahead and climbed up into a sycamore tree to see Him, for He was going to pass that way. And when Jesus came to the place, He looked up and saw him, and said to him, “Zacchaeus, make haste and come down, for today I must stay at your house.” So he made haste and came down, and received Him joyfully. But when they saw it, they all complained, saying, “He has gone to be a guest with a man who is a sinner.” Then Zacchaeus stood and said to the Lord, “Look, Lord, I give half of my goods to the poor; and if I have taken anything from anyone by false accusation, I restore fourfold.” And Jesus said to him, “Today salvation has come to this house, because he also is a son of Abraham; for the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost.”
Luke 19:1-10 NKJV
3. Jesus’ love isn’t a license to continue in sin
In many churches nowadays, the love of Christ is taught to convince people that they can continue living in sin and counting on Jesus to forgive them whatever the case. This is the hyper grace movement in Christianity, it is demonic and it is dangerous, because it is abusing the grace and love of God towards us.
The love of Christ should reassure you such that no matter which sin you committed in the past, you know that if you repent (change) and renounce it, He will definitely forgive you.
However, many sinners reject the free gift of salvation in Christ Jesus. They prefer to continue living for themselves, for sin, and for the devil, instead of surrendering their lives to Jesus. By refusing to accept Jesus as your Lord and Saviour, you are rejecting His free gift for you, and you are to be blamed for that. Jesus Christ deserves to get what He paid for (your freedom from sin, your salvation) but you refuse to surrender.
For sure, Jesus Christ is loving and compassionate and He doesn’t want anyone to perish, but before returning as judge, He first shows mercy to us. If you don’t accept Jesus Christ as your Lord and Saviour, sooner or later you will be bound to receive Him as your judge and to bear the judgement and condemnation for your sins. If you don’t repent and start living for Jesus, by the time you die or by the time He returns, you won’t benefit from His compassion anymore but from judgement. While you still have time (now) repent now before it’s too late.
Some people think that accepting Jesus’ love is all about saying a thirty seconds prayer, and they don’t understand that it is also a decision to love Jesus Christ with all your spirit, soul, heart, mind, and body. Loving Him implies keeping His commandments.
“If you love Me, keep My commandments. Jesus answered and said to him, “If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our home with him. He who does not love Me does not keep My words; and the word which you hear is not Mine but the Father’s who sent Me.
John 14:15, 23-24 NKJV
Don’t get fooled, choosing to make Jesus Lord of your life isn’t just about escaping from hell, but it’s mostly about deciding to love Him, deciding to obey Him. God’s love language is obedience.
Today God is inviting you to choose between heaven and hell, between spending eternity with God or away from Him. It all starts with a decision. Will you honour Jesus’ love and sacrifice for you or will you reject Him? Remember that this may be your last time to choose Jesus and if you don’t choose Jesus know that you’re responsible for your condemnation and suffering in hell. You will have no excuse because you knew the truth.
Prayer to Surrender Your Life to Jesus Christ and to Accept His Love for you
Lord Jesus, I know that I am a sinner, I have sinned against You and I ask for Your forgiveness. I believe You love me so much that You died for my sins and rose from the dead. I make the decision today to turn from my sins and I invite You to come into my life, to set me free, to give me a new nature, to transform my life so that I live a holy life. I choose from this day forward to love You, to obey You. I surrender myself completely to You Lord, spirit, soul and body. I choose today to trust and follow You as my Lord and Saviour. My life is Yours. I choose to obey You. Amen
Weekly Prayer Meeting
I would like to announce that every Saturday from 11:00-11:40 PM (GMT+1) I host a prayer meeting on Zoom (online) to pray for the salvation of our loved ones, our friends and acquaintances etc and to minister healing to the sick. You can join and invite others to join with you, believers as well as unbelievers. You can click on the link here to register for the event.
Looking for a Church?
I can recommend to you Dominion Life Church with General Overseer Apostle Curry Blake. In case there is no campus near you, you can watch online every Sunday at 3:00 PM (GMT +1) for first service and 4:00 PM (GMT +1) for second service
God bless you and contact me on social media for your prayer requests and also to share about your story/testimony with Jesus.
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