We Don't Have To Wonder If God Loves Us

by David J. Stewart | November 2019

1st John 4:19, “We love him, because he first loved us.”

       What a wonderful passage of Scripture! I pondered these precious Scriptures early this morning at 5 am, when I awoke from me sleep. I slapped a pain patch on the back of my neck, took my pain medications, and now I am writing about the pain in my soul. Boy, I'm in a lot of pain...lol. I have been in love with a younger single Christian woman for a long time now, and I think about her all the time; God told me that it is okay, because I find myself apologizing to God that I keep mentioning her in my prayers. The Lord knows that I have feelings for her, and cannot help it. He knows that we are only dust. Psalms 103:14, “For he knoweth our frame; he remembereth that we are dust.” Love is a good thing.

She actually smiled and waved at me yesterday when I returned from my morning walk, and I was on cloud 9 with happiness all day. (She probably won't wave at me for the next 3 months...lol) I have been lonely for a long time since 2006, and I've been in love with this young Christian woman for more than a couple years. She is dear to me, and I feel pain thinking that we'll probably never be any closer than neighbours (by her choosing), but such is life. I often think of a popular Country song by Alan Jackson called: “Here In The Real World,” which I like to play along with on my pedal steel guitar. Ah yes, the real world, which we all know never turns out the way we plan, pray and hope it would be. The situation is complicated because of my unfortunate fallout with the local Pastors of Harvest Baptist Church (where she attends), because we don't agree on the danger of the Alexandrian Bible versions or the heresy of Lordship Salvation. Kindly, truth matters!

Still, I love the people at Harvest, and I especially miss their former pastor, whom I love much in the Lord. For my first 4 months at Harvest in 2014, the senior pastor came up to me before each church service, just to shake my hand and then go to his pulpit. I felt loved and special, and at a dark time in my life I desperately needed that attention. It made a lasting impact on me in the Lord. I remember going up to him in the main church auditorium after a Sunday night service, and I was in tears, explaining how my life had been a train wreck. He put his hand upon my shoulder, and I'll never forget what Scripture he quoted: Habakkuk 3:2b, “in wrath remember mercy.” He said: “David, you deserve God's wrath, but He has shown you mercy instead.” I wept, and he then prayed for me. After one year of falling in love with the people at Harvest, my spiritual hair grew longer (so to speak) and as Samson I began to regain my strength to proclaim the truth, only because I sincerely just wanted to help others see THE TRUTH (I was sharing books and sermons at church at my expense), and then our doctrinal differences became an issue, and I was compelled to leave, for which I have deeply regretted ever since, losing my church family and becoming a recluse.

Back to the main story...She waved at me! I pondered this thought last night upon my pillow, thinking about what her wave meant. As I mentioned, I had returned from my morning walk, and I saw her outside and we exchanging waves in passing. Now, a man's mind can go crazy trying to understand a woman, let me tell you! By the end of the day, after pondering what her smile and wave meant, I had all kinds of ideas:

1. She is starting to like me too (that is my earnest hope and prayer).
2. She was just being nice to acknowledge that she knows I am in love with her.
3. She was testing me to see what I would do.
4. She feels sorry for me and waved in charity...lol.
5. She wants me to know that she doesn't hate me.
6. She wants to marry me right away (okay, maybe that's a bit of a stretch, but that would be nice...lol)
7. It was mere coincidental timing that we met, and I'm thinking too much.
8. She is unsure of her feelings and is still thinking about the matter.
9. She was just being neighborly.

To be fair, I can only conclude that she was just being neighborly, and I do think she was letting me know that she is aware of my feelings. A righteous person always gives others the benefit of the doubt. God willing, if she likes me, then in her time she will reach out to me, in her own way; but if not, I love her much and will intreat her as my sister in the Lord. 1st Timothy 5:1-2, “Rebuke not an elder, but intreat him as a father; and the younger men as brethren; The elder women as mothers; the younger as sisters, with all purity.” I think she's great!
 

We Don't Have To Wonder How God Feels About Us

Praise God for the inspired Holy Bible, which is His love letter to humanity. Yes dear friend, God wrote you and me a lengthy love letter, letting us know what was going to happen to us, suffering God's wrath in Hellfire because of our sins; but He made a way of escape through faith in His only begotten Son, because He LOVES US! Romans 5:8-9, “But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him.”

My high school teacher taught me to tell someone if I like them, and I think she was right. As I wondered what my dear Christian friend was thinking about me, knowing that I am in love with her, I rejoiced in my heart that I don't have to wonder where God stands in His love for me. Perhaps you ask dear reader: “Does God love me too?” Oh yes He does, more than you could ever imagine!!! How do I know that? Because THE BIBLE TELLS ME SO!!! 1st John 4:19, “We love him, because he first loved us.” What saith the Scripture? John 3:16-17, “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. For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.” God loves every human being with an unconditional love. It was that unconditional love that compelled Christ to die a sinner's death for all men. 2nd Corinthians 5:14, “For the love of Christ constraineth us; because we thus judge, that if one died for all, then were all dead:” Christ died FOR ALL, because we were all “dead in trespasses and sins;” (Ephesians 2:1b).
 

Refuting the Heresy of Limited Atonement

By the way, I am the sworn, eternal and uncompromising enemy of the Calvinist heresy of Limited Atonement! I actually stole part of that great quote from Billy Sunday (1862-1935). I'll bet you didn't know that I steal half of my sermon quotes from other preachers...lol! Praise God for Bible-preachers!!! ...

“I am the sworn, eternal and uncompromising enemy of the liquor traffic.” —Billy Sunday

What in the world is “Limited Atonement”? It is the Devil's lie that Jesus didn't die on the cross for everyone, but that He only died for Christians. God hates this doctrine, and so do I, because it claims that God doesn't love everybody! Calvinists (i.e., followers of a man named John Calvin, 1509-1564) teach that God only loves those who believe, those whom God has chosen to be saved, and that God hates everybody else! I tell you with all biblical confidence that GOD HATES CALVINISM!!!

The inspired Holy Bible teaches the exact oppossite—that God loves EVERYBODY, and Jesus died for EVERYBODY. One heresy begets another heresy! Calvinists teach the heresy of “Predestination,” which simply says that God chooses who will or won't be saved; and therefore, this begets another heresy of Limited Atonement, which says that Jesus only died for those whom God has chosen to be saved. Do you see how one lie requires another lie, and so forth?

The truth is that we don't believe because God chose us to salvation; but rather, God chose us (predestined to be conformed into the image of His dear Son - Romans 8:29) because we believe! We as believers are the elect, chosen of God, BECAUSE WE BELIEVED of our own freewill. That is the same with the young lady that I am in love with; she has a freewill, and it is her choice alone to make, if she at some point chooses to reciprocate my love for her, and there's not a church on the planet that can keep us apart if she chooses me, God willing. I definitely choose her! Perhaps I speak as a fool, but such is the nature of being in love. I am just a fool with a website for the Lord. 1st Corinthians 4:10, “We are fools for Christ's sake, but ye are wise in Christ; we are weak, but ye are strong; ye are honourable, but we are despised.” To God be the glory. 1st Corinthians 15:10, “But by the grace of God I am what I am: and his grace which was bestowed upon me was not in vain; but I laboured more abundantly than they all: yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me.”

God NEVER chooses who will be saved or lost. Revelation 22:17, “And the Spirit and the bride say, Come. And let him that heareth say, Come. And let him that is athirst come. And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely.” Isn't that a beautiful Bible verse? The “bride” is the Church. The Holy Spirit invites you dear friend, to come by way of the cross of Calvary to be saved by faith. And the Church invites you to come (as I am doing right now friend), to “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house” (Acts 16:31b). Oh, let him that heareth, come to the Savior. And if you are thirsty for the free water of life (salvation), come to Christ now by faith. And “WHOSOEVER WILL” (that means EVERYBODY), “let him take the water of life freely.”

I love those precious words, “WHOSOEVER WILL,” because that includes the most wretched human creature upon the face of this earth. “WHOSOEVER” means WHO-SO-EVER! Mark 16:15, “And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature.” Thus, NOBODY is beyond the hope of the Gospel. NOBODY!!! I don't care what you've done, or who you are, or how far from God you feel you may have gone—GOD LOVES YOU!!! And He wants you to be saved. 2nd Peter 3:9, “The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.”

Let me make it even more plain, Lordship Salvation is nothing more than Calvinism repackaged! Kindly, Pastor John MacArthur boasts of being a 5-point Calvinist! Pastor Curtis Hutson (1934-1995) correctly explains the 5-points of Calvinism, and he refutes them ALL with the Word of God. All 5-points of Calvinism are demonic heresy!!! Sadly, the famous Baptist preacher, Pastor Charles H. Spurgeon (1834-1892), was a 1-point Calvinist, who taught the heresy of Limited Atonement. Calvinism is like a deadly virus, which has infected hundreds of thousands of churches worldwide. Calvinism is NOT the Gospel of free grace! Lordship Salvation is rooted in Calvinism, and is “ANOTHER GOSPEL” [an excellent Gospel tract by Pastor Harry Ironside (1876-1951), one of my favorite preachers] ...

Galatians 1:6-8, “I marvel that ye are so soon removed from him that called you into the grace of Christ unto another gospel: Which is not another; but there be some that trouble you, and would pervert the gospel of Christ. But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed.”

I plead with you dear reader to stay away from the fierce wild animal of Lordship Salvation, because it will cause you a life of uncertainty and fear! The Psychological Effects And Trauma Caused By Lordship Salvation (it eliminates all hope!). My What Big Teeth You Have John MacArthur! Calvinism is of the Devil. It causes people to think that God doesn't love everybody. Dear reader, you don't have to wonder if God loves you or not, nor do you have to worry if you are really saved or not because of the sins in your life. Jesus paid your massive debt of sin (and mine) on the cross with His precious blood. Christ bore humanity's sins upon Himself on the cross, so that forgiveness of sins could be offered as a free gift to “WHOSOEVER” will come to Him by childlike faith. John 5:40, “And ye will not come to me, that ye might have life.” Carefully notice that Jesus didn't say: “YE CANNOT COME,” He said, “YE WILL NOT COME”! God has given you a freewill dear friend, to choose for yourself, and all the love you could ever want is waiting for you!!! = -)

END OF ARTICLE

“Faith is the only righteous thing that I can do!”
—Pastor Jack Hyles, a quote from the MP3 sermon titled: “God's Reversal Of Psalms 51”

1st Corinthians 16:24, “My love be with you all in Christ Jesus. Amen.”

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