God's Love is Not Unconditional

The bible is God's love letter to us.

God speaks through scripture. How are we to discern our God's character without listening / reading his word? Have you ever thought of why the bible in it's entirety is equated with His word.  He speaks to each and every one of us through the bible. It is our opportunity to have a personal relationship with our Lord.

Without it, we candy-coat Christianity, we tailor it to suit our self-seeking desires. We then wonder why our lives are in disarray. God favors those who are obedient, He provides for those who are faithful, He spits out the Luke-warm. I'll say that again - He spits out the luke warm! This is a harsh reality.
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 Nowhere in scripture does it say that God's love is unconditional. God's love is described as enduring, unilateral, patient and merciful but someone tell me where it says that His love is unconditional? If love were to be unconditional then why did Jesus bother proclaiming the terms and conditions eg; 'you must be born again'. John 8:31-32 "Then Jesus said to those Jews who believed in him 'If you abide in my word, you are My disciples indeed. And you shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free'"

God's love is so great that He will not accept you as you are. Come into His presence through worship, build a relationship with Him through prayer, get to know Him through scripture and He will convert and translate your nature, and your heart.

Why would you want to dismiss the importance and relevance of scripture in our lives? Show me someone who is passionate about God without spending time in scripture.

The image of a wolf in sheep's clothing is reverberated in Matthew 7:15 "Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves." . Could unconditional love be Satan's latest remodeling of the "peace - make love, not war" denotation that has always been the foundation of a truth-less vocation? Could Satan really manipulate us by appealing to the intellect and distorting God's message, surely he wouldn't go that far - would he?

The concept of unconditional love is expressed so forcefully by non-Christians that it should make Christians think twice about adopting this stance so readily and whole-heartedly.

People often feel justified by reiterating that "God loves everyone infinitely no matter what". Condemning people to hell is not the most loving thing to do, is it? So, it does not matter what people think or believe or do. God's unconditional love means that we will all go to heaven." Not quite.

God's love is one-sided. He loves the unworthy and gives is glory to them. God's love is not based upon merit. It is unfailing for those in whom He delights: it is for those who receive Jesus as their Christ and Saviour. But, God's love is clearly not "unconditional"; for those who reject his gospel will be subject to wrath and eternal damnation. Do not attempt to downplay this - How would you avoid rejecting his word when you can't be bothered to read and meditate in it?

Are you sure that you have placed yourself where you will receive his love and not His judgment? Let us know and be obedient in the word so that we may find peace. The conditions set out to allow us into the Kingdom of heaven must be told, shouted across the world ... cry out. Do not conform to a worldly belief or false prophesy, or anything else that "sets itself up against the knowledge of God" (2Cor 10:5).Jer. 8:8-9 "How can you say 'We are wise, And the law of the LORD is with us? Look, the false pen of the scribe certainly works falsehood. The wise men are ashamed, They are dismayed and taken. Behold, they have rejected the word of the LORD; So what wisdom do they have?'"

Needless to say, anyone who continues to adhere to these beliefs cannot be saved. You must see yourself a sinner [Rom. 5:8], lost in sin [Luke 19:10], and without hope apart from Christ to be saved [Eph. 2:12]. You must see you have a desperate need. These deceived self-reliant kooks who are in love with themselves have no hope. How is their self-love and "coping skills" going to help them at the Great White Throne judgment?

It should be no surprise that the world would be caught up in this unconditional love/self love frenzy, but that professing Christians would promote it is another matter. However, when believers abandon the Bible as the sole source of infallible truth and fall to the pop psychology of secular humanism this is not so surprising.

Probably the classic verse on God's love is 1John 4:8 where it says, "He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love, " but this passage is often abused. God is love in that He is the epitome and definition of love and His benevolence to man is a manifestation of His love, but His great love must work in unison with His other attributes, such as justice and judgment of sin. The Bible is clear, however, that every good thing that happens to man [and even many of what we consider bad things] comes about from God's love and mercy. It seems to be the primary attribute that compels Him to save believers. As another said,


"To say, 'God is love' implies that all His activity is loving activity. If He creates, He creates in love; if He rules, He rules in love; if He judges, He judges in love"

Some try to wrest the verse and claim "love is God." This is tantamount to blasphemy. One cannot find God by simply loving something.

Love as God uses it is primarily a verb; an action word. To say one loves someone is not love in its essence. That person must manifest their love. Some go around telling family and friends they love them, and they may, but the object of those words is usually not convinced unto the love is seen. The person professing the love must show forth actions that express his love. Notice the Lord does not go around saying "I love you" to anyone until He shows His love. As we saw above He told Israel He loved them AFTER He delivered them from bondage. He tells the world He loved it AFTER He sent His son to die for it. The action always comes first. Romans 5 tells us God "commendeth his love toward us...."

However [and this is the clincher], if the potential recipient of God's love [any man] refuses to come to the place where this love is manifested [the cross], then this person does not receive the love. He doesn't get in on it, so to speak. While alive he still partakes of God's mercy, but not necessarily His love. Look at probably the most well known verse in the Bible, John 3:16,

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.

This verse is often used to "prove" that God loves everybody with an unconditional love, but notice the love is past tense. God loved the world enough to provide it a Savior, but those who refuse the Savior do not partake of the love. Only those who "believeth in him" get "everlasting life." In short, God's love for every sinner is found at the cross and there alone. Those who refuse the cross presently have God's wrath abiding on them as John testifies in the same chapter,


He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him. [Joh 3:36]

Wrath and unconditional love don't go together very well. In fact, they are pretty much opposites. Some may think, "This is just tough love" or something similar, but the fact remains, No where in the Bible does it say God loves a lost sinner who refuses His provision in the Lord Jesus Christ. Instead they inherit wrath [Psa. 2:12; Rom. 1:18, Rom. 4:15, Rom. 5:9; Gal. 3:10; Eph. 5:6; 1Thes. 1:10, 1Thes. 5:9; Heb. 2:3; Heb. 10:29; Rev. 6:16, Rev. 6:17]. Remember, to God love is an action and until a sinner receives and accepts God's action on the cross by faith, there is no other love from God to be manifested or received. Every bit of the love God has for the world is confined to the cross.

When the Lord provided Christ as man's salvation the whole world was unredeemed. Some had been saved in the Old Testament on credit [so to speak] in view of that day, but as far as redemption was concerned all mankind was lost. It is God's immense mercy and boundless love that motivated Him to provide such evil rebels a Savior,


But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.
[Rom 5:8]

But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us, [Eph 2:4]

In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him. Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. [1Jo 4:9-10]

And those who receive this Savior's death as their own are accepted in God's love,


To the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved.
[Eph 1:6]

But boundless love is not unconditional love. The condition is receiving what was done at the cross as your own. Those who refuse it may enjoy God's mercy on earth for a while, but in hell they will see the full manifestation of not being "accepted in the beloved."

Again, to drive it home [some of you are probably still quivering], even though God manifested His love towards the world at Calvary, that does not mean He loves a lost man in His sin. The sinner has God's wrath abiding on him. As long as that sinner lives, however, he can access God's eternal love at the cross. A close relative of God's love, His mercy [Rom. 9:16, Rom. 11:32, Eph. 2:4, and especially Titus 3:5], allows him the opportunity. God's love motivated Him to provide mankind salvation, His mercy and grace allows man access to it

As the account of Corneilus in Acts 10 plainly shows, God will by His mercy go to great lengths to get the gospel to a sinner who knows he needs to get right with his Creator. Then once upon accepting the Christ of the cross, the Lord will love him as a son.

So much for this "God loves me just the way I am" tripe. It is a satanic deception.

God's love for us is full of mercy but it is not unconditional.