Rick Warta

“Hatred stirreth up strifes: but LOVE COVERETH ALL SINS” (Prov. 10:12). Many (most) believe God loves all men alike. Scripture denies that claim (Ps. 5:5; Rom. 9:11-13). Such a claim shows a lack of understanding of the nature of the love of God. Wonderfully, in Prov. 10:12, we have a clear revelation of the nature of the love of God. His “love covers all sins!” Those God loves, He saves -- really, actually saves them from their sins (Zep. 3:17; Eph. 1:4-7; Rom. 8:32-39; Eph. 5:25; Rev. 1:5; 1 John 4:10)! Christ loved the Church and gave Himself for it (Eph. 5:25; Gal. 2:20; John 10:11, 15; John 15:13; 1 John 3:16).  This is the nature of God's love! Christ loved us and washed us from our sins in His own blood (Rev. 1:5). God's love covers all of the sins of all whom He loved from everlasting. How? He gave His Son to be the propitiation for their sins (Heb. 1:3; Rev. 1:5; 1 John 1:7; Prov. 10:12; 1 John 4:10). Scripture says much about the love of God. For His great love, God the Father has shed abroad His love in Christ to us in our hearts by His own Holy Spirit (Rom. 5:5-11). God loved His elect people before they loved Him (Jer. 31:3). His love is an unbroken chain that stretches from everlasting to everlasting. All whom He loved from everlasting, He draws to Christ in time (Jer. 31:3; John 6:37-39, 44-45). We love Him because He first loved us (1 John 4:19; Luke 7:47). Therefore, if He loved us from everlasting, He gave Christ for us to wash us from our sins and He will draw us to Christ. He will shed abroad His love to us in Christ by His Spirit, and we will love Him. His love for His own never changes (James 1:17; Heb. 13:5, 8; Isa. 54:10; John 13:1). The love of God for His own is in Christ (Rom. 8:39; Eph. 1:4). It is only in Christ. God’s love is not unconditional; it is conditioned on Christ (Eph. 3:17-19). It is conditioned on the will and righteousness and faithfulness and wisdom and power -- even all that Christ is. It is conditioned on the obedience and blood and faithfulness of the Lord Jesus Christ (Eph. 1:3-7). It is conditioned on all that God is as God (1 John 4:8, 16). God’s love is distinguishing (Deut. 7:7-8; Isa. 43:1-3; 1 John 4:8, 16; Rom. 9:13). God does not love all men (1 Thess. 5:9). God loves His elect, those He chose in Christ and gave to Christ (Rom. 9:11-13; 2 Thess. 2:13-14; Song 6:3; John 10:29; 17:2, 6, 23-24). Yet His love is sovereign (Deut. 7:8). His love is free -- without cause to be found in the objects of His love (Hosea 14:4). God’s love to us in Christ emboldens us before God. We are bold because this precious gift of faith teaches us that God loves us in His Son, for His Son’s sake and loves us as He loves His Son (1 John 4:16-18; John 17:23-24; Heb. 10:19). But God’s love does not make us presumptuous. It bows us in reverence and godly fear (Hosea 3:5; Ps. 33:8). If the LORD had not chosen us from eternity (Jer. 31:3; Eph. 5:25 with Rev. 13:8 and 1 Pet. 1:18-20), had not redeemed us by Christ's precious blood (1 Pet. 1:18-20; Eph. 1:4-7; Rev. 5:9), had not raised us from death to life in Christ (Eph. 2:4-6), had not proclaimed His Gospel to us with saving power (Ezek. 37:4-14), we would perish, even as others (Lev. 25:10; Isa. 61:1; Luke 4:18; Eph. 2:4; Isa. 1:9; Rom. 9:27-29). But having been forgiven all of our sins for Christ’s sake alone (Eph. 4:32; Col. 2:13), we also cover the sins of our brethren, those loved in Christ and forgiven their sins for Christ’s sake (Gal. 6:2). As we have been forgiven, we forgive (Matt. 6:12). We love one another because our great God and Savior loved us from eternity, gave Christ to die for us to make satisfaction for our sins and wash us from them, and gave His Holy Spirit to us in life-giving power and everlasting life (John 17:2). On the same basis, therefore, we also love one another: for Christ’s sake. We have been forgiven much when we had nothing to pay (Luke 7; 42-47; Rom. 5:6-10). God received Christ’s obedience for us in His own blood to cleanse us from our sins, to cover them. Therefore, we now receive one another on the basis of Christ's blood alone, and God's grace to us (Rom. 15:17). To say that our love for one another is small, is stating the obvious. But though we love one another in small measure, we cry to our all-sufficient God, the God of all grace, to increase our faith and give to us greater grace to walk as His dear children, as we look to our Savior in His great love for us that caused Him to lay aside His glory, take our nature, own our sins, shed His blood and even now, to intercede for us to God on the basis of His blood and righteousness (Rom. 8:34; Heb. 7:25)! May we never minimize the love of God by making the false claim that God’s love is universal and undistinguishing. If we sacrifice the truth to make that claim -- that God loves all men alike, that Christ died to save all men, that the Spirit of God calls all men to life, but nevertheless most remain dead in their sins and ultimately perish in their sins, then we seek by that claim to make God's ways more acceptable to man’s opposition to God’s eternal, sovereign, holy will to love His people in Christ. By such a claim, we pacify men at the expense of the truth of God’s  sovereign, eternal, unchanging, unfailing, saving, love in Christ's own blood! Such a claim is unscriptural. And it reduces God’s love to a powerless, unholy desire, which is why it is blasphemy and idolatry. May we give honor to God's revelation of His great everlasting love for His own in Christ, a love which saves and covers all their sins. For God to do less than actually save those He loves with an everlasting salvation, is to fail in His eternal purpose of love and grace that He promised in His word, accomplished in the death of His Son, for which Christ prayed while on earth, and for which Christ now reigns and intercedes in heaven (2 Thess. 2:13-14; Isa. 45:21-25; John 6:37-40, 44-45; John 13:1; 15:13; 17:1-6, 9, 11, 19-24; John 10:28-29).

Rick Warta

I have noticed that when I am tired and run-down, I get irritable and grouchy. My discomfort leads me to sometimes think ill of those who love me. I hate that. I hate when I think ill of others just because I am uncomfortable or don’t get what I want or think I deserve. Such a sinner I am! I hate complaining and whining. I hate coming unglued. If this attitude is allowed to fester, my impatience will spill over by accusing those who love me of wrong. I accuse them for not treating me as I think I ought to be treated. Then I become despondent when I can’t control my selfish pride or fundamentally change what I am. All of this turmoil teaches me something far more important than that I am a great sinner. Why should I wrongly accuse those who love me? I enjoyed their kindness in the good times. Why accuse them of evil in the bad times?! Such is the tendency of my fickle heart.

Scripture uses our ugliness to teach us a much greater lesson. The LORD made us (Ps. 100:3). We live by Him. We live in Him. We have our very being from Him. Whatever we have, we have received it from His hand, out of His bounty, because of His goodness, according to His sovereign, good and holy will. Can any one consider all the good we have received from our great God and Savior and yet claim that He is not good?! It is a sad reflection on us, that when something is taken from us, we are quick to think evil of our God.

When trouble comes, when it comes to those we love, when we are tired or hungry or sick or uncomfortable; when we lose our property, miss opportunities; when others fail to recognize us, or when life itself fades from us, we may think negatively of our God. But in all of these “subtractions,” we must remember this principle: The LORD is good (Ps. 145:9, 17). Our Maker is good, and He is good to us! He upholds and orders all things according to His will (Eph. 1:11). All that He does is good (Ps. 72:18). He gives. And He takes away. Was He good when He gave? Yes. He was good when He gave us all that we have. Is He still good when He takes from us? Yes. He is still good when He takes from us. What concern should it be of ours whether He takes from us by the hand of a tax-collector or by political leaders, or by upheaval in creation, or by a robber, or by a false-accuser or persecutor, or by any other means? We must "commit the keeping of our souls to him in well doing, as unto a faithful Creator" (1 Pet. 4:19).

We must learn from Job. Job was afflicted in every possible way. He lost his possessions, his property and his children. He lost his health and all of the comforts of life. He lost his good looks. He lost sleep and was terrified by his dreams. His friends, and even his wife turned against him and accused him falsely. Now, when the slightest trouble comes to me, I am easily ruffled. I am ashamed to say that I am too sensitive to the words and actions of others! But God-given faith overcomes! By faith, Job said, “Naked came I out of my mother's womb, and naked shall I return thither: the LORD gave, and the LORD hath taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD” (Job 1:21). God was good when He gave me life. He was good when He brought me to manhood. He was good when He maintained my life and kept me from destroying myself by my foolishness. He has blessed me in all of my life. He doesn’t change (Heb. 13:8; James 1:17). Though my circumstances change, He does not (Mal. 3:6). And He is especially good when He gives me to see and know and embrace Christ in my heart (Heb. 11:13).

Therefore, remember: we live and move and have our being by the good will of our faithful Creator (Acts 17:28; John 1:3; Col. 1:16). He shined the light of Christ and His salvation into our mind and conscience. He has given us eternal salvation, an eternal inheritance, even all things in Christ (Eph. 1:3; Rom. 8:32). He has given us faith and hope to believe Him and look for Him and wait for Him. He has given us love to desire and follow and abide in our great Savior (John 6:68-69; John 15; 2 John 1:9; 2 Cor. 11:3). Therefore, give thanks in all things! Whatever God does in you and with you and around you, whatever “this” is in your life, it is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you which believe Him. “In everything give thanks, for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you” (1 Thess. 5:18; Rom. 8:28-39). Christ has obtained our eternal redemption by His own blood (Heb. 9:12). He now lives to save us to the uttermost (Rom. 5:10; Heb. 7:25). God the Father has blessed us in Christ from eternity with gifts and callings that He will not take away (Rom. 11:29). His love knows no boundaries of time or grace (Rom. 8:35, 37, 39; Eph. 3:17-19). He is faithful (1 Thess. 5:23-24; Heb. 13:20-21). He is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think (Eph. 3:20). But with Job, let us trust our God and ascribe goodness and greatness to our Savior (Job 13:15). Embrace the truth of who Christ is in His wisdom and power and righteousness and grace. In so doing, we glorify our God and Savior with that faith that He imparts by grace (Acts 18:27; 13:48; 3:16; Heb. 12:2; Eph. 2:1-10; Php. 1:29).

In recent years, someone coined and copyrighted this slogan for advertisement purposes: “Life is good.” But scripture preempts all such godless thinking. Men think the world around them and mankind are their god and savior. They therefore ascribe goodness to the world and things and themselves. But we must ever remember and hold fast to the most fundamental of all truths: the LORD is good (Ps. 14:2-3; Heb. 11:6). He only is good (Matt. 19:17; Ps. 14:2-3; Rom. 3:10-12). He was good when He gave us life. He was good when He took us naked from our mother’s womb. He was good when He delivered up His Son for us (Rom. 8:32). He was good when He raised us up together with Christ, even when we were dead in sins (Eph. 2:4). He remains good even now, in all of His providential dealings with us (Eph. 1:10-11; Rom. 8:28). Let us therefore praise Him from the low bottom of our heart while we live and have our being (Ps. 104:33; John 4:22-24). Let us praise Him now by living upon Christ by faith to His glory (Gal. 2:20). Let us thank Him and praise Him when we return again to Him, naked in ourselves, but clothed in Christ and having all things in Him (1 Cor. 3:21-23; Col. 2:9-10; Eph. 1:3)! We know and daily re-learn that we are naked in ourselves (Rev. 3:18-19). But by God's grace, from His word, we also learn daily that in Christ we are fully clothed (Rev. 19:7-8; Isa. 61:10). Let us therefore give all glory to our great God and Savior! Let us declare His goodness in the dark and troublous times (Ps. 46:1-3).

Rick Warta