God’s love for humanity transcends time, culture, religion and the persistent obstinacy of a fallen mankind. He provides all people with the very air they breathe and He created a planet that is seventy-one percent water which is essential for life. God created plants that provide food and photosynthesis to generate oxygen that sustains not only humans but all animals that we also rely upon for nourishment. God’s love is immeasurable.
Ever since the beginning, Satan has enticed man to rebel against God and in essence become enemies of God. Yet the Lord still loves us with an amazing and unrelenting love. Scripture tells us that God is love. Throughout the Bible God’s love is shown to people who are openly hostile towards Him, completely ignorant of Him and deserving of judgement by Him, as well as those who fear Him and revere Him.
The Lord is gracious. Psalm 145:8-9 says, “The Lord is good to all; He has compassion all He has made.” Luke also adds, “Yet He has not left Himself without testimony: He has shown kindness by giving you rain from heaven and crops in their seasons; He provides you with plenty of food and fills your hearts with joy.” (Acts 14:17). And in Isaiah 26:10, the prophet wrote, “Though Grace is shown to the wicked, they do not learn righteousness; even in a land of uprightness they go on doing evil and regard not the majesty of the Lord.”
Common Grace
God’s radical love for His creation, goodness and mercy toward sinful mankind and general benevolence in our fallen world is referred to as common grace or universal grace. Common grace illustrates God’s indiscriminate kindness to all people, both believers and nonbelievers alike. However, it is not dispensed in the same measure to all. Some people are blessed financially, some are blessed with artistic or athletic talent, others with intellectual aptitude while still others are blessed with gifts that enable them to contribute to societal progress through benevolence despite never receiving God’s saving grace through faith in Christ.
Furthermore, God’s purposeful and intentional kindness compels sinners to repent (Romans 2:4). God loves us. Paul wrote in Romans 5:8, “But God demonstrates His own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” This sentiment is echoed in 1 John 4:19, “We love because He first loved us.” What humanity could never accomplish, God did for us through His one and only Son in an act of pure and unselfish love.
Common grace is also evident in the profound restraint God shows in His delay of judgement so aptly described by Peter in 2 Peter 3:9. “The Lord is not slow in keeping His promise, as some understand slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.” When people ask why God doesn’t destroy evil and the wicked of the world the answer can be found in common grace. Since all have sinned and fall short (Romans 3:23), we can be thankful for God’s grace that permits the weeds to grow with the crop until the time of harvest.
Additionally, God restrains sin from running rampant through the workings of the Holy Spirit. Moral depravity has not reached its maximum in civilization even though certain individuals have exerted unbelievable atrocities at times. The apostle Paul wrote in 2 Thessalonians 2:7, “For the secret power of lawlessness is already at work; but the one who holds it back will continue to do so until He is taken out of the way.”
By impeding or inhibiting the unbridled expression of sin in society the Holy Spirit maintains a sense of moderation in the behavior of humanity both in a collective sense and on individual levels through the human conscience. Without it, civilization would quickly descend into chaos and anarchy and humanity would have destroyed itself centuries ago. This restraining of sin is an act of grace since none of us deserve it.
Jesus forewarned of a time when things would reach unbearable levels during the Great Tribulation when the antichrist would rise to global dominance and that “If those days had not been cut short, no one would survive, but for the sake of the elect those days will be shortened.” (Matthew 24:22). It is hard to imagine a time when God’s restraining grace is removed from the earth and evil is permitted to flourish unrestricted, but that is what the Bible predicts will happen when the “man of lawlessness” is revealed (2 Thessalonians 2:3).
Christ’s Attributes Are The Attributes Of God
Humans are created in God’s image and Jesus exemplified how to live in the image of God by having the very attributes of God. His patience, kindness and love for all were demonstrated throughout His human life and in His teachings. In John 14:9b Jesus concisely sums up this notion, “Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father.” The loving nature of God was also the loving nature of Christ.
In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus said, “You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I tell you: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven. He causes the sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.” (Matthew 5:43-45). May we never forget that God loved us while we were His enemies.
John 15:13 records Jesus saying, “Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends.” This is easier said than done and Jesus paid the ultimate price of altruism when He was crucified. He took the spoken word and brought it to life through His own death and showed mankind the limitless extent of His love.
The crucifixion is the interface where common grace meets special grace or saving grace. R.C. Sproul wrote, “Common grace is distinguished not so much from what we might call uncommon grace, but rather what we call ‘special grace.’ Common grace refers to several concepts or experiences that we observe as Christians. On the one hand, we realize that in God’s divine providence He pours out benefits that are enjoyed not simply by believers but by believers and nonbelievers alike.”
At the cross, special grace exceeds common grace. While common grace does not compel a change in one’s behavior, special grace causes believers to repent of their sinful ways and endeavor to live holy lives in order to please their savior. This response expresses the gratitude true believers have for their salvation and is what Jesus meant when he told Nicodemus, ”You must be born again.” (John 3:5-7).
This transformation is illustrated by Paul in 2 Corinthians 5:14-19. “For Christ’s love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died. And He died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for Him who died for them and was raised again.
So from now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view. Though we once regarded Christ this way, we do so no longer. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come! All this is from God, who reconciled us to Himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to Himself in Christ, not counting men’s sins against them.”
Surrender To The Holy Spirit
When the Holy Spirit enters true believers, they yield to His ways and forsake the physical indulgences they once cherished. Paul puts it this way in Galatians 5:16-17, “So I say live by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the sinful nature. For the sinful nature desires what is contrary to the Spirit and the Spirit what is contrary to the sinful nature. They are in conflict with each other, so that you do not do what you want.”
The Bible says that when we draw near to God, He draws near to us (James 4:8), and that when we seek Him with all of our heart we will find Him (Jeremiah 29:13). Psalm 53:2 says, “God looks down from heaven on the sons of men to see if there are any who understand, any who seek God.” Even more, God’s love pursues us and calls us to Him. Jesus said, “No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him, and I will raise him up on the last day.” (John 6:44). It is God’s love that draws men to Him. It is God’s love that melts hearts of stone and brings to life hearts capable of receiving His Spirit and producing His fruit.
The gospel message summons all people to come to Christ and once we come He will not let anything come between us. “My sheep hear My voice; I know them, and they follow Me. I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one can snatch them out of My hand. My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of My Father’s hand. I and the Father are one.” (John 10:27-30).
However, God holds His children with an open hand, not a clenched fist. His love provides us with freedom of choice and some will choose to leave the faith if their belief is not authentic. They are false converts and follow Christ for a season and may even lead others to Christ. But just as Judas seemingly followed Jesus, he was never predestined to remain among the faithful. Because His love is perfect, the Lord does not impose eternal life on anyone.
For true believers there is no turning back. They may stumble but they won’t fall. Paul emphatically states in Romans 8:38, “For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
God is sovereign. He controls the evil in the world, withholding His judgement until the full number of sincere believers has been reached and blesses all of humanity with the provisions to sustain life despite the total depravity and prevalence of sin. His love has no boundaries. It is immeasurable and as infinite as He is.
