Love that Covers Sins
Labels:
Important messages
 |
| We must be "People of the Book" |
Apostle Peter wrote of the need to stimulate the memory of the
believers by repeating things that they had already learned (2 P. 1:12, 13, 15;
3:1). This is especially necessary, when an error is commonly proclaimed. Just
the fact that it is heard many times over by different speakers is enough for many Christians to accept it as truth. Unfortunately, a lie often repeated becomes truth in their ears.
One Bible phrase that is often misinterpreted in our day is this:
“Love covers a multitude of sins”. To
mistake the meaning of it can lead to many doctrinal errors, open the door to
bad relationships and hinder biblically sound disciplinary practices that must
be maintained among believers. For this reason, even though I posted an
article, relating to this matter in September, 2013, I am going to renew it
again, because “I intend always to
remind you of these qualities”, so that you might be “established in the truth that you have”. Please study carefully,
in order that you may escape deception that comes from hearing falsehood often
repeated.
We begin to see evangelical leaders carried by the current of
tolerance. Some years ago, I listened to an interview with the new leader of a
well-known, conservative Christian organization. He said that the conservative
Christian has a reputation for rigidity and hardness, so we need to reach a
better understanding of our opponents and have dialogue with them. He
ascertained that we have to be more tolerant of those who are not in agreement
with us. Because I work in Spanish circles, I am aware of some of the
statements of world famous leaders among the Spanish-speaking people. One
singer was interviewed on CNN and proclaimed that his concerts have adopted the
purpose of bringing people together on common ground and that includes uniting
Christians and Moslems. (There is a movement today among Arabic people called
Crislam – a combination of Christianity and Islam.) Another singer in Spain
preaches that since Christ was born, we no longer have to deal with the wrath
of God, nor should we refer to it in our evangelistic efforts, but rather to
the love of God.
What in the world is
happening? The standards clearly set in the Bible do not change, but the
teacher who interprets the Bible, I’m afraid, in these cases that I have
referred to, is not the Holy Spirit, but a “spirit of
tolerance”. This spirit is not holy and is actually preparing the world’s
population for apostasy and the reign of anti-christ. But is it not true that
we should present the love of God to the world? My friend, first we had better
be sure that we have a clear understanding, as to what is the
love of God! Please read the following article, in which I attempt to clarify
the nature of God’s love and show that it is not the love that the world knows
and understands. It is not human love, but actually something very distinct
from it. It is a holy love that gives no place to sin. It is that love
alone, which the Bible and the Holy Spirit teach us:
The Love that Covers Sins
“Above all, keep fervent in your love for one another, because
love covers a multitude of sins.”
1 Peter 4:8
We can only begin to fathom the love of God, because it is
deeper and vaster than an ocean. It is unique; therefore we have nothing,
with which to compare it. It is perfect, so nothing can be added to improve it.
It always does the very best in furthering the will of God and in blessing the
person, who is called for involvement in His will. It is the motivation behind
every act that pertains to God’s purposes.
The things of God stand apart and above all else. When the
disciples asked Jesus for more faith, He answered, “If you had faith like a
mustard seed…” a very small seed. He turned their attention away from size to a
kind of faith. Mark 11:22 can be accurately translated, “Have the faith of
God”! Just so, the love of God must be understood as something different from
human love. Warren Wiersbe clarifies: “God is love.
This does not mean that ‘love is God’… It has accurately been
said that ‘love does not define God, but God defines love’.”
Agapeo or Phileo?
Unfortunately, most translations do not differentiate between
two kinds of love expressed in the conversation between Jesus and Peter after
the resurrection and Peter’s three-fold denial of Christ. Jesus twice asked
Peter if his love for him was the kind called agapao in Greek.
It is used to express the love of God. Peter’s answered with the word phileo,
a brotherly love, and was saddened when Jesus, the third time,
condescended to Peter’s level asking, “Do you phileo me?” He
did well to grieve, because anything less than God’s love will not suffice in
the divine task of feeding the Lord’s lambs and sheep. Peter learned this well
by the time he wrote his epistle and wrote of fervent love (apageo) for
one another.
The love of God will do everything and anything to transform His
chosen vessels and to save the ungodly. “God so loved the world” that He sent
Joseph to Egypt as a slave and prisoner, just as He sent His Son to the world
to suffer and die. Isaiah reveals that Jesus was “smitten of God” and “the Lord
was pleased to crush Him, putting Him to grief”, just as Joseph clearly
understood that God’s will was behind his captivity in Egypt for the good
purpose of saving his clan and a world that would otherwise starve (see
Gen.45:5, 7-8). Not only so, but the interim thirteen years served to refine
Joseph and mold him into a suitable governor. The Psalmist saw, “until
the time that his word came to pass, the word of the Lord tested him” (Ps.105:19).
Paul makes us wonder at the astounding, but vain, measures that
people take without the love of God. With the commitment of a Mother Theresa,
they can give all their possessions to feed the poor. In Orissa, India, I was
told, as professing Christians heard of the approaching mob of persecutors,
they sought the Lord to see if their hearts were right, lest they would be
beaten and killed simply as nominal Christians. Paul added, “If I
surrender my body to be burned, but do not have love (agapeo), it
profits me nothing.”
The perfection of the love of God eliminates the need for a
counter weight to balance it. If it is correctly presented, it lacks nothing,
and there is no danger that any listener will be deprived of the harmony of
qualities, such as righteousness or divine truth, because of an emphasis on
God’s love. On the cross, other attributes joined to God’s love and the work of
Christ there was completed to perfection. As the Psalmist revealed, “Lovingkindness
and truth have met together; righteousness and peace have kissed each other” (Ps.85:10).
Now, I will lay before us an important question and try to deal
with a misunderstanding that many adopt, presuming to cover a multitude of
sins. How can these sins be covered and how does the fervent love, that Peter
writes about, deal with the sinner or sins among believers? I recall some
statements, many times repeated, concerning treatment of especially difficult
cases, who come under Christian influence: “We want to love this person; we
want to show him that we love him. We need to be tolerant and walk softly,
overlooking and ignoring his many errors, while dealing kindly with him.” Is
that your interpretation of our text and an almost identical Proverb (10:12)?
How are sins covered?
Returning to Psalm 85, having mentioned already that it is a
Psalm that points to the cross, we notice verse two: “You forgave the
iniquity of Your people; you covered all their sin.” Paul quotes from
Psalm 32:2, teaching “blessed are those whose lawless deeds have been
forgiven, and whose sins have been covered. Blessed is the man whose sin the
Lord will not take into account” (Ro.4:7, 8). Is Paul sanctioning
forgiveness and resulting salvation, simply by the good will of God, pardoning
and covering sin? Are we to demonstrate an attitude of brotherly love,
tolerating and co-existing with the sins of our fellow man? Is that the meaning
and manifest work of the love of God?
We will go to James for some help in answering these questions:
“My brethren, if any among you strays from the truth and one turns him back,
let him know that he who turns a sinner from the error of his way will save his
soul from death and will cover a multitude of sins.” Ah, here we see
some steps taken besides good will and tolerance. There is a turning from error
here, for one who has strayed from the truth, and that is synonymous with repentance. Repentance
is involved in covering sins and is necessary to save that soul from death.
According to James, there is no covering of sins without repentance and
Christian salvation. God’s demanding of repentance from his people was a token
of His love and mercy, while the Gentiles were given over to a reprobate mind
(Ro.1:24, 26, 28). Now He demands repentance from Jew and Gentile (Ac.17:30).
A love that disciplines with a rod
Christian parents need this same fervent love to discipline
their children and thus to cover their sins: “You shall strike him with the
rod and rescue his soul from Sheol (hell)” (Pr.23:14). My
dad used to say that in order to raise children a father had to be full of the
Holy Spirit. He alone fills with the love of God so that a parent can do what
is necessary for the good of his children: “He who withholds his
rod hates his son, but he who loves him disciplines him diligently” (Pr.13:24).
We wrote of Joseph earlier and now we will see him dealing with
his brothers in Genesis 42. He “spoke to them harshly” (v.7),
and then, “he turned away from them and wept” (v.24). Joseph
loved his brothers fervently. Here is a man, who has learned God’s love through
13 years of slavery and can now feed His lambs and sheep. As one studies the
story, he sees that Joseph brings his brothers through to an amazing
repentance.
 |
| God covered Adam and Eve by a blood sacrifice |
When Adam and Eve sinned, God sacrificed an animal and covered
them with his skin. Sin is not covered by a love that comes without blood.
“Without shedding of blood there is no forgiveness” (Heb.9:
22). The Old Testament writers could tell of their sins being
covered, because the blood of Christ is the timeless sacrifice that covers the
sin of His saints, Old Testament and New. In Christ´s sacrifice, divine justice
was applied and divine righteousness satisfied. Holiness cannot be compromised
and divine wrath must be appeased. Only the precious blood of the God/Man,
Jesus Christ, removes the sin separation between God and
man. Because faith in His blood is essential doctrine, therefore
there can be no fellowship between true Christianity and liberal pretenders or
others of the world’s religions. Handle this as you will, but this is the
fundamental doctrine of God’s Bible. It will stand long after this generation’s
humanistic mentality, ecumenicalism and degenerate “gospel” falls.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Posts
Recommended Books
Post a Comment