A NEW commandment. This new
commandment
covers all the rest.
Love never steals. Love never murders.
It's the Love of God, and He's the One
who gave the previous 10! Let's read a
portion of the Apostle John's first
letter. First John 4:7-9 says:
Praise God! Look at that.
LOVE GOD!
LOVE your neighbor as yourself. ALL
the Law and ALL the prophets hang
on LOVE. Love is the curtain rod upon
which all the BLESSINGS of God hang!
Now let's look at the scripture from
which the title of this letter comes.
Galatians 5:5-6: "For we through the
Spirit wait for the hope of
righteousness by faith. For in Jesus
Christ neither circumcision availeth
any thing, nor uncircumcision;
but
faith which worketh by Love."
Don't stop there. Look at verse 14: "For
all the law is fulfilled in one word,
even in this; Thou shalt love thy
neighbour as thyself." Wow!
There it is
again. If then, Jesus is your LORD and
Savior, Romans 5:5-6
makes it very
clear that the Love in our hearts is the
Love of GOD and not just natural,
human love.
Late one night in an upper room, a
little over 2,000 years ago,
the Master
spoke these precious words in John
13:34-35:
"A new commandment I give
unto you, That ye love one another; as
I have loved you, that ye also love one
another. By this shall all men know
that ye are my disciples, if ye have
Love one to another."
7 BELOVED, LET US LOVE ONE
ANOTHER: FOR LOVE IS OF GOD; AND
EVERY ONE THAT LOVETH IS BORN OF
GOD, AND KNOWETH GOD.
8 HE THAT LOVETH NOT KNOWETH NOT
GOD; FOR GOD IS LOVE.
9 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.
God is Love! The Bible does not say,
"GOD is Power." It does say, however,
He uses His power in behalf of His
people! He loved us so much that He
laid our sins, sickness and pain on
Jesus. He,
the Son of God, who is Love,
bore it all on Himself and
went to hell
as our Substitute. The Apostle Peter
was there! He wrote in his first letter,
Chapter 2:24:
"Who his own self bare
our sins in his own body on the tree,
that we, being dead to sins, should
live unto righteousness: by whose
stripes ye were healed." Now look at
Galatians 3:13-14, Amplified Bible,
Classic Edition:
38 THIS IS THE FIRST AND GREAT
COMMANDMENT.
39 AND THE SECOND IS LIKE UNTO IT,
THOU SHALT LOVE THY NEIGHBOUR AS
THYSELF.
40 ON THESE TWO COMMANDMENTS
HANG ALL THE LAW AND THE
PROPHETS.
13 CHRIST PURCHASED OUR FREEDOM
[REDEEMING US] FROM THE CURSE
(DOOM) OF THE LAW [AND ITS
CONDEMNATION] BY [HIMSELF]
BECOMING A CURSE FOR US, FOR IT IS
WRITTEN [IN THE SCRIPTURES],
