Is It True That God’s Love Is Unconditional?
RC Sproul said “I can’t think of a more perilous message to communicate to people than to stand there and announce the unconditional love of God.”
What does an unrepentant sinner hear from this message? What, as Brandon Lake likes to say, does Bubba in the back row, (that only came to Church because his wife made him come), hear from that message?
Most likely Bubba hears that God loves me just as I am. I don’t have to repent of my sins. I don’t need a savior. I don’t have to worry about going to hell because a God who loves everybody unconditionally won’t ever send anybody to hell. So, I can keep on living my life just as I am and never worry again about offending God because He cannot be offended, because His love is unconditional. And if you listen to Brandon Lake's music, you probably will not hear that God is Holy, Holy, Holy because Lake has stated that we need to avoid "christianese" language like the word Holy. Oh my how wrong he is!
God loves you unconditionally is a continuous message we hear today. We hear it in songs, we hear it in books, we see it on Facebook and Instagram posts. It is repeated so often that to doubt it seems almost heretical.
This message is dangerous. It reflects a God without standards, a God without judgment, a God who turns His head at rebellion, and a God who will always embrace you no matter how defiantly you spit in His face. In essence, this message presents a fake Jesus, a fake God, an imposter who poses as God/Jesus, but is not the God/Jesus of scripture. We are truly setting ourselves up for the one who will come one day pretending to be God.
“Let no one deceive you by any means; for that Day will not come unless the falling away comes first, and the man of sin is revealed, the son of perdition, who opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God or that is worshiped, so that he sits as God in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God”. 2 Thessalonians 2:3-4.
If the love of God was truly unconditional then everyone would go to heaven, and no one would go to hell. That's called universalism and the church appears to be letting in this heresy at breakneck speed. It is the belief that all humankind will eventually be saved. This is completely not true according to the Bible. Multitudes of professing Christians believe in this imaginary love. It has become their mantra. Yet, doesn’t anyone ever stop to ask the question... has God actually said such a thing?
The love of God that the world is preaching is simply not the truth. Imagine a mother watching her child experiment with drugs and alcohol, eventually becoming addicted, and never confronting this behavior as she might appear judgmental. Imagine a judge facing a serial killer in the courtroom and saying, “I don’t care what you’ve done—I love you, and I will never punish you.” Imagine a mother watching her 5-year-old walk out into the middle of a busy street and not try to prevent them, as well as not try to discipline them. This is not love. This is crazy! Yet the Church is continuing to accept a distorted view of our Savior by letting in the continual mantra that God is Love. We need to be asking ourselves what exactly the love of God is according to the Bible and not looking to worldly definitions?
True love—God’s love—has a backbone. It has a moral core. It cannot affirm what is evil or turn a blind eye to rebellion. It must oppose what is harmful and embrace what is good. God is Holy. God is perfect. God is the very definition of good and cannot promote or endorse evil.
How can we even speak about the love of Jesus without mentioning His sacrificial death on the cross? And to mention the cross is to mention our sin, which put Jesus on the cross. The message of God's love cannot be separated from the message of Jesus’ death on the cross or the message of His resurrection and why, or the message of sin. But this is surely happening everywhere we look today. We are getting a distorted view of God, and it’s intentional. If God loved without conditions, He would have no reason to rescue you. You would need no cross, no atonement, no Savior.
With any question about God, Jesus, or the Bible we must always look to see what God says in His Word and some may be surprised to find that God’s love has terms.
“By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and keep His commandments. For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments. And His commandments are not burdensome.” 1 John 5:2-3
“And now I plead with you, lady, not as though I wrote a new commandment to you, but that which we have had from the beginning: that we love one another. This is love, that we walk according to His commandments. This is the commandment, that as you have heard from the beginning, you should walk in it.
Beware of Antichrist Deceivers
Whoever transgresses and does not abide in the doctrine of Christ does not have God. He who abides in the doctrine of Christ has both the Father and the Son. If anyone comes to you and does not bring this doctrine, do not receive him into your house nor greet him; for he who greets him shares in his evil deeds.” 2 John 1:5-11
“I love those who love me, And those who seek me diligently will find me.” Proverbs 8:17
“He who has My commandments and keeps them, it is he who loves Me. And he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and manifest Myself to him.” John 14:21
“The LORD preserves all who love Him, But all the wicked He will destroy.” Psalms 145:20
Proverbs 8:17 clearly says that God loves those who love Him. Wow! Do we really love God? Do we really obey His commandments? No…. we need a Savior, and it is verses like this and others that show us our need. Keeping the commandments, doing what God asks us to do, points us to the fact that we need a Savior because we actually deserve death.
“who, knowing the righteous judgment of God, that those who practice such things are deserving of death, not only do the same but also approve of those who practice them”. Romans 1:32
“As it is written: “There is none righteous, no, not one; There is none who understands; There is none who seeks after God. They have all turned aside; They have together become unprofitable; There is none who does good, no, not one.” Romans 3:10-12
“Then the LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.” Genesis 6:5
9”And this is the condemnation, that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. “For everyone practicing evil hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed. “But he who does the truth comes to the light, that his deeds may be clearly seen, that they have been done in God.” John 3:19-21
According to the Bible, we do not love God. We love ourselves. We love our sin. We are not righteous. But, unlike the unconditional love message, which is actually a counterfeit message, God points us to our need for a Savior.
Our Lord Jesus has met every condition perfectly, completely, and forever. Every condition was satisfied at infinite cost. Every term was met by the perfect obedience of the Son of God. Every penalty you earned was paid in His blood. Jesus is the fulfillment of the requirements and if you are in Christ there is no condemnation.
“For our sake He made Him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God” (2 Corinthians 5:21).
“Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us (for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree”)” Galatians 3:13
“There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit.” Romans 8:1
So the next time you are bombarded with the unconditional love counterfeit message, don’t just sit there. Speak up and explain why this is a dangerous message indeed! God’s love is conditional—love that demands perfection and holiness, secures it in Christ, and then guards you forever within the walls of His mercy and grace.