I’ve heard an interesting debate going on lately. One camp says that the message of the Gospel is that God loves sinners, and that we can turn people off by portraying God as too judgmental. The other camp contends God doesn’t say He loves those who resist Him, and we do them a disservice by not warning them of His wrath. I think both camps are essentially right. How can that be? Because it isn’t an either or proposition, it’s a both and.
First, the gospel isn’t that God loves us. It’s that because God loves us, He made a way to save us from a very real judgment. Both and.
I’ve said that John 3:36 is the most concise, complete statement of the gospel in the Bible. "He who believes in the Son has everlasting life; and he who does not believe the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him." In other words, God loves you so much He made a way for you to have eternal life. If you’re unwilling to take that way (Jesus), you get wrath. God loves you, but He absolutely will judge you. Both and.
Mercy and Truth contend with each other. On the one hand, God is love. On the other, He is righteous and will judge according to truth. But the Old Testament often pairs these together. (Here is a short list for your personal study: Psalm 25:10, 57:3, 10, 61:7, 85:10, 86:15, 89:14, 100:5, 108:4, 115:1, Proverbs 3:3, 14:22, 16:6, 20:28, Isaiah 16:5, Hosea 4:1, Micah 7:20)
My favorite is Psalm 85:10. “Mercy and truth have met together; righteousness and peace have kissed.” Where do mercy and truth meet? Where do righteousness and peace (reconciliation) come together? Proverbs 16:6 gives us a clue. “In mercy and truth Atonement is provided for iniquity.”
Mercy and Truth meet at the cross, the only way God could satisfy both His love and His righteousness. The cross is a picture of God’s love. It’s also a picture of His wrath, poured out on our sin, but on an innocent man who was willing to bear it for us. Both and.
I think we need to tell sinners that God loves them. But we also need to tell them about Hebrews 10:26-31. Otherwise we haven’t shared the whole gospel, and they may wrongly assume that because God loves them He’ll overlook their sin. Think about it; if He poured His wrath toward sin out on Jesus, clearly His love doesn’t prevent Him from administering justice. It does no good for someone to know God loves them if they haven’t escaped His wrath.
Thank you Pastor Tony!!!
ReplyDeleteI am realizing more and more that love does not always offer a hug. Sometimes the harder thing is to tell someone the truth and face rejection.
ReplyDeleteI largely agree with what you've said, but I think it's inaccurate to say "God doesn’t say He loves those who resist Him." Romans 5:8 says "But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us." His offer of salvation was motivated by love, and is available to all.
ReplyDeleteI'm gonna have to go with David on this one. Its true we are still subject to Gods justice even though he loves us, but i believe he still loves us even when we ignore the fact his justice could come at any moment
ReplyDeleteLet me clarify. I wasn't stating my position in the first paragraph, but the two polar positions being argued. Sounds like we all three agree.
ReplyDeleteI think this is very insightful and will remember not to leave out any details when giving the gospel to others.
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