PART 2
The Foolishness of God
“For the foolishness of God is wiser than human wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than human strength.” (1 Corinthians 1:25)
Humans are not sinners because they sin; they sin because they are sinners. Just doing something wrong doesn't make them a sinner. They are a sinner because it is their nature to sin - not because they became a sinner the first time they sinned. Dogs bark, cats meow, fish swim, birds sing, and sinners sin! Thanks to Adam and Eve, the sinful nature often causes people to fail. It’s virtually guaranteed, so plan on it. That's why people need a Savior!
There is only one single way out from the eternal consequences of sin, and it was provided through Jesus (John 3:17). That is why the Creator of the Cosmos came to Earth as a human being and was willing to become sin and die a horrific death as the final sacrifice to prove and demonstrate that His love can cover/wash away and forgive all sins past, present, and future for those who call upon His name in repentant humility and ask Him to be their Lord and Savior (John 1:1,14; Hebrews 2:17; 2 Corinthians 5:21).
“You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous person, though for a good person someone might possibly dare to die. But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” (Romans 5:6-8 NIV)
The Bible also declares that those who reject God’s offer of salvation and “go on sinning willfully after receiving the knowledge of the truth” will have God’s wrath abide upon them for eternity because their sin is not removed (John 3:36) and “there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins" (Hebrews 10:26).
Universalists will often oversimplify the truth and say, ‘God loves everyone so much that He will save them no matter what’ or ‘God is love, and will not send anyone to Hell because it is against His infinite love.’ The truth is that Hell is a real place, and Jesus spoke of it often as well as visiting there (Ephesians 4:9). Yet, God “loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins” (1 John 4:10 NIV).
The Creator’s Character and Nature
In what is often referred to as the "love chapter," the Bible clearly reveals the depth of God’s character and nature. By simply replacing the words "charity” or “love" with the name of Jesus, a profound and complete understanding emerges of who God truly is and how He views everyone.
Jesus suffers long,
Jesus is kind,
Jesus envies not,
Jesus doesn’t boast of Himself,
Jesus is not puffed up,
Jesus does not behave Himself unseemly,
Jesus seeks not His own,
Jesus is not easily provoked,
Jesus thinks no evil,
Jesus rejoices not in iniquity,
Jesus rejoices in the truth,
Jesus bears all things,
Jesus believes all things,
Jesus hopes all things,
Jesus endures all things.
Jesus never fails. (See 1 Corinthians 13)
Jesus redeemed humanity on the Cross from the curse of the law because He is Love. He voluntarily and systematically took upon His own body the full curse of every sin, sickness, disease, perversion, and pain. He paid the full and final penalty for every person to be born on this planet (See Isaiah 53). Jesus wasn’t made perfect by His suffering because He was already the perfect sacrifice before He went to the Cross.
The Essence of God
The Bible is very clear that God has always been love, even before He created the first human beings. He has always sought to have a close relationship with them because they were made for this love. The entire story of humanity is wrapped up within it. Love is why humans were created, and love is their eternal destiny. This truth is taught throughout Scripture, beginning with Adam in the Garden of Eden.
When God created Adam, He said to him, "I will make a partner suitable to you" (Genesis 2:18 NIV). God was declaring the hidden purpose of His heart from eternity past, the mystery of the ages. The Holy Spirit reveals that this promise ultimately speaks of Jesus and the Church (See Ephesians 5:25-6:1).
God proved He is love by sending Jesus to walk among mankind and die in their place (John 3:16). He now reaches out in tender affection with nail-pierced hands, most purely and intimately.
Sadly, many are unable to experience the fundamental reality that God the Father loves and enjoys them. Some would argue that God could not possibly be in love with them. What a person believes about God is the most important thing contained in their mind. It affects everything about them.
For too many people, God seems remote, impersonal, and unknowable. As a result, many struggle with an inability to feel forgiven, plagued by doubt and mistrust of Him. A distorted view of God leads to a distorted approach to prayer. Jesus revealed this truth;
"Which of you fathers, if your son asks for a fish, will give him a snake instead?" asked Jesus. "Or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion? If you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him." (Luke 11:11-13 NIV)
Those who had an earthly father who was never around when they needed him or have experienced trauma, abuse, or extreme and hateful discipline will have a very difficult time pursuing an intimate relationship with the heavenly Father.
God’s love is not some sentimental, touchy-feely emotional infatuation that tolerates evil so that all people can just get along with each other. God desires to give only the best to His people. He clearly is not the author of pain, or sorrow, or suffering, or sickness.
Understanding the nature of God’s love reveals that He gets angry at those who do things against others (including Himself) that hurt or cause suffering (See Matthew 21:12; Mark 1:15; John 2:15). Jesus is Creator God, Lord of the Universe, and absolutely holy and just. He cannot look upon sin in any way, shape, manner, or form.
Because God is love, He does not delight in executing His wrath on sin. The Bible reveals that the wrath of God is actually an expression of His love, which is always regarded as the natural manifestation of His holy and righteous nature and His just and righteous indignation against sin, and the sinner, because of transgressions against Him (See Jeremiah 10:24; Ezekiel 23:1; Amos 3:2). His wrath against sin must be maintained under all circumstances and at all costs (See 1 Peter 1:17; Hebrews 10:29; Numbers 11:1-10; Deuteronomy 29:27; 2 Samuel 6:7; Isaiah 5:25; 42:25; Jeremiah 44:6; Psalm 79:6).
The Bible says that there is only one thing that can save a sinner from the outpouring of God’s righteous anger against sin, and that is placing their wholehearted trust in Jesus as Lord and Savior.
“Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever rejects the Son will not see life, for God’s wrath remains on them.” (John 3:36 NIV)
The Holy Spirit, through the writer of the Book of Hebrews, gives a startling warning:
“It is IMPOSSIBLE for those who have once been ENLIGHTENED, who have TASTED the heavenly gift, who have SHARED in the Holy Spirit, who have TASTED the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the coming age and who have FALLEN away, to be brought BACK to repentance. To their LOSS they are crucifying the Son of God all over again and subjecting him to public disgrace” (Hebrews 6:4-6 NIV- emphasis mine)
Those who have become “enlightened” about Jesus and have “tasted the heavenly gift,” and “have shared in the Holy Spirit,” and the “goodness of the word of God and the powers of the coming age and refuse to repent of their sins and receive Him as Lord and Savior, and instead intentionally choose to reject Him and walk away, Jesus gave a frightful warning to be afraid of the “One who can destroy both soul and body in hell” (Matthew 10:28-29 NIV; Luke 12:5).
The Bible declares that all human beings are “by nature children of wrath” (Ephesians 2:3 NIV). The eternal truth of God is that those who continually reject Jesus Christ as Creator and Lord of the universe:
“are storing up wrath against yourself for the day of God’s wrath, when his righteous judgment will be revealed. God “will give to each person according to what he has done. To those who by persistence in doing good seek glory, honor and immortality, he will give eternal life. But for those who are self-seeking and who reject the truth and follow evil, there will be wrath and anger. There will be trouble and distress for every human being who does evil…” (Romans 2:5-9 NIV - see also John 3:36; Romans 1:16-18; 5:9)
Unlike those who have only “tasted the heavenly gift,” the Born-Again Christian placed their trusting-faith in Jesus and “were washed,” “sanctified,” and “justified” “by His blood in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God” and “shall be saved from God’s wrath through Him” (1 Corinthians 6:11; Romans 5:9 NIV). But if they do “sin” (because that is what sinners do), they “have an advocate with the Father - Jesus Christ, the Righteous One” (1 John 2:1 NIV).
The ultimate magnitude of God’s love was manifested on the Cross, where Jesus took upon Himself the sins of every person who has, is now, or will ever live in this world and forgave them. The only way a person can appropriate His forgiveness is to repent of their sin and receive Him as Lord and Savior.
Love Defined
The Bible refers to two types of love in the Greek language: "agape" and "phileo." "Agape" has been defined as a self-sacrificial love committed to the highest good. It is a love that is not dependent on emotions, and without this love, no one could be saved. Through "agape" love, God set aside His wrath against the sins of humanity because Jesus paid the final sacrifice to forgive them on the Cross.
"Phileo" love is best defined as tender affection, love from the emotions in a person’s soul. It is that kind of love that responds to love from another. It is the love of true friends, the love of a child for his parents or for another child, and the love between a husband and wife. This kind of love can be casual or intense. “Phileo” love can’t be relegated to human emotion. Jesus used this word to describe the Father’s love for Him (John 5:20), and It is also used to describe the Father’s feelings toward the Son’s disciples (John 16:27).
Jesus admonishes Christians to: "Do to others as you would have them do to you” (Luke 6:31). Thinking one’s self to be better than another for any reason is pride. Too often, we see Christians casting stones toward those who have sinned when everyone has sinned. Christians are merely “saved” sinners, yet they remain sinners nonetheless. Jesus asked a provocative question and gave a biting rebuke to those who judged others:
“Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother's eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? How can you say to your brother, 'Let me take the speck out of your eye,' when all the time there is a plank in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother's eye.” (Matthew 7:3-5 NIV)
When people use "hate" Scriptures from the Bible to share the Gospel message with others, they are showing “contempt for the riches of his kindness, tolerance and patience” because they don’t understand that it is not anger and hatred but, in fact, “God's kindness” that will lead them to repentance” (Romans 2:4 NIV).
CONCLUSION
Every human being is a sinner and deserves death (Romans 3:10-18,23,24), but great is the love, mercy, and compassion of God. It is only those who realize their sinfulness and great need for grace and depend upon God's forgiveness who can come into His presence (See 1 John 4:8, 16).
It is up to every person on the planet to make the choice to either receive or reject Jesus (2 Peter 3:9). God’s justice demands that the rejection of Jesus must be punished (2 Corinthians 5:21).
“Dear children, do not let anyone lead you astray. The one who does what is right is righteous, just as he is righteous. The one who does what is sinful is of the devil, because the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the devil’s work. No one who is born of God will continue to sin, because God’s seed remains in them; they cannot go on sinning, because they have been born of God. This is how we know who the children of God are and who the children of the devil are: Anyone who does not do what is right is not God’s child, nor is anyone who does not love their brother and sister.” (1 John 3:7-10 NIV)
Sin is an abomination to God, and the wages of sin is death, but it is not God's pleasure to see the death of anyone. If a person does not repent before God and receive Jesus as Savior, they will ultimately experience His wrathful, righteous judgment and will experience eternal death. However, the Bible is perfectly clear that even the vilest of sinners can be transformed by God's grace and given the mind of Christ. When they become a Christian, they are Born-Again by putting their trusting-faith in Jesus, they will go in the opposite direction where sin was leading them. God is no longer mad AT them; He is madly IN love with them!
“Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity. Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful.” (Colossians 3:12-15 NIV)
No ’sinner’ was good or righteous when Jesus died on the Cross and demonstrated His love for them. Christians are commanded to love their enemies and pray for them. God set the example of how Christians are to behave towards others. The “fruit of the Spirit” is love - not hate (Galatians 5:22). Jesus spoke against the religious leaders of the day who taught “Love your neighbor and hate your enemy” and turned it upside down when He commanded Christians to “Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you”…” and do good to those who hate them and NOT hate their enemies (Luke 6:27 NIV)
“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 children of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.” (Matthew 5:43–45 NIV)
God is not exempt from His commands, and He has never changed (Malachi 3:6). He is the “God of love and peace” and not hate (2 Corinthians 13:11 NIV).
“But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions — it is by grace you have been saved. And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus.” (Ephesians 2:4-8 NIV)
God absolutely LOVES sinners. That does not mean that He loves them to continue living a life in sin, but He knows who they are, and that the world was also born into sin, not by direct personal choice. If God "hated" sinners in the way hate is thought of today, He would not have sent Jesus, the Son, to die as the final acceptable sacrifice for all sinners so that when they repent of their sin and receive Jesus as Lord and Savior, they appropriate His forgiveness into their life both here and in eternity.
“But now apart from the law the righteousness of God has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify. This righteousness is given through faith in h Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference between Jew and Gentile, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. God presented Christ as a sacrifice of atonement, i through the shedding of his blood—to be received by faith. He did this to demonstrate his righteousness, because in his forbearance he had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished - he did it to demonstrate his righteousness at the present time, so as to be just and the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus” (Romans 3:21-26 NIV)
It is at the Cross and through the shed blood of Jesus where the Triune God proved just how much He loves the world, and that by having trusting-faith in what Jesus did for them, He now views the sinner as being "the righteousness of God."
“…that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God. God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.” (2 Corinthians 5:19-21 NIV)
Because of what Jesus did on the Cross no one today is being punished, or will ever be, for the sins that they have committed. A sinner will receive eternal punishment for rejecting Jesus. It is by acknowledging the righteous works of Jesus that pleases God.
“But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near by the blood of Christ. For he himself is our peace, who has made the two groups one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility, by setting aside in his flesh the law with its commands and regulations. His purpose was to create in himself one new humanity out of the two, thus making peace, and in one body to reconcile both of them to God through the cross, by which he put to death their hostility.” (Ephesians 2:13-16 NIV)
It is not a contradiction that God, who is love, can also hate (1 John 4:8; Hosea 9:15). God’s nature is love - He always does what is best for others - and He hates those things that are contrary to His nature. He created human beings in His image, with the capacity to both love and hate. Sometimes, hatred is justified against those things that destroy what we love. The existence of the sin nature in every person does not negate the God-given ability to love and hate. Similarly, it is not a contradiction for God to love and hate.
The Bible tells us that anyone who has not repented and received Jesus as Lord and Savior is already condemned under God's holy anger against sin (John 3:17). He takes no pleasure in the death of the wicked (Ezekiel 33:10). Because God is love, He has provided the way of salvation from sin and condemnation through Jesus, who died in our place. However, He will judge those who reject Jesus (Romans 3:23). God does not want the death of the wicked,
"Although He takes no pleasure in the death of the wicked." (Ezekiel 33:10 NIV)
The Bible clearly teaches that God loves the people of the world (John 3:16). God spared wicked Nineveh, bringing them to repentance (Jonah 3). God takes no pleasure in the death of the wicked (Ezekiel 18:32). He is patient to an extreme, “not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance” (2 Peter 3:9 NIV). This is all proof of love. God wants what is best for His creation. At the same time, He hates “all evildoers” and is not “pleased with wickedness,” and “evil people are not welcome” because “the arrogant cannot stand in” His “presence” (Psalm 5:4-5 NIV). It is the “wicked, those who love violence, He hates with a passion” (Psalm 11:5 NIV).
The truth is that before a person repents and receives Jesus as Lord and Savior, they are the enemy of God (Colossians 1:21). Yet, even before they are saved, they are loved by God who sacrificed His only begotten Son on their behalf (Romans 5:8).
Those who take “refuge” in God will “be glad” and “ever sing for joy” (Psalm 5:4-4; 11:5 NIV). The righteous and the wicked make different choices and have different destinies. One will see the ultimate expression of God’s love, and the other will know the ultimate expression of God’s hatred.
Fourteen times in the first fifty Psalms alone, it is said that God hates the sinner, and His wrath rests both on the sin (Romans 1:18) and on them (John 3:36; Romans 1:18). Human beings cannot love with perfect love, nor can they hate with a perfect hatred. But God can both love and hate perfectly because He is God. He can hate without sinful intent in a perfect holy way and still love and forgive the sinner at the moment of repentance and receiving Jesus as their Lord and Savoir (Malachi 1:3; Revelation 2:6; 2 Peter 3:9).
When a person repents and finds refuge in Jesus by becoming Born-Again, they are removed from the kingdom of darkness and transferred to the Kingdom of Love (Colossians 1:13). All hostility is dissolved, all sin is removed, and all things are made new (2 Corinthians 5:17).
It is because God is holy and righteous that He can both love and hate in a perfect manner. God hates sin, and He will judge it. He saves sinners who He loves through the death of Jesus because He is holy and righteous. The two things, hate and love, are not mutually exclusive – they are the clear and good aspects of a holy and righteous God.
The wrath of God is not a ruthless and emotional blind rage but is an entirely reasonable response to offenses against His holiness and righteousness. His hatred of sin is not based on a passionate irrationality. He will not let evil go unpunished. In that sense, God's hate and His love are simply the two sides of His holiness
God is good because He hates sin and will judge it. If it were not so, if sin were not judged, then there would be no justice. God is good because He loves those He saves, who, instead of having the wrath that is stored up and ultimately poured out against them, are counted clean, perfect, and holy in His sight through no action of their own but through the action of Jesus on the Cross.
When Jesus died on the Cross to forgive all sin, He delivered a cure for its malignancy. He provided a way by which sinful people could become holy and free from their inevitable eternal death. When God destroys the wicked, it is a form of His grace because He stops their evil deeds and prevents them from working. It is the merciful “riches of His kindness” of God that “is intended to lead you to repentance” (Romans 2:4 NIV).
Sin remains in every human being even after they have become a Christian, and the Holy Spirit of God leads them as they begin the journey into His holiness. They are no longer an ‘evil-doer’ but are still a ‘sinner’ by nature who is saved by God's grace.
“Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever rejects the Son will not see life, for God’s wrath remains on them.” (John 3:36 NIV)
“For they themselves report what kind of reception you gave us. They tell how you turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God, and to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead - Jesus, who rescues us from the coming wrath.” (1 Thessalonians 1:9-10 NIV)
The amazing truth is that every Christian is a love gift given by the Father to the Son and will always be the object of Jesus' prayers! This is one of the greatest mysteries of God.
“The grace of our Lord was poured out on me abundantly, along with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus. Here is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners - of whom I am the worst. But for that very reason I was shown mercy so that in me, the worst of sinners, Christ Jesus might display his immense patience as an example for those who would believe in him and receive eternal life. Now to the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory for ever and ever. Amen.” (1 Timothy 1:14-17 NIV)
Jesus sees each Born-Again Christian as personally belonging to Him forever. Nothing can separate them from His love. In His prayer of intercession, Jesus thanks the Father seven times for giving them to Him (See John 17). It is not because they believed in Him but because they were a love gift from the Father!
"My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of my Father’s hand." (John 10:29 NIV)
I have come to realize that the revelation of His affection and enjoyment for every individual on this planet is vitally important for emotional and spiritual well-being, regardless of gender. The Great Commandment is the foundation of the Christian Walk. The reason God wants Christians to love Him with all their heart, soul, and mind is that this is how He loves them!! (Matthew 22:37-40.
The amazing truth is that every Christian is a love gift given by the Father to the Son and will always be the object of Jesus' prayers! This is one of the greatest mysteries of God. Jesus sees each Born-Again Christian as personally belonging to Him forever, and NOTHING can separate them from His love because God is madly in love with them!
