The Gospel

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The Gospel of Jesus Christ

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The Character of God

The Holiness of God

  • Your eyes are too pure to approve evil, and You cannot look on wickedness with favor. Habakkuk 1:13
  • But your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God, and your sins have hidden His face from you so that He does not hear. Isaiah 59:2

The Justice of God

  • For the LORD is righteous, He loves righteousness; the upright will behold His face. Psalm 11:7
  • But the LORD of hosts will be exalted in judgment, and the holy God will show Himself holy in righteousness. Isaiah 5:16
  • God is a righteous judge, and a God who has indignation every day. If a man does not repent, He will sharpen His sword; He has bent His bow and made it ready. Psalm 7:11-12

The Depravity & Condemnation of Man

  • For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. Romans 3:23
  • For all of us have become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous deeds are like a filthy garment Isaiah 64:6
  • For as many as are of the works of the law are under a curse; for it is written, ACCURSED IS EVERYONE WHO DOES NOT ABIDE BY ALL THINGS WRITTEN IN THE BOOK OF THE LAW, TO PERFORM THEM. Galatians 3:10

The Great Dilemma

  • He who justifies the wicked and he who condemns the righteous, both of them alike are an abomination to the LORD. Proverbs 17:15
  • Far be it from You to do such a thing, to slay the righteous with the wicked, so that the righteous and the wicked are treated alike. Far be it from You! Shall not the Judge of all the earth deal justly? Genesis 18:25

God's Action

While maintaining His holiness and justice, the Bible also affirms that God is love, and that in love He has responded to the plight of man.

Motivated by Love

  • God is love. By this the love of God is manifested in us, that God sent His only begotten Son into the world so that we might live through Him. In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. 1 John 4:8-10

The Cross of Christ

  • For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, being justified as a gift by His grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus; whom God displayed publicly as a propitiation in His blood through faith. This was to demonstrate His righteousness, because in the forbearance of God He passed over the sins previously committed; for the demonstration, I say, of His righteousness at the present time, so that He would be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus. Romans 3:23-26

The Resurrection

  • He who was delivered over because of our transgressions, and was raised because of our justification. Romans 4:25

Man's Response

Repentance begins with a recognition and confession that what God says about us is true that we have sinned.
  • For I know my transgressions, and my sin is ever before me. Against You, You only, I have sinned and done what is evil in Your sight, so that You are justified when You speak and blameless when You judge. Psalm 51:3-4
A genuine recognition of our sinfulness and guilt will also lead to genuine sorrow, shame and even hatred for what we have done.
  • For what I am doing, I do not understand; for I am not practicing what I would like to do, but I am doing the very thing I hate. Romans 7:15
  • Wretched man that I am! Who will set me free from this body of death? Romans 7:24
Apparent sincerity of confession alone is never definite evidence of genuine repentance. It must be accompanied by a turning away from sin.
  • Wash yourselves, make yourselves clean; remove the evil of your deeds from My sight. Cease to do evil. Isaiah 1:16
  • therefore every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Matthew 3:10

Faith Defined

  • Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. Hebrews 11:1
  • and being fully assured that what God had promised, He was able also to perform. Romans 4:21

Faith Based on The Promises of God

  • For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life. John 3:16
  • Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved Acts 16:31

Example of a Believer

  • worship in the Spirit of God and glory in Christ Jesus and put no confidence in the flesh Philippians 3:3

The Basis of Genuine Assurance

  • True conversion: A true Christian is a new creation and will live a life that reflects God's radical work of re-creation in his/her life. Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come. 2 Corinthians 5:17
  • You will know them by their fruits. Grapes are not gathered from thorn bushes nor figs from thistles, are they? Matthew 7:16
  • Assurance is based upon self-examination in the light of Scripture. Test yourselves to see if you are in the faith; examine yourselves! Or do you not recognize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you unless indeed you fail the test? 2 Corinthians 13:5
  • These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, so that you may know that you have eternal life. 1 John 5:13

Test of Biblical Assurance

1 John 1:5-7 (Walking in the Light), 1 John 1:8-10 (Confession of Sin), 1 John 2:3-4 (Obedience), 1 John 2:9-11 (Love for the Brethren), 1 John 2:15-17 (Hatred for the World), 1 John 2:24-25(Perseverance in Doctrine), 1 John 3:10 (Righteousness), 1 John 4:13 (Spirit's Testimony), Hebrews 12:5-8 (Discipline)

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Comments

  1. In one of your posts you stated "Jesus hates hypocrites." Where in the Bible does it say that? You are very knowledgeable regarding the scriptures so please assist me. Thank you

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    1. Hello Anonymous,

      Thanks for asking for the verse addresses. I appreciate it.

      First, God (Jesus) hates sinners. He is not in heaven ruefully shaking His head going "Aw, that scamp!" He HATES sinners. Here are the verses stating this,

      Psalm 5:5, Psalm 11:5, Lev. 20:23, Prov. 6:16-19, Hosea 9:15

      Hypocrisy is a sin. Jesus hates it. All of Matthew 23 is His screed against hypocrisy. The section is called "A Warning Against Hypocrites".

      Other verses describing the hate for hypocrites and the sin of hypocrisy are Isaiah 29:13, and in Matthew 7:15 where Jesus called them wolves and warned against them, and here, inspired by the Spirit (Who is God, who is Jesus) Paul calls them evil. Romans 12:9. In Matthew 7:3-5 Jesus addresses hypocrites again and warns against them.

      There are more. You can do a topic search for hypocrites and see. Hope this helps

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  2. You probably mean, "Jesus hates SIN," not "sinners" :)

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    1. No. I MEANT "Jesus hates sinners." We are so overloaded with 'love' messages we forget that Jesus hates sin AND the people who perform it. The Bible is clear. Jesus hates sinners. Is that offensive to people? Sure. But sinners offend God.
      https://carm.org/does-god-hate-anyone

      Psalm 5:5, "The boastful shall not stand before Thine eyes; Thou dost hate all who do iniquity,"
      Psalm 11:5, "The Lord tests the righteous and the wicked, and the one who loves violence His soul hates."
      Lev. 20:23, "Moreover, you shall not follow the customs of the nation which I shall drive out before you, for they did all these things, and therefore I have abhorred them."
      Prov. 6:16-19, "There are six things which the Lord hates, yes, seven which are an abomination to Him: 17 Haughty eyes, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood, 18 A heart that devises wicked plans, feet that run rapidly to evil, 19 A false witness who utters lies, and one who spreads strife among brothers."
      Hosea 9:15, "All their evil is at Gilgal; indeed, I came to hate them there! Because of the wickedness of their deeds I will drive them out of My house! I will love them no more; All their princes are rebels."

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    2. Who is a sinner? I think that in whatever definition you will give , you will be termed a ''sinner''. Do you think Jesus hate you?

      Also note that all the references you gave are in the Old Testatment!

      How much of the Love of God do you know? I mean how much of Jesus do you know? Don't feel offended by that question but I just desire to know.

      Thanks

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    3. What, like the OT doesn't count? Oy. His disapproval and hatred of sin and the sinner who performs it is infinite. See: Hell; Wrath.

      If you are going to comment, then please refrain friom comments like "you're a doody-head" when we're discussing God's word. Keep the comments and replies on the same level as was offered: scripture and kindness.

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  3. Hum, interesting. But it's hard to not look at the NEW Testament and see multiple verses talking about the Love of Christ for sinners. Romans 5:8 "But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we WERE yet sinners, Christ died for us." Also John 3:16 and so on. When we are outside of Christ (lost, not saved) we are the "enemies of God." If God didn't love sinners, He would never have sent His son to be the "propitiation" or substitute for our sin (1 John 2:2). Believing that God hates SIN yet LOVES the sinner is not a watered down Gospel by any means. It is the incredible love of God that brings about true repentance (salvation) and creates a fervor to serve Him out of love. 1 John 4:19 "We love him, because he first loved us." I'm so glad Jesus made Himself a friend of sinners...but He never condoned the sin - "go and sin no more." May we have that same Christ-like love for sinners and plead with them to turn to Jesus and be healed. God bless you as you write this blog for His glory!

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    1. I agree with what you say and the verses you shared. Thanks for verses, by the way.

      I'm bold in saying God hates sinners so as to avoid the cliche that "God loves sinners but hates sin." It is unwise to separate the two.

      It usually startles people when I say that God hates sinners. We're so used to love-love-love that it's good to be reminded that in His holiness, He hates, too

      Is it true to say we should love the sinner and hate the sin?

      https://www.gty.org/blog/B160205/love-the-sinner-hate-the-sin
      http://www.gotquestions.org/love-sinner-hate-sin.html

      He does love sinners, He loved the rich young ruler who rejected Him to his face. In Mark 10:21 we read “Looking at him, Jesus felt a love for him.”

      So I agree with you completely. I agree with me, also. ;)

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  4. Matthew Henry Commentary
    5:6-11 Christ died for sinners; not only such as were useless, but such as were guilty and hateful; such that their everlasting destruction would be to the glory of God's justice. Christ died to save us, not in our sins, but from our sins; and we were yet sinners when he died for us. Nay, the carnal mind is not only an enemy to God, but enmity itself, chap. 8:7; Col 1:21. But God designed to deliver from sin, and to work a great change. While the sinful state continues, God loathes the sinner, and the sinner loathes God, Zec 11:8. And that for such as these Christ should die, is a mystery; no other such an instance of love is known, so that it may well be the employment of eternity to adore and wonder at it. Again; what idea had the apostle when he supposed the case of some one dying for a righteous man? And yet he only put it as a thing that might be. Was it not the undergoing this suffering, that the person intended to be benefitted might be released therefrom? But from what are believers in Christ released by his death? Not from bodily death; for that they all do and must endure. The evil, from which the deliverance could be effected only in this astonishing manner, must be more dreadful than natural death. There is no evil, to which the argument can be applied, except that which the apostle actually affirms, sin, and wrath, the punishment of sin, determined by the unerring justice of God. And if, by Divine grace, they were thus brought to repent, and to believe in Christ, and thus were justified by the price of his bloodshedding, and by faith in that atonement, much more through Him who died for them and rose again, would they be kept from falling under the power of sin and Satan, or departing finally from him. The living Lord of all, will complete the purpose of his dying love, by saving all true believers to the uttermost. Having such a pledge of salvation in the love of God through Christ, the apostle declared that believers not only rejoiced in the hope of heaven, and even in their tribulations for Christ's sake, but they gloried in God also, as their unchangeable Friend and all-sufficient Portion, through Christ only.
    Romans 5:8 Commentaries

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  5. And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men
    loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. John 3:19
    Clearly God hates the sinner.His Justice can do know other thing.To focus on the Mercy of God and at the same time ignore his Justice is to present a lopsided and untrue gospel.As the Lord God has said, "I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion". Romans 9:15

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  6. How about God hates UNREPENTANT sinners? Just asking.

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  7. Does god hate sinners because it means that when we sin that we are showing that we do not love god?

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    1. I don't know for sure, but you seem to be getting very close to the nut of the problem.

      Question: "Does God hate? If God is love, how can He hate?"
      When the Bible does speak of God’s hatred, the object of His hatred is sin and wickedness. Among the things God hates are idolatry (Deuteronomy 12:31; 16:22), child sacrifice, sexual perversion (Leviticus 20:1–23), and those who do evil (Psalm 5:4–6; 11:5). Proverbs 6:16–19 lists seven things the Lord hates: pride, lying, murder, evil plots, those who love evil, false witnesses, and troublemakers. Notice that this passage does not include just things that God hates; it includes people as well. The reason is simple: sin cannot be separated from the sinner except by the forgiveness available in Christ alone. God hates lying, yes, but lying always involves a person—a liar—who chooses to lie. God cannot judge the lie without also judging the liar. More here, https://gotquestions.org/does-God-hate.html

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