DAILY TRUTH - God’s Love Makes Perfect Sense… To Entitled Sinners
Episode Stats
Summary
The Gospel is not offensive to most sinners. In fact, God's love seems to make perfect sense to man in his natural state. On the other hand, the righteousness of God is highly offensive because it presents a major problem for sinful men. If God is righteous, then each of us stands condemned before him. And without a savior, a mediator, a substitute, a go-between, then this condemnation is permanent and eternal.
Transcript
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In less than a year, our podcast has gone from an average of 10,000 downloads a month
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to 50,000 downloads. What made the difference? You leaving us a five-star review. The more
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positive reviews, the more the algorithm picks us up, and more people are confronted by the law
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and gospel of Jesus Christ. Help us press forward the crown rights of King Jesus by leaving us a
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five-star review on your favorite podcast platform. Thanks. The reason why the gospel is offensive
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is because the gospel, it does not start with the love of God, but it begins with the righteousness
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of God. And so I want to go ahead and move on now to the third characteristic.
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The third characteristic of the gospel that we see in these two small verses today,
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Romans 1 16 and 17 is this that the gospel reveals the righteousness of God
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far too often and for far too long when the gospel is preached
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it is preached as though the only thing or at least the biggest thing or certainly the first
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thing that is revealed in the gospel of God is his love but the apostle Paul under the inspiration
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of the spirit of God says that what is revealed is not God's love but his righteousness for in it
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the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith as it is written the righteous shall
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live by faith in your notes I've written the following in verse 17 Paul explains precisely
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how the gospel is the power of God for salvation. For in, that is, the gospel, the righteousness of
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God is revealed. Notice Paul does not begin with the love of God in the gospel, but rather he begins
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with the righteousness of God in the gospel. The gospel demonstrates God's love for sinners,
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Romans 5.8. But the gospel must also demonstrate something else in order for it to be viewed as a
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stumbling block by some and foolishness by others. First Corinthians 1 23. The love of God is not
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offensive to most sinners. In fact, God's love seems to make perfect sense to man in his natural
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state. On the other hand, the righteousness of God is highly offensive because it presents a major
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problem for sinful man. If God is righteous and we are not, then each of us stands condemned
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before him. And without a savior, a mediator, a substitute, a go-between, then this condemnation
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of God is permanent and eternal. Permanent and eternal. See, the love of God is not offensive
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to most sinners in fact these days if you tell someone who is an unbeliever an unbelieving
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neighbor perhaps that you see them as you're going for a walk with your children and you start to
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sync up for a while and conversate and it comes out that you're a christian and that you go to
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church on the lord's day and the person says hey i've been wondering about christianity over the
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last couple years and i've started to read a little bit of the bible for myself and i have
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some questions if you don't mind me asking and you begin to articulate to them and seeking to explain
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the central theme and message of the christian faith the bible that the gospel of jesus christ
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is the only hope of salvation for sinners and as you explain this let's say that you are not
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unashamed but rather you compromise and shrink back and you choose to lean on not saying anything
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that is untrue but conveniently neglecting to say other things that are true you lean on and
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emphasize the love of God for people and we don't even say the love of God for sinners because that
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just might be a little bit a little bit too harsh just god loves people the central message of the
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christian faith is the gospel of jesus christ that's what you need for salvation okay what's
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the gospel neighbor the gospel is that god loves people they're not wowed by that message do you
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know why they're not wowed by that message because they would actually be shocked if god didn't love
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people because they think that the love of God is something that every single person deserves
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except for maybe Donald Trump depending on your neighbor all right if you have a liberal you know
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crazy person as a neighbor but they think for the most part that the bulk the mass of humanity
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98% of them that they actually deserve the love of God that what would be shocking to your
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unbelieving neighbor is saying, well, God actually doesn't love all people. And the Bible doesn't
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even just say that God, you know, hates the sin but loves the sinner. But there are multiple verses
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in Scripture that says that God loathes the sinner, that God hates the sinner, that his heart detests
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a particular type of sin no sinner and that the the absolute shock of the gospel is not that god
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justly would condemn all but that in his mercy and grace he would choose to save
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even some much less many when you tell people today who are unbelieving that god loves them
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they think of course he does of course he does in fact not only not only does he love me i i think
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that he would be wrong not to i i think that god if there is a god that he's obligated to love me
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he'd be a monster if he did anything else of course he loves me he must love me because i'm special
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and i've been told that i'm special since the day i was born
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and yeah i've made a few mistakes along the way but even those mistakes it wasn't really me it
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was because of my toxic environment i i've done some things but you know if you let me frame the
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narrative right you probably would admit that you do the same things yourself really i haven't
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sinned at all, when we really think about it, if we get just a little creative in the way that we
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define sin, the worst things I've ever done in life is simply a response to, you know, to these
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toxic people that have been surrounding me, giving off their negative energy. I'm late for my yoga
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class you tell a person like that that god loves them and they say of course
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but you tell a person like that in the gospel not beginning with the love of god but rather
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revealing the righteousness of god that god is holy and that they are sinful well now you have
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their attention you also have their anger very likely but their attention nonetheless
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i've found that if i want to get someone's attention in order to possibly persuade them
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making them angry often works they may not like me but it's kind of like you know you see like a
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wreck on the side of the highway and you know that there's just going to be another wreck if
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everybody keeps turning their heads, but you just, you can't look away. It's kind of my preaching
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style. And people, you know, I hate you, but I'm still watching because I'm even taking notes
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because I want to remember, were there 17 reasons to hate Joel or 20? You know, so like that, you
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know, but it works. That's what the apostles do. The apostles, every town they entered, it was
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either revival or a riot and if it was a riot well then they just viewed it within the sovereignty
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of god that he had ordained for them a prison ministry in that particular town
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and they would minister to the inmates there until they died or were let loose or an angel
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came in the night caused an earthquake and shook and rattled and opened the bars
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the gospel is an offense now lest i make it more than offense of an offense than it actually is
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the gospel is also we should remember good news the gospel is the very proclamation of good news
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the gospel is the salve that heals the wound that hosea chapter 6 that the lord not like
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The Lord has slain me, but on the third day, He will revive us.
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He will come to us like the spring rains, the spring rains that water the earth.
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The Lord and the sword of the Spirit and His law, He slices and cuts to pieces.
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but in his grace and gospel he binds back up again and makes whole the gospel is good news
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the gospel is salve the gospel is honey but only to those who are being saved