New.Demonstration
- Random Quote
I find it so funny that so many people ask and can’t answer the question as to why God has done everything He’s ever done. They say it’s a mystery. I say it’s not. I say they ought to read Ephesians. Do you want to know why God has done everything He’s ever done? Do you want to know why there was a garden, why there was a fall, why there was a Christ, why there was a Cross, why there was a resurrection, and why there’s you? Do you really want to know? Do you have enough time… or is your Christianity looking at the clock?
— , What is the grace of the Gospel?
One of the most popular beliefs of the day is that God loves everybody, and the very fact that it is so popular with all classes ought to be enough to arouse the suspicious of those who are subject to the Word of Truth. God’s love toward all His creatures is the fundamental and favorite tenet of Universalists, Unitarians, Theosophists, Christian Scientists, Spiritualists, Russellites, etc.
No matter how a man may live—in open defiance of Heaven, with no concern whatever for his soul’s eternal interests, still less for God’s glory, dying, perhaps with an oath on his lips—notwithstanding, God loves him, we are told. So widely has this dogma been proclaimed, and so comforting is it to the heart which is at enmity with God, we have little hope of convincing many of their error.
That God loves everybody, is, we may say, quite a modern belief. The writings of the church fathers, the Reformers or the Puritans will (we believe) be searched in vain for any such concept. Perhaps the late D.L. Moody—captivated by Drummond’s “The Greatest Thing in the World”—did more than anyone else in the last century to popularize this concept.
It has been customary to say God loves the sinner though He hates his sin. But that is a meaningless distinction. What is there in a sinner but sin? Is it not true that his “whole head is sick” and his “whole heart faint,” and that “from the sole of the foot even unto the head there is no soundness” in him? (Isa. 1:5, 6 [show] Why will you still be struck down? Why will you continue to rebel? The whole head is sick, and the whole heart faint. From the sole of the foot even to the head, there is no soundness in it, but bruises and sores and raw wounds; they are not pressed out or bound up or softened with oil.
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Is it true that God loves the one who is despising and rejecting His blessed Son? God is Light as well as Love, and therefore His love must be a holy love. To tell the Christ-rejector that God loves him is to cauterize his conscience as well as to afford him a sense of security in his sins.
The fact is, the love of God is a truth for the saints only, and to present it to the enemies of God is to take the children’s bread and cast it to the dogs. With the exception of John 3:16 [show] "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. (ESV)
In the book of Acts, which records the evangelistic labors and messages of the apostles, God’s love is never referred to at all! But when we come to the Epistles, which are addressed to the saints, we have a full presentation of this precious truth—God’s love for His own.
Let us seek to rightly divide the Word of God and then we shall not be found taking truths which are addressed to believers and mis-applying them to unbelievers.
That which sinners need to have brought before them is the ineffable holiness, the exacting wrath of God.
Risking the danger of being misunderstood let us say—and we wish we could say it to every evangelist and preacher in the country—there is far too much presenting of Christ to sinners today (by those sound in the faith), and far too little showing sinners their need of Christ, i.e., their absolutely ruined and lost condition, their imminent and awful danger of suffering the wrath to come, the fearful guilt resting upon them in the sight of God: to present Christ to those who have never been shown their need of Him, seems to us to be guilty of casting pearls before swine.
—A.W. Pink, Objections to God’s Sovereignty Answered
Read Also...
God Hates the Sinner And Hates the Sin
—Objections to God's Sovereignty Answered
This post is written by JM Vergara on Nov 4, 2009 and is filed under A.W. Pink, The Holiness of God, Total Depravity of Man.
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11 Responsesto God Hates the Sinner And Hates the Sin
Aaron Armstrong
Powerful quote
[Reply]
Witness for Him
So shall I then assume that you've completely missed the point of the new testament. Christ's entire mission was that of love and compassion. In fulfilling prophecy and dying for our sins stated many times that the only way to get to God was through Christ.
[Reply]
math1as
Would God command us to love our enemys if he wouldn't do so by himself?
The reformed Point of View is a little bit different it talks about general grace to everybody (God lets his sun shine on the good and the evil) So God is loving everybody abuntantly but his bride infinetly more.
But he is absolutely right that we should start preaching condemnation and later on start preaching Salvation.
[Reply]
JM Vergara
Thank you for leaving a comment, Witness for Him.
Love and compassion for who? Dying for whose sins?
Is it your position that God loves the person whose righteousness is in Christ just as much as the sinner who is at enmity with God?
[Reply]
JM Vergara
That's not the right question to ask.
The question you should ask is, “if God commands us to hate that which is evil and love that which is good, how can we expect a just and holy God to love that which is evil Himself? How can a just and holy God not send every sinner to Hell this moment because of their sins that they have committed continually against Him all their life?”
Yes, the reformed position is that God does have a general love for all His creation, but a special love for His bride. But the difference of His general love is that He tarries over His judgment of their souls and not toss them immediately to hell, God's wrath still abides with them. In contrast, God's attitude towards those He has given to His Son is of saving love.
[Reply]
Deejay (crazy calvinist)
Jacob I have loved, Esau I have hated. (Genesis) before Esau was even born, God hated him because he was not one of God's elect or chosen people.
[Reply]
JM Vergara
We must qualify that statement and not loosely use words. God hated Esau, as with every sinner because of their rebellion against Him and their hatred of God's Kingship and Deity in all facets of their lives, in their sins of omission and their sins of commission as the effects of the fall and their being included in Adam's headship. People fail to realize that God is holy and just, not singularly loving. He is transcendent and good and must do that which is right.
God's judgment, wrath and hatred towards sinners is not unfair or unjust. The unthinkable fact of the matter is not “Esau I have hated”, 'coz if we know our own hearts we deserve it. The unthinkable fact of the matter is “Jacob I have loved.” That's grace—Only through the person and work of the Lord Christ Jesus.
[Reply]
KimNejudne
But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. – Romans 5:8 [show] but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. (ESV)
God hates the non-elect sinner with holy hatred. God loves the elect sinner with an everlasting love which he demonstrated toward us on the Cross.
[Reply]
Roger Servin
Just to clarify, you do believe that God loves the sinner in one sense right? Don't get me wrong brother, I agree with the quote by Pink but I would say that God manifests a “general” love in that He grants them common grace when He would be just in destroying us all the moment we rebel against Him when we were young. I believe that He definitely reserves His special love and grace for His people.
Always enjoy your posts my friend!
-Roger
[Reply]
JM Vergara
Exactly, God does love the sinner in one sense, as you've said too, only in a “general” way by tarrying in His judgment.
I believe that too, just as Scripture testifies, that God has chosen a people for Himself, and yet He was not obligated to. What grace, what grace is this.
Thank you for dropping by, brother.:)
[Reply]
gerz
thanks, I'm really inspired. Continue your great endeavor
[Reply]
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