Missed Messages

We are commanded "Preach the gospel." Now, in our effort to "reach the world for Christ," a subtle but serious modification to the command, we have attempted to make people feel better. One well-known preacher has even suggested that it is wrong to say that people are sinners -- they just suffer from poor self-esteem. Less radical, others have simply decided to exclude the concept from their preaching. Make it "friendly." Make it "up beat." Make it "positive." Here is a extremely limited smattering of verses on a biblical topic:

O LORD, rebuke me not in your anger, nor discipline me in your wrath! (Psa. 38:1).

Behold, the day of the LORD comes, cruel, with wrath and fierce anger, to make the land a desolation and to destroy its sinners from it (Isa. 13:9).

Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life; whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him (John 3:36).

For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth (Rom. 1:18).

But because of your hard and impenitent heart you are storing up wrath for yourself on the day of wrath when God's righteous judgment will be revealed (Rom. 2:5).

For those who are self-seeking and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, there will be wrath and fury (Rom. 2:8).

Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God, for it is written, "Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord" (Rom. 12:19).

Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience (Eph. 5:6).

⁹ What then? Are we Jews any better off? No, not at all. For we have already charged that all, both Jews and Greeks, are under sin, ¹⁰ as it is written: "None is righteous, no, not one; ¹¹ no one understands; no one seeks for God. ¹² All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one." ¹³ "Their throat is an open grave; they use their tongues to deceive." "The venom of asps is under their lips." ¹⁴ "Their mouth is full of curses and bitterness." ¹⁵ "Their feet are swift to shed blood; ¹⁶ in their paths are ruin and misery, ¹⁷ and the way of peace they have not known.", ¹⁸ "There is no fear of God before their eyes" (Rom. 3:9-18).

All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God (Rom. 3:23).

Can you pick out a trend?

Without the bad news, good news is meaningless. Only with the bad news firmly in view can you begin to pick out the good news of statements like this:

What if God, desiring to show His wrath and to make known His power, has endured with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction, in order to make known the riches of His glory for vessels of mercy, which He has prepared beforehand for glory -- even us whom He has called, not from the Jews only but also from the Gentiles? (Rom. 9:22-24)

Remove God's intent to demonstrate His wrath, and you remove "the riches of His glory for vessels of mercy."

Suddenly, the "positive, uplifting" message sans sin isn't so positive or uplifting. Let's "preach the word" rather than "reach the world for Christ."

On Sundays I try to post something that brings praise to God. I can think of nothing that causes me to love Him and glorify Him more than realizing the depths of my sin, the wrath that I've earned, and the vast expanse of the mercy and grace that He has shown me instead. That is the Gospel ... "to the praise of His glorious grace" (Eph. 1:6).