Episode 17 - Because of His love

Speaker 1 00:00:07 Hello and welcome to the unveiling with your hostess aj, Mark and Tim, three guys discussing the one true gospel. We hope you enjoy today's discussion. Let's dive right in. Welcome everybody to the unveiling with, uh, your hosts aj, Mark and Tim this week, his episode 17. And our topic today is gonna be love Christ, or God is love. I grew up in the church and I always heard God is love. So the church basically taught me that the definition of love was our Heavenly Father and the sacrifice that Jesus made. And I've always, I've always agreed with that and still do ij. I think you want to go ahead and start us off with some information. Speaker 2 00:01:03 Yeah. Thanks, uh, Tim and Mark, good to see you both again. So I'd like to, you know, start up with this scripture. Well, in fact, you know, this morning I was just think I were thinking about it, and then this scripture came to me. So I thought, uh, why don't we kick it off with this? It's Romans eight from 35 to 39, and it is from New King, James's version Who shall separate us from the love of Christ, shall tribulation or distress or persecution or fam our nakedness or parallels for as it is written, for your sake, we are killed all day long. We are accounted as sheep for slaughter. Yet in all these things, we are more than conquerors through him that loved us, for I'm persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities, nor powers not things present, not things to come, nor height, not depth, nor any other things, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus, our Lord. Speaker 2 00:02:06 So, you know, right now, as we know, like there are, uh, the world is, world is going through a turmoil, especially, you know, the war situation, and many are suffering. And you know, I feel like, you know, when we go through suffering either in a global scale or in the scale of a region or even personally, right, or in our family, or even through our personal struggles, the way to deal with it is, you know, we always shift our attention to the love of God. You know, that's what Paul is saying, right? You know, in order to deal with the sufferings, one of the things, you know, he's talking about is not one of the things in order to deal with the sufferings. He's saying that, you know, for I am persuaded, you know, when we go through these situations, lot of, you know, trouble and suffering, you know, challenges, we need to be persuaded. Speaker 2 00:02:57 In fact, you know, way before we go through all this sufferings, it's very important for us to be persuaded of the love of God. And specifically it's talking about the love of Christ. So Paul is clearly saying that, you know, no matter what he goes through, he's persuaded that nothing can separate him from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus, our Lord. And then he says, you know, in all these things, we are made more than conquerors. Not by our strength, not by our thinking, or not even by anything else we do, but through him who loved us. Speaker 3 00:03:33 That's awesome Aji. You know, when you, when you really take the gospel and put it in a crucible and boil it all down, words like grace and mercy and favor, there are just other ways of saying love. And God's greatest display of love was, was Christ. That is the gospel. And, um, so many people see God as this, you know, especially toward the unbelieving world as this angry grandfather just looking to send him to hell fire in brimstone. And you know, for so many years the church tried to scare people into heaven. And you know, and, and it just seems so ludicrous to me. I'm like, how are you gonna scare somebody into the type of relationship that Christ gave everything to bring us into with God? It's about a love relationship. I don't know about you guys. I would not have been able to scare my wife into marrying me. Speaker 3 00:04:36 No, no, AJ maybe, perhaps, No, just kidding, <laugh>. Sorry, ar just, just a joke. Don't let her hear that. But, um, you can't scare somebody into that kind of relationship. You can love them into that kind of relationship. And that's, that's just, you know, when you boil it down to the core, that's why John said, God is love. And we just need to get a different picture, especially the world of unbelieving people, that God does not hate them. He's not mad at them. Yes, technically because of their sin, they're estranged from him. But just like if one of our children, oh, the, you have all heard the story of the prodigal son. He doesn't love 'em less because they've gone off and done all this bad stuff. And, and when you boil down some of the greatest gospel scriptures, it always is about love. I mean, everybody knows John three 16, For God's so love the world that he gave his one and only son, Ephesians two, four, because of his great love for us, God who was rich and mercy made us alive with Christ Titus three, four. Speaker 3 00:05:50 But when the kindness and love of God, our savior appeared, he saved us not because of righteous things we'd done, but because of his mercy. And finally in John one, as, as, uh, John the Apostle who was called the, you know, the one that Jesus loved, he was his closest friend. Uh, he said this, He said about Jesus, he said, about God sending Jesus, he said, out of his fullness, we have all received grace in place of grace already given. So what wasn't an angry God, a wrathful God who sent Jesus for us? Because it was grace in place of grace already given before Christ even came, God was gracious to towards us. And one, one final point, the first time I, you know, I'd always heard all of the New Testament is the Book of Grace. The Old Testament is the law and wrath. Speaker 3 00:06:49 Go ahead and I challenge, challenge, encourage whatever the word you wanna use, read the Old Testament. The Old Testament is filled with God's grace. And, and, and so to just, that's just the point I wanna make, um, of that scripture that God is, if you are, do not know the Lord here today. Just know one thing. If you ever get one thing out of this podcast, is that God's got a love for you. That's beyond your understanding. And the fact the closest you'll be to understanding is look at the cross and contemplate that for the rest of your life. It'll change your life. Speaker 1 00:07:24 Mark, those are all great points. You've wiped out most of the scriptures I had listed here. So I guess what, that's a wrap for today. Now, sorry, <laugh> <laugh>, Speaker 3 00:07:34 I always do have to have the last word, Tim, right? Speaker 1 00:07:36 <laugh>. So, but I do wanna add that, you know, John three 16 says, what, you know, God sent his son because he loved us, but he sent, you know, he also tried to explain very clearly. He didn't send, Jesus didn't come into the world to condemn the world, but to save it, that offering was for every single human being, past, present, and future. You have to accept it to take advantage of that love and salvation and that love is freely given and it was co very costly. The benefits to Christians are immense. Speaker 3 00:08:12 I just wanna follow up that last scripture so that if you're out there and you don't know the Lord Jesus Christ, we want you to know that he loves you. That being said, though, when we have plenty episodes on this, mankind has got a sin problem. God is a perfectly holy, righteous God. Yes, he loves us, but we've done, we all know, we've done things that, that break our own standards. How many times have we done something and said, Oh man, I wish I wouldn't have done that. Well, God's standard is perfect. And because those two, three things are true simultaneously, that no one is righteous, not one, and that God loves us, his original plan from before creation was to send Christ to redeem us and make his his children. So that's just something to know. And when John, the Apostle John said that, uh, out of his fullness, we have all received grace in place of grace already given. Speaker 3 00:09:14 While it's true, God already looks at you through love and grace. Once you come to Christ, you get in a, in a, in a Saturn five rocket, and you blast up to a whole new level of grace and blessing and love. So there's two reasons for you to come to cor well, three. One is because it is true, It is the gospel, and one is because you're cleansed. He forgives and forgets your sin and makes you a new creation. And a third is because the level of blessing and love and grace just goes through the rough. Speaker 2 00:09:50 Yeah. Yeah. In fact, you know, Mark and Tim, you mentioned several scriptures about, you know, God loved us and gave us his son. You know, many of us, again, going back to the scripture that I said, you know, the persua of love of God. You know, Paul says, In order to deal with hard times in our life, we need to have a persuasion of love of God. But many of us don't have that persuasion are still struggling. You know, to know that, you know, whether God loves me or not is because most of the time, you know, they're looking at their situations and experiences, right? If I go through a hard time, maybe God doesn't love me enough, Right? Or maybe I'm having some kind of a financial issue, or, you know, going through some really, really hard times. Oh, God must not love me. Speaker 2 00:10:38 That's why I'm going through this. So one of the things, um, we need to understand is where does this per preservation of love of God come from? So again, going back to the scripture, if we read the scriptures a little bit ahead of Romans, uh, 8 35, I'm reading from 31, it says, You know what then shall we say to these things, if God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall we not with him also freely give us all things? Who shall bring a charge against God? Select it is God who justifies, Who is he who condemns it is Christ to died. Furthermore, he's also risen, who is even the right hand of God who makes an intercession for us after saying this, after saying that, you know, Christ died for us. Speaker 2 00:11:37 And then he goes on to say that, you know, there's no charge against us. And then he goes on to say, you know, who shall separate us from the love of Christ? You know, what it means is, you know, the love of Christ, the, the ultimate persuasion of love of Christ comes from the realization that our sin are forgiven. Like Mark, you know, you alluded to, right? You know, many people see a God angry God because they do not realize that their sins are forgiven. So in order to understand and be persuaded that God loves me again, you know, we go back to the cross. We bo go back to the Lord Jesus Christ. It says, He who did not spare his own son and gave him a for us all, you know, if God gave his best, right? God does not have anything more precious than his son. Speaker 2 00:12:28 And if he gave his best for us, how can you, how can you not give us other things? So again, here, the logic first is right, You know, if God gave us his son, why do you think that he will not deliver you from this hardship you're going through? Right? Why do you think you know he will not save you? Why do you think you know, he will not provide you financially? So don't look at those things to be persuaded of love of God, but look at the Lord Jesus Christ. And then he goes on to say, Who shall bring a charge against God? Select it is God who justifies. You know, most of the time people are not persuaded of God's love because they're taking the accusation of the enemy. Either they're condemning themselves or they're taking the accusation of other people who tell them, you know, there's something wrong with them, or they are, uh, taking the accusation of the enemy. Speaker 2 00:13:17 But when they realize that it is God who justifies them, there is no charge against them, right? Then this condemnation goes away. And when they realize that God is not against me, God is nothing against me, instead of God is not against me, but he, it's for me. Right? That's when you know the persuasion of the love of God comes. But again, I think, uh, there are two things here, right? Like, uh, Mark said, we all sinn right and fallen short of the glory of God. And the reason why the Lord died is to redeem us from our sins. So for those who do not receive the work of Christ, those who do not accept the cross, they have nothing to look forward to, but the judgment that is upon them because of their sense. But for those who have believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, and for those who have received the work of Lord Jesus Christ, right? Speaker 2 00:14:10 Then they realize, Oh my God, Lord did so much for me. And what makes me think God doesn't love me? And the first thing that we receive from the work of Christ is the forgiveness of sin. The Bible also calls it justification. Justification doesn't mean that you know, just God is forgiving you of your, um, punishment. But here you see, right? Who shall bring a charge, Even the charge itself is remote. Not only the sin, even the charges. That's where the Bible says blessed is to whom the Lord will not impute sin. So this is where our persuasion comes. So understanding that our sins are forgiven, that's one of the the reasons lodges said, you know, for whom much is forgiven. The same is the one that Laos Him much Speaker 3 00:14:58 I liked about just a comment on something you said there about who sh what are the exact words? Who shall bring a charge? Speaker 2 00:15:05 Who shall bring a charge against God? Select. Speaker 3 00:15:08 So I just wanna tell people out there, anytime you hear a charge coming against you for your sin, whether it's from a preacher up on a stage, on tv, on the radio, whether it's from a friend, coworker, family, whether it's a voice in your head, realize that's not from God. God does not charge you. In fact, that's the law that charges you. God loves you and redeems you. I wanted to, um, also read a, a great scripture. I know it's one of your guys' favorites too. Romans five six says, 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. Speaker 3 00:16:12 And I just love that the greatest demonstration was of God's love was him going to, to the cross for and to even set the context, the context of that scripture also tells that about mankind having this sin problem. And it, it, as much as God loves mankind, we are dead in our transgression. Scripture says, we are enemies of the cross. We are without God and without hope in the world at that time. And I always ask people, I don't like to focus on sin, but I say, Think about the worst thing you ever did in your life. That's the moment Christ said, Yes, I will die for him. So what it comes down to is, while we were at our worst, God gave us his best. What was more costly and valuable to him than the life of his own son? Nothing. When we were at our worst, He gave us his best. What a demonstration of his love for us. Speaker 1 00:17:16 Biblically. We have many examples such as that. And that's one of the biggest and most important, I think of what it means when we say God is love. But I don't believe that we as humans are ever going to be able to wrap our hands around what it actually means in its fullness. Now, I'm a parent. God calls us his children so I can take that relationship and try to apply my humanity to God's love. So I can say when my kids do wrong, I don't turn my back on them and get, you know, get mad at them and hate them and make them apologize before I'll look at them again. Uh, I, I give them, I support them. I love them. I give them gifts, I protect them. I walk with them through troubled times. But those are literally pale shadows of how much God loves every single person, no matter who they are. And you know, I'm gonna say this, um, I don't like to bring up Hitler, but God loved Hitler. God loved Hitler and wanted him to come to him and have a relationship. I don't believe that happened. Um, but you know, we cannot ever fathom the true depth of all of that. Speaker 2 00:18:32 I think, you know, even Bible says, right, we can only in this world, on this side of earth, I think we can only grasp a tiny glimpse of his love. Right? Not even a glimpse of his love, but only tiny glimpse. And in fact, Paul praises prayer, right? You know, we all think about Holy Spirit as someone you know, who is given so that we can do miracles, we can do healings, right? You know, we can go and, um, you know, persuade people, but, uh, as, uh, awesome as they are. But the Bible says, you know, the Holy Spirit is given to us to strengthen us on the inside so that we may actually understand the love of God. Quickly reading a couple of, uh, verses from Christians, chapter three, Paul praises, right? He says, For this reason, I bow my niche to the father of our Lord Jesus Christ, from whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named, that he would grant you according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with might through his spirit in the inner man. Speaker 2 00:19:36 And the reason for that is that Christ meant well in your hearts through faith, that you be, you being rooted and grounded in love may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is a width and the length and the depth and the height to know the love of Christ, which passes knowledge that you may be filled with the fullness of God. So one thing that always struck me is in order to fill, be filled with the fullness of God, right? In order to be, you cannot be with the feel, with the fullness of God and not be filled with the Holy Spirit. So in order to be full of the Holy Spirit, right? What Bible says is, you know, we need to understand God's love. It's not about going and doing miracles and all that has good idea, as good as it is. Speaker 2 00:20:25 But the key thing is just to know the love of God and to understand this, right? You know, it says, like to comprehend the love of God, which passes our knowledge. So we need this comprehension of the love of God, not just in your heads, but also to be strengthened in the Spirit, to just come to that firm belief and perion that God loves me no matter what, I don't care what happens to me. Right? Someone might come and beat me up to pulps, pulp, but it doesn't mean that God doesn't allow me out. I might fall sick with a terminal disease. That doesn't mean God doesn't love me. I might be poor and broke. That doesn't mean God doesn't love me because of the persuasion on the inside. And if you go on right, You know, one other thing that struck me is, you know, when you are persuaded of God's law, verse 20 says, you know, he's able to do exceedingly abundantly about all we can think or ask. Speaker 2 00:21:21 So again, our prayer is not so much about asking God for things all the time, but here it says, you know, if you are persevered of God's law, if you, if your prayer is, you know, God, show me that you love me. Give me this perion that you know, you allow me, no matter what. You know, when you are confident in God's law, the Bible says that you don't even have to pray. You know, He will do exceedingly above all. You can ask or think, You know how cool that is, right? For me, I just need to focus that God loves me and all the things happen to me. I don't even have to worry about, you know, asking God. You know, sometimes, you know, I heard that, you know, done nothing against the people who take that approach to God. You know, sometimes I heard, Oh, you have to be very specific about your prayer request. You know, you have to describe in detail to God. Write it down and take it to God. Right? You know, as good as that is for me personally, right? This is so much better. I just fill my heart and mind with the love of God, and God will do exceedingly, abundantly more than I can ask or even think. How cool that is. Speaker 3 00:22:33 Awesome. Hey Tim, do you mind if we talk about Hitler some more <laugh>? Thanks. Thanks for following me out the re the re No, I want to talk about that because so many people complain and use it as a weapon against God, that there's evil in this world. How could a good, let me ask them this question. If Hitler would've come to know the love of God that is, that is in Christ, how different would the 1930s and 1940s have been? If this world wants to not have all as much evil and all this stuff going on, People need to turn and understand and receive the love of Christ, which is so powerful that it heals the brokenness in people. I mean, you just think about it, if Hitler would've received God's love and put his faith in Christ, this world would've been a massively different place. And it would, right now, if Putin would receive the love of Christ, right now, how different would things be in Ukraine right now? It's the number one need of every human on this planet and on and for the planet as a whole. Speaker 2 00:23:41 Yeah, yeah, yeah. I think there are just examples, but I think even our personal life, right? You know, most of the time when we are unkind to people, right, it is mostly stemming from the fact that, you know, they don't realize how much God loves them. And there are two basic needs of every human heart that is being loved and being accepted. Right? That's what we are trying to do, right? In most of the communities and most of the groups that we are part of, you know, we are seeking two things. One is love, and the second is acceptance, a sense of belonging. But the thing is, as awesome as these groups are, right, you know, none of the groups can actually fill out deepest need inside. And that comes only from God. And that comes specifically only from the cross, You know, at the cross, you know, both our, uh, desires are met, the need for love and the need for acceptance. Speaker 2 00:24:39 In fact, the Bible says, you know, for God, so love the world that he gave is only be God and Son. And Mark, you just read, you know, while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. So at the cross, when you look at the cross, right, you know, when you intently, no, just take everything else off of your mind and just take two minutes to look at the cross. Then you'll understand how much God loves you. And then the Bible also says right at the cross, who knew no sin became sin for us, that we might be made the righteousness of God in him. So at the core of our righteousness is acceptance, right? As sinners, we were falling short of the glory of God, but as righteous, we don't fall short of the glory of God. That means when Bible says that we are made righteous, that actually means, you know, we are accepted in the beloved. So both of the deepest needs of human heart, which is love, and which is acceptance, both of them are met at the cross and know Christ died for me. That shows that God loves me and I am made the righteousness of God and crushed at the cross that shows that I'm accepted. So if we don't go out seeking for love and acceptance from people, in fact, it's other way around, right? You know, we accept people and we love people just as they are. Speaker 3 00:26:00 And you know, there, that's a key differentiation, differentiation there RJ love and acceptance. Because many people, you know, maybe they can be convinced that God loves, loves them. Yeah. But one of your favorite themes is, you know what? You don't have to change all these things about your life to also gain God's acceptance. It's just Christ turning to Christ. Yeah. You don't have to do, there's, there are no prior conditions to that, no matter what you might have heard previously. Yeah, yeah. God loves you right now so much that he sent his son for you. You think he's not gonna accept you right now if he was willing to die for you. And I, I wanted to kinda link two things. One, uh, one scripture that you said, aj, and what I said about that God gave us his best while we're at his worst. Speaker 3 00:26:51 I got that from the scripture that AJ read in Romans eight that said, he who did not spare his own son, but gave him up for us all, how will he not also along with him graciously give us all things. So those two things really work hand in hand logically. So if while we were sinners dead in our sin without hope and without God in the world, God loved us so much that he gave Christ. Now, once you come to Christ, you're no longer a sinner. You're no longer a slave or a servant to sin or the law, you're now a child of God, an heir of God and a corea of Christ. You're just ju I just, once again, you're just elevated and just to a deeper ability through his spirit to receive love, to be, to, uh, just be lavished upon with all the blessings of the gospel and his love. Speaker 2 00:27:50 Yeah. In fact, uh, Mark, you know, we cannot finish a conversation, um, about the love of God without understanding, you know, what you just mentioned, right through the Christ, finish work. Right. We've become the children of God. So the Bible says, Right, you know, we, through the Spirit, we cry out Abba Father, you know, this Abba father is like a very, very dear term for the Jews. It's not like, oh, oh Father the word kind of thing, but just calling him daddy, Right? So before we were sinners and in our mind, you know, we were enemies of God, even though God doesn't treat us as enemies, but in our own minds, we treated God as our enemy. And all we can see is wrath and punishment from God. But now our world totally changes. You know, once we accept the work of our largest Christ on the cross, now we become the children of God and dearly beloved children of God. Speaker 2 00:28:46 You know, one of the ex experiential or like practical aspects of walking in God's love is seeing him as our father, you know, going to him as Abba Father, right? Daddy Father. And in fact, uh, the Bible says, Right, you know, uh, we have all the names of God, right? Elai, right, Elohim Almighty God, you know, they're all the awesome names of God. But you know, when you, what the Bible says, you know what the name that our Lord Jesus came to reveal about God is Father God as our father, you know, without, before the cross, before Lord Jesus Christ, people were seeing God as this almighty, all powerful God. And I'm a sinner. Imagine what that relationship will be. God is all powerful and I'm a sinner, and God hates me, me, and flip it over. Now, God is all powerful and almighty, but God is my father, and I am not a sinner in his sight. I am his beloved child. Imagine how that whole thing flips, right? That's where I think every day waking up with this consciousness, right? As children of God. One is God is my father, and second is my sins are forgiven. No matter what. God will never treat me as a sinner. And no matter what God is my father and nothing can separate me from the love of my father. That is a practical aspect of walking in God's love. Speaker 1 00:30:21 This sounds like the ultimate playground. Win my daddy's better than your daddy. Speaker 2 00:30:26 Yeah. Yeah. <laugh>. Jeez, <laugh>. Yeah. Yeah. In fact, it's kind of interesting, right? You know why that conversation even comes up for kids like two years, three years? You know, they don't talk about, Oh, I am bigger than you. They always talk about I'm stronger than you. They talk about my daddy is greater than your daddy. You know, that probably teaches us something right where our eyes should be Speaker 3 00:30:55 Trying to find this scripture. It's the one that has, maybe you know it offhand, aj, the one where at the end he says, I will remember their lawless acts and their sins no more. Do you remember what? Here it is, here it it. And this comes actually from, I believe Isaiah one of the Old Testament prophets. It was Speaker 2 00:31:15 Upon Jeremiah. Yeah, Jer. Speaker 3 00:31:17 It was coming, uh, it was a prophecy about the coming of Christ. And it says, it says, the days are coming declares the Lord. When I will make a new covenant, it will not be like the covenant I made of old when I took Israel by the hand and led them out of Egypt because they did not remain faithful to my covenant. And I turned away from them. This is the covenant I will establish with the people after that time declares the Lord, I will put my laws in their minds and write them on their hearts. I will be their God and they will be my people. No longer will they teach their neighbor or say to one another, know the Lord because they will all know me from the least of them to the greatest, for I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins. No more just, just so good. That's the time we have now. He is our God, we are his people. He remembers our sins no more and loves us. Speaker 2 00:32:18 Yeah. In fact, I think I'm also remem reminded of one more verse. And John, it's the says one, John chapter four, I believe. It says, you know, perfect love cast out all fear. And fear has to do with torment. So again, if fear has to do with torment or punishment, Speaker 3 00:32:38 Torment, punishment, Yeah, Speaker 2 00:32:39 Yeah, yeah. So again, it goes back to that what we are talking about, right? When we look at the cross, we understand that all our sense of the punishment for all our sense is already executed. And the Lord Jesus Christ took it on our behalf. And there's nothing left of God's punishment to be still dolled out. So God will never, ever punish us again. And that's what it says, right? You know, perfect love, castle fear. When we think that, you know, God is going to get me, God is out there to get me. We can never go freely to God. And there's always this aspect of fear. But when we understand, you know, God allows me perfectly, and then he actually, you know, gave his son to take away my sins on the cross, then we realized that, you know, there's nothing between me and God. Speaker 2 00:33:29 So I can go freely to God. And the perfect Lord caster fear of two things. One is the fear of God himself and the fear of punishment from God. And in the same love, you know, we are also delivered from the fear of other things in this world. For example, you know, I am out of job, right? Where is my paycheck coming from? Right? You know, where is my next meal coming from? So there the fear goes away by understanding that, you know, God is my father, He'll provide for me, right? Or whatever you go through in this life, then we can turn back again to God's love and understand that if God is my father and God love me so much to give his only son, how will he not provide in this situation? So everything goes back to just the pers of his love and understanding that, you know, we are his children. Speaker 3 00:34:21 One of my great pleasures in life is disagreeing with aj. So I'm gonna <laugh>, I'm gonna, I'm gonna bask in that right now. God is out to get us. But the question is, what's he gonna do with us once he gets us? He's gonna forgive our sin. He's gonna give us his righteousness. He's gonna bless us with the gospel. For no matter how many promises God has made, they're all yes in Christ Jesus. He's gonna make you his child. He's gonna pour his love into his healing. He's going to bless you with the riches of his glorious inheritance. And he's gonna give you the incomparably great power that he gives to his children, which is the same exact power that he used to raise Christ from the dead. He's gonna give you resurrection power and above all, he's gonna give you love. So he is out to get you. It's just not what people, some people think he's gonna do once he gets you. Speaker 1 00:35:17 Yeah. There's a very famous sermon that a lot of people have heard, or at least heard of. It's called Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God. And it's one of those sermons that I think looks to try and drive people to Jesus through fear, like you mentioned earlier, Mark. And that just isn't who our father is. He loves us. He wants us. He doesn't, He'll meet us wherever we are and we don't have to clean ourselves up for him. We don't have to straight up and fly right to get into his good graces. He'll meet us where we're at. And if transformation is something that he wants for you, he'll bring it for you. You can't, you, you don't have to work at it. He'll bring it. It will change your life. Speaker 3 00:36:10 Sinners in the hands of an angry God, God is an angry God. He's angry with people who pervert the gospel like that and make people think, Does that sound like good news to you? The gospel means the good news of God's grace. Does that sound like the good news? Trying to scare people's sinners in the hands of an yeah. He is angry about people that it have taken, um, his gospel of perfect love and tried to scare people. Speaker 2 00:36:38 Yeah. In fact, uh, the Bible says it's a goodness of God that, uh, leads people to repentance. It's not, you know, scaring them with hell fire even, you know, speaking about the reality is good, right? Reality of our condition that we all send and we are under the wrath of God. But, uh, the thing that actually brings people to God, His is goodness, His love. And again, you know, we turn back their attention to the cross. There's no other place we can see the love of God clearly other than the cross. Speaker 3 00:37:12 And I love, uh, the Apostle Paul when referring to the cross. He uses the word clearly portrayed. Yeah. C Christ was clearly portrayed as crucified. The clarity of what happened. And you know what, just to think about, you know, you could sit there and and think about what really happened on the cross, who went to that cross, who put 'em there, the things that happened there, we're gonna spend about rest of our lives contemplating that because the scripture says it's a great mystery from before the foundations of the world. There's just so much there. In fact, that's probably why the Apostle Paul, as he went through his life, finally came to a point where he said, You know what? I'm only going to preach Christ and him crucified. Anything else is less, is less powerful, is less transform. Uh, transforming is less, um, joyful. You know, there's just so much in that. Uh, that's why he said in SEC Corinthians three, uh, just how much greater is the glory of that new covenant in the cross in Christ, then the law and trying to do everything. You know, there's no comparison whatsoever. Speaker 1 00:38:25 Well, I think, uh, we've done a pretty good job today of at least pointing to God's love, what it is and what it's for and what he's done with it. It's still just a pale shadow of the depth and breadth and height and length of what his actual love is for us. So I encourage everybody to continue to look for God's love in their life and see those little shadows and images of it so that you can rest assured that he's with you. He loves you, He accepts you, He wants you if you haven't gone to him yet. And we thank you for listening to today's program. We look forward to talking to you the next time. We would like to thank you for listening to the unveiling. We hope you have enjoyed it enough to consider subscribing and sharing with others. We welcome your questions, comments, and feedback. You can reach us via email at the unveiled gospel@yahoo.com or find our Facebook page at the unveiling podcast for aj, Mark, and myself. God bless, and we will talk with you next time.