We are now looking at issues within Calvinism that might give us a hint at problems that will actually be masked by seeking peace between those who believe in the five-points and those who don’t. True Christianity is at a very low level in the United States and it could be that the issues between Calvinists and Arminians are actually hiding the real problems that are within Christianity. If we continue in our man-centeredness, though we may hide behind Reformed creeds or talk about God, we will never get at the deceitful and hateful hearts of human beings who do not believe but are able to deceive themselves and others within the confines of Christendom. While we may be content with setting out a loving and gracious God at all times, we must be careful to set out the full extent of God’s love. His love is not focused on human beings as if He is in heaven weeping over the state of human affairs. God’s love is focused on Himself and within His triune Being. He loves holiness and justice which means He loves Himself since He is a holy and just God. Let us look at some verses that are not mentioned much in our modern but diluted version of Christianity.
Psalm 5:4 – For You are not a God who takes pleasure in wickedness; No evil dwells with You. 5 The boastful shall not stand before Your eyes; You hate all who do iniquity. 6 You destroy those who speak falsehood; The LORD abhors the man of bloodshed and deceit.
Psalm 7:11 – God is a righteous judge, And a God who has indignation every day. 12 If a man does not repent, He will sharpen His sword; He has bent His bow and made it ready. 13 He has also prepared for Himself deadly weapons; He makes His arrows fiery shafts.
Psalm 90:5 – You have swept them away like a flood, they fall asleep; In the morning they are like grass which sprouts anew. 6 In the morning it flourishes and sprouts anew; Toward evening it fades and withers away. 7 For we have been consumed by Your anger And by Your wrath we have been dismayed. 8 You have placed our iniquities before You, Our secret sins in the light of Your presence.
Proverbs 6:16 – 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.
Matthew 25:41 – Then He will also say to those on His left, ‘Depart from Me, accursed ones, into the eternal fire which has been prepared for the devil and his angels;
John 3:36 – He who believes in the Son has eternal life; but he who does not obey the Son will not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him.
God is not a warm ball of fuzz in the sky who is harmless to sincere people regardless of their lives. God does not wink at sin and heresy. We are not like God and we do not proclaim the truth of God when we do not talk about sin and God’s hatred for sin. Psalm 5:5 tells us that God hates all who do iniquity which is surely saying the same thing that those who don’t obey the Son have the wrath of God abiding upon them (John 3:36). The doctrine of man’s depravity is very deadly and serious not because it makes human beings unhappy and causes things to happen they don’t like, but because God hates all who do iniquity and His wrath abides upon them. If God loves His own glory and all things that reflect His glory, it must be true that His love for His own glory will move Him to hatred and wrath for those things that hate what He loves most. While people shudder at the thought of a sermon by Jonathan Edwards that speaks of God bending His bow and aiming His arrow at the hearts of men, women and children, he drew that imagery straight from Holy Scripture. It is a manifestation of God Himself that He hates and aims His bow at sinners ready to make his arrow drunk with the blood of sinners. To be ashamed of that is to be ashamed of God and of Holy Scripture despite our protestations that we believe in inerrancy. Is it a wonder God is not blessing us with Himself since we are ashamed of Him? It is also true that we don’t truly love human beings if we are willing to leave them in their sin and God’s wrath by saying sweet and gracious things to them.
If we think that God’s love is such that He must love evil and evil human beings, we have not begun to understand the love of God. While it is true that there is a benevolence of God that is upon all human beings, we must balance that with the hatred and wrath of God since God has revealed those things in Scripture as well. If we ignore this part of God’s love for His glory, we also don’t understand the true nature of depravity or of the character of God. Sin is not just a little wrong that humans do, but sin is a horrible evil, which is an act of hatred against God and His glory. All sin is directly against God no matter what it does to human beings (Psalm 51:4). Sin is the worst thing that a human being can do because it is an act of hatred against God who is the God of love. Sin is like the devil and takes his side against God. Sin is to use the image of God (all are created in His image) and what He has made for the purpose of His glory and use it to be like the devil in self-love, self-sufficiency and pride.
It is true that people have to water down the biblical teaching on sin to have peace with those who profess Christ within any denomination and without. It is not, however, true love, though it will make others happy and give the appearance of being nice and like Christ. While it may be easy to hold something of a belief in depravity, it is a very hard thing to believe it and teach it as it really is with conviction. In fact, it requires true love to teach depravity in all of its horrors and we know that true love has its origin only from God. If the wrath of God indeed abides upon all who do not profess faith in Christ and upon all who profess faith in Christ but do not have Him in reality, it is not love to be gracious and winsome within churches, denominations or Christendom. True love must speak as there is no love in that which is not true. Orthodoxy can be attained in our day by assenting to a creed, but that is not the same as loving the truth as the glory of God shines in and through it.
God Loves... Himself 
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