What is the heart of God? Have you ever wondered why God made a way to forgive us of our sins when He hates sin so much? In order to understand why, we have to first understand the heart of God. God doesn’t forgive you because somebody made up a rule that says He has to. God is the creator of the universe and if there is a rule then He is the one who established it. You see God is not influenced by man and what they think or how they feel. He is the Alpha and the Omega.
In 2 Peter 3:9 it says: The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is long-suffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.
We can begin to see the heart of God here and what his desire is for us. He does not wish that any of us should perish. It is also clear that this is not the same will of all men as the scripture says some men count slackness. Men do not always do what they say nor do they always do what they desire but when God makes a promise, He keeps it.
As Christians, we constantly preach that we are living and striving to live our lives just as Christ did. That is the main reason why we call ourselves Christians because we are trying to be “Christ Like”. In order to be like somebody else, we must first understand the person we want to be like.
We preach the word of God in hopes that people will understand what sin is and that without Jesus Christ sin is going to send them to Hell. Are we preaching that message because we want to see people change and get saved or are we preaching it because we hate sin so much that want to see people suffer the consequences of their sin?
There are people who preach that homosexuals should be killed because of their sin. They even think that they have Biblical backing to think this way. There are two things I want to touch on concerning this thought process. The first thing is that if you believe this to be true then you also should be preaching that anyone who lies or cheats or even commits the smallest of sins should also be put to death. Listen to what the heart of God has done for all sinners.
Romans 6:23
For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Scripture doesn’t say the wages of homosexuality is death but the wages of lying is something different. It says the wages of SIN is death.
Romans 3:23
For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;
We do not see here that all equals being homosexual but we see that all have committed sin.
Romans 3:10
As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one:
We tend to think sometimes that we have it all right and that we walk a different road than those around us, but the truth is the truth. There is none righteous. The second thing is to examine what our heart looks like when we preach a message that if you are a sinner you “should” be put to death. We have to be real careful of why we are saying what we say and doing what we do. What is the outcome that we want to see? Do we want to see people change and accept Jesus Christ or do we want to see them suffer because of the sin in their lives?
Ezekiel 33:11
Say unto them, As I live, saith the Lord God, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked; but that the wicked turn from his way and live: turn ye, turn ye from your evil ways; for why will ye die, O house of Israel?
The heart of God is that all people be saved. He does not want to see them suffer and go to Hell. That is why He sent His Son Jesus Christ. The Bible doesn’t say He sent him because he had to, again there wasn’t some magical rule that God had to abide by. God sent His Son because He loves us.
John 3:16
For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
He sent His son to die for our sin. His son did not come to die for His own sin because He was without sin.
2 Corinthians 5:21
For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.
Jesus died so that the price of our sin could be paid. When we surrender to Jesus as Lord and come into Him through baptism (Rom 6), the blood of the Lamb sets us free. God loves you more than He hates sin. If this was not true then He wouldn’t have sent His son to pay the price but rather offer no way out. If God can love us like this then we need to love people as He does. When I was married I had told my wife that there were 2 things that I could not handle and if either happened our marriage would be over. I could not be with somebody who cheats or who did drugs. If either of those two things happened then there was no path to redemption. I hate those 2 things so much that I would not provide a way back if those lines were crossed.
Here is the thing about the heart of God. He loves us so much that there is nothing that we could do and no lines that we could cross (except for blasphemy of the Holy Ghost) that He will not forgive us through His Son Jesus Christ. This exemplifies the Lion and the Lamb and how perfectly the love and wrath of God work together.
When God says He forgives us, He forgives us 100%. He doesn’t just hold on to the sin that we committed in the back of His mind so He can bring it up again later.
Psalm 103:12
As far as the east is from the west, so far hath he removed our transgressions from us.
It is as if the sin that you repented for never even happened. Within the heart of man, this is almost impossible to do but for the heart of God, there is grace!
Hebrews 8:12
For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more.
Could you imagine if God said “I will forgive you but I will never forget what you did”? Can you see Him telling us that even though He forgives us He is not sure He can fully trust us anymore? Again this is not an attribute of God, but this is how so many of us go about forgiving others when they ask us for forgiveness. The word even goes as far as to say He delights in mercy and will cast our sins to the depth of the sea.
Micah 7:18-19
18 Who is a God like unto thee, that pardoneth iniquity, and passeth by the transgression of the remnant of his heritage? he retaineth not his anger for ever, because he delighteth in mercy.
19 He will turn again, he will have compassion upon us; he will subdue our iniquities; and thou wilt cast all their sins into the depths of the sea.
If we are going to walk around professing to be like Christ than we need to learn to forgive like Christ. If He forgave like we do than I’m not sure any of us would be spared from the everlasting fire of Hell.
In closing, When we bring the gospel of Jesus Christ to the world, we should be hopeful that people will change and repent and turn from their wicked ways. If we want to be like Jesus than we have to long to see people changed so that Hell does not have to be their destination but rather that when God looks at them, because of the blood that was shed at Calvary he would see PAID IN FULL.
If we want to be like Jesus, the message we need to be preaching is not that you are doomed and going to HELL! The message is that if you are still breathing then God loves you so much that He has made a way for you to be saved and Hell does not need to be your future if you accept Jesus Christ today. This is the heart of God.
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