Saw a post on Facebook today discussing as to whether God is mad at us. Interesting because this argument can swing in two different ways depending on who our target audience is.

The great revivalist preachers back between the 1500’s to the 1800’s preached in a very different way than what we see today. If given an hour to preach they would speak for 55 minutes on God’s wrath and anger and the exceeding sinfulness of man (Rom 7:13), essentially tearing a person down to pure dribble (basically convincing them they are sick and need a cure), then the last 5 minutes would preach on the gift of salvation that Jesus purchased for us (offering the cure). Great multitudes were saved in those days by this type of preaching.  On a side note, there is definitely an element of great truth to that style of preaching.  Today many just go around telling people ‘God loves you and has a great life for you’ but never really mentioning sin,  repentance and ‘counting the cost’ of becoming a disciple of Christ. The result many times is a person who may say a ‘sinner’s prayer’ or some quick confession about Jesus coming into their heart but never really gets spiritually reborn (see my previous post on being born again) and then when things in life get difficult they fall away and leave the faith because they were either: never converted spiritually (born again) or because their expectations were all wrong due to what they first heard about the Gospel. The Bible speaks of God’s wrath being upon the unbeliever. Romans 2:5 states ‘”because of your stubbornness and unrepentant heart, you are storing up WRATH against yourself for the day of God’s WRATH when His righteous judgement will be revealed.” And then again down in verse 8 of that same chapter, “for those who are self-seeking, reject the truth (gospel) and follow evil, there will be WRATH and ANGER.”

On the other hand, the Bible says Jesus already died for the sins of the whole world (1 John 2:9) and that in reality God has already dealt with man’s sin and is no longer mad at us. Romans 2:4 states it’s the ‘kindness of God that leads us to repentance’. Technically speaking (according to what the Bible teaches) sin is no longer the issue between God and man because it has already been handled, dealt with and done away with at the cross (Col 2:14). 2 Corinthians 5:19 states ‘God is no longer counting men’s sins against them’. John 3:18 and Mark 16:16 both clearly state the issue today is simply whether we will believe on Jesus for our saviour. If we do, then we are saved, redeemed from our sin and brought into full relationship with God. If we choose not to believe then we stand condemned, not because of our sin but because we chose not to believe in Jesus Christ and the work He accomplished on the cross. As a believer, God is definitely not mad at us! We have become the righteousness of Christ (2 Cor 5:21)!! We are completely 100% righteous because when God looks at us, he sees Christ in our stead, not our own iniquities and infirmities.  The Bible says we are joint heirs with Christ, seated next to Him at the right hand of God (Eph 2:6), receiving from God all the blessings promised to us-that of the New covenant which obtains not only redemption and freedom from sin but also all the blessings of the Old covenant (Gal 3:14)!! God is not mad at us!!! …but rather is patient with us, longing for all to come to repentance and salvation! The Bible says He has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ (Eph 1:3). It says ‘if we being evil know how to give good things to our children, how much will He (God) give good gifts to men? (Math 7:11). Ephesians 1:1-14 speaks all about His great love He has lavished on us! He doesn’t see our sin any longer!! Glory to God! This is where many Christians stumble-thinking God is still mad at them. They think that when they mess up, God is just waiting on the edge of His seat to unleash all of Heaven against them for their sin or mistake. This is absolutely, unequivocally not true!!

So we see two different sides here. For those who choose to believe in Jesus, God’s unlimited love and grace is available for them. God abounds to bless His children. The other side of the coin is that God’s wrath remains on those who choose not to believe in (surrender to/have complete faith in)Jesus Christ. To note though is that even though God’s wrath remains on the unbeliever, His grace is still extended to offer them salvation (though eventually, if one does not act in faith and believe on Christ, time will run out and they will have to face eventual judgement and the wrath of God). All of us at one time were sinners and separated from the life of God due to our ignorance and unbelief. It’s only by grace that we are given faith to believe on Jesus! None of this is ever of ourselves.

So in essence, God is not mad at us. He is not mad at you! If you have never believed on the Lord Jesus Christ, repenting of your sins and accepting His offer of salvation-I encourage you to do so today! Repent of your sins and inability to ever save yourself. The Bible states we are all sinners. Everyone of us has broken the Ten Commandments and can never keep them-this is God’s perfect law and standard by which we would have to keep perfectly to obtain salvation on our own, which we know we can never do. The Bible also says in the book of Isaiah that ‘all our righteous actions are like filthy, diseased stained rags in the sight of God. Why? Because God is infinitely holy, righteous and pure. He sent His Son in the form of a man, yet fully God, to live a perfect life here on Earth and die on a cross for us. When He died on the cross, it wasn’t just a physical death He died, but rather a spiritual death by taking all the sin and sickness of mankind-from the beginning all the way into the future. He died and went to Hell but glory to God, Hell couldn’t hold Him because technically He had lived a perfect life. He rose from the grave and ascended into Heaven. He has sent His Holy Spirit to live inside, guide and strengthen every person who believes on Him and the work He accomplished. Believe on the Lord Jesus today and move from death to life! This is the best decision you can ever make!!

Blessings