The Unbelievable Truth.

I am going to tell you something you won’t believe.

Oh, you might mentally agree with the statement. But, I doubt you really believe it.

Ok. Ready? Here it is.

If you have placed your faith in Christ, then God feels no wrath toward you.

A guy who is way smarter than me puts it this way:

“God has only love, compassion, and deepest affection for me, and this love is without any admixture of wrath whatsoever.” (Milton Vincent, A Gospel Primer. Read it!)

Now, I want you to think about this. Let it sink in. God has ONLY love and affection for you. And NO WRATH...

I want you to think about this because I have the feeling that most of us don’t really believe it. 

We say we do. But we don’t in practice. We don’t think, way down deep, under all of our assumptions, that this is true.

And we definitely don’t act like this is true.

Let me elaborate. We say we believe this, but we think/say/do things like this:

• “I messed up and looked at porn last night, so I better feel really guilty for a few days before I try and pray. God is mad.”

• “I know God is mad that it took me so long to love him and is ashamed of what I did in the past, so I’ll try really hard to serve him now so He’ll be happy.”

• “I haven’t had a quiet time for a few days, so I better have one today and make sure that the worship music that I play on the iPod evokes tears, so God won’t be mad.”

1 John 2:2 gives us this beautiful truth – “He himself is the propitiation for our sins…”

Propi-what? I know, big word. Here’s what it means: 'satisfaction', 'appeasement'.

In other words, Christ is the satisfaction and full appeasement of God’s wrath over our sins. Christ absorbed every last drop of it.

And so God the Father feels no wrath toward me, because that was all paid for – past, present, and future – by Christ; and instead the overflow of love, compassion and affection of the Father is mine all day, every day – even when I sin.

(You would be right to say he is grieved by my sin, but no wrath is involved – perhaps that’s for another post).

Why does God grant us this “great exchange?” 

Because we could never bear His wrath ourselves.

Not even one ounce of it. Jesus had to do it or there is no salvation.

It can’t be any other way or Christ’s work on the cross is unnecessary and nullified.

The absence of wrath for those who are His children is necessary or we have no hope.

So it follows that the statements I listed above that we tell ourselves at the deepest levels, are lies.

Sometimes we have to take a long, hard look at the things we do, the guilt we deal with, the anxieties we feel about God, before we realize these lies are there.

But they are. LIES.

And when we operate in them, the world sees guilt and anxiety-ridden Christians who proclaim freedom but who live in bondage (to something they are free from in the first place, and never could free themselves from to begin with… you see the crazy cycle our enemy wants us in?).

And we wonder why they don’t want this.

Steve Jobs couldn’t sell that Gospel, and Steve Jobs can sell anything. All he has to do is say it’s cool. He’s Steve Jobs!

And so, bros and sistas, be free from the lie and embrace the Truth.

Your Father is loving you. Right now. And always will be. Go toward Him, even when you stumble. He is ever-moving toward you.

“…But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and felt compassion, and ran and embraced him and kissed him…”

[From Sammy: This was a guest post from one of my best friends Chris Skinner. This wasn't planned in response to yesterdays post. Amazing huh? I can't tell you how much I need this. And how jacked up I am to hear from y'all. Dive in. We'd really love to hear your thoughts. What do you think or feel as you read this unbelievable truth?]

Do you struggle with believing that God has NO wrath towards you?

Also, what do you think would happen if we were convinced that God only has love and affection towards us [zero wrath]? Imagine fully believing this in your life then tell us what you see.