Jesus Loves People, BUT... - Part A

Jesus loves the broken, but He doesn't want them to stay broken. He's come to heal the brokenhearted, to fix them.

So in every case, in all cases, it's always about change. Jesus came to bring change. In fact, we will discover in our text in Romans 2 that it's His love that is to have an effect on people and lead them to repentance. In the book of Acts, Paul explained just how critical repentance is to your relationship with God. He said, Repent then, and turn to God. Today on Connect with Skip Heitzig, Skip explains why both the wrath and love of God are integral to His nature. Then, at the end of today's program, Skip and his wife, Langa, share how you can show God's love and truth to others around you. Telling the truth is a loving thing to do. Number two, tell the truth in a loving manner. There's an old saying, if you want to win some, be winsome, right? So be nice to them.

Don't say it in a caustic kind of a manner. And since the Gospel is the story of the greatest act of love known to mankind, start there and paint that picture. Thanks, Skip. If you want to hear more, please stay tuned after the teaching. Now we want to tell you about a great resource that shows why you can find great hope in Jesus' resurrection. The aftermath of 2020 has left so many of us wrestling with questions about the future and wondering, what's next?

Here's Skip Heitzig. That's a question, by the way, that people ask any time there is a catastrophe, any kind of catastrophic event, causes people to ask the question, what's next? If there's a car accident that happens, well, what's next? Am I going to be able to walk after this? If a disease strikes someone, what's next? Am I going to be cured? If somebody we love dies, we ask, what's next? Am I going to be able to go on? We want to help you live with confidence no matter what the future holds by sending you a powerful collection of Easter weekend messages from Skip Heitzig on the hope of the resurrection.

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To give online securely, visit connectwithskip.com slash offer or call 800-922-1888. Okay, we're in Romans chapter two as Skip Heitzig starts today's study. If your love has no boundaries, it's dangerous. You see, true love requires love for the truth. The Apostle Paul in the great chapter of love 1 Corinthians 13 said, love does not rejoice in evil, but it rejoices in truth.

And truth always forms the boundaries for the expression of love. We have spent 14, this week, 15 weeks in Jesus loves people. And we have, like a diamond, turned it around and noticed his love for different groups of people. Jesus loves doubters. Jesus loves the broken. Jesus loves children. Jesus loves homosexuals.

Jesus loves haters. He loves traitors. He loves atheists. He loves terrorists. He loves addicts. And he loves you. Jesus loves people.

We began our study, our series, with the episode of Christ and the rich young ruler. And the Bible says Jesus looked at him and loved him. He considered also the great anthem of love in 1 John chapter 4 verse 8. You know it. It says God is love.

Today, however, I have a very interesting title to this message. I'm calling it Jesus loves people, but. Jesus loves people, but.

Now why on earth would I do that? Why would I spend 14 weeks talking about the amazing love of Jesus toward all different classes of people only to say Jesus loves people, but, and here's why. I want to bring balance to all of the teachings we have had on his love. And here's why we need balance. Without balance, love becomes license. Without balance, the love of God becomes a license, a permission slip to do anything. After all, God loves me. I can do anything.

I can be anyone. And God will love me. Yes, Jesus loves prostitutes, but he does not love prostitution. And he expects the prostitute coming to him to, like everyone else, turn from that lifestyle and turn to him. Jesus loves doubters, but he doesn't love doubt. He doesn't expect someone to persist in unbelief while claiming to be a believer. Jesus loves homosexuals.

He does not love homosexuality. And he expects that person to also turn from that lifestyle if they're going to claim to be a Christ follower. Jesus loves the broken, but he doesn't want them to stay broken. He's come to heal the brokenhearted, to fix them.

So in every case, in all cases, it's always about change. Jesus came to bring change. In fact, we will discover in our text in Romans 2 that it's his love. That is to have an effect on people and lead them to repentance. It's his love that should lead a person to repentance. And if that person refuses change, refuses repentance, then there is inescapable judgment that will fall.

Some of you know the name Oswald Chambers. You have read the book or you are reading the book in your daily devotions called My Utmost for His Highest. He writes, in the teachings of Jesus Christ, the element of judgment is always brought out because judgment is the sign of the love of God. It's an unusual statement.

Judgment is the sign of the love of God and I'm going to show you why today. Many years ago, in the frontier days of our country, Warren Wiersbe tells this story in one of his commentaries. In a small frontier town, there was a young child sitting in a stagecoach teamed up with horses. Something spooked the horses and off went the stagecoach with that child trapped inside. A young man saw what was going on, quickly apprised the situation and went after and rescued that young boy, saved his life.

The little boy grew up to become a criminal. The young man who saved him became a judge. And years later, after the criminal was brought into court for a crime committed, a very grievous crime, that at that time deserved the death penalty that was called for in this country, that criminal stood before that judge and recognized the judge as the one who saved his life when he was a young boy and appealed to the judge on the basis of that past experience to save him now. To which the judge replied, son, on that day I was your savior, today I am your judge. And sentenced him to be hanged to death. That was justice.

It's what he was called to do as a judge in that particular case. Today I want to balance out the love of God with the holiness of God, with the justice of God. And I want to balance out that Jesus loves people with three qualifications found in Romans 2.

And they are as follows. Jesus loves people but be balanced theologically. Jesus loves people but be bold spiritually.

And Jesus loves people but be bountiful or generous practically. We begin in Romans chapter 2. Let's read together, let's look at it together, Romans chapter 2.

And get the first one, the theological balance. Paul writes this, Therefore you are inexcusable, O man, whoever you are who judge, for in whatever you judge another you condemn yourself, for you who judge practice the same things. But we know that the judgment of God is according to truth against those who practice such things.

And do you think this, O man, do you who judge those practicing such things and doing the same, that you will escape the judgment of God? Or do you despise the riches of his goodness, forbearance and long suffering, not knowing that the goodness of God leads you to repentance? But in accordance with your hardness and your impenitent heart, you are treasuring up for yourself wrath in the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God, who will render to each one according to his deeds. Eternal life to those who by patient continuance in doing good, seek for glory, honor and immortality. But to those who are self-seeking and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, indignation and wrath, tribulation and anguish on every soul of man who does evil, of the Jew first and also of the Greek. But glory, honor and peace to everyone who works what is good to the Jew first and also to the Greek, for there is no partiality with God.

Romans has been called the Magna Carta of the Christian faith. It is Paul's finest of writings. And notice in what we just read how he balances out God's love, God's patience, his long suffering, his goodness.

He balances that out with God's wrath and his righteous judgment. And Paul, you should know this, begins his book with that balance. Did you know that he begins this book by telling people the good news as well as the bad news.

All in the same couple of sentences. And here's why he does it, it's so important. Until you understand the bad news, you'll never appreciate the good news. So please notice in chapter 1, verse 16, Paul says, For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek. That's all good news. It's all about the gospel, which means good news. It's all about salvation and believing. Good news. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith. As it is written, the just shall live by faith.

All good news. But look at the very next verse. For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness. Good news, bad news. That's the balance, the theological balance.

You'll never appreciate the good news until you understand the bad news. And you'll notice he talks about those who suppress the truth in their unrighteousness. If ever there was a country that suppressed the truth in unrighteousness, it's the one you're living in. This country was founded on truth. This country was shaped by biblical truth.

The gospel flourished and grew in this country like no other country. But the truth has been as time has gone on and is being suppressed by unrighteousness. I've heard people tell me, God's going to judge America.

Excuse me, I disagree. God is judging America. We're already down that road.

It's too late. We're already there. And I know this because of what Romans says, that one of the first marks that God is judging a society is when he gives over that society to all of the immorality they're clamoring for. When God finally says, okay, you want it, you can have it. It's a sign that he is judging them. And so he continues in Romans chapter 1, look at verse 24.

Therefore God also gave them up to uncleanness in the lust of their hearts to dishonor their bodies among themselves, who exchanged the truth of God for the lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the creator who is blessed forever. Amen. See, the lie, the lie is it's all about me. It's all about what I feel. It's all about what I want. I decide what is right for me.

This is the way I am. And they disregard the creator. For this reason, verse 26, God gave them up to vile passions for even their women exchanged the natural use for what is against nature. Likewise, also the men, leaving the natural use of the women, burned in their lust for one another, men with men, committing what is shameful and receiving in themselves the penalty of their error which was due. Now here's the setting.

Here's the setting that you need to know. In chapter 1, Paul begins by placing the entire world under God's judgment. The entire world is guilty before God. But then in Romans 2, he turns to the religious person, the moral person, maybe the legalistic person, the person who would say, yeah, those evil people in the world should be judged. And he goes, oh, hold on. Let me now address you moral religious people and say, you think you're off the hook?

You do the same things they do, only you do it secretly, inwardly, privately. It's like the story of the man who was driving down the road in the woods and he hit a skunk and he was going, and he thought, boy, there's got to be a skunk somewhere around here in the woods. And he kept driving down the street and it got worse and worse and worse and drove for miles, he could still smell it.

And so he concluded, there must be thousands of skunks out here in the woods, not knowing that he is taking the stench with him wherever he goes. And so the balance is that God is loving and forbearing and gracious. That's the good news. The bad news is if that forbearance and love doesn't lead you somewhere to change, then a certain judgment is going to come. Yes, God is love, but that's not all He is. He is also perfectly, infinitely holy and just and will judge unrepentant sin.

And frankly, too many people place too much of the focus and emphasis on the love side of the fulcrum and become imbalanced. Oh, we all love 1 John 4, 8, God is love. And I've heard that misquoted hundreds of times. But I wonder how many have in their Bibles, Psalm 7 underlined, where David writes, God is a just judge and God is angry with the wicked every day.

That's in there. God is a just judge and God is angry with the wicked every day. In our country, we have a legal system, a jurisprudence system. And it's all based on truth and truthful testimony. If you have ever done jury duty and you're part of that jury, that's what you're there for. You are there for to determine what is true and not true. Truthful testimony versus that which is not.

And why? Because the goal as a jury and the judge is to punish the guilty and to acquit the one who is not guilty. Now let's say a judge has all of the evidence, it's all true, and it points to this guy as a murderer. But then the judge turns to the murderer and says, you know what, I am in a good mood today.

And you can just go home. That would make that judge unfair, unjust, and unloving. He didn't care about the victims.

He's not loving society. Well, so it is with God. God never ceases to be loving.

But God never ceases to be perfectly holy. And because he is holy, a just judge, he demands payment for sin. The penalty as a just judge must be met. He demands payment for sin.

That's as a judge. But in his love, he is compelled to pay the penalty himself. That's what the cross is all about.

The cross is the demonstration of the perfect righteous holiness, justice of God, but it's the demonstration of the perfect love of God in taking the penalty himself. And you know why he was compelled to do that? Because there was no other way to get those people on earth saved and get them to heaven. There was no other way. You see, sin is such a grievous offense against God, it demands payment by somebody perfectly innocent.

There's only one who fit that bill. And that was Jesus Christ. And he came to take your sin and mine and there was no other way. That is why Jesus in the garden prayed this prayer.

You know it. Father, if it's possible, let this cup pass from me. Was it possible? No, it was impossible. It was impossible to be saved any other way.

So Jesus said, nevertheless, not my will, but yours be done. And he went to the cross. Because the penalty must be paid, but he was compelled to pay the penalty himself. I have another story about a man that grew up to be a judge. These were two friends in Australia. They went to school together and graduated together. One became a judge, the other became a banker. And the banker was good, but after a while, got a little bit crooked and embezzled a huge sum of money. And he stood in court before the judge, his friend, his friend. He graduated from school with. So his friend, the judge, is facing his friend, the embezzling banker.

So there's a conflict of interest. The judge leveled the stiffest penalty possible monetarily against the criminal. Gavel went down, he read the sentence. And then the judge stood up, took off his robe, walked down to his friend, and before he embraced him said, I want you to know, I have emptied my bank account, all of my savings, to pay your fine. As a judge, he leveled the sentence. As a friend, he paid the penalty. And that is a picture of what Jesus did on the cross. The penalty must be paid.

He paid the penalty himself. See, without punishing sin, God would be unjust in forgiving sin, like any judge in a courtroom. So that is the balance theologically. Jesus loves people, but be balanced theologically.

Here's the second thing I want to end this series with. Jesus loves people, but be bold spiritually. Be bold spiritually. Please notice how bold Paul is.

I think you already have noticed it. Notice how bold he is in his speech, like in verse 4. Do you despise the riches of his goodness, forbearance, longsuffering, not knowing the goodness of God leads you to repentance? But in accordance with your hardness and your impenitent heart, you are treasuring up for yourself wrath in the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God.

Most people would walk out at this point. Who will render to each one according to his deeds, eternal life to those who by patient continuance in doing good, seek for glory, honor, and immortality, but to those who are self-seeking and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, indignation, and wrath. He's bold. And why was he so bold? By the way, this isn't the only time, if you know the writings of Paul. Paul even said, I am bold to say this to you. Why was he bold? Because of the statement he said in chapter 1 verse 16. I am not ashamed of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

And you know what? You shouldn't be ashamed of the gospel of Jesus Christ. You shouldn't be ashamed.

You have nothing to be ashamed of. It is the power of God unto salvation. It says, for everyone who believes.

However, you are living in a culture, in a country, you are living now in a society that is doing everything it can to make you feel ashamed of the gospel. That's Skip Heiting with a message from the series Jesus Loves People. Now let's head into the studio with Skip and Lenya as they share how you can show God's love and truth to others around you.

Skip, today you talked about the importance of balancing love and truth. So how can we maintain that biblical balance when it comes to showing God's love to family members, especially if they're not believers? First of all, the most loving thing you can do is to tell somebody the truth. If you're willing to put yourself on the line, humble yourself, tell them the truth even if it's not comfortable, that is a loving gesture. Doctors do it all the time. They tell patients the test results.

You know, they don't fudge. Lawyers tell their clients the chances of them winning the case or not winning the case. So telling the truth is a loving thing to do. Number two, tell the truth in a loving manner. There's an old saying, if you want to win some, be winsome, right? So be nice to them.

Don't say it in a caustic kind of a manner. And since the gospel is the story of the greatest act of love known to mankind, start there and paint that picture and get into the heart that is turning away from you. Thank you, Skip and Lenya. The Bible is full of God's amazing promises. And since He is faithful, you can be sure He will carry out those promises. We want to continue sharing the promises of Scripture with you and others through this program. And you can help make that possible through your generous gift today. So please call now to give and help keep these teachings coming to you and many others around the world. 800-922-1888.

Again, that's 800-922-1888. Or visit connectwithskip.com slash donate. Connectwithskip.com slash donate.

Thank you. Tune in again tomorrow as Skip Heitzig shares why you can boldly share the whole gospel with those around you. Make a connection, make a connection at the foot of the cross and cast all burdens on His word. Make a connection, connection. Connect with Skip Heitzig is a presentation of Connection Communications, connecting you to God's never-changing truth in ever-changing times.