Jesus Loves People, BUT... - Part B

Yes, Jesus loves people, but now once they experience His love, it's to not just say He loves you the way you are and wants you to stay the way you are.

Jesus loves you the way you are, but He loves you too much to leave you the way you are. So the love should move a person to repentance, and that's who you and I are. That's where we come in. You and I are agents of God to help people come to repentance.

The only way that's ever going to happen is you have to be bold. The message of the Gospel is both a call to grace and a call to repentance. Today on Connect with Skip Heitzig, Skip equips you to confidently share both aspects of the Gospel with those around you. But first, we want to share about where you can hear even more encouraging Bible messages from Skip. I want to invite you to follow my podcast so you can get even more inspiring teachings. Just search Skip Heitzig, that's Skip, H-E-I-T-Z-I-G, on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or anywhere you listen to your podcasts. And don't forget to follow the podcast so you know when a new teaching is available.

Thanks Skip. Right now, we want to share about a great resource that helps you understand why Jesus' resurrection is so vital for your faith. It's pretty obvious that this world is filled with imperfect people, and that's on purpose. God is into restoring human beings.

You know, He could make perfect people and then populate heaven with perfect people, but He doesn't do that. He takes people who are dinged up, who've been beat up, bruised by time, damaged by sin, and He does a full resto job on them. Complete restoration. Celebrate the joy and beauty of redemption with The Morning That Changed Everything with Skip Heitzig. This DVD collection of six hope-filled Easter weekend messages is our thanks to you when you give $35 or more today to help connect more people to God's word and the redeeming love of Jesus Christ. Restoration is based on redemption, and redemption is tied to resurrection.

To give, call 800-922-1888 or give online securely at connectwithskip.com slash offer. Now, we're in Romans chapter 2 as we dive into our study with Skip Heitzig. 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. How dare you say you believe in God and believe in the Bible.

They're trying to make you feel ashamed of the gospel of Jesus Christ. And the moment you say, well, you know, I don't agree with that ruling or I don't agree with these values. I believe in the Bible. What? Oh, that's a hate crime. Oh, you're discriminating. Well, actually, it's just not what I believe. I believe something different. I don't agree with that. I just want you to know that I have a different way of thinking than you do.

Please don't discriminate against me for thinking that. But you live in a country that's trying to make you ashamed of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Paul was bold. Jesus was bold. One time, Herod, who represented the government in those days, called for Jesus, Herod Antipas. And somebody said, Herod wants to see you. Jesus said, go tell that fox I'm busy. On another occasion, the religious elite confronted Jesus and he said to them, you brood of vipers. Who has warned you to flee from the wrath that is to come? This is gentle Jesus, meek and mild.

He was bold. Now the goal of that boldness and the goal of that theological balance is simple. It's to lead a person to repentance. Notice it says the goodness of God, verse four, leads you to repentance. That's the goal.

That's the goal. Yes, Jesus loves people, but now once they experience his love, it's to not just say he loves you the way you are and wants you to stay the way you are. Jesus loves you the way you are, but he loves you too much to leave you the way you are. So the love should move a person to repentance and that's who you and I are. That's where we come in.

You and I are agents of God to help people come to repentance. The only way that's ever going to happen is you have to be bold. You have to be bold. The world is trying to tell you, shut up, don't speak, don't tell me your opinion, don't give me your voice, don't be bold.

This is where we need to step it up and go, I've got something to say. Listen to what Jesus said about you. You are the salt of the earth.

If the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It's good for nothing except to be thrown out and trampled by men. You are the light of the world.

A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do men light a lamp and cover it with a bowl, but they put it up so everybody can see it. So let your light shine among men that they may see your good deeds and glorify your father in heaven.

Salt and light. For that to happen, it infers boldness. Now when Jesus said the words that I just quoted, there's three things that are implied by that. Number one, it's implied that Christians are fundamentally different from non-Christians. Oh yes, we're humans.

Yes, we all blow it. But the images of salt and light show the difference between the two communities of the world of unbelievers and the world of believers. Jesus said you are not of this world, even as I am not of this world. The world is dark. We are to be its light.

The world is corrupt and decaying. We are to be salt. Second, it implies that Christians must permeate non-Christian society. We are to be morally distinct. We are to be spiritually distinct. But we are never to be socially segregated or separated. We are to bring the salt into the society and bring the light into the darkness. The church is never meant to be one giant bless me club. Unfortunately, it becomes that. Well, it's all about me feeling good, isn't it?

I should be able to come to church and say I feel really good about what I heard and what I sang. It's all about me. No, it's not. It's all about strengthening us so we become salty. And then the salt gets poured out of the salt shaker into the world. That's what it's about. You heard that old saying that says a person wrapped up in himself makes a very small package. Well, a church wrapped up in itself makes a very small package. There's a purpose to our existence. The third thing that implies what Jesus said is that Christians can influence a non-Christian culture.

They can. I think back to the likes of William Wilberforce in England. Born again Christian, loved God, evangelical Bible believing man of God. William Wilberforce fought long and hard against the morals of his culture and helped overturn slavery at that time. Lord Shaftesbury, Ashley Shaftesbury, saw the injustice done in the workforce and fought for fair labor laws among the lower class and lower middle class.

They boldly opposed their culture and prevailing cultural ideas. They had a voice and they used it. Some of you have heard and maybe even seen until it was canceled a TV show called Flip It Forward. It was on the HGTV network.

It was about entrepreneurs who take properties and turn them around. Two brothers were featured, two identical twins, David and Jason Benham. These Benham brothers had a great show and it was very popular until they started saying things like, well, you know, we're Christians.

You're what? Yeah, we're Christians. We believe in the Bible.

And they said phrases like simply this, we believe in traditional marriage. The show's been canceled. You know why it's been canceled?

The pro-choice lobby and the gay lobby put so much pressure on HGTV network, they canceled the show. So these two brothers decided we're not going to roll over. We're going to make this known. We're going to spread the news. And they went on talk shows and news programs to tell the real story.

This is what they said why they did it. Jason said, we're not doing this because we want to fight. We're doing this because we love Jesus. We're compelled by love and we're willing to be bold because of that love. Jesus loves all people, but he does not love all ideas. Jesus loves people, but be balanced theologically. Jesus loves people, but be bold spiritually. And third, and I'll close our series with this, Jesus loves people. So be bountiful, generous. Be bountiful practically. Notice in verse four something, and here I want to set the tone, what I think our tone ought to be. Because I've taken 14 weeks of studies and I've sort of brought a little balance to it so far.

Now I kind of want to balance out what I just balanced. We're talking about what our tone ought to be. And notice in verse four Paul talks about the riches of his goodness, forbearance, and long suffering.

Notice those words. The riches of his goodness, forbearance, long suffering. That, that is God's approach to a sinful world.

And that ought to be our approach. The New Living Translation renders it. Don't you realize how kind, tolerant, and patient God is with you?

Don't you care? Can't you see how kind he has been in giving you time to turn from your sin? And haven't we seen this over and over again with Jesus, whether it's the rich young ruler, or the woman caught in adultery, or Pontius Pilate, or Thomas, or Judas Iscariot, or Saul of Tarsus? That patient, long suffering, goodness. Zero in on that word in verse four. That one word, goodness.

It's mentioned twice. Do you despise the riches of his goodness, not knowing it's the goodness of God that leads you to repentance? Most translations translated kindness rather than like this, goodness. And that is actually a better translation.

That is more accurate. Because when we speak of God's goodness, we're not speaking of his goodness as opposed to his badness. We're speaking of his goodness in terms of his benevolence. His tenderness. His being bountiful and generous to people. That's one of the unique features about Jesus Christ above all others.

His unique ability to love people. The last couple weeks for me have been very interesting in my travels, but let me just tell you that one of the most interesting meetings I have ever had in my life took place last week in Jerusalem. When I had the ability and the privilege to meet with the Prime Minister of Israel. And I sat in Benjamin Netanyahu's office.

I thought I'd be there for ten minutes for an hour. I was with Franklin Graham and a couple of other people and we talked about a number of things. And one of the things we talked about and the Prime Minister wanted to talk about was the person of Jesus Christ. And he said something I'll never forget. He said, you know, Jesus Christ brought to our nation of Israel and to the Jewish people a whole new level of, and he stopped.

He's trying to think of the word. He brought us a whole new level of, and he couldn't think of the English word so he said to his aid the Hebrew word. He brought a whole new level of chesed, chesed. Now I recognized that word just from my Bible study and I said, oh, chesed, loving kindness.

And he goes, that's it, that's the word. Loving kindness. Jesus Christ brought a whole new level of loving kindness.

I thought, oh, that is quite a statement. That is who he was. So please notice because of the word we just saw in verse four, Paul doesn't leave all of mankind under God's judgment and just sort of walk away.

He didn't go, you're all just, like you made your bed lying, no, no, that's not the end of the story. The real story is that God is kind and he is patient. He's possessed with an innate goodwill towards sinners, an innate kindness. He by his very nature is tender-hearted and compassionate and withholds judgment until judgment can be withheld no longer. And when all else fails and a person decides, I will not repent, then certain judgment will come.

But you need to know this, when it does come and it will come, it will come. God takes no delight in it. He is no joy whatsoever. There's no glee in his heart when a person rejects his son and goes to hell. They will.

They will. But there is never any delight in the heart of God. Ezekiel 18, verse 32, the Lord says, I find no pleasure in the death of the wicked, says the Lord. Jonah went to Nineveh and was hoping that God would just nuke it. By the way, Nineveh is today ISIS territory.

Nineveh just thought, wipe him out. And God said to his prophet, should I not show compassion on Nineveh? Peter writes in 2 Peter, God is not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to finish it. Repentance. He wants all to come to repentance.

Jesus came to the city of Jerusalem. And what did he do? Wept over it. Wept over it. He saw the judgment coming. He wept over the city saying, Oh, Jerusalem, how often I would have gathered you, but you were not willing.

That's why he wept. But our tone should be one of chesed, loving, kindness, bountiful, tenderness. Ben Franklin was right.

You'll catch more flies with honey than you will with vinegar. And brothers and sisters, we will attract more unbelievers with kindness than with correctness. You can have both, you know.

You don't have to sacrifice one for the other. You can be doctrinally, theologically, biblically correct and balanced, and you can be bold, but, and it's a tough little dance, you can also have a tone of kindness and sincere love. Being willing to be rejected because of your display of truth in love.

So, balanced, bold, bountiful. Jesus loves people, but that love is meant to lead them to repentance. And if they refuse repentance, then he will judge sin. Until he does, people are imperfect.

Have you found that out yet? People are imperfect, they mess up, they sin, and our posture ought to be an open hand. An open hand is better than a pointed finger. An open hand is better than a pointed finger. Some of us are really good at this. Really great at wielding the finger and going, that's sin. Be careful, because you just might hear Paul going, therefore you are inexcusable, oh man. An open hand is better than a pointed finger.

Now when you open your hand, it's not going to be easy. You'll be called a hater, just because you have an opinion that's different. Just because you say, that's not right. That's wrong.

I disagree with that. You'll be called a discriminator. But don't, don't, don't fall for the tendency of the finger pointing, maintain the open hand. I want to close with a story, and it closes today, it closes our series, with a little illustration on how kindness, how love covers a multitude of sins. Come with me to the third grade classroom. There's a nine year old kid sitting at his desk, and all of a sudden, there's a puddle between his feet, and the front of his pants are wet. He thinks his heart is going to stop, because he can't possibly imagine how this happened.

It's never happened before. And he knows that when the boys find out, he'll never hear the end of it. When the girls find out, they'll never speak to him again for as long as he lives. The boy believes his heart is going to stop. So he puts his head down and he prays this prayer, dear God, this is an emergency. I need help now. Five minutes from now, I'm dead meat.

Amen. He looks up from his prayer, and here comes the teacher with a look in her eyes that says he's been discovered. As the teacher is coming to snatch him up, a classmate named Susie is carrying a goldfish bowl filled with water. Susie trips in front of the teacher and inexplicably dumps the bowl in the boy's lap. He pretends to be angry, all the while he's saying, thank you Jesus, thank you Jesus, thank you Jesus. Now all of a sudden, the boy is the object of sympathy. The teacher rushes him downstairs and gives him gym shorts to put on while his pants dry out.

All the children are on their hands and knees around the desk cleaning up the mess. Okay, stay with me on this. Get past that. The sympathy is wonderful. The ridicule that should have been his was transferred to somebody else.

Do you see the gospel in that? It was transferred to Susie. As the day progresses, the sympathy grows better and Susie's ridicule grows worse.

At the end of the day, they are waiting for the bus. Susie has been shunned by all the other children. The boy walks over to Susie and says, Susie, you did that on purpose, didn't you?

She whispers back, I wet my pants too once. You see, the Bible tells us in Romans, all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. Being justified freely through the redemption that is in Jesus Christ. All of us don't have the right to do that. We have the right, the privilege, the calling to open the hand. Knowing that they don't like your kind of brand of love.

I don't call that love. I should be able to love who I want to love and do what I want to do and God should make me happy. Even for those who have exchanged the truth of God for the lie. Be willing to be maligned and impugned.

It's okay. I know who I am and I know where I'm going. That wraps up Skip Heitzig's message from the series Jesus Loves People. Right now, we want to tell you about a unique opportunity to take your knowledge of scripture to a new level. Calvary College is now open for registration. Calvary College is offering select online classes as an opportunity for individuals to take their life's calling to a whole new level. With an educational emphasis in Biblical studies, with our unique partnerships with Veritas International University and Calvary Chapel University, you will have the opportunity to obtain your bachelor's or master's degree with complete online programs. Whether you're looking to obtain an accredited online degree or take individual courses to become better equipped in your knowledge of God's unchangeable truth, Calvary College has you covered with a range of opportunities for updates on classes and registration information for Calvary College. Please visit calvaryabq.college. That's calvaryabq.college for Calvary College.

Calvaryabq.college. The Bible brings growth, direction, and joy to your life, equipping you to serve the Lord. And we want to bring the Word of God to more friends like you. You can help keep these teachings coming your way and make them available in more places around the world through your generous support today. So please call now to give and help keep this program going strong. Call 800-922-1888. That's 800-922-1888 or visit connectwithskip.com slash donate. That's connectwithskip.com slash donate.

Thank you. Tune in tomorrow as Skip Heitzig shares revealing insight from Isaiah's prophecies about your future and your relationship with Jesus. 21 times Isaiah is quoted in the New Testament. He is called the Messianic prophet.

He is the only prophet in scripture to specifically predict the Messiah will be born of a virgin. 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.