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Who Is God?
31 Plays21 days ago
Our ever changing culture has many different views and opinions on who God is. Paul and Dustin discuss what the Bible says about God, and what that means for us.
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Transcript
Introduction: Who is God?
00:00:13
Speaker
Welcome into Answering Pilot. Dustin, glad to be here. Good to see you. Glad to be back again. Yeah, and going to be talking about God today. we typically talk about God when we do these podcasts, but there's a sense in which we're going to be asking the question, and I mean this very broadly, who is God? We're not going to be You know, ah you know, doing a Charnock thing or a pink thing and, you know, going down the attributes of God. But we're going to connect it to where our culture is. OK.
00:00:43
Speaker
I think just as a. You know, a weight into this kind of thing.
Cultural Perceptions of God
00:00:49
Speaker
ah You know, you and I are raised in ah in a Christian environment, Christian, you know, a culture that's been influenced by Christianity and and certainly everybody here.
00:00:59
Speaker
But it's just sort of the air we breathe. And in people a certain age, it's interesting whether they claim to be um Christians or not, whether they...
00:01:10
Speaker
attend church regularly or not. I mean, just in everyday interaction, I still come across a lot of folk who believe in the God of the Bible. They may not be able to tell exactly who the God of the Bible is or much about them, they believe in God or some, you know, kind of benevolent God. which in one sense, the will god the God of the Bible is certainly benevolent, but um they they would they would talk in in terms of, ah well, you know, God meant this to be, or yeah, that happened, it's not good, but we know God has a plan, and we know God will provide, him we know God will take care. They they say all of these things, right and I think obviously that's a product of
00:01:52
Speaker
again, Christian influence in our culture for a long, long time.
Critical Theory and Changing Views
00:01:57
Speaker
But of course, you do have a lot of other people who don't have that worldview. And especially these days, we've talked about the rise of critical theory, and it came out of the the halls of academia, and it's penetrated our culture, permeated our culture.
00:02:13
Speaker
And so there are a lot of people who look through the lens of critical theory, where it's critical race theory, critical gender theory, you know wokeism, if you want to use ah sort of a shorthand for it.
00:02:25
Speaker
And they look at all things through that lens, you know, relationships between men and women, marriage, relationships between people in general, but they they look at God through that lens.
00:02:37
Speaker
And so that's part of what we're going to be talking about today for a few minutes. Young people. seeing God, not as this benevolent being, but but seeing him as someone or something that is very, very different, maybe just sort of a cruel, violent, um aggressive, um yeah you know, being who's who's just... ah uh totally out of control in a sense so that's kind of what we're going be talking about sure sure and answering it yeah yeah hopefully so yeah um yeah we we like we said uh at the outset we we kind of talked about this in one of our earlier episodes that uh there was a there was a point in time
00:03:18
Speaker
um When both of us were growing up where someone talked about God, there were certain things that that were understood. But and what we have seen that over time, um because of cultural influence um and human philosophy, yeah ah that the general consensus when someone speaks of God and and who they picture or who they imagine that to be,
00:03:45
Speaker
um believers or not, um has begun has drastically changed yeah um yeah over the years. And so, yeah, we kind of want to address um who he really is versus what's popular thought yeah may have invented that he is. Yeah.
Jesus Through the Lens of Critical Theory
00:04:02
Speaker
yeah I was thinking too, while you're talking corollary to that, you know if you were to walk down the street, as we've said,
00:04:08
Speaker
50 years ago, and you mentioned God, most people would sort of have the the biblical God in view, but now there there are all kinds of gods that might be in view if you're just talking to the average person. But particularly here today, ah're we're dealing with people and their understanding of the biblical God, and it's it's certainly not a biblical view. um Phil, ah not Phil,
00:04:31
Speaker
ah Patrick West um in The Spectator talks about a survey of teenagers in the UK. And, of course, UK, ultimately, the you know, things that are developed over there, ideas, trends, they they cross the ocean, they cross the pond, as it were, and they wind up over here. and course, I'm sure there's some back and forth, but we live in ah we live in a what a global neighborhood now so with the Internet.
00:04:58
Speaker
But interesting and and tragic, but a lot of teens in the UK, let me just listen to this language, they find Jesus to be annoying. Yeah, ah he's he's not this this good teacher anymore. right Because a lot of atheists, well, yeah, he's a good prophet or good teacher, good man, moral philosopher, et cetera. But no, they find Jesus annoying.
00:05:23
Speaker
and They say things like ah Jesus practiced mansplaining. we might have to define that a little bit. But um he had an unequal power dynamic. Now, that's right out of critical theory. Exactly. Right? yep you know the the Those with the power, the hegemon, and you know they're they're oppressing. So culture is divided into... It's all about a power struggle. Exactly. Yeah, the oppressors and the oppressed.
00:05:49
Speaker
um They say God the Father comes across as a bully. um And, of course, look, justin i mean just in the counseling arena is a side issue. It's interesting.
00:06:01
Speaker
you know You can have a ah couple. They'll they'll come, and they'll be having marital conflict. And, again, that's sad, and that's why we're here, to help. But um and and but certain you know conflict is normal.
00:06:13
Speaker
And maybe they will argue with one another and maybe the discussions would get heated and that doesn't necessarily rise to the level of abuse or anything. And certainly um we know that there are people who are guilty of abuse, sure whether you you know beat someone or just ah genuinely verbally assault them or gaslight them or something like that.
00:06:37
Speaker
But historically and definitionally and biblically abuse and, you know, just normal, sinful argumentation. Those are two different things. But now, because of the ah infiltration of critical theory even into the church,
00:06:58
Speaker
ah If you've got, you know, someone who just sort of may use some sinful language, all of a sudden he or she, and it's usually a he, is an abuser.
God's Sovereignty vs. Human Morality
00:07:08
Speaker
Right. And so, or a bully. And so, and again, I'm not saying that there aren't abusers and bullies out there, but I'm saying we've we've changed the definitions. And so now God, of course, is a bully. Right.
00:07:21
Speaker
ah That's God the Father. God the Son is arrogant, according to young people. And again, they're they're influenced by this this worldview, critical theory.
00:07:31
Speaker
So he's arrogant. um He's religiously motivated. And here's the big problem. He's male. So automatically, because he's male, that's a problem. And then a lot of the young people are saying that Jesus had a God complex.
00:07:49
Speaker
Well, you know. well I mean, our response is, well, yeah. Right, yeah. right yeah Not a God complex. yeah he was He was speaking the truth about who he was. That's exactly right. I do think this is interesting, um the way that that has changed, because I feel like the view of God, the Father, as we would call him, as mean or a bully. I feel like that's been around for a long time. um People who who may not understand the Bible or or be believers...
00:08:25
Speaker
would always look at the God of the Old Testament yeah and they would see all these judgments that took place and and all of these things and they're like, well, that guy's mean, you know, and he's a bully. So that that I understand, but it it always seemed to be, or, you know, in years past, it seemed like that they would draw a contrast with the God of the Old Testament was a mean bully, but Jesus was this peace preaching, you know healing, helping people. Like you said, even atheists would say he was a good man or a good teacher. yeah yeah um
00:08:56
Speaker
So it's interesting to see that now the perception of Jesus ah is changing among young people now too. And again, it it it does kind of all seem to link back to that that critical theory yeah line of thinking. Yeah. No, I think you're right. and It's also interesting, and maybe we'll expand on this before we're done today, but...
00:09:19
Speaker
You mentioned ah this this dichotomy between the God of the Old Testament, the God of the New, or Jesus, and you know the ah even the atheists seeing that distinction.
00:09:31
Speaker
But these young people, ah they they actually understand something that apparently the atheists missed, yeah right that Jesus did in fact claim to be God. right right and That's why they they say it's a God complex. So that's that's very interesting, which makes, again,
00:09:49
Speaker
Excuse me, which makes him ah just as much of ah of a bully as as God the Father. Sure, sure. I mean, on a podcast called Answering Pilate, I mean, essentially that was the charge that ah the Sanhedrin brought about Jesus was that he was claiming to be God. Yes, yes. Pilate said, you know...
00:10:12
Speaker
ah and i'm I'm not going to get it word for it correctly, but he asked him basically, you know, are you the son of God or are you God? And he said, it is as you say. So he said, yeah, I am. that's right um No pun intended. I am. Exactly. Yeah. Yeah. yeah So at least they're reading their Bible right. They just they just push back on it. they don't They don't agree with it, obviously. So...
00:10:35
Speaker
um So let's just talk about you know some of that. I mean, that's what we're doing, but yeah let's just think about this. um The notion that the God of the Bible is really violent, he's really aggressive, those those are some of the words that these young young folk use.
00:10:53
Speaker
so So that leads us to the question, and let's just go to the Old Testament since you brought it up. yeah um but I mean, who is God and what's going on in the Old Testament? Sure, yeah.
00:11:04
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, I think, obviously, understanding God from the beginning is key to understanding the rest of the Bible.
00:11:15
Speaker
um In that, ah i feel like a lot of secular criticisms of the God of the Bible all center around the fact that we're talking about the sovereign creator and sustainer of the universe.
00:11:31
Speaker
Full stop. That's who he is. And any criticism of him is ultimately a rejection of that truth. Yeah. Because if he's the sovereign creator and the sustainer of the universe, yes, he does get to make the rules. Yeah, that's right. um and And if we can't truly accept...
00:11:54
Speaker
ah who he is and what he is, then we're going to force him into our image or into our morality or into our view of how the world should be yep um as created beings versus the creator.
00:12:13
Speaker
yeah And so you have to start with him being the sovereign creator of the universe. yeah Is he really that? If he if if he's really that,
00:12:24
Speaker
then everything about his nature and about his actions and everything that flows from that, um we it'ch it's that has to affect how we view
Moral Relativism vs. God's Standards
00:12:33
Speaker
those things. Yeah. Because otherwise, if we just think he's some sort of cosmic...
00:12:40
Speaker
force that's not really all-powerful and all of this, then then we're going to say, you're wrong for doing this, God. Yeah. And we, you know, in reality, if we actually believe what the Bible says about God, we we don't have the right to say that.
00:12:57
Speaker
That's right. And, um... I want to put a question on the table. I do want to come back to something you said. He has the right to make the rules. So if I forget, just remind me because my...
00:13:11
Speaker
My brain goes in five different directions, and then I forget. Didn't used to, but anyway. um So here are these, I'm saying young people, but people in general, they're questioning, as you said, you said something about we're imposing our own morality on God. Yes, if we reject the reality of who God is.
00:13:34
Speaker
So here's here's a question. where Where does morality come from? I mean, here are these young people. And they think God's violent. They think he's aggressive. They think he's a bully.
00:13:46
Speaker
Um, God complex, all these things. Um, they certainly don't believe just, just to go outside of those statements that, that we've keyed in on thus far.
00:13:57
Speaker
They, these, these people don't believe that, um, um, morality is, is right either. You know, when it comes to sexual ethics, for example, um, or other kinds of, uh,
00:14:11
Speaker
ethics we could we could bring on them but just stick with sexual ethics they think that you know christians are haters for example and by extension um the bible is filled with hatred therefore god is a hater he hates certain kinds of people at least according to christians that would be how they would say it so i just want to take it back to a worldview level ah where where does the notion of right and wrong even come from? your Your moral outrage, okay, at one level I can appreciate you've got moral outrage, but where does your moral outrage come from? Who decides what's right and wrong? Yeah, and for... ah
00:14:53
Speaker
For those who who don't know the God of the Bible, it's themselves. Yeah. Ultimately. Yeah. so So essentially, they are making themselves God um because they're the one that is deciding ah what they think is right and what they think is wrong. Yeah. um It's also, you know, it's also fueled by, you know, just the society and what's acceptable. Mm-hmm. The hive mind or the group think. Yeah.
00:15:19
Speaker
You know, those kind of things. Yeah. um But... the why Why is that a problem? Why is it bad that that would be our standard for morality? Yeah.
00:15:30
Speaker
Well, the hive mind, you mean? Yeah, yeah. Well, yeah, that's a problem because you... where Where does truth come from? i mean, how do we know what's right and what's wrong, which is where you're going with that, I'm assuming. yeah And, you know, I'm going to get ridiculous in a sense, but, you know, cannibals, they think it's okay to eat people, right?
00:15:51
Speaker
Or ah the mafia, they think it's okay to bump people off who are encroaching on their territory, you know, economic territory or whatever. um You've got genocidal...
00:16:04
Speaker
um maniacs in in charge of certain governments uh throughout history and and even in our own day of course you've got um you know all of these kinds of uh are you talking about sexual ethics like you said the the the ethics that that are being pushed on us today ah you know flow from our cultural moment and and a lot of ideologies that push back. well Well, how do we know that your sexual ethics are better than then than my sexual ethics, which is one man, one woman, one lifetime? you know Monogamy and faithfulnessness faithfulness. I don't know what I just said. But anyway, yeah.
00:16:46
Speaker
Who decides what's what's right and wrong? It becomes relative. And so obviously that this would be our point that when you come to the God of the Bible, so this brings me back, he makes the rules because he's sovereign. He's the creator. right And the reason he makes the rules is is it's not arbitrary. right It's not capricious. it it's The rules, quote unquote, flow from who he is. That's why we're asking the question, who is God? Right.
00:17:17
Speaker
Yeah. Because he is good. Yes. um and And only a a good being could create the world that we see. Um, but yeah, so, so what you're saying is, is that this group mind, this, our hive mind, this group think, uh, it's fluid.
00:17:35
Speaker
It can change. You said relative. Yes. Um, and that, that can't be a basis for truth, right? Nope. Because it's always moving. You know, if, if we're, if we were yeah You know, you use the the the illustration of of sailors, you know, 400 years ago trying to navigate the ocean. They're using a compass.
00:17:58
Speaker
Even today, if we're using fancy digital equipment, um if true north doesn't stay true north, and now north is over here...
00:18:09
Speaker
And now north is over here. We're going to be literally lost at sea. yeah And so there has to be a a standard, an absolute standard. yeah And that standard is the God of the Bible because, yes, he's not just all powerful and creator.
00:18:26
Speaker
That's where you have to start. yep But he is all good. That's right. So he is the standard of good. um and And again, that goes back to the Garden of Eden. um that's that That rejection of that is is what the serpent used. yeah you know You had the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. That's right.
00:18:44
Speaker
And God was telling Adam and Eve to to trust In him, yeah i am good h and and to trust in me.
00:18:57
Speaker
And the serpent came to them and said, you can know good and evil on your own. yeah You don't need him. That's right. And so you can be God's yourself. He literally says you can become like him. You can become God yourself. You can be the one that decides what's good and evil. yeah Not trusting in God who is good.
00:19:16
Speaker
And they bought the lie. and that's why they ate the fruit and then that's that's where we are now yeah yeah yeah you know um so that that very temptation is the first temptation in recorded human history yeah 100 it wasn't just you know eating the fruit it was what you just said that's why it was problematic a lot of people what's the big deal you know right right okay it's idolatry it's not giving god the the the glory and acknowledgement that that is due to him
00:19:47
Speaker
But also, um i was just thinking, talking—in fact, i've I've almost forgotten my train of thought—but just in talking about, you know, who God is and He's revealed Himself—
Humanity in God's Image
00:20:02
Speaker
I'd love to get into a, not now, but at some point, a theological discussion over God's law written on the human heart. Because, you know, on the one hand, we get God's law written on our hearts in the New Covenant. That's one of the blessings of the New Covenant. Jeremiah 31, Ezekiel 36, I think, Hebrews 8 and 9 explains all of that.
00:20:26
Speaker
Romans 2, we can have an exegetical debate over ah the the Gentiles having the law written on their heart. Is that pre-conversion? Is that post-conversion? I'd love to have that discussion.
00:20:38
Speaker
But I'll say this. I think all Christian theologians can agree with this. that by virtue of being created in the image of God, because i think you referred to that, Adam, Eve, humanity, we are created in God's image. That means a lot of things. We have another discussion on what that means. sure It's not just the ability to think. It's way more than that.
00:21:00
Speaker
But um because we're creating the image of God, And again, you got to think ah post fall. In other words, Adam sinned, sin entered it into the world.
00:21:12
Speaker
Death was the result of sin. Death spread to all men because all men sinned in Adam. I'm using biblical language there. So we're all born spiritually dead in in sin.
00:21:25
Speaker
Okay. So the image of God in us is marred. yes Thankfully, it's not obliterated. um Otherwise, we couldn't do a lot of things. Like one of those things couldn't relate to God. But it's marred.
00:21:40
Speaker
So ah that's a long segue into what I'm about to say. Sorry, brother. okay aha it's It's almost a universal... i don't think it's 100% universal because of the fall. But it's almost a universal...
00:21:57
Speaker
um uh what's the word axiom that just murder is wrong okay just to kill somebody for selfish reasons or no reason at all murder most people i'm saying the vast majority of people who've ever lived agree that murder is wrong there are a lot of people who don't think murder is wrong because they murder with impunity But they'll redefine what murder there is. Yes. Thank you. Yeah. I have a right to bump you off because you encroach my territory. But anyway, or not to go down another rabbit hole with my body, my choice.
00:22:33
Speaker
Yeah. There you go. There you go Absolutely. So that's that's that that moral um independence. Right. So. All right. So. So my point, if murder is is essentially almost universally accepted as as wrong. So what we're talking about is what's right, what's wrong.
00:22:51
Speaker
all right well what about um stealing you know is it right is it wrong well a lot of people who apparently don't think it's wrong again they justify it yeah again redefine it yeah redefine it but i guess where where i'm going with that is because you have uh... exceptions in terms of what people think is right or wrong because uh... there's some things there's some things we can have a consensus on murder but we don't have a consensus at least right now in our culture on homosexuality in homosexual uh... relations will put it that way now still think the majority of people if you're to poll in the majority of people in our culture would see that that is morally wrong
00:23:41
Speaker
um Maybe I'm wrong about that. and I mean, it it's a lot more folk today who would say it's okay than would have said it's okay 20, 30 years ago But there again, that goes back to what you're saying.
00:23:54
Speaker
but Excuse me, certain moral issues are fluid. So again, it it brings me back to the question, how do you know what's right and what's wrong? Because if there is no God, just by way of example, then it really doesn't matter.
00:24:11
Speaker
why Why are you getting why getting mad at me? yeah we We joke and say or something like that. yeah way why you Why you yelling at me? um Why should you care? yeah you know, what what somebody does or what Christians say, or why would you call God a bully if you don't even believe in God? Why would you you say he's violent or blah, blah, blah?
00:24:32
Speaker
Right. You know what I'm saying? Because if you're truly a relativist, you're just saying, you know, everybody does that which is right in their own eyes. And You shouldn't be mad at that. But the reality is, and you know this, the reason they're mad is they they know there's a moral standard. They know there's a moral standard. There has to be a moral standard.
00:24:51
Speaker
They don't know what it is because of the fall, but they know there has to be one because they're creating the image of God. That's where i' was going with that. Yeah. um yeah Why wrong? Yeah. Yeah.
00:25:02
Speaker
is murder wrong yeah i mean, for society, they would come up with lots of different reasons, whether it be rights, yeah whether it be it's not good for a civil society, you know, those kinds of things.
00:25:16
Speaker
But as a Christian, why is murder wrong? Why would we call it the word sin? Yeah. Okay, well, what does that word sin mean? That means if we're missing the mark, right? um What mark are we missing?
00:25:30
Speaker
We're missing the mark of God's nature. Yes. And so anything that we call sin, the reason we call it sin is because it is violating na God's nature. Yes. Who He is. Yes. So murder is wrong. Why? Because God is the life giver.
00:25:45
Speaker
Amen. And so God is the one who gives life. To take another life is wrong because that's violating his nature. That's part of that image yeah that's been marred. yeah you know um Why is stealing wrong? God is a giver.
00:26:00
Speaker
and And so to take something from someone else that doesn't belong to you, um that's wrong because it goes against God's nature. Why is homosexuality a sin?
00:26:10
Speaker
Because it goes against God's created order. yes you know He's established this. through his nature. yeah um And so if it goes against his created order, it goes against his nature, yeah then that's why it's sin. It's not just because we don't like it, or like you said before, it's not that God's just capriciously deciding, well, I i don't like this action, and so you can't do it. It's because these actions that we call sin are sin because they are missing a mark. The mark that they're missing is God's very nature. Because again, as we said, he's sovereign, he's creator, he's good.
00:26:45
Speaker
And when we say good, we mean he's he's good to his people, but he is also good as in morally right. Yes. Morally good. Yeah. As opposed to evil. That's right.
00:26:56
Speaker
And so anything that is apart from him is automatically under the column of evil. Yeah. Yeah. So, you know, homosexuality, Paul says in Romans 1, that it is against nature, which is what you're saying. Right.
00:27:12
Speaker
And so, just to summarize, God's not a murderer. God's not a thief. All right. And that's who he is. He's good. He's holy. We've got to come back to holiness.
Understanding God's Justice and Holiness
00:27:24
Speaker
But... um So then the question arises, okay, well, because they're going to say, well, what what about all God killing all those people in the Old Testament, for example, or commanding Israel to kill all those people, et cetera? We've got to answer that question because I think that's part of where they're coming from. Like he's violent, right? he's ah He's a bully and all this kind of stuff. And obviously I think you've already answered the question, but just to to say it um in another way,
00:27:55
Speaker
Because God is good, He's he's pure goodness. I mean, that's like you said, His nature. He's pure love. He's pure grace. He's pure pure mercy.
00:28:07
Speaker
But He's also pure righteousness, right pure justice. And so the Bible says... It is an abomination for God to overlook um sin or to, how does how does has it put it in in one of the Proverbs? I think it's an abomination for God to acquit the guilty because of his justice. It's an abomination to punish the righteous.
00:28:34
Speaker
and And we would agree, somebody like you've got a ah brutal murdering rapist. We're just going to let him go. Well, that's not just. It's not right. And we all agree. Yeah. And like you said, the majority of people would agree. Yeah. You know, someone does something atrocious like that. Yeah. There needs to be consequences. Yes. And then somebody who's not committed that crime, but we're just going to execute him for the fun of it. Well, that wouldn't be right either. Right. And we all agree with that. so So here's here's God who's perfectly all of these things.
00:29:07
Speaker
And of course, he's holy. And usually we associate holiness with righteousness because God's righteous and we're not, we're were' sinful. And look, everybody knows they're sinful.
00:29:19
Speaker
I mean, if you really examine your thoughts, if you examine and just little selfishnesses, mean, you know, in actions and words, we've all hurt people, whether intentionally or unintentionally. Sure. It's all from sin.
00:29:34
Speaker
But God is perfectly holy, and we usually associate that with righteousness because he's righteous. But holy, of course, also the literal meaning is he's set apart.
00:29:45
Speaker
So he's different from us. And we're creatures. He's the creator. um yeah know we're We're finite. He's infinite. We could talk about all kinds of ways that we're different.
00:29:59
Speaker
But he is unique. He's set apart. He's totally independent. He's an independent being. He's self-existent. You said, I am. Right. That's what he said to Moses. I am that I am. Jesus said, i am. Before Abraham was, I am the The covenant name, he's he's he's claiming to be God right there. One God, by the way, three persons, Father, Son, Spirit.
00:30:25
Speaker
That's a whole other podcast or discussion. But here's God whose being itself created us. And as you said, he makes the rules. We don't. But they flow from his character. It's not just arbitrary. Mm-hmm.
00:30:43
Speaker
Our character is not God's character. We're sinners. We've missed the mark. All have sinned and come short of the glory of God. The wages of sin is death. That's what it boils down to. Okay, well, why is the wages of sin death?
00:30:58
Speaker
Well, because God can't in His holiness. it's it Again, we don't understand that because that's not who we are. yeah And this is what I'd say to these young people, you have to understand who God is. Just just the the moral outrage that you have.
00:31:17
Speaker
It's owing to the fact that you're creating the image of God. But if you've got moral outrage as someone who's a sinner himself, completely ignorant, you literally know nothing compared to God.
00:31:31
Speaker
And here's God who's all wise, all knowing, he knows everything. and he's self-existent. We're not. We're totally dependent on God. If God if god removes his sustaining hand from us, we drop dead.
00:31:47
Speaker
I don't take the next breath without God enabling me. But here's here's God. Nothing can affect God. Nothing can put him out of existence. I'm going on and on, I know. But here here he is You have to understand who this God is, the God of the Bible.
00:32:04
Speaker
And when he when he kills someone, let's just put it that way, it's not that he's a murderer. It's that there's a justification for that. So, for example, I think most people would agree that...
00:32:19
Speaker
If somebody attacks you or your wife or your children and they're literally trying to kill them and you step in and defend your wife, your children or or even yourself, but you step in, to defend them and and and tragically, the in in this self-defense, the person you you you're you're defending a defending against, thank you, dies.
00:32:45
Speaker
Again, that's a moral justification for killing someone. It's not murder. It's self-defense. So ah God, he he has a moral justification for judging sinners. Anyway, I'm yeah rambling but Well, and there's something I want to get to a little bit yeah related to that, too, I guess as a clarification. yeah But um the thing that i that I did want to say is um yeah we talked about understanding who God is in light of these questions.
00:33:21
Speaker
This is going to sound like maybe a controversial statement. Hopefully not. But this isn't a choice that God can make to punish or judge sin.
00:33:32
Speaker
It's, it's ah again, to say, because we're saying he's not capriciously just angrily, you know, bullying, yeah coming down on people, killing all these entire nations. Right.
00:33:46
Speaker
It's his nature of his holiness and his righteousness He must. He must. bound by his nature to do this. Yeah. It's not a choice that he is making.
00:33:58
Speaker
It's his nature. has This has to happen. Yeah. um And, you know, we' talk the you used the word violent as as a description that these young people are using.
00:34:10
Speaker
But, again, we're only looking at one side of the coin if we're if we're taking that that slant because... We said that the image of God is marred in us, marred by sin.
00:34:26
Speaker
Sin is an act of violence on God's character, on God's nature, on his righteousness. yeah So these nations that were judged in the Old Testament, for example— They were evil nations that had sinned.
00:34:44
Speaker
Yeah. They had committed violence on God's nature. Yes. And then by his very nature, it had to be punished. Mm-hmm. Again, all-encompassing, God is gracious and merciful as well. Yeah. And that's where that's where his plan of redemption comes in, and we praise him for that but because otherwise we wouldn't be here. Yeah.
00:35:07
Speaker
But... ah Anyone that that received a judgment in the Bible fully deserved it. Yeah. um And, you know, we have to understand that, too, that our sin is an act of violence. Yep.
00:35:23
Speaker
For, you know, to put it in that way, against God's nature, against his holiness. And so these judgments and and things that we see in the Old Testament, for example,
00:35:33
Speaker
ah theyre They are completely justified, again, not just because God's all god's the powerful bully yeah and he's deciding that he can do it because he can. yeah He has to. It's his nature. You're right. You're right.
00:35:48
Speaker
and and And I want to close the the the the session coming back to that, but say a couple things very quickly in between. Yeah. You feel free to take as long as you want, though. I just have a tendency to cedta ramble.
00:36:03
Speaker
and And so I want folks to stay tuned because it's super important what what you just said. just want to... i just want to ah mentioned that little term mansplaining and I have a reason for it. I think I wrote down sort of a quasi definition. Yeah.
00:36:21
Speaker
Condescending. Mansplaining is like condescending or self-righteous. um I guess that's i guess that's that's enough.
00:36:32
Speaker
I don't know. um
00:36:36
Speaker
People don't like people who are self-righteous. Again, we shouldn't. Right. Because that's righteous. Yeah, there's a reason. Yeah. um People don't like people that are filled with pride because we have no reason to be prideful because we're sinners.
00:36:55
Speaker
And so it's interesting, all of these ah beliefs that people have They don't know where they come from. Right. they just They're so adamant that they're true. Okay, well, some of them are true because you're creating the image of God. Now you're missing the mark on some of them because you're a sinner.
00:37:14
Speaker
And so anyway, that that brings me back to what you were getting at.
The Gospel and Jesus' Sacrifice
00:37:20
Speaker
because ultimately the the gospel is what we want to try to close with.
00:37:25
Speaker
and And we're answering Pilate. Remember, what is truth? Well, we're trying to talk about the truth about who God is. Certainly can't be exhaustive. Yeah. I mean, Charnock wrote a book this thick on the attributes of God, Stephen Charnock, way back. But anyway, Puritan, I guess.
00:37:41
Speaker
But um you said... What you said reminded me again, okay, so God perfectly justified in in killing sinners.
00:37:52
Speaker
The reality is we all deserve death. Right. Every one of us. He'd be perfectly justified in killing all of us. Right. Like right now. So the flood of Genesis 6, perfectly justified because every inclination of man's heart was only wicked all the time. That's literally what the text says. Okay. Okay.
00:38:13
Speaker
So, but you also said he's a God of love and mercy, which which he is. So on the one hand, he's perfectly just and righteous and holy. On the other, he's perfectly loving and kind and gracious and merciful.
00:38:26
Speaker
And what what the young people are missing right now is that piece, right, in terms of understanding his kindness, goodness, mercy, grace, and and and they're mischaracterizing his justice. Oh, he's a mean old man.
00:38:39
Speaker
He's a bully. He's a mansplainer. There's nothing worse than being a mansplainer because there's nothing worse than being a man and in the in the view of some. But anyway... So the Bible, as I said a moment ago, well, God says it's an abomination to acquit the guilty and it's an abomination to punish the righteous.
00:39:00
Speaker
So if God's perfectly justified in killing everybody that's sin against Him and His nature is holy and all that, well, how in the world does He save people? Well, because He's got a love, but how does all that work? Well, you go back, what he did was he sent his son.
00:39:14
Speaker
He sent the Lord Jesus, second person the Godhead, added humanity to himself, lived the perfect life that we can't live. Because he was fully God. So he was he had that sinless nature. Exactly. yeah And then he died a substitutionary death for those who believe in him.
00:39:31
Speaker
um and um Yeah, that's the gospel. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, you will be saved. But let me bring it back to, you've you' got this dynamic because Jesus never sinned, right? He lived the perfect life.
00:39:48
Speaker
He's holy, like you said, himself, um born under the law, fulfilled all of it, et cetera. We could talk about it a long time. And so the question is, well, how did Jesus die? Well, he you know because it's the the reason people die is, or or animals, anything dies.
00:40:06
Speaker
By the way, in the animal world, there's no moral, right? yeah who this is If a lion kills a gazelle, it's not a moral problem. He's not, yeah why? Because he's not creating the image of God. Yeah, they they we call it animal instinct. Yeah. They just act on on instinct that's right to survive. Yeah.
00:40:24
Speaker
So, we're creating the image of God. So, anyway, um the wages of sin is death. So, death is the result of sin, and that's why we die physically. Now, the question is, will we be raised to to be with God forever and and in a glorified state where we're no no sin is no longer present, or will we be raised to be ah from the dead under the wrath of God? So,
00:40:50
Speaker
Anyway, well, Jesus died. Well, how did he die? Because he never sinned. Well, the Bible talks about The doctrine of imputation, we we we don't have time to really get into that, but essentially our sin was credited to Jesus' account.
00:41:06
Speaker
So Jesus was put to death justly. I've already kind of spilled the beans there justly. but it But the Bible says God made him, Jesus, who knew no sin to be sin for us,
00:41:21
Speaker
so that in him, a faith relationship with him, in union with him, we might become the righteousness of God. So our sin was credited at his account, and that's why he died, but because he had no sin of his own, death could not hold him, the Bible says, he was raised from the dead.
00:41:39
Speaker
And if you put your faith and trust in the Lord Jesus for salvation, recognizing you're sinner, recognizing you need mercy, then his righteousness,
00:41:51
Speaker
you know, his perfect life and his substitution to death ah for guilty sinners. His righteousness is credited to your account if you believe in him. And the apostle Paul says, Romans 3, so that God might be just and the justifier of those who believe, meaning meaning what?
00:42:12
Speaker
Well, again, if Jesus is innocent, which he was, but he was put to death, that's an abomination. And if we're guilty, which we are, and now we're saved, that's also an abomination.
00:42:23
Speaker
But God is just in doing both by virtue of imputation. Jesus died the sinner's death that we should have died, but he had no sin of his own.
00:42:34
Speaker
So we get the righteousness that we don't have, that we don't deserve, but we get that by a faith relationship with God through the Lord Jesus Christ. it's it's it's it's an astounding It's this an astounding message, it's the gospel, is the it's a unique message.
00:42:50
Speaker
I'm not doing justice to it, but i just wanna plead with these young people and say, You know, who who are you, oh man? yeah you You think, and I don't mean this ugly, but you think with your puny little brain, you you can sit in judgment on God.
00:43:06
Speaker
ah You deserve death. And the only way that you're going to be rescued from that is if you recognize your sinfulness, see the mercy of God and cast yourself on that mercy. But guess what? He's merciful and...
00:43:19
Speaker
He who comes to Christ, he will in no wise cast out. Whosoever will may come. Yeah. And ah in light of that, and i don't want to extend this too far, um extend the episode too far, but um the clarification that i mentioned I wanted to make earlier.
Death and Believer's Hope in the Gospel
00:43:35
Speaker
um But it's it's all in light of exactly what you just said. It's in light of the gospel and the fact that Christ died. He took the penalty for sin upon himself, and now he's given us his righteousness.
00:43:47
Speaker
the the The fact that all of that is true, what I wanted to clarify, because we were talking about God ah being righteous in in killing the wicked and and justified in doing that, that what I wanted to clarify is that not every time a person dies is that, you know, direct judgment for their sin.
00:44:09
Speaker
um You know, for, you know, for example, you know, my, my, my father who was a believer, you know, he died of cancer. Did he die from cancer because of his sin? Well,
00:44:22
Speaker
Because he's a sinner and, you know, he that he suffers the fall. Yeah. Yes. But he wasn't he wasn't killed as a judgment for his sin. No. um And so, you know, every time a person dies, that's not that's not just a direct judgment for their sin. Right.
00:44:40
Speaker
But because he was a believer, because he believed in the gospel. his death was actually a mercy yeah for him. Yeah, for him. Because Christ had already taken the the judgment for that sin. And so for him to die now means that he, it's a mercy. he's He's no longer suffering. And because of the righteousness that he's received from Christ, he is now with God the Father for eternity. yeah And so...
00:45:11
Speaker
Again, the gospel turns everything on its head to where for those of us who have placed our trust in him, who believe in God, who serve God, worship the God of the Bible through Jesus Christ because of our faith in him, the gospel turns all of that on its head to where even death now is not...
00:45:29
Speaker
a bad thing. Amen. it is It is a grace and a mercy for the believer because death is the shedding of the mortal coil, as we've called it before. yeah It's putting away all of this sin-marred world at that point. And now we are perfected again with him, yeah with the full righteousness of Christ.
00:45:52
Speaker
Yeah. so That's awesome. Yeah. Well, that's a good place to end unless you got something else. No, I think, yeah, that's yeah yeah pretty much what I wanted to say. sad Absolutely. Well, we'll be back, Lord willing, and ah because He's sovereign.
00:46:04
Speaker
Amen. In a future ah broadcast to talk about, um you know, the
Conclusion and Call to Trust
00:46:10
Speaker
the things of God. What is truth? Well, that's what we're talking about. and And truth is revealed, by the way. It's not that we're the smartest folk on the planet.
00:46:17
Speaker
We're just reading the Bible, telling what it says. so Yeah. We want people to know who God is because we want them to trust in him. That's right. And we want them to be saved. Yep. So join us next time on Answering Pilot.
00:46:29
Speaker
The Answering Pilot podcast is a ministry of Randall House Church in Greer, South Carolina. You can learn more at www.randallhousegreer.com slash church. You can also find us on Facebook and Instagram at at Randall House Church.
00:46:44
Speaker
Don't forget to like and subscribe and we'll see you next time.