Wednesday, May 02, 2007

First the bad news

“The vague and tenuous hope that God is too kind to punish the ungodly has become a deadly opiate for the consciences of millions. It hushes their fears and allows them to practice all pleasant forms of iniquity while death draws every day nearer and the command to repent goes unregarded.” (A. W. Tozer)

This is why we must not remove God's Law or God's wrath or God's justice or even God's hatred from our message to the lost. You're not going to get me out of a comfy cruise ship and onto a little un-comfy lifeboat unless you make it clear that the cruise ship is sinking fast. The lifeboat is not good news to me unless I first know that the cruise ship is heading for destruction. This means that the Good News (Gospel) is not good news unless preceded by bad news. The Law, along with it's judgments, is our tutor that leads us to Christ. I think a good rule of thumb, when it comes to the gospel, is first the bad news and then the good news.

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