Sermons ring out from the pulpits every Sunday with words of comfort and encouragement to all their hearers. Preachers talk about God and his character. They open their Bibles and read select passages to explain his everlasting love and compassion toward all. But they do not take into consideration the whole counsel of God's Word. They do not consider both the goodness and severity of God, but only his goodness. The multitudes listen to these messages and learn about a God who will always love them and accept them no matter what they do--as long as they give intellectual ascent to the facts about Christianity that the preacher says are important. And because they do not read and study their Bibles for themselves, the multitudes go home from church reassured that their lukewarm faith and half-hearted commitment to Christ will get them to heaven one day. Their assurance, however, is founded on the "God" whom their pastor defines for them. They are not told that the God of the Bible delights only in those who do his will. No one tells them that God opposes prideful people and that despite his wonderful love and compassion for those who fear him and keep his commandments, those who continue in wickedness are an abomination to him.

God warns us in his Word to consider both his goodness and his severity. Romans 11:22 tells us that God will exercise goodness toward us IF we continue in his kindness; otherwise, we will be cut off just like the Jews who refused to believe in Jesus. For if God did not spare his chosen people, the Jews, he will not spare us either (Rom. 11:21). It is important to note whom this Scripture is addressing; it is directed toward Gentiles who are in Christ--they are Christians. This is made evident from verses 17-20, which assert that they have been grafted into Christ. God's kindness and goodness are shown to them under the condition that they continue in him. How do we continue in his goodness? Some insight can be found in a similar passage in John 15:1-10. Jesus said that he is the vine and we (those who have faith in him) are the branches and that those who remain in him will bear much fruit (v. 5). If you are tapped into the vine, you will bear good fruit and that fruit will be works of goodness and righteousness (Eph. 5:9). Jesus emphasized this in verse 10 when he said, "If you obey my commands, you will remain in my love." So we see that the main condition for receiving God's goodness is that we remain in him. And we remain in him by obeying him. Since we can either remain in him by obeying and thereby receive his goodness or be cut off from him because of disobedience and receive his severity, we need to consider the fact that God is both kind and stern.

First, let us examine the goodness and love that God has toward everyone. God is love (1 John 4:16). We know what love is because God shows us. The greatest act of love that we will ever know was that God sent his son out of love for the entire world (John 3:16). God wants no one to perish (2 Peter 3:9; 1 Tim. 2:4; Matt. 18:14) and so his love is expressed as concern for the individual. God's concern for the sinner is expressed for the sole purpose of saving him: "For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, that whosoever believeth in him shall not perish, but have everlasting life" (John 3:16). God plans not only to save from hell in the future, but to save from sin in the present. Therefore God has shown his goodness and grace, which bring salvation, have been shown to all and teach all to live righteously and godly in this present world and to be eagerly awaiting Jesus' return (Titus 2:11-14). The nature of God's love toward sinners is that he is concerned for them because they are on their way to hell.

We have just considered God's love and goodness toward everyone, including both sinners and believers. He wants no one to perish. What needs to be emphasized is that God's love toward sinners does not include a loving relationship with them or a liking for their character; God only feels this toward those who have faith in him and, therefore, keep his commandments. Proverbs 11:20 spells this principle out clearly: "The Lord detests men of perverse heart but he delights in those whose ways are blameless." God's love that accepts a person's character and welcomes him into his family is conditional and the sinner must first turn from his sins and have faith in God--the sinner must first receive Jesus. So even though God loved (had concern for) the whole world enough to send Jesus, he loves as a Father only those who receive the Son (John 1:12). His goodness and grace that brings salvation teach us to live righteously and godly in this present world (Titus 2:11-14). And so if we accept this initial offering of God's love, goodness and grace, we also accept and conform to what it teaches us. Only then can we enter a love relationship with God as our Father and us as his children. Such conditions are clearly laid out in 2 Corinthians 6:16-18 where it says that entering this love relationship with God as our Father is contingent upon us being separate from the worldly desires we once had and that we cease to "touch the unclean thing" (cease to indulge in wickedness). Furthermore, Jesus said that only those who do God's will are in his family (Mark 3:35). Only those who are led by the Spirit are sons of God (Rom. 8:14). It stands then that the "love" God has for a sinner does not express a liking for the individual, but only a hope that the person will repent.

What, then, happens if a sinner will not repent? What if the sinner rejects God's goodness, love, and grace? What then is God's attitude toward persistent sinners and those who reject the truth? He certainly does not have a loving relationship with them. Out of his loving concern for them he hopes that they change their ways and accept his grace so that they will not perish, but he despises and abhors who they are until they do so. God becomes hostile to those who are hostile toward him by not repenting. This is the severity of God that we are told to consider in Romans 11:22. Concerning people who refused to repent, God told Jeremiah, "I have withdrawn my blessing, my love and my pity from this people" (Jer. 16:5). God also said concerning the Israelites, "Because of all their wickedness in Gilgal, I hated them there. Because of their sinful deeds, I will drive them out of my house. I will no longer love them" (Hosea 9:15). It remains then that God hates all who do wrong and "deceitful men the Lord abhors" (Psalm 5:5-6). To illustrate God's hostility toward those who refuse to forgive others, Jesus, while replying to one of Peter's questions (Matt. 18:21), said that those who refuse to forgive others God will angrily treat like one turned over to the jailers and tortured (Matt. 18:34-35). Jesus knew full well the severe aspect of God's interactions with mankind because God defined his own character by saying that he keeps his covenant of love with those who love him, but he repays those who hate him (Ex. 34:6-7; Deut. 7:9-12). 

Some people do not like the severity of God. Perhaps they have been taught their whole lives only about God's goodness. Preachers teach that God loves the righteous and wicked equally and in so doing they compromise God's justice and the very plain teachings of God's Word. Because many people want to fit God to their pre-conceived notions about him, they make up their own "god" by trying to define God's character for him. So the "god" they profess to love is not the God of the Bible. They say that they believe his Word, but when they come to very clear Scriptures about God's severity, they redefine them and refuse to believe them because such Scriptures do not conform to their own ideas about him. A favorite argument among such people is that God used to be severe and that he was only like that in the Old Testament. And so despite the fact that God said that he does not change (Mal. 3:6), they insist that he does. They insist that because of God's grace in sending his Son, he will be more forgiving now than he was in the Old Testament. This couldn't be further from the truth. God has always established punishments that fit the crimes. For example, murderers deserve death (Num. 35:16) and thieves, guilty of a lesser crime than murder, are not put to death but must pay back double (Ex. 22:7). So, is transgressing under grace in the New Testament a more serious offense than transgressing under law in the Old Testament? If so, then to be consistent with his own character God will punish the offender with a greater, not a lesser punishment. Hebrews 10:28-29 confirms that this is indeed true: "Anyone who rejected the law of Moses died without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses. How much more severely do you think a man deserves to be punished who has trampled the Son of God underfoot...and who has insulted the Spirit of grace?" Jesus also said that the towns he preached to would be judged more severely than several towns in the Old Testament such as Sodom and Gomorrah (Matt. 10:15). An example of God's New Testament judgment is given in Acts 5 when God killed Ananias and Saphira instantly when they lied to the Holy Spirit. So we see that since sinning under grace is a more severe crime than sinning under the law of the Old Testament, God will punish the sin with great severity of judgment.

We need to consider God's severity along with his goodness so that we who are Christians do not end up falling under God's judgment. For if a righteous man turns from his righteousness in order to commit sin, God will not remember that man's former righteousness; he will die for the sin he commits (Ezekiel 18:24). Hebrews 10:26-27 is a warning written by a Christian and is written to Christians. It says, "If WE deliberately keep on sinning after we have RECEIVED the knowledge of the truth, no sacrifice for sins is left, but only a fearful expectation of judgment and of raging fire that will consume the enemies of God." So it is possible that we, after becoming Christians, can become enemies of God and fall under his fearful judgment by willfully sinning against him. The reason why Romans 11:22 tells us to consider God's severity along with his goodness is so that we do not become arrogant or complacent in our walk with the Lord. If we do, we will end up like those who are already separated from God and under his judgment; therefore, we must "be afraid" (Rom. 11:19-20). Philippians 2:12 echoes this by exhorting Christians to continue to work out their salvation with "fear and trembling". It is for our own good that God tells us these things! He doesn't want us to become like so many of those in the Bible who fell under judgment because they disobeyed him. "Let us therefore fear" (Heb. 4:1) so that we do not fall short of entering the glorious rest that God has promised those who love (James 1:12) and obey him (Heb. 5:9).

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