Scripture isn’t shy about the unpopularity of the gospel. The message of the cross is called “foolishness” and a “stumbling block” (1 Corinthians 1:23). Christ Himself is called “a rock of offense” (Romans 9:33). Jesus simply told His followers that the world would hate them (John 15:18–20). But what makes the gospel so repulsive to the world?

What does a holy, God-honoring life look like? To answer that question, we need to consider one particular altercation between Jesus and the Pharisees.

In the wisdom of His divine design, God has placed restraints within us and within the structure of society to mitigate the effects of man’s corruption and hold back the full chaos into which the world repeatedly devolves. And when these restraints are carefully maintained, life can be enjoyable. But when they’re assaulted, diminished, or destroyed, life quickly becomes difficult and miserable.

We rightly shudder at the eternal consequences of sin, and the perpetual punishment that awaits unrepentant sinners. But we would do well to also consider the temporal cost of sin. We need to recognize how it pollutes, perverts, and corrupts—and particularly its destructive influence on the sinner.

God’s love for sinners is a well-documented historical fact. Its verification doesn’t hinge on the consensus of theologians, nor does its validation rest on something we feel. The apostle John points us to the cross as the consummate and undeniable proof of divine love.

God’s love for His own simply has no parallel in human experience. It is a powerful, immutable love that extends from eternity past to eternity future. It is a love that is not deterred by our race’s sinful rebellion against God. Because of this love, God pursues and redeems us even when we are morally and spiritually reprehensible and unworthy of His love in every way.

Someone has said that God plus one equals a majority. The truth is that God alone makes a majority. If every creature in the material and immaterial universe combined to oppose God together, still He would not be defeated. He is infinitely greater, and holier, and wiser, and more powerful than the aggregate of all His creation.

Would God redeem sinners at the cost of His own Son’s blood, then cast those same blood-bought believers aside? Having brought us to salvation at so great a price, would He then withhold any grace from us? Won’t He finish what He started? Romans 8:32 provides us with a clear and emphatic answer.

Why do bad things happen to good people? The fundamental problem with that common question is that it’s back to front. The right approach is to ask why good things happen to bad people. That question reflects an accurate reading of Scripture and an honest evaluation of ourselves.

Election is the highest expression of God’s love to sinful humanity. Some people hate this doctrine. They fight against it, try to explain it away, or claim it’s not fair. Some even claim it is a form of tyranny, or that it is fatalistic, or that it violates the human will. But in reality the doctrine of election is all about the eternal, inviolable love of God.

God is love. His mercy is over all His works. He manifests His love to all. But the highest expression of His love is manifest to those who by sheer grace He lovingly draws to Himself.

"God told me." "The Holy Spirit laid it on my heart." "The Spirit is compelling me." Those phrases and others like them are frequently thrown around the church today without giving many people pause. In fact, it seems the Holy Spirit’s primary role is laying burdens on believers and compelling them to deliver specific, timely messages to the church.

We’ve all had strange dreams from time to time. Sometimes the details are so confused and convoluted you can scarcely believe your mind concocted them in the first place. And no matter how vivid the dream appeared, you likely wouldn’t base something as insignificant as your lunch order—much less your life—on those bizarre mental images. Sadly, the same is not true for many professing believers in the church today.

You have undoubtedly heard people say things like, “God is calling me to the mission field,” or “God led me to attend this college,” or “We feel God wants us to get married.” Perhaps you have even said such things yourself. Christians who use expressions like those often mean they have had an impression or a strong feeling that they interpret as a disclosure of the divine will.

If God is still speaking to us today—even if only through mental impressions and still, small voices—shouldn’t we consider those messages to as relevant as anything written in Scripture, if not more so? That very issue was hotly debated during the Great Awakening. It was one area where Jonathan Edwards and George Whitefield did not (in the beginning) see eye to eye.

If you rely on internal, subjective messages and promptings from the Lord, what prevents you from imagining the input you want from Him? Moreover, what reliable, objective mechanism exists to keep you from misinterpreting your own imagination as divine instruction?

If God is still speaking to His people today—particularly through mental impressions and premonitions—how can believers exercise discernment when it comes to interpreting and applying these divine messages? Put simply, how is following the private, subjective “leading” of the Lord any more reliable than gazing into a crystal ball?

Go with your gut. That might be good advice when shopping for shoes online, but it’s not a reliable means for interpreting or understanding God’s Word. Too many people in the church today trust the inclinations of the upper abdomen to be the final arbiter that determines both when God is speaking and what He is saying.

From the very beginning, the battle between good and evil has been a battle for the truth. The serpent, in the Garden of Eden, began his temptation by questioning the truthfulness of God’s previous instruction.

I remember listening to a Christian radio station when a caller asked, “What should I look for in a church?” The host responded by saying, “The thing I look for is fellowship. That’s the most important thing in choosing a church.” That may be a good feature of a church—but that is not the right answer.

“Preach the word!” (2 Timothy 4:2, NKJV). To the church today, those words may sound unusual as a pastor’s primary job description. We are used to all kinds of other “ministry” endeavors fighting for position in a long list of pastoral responsibilities. Even for those who affirm the primacy of preaching, the kind of preaching they want is purely practical—thus, doctrine (which is presumed to be utterly impractical) is the mortal enemy.

How would you describe a pastor’s job? Previously, we considered Paul’s exhortations to Timothy to preserve and preach sound doctrine. Paul did not charge Timothy with political advocacy or social change. He didn’t tell him to find ways to give back to the community. He called him to “preach the word” (2 Timothy 4:2).

Right doctrine is essential to right living. It is impossible to live a faithful Christian life without knowing biblical doctrine. Doctrine simply means “teaching,” and there is no way that even the most sincere believer can conduct a life pleasing to God without knowing what God Himself is like and what sort of life God demands of His people. Those who set biblical theology aside also set aside sound Christian living. And this happens more often than you might think.

Physical diseases have symptoms, or marks, by which they may be diagnosed. In fact, that is how we become aware that we are sick: We identify something unusual about our health. We recognize the telltale signs that something is wrong. The same is true of false teaching. Those infected by it will manifest certain characteristics.

Grace is not merely poured out in the moment of salvation; it is evident throughout His eternal plan of redemption. After all, He chose those whom He would save before the foundation of the world (Ephesians 1:4). Theologians refer to this precious truth as the doctrine of election, and it has been a major point of debate and division in the church.

Everything that God does He chooses to do, and His choices are free from any influence outside Himself. Therefore, the doctrine of election fits into this fuller comprehension of a sovereign God. That is election in its broadest sense, and it is evident on nearly every page of Scripture.

In Ephesians 3:16–19, Paul prays that believers would be “strengthened with power through His Spirit in the inner man” in order that they might understand the “love of Christ which surpasses knowledge.” In other words, it takes a lot of Spirit-supplied strength for us to catch even a glimpse of God’s love—and when we do, we’ve only scratched the surface.

We often skim quickly over the introductory parts of Paul’s epistles, but they are usually pregnant with meaning—and in the case of his letter to Titus, profoundly so. In his seemingly simple salutation, Paul gives us some vivid insight into how the plan of redemption started.

From heaven’s perspective, the ultimate end of election and the ultimate purpose behind God’s grace poured out on us is the eternal glorification of the Son. But to understand God’s individual purpose in electing His people for salvation, we need to consider Romans 8:29: “For those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the firstborn among many brethren.”

“In the world you will have tribulation” (John 16:33, NKJV). Those words from our Lord are almost a truism—something so obvious it need not be stated. We are all intimately acquainted with the troubles of this life. On a personal level, we physically decay with each passing moment, even if we’re healthy (2 Corinthians 4:16). On a societal level, we see the effects of sinful decisions all around us. John MacArthur observes, “We are watching our country [America] freefall into godless darkness, sexual perversion, gender insanity, crime of all kinds, the breakdown of law and order, family destruction, and above all, the constant flood of lies and efforts to silence the truth.” In light of this individual and institutional decay, even Christians may be tempted to despair.

A legal arraignment is where the accused is brought to court to answer formal charges. And that is what the apostle Paul did with all of humanity—all of us—in the third chapter of his epistle to the Romans. At this trial, the whole human race is brought before the eternal Judge. The charge against us is uttered in Romans 3:9: “What then? Are we better than they? Not at all; for we have already charged that both Jews and Greeks are all under sin.”

In a legal arraignment, the document detailing the specific charges against the accused is called the indictment. In a civil court, there is always the possibility that the charges could be dropped if the accused can prove his innocence or cast enough doubt on the charges brought against him. But sinners are never afforded that luxury in God’s courtroom.

The problem of sin isn’t fundamentally external. It’s most visible in our actions, but our actions are merely the manifestation of a corruption that comes from within.

Seeking God is what fallen sinners ought to do, and God has every right to command them to do it. But they don’t come. They disobey His commands—as is their common practice. In fact, they can’t come, because they love their sin too much.

The doctrine of man’s depravity, of all the cardinal biblical truths should never need to be defended. The empirical evidence for man’s sinful nature is irrefutable and ubiquitous. It is the inescapable reality of life.

All false religions lie to us about man. While most of them concede that man has not reached perfection, they refuse to acknowledge the bare sinful facts of life and history. They insist on offering a system of human achievement that can please God. Only God’s Word tells us the painful yet loving truth.

We no longer have confidence in politicians, health experts, social activists, academics, or the media—all of them have lost credibility by pursuing agendas over honesty. Even religious leaders have shown a knack for doublespeak and outright deception when it suits their purposes. We have been lied to so routinely that we treat every claim as dubious. Living in that constant state of doubt and suspicion is both exhausting and exasperating.

The book of Judges repeatedly employs a chilling phrase to depict the waywardness and corruption of God’s people: “Everyone did what was right in his own eyes” (Judges 21:25). God’s people had forsaken His law and their covenant with Him, and did whatever they wanted to fulfill their sinful desires. It’s also a fitting summary of the world we live in today, as our culture is overrun by chaos and corruption. We’re seeing every day the consequences of a society doing what is right in its own eyes.

When it comes to man’s fallen nature, Scripture is clear about the depth and breadth of its defilement. The apostle Paul delivers a blunt assessment of man’s sinful corruption in his epistle to the Romans.

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