. Does God love the unrepentant
sinner? God is angry with the wicked
every day. . God is not angry merely against
the sin abstracted from the sinner, but against the sinner himself.
Some people have labored hard to set up this ridiculous and
absurd generalization, and would attempt to make it appear that
God is angry at sin, yet not at the sinner, that He hates
the theft, but loves the thief. that he abhors adultery, but
is pleased with the adulterer. Now this is supreme nonsense. The sin has no moral character
apart from the sinner. The act of sin is nothing apart
from the sinful actor. What God hates and disapproves
is not the mere event, the thing done, in distinction from the
doer, but He hates the doer Himself. It grieves and displeases Him
that a rational and moral agent under His government should array
himself against his own Creator, against all that is right and
just in the universe. This is what offends God. The
sinner himself is the direct and the only object of his anger. So the Bible shows that God is
angry with the wicked and not with the abstract sin. If the
wicked do not repent, God will wet his sword. He has bent his
bow and made it ready, not to shoot at the sin, but the sinner,
the wicked man who has done the abominable thing. This is the
only doctrine of both the Bible and of common sense on this subject. The wicked and those who love
violence, his soul hates, Psalm 115. The Lord detests all the
proud of heart, be sure of this, they will not go unpunished.
Proverbs 16.5 The Lord is a jealous and avenging God, the Lord takes
vengeance and is filled with wrath. The LORD takes vengeance
on His foes and maintains His wrath against His enemies. Nahum 1.2 Whoever rejects the
Son will not see life, for God's wrath remains on him. John 3.36
You are storing up wrath against yourself for the day of God's
wrath when His righteous judgment will be revealed. Romans 2.5
But for those who are self-seeking and who reject the truth and
follow evil, there will be wrath and anger. Romans 2.8 What if
God, choosing to show His wrath and make His power known, bore
with great patience the objects of His wrath, prepared for destruction? Romans 9.22 Let no one deceive you with empty
words, for because of such things God's wrath comes on those who
are disobedient. Ephesians 5.6