Holiness of God — C.J. Mahaney

This tape is being produced by New Frontiers International and is entitled The Holiness of God by Charles Mahaney.

The Holiness of God as a Neglected Attribute

For me to talk to, I feel, talk about, I feel so inadequate. I really do feel physically weak, that's a good, that's a good feeling. But I really feel God wants me to talk to you about the holiness of God tonight.

And I don't feel adequate at all to speak particularly with the kind of men that are seated behind me in the platform, who are far more qualified and I believe far more effective. But let me just dump on you anyway tonight, because this is a subject that has radically changed my life over the past six months.

I've become unraveled by it. I realized that in previous years of my life, and I think my life would characterize the charismatic movement, the holiness of God has been neglected to our detriment. It's not a popular subject.

It's not a subject that we have very much understanding. And that is not something we're benefiting by. And so would you just pray with me right now, and then let's dig in and look at some things in the Word of God.

Father, thank you for what a tremendous time we are having. And that though we are so many folks here, we feel like a family. I thank you for the warmth that we have received. Lord, when we are talking about your holiness, we are moving into territory that couldn't be more foreign to us.

And Lord, I feel so inadequate to impart this, but I know what small glimpses I've received of your holiness have completely revolutionized my life. And so Holy Spirit, you who are outstanding at revealing the holiness of God, we invite you tonight through what I'm going to share, to reveal to us the Holy One of Israel, to whom none can compare.

And in that revelation to show us the marvelous grace and mercy of God afresh. Lord, I pray that after a revelation of your holiness, a glimpse into your wrath and judgment, that each one of us will leave here tonight saying that truly your grace is amazing.

And I thank you for helping me in Jesus' name. Amen. The holiness of God, as I understand it, and again, this is just my opinion from my study, I believe that all attributes of God need to be understood in light of the holiness of God.

And that the starting point for understanding any attribute of God is the holiness of God. So I don't believe we can just isolate mercy or love and faithfulness on their own. I believe it's a holy mercy.

I believe it's a holy love. I believe it's a holy faithfulness. I don't believe we can ever understand who we are apart from the holiness of God. And I believe the more we understand God's holiness and the more we understand our sinfulness, the more we appreciate the grace and the mercy of God.

So please hear what I'm saying tonight, because I've seen this not only produce a breakthrough in my own life, but I have seen this produce a breakthrough in a number of individuals who it was a mystery to me why they couldn't grasp the grace of God and become secure in the love of God, though they sat under numerous teachings on those subjects.

And I've now come to see that it can be premature to introduce the grace and mercy of God until somebody has first had some degree of a glimpse of the holiness of God. And with that as a backdrop, the grace of God truly does become amazing.

So please do not withdraw from me tonight as we talk about the subject of the holiness of God. Please also understand I feel very inadequate and incapable of talking about this subject. It's not something that I'm in any way putting myself forth as an expert or knowledgeable.

But what few glimpses I've got have completely changed my life. And I believe I can honestly say this before God. No other revelation I have received from God has done more for me in such a short time as the holiness of God.

And again, I regret that the first night I came into the kingdom of God, somebody didn't outline for me the holiness of God because it would have made a radical difference in the way my Christian life has gone over these past 12 and 13 years.

Why God’s Holiness Produces Mixed Feelings

Now, I don't know what your reaction was, but when I announce the holiness of God, usually we have a mixed reaction. We have mixed feelings about it. It's almost like we are at the same time drawn to it, we are drawn away from it.

It's a mystery to us. It's a difficult topic. It's not something that we tend to emphasize. Matter of fact, it's something that we tend to neglect. We try to ignore. Scriptures dealing with the holiness of God, the judgment of God, are not exactly the ones that are underlined and become our favorites in the Bible.

It's something of a mystery to us. As a matter of fact, let me just say it straight to you, it is the most foreign attribute of God to us. Matter of fact, one of the things that makes it difficult to even talk about is there is no human parallel in terms of an illustration that I can give you tonight that is an example of the holiness of God because there is none holy but the Lord.

So it seems like in every other topic we go into, we can find something of a human illustration, of a practical situation that we can all identify with that helps us to see and magnify that attribute of God.

When we come to the holiness of God, we run out of illustrations. So there's mixed feelings. It's foreign. It's a mystery to us. The best way I know how to illustrate it is, how many of you are into scary movies?

You don't have to identify yourself. You're not being watched by your pastor. But I know growing up, horror films were things that as a child we were exposed to. Do you ever see the movie King Kong? Was that on over here?

King Kong, yes? King Kong, this gigantic gorilla. I can still remember as a kid watching King Kong and its effect on me. I wanted to watch it. But as I was watching it, I thought, I don't believe I need this.

But yet, I wanted to watch it. But no, I don't think I should watch it. And it did a number on me, to say the least. The next day, I can remember walking down the street, looking for King Kong to just suddenly appear.

You know, over the housetops comes King Kong. I had bad dreams about King Kong moving in my life, busting in my house, looking through my window, trying to find me. There was another movie growing up I saw, which really also had a significant effect on me.

Wait Until Dark. Have you ever seen that movie? If you haven't, I'm not recommending that you do. I won't go into all the plot, but it's about a blind lady that a number of individuals are seeking to attack and steal.

I forget whether it's money or an important document that her husband had. And her husband was away. And she's there. She's blind. And these three or four dudes are right across the street, starting to move in.

And she can't see. And you're sitting there, wanting to shout at the screen to let her know that those guys are just right across the streets. And they slowly build the movie up, slowly. As a matter of fact, at one time, she's at the sink washing dishes.

And one of the guys is right there in the window, looking in the house. And you're sitting there. And this is what it does to you. You get emotionally involved in the thing. You want to say, hey! Hey, he's at the window!

See, something in you's moved. But what happens is this one guy, through a series of circumstances, breaks into the house. And she, as a blind woman, prepares by knocking out all the lights. And they have this fight in the dark.

And the theater, the emotional intensity, I can still remember it. And they're going back and forth. And he gets and finally opens up the refrigerator. And you're there. And you think she's blind. And it's just going on and on and on.

And finally, finally, in the climax scene, she puts a knife in the guy's back. And there's this corporate breathing, a sigh of relief. And she begins to stumble out of the one room where she put the knife in his back.

And she begins to walk into the living room. And there's this settled, oh, it's over. And emotionally, you're just wiped out. And all of a sudden, like a synthesizer-type instrument, the guy jumps out from the left into the room.

And the theater just goes, the dude is still alive, knife in his back. He's like that. I have a friend at home who went with one of his friends. And he said they went to a kind of a movie where at a scene like that, the guy leapt out of his seat and into his lap, you see?

It's tough to look cool when you're in your friend's lap at that particular time. Now, you've got to ask yourself, unfortunately today, those kinds of films lack class and integrity. But there's still something.

People love to be afraid. They want to go, but they don't want to go. So as they're going, they're saying, yes, let's go. But they're on their way. They're saying, no, I don't believe we should go. And as they're walking up to the theater, no, let's not go.

But something's compelling them. Okay, we'll go just this time. And they want to get back. They sit down in the seat. They say, okay, I'm here. But I'll close my eyes throughout the entire movie. No, you must open your eyes.

Okay, I'll open them. Okay, seeing you there, your wife, you say, dear, you're drawing blood. See, are you getting the mixture of feelings you have? You're there. You're saying, oh, this is fascinating.

But you're also saying, I'm out of here. What am I doing here? And as you leave, somebody touches you and says, can I ask you? You wake up at three o 'clock in the morning. Strangely, how many of you had that happen to you?

You're there in bed. Suddenly your eyes open. You're wide awake. And you can't believe the amount of sounds that are suddenly clear in your house. And you think, why did I go to that movie last night?

Because I know that killer is at my window, see? And you say, I'm never going again, see? But sure enough, something else comes around. And if you're like, no, there's a few people that even enjoy these things.

There's a few people that just go to watch people freak out next to them. But, and you don't want to be friends with those kinds of people, see? So there's something about you that's fascinated. There's something about you that's drawn to that.

There's also something about you that wants to withdraw. That's the best I can do in terms of the holiness of God. There's something in us that wants to initiate an exploration of the holiness of God.

There's also something in us which wants to stay far away from the holiness of God. So we do certain things to try to ignore it. We overemphasize the love of God. Often seen that way. I want you to know the biblical God is both holy and loving.

And I believe you must start with His holiness to fully appreciate His love. And if I can get that point across to you, I will feel successful tonight. This is not a message to condemn you. This is not a message which will bring any torment into your life.

This is a message which will help you realize the incredible grace of God, which you did not deserve in face of the unbelievable holiness of God, which is foreign to us and so difficult for us to relate to.

So we don't have to ignore it. Some people react to it. They read sections of scripture in the Bible where God is wiping people out. Do you know those sections are there? And they're not popular sections.

You don't find those in promise boxes. They aren't on Jesus t-shirts. You don't find them on Jesus pencils. And some people just don't want to read them all together. I think it's Reader's Digest recently that just decided to cut the Bible up and leave out certain sections of scripture and put something back together, which is more convenient for us.

So we kind of jump over those chapters where we just don't understand. Seems like God was in a bad mood. God was having kind of a bad day. Seems like he was in one long bad mood as we read the Old Testament.

And he kind of loosened up a bit as we get to the New. And we're just glad we're in the New because what we read in the Old, it seems like God really meant business and was looking for a way to release his wrath.

Reconciling God’s Holiness, Love, and Judgment

I've met people who love Jesus who are afraid of the Father. They're just glad Jesus stands between them and the Father. I can relate to that. Growing up, did you ever have a friend, you liked the friend, but you didn't like his dad?

So you went over there when his dad wasn't there. If his dad was there, why don't you come on over to my house? You see, there was something about this. You enjoyed him, but you didn't like his dad. And there are people that walk around like, thank you, Jesus.

Just keep between me and the Father. Would you just kind of hold him back if he's in a bad mood today? Because I've read where he's wasted a few people and I just don't want him to do that to me. That's what happens.

People start to get confused as you read the Old Testament and you move over to the New Testament and back to the Old Testament, over the New Testament, back to the Old Testament. You say, God, you reveal yourself as merciful.

We're reading about you as being loved. Then we turn back into the Old Testament and we see all of these crimes that are punishable by capital punishment. Then we go over to the New Testament and Jesus says, we ought to be turning our other cheek.

Then we go back to the Old Testament and we see where you're wiping people out. What, did you not want to turn it that day? How do we, we go back over to the New Testament. It talks about, you know, you being slow to anger.

We look back in the Old Testament. We say, God, could we have your definition of slow, please? Kind of a little insecure when you talk about being slow to anger, Lord. As I read, you're just blitzing somebody right there.

We look in the New Testament, it says you're a father. We look in the Old Testament, it says you're a judge. And what a judge you are. You don't take any bribes. You can't get off on a technicality. There's no innocent by reason of insanity.

There's no lawyer that can appeal. God knows all the facts. He's a judge. Boom. I say, I like the New Testament better. Believe I'm going to buy a New Testament and that's what I'm going to live with, you see.

And this confusion, we go back, we go forth. We don't understand, how does it all happen? Can any of you relate to that? Reading sections of Scripture that have left you confused or that even the enemy has used to confirm your worst fears about God.

The enemy often will read in the Bible, will try to use sections of Scripture to get us to misunderstand the nature of God. Because there we are looking at the Bible and it seems like this is the God that I'm singing to, that I'm serving, that I'm dancing, that I'm being encouraged to love.

And yet when I read how he wiped this individual out, or I wiped out all the Canaanites, how am I supposed to reconcile that? And the enemy loves to tell lies about the nature and the character of God.

Once you begin to understand the holiness of God, you will read your Bible like you never read it before. I feel like I've gotten in some ways major parts of my Bible back to where I'm now seeing it with a whole new perspective.

It's been the result of an understanding of the holiness of God. Let me try to define the holiness of God for you. The holiness of God speaks of God's otherness. We are talking about God's separateness.

It's the essence of God's inward character. His holiness is absolute. He is perfectly holy in all he says and does. It's a changeless characteristic of his eternal nature. He's utterly pure in thought and attitude.

God cannot approve of any evil. God has no pleasure in any evil. God cannot tolerate or look on evil. God hates sin with a perfect hatred. And God is utterly incapable of an unholy act. Now you can understand why he says in Isaiah 40 verse 25, to whom will you compare me?

For who is my equal, says the Holy One of Israel. We are talking about God's transcendence, God's exceeding the usual limits. This is the sense in which God is above and beyond us. We're talking about his exalted loftiness.

Matter of fact, the more I talk about it, every time I talk about it, the more I feel how lofty, how high, how exalted. Now listen, this does not mean we don't rejoice. But in our rejoicing, there's a trembling that takes place.

There's an awe that comes so that our worship is not mere emotion. It has content based on a revelation of a lofty God. And only in God can we rejoice with trembling like David says. But you can do both.

This holiness I'm talking about is beautiful. And it will not make you less subdued in worship. But when you are released in praise and adoration and dancing, there will be a content. Because you won't be doing that to feel good is an end in itself.

You'll be doing that standing in awe that our holy God is encouraging you to release your praise to him. For he is worthy. For there is none like the Holy One of Israel. Whom we are worshiping here tonight.

Encountering the Holy God

Now normally when we talk about holiness, we get afraid. I do. Somebody says holiness. I don't think about feeling good initially. I think about being a little afraid. R .C. Sproul in his outstanding book, it's called The Holiness of God.

This book has had a profound influence on my life. And I would commend it to all of you. R .C. Sproul says, The most threatening experience anyone can have is an encounter with the Holy God. Nothing terrifies us more.

Now why is that? The reason is because we're not holy. The reason is that there isn't anything more foreign to us than the holiness of God. There isn't anything more different from us than the holiness of God.

And what we're talking about here, folks, isn't a movie. We're talking about God. So it can produce a fear in us. So when you go to the Bible, you start to look through certain accounts in Scripture where it seems like God is unduly severe in releasing his wrath.

See, when I read my Bible, I come across certain sections. And I say, God, I don't believe there's anything wrong in a right spirit asking God a question. I say, God, this is an interesting section of Scripture here.

Would you have any explanation for me? And at times I'll end up saying, I don't understand what you did there, Lord. And I don't understand why you did it. It seems to me, as I read this section, that innocent people are condemned by you with an undue severity.

And I struggle, Lord, with the harshness and the brutality of your judgment. And I'm confused when I read about Jesus in the new covenant. And I look through these passages in the old covenant. And I don't know how to reconcile those.

And I need your help. Do you struggle when you read in the Bible about places where God kills people? You know the series I'm doing at home? We're going right through the Bible. And I'll hit most, if not all, of the places that God killed people.

Which is a real shock to those who come new to our church each Sunday. I say, welcome, we're going through a series on God killing people. One thing we can guarantee, you've never been to a meeting like that.

Sit tight, he's not going to kill you today. But let's read about it. See, you must wonder what people think, you know. I said to our church one Sunday, I said, now don't freak out. Some of you are sitting there saying, I can't believe it.

I've tried, I've waited for two years to invite this guy. He's finally come and CJ starts a series on God killing people on this Sunday. Guest leans over and says, does your pastor have a full bag of groceries?

Or is there something wrong with him? What kind of television shows did this guy watch growing up that he seems to be obsessed with a series like this? I've always been taught God is love. What is this?

How many weeks is this going? God killing people? Let me help you. We're going to look at one section of scripture in just a moment. I want to look at it with you. I hope I can help you to understand it in such a way that it will release you in ways I don't want to get into.

So I don't let you know ahead of time where I'm going. I believe one of the problems that we have when we look at the Old Testament back to the new, back to the old, back to the new, back to the back, back, back.

That brings us confusion is that we need to start at creation. That's where we need to start. I want you to go there with me. Genesis chapter two. Would you turn there with me, please? If you don't understand this, you don't understand what God was doing in this particular situation.

Creation, Sin, and the Justice of God

See, I believe the Old Testament is a manifestation of God's immeasurable grace. I believe that. But if you don't have this as your starting point, you'll have a hard time believing and agreeing with that statement.

You have to first look at the original rules of the universe to appreciate the vastness of the mercy and the grace of God, which I pray will just come in upon each of us tonight. It's hard for me to give this without getting emotional.

I guarantee you I will. It's nothing I have to work up. It's just something that in light of what we're going to read just undoes me. In Genesis chapter two, verse 15, if you'd read with me, it says the Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it.

And the Lord God commanded the man, You are free to eat from any tree in the garden, but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. For when you eat of it, you will surely die. Now, again, I'd like to just say that the primary emphasis of this section is God's abundant provision and the vision for cultivation and expansion that he gave to Adam.

God provided every need in every way. This is a positive section of scripture. It was Satan who tried to lie about God and make him look restrictive. But in the midst of this section, emphasizing the abundance and the love of God, God, because he is holy and cannot compromise his holiness, makes it clear to Adam that if he in any way deviates from the purpose for which he has been created, there will be swift judgment, there will be death, death in the fullest sense of the words.

Adam understood that. In creation, those were the rules. Now, here's why. You might read that and say, I feel that's pretty harsh. Can't we give Adam a break? Come on, God, loosen up. We're just getting started.

Let's take a few chances. Cut him some slack. He might make a few mistakes. No, God was not obligated to create Adam. I believe Adam had some degree of understanding. God is not obligated to create us.

God is not in debt to us. God owes us nothing. We owe God everything. And some of these thoughts have got to break into us to be able to be effective in evangelism. People have got to understand this holy God who is not obligated in any way toward us, except the only thing he owes us is judgment.

He does owe us that. Wasn't obligated to create us. This life here, your life, my life, was the result of the grace of God freely and voluntarily given. Another thing about life is it's under God's authority.

Adam had a job to do. Bear God's image. Represent God's holiness. Be God's ambassador. Live for God's glory. Do you believe, let me ask you a question. I'm not asking for hands to be raised, but answer in your heart.

Is it too harsh for the God who without being obligated created Adam, who owed Adam nothing in a very real sense, who had authority over Adam, his creation? Was it harsh for him to say, Adam, if you defy my authority, if instead of bearing my image, you use earth as a platform to exalt yourself and defy and oppose me?

Let me ask you a question. Do you feel it is too harsh for who the Bible calls the righteous judge of all the earth to say on the day you go your own way, which is the essence of sin, sin manifests itself in many ways, but the essence of sin is going your own way and instead of living for God's glory, taking that glory upon yourself.

Is it too harsh for a God to say, for God to say to Adam, when you do that, you will surely die? I think before you answer, because if you say yes, you are accusing the righteous judge of all the universe.

You just want to meditate on that a moment before you let an answer come out of your mouth. I don't in any way believe that that was too harsh. He was warned. God made every provision. And I believe it's clear here that when you sin, you forfeit any claim you had to human existence because the purpose of his life and Eve's life and our lives was to represent the holiness of God.

I don't believe it's unjust for God to take away the gift of life that he gave freely if it wasn't used for the purpose for which he gave it. Because when we sin, what we are saying is, we're not just making a mistake.

We're saying no to God's law. We're saying your law is not good. We're saying, God, your law doesn't cut it. I'm not under your authority. My judgment is superior to yours. I'm defying and opposing you who in reality, I owe everything to.

I don't believe it was too harsh for God to say, on the day you do that, you will surely die. I don't believe God had any choice. If God didn't say that, he wouldn't be holy. He would no longer be God's.

He gave the just penalty for sin. You see, one of the things I've seen as I've studied this is how often I don't understand God's perspective because I'm not holy. So when I read, I say, God, I wouldn't do that.

And God says, that's right, you wouldn't. But there is a slight difference, CJ, between you and I. So it becomes a bit difficult for you to appreciate where I'm coming from because you live with sin every day.

You're used to sin. You've grown up a sinner. Sin is norm to you, but it is not and it never will be to me. For I am holy and I do not ever adjust to sin. I hate it with a holy hatred and I will always hate it with a holy hatred.

And until you take on my perspective, you will not feel the dilemma. Now, here's the dilemma. The dilemma is not a holy God who is looking to punish creation. God is looking for a way to forgive those He created though they are defying Him.

But He can't do that by compromising His holiness. God's got a dilemma that we've got to feel, we've got to enter into. Check this quote out. Now, listen carefully. Again, R .C. Sproul said this. This is one that'll hit you next week.

We have more in common, he says, morally. Hold on, let me finish the quote. We have more in common morally with Adolf Hitler than we do with God. Keep listening. The gap in holiness which differentiates you and me with Adolf Hitler is infinitesimal compared to the gap that separates you and me from God.

Now, Hitler is and was detestable. But Hitler was a sinner. And so are and were we. God is holy. I was watching television one day. They announced different spies that had been caught. You've had the same thing go on.

Something in me rose up. I thought, I cannot believe that those individuals would do that, would sell out to the Russians and give some of the most significant secrets that this country has for its protection and defense.

I mean, there's a sense of shock that came into my being. And as I began to think about the holiness of God at a later date, I thought, think of how God must feel as daily the planet that he created populated with multitudes of people made in his image, commits treason.

I want you to know something. God is so patient. No human ruler would put up with the rebellion that God puts up with on a daily basis. The amazing thing is not that God has judged people in the Bible.

The amazing thing is that he has not judged everybody. That's what's amazing. But if you don't have the holiness of God as your starting point, you can't appreciate that. If you're offended by the judgments of God, what it is is a sign that we don't understand his holiness and that we haven't understood our sin.

God says here, the penalty is the day that you eat of it, you will surely die. Now, do you know one of the reasons this is difficult to impart? Because I've heard people teach on God's holiness and they almost seem happy that some folks are going to hell.

I've seen people self-righteous. I don't want to bore you with the examples. I felt that caused me to react. God is not delighting in showing judgment to anybody. It brings him great pain. And he goes to every effort to not have to do that in every situation.

He's merciful. He sends warning after warning. And his judgment is not like our temper, which suddenly flares up in a moment. Uncontrollable. That's not God. The wrath of God is an attribute that many of us, we're embarrassed that God even has it.

We don't want people to know about the wrath of God. We don't even know how to relate to it. It's like, oh man, can you imagine if God loses it and he seems to lose it every now and then, who is going to get his attention?

Who's going to come? God, calm down. Who's going to get in the way of God in that situation? And we don't understand his wrath. We don't understand how his wrath is a righteous wrath. God has never committed an unjust act ever.

Ever. Though it may appear to us as we read this word, he has never committed an unjust act. The penalty here was the just penalty for sin in God's eyes. If you don't understand holiness, it might not seem to you to be the right penalty.

It might seem too severe. But the God who created Adam and Eve, the God who is holiness has determined that is the just penalty for rebellion. It will be death. The day you eat of it, he says, you will surely die.

Now, you know what's incredible as you read this? God was merciful. Because as soon as that apple hit Eve's lips and then Adam's lips, they should have been wasted immediately. But God was merciful. What a merciful God.

He should have wiped them out. And you know what? If he had have, there would have been no arguing before the throne of God. Neither Adam and Eve would have accused God of being unjust. They would have bowed their knee and said that was the right thing for a righteous God to do.

You provided us with abundance and blessing, made provision for every need. And you warned us if we did that. And we are under your authority. And you were not obligated to create us in the first place.

That was the right thing for a holy God to do. But this holy God is a loving Father. And instead of judging them in the full sense, justice was delayed so that grace might enter history. Let me read you something again from R .C.

You don't have to buy the book. By the time I'm done, I'll have read the whole thing to you. Hear this. This is powerful. He's quoting here from a controversial, he says a controversial Roman Catholic theologian writing about the seemingly harsh judgments of sin God makes in the Old Testament says that the most mysterious aspect of the mystery of sin is not that the sinner deserves to die but that the sinner in the average situation continues to exist.

Now hear that. That is a total mind renewal for many of us. The issue is not why does God punish sin but why does he permit the ongoing rebellion of man? It is customary. It is usual for God to be forbearing.

He is indeed long-suffering, patient and slow to anger. In fact, he is so slow to anger that when his anger does erupt, we are shocked and offended by it. We forget rather quickly that God's patience is designed to lead us to repentance, to give us time to be redeemed.

Instead of taking advantage of this patience by coming humbly to him for forgiveness, we use this grace as an opportunity to become more bold in our sin. We delude ourselves into thinking that either God doesn't care about it or that he's powerless to punish us.

The supreme folly is that we think we will get away with our revolt. Do you think that describes the nations in which we live tonight? Is there a fear of God? I submit to you if there is, I don't see it.

I believe that's an accurate understanding. The delusion that either God doesn't care or God is powerless to punish sin and the deception that people are going to get away with the revolt in the end. Has entered into our two nations in a significant and a serious way.

And I submit to you that for evangelism to be fully effective, there must be some restoration of preaching on the holiness of God. Not in a self-righteous way, not in a way with a wrong spirit, but in a way which shows the holiness of God so that an individual can be smitten, realizing that he's not just going through life, making a few mistakes, but he has offended and defied the God who created him.

And bringing that individual to a place of amazement that instead of God extinguishing him, which God should have, God instead wants to forgive him if he will but repent. To many, it's not good news because they don't have the backdrop of the holiness of God.

Death, Judgment, and the Mercy of God

Now, the death penalty was not completely released. All men die. Home, they often talk about men who are on death row. I don't believe you have the death penalty here. We have it in some states at home.