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Matthew: If God promised it, you can hang your hat on it. Let’s talk about it on Key Life. That was Steve Brown and this is Key Life. We’re dedicated to the teaching that the only people who get any better are those who know that if they don’t get any better, God will still love them anyway. Steve is an author, seminary professor and our teacher on Key Life.

Steve Brown: Thank you, Matthew. If you’ve been listening this week, we’ve been looking at some of the truths about God. We’ve looked at God’s nature and how some of the lies have taken us away from the true nature of God and how his actions are ones of a servant. Kings don’t serve, they rule. And yet when Jesus came, he washed people’s feet.

But there’s another area where lies confuse us: God’s promises. Those promises are almost as unbelievable as God’s nature and actions. The Bible reveals a God who our culture often causes us to get wrong, whose actions are surprising. But Paul says you ain’t seen nothing yet. Listen to what Paul wrote on the promises of God. It’s 2 Corinthians 1:20. "All the promises of God find their yes and amen in Christ."

Those promises are fulfilled in the here and now and also in eternity. Our eyes have yet to see, our ears heard, our minds conceived what God has promised and prepared for his people. 1 Corinthians 2:9. A promise is only as good as the one who makes that promise. And the actual promise is dependent on the purpose and the power of the one making the promise.

Not too long ago, I was talking to a close friend who was going through a really, really difficult and dark time. His wife was in a major car accident and her rehabilitation is going to take six months. My friend recently, as if that wasn't enough, suffered a stroke and he's now in a wheelchair. His wife was his caregiver and now she couldn't do that.

I said, "I hate this. I wish I could take half of it for you. I do wish I could do that at least for a while, but I can't." My purpose is good and laudable, but I don't have the power to do what I want. On the other hand, there are rich and powerful people who could change everything but won't. They have the power, but they don't have the love. In Jesus, power and love, as it were, kiss each other and dance on the dance floor.

As we examine Christian truth understood by the heart but sometimes by the head, I want you to see one more thing. It is the revelation of who God is by God’s own revelation of himself and the incredible, senseless, unbelievable way humans work to ignore and dismiss it. 2 Corinthians 10:5, Paul fought against the lies. He said, "We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God." That’s no mean task. Most of Paul’s mission and that of the Bible, incidentally, was correcting the lies that people believed about God.

Years ago, I began to understand my calling to teach God’s radical grace and mercy and love. That’s what I do. I knew I’d been called to be a pastor with all that involves, but the heart of how I believe God called me was to proclaim and live out, in so far as possible for this old sinful preacher, God’s unconditional love. Key Life Network, the ministry that you’re listening to right now, has a wonderful mission statement. You know what it is? To get you and those you love home with radical grace, infectious joy, and surprising faithfulness. That’s a pretty good calling.

Well, let me tell you something surprising. When people hear how much God loves them, can you believe this? They sometimes get angry. And sometimes that anger is so harsh that I’ve considered going into vacuum repair, doing something else. My late friend and founder of the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews, Yechiel Eckstein, received some pretty harsh criticism at one period during his career. During the time, Yechiel asked me if I ever wanted to leave and I told him that happened to me almost every other day.

Sometimes I tell Jesus that I wouldn’t do this for anybody but him. You may think, wait, if God called you to teach God’s unconditional love, how could that be so bad? Why would people get angry at that message? I have no earthly idea. But a lot of people do. It’s one of the main questions I ask myself. What does the message of grace, mercy, and love, what is it and why does it make people so angry?

My late friend Tony Campolo was a genuine prophet in some ways. As I mentioned earlier, we don’t agree on much except for Jesus, and we loved each other. There was something about Tony’s message that made people angry and I know why. It’s what one expects from a prophet. I’m no prophet and I don’t want to be one. When I realize the message God gave me, I was and am thankful that it’s not a prophet’s message. How could anybody be offended when somebody tells them that God loves them, right? Wrong. They get very angry and sometimes write critical letters so harsh that the postal service refuses to deliver them.

I suspect the reasons for that are complicated. Nevertheless, the anger is real. We talked about those reasons in the first chapter of this book back when I was teaching a few weeks ago. Some are laudable and good and some are not so much. But all of them are a part of the human proclivity to get it wrong because our minds say that just can't be true.

I heard my late friend Jack Miller say once that when he was tempted, Satan would often tell him, "You’re forgiven already. You teach grace and forgiveness. You know that God is a forgiving God. Go ahead and sin and grace will always cover it." Jack said that when he sometimes gave into sin, Satan then became the accuser. "How could you do that? And you call yourself a Christian?"

Actually, Satan was right in what he first said to Jack. God's forgiveness is really, always and forever present in Christians' lives. So when Jack sinned, he really was forgiven, and forgiven even before Jack sinned and asked for forgiveness. Given God’s omniscience, God wasn't surprised at anything Jack ever did or thought.

Jack’s famous saying is "Cheer up." And he said that the Christian faith is built on these two truths. Cheer up, you're a lot worse than you think you are. But cheer up, God's grace is a lot bigger than you think it is. God isn't surprised at anything you or I have ever done, thought, or places where we've gone or people we've hurt. Jack would never say it to Satan, but I do sometimes when I've experienced what Jack described. I'll tell Satan, "You leave me alone, sucker, and go where you belong, to hell."

The Christian faith really is absolute and unconditional about forgiveness. Not only that, the Bible also teaches that Christ’s righteousness has been given to you and to me. That’s the way Christians get better. We’re going to talk about that later.

For now, I’m forgiven no matter where I’ve gone, what I’ve done, who I’ve hurt, what I’ve smoked, or the lies I’ve told. I’m forgiven not only my past actions, intentions, and thoughts before I was a Christian, I’m forgiven right now. You think about that. I mean it.

Matthew: Thanks, Steve. If you're enjoying this series called "God’s Not Mad at You" like I am, remember that we're putting all of these episodes in one spot so you can re-listen and share them any old time. Just go to keylife.org/notmad. And here's a question for you: is all sin equal? That's a question that Steve and Pete will answer tomorrow on Friday Q&A, among others, so be sure to join us for that.

Well, I guess we all have questions now and then. Here's one you may have had at some point: am I really saved? We categorize that question under the heading of assurance of salvation. And it's a great question. Steve actually addressed it in a classic sermon called "How to Know That You Know Him" based on Hebrews 6. If you ever have doubts about your salvation or maybe you know somebody who struggles with those questions, let us send you this sermon on CD for free.

Just call us right now at 1-800-KEY-LIFE. That’s 1-800-539-5433. You can also email Steve at steve@keylife.org to order that CD or go to keylife.org/contact to find our mailing addresses. Again, ask for the CD called "How to Know That You Know Him." And hey, while you’re here, if you've been blessed by the work of Key Life, would you help share that blessing with others through your financial support? You can charge a gift on your credit card or include a gift in your envelope, or you can give safely and securely by text. Just text "keylife" to 28950, then follow the instructions. Key Life is a member of ECFA in the states and 4C in Canada, and Key Life is a listener-supported production of Key Life Network.