Sin, Sinners & Chicken

[Steve Myers] You probably heard that many were protesting Chick-fil-A on the President of Chick-fil-A's concepts of marriage. He's come out in support of the biblical model of marriage. So, just the other day there were hundreds of people at Chick-fil-A supporting the biblical view of what marriage is between a man and a woman. So, if you watch Beyond Today you know that once in a while we go out there on the street and we talk to people. So we were there the other day getting peoples' opinions on why they were there, what about freedom of speech, what does the Bible have to say about gay marriage. And so it was very interesting and people's concepts - especially when it comes to sin. And I'd ask different people out there if God hates gays. The response from the people was that God doesn't hate the gays. And now not all people think that. Some people don't understand what the Bible teaches. But it really made me have a deeper understanding where many Christians are today, that they realize behavior has a lot to play in things. And what does God think about our behavior?

[Gary Petty] Right, well, when you read the Scripture, it's obvious that God hates all kinds of sin. He uses the word abomination, which…

[Steve Myers] That's an important thing that God hates…

[Gary Petty] God hates sin. It's not something He takes lightly. So we have to understand when God says something is wrong, or is sin, or evil, or an abomination, He hates it. He actually has a reaction to it - a reasoned reaction, emotional reaction. But we also have to remember what the Apostle Paul wrote, "But God demonstrates His own love toward us that in while we were still sinners, Christ died for us" (Romans 5:8). Because God is perfect it is possible for Him to hate the sin and love the sinner.

[Steve Myers] And I think that's the key, isn't it? He loves the sinner.

[Gary Petty] Which is a great - it's a great sense of hope to all of us because all of us are sinners, every one of us. And we have to understand that God hates the sin that's in any of us. But because God loves us, He wants us to respond. He actually wants to remove the sin from us.

[Steve Myers] Well, we have to repent.

[Gary Petty] That's right.

[Steve Myers] We have to change. We have to be right with God. We've got to be forgiven. And it even says in Corinthians, "So were some of you" (1 Corinthians 6:9-11). Some of us were thieves, some of us had the wrong actions that have to be repented of and this is one of those that we can change. We can have a right relationship with God. And it's got to start with repentance so that we are right. So He doesn't hate us because we're sinners. In fact, He loves us. He loves us so much He sent His Son to die for us. And so when we take advantage of the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, then we can be forgiven and begin having a right relationship with God.

[Gary Petty] And when Paul says there that, "As were some of us," (1 Corinthians 6:11) talking about the church, that shows that repentance includes not only feeling sorry for what you've done, it's changing. We have to learn to hate sin as much as God does even in our own selves and remove that sin from us, repent, turn towards God. So, hating sin, loving the sinner is what God does. It's what we have to do.

[Steve Myers] We have to do that as well. That's BT Daily. We'll see you next time.