In chapter 15 of Luke’s gospel, we find three amazing stories that all paint a unified picture of God. We see the picture of a shepherd pursuing his lost sheep. We see a woman, diligently searching for her lost coin. And we see a father, eagerly ready to welcome home his lost son. These parables were meant to reveal the heart of a God who pursues those who are lost, who overflows with joy when they are found. This week, three Pure Life Ministries staff sit down with Nate to discuss how this picture of God’s mercy is very evident as they reflect on their own journeys to Christ.

In the previous six sessions we’ve been unveiling the truth that all sin can be traced back to the self-life and to the pride which it produces in our hearts. Now we want to look to the great Savior and Physician of our souls to find out what His remedy for this sickness is.

In this video, we look into the wonder of poverty of spirit, brokenness, and surrender, and we discuss the indispensable roles they play in being healed and saved from the self-life.

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In our current series we’re looking at how to live a victorious Christian life. We’ve shown that this can only be done through the power of mercy, but God’s mercy is often radical, going far beyond what our human ideas would imagine. Take the example of Hosea, a man called to embody God’s mercy in the most unlikely way possible. He was called by God to marry a prostitute. This picture is shocking, but it exemplifies God’s faithfulness to us, even when we go astray. So join us as we dive in to this picture of mercy as we learn what it reveals about God, and how we can appropriate that into our own walk with Him.

When we become a vessel for the mercy of God to flow through to others, that’s when we begin to live in victory. But as humans we have a hard time really understanding what God’s mercy is. So, we’d like to spend a few weeks looking into God’s word for specific pictures that will help us understand what is in God’s heart. This week we’ll look at the bronze serpent, an old testament story that reveals the judgment that comes because of our sin as well as the wonderful healing that is available to us when we look to Christ by faith.

In this next session, we focus on a very dangerous and very deceptive manifestation of pride: spiritual pride. This pride can tempt us to brag about own spiritual lives and those who exhibit it often see themselves as more spiritually mature than others, even bragging about accomplishments in their spiritual lives. But they are dangerously close to the spirit of the Pharisees, of whom Jesus said, “They honor Me with their lips, but their hearts are far from Me.”

In this session Steve Gallagher, author of the book i: the root of sin EXPOSED, joins us to unpack how spiritual pride is just another way of promoting ourselves and our own goodness, rather than the righteousness and mercy of God.

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In this Interview with Pastor Steve Gallagher we discuss the anger of God, and how we can see God's goodness and mercy in the way He opposes the sin in our lives. (From Podcast Episode #441 - |Victory| Understanding the Anger of God)

Nate: One of the things that the Bible says about the Lord is that He is good and righteous in all of His ways. I know that there are some people who cynically look at the Old Testament, for example, and see stories—or pictures—of God's justice and His anger, and they use that as an excuse to say, "How could He be? How could He be good and righteous?" I've heard you speak very passionately about God's anger, His justice, His wrath, things that we might see at times as being more on the negative side of God's character.

But I've also observed that you don't have any struggle with believing that God is abundantly good, that He's yearning to pour out His love and His blessings on man. So, how is it you're able to hold those two aspects of God's character in your mind, without them contradicting each other?

Steve: To me there is no contradiction. But let me just say, the reason I preach so much about God's justice and His wrath and so on, is because it's not being preached in the church. Secondly, because my primary audience are people who are being dominated by sin. So those are very important subjects to address.

As far as the Lord is concerned, I know Him. I know Him, and I feel like I know Him pretty well, humanly speaking. He is good in all of His dealings. His goodness in Old Testament scripture is depicted as a perfect balance between truth and mercy. In the Old Testament, you see those pictures of God's justice and His wrath, and so on. But why? The reason that you see Him pour out His wrath on nations and people, is because there comes a point where He has to protect other people, and that is the mercy. For instance, what about when ruthless people were knifing pregnant women, and throwing babies against walls? That's the kind of typical stuff that would happen with the Assyrians, the Babylonians and nations like them. So, when the Lord brought judgement against those kinds of nations, it's because of His goodness. Because His heart is, "Okay, I can't let this continue on."

So that is very real to me. When I think about the Lord, He is pure goodness. Yes, He's got the side to Him that is just, but He is absolute pure goodness! What's in His heart is to do good to people all the time. However, one of our biggest problems is that we tend to think in the temporal, while God is always thinking about the big picture and the eternal picture. So, when He's dealing with, let's say believers, in certain ways, it's because He's thinking of what's good for them eternally. He's looking them and thinking, "Okay, while there here living the Christian life for thirty or forty years or so, what happens in that 30 or 40 years is going to be with them forever." He sees that as enormous, compared to that tiny little speck of time while we're here on earth. So, His goodness always takes into account the big picture and the eternal picture.

Nate: I'm glad you mentioned the Old Testament, because I think there are a lot of people who hear that God says, "I'm good in all of my ways," but then they look back and they cynically say, "Oh, what about the Old Testament?" I think those same people would probably look at our modern world and say, "Well if God is so good, then why do bad things happen to people? Why are there natural disasters?" They ask why this or why that, to whatever seems to contradict the character of God. So, let's step back from a theological viewpoint, in a sense, and let's make it personal. Why are we so quick to accuse God when we suffer?

Steve: Let me just say first of all that the word you used earlier is the perfect word: "Cynically." People who don't take the time to really study what was happening in the Old Testament times, who just grab hold of something they've heard, like God ordering Saul to destroy all the Amalekites, that sort of thing. They just grab something like that, and in their humanistic version of mercy and goodness they think that God should be good to everyone all the time, not taking into account, like I said before, what people were suffering, and so on.

As far as individuals, especially Christians, why does the Lord allow bad things to happen? Why does He allow a Christian couple's child to die? Why does He allow a Christian man to get in a wreck and become paralyzed, for instance? Joni Eareckson Tada. Her life is a testimony to why He does it. That woman walks with God, and she is full of the Holy Spirit. And yet, she was a frivolous minded girl when she had that accident. She probably would have just ended up being a very mediocre Christian at best. But because of the suffering that she went through all the years of her life, she has affected a generation. So, how do you compare the two? Yes, it was horrible what she had to experience. If you've ever heard her story, the suffering is unbelievable. But the rewards in people’s lives! How many people were deeply affected by her? What about her overall effect on the thinking of the church? How do you compare? Those affects are eternal, and her sufferings have been temporal.

Nate: I really like the way you answered that question. What you did is you explained why God sometimes sovereignly moves to basically do something that He knows is good for us that we're not aware of. But sometimes, He hasn't acted yet, He's only threatened to act. He's warning people of what's coming if they keep going in a certain direction. And a lot of times, to be honest, it can be terrifying to hear His words. So, what would you say to us about those times when God really threatens us?

Steve: Again, that’s all mercy. I've said this before somewhere, but His justice system reminds me of the mandatory sentencing laws in the United States. If you have been convicted three times for instance, you go to prison for life. And other laws like that. God has established in His judicial system certain laws and certain consequences, that are just in effect. They're written in stone. After pouncing these laws, He comes in, let's say, more fluid-like in the Spirit, wanting to do mercy. He knows what the justice is going to be if this person continues down this path. That is immovable and that's what they're heading into. So, in His mercy He comes in with nothing but love trying to warn them to get them off of the path they're on. He's trying to protect His people from having to face that justice. It's all mercy.

Nate: What about when He, in a sense, steps it up, and actually actively starts opposing people?

Steve: Again, it’s all mercy. If you think of the Christian life as being straight and narrow, and as a narrow path, which it is, and when you start to veer off and go sideways, going astray and you're headed for disaster, He sees that and what does He do? In His mercy He stands right in front of you like a wall. He opposes what you're doing and the behavior that is taking you down that path. That is all mercy, again. It's all goodness.

Nate: I want to start wrapping up the interview. We asked your wife this, but I want to ask you as well. When it comes to your personal walk with God, why does God's attitude toward sin help you trust Him?

Steve: Because in my fifty years or so of knowing Him I see very clearly now, looking back, how He has dealt with me regarding my sin issues at times. And I have nothing but trust for Him because like I said, He wants to oppose me going down any wrong paths and He is concerned about my eternal well-being. What is not to trust there in that?

Nate: I appreciate the way you're talking about this, because we're trying to help people understand that even this side of God that is very uncomfortable to us is motivated by His goodness. I was thinking about the C.S. Lewis quote in the Chronicles of Narnia where one of the characters says about Aslan, "Well He's definitely not safe, but He's good." Today we've been looking at a side of God that shows that He's not safe to our flesh, but He's good to us. We're talking about it because in true Christianity, we have to see God and we have to serve Him as He is, rather than creating our own version of Him that fits our preferences. I want to get your take on this. Why is it, that seeing God as He truly is, is essential to walking in victory over sexual sin?

Steve: For one thing, we will stand before Him as He truly is. The narrative we have written in our own minds based on our own desires is largely a false narrative. Okay, we can deceive ourselves and lie to ourselves and try to make it into something that it isn't. But we're going to end up paying the price if we go down that path. So, knowing the Lord in reality, as He actually is, and reacting to Him as He actually is, is the only safe course. But if we do that, we will really come to know Him in His goodness.

Nate: Amen, well thank you very much.

Steve: Yeah, it was great. Thank you.

In this series we’ve been talking about why receiving God’s mercy and then giving it away to others is central to coming out of sexual sin. Maybe some of you have been saying to yourselves, “Well, that sounds good in theory, but does mercy really work? We think that one of the most convincing ways to show you the power of mercy is to share the story of Frank Leonetti—a man whom God saved from the depths of sin and despair and who has been giving his life away for the last ten years so that people might know Jesus—the one who gave him newness of life. We hope and pray after by the end of it you’ll believe that mercy works.

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Last week we discussed how God is good and trustworthy, even when our circumstances challenge us to think otherwise. But what about when it isn’t our lives, but God’s own Word about Himself, that makes us question his character? Because the Bible is full of pictures of a God of wrath and a God of anger and many people can become uncomfortable or even untrusting of God, because of these revelations about Himself. But a right understanding of this aspect of God is vital to knowing and loving Him – it’s vital to living a life of victory. In this episode, we have both Steve and Kathy Gallagher in the studio. Each of them help shed some light on this often misunderstood aspect of God.

In this session we look at a form of pride that is found in both introverts and extroverts—perfectionism. In our American culture, we are taught from a young age to do our best. And even though there is nothing wrong with putting your whole heart into something, our human nature has a knack for taking things which were intended for good and corrupting them into something wicked.

When perfectionism rules within a person, their best is never good enough. It tells them that they must do more, try harder and be better. This urge ties a heavy burden around the mind of the person as they obsess over their need to outdo others and avoid failure. So what is inherently prideful and sinful about this attitude? And what are the fruits of a life dominated by perfectionism? Biblical counselor Ken Larkin joins us to help to answer these questions.

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In this excerpt from an interview with Pastor Ed Buch, we explored the truth that God is good, and acts kindly toward all His creatures, even in spite of the injustice and suffering we’ve experienced and seen in the world. Pastor Ed’s childhood was riddled with pain. He was often neglected by his parents, and was molested by a relative for years. This left him bitter, hateful, and suicidal. When he started going to church later in his life, he would tell people he believed that God was good, though as he looks back now he can see he didn’t really believe this in his heart. It wasn’t until he came to Pure Life that God was able to break through and prove to Ed that He was good.

Nate: One of the things that you mentioned in your story was that you didn't go to church as a child, but then you did begin going as an adult. You said you just kind of mindlessly assented, in a way, to whatever the pastor said. "Yeah, of course God's good, of course He's kind, of course He's love." And yet, there's all this turmoil going on inside of your heart. What was that like.

Ed: Yeah, well I definitely gave assent to the notion that God is good and kind and so forth. Believe it or not, I even gave a little sermon in church one Sunday on God's goodness. But I also lived with this very strong sense that nobody else really knew me or understood. Nobody else knew what I needed. Nobody else knew what was best for me. I could trust only myself. And so, I didn't realize it back then, but that perspective kind of automatically was pushing God out, putting Him on the margins of my life. I thought I trusted Him, but in practice I really didn't. But because I said I trusted Him, I could blame Him for things that weren't going my way or weren't working out the way I wanted them too. Then in the larger view of things, I'd say I was essentially living a double life I was saying one thing and doing another. And that duplicity only increased over time. Especially when sexual sin gained a stronger foothold in my life.

Nate: Wow, what you were just saying: "I trust in God, He's good and He's kind, but no one else knows what I need, and no one cares for me like they should." It's like, wow, those are direct contradictions of what God tells us about Himself.

Ed: Yeah, it's true. It's hard to explain how you can actually live with that duplicity, but I did.

Nate: So, praise God, because obviously He dealt very kindly with you on those misconceptions about who He was. I want to ask you, what was the turning point where it became, not intellectual assent and duplicity inside, but now a real genuine belief and trust that He is who He says He is.

Ed: When I look back over my life, I have to give God credit for being so patient and so gentle with me. Because the change didn't really take place until I was in my late thirties and ended up at Pure Life Ministries. Even though I was about to graduate from a rather conservative, orthodox seminary with excellent grades, I also understood that something was off. God is omnipotent, that's the theological statement of truth. But in my life, it seemed that He was impotent. He'd been unable to protect me. Unable to bring me lasting happiness that I expected, and worst of all, He'd been unable to deliver me from the bondage of sexual sin. Then I arrived at Pure Life Ministries. And coming here was really the last step before I was going to throw in the towel on life. I thought, "If God doesn't come through with me here at Pure Life, then I'm done with everything. Marriage, Christianity, life, just everything.

So early on when I was here as a student in the residential program—and I give the Lord credit more than me, when I say it this way—I made a conscious decision to set aside everything I thought I knew about God. Whatever I knew before had only left me ultimately in misery and despair, and with no victory over sin in my life. I had none of the love, joy, peace, or any other of the fruits of the Spirit in my life. So, I recognize that there was this vast gap between my experience and what the Bible portrayed. For the first time I decided that the problem just might be my experience. That I had to let go of that filter between me and God. I determined to read the Bible and let the Lord reveal Himself to me. I just determined, "Whatever I read, God, that's what I'm going to believe! That's who you are. You are who you say you are, not who I've imagined you to be."

There's this one particular morning when God really met me when I was reading His Word in my personal devotion time. I'd been taught when you come to certain things where the Bible's stating "God is good," or something like that, you pause and you pray, and you give thanks, and you worship Him in that moment. I was doing that, and I was just thanking Him for how good He was, and I sensed this little quiet voice in my heart. It was Him, and He said to me, "But you don't believe that." I knew it was Him, because there was such a sadness and a yearning in the words when I heard them in my heart. I instantly knew it was true. My whole life I had been proclaiming His goodness, but not really believe it. Never making it personal, like God is good to me. I repented in that very moment. I did what I was taught to do: when I'm wrong, I just acknowledge it. I prayed, "God I'm wrong, I repent. You are good, regardless of what I have experienced or thought or understood."

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From there it's like His word really became more alive. I could really see that Romans 8:28 is true, He really does work all things out for good for those who love Him. Or like Joseph said in Genesis 50:20, that even what others mean for evil, the Lord means for good in our lives. Now God's goodness is one of those foundational truths that I hold onto. It gets tested at times in my life, I assure you. But there are times when everything can seem out of control or just hard, or painful. But I have this rock now that I stand on and cling to, that God is good! I may not be able to see it right now, or feel it right now, or prove it right now, but I know that He's good and eventually I'll get through this and I'll be able to see it clearly.

Nate: One of the ideas that this whole show is based on is something you haven’t said explicitly, but I'd like to point out, is that we must surrender. And that's what happened. I can hear that! You surrendered your opinions, your experiences, your ideas, your emotions, and now it was going to be God who was in control. Not things the other way around.

Ed: Absolutely, and it changed my life. In the way it needed to be changed. It started to get good at that point.

Nate: Wow. I want to broaden things out a little bit and talk now more about things that are difficult for us to understand about God that are outside of our own experience. Because there are things about what God does that are just difficult for us to understand. There are things that, in the Bible, it makes God at times seem like He's an angry tyrant. There are things in our world that seem like, there's just so much pointless suffering. Now obviously, I know we're not going to solve all these issues in one question.

Ed: Correct.

Nate: But I'm just wondering if in your own experience with suffering, you’ve seen God's goodness, and it’s helped you to see through these difficult issues?

Ed: Yes. For sure it has done that, Nate. I really like Psalm 119 verse 68, which says simply, "You are good, and you do good." The Psalmist is exalting God there. That's the simple truth we have to believe and hold onto. I've learned never to doubt God's goodness. My inability to see it or recognize it in a specific situation doesn't negate the fact that God is good and that He's actively doing good. That's why I like that verse, because it adds that little element to it, that God "does good." And I think it can be really helpful to keep that truth as the frame around our experiences of suffering.

It also helps to keep in mind that it isn't only humans that are suffering. God suffers too. Jesus is called a man of sorrows. He bears our griefs and carries our sorrows. He enters right into suffering and suffers alongside us, in other words. We're never alone in our suffering. But God also suffers in ways that we can't really comprehend. God experiences a great level rejection. To a high degree He is often misunderstood, gets blamed and is falsely accused. The level of despising and hatred that He has to deal with is far beyond anything that we humans ever experience. And God suffers it all without retaliating. He just remains kind. It says right in scripture, "He's kind even to the unthankful and the evil," (Luke 6:35). He just keeps offering mercy, and He's willing to forgive everyone who will repent.

And Nate if I could offer maybe one more insight about suffering and something that helps in the midst of it. It's kind of hard to explain, but I'll say it this way. We know from 1st John 4 that "God is love." And in Romans 5 we learn that God demonstrated His love for us by sending His Jesus to the Cross. Now, Jesus needed to die in order to serve as our perfect lamb, and be the sacrifice for our sins, but He didn't have to die on the cross just to accomplish that. The cross was chosen specifically because of the extreme suffering involved in dying on the cross. God wanted us to see His heart. His willingness to suffer the cruelest death that man could inflict on Him. That's what God wanted us to see.

What God has shown me over and over is that His love is most clearly revealed in suffering. And when we suffer as believers, we're actually able to better reveal Jesus to others than at any other time in our life. Our wounds that we have from suffering become the touch points for others to see and experience the love of God for themselves. And when people are able to praise Him, thank Him and trust Him in the midst of suffering, that's one of the most important distinctions I think there is between Christians and those who don't know the Lord.

Nate: Yes. As you were talking about that I was just reflecting on the fact that we're finite and God is infinite. As I listen to you saying these things, which are so otherworldly and profound, I'm just aware that even these things are just the fringes of His ways. They're just the basic outline of who He really is. We can do exactly what you said before, we can look just right in the face of things we don't understand, and we can say, "You are good and do good."

Ed: That's right. Yeah, I just love the fact that God is bigger than my understanding. Bigger than I'm able to comprehend. I don't want Him to be just a bigger, slightly better version of me. He's infinitely wiser and infinitely better, and because of that He's worthy of my trust.  

When we look into God's word, we see many different characteristics that mark the life of a true believer walking in close communion with a Holy God. One of those characteristics is righteousness. But how is it that we as sinful humans can come to live a truly righteous life?

In this message, Nate Danser reveals God's real and very personal answer to this conflict.

One of the most important aspects of living in victory is having a vibrant relationship with God. A relationship where you come to know Him personally, experientially and where you've surrendered all to Him. But the truth is, we will never surrender ourselves to someone unless we trust them, and we won’t trust someone unless we know that they are good. In this episode, we look at one of the most attacked attributes of God: His goodness. As the psalmist says, “Oh give thanks to the Lord for He is good; His mercy endures forever” (Psalm 107:1).