The modern Church has a tendency to pick the parts of the Gospel it finds most palatable to talk about. To the contrary, the Apostle Paul preached the whole counsel of God (Acts 20:26–27). The whole counsel means the entire purpose, will, and plan of God. When we leave out part of the Gospel, we keep people from seeing and understanding it in its entirety.
We should never try to hide any part of God’s glory. That our culture finds some of the Gospel abhorrent or difficult to swallow does not overrule our responsibility to proclaim the whole truth of God’s Word. It is not up to humans to decide which parts of God’s Word are true. Only God is truth, so only He gets to say what is true (John 17:17; Isaiah 45:19).
Believers and non-believers alike love to talk about God’s love. It seems everyone has an opinion about what that love looks like and how we should demonstrate it in our lives. There can be no doubt that God is love (John 3:16; 1 John 4:8). But if we’re going to talk about God’s love, we’re also going to have to talk about what He hates (Proverbs 6:16–19). God loves justice (Isaiah 61:8), goodness (Micah 6:8), and righteousness (Psalm 11:7). He hates cheating (Proverbs 11:1), evil (Psalm 5:4–5), and immorality (1 Corinthians 6:9–10). To be a child of God requires us to love the things He loves and to hate the things He hates (Romans 12:9).
Another favorite topic is the mercy of God. If not for His mercy, each of us would be dead. Worse than dead, we’d be obliterated because none of us can stand in the presence of a Holy God (Habakkuk 1:13; Psalm 130:3). His mercy is new every morning (Lamentations 3:22–23) and it is unending (Psalm 136:1). If we’re going to talk about His mercy, we must give the whole counsel of God and speak of His wrath. It is because of His wrath that we need His mercy (Romans 1:18). The wrath of God is as fierce and encompassing as His love (Nahum 1:2–3). To the extent we all desire to experience the mercy of God, we should in like manner fear falling under the wrath of God (Hebrews 10:26–31). No one can understand the enormity of God’s mercy and their need of it unless they first understand the ferocity of His wrath (Romans 2:4–5).
I cannot count the number of sermons I’ve heard about Heaven preached in churches, but I have no problem counting the number I’ve heard preached on Hell. Everyone wants to go to Heaven, and almost everyone thinks they will. Jesus said only a few will walk the narrow path that leads to Heaven (Matthew 7:13–14). That means most won’t end up there. If we’re going to preach the whole counsel of God, we must tell them of their true destination. Hell is every bit as real as Heaven (Matthew 25:41). It’s not a temporary holding cell, as some would have you believe. It is as eternal as Heaven (Matthew 25:46) which is why it is so urgent we do everything we can to keep people from going there.
The whole counsel of God gives us the best picture of His overwhelming glory. He loves, and He hates. He shows great mercy and displays intense wrath. And what we do with Jesus determines whether He judges us worthy of Heaven or Hell (John 3:18; Matthew 16:27). Don’t shortchange God by focusing only on those attributes you enjoy thinking about. Don’t shortchange others by obscuring the complete and unadulterated beauty of God. The Gospel is only good news to those who understand the bad news of who they are without Christ (Romans 3:23; Ephesians 2:1–3). Let’s show them the bleak reality of their sin (Romans 6:23) and then present the good news of their salvation through the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus (1 Corinthians 15:3–4). Let’s give them the whole counsel of God.