How can I trust a God who loves “Islamic Terrorists”?

God says that in Christ He has forgiven all people, chosen to look on all with favour — even to love them, no matter how despicable or evil they are.

I recently posted a video in response to the Manchester Synagogue attack.

And in that video I said: God is in a good mood with every Jew in Manchester. God is in a good mood with every Muslim in Manchester.

Some people hate this message. They hate the idea that God’s love is unconditional. They can’t accept it.

They want to say “God CAN be in a good mood with you if…” “If you want God to be in a good mood with you, all you have to do is…”

So many different Christian teachers say this… …they just differ amongst themselves on what that “if” is:
—if you do the right things
—if you believe
—if you are sorry enough for the wrong you’ve done

And it’s understandable, because the message of God’s grace is truly shocking… How dare we not denounce “Islamic terror” one person said How can God be in a good mood even with Islamic terrorists? Isn’t that endorsing their behaviour?

How can God POSSIBLY have forgiven, have justified even have set his love on all people?

And how could anyone TRUST a God like that?

How can I trust a God who loves “Islamic Terrorists”?

And that’s not a new question… it’s thousands of years’ old. Deuteronomy is three locker room speeches Moses gives to God’s people before they take possession of Canaan, the land that God has promised them.

In his second speech, Moses reminds Israel that they’re not getting the land because of anything they’ve done, or even because of their faith. Moses reminds them they DIDN’T have faith.

Where God appeared, they had turned away from Him, and made an idol, a false god, and worshipped it.

But, despite Israel’s failure, despite Israel’s bad behaviour, despite Israel’s lack of faith… …God loves and has forgiven them anyway.

In this second speech, Moses has set up the question:

How can I trust a God who loves unbelievers that behave in despicable and evil ways?

And his answer has two themes:

1) Fear, love and trust in God above all things (vv. 12-13, 16, 19, 20-21a)
2) Because a God like this never stops loving you — no matter how much you fail Him (vv. 14-15, 17-18, 21b)

Here’s the first thing Moses says:

1) Fear, love and trust in God above all things

Please look again at vv. 12-13:

¹² And now, Israel, what does the LORD your God require of you, but to fear the LORD your God, to walk in all his ways, to love him, to serve the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul, ¹³ and to keep the commandments and statutes of the LORD, which I am commanding you today for your good?

Five instructions: Fear, love and serve God. Walk in his ways. Keep his commandments.

All these instructions flow from understanding… …that everything God says to you …is for your good. Moses literally says that in v. 13:

I am commanding you today for your good.

And so TRUST God… that’s the point of v. 16:

¹⁶ Circumcise therefore the foreskin of your heart, and be no longer stubborn.

Circumcision was a sign of faith, a sign of trust in God’s promises.

So Moses is saying:
— Don’t trust in yourself: your works, your worthiness, or even your own faith.
— Just look at God’s mercy and rely on that.

And from that faith, from that trust, love others… …especially the weak and most needy, v. 19:

¹⁹ Love the sojourner, therefore, for you were sojourners in the land of Egypt.

And this faith should be in God ABOVE ALL THINGS, vv. 20-21:

²⁰ You shall fear the LORD your God. You shall serve him and hold fast to him, and by his name you shall swear. ²¹ He is your praise.

To fear God means to see God alone as in charge… …not to fear anything else, but to recognise that He alone is Almighty, …everything that happens in our lives is ultimately from Him alone.

To love God means to have affection for Him… …not to be ultimately attached to anything else, but to recognise He alone is goodness, …that love is expressed in obeying His commandments, rather than making up my own commandments.

To trust God means to rely on Him and His promises… …not to trust something else as the real way to get blessing, but to recognise God is in a good mood with you! …everything that God does and allows in our lives is ultimately for your good.

So, all Moses’ instructions here: Fear God. Love Him. Serve Him. Walk in His ways. Keep His commandments. Circumcise your hearts. Hold fast to Him. Swear only by His name.

All these instructions are summed up in these three words: Fear, love and trust in God above all things.

Do that is because God is good …so He’s given us His Law for our good.

This is the problem with every other religion, or philosophy, or idea, or worldview… …whether they realise it or not, they treat God as being in a bad mood with them. So think they need to do something to appease Him.

Here is how Luther says it in the Large Catechism:

All who are outside this Christian people, whether unbelievers, Muslims, Jews, or false Christians and hypocrites—even though they believe in and worship only the one, true God—nevertheless do not know what his attitude is toward them. They cannot be confident of his love and blessing, and therefore they remain in eternal wrath and condemnation.

Sin makes God angry, and makes us deserve judgement. But on the cross, all that anger fell on Jesus, and He was suffered the legal penalty you and I deserve.

So… what is God’s attitude toward everyone now? He’s in a good mood with them! He put away His anger. He dealt with our judgement.

But, people who don’t trust that God is in a good mood with them, don’t experience and receive it.

Here in Deuteronomy 10, Moses doesn’t say: Trust in God and He will be in a good mood with you.

No, but Moses does say: Trust in God because He is already in a good mood with you.

All sin. All evil. All problems in our lives… …flow from thinking God is in a bad mood with us …and so we have to do, think or say something to appease Him to get Him to change His mind:

“You shall not murder” We get angry because we don’t trust that God is Almighty over every situation and all things come from His hand. We see injustice and feel that WE need to respond to it. And don’t receive God’s peace He’s already given us. As a result, I just experience LESS peace in this life, and will experience God’s anger for all eternity.

“You shall not commit adultery” We cohabit outside marriage because we don’t trust that singleness is a gift, and marriage is a gift, and that mixing the two is bad for us. We blur boundaries because we feel God is holding back security, safety, and intimacy we want to have. And so we don’t receive God’s intimacy and love. As a result, we feel MORE lonely in this life, and will be left out of Jesus’ wedding feast in eternity.

“You shall not steal” Why do we watch pirate copies of things and break copyright laws? Because we don’t trust that God is good when He says stealing is wrong. And so we don’t receive God’s generosity. As a result, we end up MORE stressed about money, and will be poor and destitute in the next life.

Breaking God’s commandments breaks us, because He gave them to us FOR OUR GOOD. The reason we break them is because we don’t believe God is good to us.

We have already broken the first commandment: “Have no other gods.”

A commandment that simply means: Fear, love and trust God above all things.

Stop distrusting God… …stop thinking you need to persuade Him to be in a good mood with you …either by using your works …or, ironically, by using faith.

Faith in God is not something that changes God’s mind toward you.

Faith in God is simply receiving the mind God already has toward you.

God is in a good mood with you! Don’t look to yourself to convince yourself of that. You see it simply when you look at Jesus.

So, Fear, love and trust in God above all things

But that confidence that trust never comes from being told to have it.

This is a major mistake so many preachers make. I could stand here all day… …and tell you that you need to have faith. It won’t do anything to help you.

Faith always and only comes through hearing God’s promises.

But, Moses understood this. He was a fantastic preacher.

And that’s His second theme in this passage:

2) Because a God like this never stops loving you — no matter how much you fail Him

Look at the assurance Moses gives them in vv. 14-15:

¹⁴ Behold, to the LORD your God belong heaven and the heaven of heavens, the earth with all that is in it. ¹⁵ Yet the LORD set his heart in love on your fathers and chose their offspring after them, you above all peoples, as you are this day.

God is in a good mood with Israel, not because they’re good people, not because they’re people of faith, not because of they’re own choice… …but just purely because of God’s choice.

John says exactly the same thing at the beginning of His Gospel, chapter 1, vv. 12-13:

¹² to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, ¹³ who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.

Paul says the same thing in Ephesians 1:4-5:

[God] chose us in [Jesus] before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love ⁵ he predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ

God is in a good mood with you purely because He’s chosen to be.

But even this good news, so many Christian preachers today twist into something discouraging, by going beyond what God has written:

“Ahhh! You see, therefore this must mean God hasn’t chosen some people! Make sure you’re not one of them! Check your faith! Make sure it’s real! Check that you’re one of the elect!”

Nowhere in scripture are we told to do this! You should never look at yourself, your works, your faith… …or anything about yourself to know God’s attitude toward you.

You will ONLY feel awful if you do that.

to set the mind on the flesh is death Paul explains in Romans 8 verse 6, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace

I can’t see the raw invisible nature and secret thoughts of God… …Moses himself tells me that in Deuteronomy 29:29:

The secret things belong to the LORD our God

So, where should I look? How do I know God has chosen me? How do I know God is in a good mood with me?

Look at Jesus. He IS God’s Book of Life that contains the names of those God is saving. He IS the beginning, the centre and the end goal of all God’s decisions. And He IS the true revelation of God’s intentions and feelings toward you personally.

As Paul wrote:

[God] chose us IN [JESUS]

And this is EXACTLY what Moses says, in this second sermon in Deutereonomy 10:

Look at God and how He has revealed Himself to you in His Word, vv. 17-18:

¹⁷ For the LORD your God is God of gods and Lord of lords, the great, the mighty, and the awesome God, who is not partial and takes no bribe. ¹⁸ He executes justice for the fatherless and the widow, and loves the sojourner, giving him food and clothing.

You want to know God’s attitude toward you? Look at God. Look at what He says. Look at the way He executes justice through Jesus: by taking God’s anger and judgement upon himself and showing us pure love and kindness. Verse 21:

²¹ …He is your God, who has done for you these great and terrifying things that your eyes have seen.

How do we know God? Not through things we think we can work out in the world… …but through His Word and what He points to in it… …through His acts of salvation in History. For the Israelites that was especially their salvation from Egypt. For us we see things even more clearly now because we can look at Jesus on the cross.

A God like this never stops loving you — no matter how much you fail Him

How can I trust a God who loves “Islamic Terrorists”?

God is in a good mood with everyone. Because, through Jesus on the cross, God has justified everyone.

He’s put away His anger at them. He’s chosen to be positive toward them.

This was the Gospel preached by Moses, achieved by Jesus. This is the Gospel recovered and rediscovered by Luther.

And it’s the Gospel that is evoking so much anger and hostility from people today — especially from religious people who call themselves evangelical Christians.

“Surely this can’t be right.” They think. “Surely this can’t be what God says.” They claim.

But, God’s Word assures you it is true God IS in a good mood with you! Don’t look at yourself: You see it when you look at Jesus.

God’s decision in Jesus to have a good disposition toward you… …is the basis of all obedience to Him:

1) Fear, love and trust in God above all things

Because He commands these things for your good. …and it’s the basis of all assurance from Him:

2) Because a God like this never stops loving you — no matter how much you fail Him

So, whatever is on your mind today — look at Jesus, because He has already forgiven you for it.

As Moses says:

He is your God, who has done for you these great and terrifying things