The Electing Love of God

I think that a big part in causing the impotence of the American church is the method of evangelism employed by the members of the church. "Jesus loves you." No warnings about sin or judgment, or God's command to repent. Just a syrupy "Jesus loves you." And that Gospel of Psychotherapy has resulted in Christians who look no different from that sinful world which they haven't repudiated.

That is far from the Gospel of the Bible. In no Scripture do we ever see Jesus or the Apostles saying to an unbeliever, "Jesus loves you."

"Yet He saved them for His name's sake,
That He might make known His mighty power"
- Psalm 106:8

That verse is about God's redemption of Israel from bondage in Egypt, a type of the liberation of the Christian from sin and its consequences. Notice that God tells us explicitly that He did so for Himself, not for the sake of Israel. He loved Himself, so He glorified His name. He loved Himself, so He displayed His power. While the Israelites were the beneficiaries of His actions, they were not the cause of those actions. It was God's sovereign choice of election that saved them.

This Gospel has power, because it isn't about God's loving me. It is about God's loving Himself, and, therefore, exerting all of His power, not for me, but His own glory.