Enough Already! Stop Preaching God’s Love, For Heaven’s Sake!


A loving God and a holy God—recovering the whole gospel.

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  • Short, Scripture-rich, straight to the point
  • Helps you love people with truth, not instead of it
  • Great for pastors, small groups, and one-to-one discipleship

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Short Overview

What if our churches talk about God’s love more than the Bible does? In Enough Already—Stop Preaching God’s Love, Neil Baulch argues that a sentimental over-emphasis on “God loves you” has eclipsed the Bible’s own balance of grace and truth. The book surveys Scripture, the early church, and church history to show how the gospel’s power returns when we hold together love, holiness, repentance, obedience, and judgment. The result is a bracing call to recover the whole counsel of God.

This book argues that the modern church has over-weighted talk of “God’s love” in ways that mute Scripture’s concurrent witness to sin, holiness, repentance, judgment, obedience, and discipleship. Section 1 states the problem; Section 2 stacks evidence across Scripture and history; Section 3 names the consequences; Section 4 calls the church to repent and recover a balanced, biblical gospel.

Structure at a glance

  • Section 1 — The Church has a deep problem (Ch. 1).

  • Section 2 — Overwhelming Evidence (Ch. 2–33).

  • Section 3 — The Consequences (Ch. 34–35).

  • Section 4 — What Now? (Ch. 36–37).

Chapter-by-Chapter Summary

1) We Focus on God’s Love Far Too Much
The thesis: the Western church has over-emphasized “God loves us” beyond Scripture’s own emphasis, weakening preaching, discipline, and discipleship. “Seeker-friendly” optics aren’t the Spirit’s measure; Scripture is.

Let’s see how much the Bible tells us explicitly that God loves us.

2) “God Is Love” — 1 John 4:8
John’s statement is true, but its context urges believers to love one another; it’s not a standalone “God is nice to me” slogan. Don’t build doctrine on inference while ignoring clear commands.

3) Names of God
Surveying divine names shows God’s holiness, majesty, lordship, righteousness, and justice featured far more than sentimental language; “love” is not the only or chief descriptor Scripture uses for God’s nature.

4) Angels’ Declarations in Heaven
Heaven’s speech centers on God’s holiness and glory (“Holy, holy, holy”), not flattery toward man; the emphasis is vertical, Godward.

5) OT Prophecies Concerning Messiah
Messianic prophecies stress righteousness, justice, salvation, and a holy King; they do not major on “God loves you” slogans apart from covenant repentance and obedience.

6) NT Prophecies of the Coming Messiah
From birth narratives and prophetic songs to Anna’s witness, the stress is on salvation and redemption in God’s plan—not repeated assertions of “God loves you.”

7) John the Baptist’s Preaching
John’s keynote was repentance and preparation for the Lord, announcing “the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world,” not a ministry of generic affirmation.

8) Jesus’ First Words of Ministry
Jesus begins with “Repent…” and the nearness of the kingdom; His opening emphasis is allegiance and turning, not therapeutic comfort.

9) Jesus’ Inaugural Sermon (Sermon on the Mount)
The sermon blesses the humble and obedient and warns the hypocrite; it binds teaching to obedience and ends with a judgment scene and the house on the rock.

10) Jesus’ Teaching
Across parables and discourses, Jesus insists on repentance, lordship, counting the cost, and final judgment—love is real, but never detached from truth and obedience.

11) Was Jesus Mostly Tender & Kind?
Jesus was compassionate, yet He also rebuked, warned, and confronted—especially religious hypocrisy. Reducing Him to “only nice” distorts the Gospels.

12) Was Jesus Always Kindly to the Sick?
He healed in compassion, but often coupled healings with calls to faith, repentance, and sin no more; He also withdrew and denied signs to the demanding.

13) Does Jesus Run to Help Us?
The Gospels portray Jesus calling disciples to follow Him; He is Savior and Lord—not a valet. Mercy is abundant, but on His terms.

14) What Did Jesus Come to Do?
To save sinners, destroy the works of the devil, preach the kingdom, and lay down His life as a ransom—uniting love and justice at the cross.

15) Jesus’ Instructions to the Seventy
They proclaim the kingdom, call for repentance, and warn unresponsive towns; mission includes both peace and woe.

16) John 3:16
This beloved verse reveals the cross as the measure of divine love, with perishing in view; it is not a blanket of unconditional acceptance apart from faith in the Son.

17) The Love the Father Lavishes on Us
God’s lavish love is chiefly displayed in Christ’s death for sinners and ongoing grace—not in perpetual pampering or “cuddles.” Re-centering here keeps love from drifting into sentimentalism.

18) Does God Love Everyone?
Explores common-grace vs. saving-grace categories, clarifying that biblical “love” language differs by context (covenant, election, discipline, universal benevolence).

19) “Unconditional” Love of God
Shows how the Bible’s love is holy love; fellowship with God carries covenant conditions (repent, believe, obey), even as His saving initiative is sheer grace.

20) The Great Commission
Jesus commands disciple-making, teaching them to obey all He commanded; evangelism is not “tell people God loves them,” but preach Christ, baptize, and catechize toward obedience.

21) Any NT Books Written on This?
No New Testament book is titled or framed as “God loves you” as its dominant thesis; the canon’s emphases are far broader and weightier.

22) Any NT Passage With This Title?
Similarly, extended units labeled “God loves you” are absent; where love appears, it is rightly situated among holiness, repentance, and discipleship.

23) How Many Verses Say “God Loves Us”?
A simple count surprises modern readers: explicit statements are far fewer than our collective rhetoric suggests—evidence of our imbalance.

24) The Holy Spirit’s Work
The Spirit convicts of sin, righteousness, and judgment; He is the Spirit of holiness, not merely the sponsor of positive feelings.

25) Preaching in Acts
Apostolic sermons center on Jesus’ lordship, cross, resurrection, repentance, and forgiveness—rarely (if ever) framed as “God loves you” messaging.

26) Paul’s “Important Points” — The Gospel
Paul’s summaries (e.g., 1 Cor 15; Acts 26) stress Christ’s death and resurrection according to the Scriptures, repentance/faith, and future judgment.

27) Basic Doctrines — Hebrews 6
The elementary teachings list repentance, faith, baptisms, laying on of hands, resurrection, and eternal judgment—not “God loves you” as a catechetical head.

28) Early Church Fathers
Patristic witnesses regularly hold together divine love with holiness, repentance, and judgment—far from modern sentimental minimalism.

29) Church History
Movements of renewal/awakening consistently rediscover sin’s gravity, the cross’s offense, and the call to holy living.

30) Satan’s Aims in Scripture
One satanic strategy is to distort the gospel into a man-centered message where “love” is severed from truth and repentance.

31) Any Prophecy of This Drift?
Yes—Scripture warns of people wanting “nice” words, resisting truth, itching ears, and teachers who flatter. (See the book’s use of Isa 30:8–11 and similar texts.)

32) Are We Fulfilling These Prophecies?
The modern appetite for affirmation-only preaching suggests we are; the fruit includes shallow discipleship and resistance to correction.

33) Does the NT Already Over-Emphasize Love?
Even granting the NT’s beautiful witness to divine love, the author argues we’ve stretched that emphasis beyond Scripture, eclipsing God’s other attributes. (TOC entry/title.)

34) Depth of Deception
“Christian correctness” replaces Sola Scriptura with a feelings-first filter; the book calls this a subtle but sweeping distortion.

35) Consequences of This Deception
Among the fruits: church discipline withers, preaching softens, evangelism loses urgency, and believers struggle to endure trials with a robust theology of God.

36) What Should We Do?
Repent, recover the whole counsel of God, restore biblical preaching/discipline, and walk in daily humility and prayer—listening and obeying afresh.

37) Last Word
A pastoral appeal: love and truth belong together; let the church prize both, for Christ’s honor and for the good of souls.