The gospel of Jesus Christ is inherently a confrontational message. It is a declaration from the King to rebels which says that he has accomplished what was necessary to provide reconciliation and forgiveness and that "He commands all people everywhere to repent" (Acts 17:30).
In our natural state our minds are hostile to God (Romans 8:7, Colossians 1:21) and the pride that facilitated the fall of mankind is expressed in diverse manifestations of sin as we live primarily to usurp the glory of the one that created us.
We were created as image bearers to reflect the character of the Creator. Every person is born with this inherent dignity. But in addition, we are born as corrupted image bearers due to the legacy of rebellion intrinsic to us from the garden of Eden. We are more concerned with seeking our own glory rather than the glory of God. No one seeks after him (Romans 3:11).
The default of the creatures designed to display and glorify him is, therefore, one of hatred towards him. (Romans 1:30) Since a holy God will punish sin wherever it is found this results in enmity between God and man.
This also means that sins are not simply mistakes and the extent of punishment isn't solely a separation from God. Hell is a literal place of eternal torment; a neverending judgement for sins against an everlasting and infinitely holy God.
An unfortunate reality is that left to ourselves we would remain prideful rebels. However, God is "...a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness,
keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin..." (Exodus 34:6-7) and he "...desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth." (1 Timothy 2:4)
Loving their sin and pride and having no desire to bow to the King the rebels are spiritually dead (Ephesians 2:1) and can raise themself to a right standing with God just as well as a corpse can jump from the grave. There is no desire and there is no ability.
It is up to a merciful and gracious God to turn the rebels back to him.
"But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons." (Galatians 4:4-5)
In his sovereign decree, and while being entirely justified in destroying all, God chose to have mercy on some. Jesus Christ lived a perfect life and died on the cross; living the sinless perfection that we couldn't and taking the punishment that we deserve. He rose from the dead and declared his victory. All that remains is for the rebels to bow their knee (Philippians 2:10), admit their sin and inability for good and to trust in Christ.
Therein exists the confrontation. The rebels believe themselves good (Proverbs 21:2) and rely on their own illusion of righteousness. In order for them to repent they must first believe in a need for repentance and a prideful heart despises such a thing. Unless God first awakens their spirit they will always fight against him. Such is the warning of Jesus: "If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you." (John 15:18)
As Christians we are tasked with the responsibility of declaring this message to those captive in their own pride. The message carries with it the commend to confront the love of our sins. It will either result in the hearers turning to God or their further cursing the one that gave them life. We need not add to this confrontation from a sense of aggressive zealotry. But we also must not soften the message from a desire to make it more palatable. God is the one who claims victory; our job is not to try and make the rebels feel better about their rebellion and suggest turning to God. We are to announce what God has done with obedience and love. The result and the glory are His.
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