04 Oct It is What It Is (Discovering the true character of God…because He is not a car-wrecking, cancer causing Creator, but a loving, life giving Lord!) part 10

Over the past few weeks we have been sharing our key Scripture for this series:  Hebrews 11:6, “For without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.”

From these verses we shared with you three very important takeaways:

1. Notice the word “cometh”.  The Greek tense for the word “cometh” is in the continual tense, meaning it is discussing those who continually come to God.  It could read “those that cometh and cometh and cometh to God”.  It describes a continual, communicative relationship.
2. When we continually come to God, we must believe the “He is” …not He was or He will be.  That describes a vast majority of the Body of Christ.  “God did a miracle in biblical days” or “One day when we all get to Heaven, He will heal then.”  God is not the Great I Was or the Great I Will Be…He is the Great I AM!
3. He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.  Now we’ve left behind three quarters of the Body of Christ.  Most don’t believe He is a rewarder…most believe He is a taker!

This verse travels a long way in helping us understand the true nature and character of God.  How you view His character is so vital to you!  Last month we gave you 4 View Verifications:

1. How you view Him will determine how much you come to Him.
2. How you view Him is how you will treat others.
3. How you view Him will determine your outlook on life.
4. How you view Him will determine your destiny.

Then we began to discuss “11 Characteristics Concerning the Character of God”:

1. You can’t create God in your own image (Rom. 1:25).
2. Heaven Yes…Hell no!

From there we gave you “3 Hell Happenings”:

1. Hell was not originally created for man (Matt. 25:41).
2. God will respect your will all the way to Hell (Matt. 25:34,41).
3. It’s not sins that send one to Hell, it is a sin that sends one to hell (John 16:7-9).

This month let’s continue…

3. Sin ruins the view.

I remember a few years back when Anne and I were visiting an elderly lady after her husband had just died.  She owned a lovely old house on a beautiful plot of land.  Her backyard was gorgeous…big, beautiful trees and immaculate landscaping.  However, a huge spider had built a large and ugly web on the window of her back door.  Every time you looked out the window to see the beautiful back yard, the view would be completely distorted because of the ugly spider and his web!

In the same fashion, sin has distorted the view of the nature of our God.  Therefore in order to view God correctly, no longer skewed due to the ugliness of sin, we must look at the nature and character of God in the three places where sin did not skew the view!  Please allow me to share with you “Three Sinless Scenarios”:

1. The Garden of Eden before sin
2. The life of Jesus.  While certainly sin surrounded Him in His earthly ministry, there was no sin in His life (see Hebrews 4:15).
3. Heaven

If you look at these three sinless scenarios, you will be able to ascertain the true will and nature of God more clearly.  Was there sickness, pain, tragedy and calamity?  Of course not!  It wasn’t until sin entered into mankind and upon the earth that those things began to materialize.

Join us next week as we continue our series…