10 Jan 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 22

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Over the last number of months we shared with you our key verse found in 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 there we shared 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 that “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!

Then 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.  In other words, if you think He’s mad at you, it will be very difficult for you to treat others kindly.
  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!  

 

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)

#3. Sin ruins the view

 

In this section we looked at “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 Heb. 4:15)
    3. Heaven

#4. Will the real God please stand up?  (John 10:10)

 

Then we began to look at Six Nice Nature Necessities:

     1.) In the Old Covenant, sin had not yet been dealt with

      2.) In the Old Covenant, God only acted harshly in judgment.

     3.) Remember the causative verse the permissive tense in the Hebrew language.

     4.) In the Old Covenant there was very little understanding of the devil.

Last month we shared…

     5.) Jesus the transition (Heb. 1:3)

 

Let us continue this point with…

It is finished (John 19:30, Rom. 6:14)

In John 19:30 we see Jesus’ last words on earth, “It is finished.”  What was Jesus talking about?  What exactly was ‘finished’?  Jesus was referring to the Mosaic covenant.  He was the last sacrifice of the Mosaic covenant (see I Peter 1:19) providing atonement for our sins once and for all (see Hebrews 10:1-11).

Many times we look at both the Old Covenant and the New and we can clearly see a difference in God’s response to mankind.  In the Old, God responded in very stern ways, in the New He is much more patient and forgiving.  What is the difference?  The cross!  It is the dividing line!  In the Old Covenant sin had not yet been dealt with, but in the New Covenant the power of sin had been vanquished on the cross!   God poured out His wrath that we so justly deserved on His sinless Son Jesus Christ.  Now, sin has been dealt with and God is no longer mad at you He is madly in love with you!

Join us next week for as we jump into #6 of 11 Characteristics concerning the Character of God as we continue this series…