18 Apr 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 33

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Over the last number of months we have shared with you our key verse for this series 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.
  5. Jesus the transition (Heb. 1:3)
  6. It is finished (John 19:30, Rom. 6:14)

       5. The weather outside is frightful (Rom. 8:19-23, Matt. 24:1-8)

       6. Who’s in charge here?  (II Cor. 4:4, Luke 4:6)

 

Please allow me to give you three sincere but silly sovereignty statements.  Now let me warn you, some of these statements may be your favorites.  Before you get mad at me, let me reiterate that these statements came from very sincere hearts!  However, sincere and Biblical can be two different things:

  1. “God is in control.”  This is a statement that many Christians utter when their life is spinning out of control.  If we are honest and not looking at life through Sunday school glasses, if God is in control of everything…He is doing a pretty lousy job!  Again, I submit to you that He is not in control of everything that occurs in every apartment complex unit!
  2. “Everything happens for a reason.”  While I certainly agree that “everything happens for a reason”, I also believe that reason must be qualified.  Not everything that happens comes from God.  Yes there is a good God, but there is also a bad devil, a cursed world and stupid people!  Therefore the reason so many bad things happen to good people is because of a bad devil, a cursed world and stupid people.  (I truly believe the devil could retire and leave us to our own decisions…and still do very well!)
  3. “All things work together for good.”  You might be saying, “Now wait just a minute, Pastor Jim, that statement comes directly from the Bible.  I know, I have a plaque from my Christian bookstore over my fireplace that tells me just that!”  Well let’s take a look at that verse in context.  We cannot isolate a verse and make it say whatever we want.  We must always take Scripture in context and in light of the entire Bible.  Here’s what this verse tells us in context:

 

Join us next week as we jump into #7 of our 11 Characteristics concerning the Character of God! Because He is not a car-wrecking, cancer causing Creator, but a loving, life giving Lord!