Welcome, my friend, to our Bible study In Search of the Lord's Way. We're presented here by concerned Christians in churches of Christ all across the land, so we won't be hassling you about money. Ah, I like that. Besides, it's the Lord's way of doing it. I'm glad you've joined us. The program's closed captioned for the hearing impaired, too. May God bless us our studies together.
All this month we're studying about God. None of us can know God as well as we'd like. Our little minds simply can not grasp the true greatness of the nature of God. We have a tendency to think of God as we would a great man. But, He isn't so. Job said, "He is not a man as I am that I may answer Him, That we may go to court together. There is no umpire between us, who may lay his hand upon us both" (Job 9:32-33). And God may have grown a bit weary of our profane perceptions of Him just as He did with Israel in the Old Testament period. In Psalm 50:21, for example, He's saying, "You thought that I was just like you; I will reprove you, and state the case in order before your eyes." The apostle Paul preached "the unknown God" to the worldly-wise men of Athens (Acts 17:23). God may be as unknown in our intellectual American culture today as He was in Athens two thousand years ago --even among modern day professed Christians. The way some TV preachers speak to and about God is humiliating, not only to God I'm sure, but to some of us. Lord, be merciful, --In Jesus's name, Amen.
Today we're studying a thought that's found in Romans 11:22, The Goodness And Severity of God. This message will be published, along with all the others this month, in this attractive little book and will be available to you free of course, at the end of the month. However, if you think you'll want one of them, you should let us know right now --today. We'll be giving the printer the number we'll want in the morning, and if you don't get your request in promptly, you may be left out. Simply write us, In Search of the Lord's Way, P.O. Box 371, Edmond, OK 73083 and ask for the book about God. We'll know what you mean. By E-Mail the address is Searchtv@aol.com. And our toll-free telephone number is 1-800-321-8633. Now Ken Helterbrand is going to lead us in singing, then I'll be back for Bible reading and prayer.
Remember now, God is not a man, and whatever God is, He is that to perfection. I mean, when the Scripture says in I John 4:8 that "God is love," it means that God is love perfected. When we say God is all-knowing, we mean He has absolute knowledge of everything. He does not know more now than He once did. He can never know more than He does now. When in Genesis 17:1 He says He is almighty, the meaning is that He possesses all power to do whatever He pleases (Psalm 115:3). When Paul said on Mar's Hill that "He is Lord of heaven and earth (Acts 17:24), He declared God's sovereign Lordship over everything. When He created the heaven and the earth, He did it, not of necessity, but because He chose to do it. He didn't do it to make up for any pre-existing deficiency in Himself or His will, for there was none, but solely because He willed to do it. When He created man with the capability of disobedience, it was not a mistake, or blunder, He willed to do it that way. Therefore, when we come to the statement in our text, "Behold therefore the goodness and severity of God," we must know that neither His goodness nor His severity is diminished one mote by the other, nor has either of them diminished in worth. He is totally good and He is absolutely severe.
The goodness of God has never been, and cannot be overstated. It can't be, for He is goodness perfected. The Scripture says, "O give thanks unto the Lord, for he is good: for his mercy endureth for ever" (Psalm 107:1). God is always good. He is never more good or less good. He is never bad; He cannot be so, because it is against His nature, just as it is said that He "cannot lie" (Tit. 1:2). Everything God does is good. He cannot do otherwise. Six times in the story of creation in Genesis chapter one, it is said that "God saw that it was good."
The poet wrote, "Could we with ink the ocean fill, / Were every blade of grass a quill, / Were the whole world of parchment made, / And every man a scribe by trade, / To write the love of God above / Would drain the ocean dry; / Nor would the scroll contain the whole / Though stretched from sky to sky." Well, he's sure right about that, isn't he? In his book, Knowing God, J.I. Packer says that "God's love is an exercise of His goodness toward individual sinners whereby, having identified himself with their welfare, He has given himself to be their savior, and now brings them to know and enjoy Him in a covenant relation." So, when talking about His goodness, we turn at once to the subject of His love. It knows no bounds. I John 4:7-8 says. "Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of God; and every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God. He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love." (Oh my! A person may be right! Dead right! Absolutely right in all his teaching --and not know God. It makes you kind of back off and think again look, doesn't it? The verse doesn't necessitate one or the other, but demands both, rightness and love.)
God doesn't just love saints; He loves sinners, too. Jesus said, "I will have mercy, and not sacrifice: for I am not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance" (Matt. 9:12-13). The Scripture says, "For scarcely for a righteous man will one die: yet peradventure for a good man some would even dare to die. But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us" (Rom. 5:7-8). At Edmond church we teach the very little children to sing, "Jesus loves me when I'm good / And when I do the things I should. / Jesus loves me when I'm bad / But it makes Him very sad." It's true with adults, too.
Oh for the wonderful love and grace of God. "Grace" is unmerited, unearned and undeserved favor. And God is "the God of all grace" (I Pet. 5:10). It is by God's grace that sinners can be saved (forgiven their sins). It isn't because any of us merit forgiveness or deserve it or earn it (Eph. 2:8), but because the love of God in Christ Jesus reaches all who will come to Him. The apostle Paul, who perceived himself to be "chief of sinners" (I Tim. 1:15) because he was such a radical persecutor of Christ and His church, knew something about God's grace. He said it was by God's grace, he was what he was --the apostle of Christ to the Gentile world (I Cor. 15:9-10). And he said it doesn't matter how many are your sins or how big, where sin has gone, God's grace has gone more abundantly, "That as sin hath reigned unto death, even so might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord" (Rom. 5:20-21).
We must speak, too, of the longsuffering of God. Peter spoke of it with reference to the antediluvian world, "when once the longsuffering of God waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was a preparing, wherein few, that is eight souls were saved by water. The like figure whereunto even baptism doth also now save us (not the putting away of the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience toward God,) by the resurrection of Jesus Christ" (I Pet. 3:20-21). He speaks of it again with reference to the return of Christ and the destruction of this present world. He says, "The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance."
But, the theme of this message is the goodness and the severity of God. And the Scripture says, "Great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised: he also is to be feared above all gods. For all the gods of the peoples are idols, but the Lord made the heavens: (I Chron. 16:25-26). "God is greatly to be feared in the assembly of the saints, and to be had in reverence of all them that are about him" (Psalm 89:7). "Oh," but somebody says, fear in those verses doesn't mean fear." Well, let's see. The first reference (I Chron. 16:25-26) is part of the praise the congregation of Israel offered when the Ark of the Covenant had been successfully moved to its rightful place. It was after that awful experience they'd had when they tried to move the ark improperly and "the anger of the Lord burned against Uzza, when God struck him down because he put out his hand to the ark [touched it]; and he died there before God" (that's back in 13:10). With those people, fear meant fear. And don't be deceived, that's the message to us, too. And in the second passage it's clearly stated, "God is to be greatly feared in the assembly of the saints." We've become too casual about God in the assemblies of the saints. This modern concept of God as a "casual" friend is truly robbing God of His respect and it's destroying meaningful worship of Him. He is not a man. He says He is not like one of us. "Casualness" is 20th century America's idol. Many American churches are worshiping at the altar of "casualness." Are you hearing me? Do you understand what I'm saying? Nothing, seems to be sacred enough anymore to demand a serious and spiritual sacrifice. God will be our friend, but He will not be our casual friend. If we were to appear before our governor or some other human dignitary as casually and disrespectfully as we do God, we'd be quickly ushered out of the room (Read the first chapter of Malachi.) There is no fear of God in us anymore.
But, Justice and Judgment are the Lord's too. We all desire just judgment. Job is a good example. When his three friends came from afar to "comfort" him, but accused him of having done some terrible sin that resulted in such terrible suffering, Job replied, "If I have walked with falsehood, And my foot has hastened after deceit, Let Him [God] weigh me with accurate scales, And let God know my integrity" (Job 31:2-6).
Just as Job did, so do we --want justice. We all want to be weighed in accurate or honest scales. But there is no such thing in this present evil world. We've experienced it, haven't we? We know what it is to be weighed in false balances. And we're reminded of it by our daily newspaper --and radio and TV newscasts. The innocent suffer while the guilty go scot free because of some nonsensical legal technicality. It takes years --if not forever --for our American justice system (the best in the world) to execute a just sentence on the murderer or rapist or other violent criminals. It isn't so with God. God's judgment is sure and certain. The old Patriarch Abraham had it right. In his pleading with God for the sinful city of Sodom, he replied to God "That be far from thee to do after this manner, to slay the righteous with the wicked: and that the righteous should be as the wicked, that be far from thee: Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?" (Gen. 18:25). Yes, He will. Of course He will. He is good. And He is just, absolutely and totally good and just. Oh, how we should hold Him and serve Him in reverence and awe (fear), for He is good and He is just. We will get justice from Him.
The "wrath" of God is not the subject of many sermons nowadays. Jonathan Edwards, who was known for his frequent sermons on the grace and love of God, shocked the New Englanders of Colonial days with his sermon, "Sinners In The Hands of An Angry God." However, history says of him that with that sermon he launched the first great revival period in American history. Maybe such a sermon would spark another such revival in our own day. But it isn't likely to happen. How long has it been since you heard a sermon about God's wrath or anger? It's probably the least popular of all of God's attributes. In fact, there'd probably be very few believers, even, who would consider "anger" or "wrath" worthy of an association with the name of God. These qualities are most commonly considered blemishes of character, defects, not virtues.
Yet, they are essentials in the character of a good God, "who loves righteousness and hates iniquity" (Psalm 45:6). God will judge the world in righteousness (Acts 17:31; Rom. 2:5). "For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ; that every one may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad" (2 Cor. 5:10). "So then every one of us shall give account of himself to God" (Rom. 14:12). "For we know him that hath said, Vengeance belongeth unto me, I will recompense, saith the Lord. And again, The Lord shall judge his people. It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God" (Heb. 10:30-31). Let us pray.
Anger and severe judgment are as much a part of the severity of the Lord, as His love and His grace are manifestations of His goodness. But who wants to serve an angry God? In his book titled, The Attributes of God, A. W. Tozer makes a reply. He says, "I tell you this: I want God to be what God is: the impeccably holy, unapproachable Holy Thing, the All-Holy One. I want Him to be and remain THE HOLY. I want his heaven to be holy and His throne to be holy. I don't want Him to change or modify His requirements. Even it shuts me out, I want something holy left in the universe." And to that we say a hearty "Amen."
"Behold the goodness and the severity of God. Oh! How we need to have balance in our preaching and our perception of God. There are people who know nothing of the severity of God; they think solely on His goodness. And others dwell constantly on His severity --never on His goodness. We need balance. As Tozer says, "I want God to be what God is." I don't want a perverted image of Him. I don't want someone presenting to me a picture of God, which when I meet Him on judgment day, I'll find to be so inaccurate, I won't recognize Him.
My friend, if you're not ready to meet God in judgement, I hope something has been said here today that will move you to get ready. God's severe justice says, "The soul that sinneth it shall die" (Ezekiel 18:20). And in the next verse His supreme love says, "But if the wicked will turn from all his sins that he hath committed, and keep all my statutes, and do that which is lawful and right, he shall surely live, he shall not die." Will you turn from all your sins, as that verse says, and be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins as we're taught in Acts 2:38? I hope you will today. Let us hear from you that you did it today.
This is the fourth in the series of five programs this month on the theme Holy And Reverend Is His Name. Next week we'll complete the series with the message titled God Whose Voice Shakes Heaven And Earth. All five of them will be published in an attractive little book, and it will be available to you free. Simply write us and request the book about God; we'll know what you mean. Our address is In Search of the Lord's Way, P.O. Box 371, Edmond, OK 73083. Or by internet, you may address us, Searchtv@aol.com. If you prefer to use the telephone, use our toll-free number (1-800-321-8633). You don't need to send money. They're paid for by members of churches of Christ all across the country, who'd love to have you worship with them in a nearby congregation. I hope you will; if you don't have time today, maybe next Sunday. Will you? Oh, I don't know of another study that's more needed than the study of God. Our modern religious world has concerned itself with about everything and every body but God. It isn't enough simply to be religious, my friend. It's essential that we believe in God as He really is --not as we perceive Him to be. Thanks for being with us today. Do it again next week, too. Will you? God bless and keep you. We love you.
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