The message that I'm going to speak this morning goes right along with this month's Harvest seed. Romans 11:22 says, "Therefore, consider the goodness and severity of God: on those who fell, severity; but toward you, goodness, if you continue in His goodness. Otherwise, you also will be cut off".
Father, This morning, thank you for your word that is alive and active in us today. Let this word have its way, may you increase and may we decrease, in Jesus name, amen.
I've found that many times we only seem to have a partial picture of God, of who He is. It depends on how we're looking at Him that day and it depends on how we view Him ourselves. Some people see God as good, full of grace and mercy, full of truth and goodwill towards us. Others see God as mean, and judgmental. Some see Him as unapproachable and many approach God with a casual familiarity that I believe borders on disrespect.
Hebrews 4:16 says, "Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need". How many are glad you can come before your God and your Savior? 1st Timothy 6 is for those others who see God this way, "God, the blessed and only ruler, King of Kings and Lord of Lords, who alone is immortal and who lives in unapproachable light, who no one has seen or can see, to Him be honor and might forever, amen".
Our God, both of those scriptures are Him. He's a God that we can come to and He says to come boldly, yet if we were to go to Heaven right now, we could never approach the unapproachable light of His glory. The Bible tells us that we are to consider both, the goodness and the severity of God. Romans 11:22 in the NIV reads this way, "Consider therefore the kindness and sternness of God: sternness to those who fell but kindness to you, provided that you continue in His kindness. Otherwise, you will also be cut off".
Our God is kind yet He is decisive. He is holy and He is good. He is boldly decisive and full of justice and we are to consider both. It's important to know that we can know God fully and not just in part. God wants us to know Him in all His glory and splendor, for who He is completely. Today it seems that if you're going to sit down to a meal of God, you're either going to get one or the other. Someone is either going to tell you about His goodness or His severity. Some people only talk about the grace of God and some people are hell fire and brimstone and that's all you get. This is going to be a struggle for some but for others it's a great mystery to know that we can know Him in His fullness. The truth is that we will always struggle with these two sides of God until we get to Heaven.
1st Corinthians 13:9-12 says, "For we know in part and we prophecy in part but when that which is perfect is come, then that which is in part will be done away. When I was a child I spoke as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things. For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part, but then I shall know just as I also am known. And now abide faith, hope and love, these three; but the greatest of these is love."
How many are thankful in this year of growth that we are going to know God in all of His fulness? We are getting to know the goodness of God and the power of God; the faithfulness of God and the judgment of God. The Bible says that when we were a child, we thought like a child, we just knew in part. How many here are becoming grown up in the Lord Jesus Christ today? Just growing in the goodness and knowledge of God. When we get to Heaven we will know Him in all His fulness, we will understand Him just as He knows us here. Ours is a God who forgives sin and He heals the broken yet He has also prepared a place called Hell for the devil and all who follow him.
The grace of God is a beautiful thing to consider. I want us to look first at the goodness of God. Grace is the undeserved favor of God. It is the blessing of God that is poured out on those who don't deserve His goodness at all. How many are thankful for the grace of God poured out in your life? You and I can each look at our own life and we know that we're not deserving of what God has done for us, but He was willing to give His grace toward us. If it were not for the grace of God, everyone of us would be spiritually lost and we would easily shipwreck our everyday life. There is something marvelous about serving God everyday because as a believer we know that not only does He give us His grace to set us free from sin but He gives His grace daily so that we can walk out His life for us and live in the fulness of His goodness every single day. I thank God for that. Aren't you glad that you don't have to mess up all the time now? And when you do, He's there to pick you up.
I've found that God's grace is necessary, not just for salvation but because not one of us can live without it everyday. The power of God's grace saves a soul, it heals the sick, it restores broken lives; it gives wisdom to the simple and it gives direction to the lost. I can site testimony after testimony of those that have been touched by the kindness of God. In the 40 years that I've lived, I've watched the Lord touch so many lives and not one of them is a small thing but powerful. If I were to get with each one of you about what God has done in my life, we'd have a shouting party before 15 minutes were over. What an awesome God that we serve. We could tell of His faithfulness. The goodness of God is what gives us the certainty and the confidence to live for Him.
Psalm 27:13 says, "I would have lost heart unless I had believed that I would see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living". The reason we have hope and the reason we keep going is the kindness of our God who cares for us.
Psalm 31:19-21 says, "Oh how great is your goodness which you have laid up for those who fear you, which you have prepared for those who trust in you, in the presence of the sons of men. You shall hide them in the secret place of your presence from the plots of man: you shall keep them secretly in a pavilion from the strife of tongues. Blessed be the Lord, for He has shown me His marvelous kindness in a strong city! For I said in my haste. I am cut off from before your eyes". Nevertheless, you heard the voice of my supplications when I cried out to you. Oh, love the Lord, all you His saints! For the Lord preserves the faithful, and fully repays the proud person. Be of good courage, and He shall strengthen your heart, all you who hope in the Lord". This will make you shout when you read it and it will give you strength if you're going through it. Aren't you thankful for the goodness of God? Rejoice in the Lord.
One of the ways we know the greatness of our God is because of the good He does for us. A couple weeks ago I was flipping through the television as I normally will do at night. It's funny how you can have 150 channels and there's still nothing on. So I went to the favorite places I like to go when there's nothing on like the Discovery channel, the Learning channel or the History channel. I wound up on a channel called Discovery documentary and they were actually doing a documentary of a church that was ministering to prostitutes in Nashville, Tenessee. How many know I'm going to stop at something that is going to talk about Jesus on a national channel?
Here were these ladies of this church reaching out to women that were in the street. These were not high priced call girls that look pretty and have a lot of money. These were women that had been beaten up by life, beaten up by men and were locked into drugs. These were young women but they looked as old as you could get because life had been hard. But what I saw were people who had given their life to Jesus and they were showing both those who had been saved and those who weren't saved.
These ladies who had given their life to the Lord, both white and black and hispanic; all of them were in there together sitting in a circle sharing the testimony of what Jesus had done in them. You could see that these were women who had known the world but God had come in and given His grace to them. When they would sing, they sang the song of those who understood what it was like to be touched by the goodness of the Lord Jesus Christ. Women who had spent nights in tears and in places where you and I would never go; God had changed them. I sat in my room and I wept. These ladies are now our sisters in Christ. Isn't that beautiful?
These same women would go out on the streets and go to these places, ministering to the ladies that were still there; women who were missing teeth and still in all the drama of the world; Men that God loves, but men like me want to pound on them because of what they do to women. You'd watch as these women would struggle trying to talk to these women about the Lord but they still needed to earn money. Pretty soon there were women coming in and giving their life to Jesus. Then they got them off the street and gave them a place to live; they helped them to detox from the drugs and the alcohol and to start over.
At times I wept because I was happy of what God was doing in their lives and at times I wept because I was mad at sin. I saw what sin does in the life of people, how horrible and disgusting it is. But thank God for the goodness of a Savior and there is nothing greater than seeing a life transformed for God. Everyone of us in this room have a testimony and it's not any greater than anyone else's, it's still a good one. How many are thankful for what Jesus has done in your life? This is the power of the goodness of our Savior, transforming lives.
I've seen the goodness of God as people have been healed from cancer; People I've ministered to with tubes in their nose and as many needles as they could stick in their arms, and we'd pray and God would heal them. I went to see the man that we prayed for just two Sundays ago and the tumor is gone. He's at home and getting around, the chemo is coming out of his body and his strength is returning. How many are thankful for the strength of God?
I talked to a man that I had helped perform his marriage ceremony about 9 years ago. I hadn't talked to him for about a year. I asked him how he's doing and he said, "Life has been a little rough. My wife decided she didn't want to live for Jesus anymore. She started going to the bars, drinking and doing drugs". These are people that had gone to a church and were working in the children's ministry and doing a great job. He said, "We're divorcing. I found stuff in her drawer that showed me she had been cheating on me and had no intention of coming back to Christ with me". I asked him, "How are you doing?" He said, "I'm serving Jesus. I'm going through the hardest thing I've ever gone through in my life but I'm still praying for my wife. You know I'll take her back if she'll turn to the Lord". I said, "Really? After all that she's done? He said, "Yes". I asked him, "What are you doing?" I'm serving Jesus. I'm so thankful for His goodness. I've known what life is without Him and I can't imagine what it would be like If I didn't have Him helping me now". How many are thankful for the goodness of God?
The God that we serve ministers in real life, in real time when people are going through the hard things. This man that I'm talking about wasn't bitter; he was just trusting God and serving the Lord. That's an amazing thing. He didn't take a gun and go after people or kill his wife. He said, "I'm just praying to God and loving my children". The goodness of God is what gives us the strength to do that. By His grace we are no longer far off from Him and we are no longer disconnected when our life isn't falling into line as we'd like it to. Because of His grace, He is still close.
Ephesians 2:13-14 says, "But now in Christ Jesus, you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. For He Himself is our peace who has made both one and has broken down the middle wall of separation". He has made us one in Christ and because of His love, He draws us close. We are not far from Him even when our life seems to be falling apart. Jesus is still right there. Jesus broke through everything that separated us from God. Once you could only get to God by going through the priest, but when Jesus died on the cross, that veil in the temple that separated God from everybody else was ripped in two and God said, "Come to Me and I will give you rest. I want to be with you and I want you to be with Me".
Many today cheapen God's grace by using it as a way to live any way they want in life and this is to weaken the true power of the grace of God. This type of thinking distorts the reason for God's kindness which is to make a way of relationship with Him. Our sin affected our relationship with God but the grace of God reveals the greatness of our God.
I asked Carlos and the worship team to sing that song, "God is greater" today. Our God is greater and all you need to know is that grace of the Lord. "The one who turned the water into wine, the one who opened the eyes of the blind; there's no one like Him in all the world. Into the darkness you shine and out of the ashes we rise because of the grace of our God and there is no one like Him in all the world". Our God is greater, our God is stronger. He is higher than any other and if our God is for us then who can stand against us? No one, no devil, no demon, no nothing can stand against the power of our God who loves us. He made a way when there was no way and He still makes a way when there is no way because of His grace and His love for us.
Psalm 34:2 says, "My soul shall make it's boast in the Lord; the humble shall hear of it and be glad". If you want to brag on something today then brag on the Lord Jesus Christ. Instead of bragging on you, brag on Him who has been good to you. Our testimony is us bragging on God. When I talked with my friend over the phone about his wife, he said "I'm going to brag on Jesus because He's seen me through everything".
The Bible says to not only consider the goodness of God but to consider the severity of God. We serve a holy and righteous God. The righteousness of God demands two things: number one is that God must destroy all sin and number two is that our God, who is great in mercy and peace, give his creation a chance to come back to Him.
Psalm 25:7 says, "Do not remember the sins of my youth nor my transgressions. According to your great mercy, remember me, for your goodness sake, O Lord". God has already done both. He has already made a way for us to go to Heaven through our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, and because of the cross He has already destroyed sin, and He has made a place for it in all eternity.
I thought about the differences in the churches that I've experienced growing up regarding the goodness and the severity of God. I grew up in a Pentecostal church. Church was church and when you came in, you respected God, because you walked into a place that was set apart for Him. Today as we build church buildings and even the one we're looking at building, a multi-purpose center; we play games in here during Harvest festival, we move the chairs out and do different things in this room. Although this is a place set apart for God, we also understand that we can have fellowship with the Lord and we have no problem doing it in this room. Many of the other churches that I knew growing up were the Catholic churches in Pittsburgh and these were incredible cathedrals. When you walked in, you knew you were in church. The buildings were grand with marble and slate on the floor. When you walked in, you were silent and if a baby cried, the people were scrambling to get him out. You didn't eat dinner in the sanctuary because that was the sanctuary; that was God's place.
In the charismatic churches that I grew up in, we always knew the goodness of God. We knew the wonder and the love of God; we also knew the severity of God but the focus was on His grace and mercy. In the Catholic churches, many times what we knew was the hardness and sternness of God and many that would come out of that failed to understand that God really loved them and wanted to draw them close. All they knew was that God was unapproachable and priests were unapproachable. When you would talk to them they wore the collar and the nuns wore their outfit, and I'm so glad that I don't have to wear all that stuff. But I pray that in the Pentecostal church, not only will we know the goodness of God and love Him as our approachable Savior, but that in all we do, we would never forget that He is a Holy God. May we never forget that we serve a God who is both good and severe.
As I see God doing miracles and changing people's lives, I find myself growing more and more in my hatred for Satan and for sin. When I was younger, I knew that sin was bad but today as an adult I know why; because I have seen it's effects and what it does to people. I have seen how it destroys a life and the families in that life, and how it effects the people around it. Our God hates sin with a passion that is God's own indignation. That is why God sent His son, Jesus, to die on the cross. It was not only an act of love for those who He created, but it was an act of war against the enemy and against sin so that it could be defeated. It was not just drawing a line in the sand and saying, "I don't like this, I have to do something about it". He said, "I'm going to change people's lives and when they are changed, they will be glorified in me, but I will not stand sin".
Psalm 45:6-7 says, "Your throne, O God, is forever and ever; a scepter of righteousness is the scepter of your kingdom. You love righteousness and hate wickedness".
"The Lord will cause His glorious voice to be heard and show the descent of His arm, the indignation of His anger and the flame of a devouring fire with scattering tempest and with hailstones".
God hates sin because of what it does to people. It destroys the precious lives He created and it effects the people in those lives. The world is littered with the brokenness of sin. When I looked at those ladies, not only did I see the grace of God but I saw others that weren't coming to the Lord. As a pastor, I see lives that are changed everyday by the goodness and the grace of God. But I see others that are messing around with sin and they forget that not only is it messing them up in the sense of what it does in their life but it has set them against the God who is holy, pure and righteous, and will bring every deed, thought and word into judgment one day.
Sin is that virus of horror that Hollywood has dreamed up. There is no natural cure for sin and it has infected all that come in contact with it and it must be destroyed because the infection kills everything it comes in contact with. So Jesus made a cure for that infection by His atoning blood on the cross of calvary. God is not amused by sin. In His great mercy, God has made a way out of sin. But those who will not come to Him will know the severity of God. Severity means decisive, plain speaking, intense, strict judgment or discipline, or an exacting standard of integrity. May we know both the goodness and the severity of God. He is both pure and holy, and gracious and loving.
Psalm 5:4-7 says, "For you are not a God who takes pleasure in wickedness, nor shall evil dwell with you. The boastful shall not stand in your sight; You hate all workers of iniquity. You shall destroy those who speak falsehood; The Lord abhors the bloodthisty and deceitful man. But as for me, I will come into your house in the multitude of your mercy; In fear of you, I will worship toward your holy temple".
Romans 11:22 says, "Therefore consider the goodness and severity of God: on those who fell, severity; but toward you, goodness, if you continue in His goodness. Otherwise, you also will be cut off".
I believe it's time for the Church of Jesus Christ and the world to consider again both the goodness and the severity of God. That's part of growing in the Lord and being mature in our walk with God. Embracing his goodness, His grace and His love for us but also understanding that He is a severe God, a decisive God, who will stand against sin. I pray that the church will know it again because out of that power of love that God has, we will reach the world with the gospel of Jesus Christ. It is also understanding the severity of God that moves us with a love for people, understanding that one day they will give account. I want to ask you, do you know the Lord's goodness and faithfulness? Have you experienced it in your life? Do you hate sin as much as God hates sin? Do you hate your sin because of what it does in you and what it does around you? Do you love God more than anything in your life? Are you a friend of God? Are you not only living in the boldness to come before Him but are you living with a holy reverence that honors His glory and respects His position as the God that is higher than any other?
Have you come out of religion? Do you know that God loves you and that you no longer have to be afraid of Him and that you can come to Him because He cares for you? The goodness and the severity of God, what a marvelous and wonderful God we serve. May we live in the balance of knowing who our God is. May it cause us as believers to be mature in all ways, to know Him in all His fulness; because if we do, we will not only know His great love but we will experience His glory. We will see lives changed, hearts mended; those who are broken, healed, and the church again that comes out of darkness and only walks in His light. How many know the light is much better than darkness? Amen.
