Amen, so i'm going to kind of continue on here in the series that I started back a few weeks ago on
Just talking about you know, the concept of god and we talked about
You know how god is something that we can conceptualize and think about and you know
That was kind of the groundwork and how we're kind of working into
You know, uh, it's more of the details, you know, what is it that we conceptualize about god?
What is it that we can know about god and tonight or this morning rather? I want to preach about the fact that
I want to preach about the essence of god. Okay the essence of god and
You know, what is essence, you know essence really is just what is god's substance?
What is his being if you're going to say what is god or who is god?
Uh, we'll go going forward. We'll get more into the nature of god, but really we're just talking about what is god, you know
And and not that god is a thing
He is a person we'll get into that
But we see first of all regarding god's essence that god is life. God is life
and that's kind of uh, you know, uh, maybe a more of a metaphysical kind of idea to think about you know,
Life is something
That is difficult, uh to define
But you know, we we can always go to a you know, very clinical kind of just dictionary definition of what life is
But you know god is is more than that definition, you know and throughout this whole series, you know, I I don't want to be
Give the impression that i'm trying to put god in a box
Or trying to just limit the definition of god to these certain things, you know, obviously we've been given the scripture
You know praise god for that so that we can look
At such an incomprehensible topic as god himself
And say with some concrete authority that these are the things that god is there are some definite things that we know about god
And one of those things that we know is that god
Is life god is life now if you look there in john chapter four
It said in verse 24. God is a spirit. God is
A spirit. Okay. So god, you know right out of the gate is you know
That's what I want to point out there in that in that verse. It does not say that god was
You know, jesus is telling his lady. Look god is meaning god exists. God is a being god is life
Okay
He is the source of life. Okay. And again, i'm not going to try to define exactly what life
Is because that's kind of difficult to do
You know, we get to get up here I get up here and say well
It's the can you know, give you the dictionary definition. It's the condition that distinguishes organisms from inorganic objects and dead organisms
Right, we understand that like we get it like this chair is not alive
I am you know, if I cease to breathe I no longer repulse. I am no longer alive. I am dead, right?
So we understand that
clinical medical just dictionary definition but
Really if we were to ask you hey, what is life? What does it mean to be?
What does it mean that god is what is it to be or to to exist?
That's when we get into that metaphysical realm where it gets a little more difficult to say
Well, this is what life is, but we can say that that being that consciousness is god, you know, god is life
God that that be that intuition
You know that is kind of a definition of life and again i'm already kind of getting into that that gray area
I don't want to lose you
There's going to be some definite application at the end and there's going to be some real
Concrete things as we go so i'm going to move on here
But you know we say that god is life and the reason we can say that is because god is the source of life
You know god is
And everything else that is comes from him. He is the source of all things. Okay by him all things consist
Now keep something in john will come back
You can just put the the flyer in there a bookmark or something
We'll come back later and we're going to be hanging out in genesis two three six right in that area
So get over in genesis chapter
Uh number two if you will genesis chapter number two
But god is the source of life. I'll begin reading in verse seven of genesis two
It says in the lord god formed man of the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils
The breath of life and man became a living soul
So again, where does life come from what we see here that it came directly from god?
That when he formed man
God himself breathed life into him
You say well, how did that happen? How do you how do I how do we explain that?
We don't we accept it by faith, you know
There's a lot of things that we could say are concrete about god. We have to understand the end of the day
They are believed by faith
Now is that is that these people's people would say well that's so far fetched
Is that any more far-fetched than saying that billions of years ago?
It rained on a bunch of rocks and those minerals, you know slowly eroded into some primordial ooze
and then billions of
Years later an organism just developed on its own and slithered out of the sea and grew a tail and climbed a tree
And all these other things that they teach you when it comes to where life comes from, you know
And that's what they teach, you know in evolutionary biology and things like that. That's the theory
And again, it's just a theory, you know to me it makes a lot more sense and and it
It is conforms more with reality to say look the source of life is god
Right, but when you take god out of the equation you say well there is no god now you have to explain
Well, where does life come from? What is the source of life? Okay, and that's where you get into these crazy ideas
But we believe that the bible teaches that god is life and that god therefore is the source of life
That's what we mean by god is life
He is the source of it. He breathed it into
Uh into man, he became a living soul go over to jeremiah chapter number 10. Jeremiah chapter number 10
The bible teaches that god is life the bible says in jobe 33 the spirit of god hath made me
The breath of the almighty hath given me life. God is the source of life in john 5
He said for the father hath life in himself so hath he given to the son have life in himself
God has life in himself. He is the source of life
God is life which means this that god because he is the source of life is himself alive
Is himself alive?
God is not this this just this impersonal being god is not just this cold
You know source god is not just some kind of you know, uh, you know electrical station
He's not just some it's not like some damn somewhere generating electricity
They're just giving you know empowering everything. God is a person right god himself is alive. Okay. God is alive
And first of all, he is alive in the sense that other gods are dead, right? They are non-living
He is referred to as the living god, right?
That's what the scripture refers to him as the bible says in john 6 and we believe and are sure that thou art the christ
This is the confession of peter, right?
Thou art the christ the son of who of the living god, right?
You're not just the son of any god you are the son of the living god
Meaning that he is that god that you are the son of is the source of life
He is alive all these other gods in fact are no gods because they do not have any life
Jeremiah chapter 10. Is that where had you go verse 10? It said with the lord is the true god
He is the living god and an everlasting king at his wrath
The earth shall tremble and the nation shall not be able to abide his indignation
Thus shall you say unto them the gods that have uh, these the gods that have not made the heavens and the earth
Even they shall perish from the earth and from uh under these heavens
You can see how he's saying look he is the living god. These other gods are dead gods. They are not gods
They have not made the heavens and the earth the living god has verse 14. Every man is brutish in his knowledge
Every founder is confounded by the graven image for his molten image is falsehood
And there is no breath in them. They're not alive
They are vanity he said in verse 15 and the works of error in the time of their visitation. They shall perish
The portion of jacob which is the lord god is not like them. He's not like these dead breathless idols
He is the former of all things. He's the agent of days
He you know before abraham was I am is what jesus said
He is the former of all things and israel is the rod of his inheritance
Look the god of jacob the god that we worship the god of the bible is the living and true god, okay
So if god is life and god is alive that means that god is self-conscious when we say that god is alive again
We're not just saying that
You know, it's a source of energy or something like that. Like he's just some kind of
Impersonal source, but god is a living
A a person, you know who has a personality meaning this he is conscious
God is self-aware just as you and I are god is aware of himself. He's aware of everything that he does
If you go there go over to exodus chapter 3 exodus chapter 3 i'll refer back to john 4
It says in verse 24. God is a spirit right god is
And they that worship it
No, they that worship him, you know, there's these personal pronouns that are given to god in scripture because god is
Conscious god is a person, okay
He has personal names
Of course
We're familiar with exodus chapter 3 verse 13
And moses said unto god behold when I come to the children under the children of israel say to them the god of your fathers
Had sent me unto you and they shall say to me. What is his name?
And what shall I say unto them and god sent moses? I am that I am
And he said thou shalt say unto the children
Thus shalt thou say unto the children i am hath sent me unto you saying look this is my name
I am
Go over to exodus. Oh, you're still in exodus chapter three. Just stay there
He said in excess chapter 20 thou shalt not take the name of the lord of thy god in vain
You know god is person. We know that because why god has a name, you know, god has actually many names
There's many names and titles that god uses
Uh to you know describe himself and to make himself known unto us
In fact, you know, it's it's in the ten commandments. Thou shalt not take what the name of god
Why does god have a name because god is a person because god is alive because god is conscious and i'm gonna
you know, I know that again, this is kind of a
You know, maybe a more philosophical sermon if you want to call it that but there's going to be some real life application here
At the end. All right, so stick stick with me exodus chapter six
It says in verse two and god spake unto moses said unto him. I am the lord
And he appeared unto abraham and unto isaac and unto jacob by the name of god almighty
So look when I appeared to your fathers, I was known as the name by the name of god almighty
But by my name Jehovah was I not known unto them, you know, god is a person god is alive god has a name
You know, you can put a name to god, you know if god
Uh, you know were to show up at some meeting somewhere everyone was naming wearing a name tag
He'd have one on right because he has a name he's that much of what i'm and i'm using an illustration
To get across the point that god is a person
Now obviously, I don't mean he's a person like me and you he's far beyond all that
And it's it's it's hard to you know, our finite minds to wrap our minds around, you know, something as incomprehensible as an eternal god
but sometimes you know because of that fact, I think
The tendency is to maybe feel like god is a little impersonal or that god is very distant or god is very
uh, you know, uh
uninterested
But the fact is is that god is a person with a name and god is very interested in what goes on in his creation
So god has a name. He is a person
God also has an intellect
It's you know, if you're giving yourself a name, you know
And you're a person obviously you have the power to think and to know, you know
That's kind of how we define what it means to be
A person, you know to be self-conscious to be aware to be able to to have the power to you know
Of cognition to think and to know god has an intellect go over to exodus chapter three if you're still there
Verse seven and the lord said I have surely seen the affliction of my people which are in egypt
And I have heard their cry, you know
These are mental processes being able to see something and make sense of what you're seeing being able to hear something and process that information
And he says I i've heard their cry by the reason of their task masters for I know their sorrows, you know
God is not indifferent to the sufferings that we go through. God has an intellect. He understands these things
He has the power to think
And to know and like that should be a comfort to us
You know, we'll get into what else it should be to us later
But you know the fact that god has an intellect should comfort us. I mean, that's what he's saying here in exodus
Look, I I have heard their cry. I've seen the affliction. I know their sorrows, you know
God's not this distant impersonal being god is a person
God thinks god knows and god feels and god can understand and have compassion upon us. God can
Uh, you know sympathize and empathize with us
Over to exodus chapter number two many exodus chapter two the bible says in psalms many. Oh lord
My god are thy wonderful works which thou has done and thy thoughts which are toward us
They cannot be reckoned up in order unto thee if I would declare and speak of them
They are more than can be numbered
What are more that can be numbered the thoughts that god has the thoughts that he had not just you know
Not just the thoughts that we think
Why doesn't glue stick to the inside of a bottle?
Why aren't all doors revolving, you know
These deep thoughts that we have no his thoughts are that are innumerable are toward us the bible says he's thinking about us
And us specifically not just mankind in general, but you as an individual that's what the psalmist is saying here
He's saying thy thoughts which are toward us where they cannot be reckoned up in order unto thee if I would declare to speak of
Them there more they can be numbered
What god thinks about you god knows about you and god, you know that should and could be a comfort, you know
Maybe it might not be if you start to realize well god knows everything about me, you know, yep, you know
And that but you know, that could be a very comforting thought
Not only is god, you know, if we're saying look god is alive god is life
God is the source of life
And he's not just this
Impersonal source that he is an actual person with an intellect
Not only does he have an intellect
Is that he also has a sensibility? Okay, he has sensibility. I don't and i'm not saying that god makes good choices
Okay, I say because we always say hey be sensible, right? But what are we saying?
You know what we're saying is, you know being sensitive think about
You know how you're acting be sensible about the decisions you make where he's trying to say is is that you know, you want to
You want to be a person with feeling right? You want to be considerate? Okay
God has sensibility. What do I mean by that? It means he has the power to feel
It's not just that god sees and hears and knows and thinks about us
But god actually has feelings towards us god has feelings for us
And he has the power
Because he has feelings to be affected right his feelings can be
Changed okay
Because again god is a person exodus chapter two, you know exodus is great
You know right out of the gate in the scripture. We're learning so much about god as a person, right?
And it says in verse 24 and god heard their groaning and god remembered his covenant with abraham and isaac and jacob
And god looked upon the children of israel and god had respect unto them, right?
He said look i'm going to feel a certain way towards them. I'm going to have respect towards them
After he did what heard their groaning?
Right, he was affected by what they went through
You know, he has the power to feel there's a lot of scripture we can look at on that
But we're going to move on here
Not only does god have a name not only does he have an intellect not only does he have the power to feel
He has a sensibility
Is that he also has what we call abolition right or the power to will
God has the ability as a person to choose to act right
Go over to genesis. You're still in chapter three
In genesis chapter three verse 16 genesis chapter three verse 16 again
He said go and gather the elders of israel together and say unto them the lord god of your fathers
The god of abraham of isaac and of jacob appeared unto me
Saying I have surely visited now again
We're going to kind of cover what we've gone over real quick here because this passage kind of shows us things about god
I have surely visited again. It's the personal presence of god. God is a person I have visited, right?
And seen there again is god's sensibility. Okay god's
Ability to be affected I have visited and I have seen that which is done to you in egypt
And I have said I will bring you up
right, so god sees
And god is affected and then god because he has a volition the power to will acts
God has the ability to make decisions to uh to to act right and that's what's going on here
I will bring you up right again the power to act out of the afflictions of egypt onto the land of the canines
And the hittites and the amorites and so on and so forth
So we're just looking at the the again
the essence of god
Who is god? What is god like?
Well, you know god is a person and god has names and god has an intellect. God has sensibility
God has the power to be affected and to and to act, you know, and that could work for us or against us, right?
We'll get into that
But not only that, you know because god can be affected that would tell us that you know, and we see in scripture
most importantly is that god has
the characteristics of personality, right
You know character if i'm gonna say if i'm a person, you know, that means I and I have feelings
It means i'm going to experience different emotions, right?
In fact, we'll even say if people who who are uh, who don't express emotion or seem to feel it
Well, so they're a very cold person, right?
What are we saying is that they have they lack that to some degree, okay?
But god is not like that. God has the characteristics of personality. He has emotions
In fact, he expresses these emotions in fact, and one of those that he expresses is that of grief. Okay, you know, god can be grieved
The bible says in eph
Be grieved that god can feel emotion
If you're there in genesis go over to chapter six genesis chapter number six
Verse five and god saw right there's his ability to perceive
his intellect
That the wickedness of man was great in the earth and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually
And it repented the lord. So it's not like he just sits back
Indifferent to what man does god had can be affected
God can experience emotion based upon what man does
and he said
Uh, he saw that the imagining of his thoughts of his heart were only even continually and it repented the lord that he had made man
And it grieved him at his heart
Right. So god can be effect and again going back to what I just spoke about. He has the volition the power to act
God look god cannot only feel these things he can act upon
His emotions right because it says in verse seven and the lord said I will destroy man whom I have created from out the face
Of the earth and we know the story that's exactly what he did, right?
He went in the flood and he killed everything except, you know, the eight persons on the ark
So that's one of his emotions, you know, uh, we're gonna move on go to deuteronomy
I'm gonna go through these real quickly actually know what go over to uh,
Go over to proverbs chapter six proverbs chapter six
This is an important emotion to cover in the day and age that we're living
Okay, but god not only has experienced grief. He experiences anger, right?
You know, sometimes we'll be grieved by something and it might cause us to feel compassion towards somebody or sympathy
Right or want to help that person or if they're grieving us by something they're doing that is offensive
You know, it might make us angry or upset and that's what happens with god
I mean, that's what happened in the story in genesis right genesis six
He ends up just destroying everybody. Okay, because of he was the fact that he was grieved
But not only is god can be god be grieved. He has a whole range of emotions
And one and we always like to talk about love right which is a great i'm glad that god is love, right?
We've talked about that and that you know, that's one of god's great
Characteristics that god is love that god is loving that he is merciful and long suffering
But we can't forget that god is a complete person and he also experiences negative emotions
And we're living in a culture in a society today that wants to just that say
They want to say look these these natural emotions that you feel are just not allowed anymore
These these god-given just inherent emotions that are part of the human experience are just all of a sudden no longer optional for you
And if you feel any of them, then you're a bad person like this philosophy is out there
And they'll say things. Well, you know anger is one of them right anger, but you know
God is somebody that gets angry
He said in in first kings and the lord was angry with solomon because his heart was turned from the lord god
Look solomon did something it affected god. He saw what he did and it made him mad, right and of course
That story again. God has the power to act and he did okay
God is love
As many as I love he said in revelation I rebuke and chase it
So you we always like talking about how god is love. Well, there's another aspect of that
Yeah, god is love but that doesn't mean he gives you a pass to do whatever you want
Because god is love and because god does love he says I rebuke and I chase him, you know
It's a loving thing to rebuke and chasing people
You know to cause them to stop doing right just like a parent would correct their children. Hopefully if they were doing something wrong
You know my child's running towards traffic
And I say hey you get back here. Oh don't don't that sounds harsh
Don't be so unloving
You know, and then I then I discipline them so they don't do that in the future. Oh, that's so unloving. No, that's love
That's me keeping them from doing something that's going to harm them, right?
So that's a whole other sermon
But the one I want to focus on one of the emotions I want to kind of park it on for a minute
Is the fact that god experiences hatred?
Okay, god hates
And that's you know, that's like a word you can't even bring up anymore
And people want to just like pretend that's not part of the art or vocabulary or it's something that we're just not allowed to feel
We can't hate anything anymore
or anyone
Right, but god hates and god hates people and god hates things that people do. Okay?
You say god doesn't hate anyone hosea chapter nine look we're just going to look at a sampling of the subject just a sampling
Okay, hosea chapter nine
He said in verse 15 all their wickedness is in gilgal gilgal talking about ephraim for there. I hated them
He said look I hated him and he even tells you where he hated him in galgal
For the wickedness of their doings. I will drive them out of my house. I will love them no more
All their princes are revolters
Look god god can be so affected by what man does that eventually just says, you know what I hate you
That's bible friend hosea chapter 9 verse 15. He said I hated them for their wickedness. I will love them no more. Okay
Well, god loves everybody. Yeah up to a point
God starts out loving you god for god. So love the world that's past that's past tense though loved
right
Everyone's loved up to a point the people can reject god and go against the will of god
Until he just says you know what? I no longer love you. In fact, there's some people that god hates
Right now this is a small group of people. Okay, don't
Like pastor anderson was preaching thursday night, you know every unsaved person out there is not our enemy, right?
That doesn't we can't just instantly if someone rejects the gospel or rejects christ or is is perturbed by the teachings of the word of god
We don't instantly go. Well god don't do that
We could that's another subject but I want to move on okay
We've got to kind of put that clause in there. So we don't just you know
Run wild with that doctrine that god hates but god does hate and it's important to bring that up
In the day and age that we live in
He said in romans he's at old testament new testament romans chapter 9 verse 13
As it is written jacob have I loved but esau I hated okay, and that's referring to a nation of people
Okay, and he's saying a whole nation of people I hated
That's the bible proverbs chapter 6 are you there look at verse 16
These six things that the lord hate yea seven are abomination unto him
And it's not just that, you know, god hates in these few isolated places. God has a portion of scripture
He actually just lists gives us a litany of things that he hates. Okay
Of course, we could read the list verse 17 a proud look a lying tongue and hands that shed innocent blood
An evil heart that deviseth wicked imaginations feet that be swift to running to mischief
A false witness that speaketh lies and he that soweth discord among brethren
These are things that god hates and look i'm glad god hates these things
You know, i'd have a problem if god didn't hate these things
If god didn't hate the shedding of innocent blood he said well i'm okay with that
I mean i'm not for it, but you know, I don't hate it. I'm indifferent
That would not be good
I mean, there wouldn't be a good look on you
You know if you saw the people just innocent people being you know, uh oppressed and murdered and taken advantage of and you say well,
You know
No big deal, but you know, that is what a lot of false religion teaches out there
You know buddhism that we should just be indifferent to the suffering of others because that's just part of their
Their reincarnation or whatever. That's just something they have to experience
That is a cold indifferent attitude. That is not the nature of god
When god sees the innocent suffering when he sees
Uh discord when he sees the wicked imaginations when he sees feet that are swift and running to mischief. He says I hate that
He hates the proud. He hates the lying tongue and god hates these things
So again, I just that's just but that's just one emotion
Right. The point that i'm making is that god is a person. He has a personality
He experiences these emotions. This is who god this is the essence of god say who is god? What is he like?
That's what we're looking at
Now the other one I want to kind of make application with is the fact that god is jealous. Okay, just think about this if god
You know has an intellect and god knows and god feels and god can be moved and god can act
You know and god has these feelings towards us
And he has a love for us, you know, that could be a very comforting thought unless we provoke god to jealousy
You know god is jealous for us
God cares about us and god wants us to love him, you know, god doesn't want us
to give our affection to
You know some false god or something like that and i've used this illustration before but it'd be like if I came
You know if I came home from work one day
And my children had you know taken some play-doh
And and built a little figurine, you know, it made it look like a man said well, that's dad now
And then just ignored me from there on out
You know, hey kids
Who wants to get ice cream?
Now they might snap out of it for that, right?
But they just they just did you hear something?
Nope, not me
Well, there's dad over there little play-doh man, right?
And he's cold and indifferent and he doesn't have any feelings. In fact, we can just make him out to be whatever we want
Don't you think I as their father would be a little upset by that?
I would smash that little play-doh man. I'd put him in a little ball
I might even take a bite out of that salty little thing, right?
And throw it in the trash i'd be upset and then i'd correct them and say no I am your dad
Why because i'm jealous. I want my children. I want their affection. I want them to love me
I want them to obey me. I want to be able to bless them
I want to be able to help them all of those things. Okay, I would be jealous
And today, you know, that's another one of those words that we shouldn't be jealous, you know
Of anybody or anything? Well, we shouldn't be as envious. That's what we mean, right? We shouldn't covet and be envious
Jealousy is a good thing. You know, you should be jealous about some things, you know
You should be jealous for your spouse
And say well, you know my spouse can have you know friends of the opposite gender and it doesn't bother me
You know something's wrong there
You know, that's a recipe for disaster
You know, you should be jealous for your spouse
Again, that's another sermon but god is somebody who is jealous, you know
And i'm just saying all that to to point out the fact that this is not a bad attribute
None of god's attributes are bad. None of the emotions that god's feel god feels are bad. They're all good
Even if they're negative in nature, even if they result in negative things, you know, if god's hatred and anger and jealousy brings about
You know negative consequences. So be it
God is still good. Okay, but god is jealous. He said in deuteronomy
If you want to actually go over to deuteronomy chapter five i'm too late. I'll just start reading from deuteronomy six
Just go to deuteronomy five. He said in chapter six verse 14. Ye shall not go after other gods. Don't make that play doh, man
You know and that's kind of a joke, but that's pretty much what they would do
That's pretty I mean, what's the difference between that and and carving some god out of wood?
You know, maybe it might take a little more skill and craftsmanship
Then then a then a you know, a child can put it into it and it can become very ornate
And it can even be beautiful to look at and we could admire the the craftsmanship that went into it
But at the end of the day to god, it's just like a stupid lump of play-doh that some four-year-old put together. Okay?
You shall not go after other gods the gods of people which were around about you why
For the lord thy god is a jealous god among you
He says his glory. He shall not share with another
He wants all that adoration. He wants all the admiration. He wants all the worship life because he's the only one that's worthy of it
He deserves it
And he's jealous when he doesn't get it
So the lord thy god is a jealous god among you lest the anger there it is again of the lord thy god be kindled
Against thee and destroy thee from off the face of the earth
I mean, it's not just like god gets jealous and then you know goes goes home and eats a tub of ice cream
And is depressed about it. No god takes action
God gets jealous and then he gets angry and then he starts to work in our lives to bring us back around
And in their case he's like i'll destroy your whole nation right off the face of the earth
If you're going to go whoring after these other gods i'll just wipe you out
And in fact, that's exactly what happened when we read the story
So, you know, let me just get to the application this morning and wrap it up here, okay
Yes, god is you know, we're talking about the essence of god, you know
We could just talk about all the metaphysical and philosophical things that that brings up that god is life. Okay
But that really wouldn't benefit us in our practical lives
So what we need to do is apply this and think about the fact it because god is life and is the source of life
And is a person who himself is alive and experiences all these emotions
You know that should affect the way we live
That should have an effect on us
because
Here's and this is why so many people
They they want to just make god into an image. They just want to oh, let's just make god into
Let's just carve them out of stone and wood and call this our god
I mean think about the children of israel did when god came down in the pillar of power mount sinai
Moses goes up into the mountain. They just turn their backs on and say hey aaron make a golden calf
Why because that god's frightening?
Because that god is actually alive
Because that god we're actually going to have to listen to
That god might actually have some things to say and be able to back it up and we can't we don't get to just make
Him into whatever we want
So why don't you just make us a false god? This is what people do
Why because of the fact that a living god is a frightening god?
It's a frightening thought
It's a lot more comfortable for us because we're sinful right to just say well, you know, god's just this impersonal force
God doesn't feel emotion. God's never angry. God's not jealous. God doesn't hate anyone
You know that might be a comfortable thought for people who want to just live wicked lives
And don't want to be confronted with their sin and and understand that they've come short of the glory of god
But that's not reality. That's not what scripture teaches us the bible teaches us that god is the living god
And that is and can be and should be you know to some degree a frightening thought, okay?
And that's what that's why false religion seeks to make god
Impersonable because the living god is a act of god that we would actually have to obey
and fear
Because here's the thing if god is not alive then god has no will
God has no volition god can't act
And then therefore there's no consequences if we don't obey him
If god's not alive and has no will then there are no consequences
You know eat drink and be merry for tomorrow we die
We can do whatever we want, but that's not the case. God is alive. God is a person
God does have the power to will and to act god has emotions and therefore there are consequences for how we affect god
Because he is a person
So, you know out of all the people on the planet, you know
We could talk about how the unsaved they want to just kind of ignore the fact that god is a person
But really the people that should be most concerned about it are those that believe this
Of those that know this to be the truth christians are the ones
That should be most concerned with a personal and living god
We and here's the thing we should because god can hear and see and act and feel don't ignore god
Don't treat god like he doesn't exist or doesn't have a will he does
We should be the ones that are most concerned with the fact that god is personal that god is living
And again going back to uh, you know, the the old testament reaction of israel right in deuteronomy
Did I have you go there chapter 5 verse 24?
This was their reaction when moses is
recounting to israel
Right that when when they were confronted with god at mount sinai when they saw him come down that pillow fire
He's he's recounting their reaction to them. Okay, this is moses speaking and he said in verse 24
And he said when he saw that pillow fire come down
Behold the lord god has showed us his glory and his greatness and we have heard his voice out of the midst of the fire
We have seen this day that god did talk with man
And he liveth they're saying wow
When that happened, we said god is the living god. This is the true and living god god is alive god live it
And what was their reaction great? This is wonderful. No verse 25 now, therefore, why should we die?
They're saying this was this is frightening to us to see here and to think about the fact that god is alive, okay
Why should we die for this great fire will consume us?
I mean, that's how god chose to show up
When he said look i'm going to show you the true and living god
I'm going to reveal myself to my people in some way he comes down in a pillar of fire
With blackness and darkness and thickness and trumpets and the earth is shaking. I mean, it's this frightening
I can't blame them for being afraid but that's how god chose to make himself known
Because that's who god is. God is somebody that we should be afraid of
He is somebody to be feared and to be respected and all that
I mean you could have come down in a, you know pillar of balloons
right confetti
I'm here and everyone would be like yay
It's a party. That's not how god chose to do it because god is holy and god is righteous and god is just
Perfecting all of that. So god comes down in this very fearful sight they see it and they say why should we die?
Verse 26 for who is there of all flesh that hath heard the voice of the living god speaking out of the midst of the fire
As we have and lived go thou near and hear all that the lord thy god shall say and speak thou unto us
And all that the lord our god shall speak unto thee. We will hear it and do it and say look
Just you tell us what god said and we'll do it
Because it's too frightening to even go and try and have that conversation with him, but we don't even want to get near it
He's that scary
And the lord
Heard the voice of your words and he spake unto me and the lord said I have heard the voice of the words of this
People now get remember what is it that he said? He said moses we saw him come down in fire
We are afraid we said we're gonna die you go talk to him and you just tell us what he said and then we'll do it
And then god has a response to to their response and he's telling moses this
Notice what god said
He doesn't rebuke him for that. He doesn't say well, what are you afraid of?
No, no, I was just kidding, you know, just kidding really not that scary
He said no
I have heard the voice of the words of this people which they have spoken unto thee they have well said all that they have spoken
And saying you know what? They're right. I am scary. That's who I am. They should be afraid of me
They should respect the fact that I am the living god and that I have a will
And that I experience jealousy that I have anger
That I have hatred that I have emotion that I have the power to act. It should frighten you. That's what god is saying
And here's the thing about that. Well, that's the old testament. God hasn't changed
And that's something we'll get into in a future sermon about the image immutability of god. I can't even say right now
Is that god does not change?
And god still hasn't changed that is still the same god that we worship. God hasn't gotten less frightening
I mean when when john's in heaven, he falls at his feet as one dead
Every time they come to the presence of the glorified christ, you know, they fall on their feet is dead
They can't even look he has to touch him say fear not
Right
And god, you know does more there's more wrath and indignation poured out by god at the end of the bible than anywhere else
In scripture and god hasn't changed. This is the same god
Go over to hebrews hebrews chapter uh hebrews chapter 12 hebrews chapter 12
I begin reading in verse 28. It says wherefore we receiving a kingdom which cannot be who be moved
Let us have grace whereby we may serve god acceptably
And look a lot of people would just love to put a period right there when it comes to serving god
They say yeah, i'm christian. I'm gonna say i'm saved i'm going to heaven
But let me have grace that I can serve god acceptably
You know god is just going to be all love and always gracious and look god is those things and we can talk about that
But there is no period there he said let us serve god acceptively with what with reverence with respect and and not just reverence
But also godly fear with reverence and fear
You know the fact that god is alive and the fact that god is a person that god thinks and sees and hears and feels
And acts should frighten us
Into what into obedience?
And say oh if god has a will let me do it
Let me live for the lord then
He's saying
Serve god accept with godly god with reverence of godly fear
Why verse 29 going back to that picture in the old testament in the book of hebrews for our god is
a consuming fire
That's our god in the new testament. He is still that what consuming fire
And it's such a it's a great picture of the fact that god
Cannot be stopped when you think about these fires that break out
It's just eventually I mean they'll try, you know, and every illustration falls apart. I know
They'll throw they'll they'll bring the planes over with their tartan and try to put it out. They'll be out
With shovels and axes and cutting things down and putting up fire breaks and everything else
But sometimes he just said they have to just step back and say it's out of control. We can't stop it
And that's how god is
It's not like we get to understand who god is and know what god is like and understand the essence of god just say
Yeah, but that's not for me. No our god is a consuming fire
And whether you like it or not, this is the way he is
Therefore let's have some reverence. Let's have some godly fear and you know what we'll have grace too
In order to do what to serve him
You know, it's a very gracious thing that god allows us
finite man
to serve him
Allows me to get up and try to with my you know
Little mind try to express to you what god is
That's a very gracious thing that he allows us to do things like that, right?
Go over to hebrews chapter 10 hebrews chapter 10
You know, and this is the thing that I think
We need the most because so often, you know people miss this
And they want to just think oh, you know, I know god has all these things but he's not really interested in what I do
No, god is interested in what you do. God is interested in how you live and what your priorities are. Okay
He said in verse 30 for we know him that has said vengeance belongeth unto me
I will recompense saith the lord and again the lord shall judge
But who is he going to judge?
his people
You know god judges his people
We want to think about how god has all these things and say well that's bad news for the sinner
That's bad news for the last person out there and look it is
Well, you know what? It could also be bad news for us
We are the ones that should be most concerned about god's attributes
The essence of god we should be the ones that should be most concerned about what god is like
And have an understanding that he is all of these things
And that he does see and does feel and does act we should be the ones that are most concerned
Why because he is the one that judges his people?
That's why it says in verse 31. It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of a living god
It's a fearful thing to have the living god become a part of your life
I mean, that's what the that's what the children of israel did in the old testament god came into their lives and they said that's scary
Right and god said yeah, you're right
It is now that doesn't mean that we have to live our christian lives in a complete fear, you know
Let us have grace that we may serve god acceptably. God does give us grace
Hey, you know what? We can please the lord and you know, just like any any earthly father
You know if if we make our earthly fathers mad and we feel afraid we should be afraid
If we upset our our father on earth, you know that should
That should make us afraid that's a natural reaction
But does that mean we have to constantly be afraid of our of our father on earth?
Should children always be afraid of their dad?
No, they should be able to draw close to their father and have affection with their father
Experience joy and love and peace and all those other great things
But not at the expense of the fear. Okay, it's not either or it's both
So what am I getting at go over to second peter second peter, what's the application
The application is this that because god is alive and is all of these things, you know, we need to straighten up fly, right?
And make sure that we're doing those things that please him and not those things which anger and upset him
You know, he is the living god as it says in second corinthians
What agreement hath the temple of god with idols for you are the temple of living god?
Ye are the temple of the living god god is closer to us today than he was back then
He was in a pillar of fire in mount sinai at a distance right today. He is dwelling within us
We are that temple. We have the spirit of god within us. We are the temple of that living god
Wherefore come out from among them being separate sayeth the lord and touch not the uncle
Unclean thing and I will receive you and I will be a father unto you and he shall be my sons and daughters
Sayeth the lord god almighty
You know, he is the living god. What does the living god deserve? He deserves better than a dead faith
Is it possible to have a dead faith? Yeah
You know, we can have faith but it can be dead meaning it bears no fruit. It has no fruit in it
That's what he said into uh in revelation chapter three the church of sardis
He said be watchful and he said I know thy works that thou hast the name that thou livest and art dead
Be watchful and strengthen the things which remain that are ready to die
You know, this is what happens to christians so often especially when they lose sight of the fact
That god is a person with a will and emotion and is involved that he is a father unto them. Okay?
What happens is that their faith begins to die?
They don't strengthen if they don't strengthen that which remains it will die it will be a dead useless faith
They'll be so caught up in the things of this world and the cares of this life
That their faith their service for god will become
non-existent
This you know, this happens over and over
You know, i've i've been doing this i've been living the christian life for 20 years
I've been in church for for you know about that whole length of time. I've only been you know preaching and you know pastoring
Yes, I said it
For the last three
You know, but i've and i've seen plenty of this, you know in my own life and in others
where it's just like
People don't get this that god is, you know, they say oh, yeah. I know god is alive. God is a person
But what does that mean to you personally? How are you going to apply that to your life?
You know, that should affect the way you live. It should affect your decisions. It should affect your priorities
It should affect how you live your life
If god is alive and we're going to answer to him one day
Look you're going to stare you're going to look at god in the face. Just just as you as sure as you're standing here today
It's going to be every bit as real as this moment right now. That's how real that is
Now I get it's hard to understand that by by faith, but that is the truth
Did I have you go to second peter chapter three?
second peter chapter three
Verse 10 he said but the day of the lord will come as a thief in the night. Look that day is coming
In the day which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise and the elements shall melt with fervent heat
And the earth also and the works that are in shall be burned up
Now notice i'm gonna before I read verse 11. I want you to go to the end of verse 12 and notice how it ends
This is a question that peter asks
Look, he describes this day that's coming where god is going to melt the earth and everything that's in it
He's going to burn everything up
The heavens themselves everything is just going to be destroyed. Okay
And then he asks a question in verses 11 and 12
He says in verse seven or verse 11 seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved
What manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation and godliness?
Looking for and hasting unto the coming of the day wherein the heavens shall be being on fire shall be dissolved
And the elements shall be melt with fervent heat. It's a question
And what he's asking is this do you get it?
Are you getting it?
That god there is a day that's coming where god is going to melt the earth
Heavens all the things that are in it and we're going to give account to god
We are all going to stand before god and give an account of the things that we have done the body whether good or bad
Whether we've lived for him or not
And you know, I can understand
Why peter wonders this why he forms that as a question he's saying look
seeing this
what manner of persons you ought to be
and
You have to wonder sometimes does this go over people's heads
And and some and sometimes it does
Sometimes you get you get up as a preacher and you try to tell people about what god expects
About how we ought to live about who god is and all of this and it's just like then you see people make decisions in their
Lives and it's like it all just went
Say hey, look, we're all you know, we're all god will reward us for our service on earth
God is going to reward us according to our works. He said behold my works are my reward is with me
to give every to give every man according to his works
Amen. Amen and everyone's like yeah, and then then you see the make decision. It's like
And that's what peter is saying here seeing then
That all these things shall be deserve what manner of persons you ought to be
Saying look if this is the truth and we believe this then that ought to affect the way you live
That would affect the decisions that you make in life
Everything that we do should be done in the light of eternity
And the fact that we serve a living
god
Who is conscious who is aware who has feelings and emotions?
And and has a will for us
It should cause us, you know to to to think about these things and as a preacher like peter sometimes I wonder
If people really get that, you know
And that's part of why i'm trying to preach through this and the application i'm making by taking the time to tell us like look
Yeah, we could talk about the essence of god, but what does that really mean to us that god is a person that god is alive
And sometimes you preach that and you have to and things like this and you wonder do these people see
That god sees
Do these people know that god knows?
Do people feel?
That god feels does that affect us?
And then you wonder, you know, are they are people willing to live for god who himself is alive
Let's go ahead and pray