Who is Your God?

by Pastor Ed Evans

Scripture: Psalm 85:8-13

85:8   Let me hear what God the Lord will speak, for He will speak peace to His people, to His faithful, to those who turn to Him in their hearts.
85:9  Surely His salvation is at hand for those who fear Him, that His glory may dwell in our land.
85:10  Steadfast love and faithfulness will meet; righteousness and peace will kiss each other.85:11  Faithfulness will spring up from the ground, and righteousness will look down from the sky.85:12  The Lord will give what is good, and our land will yield its increase.85:13  Righteousness will go before Him, and will make a path for His steps.

          Who is our God?  In the Old Testament the people lived by rigid rules regarding how they were to handle the Ark of God, the sacrifices of animals, what food they were to eat and what they were to avoid, and keeping these rules defined for them the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.  They lived in tents, wore sandals, kept sheep and oxen, and were subject at any time to attack from neighboring tribes.  It was to God they turned when they needed help, when the crops failed, when disease killed the sheep, when the attackers outnumbered them.

          Some things change, some never do.  We are no longer under the old dietary rules, nor are we required to build arks, or temples, or make blood sacrifices.  But when we see trouble approaching, when circumstances overwhelm us, we turn to God.  We seek His help. 

          But whose help is it we seek?

          In Exodus 6:7, we read of God saying to the people, "And I will take you to Me for a people, and I will be to you a God: and you shall know that I am the Lord your God, who brings you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians."

          And in the same way in Leviticus 26:13 God says, "I am the Lord your God, who brought you forth out of the land of Egypt, that you should not be their slaves; and I have broken the bands of your yoke, and made you walk upright."
          In Philippians 2:13, Paul writes to them about seeking their salvation in God "for it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure."

          Is your salvation found in Jesus Christ, the son of the Living God?  Do you consider that your freedom from sin was bought by the shed blood of Jesus Christ on the cross of crucifixion at Calvary?  Do you expect that when you appear before Almighty God that it is the righteousness of Jesus Christ He will see you clothed in, and not the filthy cloth of your own sins?  The same Jesus Christ who is the Son of God and who was resurrected from the grave on the third day?

          Even though these events did not happen in our life time, history has documented witnesses to them so that we can say with all assurance, that is a mighty God!

          We trust our God in so many different ways because He is God.  In Psalm 4:8, we read, "In peace I will both lie down and sleep, for You alone, O Lord, make me to dwell in safety."

          Really, you don't need to be a theologian to have read about, or be familiar with the mighty acts of God.  The God we turn to when we are in need of protection, when we are in need of healing, of subsistence, of a change in everything from people's actions to natural law, when we are in need of miracles.  We turn to the Living God.

          And what does this God ask of us?

          In John 14:15 Jesus said, "If you love Me you will do the things I say."

          All the way back in the book of 1st Samuel, the prophet told us, "And Samuel said, has the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the Lord?  Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams."

          Obedience is such a small thing to ask over a lifetime, that if He is indeed God, and both can and will do these things for us, surely we can do as He asks.   He is surely worth obedience.

          After all, the very characteristics of God should make us want to do as he asks. 

          A.W. Tozer, writing in his classic book, "The Knowledge of the Holy," wrote, "What comes into our minds when we think about God is the most important thing about us.”  About us?  Yes.  Tozer goes on to say, “Man’s spiritual history will positively demonstrate that no religion has ever been greater than its idea of God. Worship is pure or base as the worshipper entertains high or low thoughts of God.” 

          In that same book, Tozer outlined 18 charactistics of God, those attributes that make Him what He is, to our knowledge.  These include wisdom, infinitude in that God knows no boundaries, sovereignty, holiness, trinity in that He reveals Himself as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit; omniscience, faithfulness, love, omnipotence, self-existence, self-sufficiency, justice, immutability, mercy, eternal, goodness, gracious, and omnipresence.  This is the God who wants to bless us and love us.

          So, if all this is true, and it is, why do we want so much to change Him?

          Instead of giving Him the obedience He asks for, we often want to make deals with Him to bargain away His consistency toward us.  We want to change who He is.  Some want a God of authority, some a God of benevolence, some a critical God, some a distant God.

          All down through the ages people have tried to mold God into their image, trimming a little sanctity off here, a little righteousness off there, adding a little worldliness over here.  Doesn't work.  Go start your own religion with a false god if you wish, but the Living God does not change. 

          From illicit sexual exchanges to the position of Jesus Christ, from man-made rules and regulations for getting into heaven to even whether heaven and hell even exist, mankind twists holy scripture to make God conform to the vagaries of the flesh.

          The apostle Paul warned us these things would take place.  In ‎1st Timothy 4:1 he wrote, "Now the Spirit explicitly says that in the later times some will desert the faith and occupy themselves with deceiving spirits and demonic teachings.          Writing to the Church in Galatia, Paul wrote in chapter one, verse eight, "But even if we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel to you than what we have preached to you, let him be accursed."

          Some have said, "I could never worship a god who sent his own son to die such a cruel death, or I could never worship a god who told people to kill animals, or a god who approved of war, or won't approve gays, or won't let my dog into heaven, and on and on as we attribute human characteristics to the God who always was and never dies.  Excuse me, but He is God.  He made us, and He makes the rules.  Righteousness, unchanged, is His definition.  Take another look at the last verse of today's scripture, Psalm 85:13, "Righteousness will go before Him, and will make a path for His steps."  If it isn't righteous, it doesn't go. 

          And as far as the rules go, God has had His say on that, and He does not change.  What is good and what is evil were decided long before you and I ever came on the scene.  In fact, there is a war being waged over that, and you and I are the prize.  At least, that's how the embodiment of evil, Satan, sees it.

          The truth is the war has already been won, but Satan keeps trying.  He was defeated when Jesus Christ died on a cross for the sins of you and I, and then God resurrected Him from the grave.  How all that will close this age on earth is described in colorful detail in the final book of the Bible, The Revelation of Jesus Christ.

          So, He is God and, again, why would we want to change Him?

          Better if we change ourselves, I suggest.  And since He knows what a tough job that is, He is willing to help us.  In 2nd Corinthians 5:17 we read, " Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creation: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new."

          All things are become new, if we are willing to believe in Jesus Christ as the Son of God.  No magic words, no potions or spells, God simply wills it.  Why do we want to change Him, again?  Amen.

Week of Worship

July 15, 2012

Invocation:  O Lord Jesus, Who comes always seeking a bride without spot or wrinkle, grant that we may prepare ourselves to welcome You as our faithful groom.  O glorious union.  Amen.

Read: Psalm 46

Daily Scripture Readings

Monday                Isaiah 55:1-13

Tuesday               Isaiah 1:10-17

Wednesday          Isaiah 1:21-26
Thursday              Romans 15:1-13

Friday                   Ephesians 4:1-16

Saturday               John 17:20-26

Sunday                 2nd Samuel 7:18-29; Ephesians 1:1-10; Psalm 132:11-18;

                             Mark 6:7-13 

Reflection: (silent and written)

Prayers for the church, for others, for yourself.

Hymn: "God the Spirit, Guide and Guardian"

Benediction:  My Lord, You once said many are called to enter Your kingdom but few are chosen.  Help me today to hear Your call -- and to so live as to be numbered among the few who enter into the fullness of Your love.  Amen.