Declaring Doctrine (Part 9) | The Moral Attributes of God
Alright well we’re there in John 4. And of course tonight we are continuing through our series on “Declaring Doctrine”. What we’re doing in this series is we’re doing a systematic study of all of the major doctrines in the Bible or at least we’re going to try to cover as many of the major doctrines as possible. And we started last week with this section on the Godhead and we began by talking about the attributes of God. And you know some people might think or we might think that these things are kind of basic but these are really the foundational beliefs that we have from the word of God in regards to who God is and how it is that we can approach God. And of course last week we looked at the attributes of God. And when we looked at the attributes of God, we were looking at the abilities of God. What is it that God is able to do that makes him different than us? These are the things that make God who he is. God is omniscient and omnipotent and omnipresent. He’s immutable. And we learned about those things.
Tonight we’re kind of continuing a little bit with that thought. Tonight I’m preaching on the subject of the moral attributes of God. And these are also things that make God different from you and I. But these don’t have to do with God’s ability, they have to do with the being of God. What makes God in his being different than us. And I’m going to try to run through these as quickly as I can. I’ve got 9 of them to go over tonight. And I preached a little longer this morning than I usually do. So I’m going to try to make up a little bit of that time today. Let me give you the moral attributes of God. And we’ll begin with the most famous one. And again these are the things that make God who he is. What is it that can be said of God that’s true of God but not true of us? These are also the things that make God moral. And we’re going to look at that and I think it’ll be easy for you to understand.
Number 1 – God is love. The Bible says that God is love. And this is something that’s very well known today. This is quoted a lot in in churches and this is something that people talk a lot about. 1 John 4:8 “8 He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love.”. The Bible says that God is love. If you go down to verse 16 of the same chapter, the Bible says this: “16 And we have known and believed the love that God hath to us. God is love; and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him.” So the Bible says that God is love. Now you say, “This is not deep. This is something that every liberal church in America preaches and teaches and emphasizes”. But let me just say this. This is what the Bible says so it doesn’t matter who teaches and preaches it. It’s the word of God. God is love. But let me also say this. Though this is one of the moral attributes of God, today when you listen to the average Church in America, you would think there’s only one moral attribute of God. Every church is just going to teach you “God is love. God is love. God is love”. And I’m not mocking that God is love but that’s not all that God is. That is a moral attribute of God. God is love.
But let me give another one that you don’t hear too much about. Go to Isaiah Chapter 6 and let me give you the second attribute. And here’s what I want to do. I want to run through these nine attributes as quickly as we can, as quickly as we can move through scripture. And then I want to end by kind of giving you an application for all nine of them. And that will just kind of explain the importance of us understanding these things. So number one is that God is love. Go to Isaiah Chapter 6. Let me give you the second one. Not only can we say that God is love but we can also say that God is holy.
Isaiah 6:1 “In the year that king Uzziah died I saw also the LORD sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up, and his train filled the temple. 2 Above it stood the seraphims: each one had six wings; with twain he covered his face, and with twain he covered his feet, and with twain he did fly.”. Verse 3 “3 And one cried unto another, and said, Holy, holy, holy, is the LORD of hosts: the whole earth is full of his glory.”. In the book of revelation they say “holy, holy, holy, lord God Almighty who was and is and is to come”. They cry “holy, holy, holy”. And I believe they cry holy three times, one for each member of the trinity. They cry out that we worship a holy God. He is holy holy holy. Thrice holy. And the word “holy” means set apart from sin, set apart or set away from sin, set apart from that which would defile, set apart from that which is sinful. The same word is used as a synonym for the word “sacred”. So, please understand this. Yes God is love. We hear that all the time. But something we don’t hear a lot about is the fact that not only is God love but God is holy. God is set apart from sin. And by the way, God calls us to be holy. The Bible says that God has called us to live holy, separated lives. And I’ve preached about the doctrine of separation and holiness. Separation from the world, from sin unto God.
God says this “Be ye holy for I am holy”. So, God is a holy God. God is love. The sad thing is that today people use that first one, the most famous moral attribute of God, “God is love”, to justify all sorts of wickedness. You stand up and you preach against the filthy, sodomite pedophiles out there, and I’m not preaching about this tonight, but I need to preach about it. It’s becoming more and more apparent that these LGBTQ people are interested in pedophilia and it’s a big thing that’s happening right now. Netflix just put out some movie that’s basically justifying pedophilia being legalized. Today when you preach against that, people say “You can’t say negative things because God is love. Well wait a minute. Yes God is love but God is also holy. God is also set apart. God also requires us to set ourselves apart from sin. He says hey, you be holy. He says be ye holy for I am holy.
Exodus 15:11 “11 Who is like unto thee, O LORD,”. So notice, God is the only one that it can be said is completely holy. It’s not that he practices holiness. He is holy. You and I can love but God is love. Do you understand the difference? You’re not love. You’re not holy. You should love. You should be holy. You should try to be holy. But this is actually a moral attribute of God’s being. God is love and God is holy. Notice Exodus 15:11 “11 Who is like unto thee, O LORD, among the gods? who is like thee, glorious in holiness, fearful in praises, doing wonders?”. And by the way, let me just say this. There is a connection…. I’m not preaching about this tonight but you know one of these days I should preach a sermon on it. There is a connection between the glory of God and the holiness of God. We just saw here with Isaiah that Isaiah saw the Lord sitting upon the throne high and lifted up and his train filled with the temple. See, in the Bible, whenever men and women got a vision of the glory of God, what always was evident to them was the holiness of God. I mean when Moses saw the burning bush and stood in the presence of God, what was he told? Take thy shoes from off thy feet for where thou standest is holy ground.
Remember when Peter saw Jesus? He realized that he was God in the flesh and he said depart from me for I’m a sinful man. He said I’m of unclean lips. See, whenever we understand the glory of God, we will get a clear view of the holiness of God. In fact it is the holiness of God that shows us his glory. This is what’s wrong with the liberal, contemporary Christian movement of today. They want you to worship God and glory God but they want to ignore the holiness of God. Well wait a minute. The holiness of God is connected to his glory. When Isaiah said “I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne high and lifted up”. And by the way, that’s how you and I should see God. High and lifted up. The holiness of God is connected to his glory. God is holy. So, let us not forget that God is love but let us also not forget that God is holy as well.
Let me give you the third moral attribute of God. I said number one, God is love. Number two, God is holy. Number three, God is just. God is just. Deuteronomy 32:4 “4 He is the Rock, his work is perfect: for all his ways are judgment: a God of truth and without iniquity, just and right is he.”. So, the Bible tells us that God is not only love but God is holy and God is just. And by the way, let me just say this. You might think “Oh this is the foundation”. If you ever want to try to convince somebody about the deity of Christ, one of the best ways is to help them understand that Christ shares the moral attributes of God. If we understand that God is good and we understand that Jesus is good, well Jesus can only be good because Jesus is God. If we understand that God is righteous and we understand that Jesus is righteous, that shows us that Jesus is only righteous because Jesus is God. And that’s a sermon for another day. But if you think this is basic, you need to realize that these attributes only belong to God. And then we can identify them in Jesus Christ, what that proves to us is that Jesus is God.
I said number 1, God is love. Number 2, God is holy. Number 3, God is just. Let me read to you a definition of the word “just”. Just means “behaving according to what is morally right and fair”. So, God is holy but God is also just. He makes sure that justice and that which is right and that which is correct is served. Look at Revelation 15:3. “3 And they sing the song of Moses the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb, saying, Great and marvellous are thy works,” Notice these words “Lord God Almighty; just and true are thy ways, thou King of saints.”. And look, sometimes the book of Isaiah talks about the fact that people look at God and they say that his ways are not equal. Meaning that his ways are not just. But please understand this. God is just. God is justice. There is no justice, there is no judgment without God. Every way that God judges, it is true. And please understand this. When you and I look at the judgment of God and we think “There’s something wrong with it.”, please understand that there’s something wrong with you and me and our understanding. Sometimes we look at situations and we say “Well I mean God, is it really fair of you to just flood the entire world?”. Well hold on a second. Realize that God is just. It’s actually one of his attributes. It’s what makes him God. He is more just than you and I could ever think of being. So, when God decides to bring judgment upon a nation, when God decides to throw somebody into hell, just realize he’s just. He is Lord God Almighty. “just and true are thy ways thou king of saints”. Everything he does is just. So, God is love and God is holy and God is just.
Let me give you the fourth one. You say, “I don’t know. God being holy seems a little too extreme.”. And here’s the thing about the moral attributes of God. They help us understand that God is a balanced God. And I don’t even want to say it that way because I don’t want to make it sound like there’s more than one God. He’s the only God but he is a balanced being. God is holy. God is just. God is love. Here’s point number four. God is merciful. Deuteronomy 4:31, notice what the Bible says. “31 (For the LORD thy God is a merciful God;) he will not forsake thee, neither destroy thee, nor forget the covenant of thy fathers which he sware unto them.”. The Bible says that God is merciful.
We’re talking about the fact that God is merciful. Now what is mercy? Mercy and grace are 2 concepts that are closely tied together. We talk about grace a lot because it’s a term that’s used for salvation. “For by grace are ye saved through faith;”. Grace is getting something that you do not deserve. “8 For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: 9 Not of works, lest any man should boast. So, grace is when we receive something that we have not merited, that we have not earned, that we do not deserve. We get something we don’t deserve. Mercy is closely tied to that except it’s when we do not get something we do deserve. So, the mercy of God is what we get when there is punishment that we should receive and we don’t receive it. Grace gives us heaven and mercy keeps us from hell. Grace gives us that which we have not earned. Mercy takes that away which we have earned.
Psalm 116:5 “5 Gracious is the LORD, and righteous; yea, our God is merciful.”. Notice how gracious and merciful are tied together. “Gracious is the Lord,”. Why? Because he’s a God of grace. “and righteous; yea,”. Notice “our God is merciful.”. So, God is not only just, he’s not only holy, he’s not only love, he is merciful. What is mercy? Mercy is when we don’t get something we deserve. Grace is when we get something we have not earned. By the way, this is what the Bible says in Lamentations 3:22. “22 It is of the LORD’s mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not. 23 They are new every morning: great is thy faithfulness.”. It is the mercy of God that we are not consumed, that we are not destroyed, that we are not thrown into hell because God is mercy or God is merciful.
Let me give you number five. So number one, God is love. Number two, God is holy. Number three, God is just. Number four, God is merciful. Number five, God is jealous. God is jealous. Let me show this to you from scripture. Deuteronomy 6:15 “15 (For the LORD thy God” Notice these words “is a jealous God among you) lest the anger of the LORD thy God be kindled against thee, and destroy thee from off the face of the earth.”.
Nahum 1:2, notice what the Bible says. “2 God is jealous, and the LORD revengeth; the LORD revengeth, and is furious; the LORD will take vengeance on his adversaries, and he reserveth wrath for his enemies.”. So notice, the Bible says that God is jealous. Now let me explain something about this idea of jealousy or jealousy in our modern vernacular. The word jealous is a negative word. If somebody says “Oh you’re so jealous”. You know they mean that in a negative way. But what you need to understand is that the way we use the word jealous today, we use it basically synonymously with the word envy. But in our King James Bible, there is a difference between jealousy and envy. Now they are closely tied together in the sense that it’s basically the same action, the same feeling, the same attitude. But in the Bible, and I’m not going to take the time to do this tonight but you can do the study on your own if you’d like, I’ve done it in other sermons, in the Bible the word jealous is always used in a positive way. In fact, God who is holy is also jealous. So there’s nothing wrong with being jealous if God is jealous. The Bible always uses the word envy in a negative way.
You say well what’s the difference? In the Bible and the proper use of the word “jealous” is to be jealous over something that belongs to you, something that you have the right to be jealous over. Envy is to desire something that does not belong to you. So look, there’s nothing wrong with a husband being jealous over his wife. There’s something very wrong with a man envying another woman, another man’s wife. Do you understand? See jealousy or being jealous is something that God does. Because God is jealous over his people. God is jealous over his nation. God is jealous over certain things. Because in the Bible, being jealous is not negative. It’s positive. And there’s nothing wrong with being jealous or to have jealousy over that which belongs to you. If you begin to be jealous so to speak with things that don’t belong to you, biblically that’s no longer jealousy but that’s envy, that’s covetousness. And that is not something that we should practice. But the Bible says that God is a jealous God.
Let me give you number 6 in the book of Daniel 9:14. God is love. God is holy. God is just. God is merciful. God is jealous. Here’s point number 6. God is righteous. Daniel 9:14 “14 Therefore hath the LORD watched upon the evil, and brought it upon us: for the LORD our God” Notice these words “is righteous”. You say well is that or how is that different than being holy? Because the word righteous has to do with good things or right thing. The first part of the word righteous is right. Now I want you to understand this. In the Bible, the word righteous is connected with works. Which if you look down at our verse “….for the LORD our God is righteous”. Notice “in all his works which he doeth:”. The Bible talks about not by the works of righteousness which we have done, talking about the fact that we’re not saved by our works. But the word righteous has to do with the things you do. “…for the LORD our God is righteous in all his works which he doeth: for we obeyed not his voice.”.
You say well how is that different than holy? Well, God is holy which means he’s separated from sin. But that doesn’t necessarily mean that God does good things. So then the Bible tells us “No, God is also righteous”. So not only is he right but he does right. God is righteous. Psalm 50:6 “6 And the heavens shall declare his righteousness:”. And again, he’s talking about the fact when you look at creation, you are looking at the works of God. “and the heavens shall declare his righteousness:”. Notice, “for God is judge himself. Selah.”. God is the judge. There is a reference to his justice. So God is righteous. This has to do with our actions. Not only that you are good and holy but you do good, you do write things. Righteousness has to do with the works that you do.
God is love. God is holy. God is just. God is merciful. God is jealous. God is righteous. Here’s point number seven, God is truth. God is truth. John 3:33 “33 He that hath received his testimony hath set to his seal that God is true.”. God is true. Go to 2 Corinthians 1. Let me just say this. Please understand this. You and I love but we’re not love. We do love. We should love. But we are not love. God is love. Now God also loves with the action but he actually is love. You and I should try to practice holiness but God is holy. You and I should try to practice justice but God is just. Please understand this. You and I should try to tell the truth, preach the truth, be the truth. That’s why 10 years ago we started Verity Baptist Church. What does the word verity mean? It means truth. The same Jesus would say “verily, verily I say unto you”. The word verily means truth. He’s saying “truly, truly” or “of a truth”. I’m telling you the truth. The word verity means truth.
Why did we name the church Verity Baptist Church? Because the Bible says that the church is to be the pillar and ground of the truth. We should try to tell the truth. We should try to preach the truth. We should try to live truth. But please understand this, God is truth. God is true. And it’s not that God is true like he’s telling the truth. He is truth. And we’ll learn more about that when we talk about the deity of Christ and the moral attributes of God given to Jesus Christ. Jesus said “I am the way, the truth,”. He didn’t say I tell the truth. He said I am the truth. Now you say well why is that important? Here’s why. Look at 2 Corinthians 1:18 “18 But as God is true, our word toward you was not yea and nay.”. So here Paul says look, here’s what we know, God is true. And again, it’s not that God tells the truth. God is true.
Now today, if you listen to the LGBTQ community, you know what they’ll say? They’ll say you need to live your truth because what’s true of you may not be true of me. Do you understand that? To them it’s all fluid. There is no male, there is no female. It’s just you lived your truth. No listen to me, you don’t live your truth. God is truth. There’s one truth. It’s God. And the only place that you and I can get truth, the only way that you and I can stand up and say “Thus saith the Lord, this is true” is when it comes from God. If it doesn’t come from God then we can say “Well, I don’t know. Maybe. Maybe not.”. But when it comes from God, we can have the confidence that God is true. And you say “Well, I don’t know. I mean I kind of think maybe we should be loving to the LGBT”. Well wait a minute. God is just. So you know what, we would just be safe to just go with God because God is true and God is love and God is just. And when you stand with God, you can stand with all those things. People say “Oh you’re not very loving”. Well you know what, God is love and truth comes from God because God is truth. And every truth you and I can hold to in this world must come from God. That’s the only thing that gives us confidence. People say “Well Bill Gates said” or “Gavin Newsom said”. But we can say “Thus saith the Lord God” with confidence because God is true. The truth comes from God.
Let me give you number 8. Not only can we say that God is truth but God is faithful. 1 Corinthians 1:9 “9 God is faithful, by whom ye were called unto the fellowship of his Son Jesus Christ our Lord.”. I want you to notice that the Bible just says this, “God is faithful”. Now you and I should try to be faithful but God is faithful. What does it mean to be faithful? It means constant or consistent. You are faithful when you are constant or consistent. 1 Corinthians 10:13 “13 There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man:”. He says look, there’s no tentation that you’ve ever dealt with that other people haven’t dealt with. He says “13 There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man:” Here are the words I want to focus on. “but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it.”. I want you to notice that God is always faithful to give you a way to escape temptation. The idea is that God is faithful, he is consistent, he is constant, he is always there.
We saw that God is love. God is holy. God is just. God is merciful. God is jealous. God is righteous. God is truth. God is faithful. Here’s point number nine, God is good. God is good. Matthew 19:17. And by the way, we’re going to pick it up right here when we start on the attributes of Jesus that make him God. “17 And he said unto him, Why callest thou me good?”. Here we have the rich young ruler confused about the deity of Christ. He called Jesus “good master” but he didn’t believe that Jesus was God. So Jesus says, if you don’t think I’m God, then why are you calling me good? “Why callest thou me good? there is none good but one, that is, God: but if thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments.”. So God is good. There’s nothing bad in him. His being is good.
So let me just review this really quickly. I’ve been doing it all night. Let me just do it again. God is holy. God is just. God is merciful. God is love. God is righteous. God is truth. God is jealous. God is faithful. God is good. At the average church, all you ever hear is “God is love. God is love. God is love.” I’m not mocking it. God is love. But he’s a whole lot of other things too. These are the moral attributes of God. This is what makes God who he is. Now obviously last week we saw the abilities that God has like omniscience, omnipotence, immutability. Those things make God who he is too. Because you’re not omniscient, you’re not omnipotent, you’re not omnipresent. But in the same way that I can’t be everywhere at once, I can’t be love all the time either. But God is love. I can’t be in my being holy but God is holy. I can try but I won’t be the embodiment of justice but God is just. He’s merciful. He’s all these things.
Now you might think “Okay, well what’s the big deal? Do we really know a whole sermon on this?”. Well, I think we’re halfway through the sermon. The reason that this is important is because these moral attributes are what make God who he is. And you may have never thought about this. Maybe you have. You guys are a smart crowd. But these moral attributes are why we must deal with God the way we deal with God and why things as far as human history have played out the way they have. Because have you ever thought about this, why did God even tell Adam and Eve that they couldn’t eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil? And then he told them in the day that thou eatest thereof, thou shall surely die. I mean why did he even tell them that there’s a punishment for sin? Couldn’t he have just let that slide for a minute? We need to understand that God is holy which means that sin cannot be in his presence. So he tells Adam and Eve “Hey, don’t sin. Because when you sin, you’re going to have to die”.
There are consequences for sin. So look, the holiness of God does not allow sin in his presence which is why Adam and Eve had to go away from his presence. It’s also why you and I don’t get to enter into heaven in this flesh, in this sinful body. You say why? Because God is holy. Have you ever wondered why God couldn’t just let that sin slide of eating the fruit? But God is just. The holiness of God does not allow sin in his presence. The justness of God demands for sin to be paid for. Why did God say the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die? Why did God say the wages of sin is death? Why did God create a place called hell for the devil and his angels? I’ll tell you why. Because of the justice of God. Because God is just and his justice demands for sin to be paid.
But you need to also understand this, God is mercy. See God is holy which means he cannot allow for sin. God is just which means that sin must be paid for. But God is also merciful which means that he sought for a way to redeem us. See, you and I, the way we would do it, we would just let it slide, just put it off to the side. But that would make us unjust. God cannot do that. His being is to be just but he is also merciful. He is merciful so the mercy of God sought for a way to redeem us. God is love. The love of God offered his Son as a sinless sacrifice for our sin. “for God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life”. See, when you understand the moral attributes of God, you understand why things are the way they are and why they must be the way they are. God could not look the other way because he is just. God could not allow sin in his presence because he is holy. God had to seek a way to redeem mankind because of his mercy. God’s love is what brought down his Son as a sacrifice. “oh the love that drew salvation’s plan. oh the grace that brought it down to man. oh the mighty gulf that God did span at calvary”. It’s the love of God that brought us salvation.
Not only that but God is righteous. I don’t have time to explain this. That’s a sermon for another day. But at salvation, not only did God take our sins from us but his righteousness was placed upon us. The righteousness of Christ. When you understand these things, it makes sense why God didn’t just beam him down from heaven at 33 years old and have him die. Why did he have to be born? Why do he have to live a sinless life? Well, the Bible says this “for he hath made him to be sin for us who knew no sin that we might be made the righteousness of God in him”. See, it was not just enough that God took our sin from us and placed it on Jesus at the cross. That did happen but at salvation his righteousness was actually placed upon you. See, when God looks down at you and me, if you are saved, he sees Christ. Why do I get to go to heaven? Not because my sins have been removed. That’s part of it. But because his righteousness has been placed upon me. See, God is righteous and God sent his Son who was God in the flesh to live a righteous life so that his righteousness might be imputed in us. God is holy his holiness does not allow sin in his presence. God is just and his justice demands for sin to be paid. God is merciful and his mercy sought for a way to redeem us. God is love and his love offered his Son as a sacrifice. God is righteous and his righteousness allowed Jesus to live a righteous life that it might be imputed on you and I. God is truth and the truth of God allows us to be disciples and followers of Christ.
john 17:17, the Bible says this “17 Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth.”. You and I get to live as disciples of Jesus Christ. We get to be followers of Jesus Christ because our lives get to be sanctified. How does that happen? Through the preaching of the word of God which is truth. Which by the way is the only source of truth. So it doesn’t matter what the politicians say. It doesn’t matter what the public education says. It doesn’t matter what the media says. It doesn’t matter what anybody says. Truth is what we find in the word of God. “17 Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth.”. Because God is truth. Because the word is God and the truth of God allows us to be disciples and followers. God is jealous. The jealousy of God calls us to live a separated life. Did you ever wonder why God wants us? I mean why does God even want me? Why does God even want you? Why does God desire to have a relationship with us? When God saved us, he redeemed us, he purchased us. And God is just in his being. He is jealous over that which belongs to him. So God says I want you. I want to save you. I want you to live for me. I want you to be a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God which is your reasonable service.
So God is jealous. God is faithful. I mean why doesn’t God just walk away from us? And there’s a whole doctrine here called the eternal security of the believer. And we’ll get to it at some point and we’ll talk about it. But the truth is this, God doesn’t walk away from us because God is faithful. Why does God forgive us when we mess up? Why does God give us so many chances? Because God is faithful. The Bible says if we confess our sins he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins. Please understand this. And sometimes you read those verses and you think no big deal. Maybe if you paid more attention during these basic sermons then you would understand that God is faithful. If we confess our sins he is faithful. He is constant. He is consistent. “9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins,”.
See, when God forgave us of our sins, he still had to have a payment for that. He never goes against his own justice. See, the forgiveness was able to be had because the payment was made through Jesus Christ. Why was that needed? Why couldn’t you just do it without him? Because God is just. Because God is holy. Because God is love. Because of the moral attributes of God. God is faithful. The faithfulness of God keeps us and keeps him from turning on us or turning away from us or walking away from us.
Lastly, God is good. Romans 3:12 “12 They are all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable; there is none that doeth good, no, not one.”. People say “Oh, I’m a good person”. No you’re not. Now here’s the thing. You might be a good person in comparison to the rest of us. But God says “Hey, there is none that doeth good, no, not one.”. Because God is good, the standard for good is God. Te standard for good is perfect. And there is none righteous no not one. There is none that doeth good no not one. God is good. But see, when you understand the attributes, when you understand the moral attributes of God and you realize that God is holy, it means that sin cannot enter into his presence. That means that Adam and Eve should have rightfully been done. And by the way, you and I should have rightfully been done because we were part of their seed. We are their descendants. We should have rightfully been done at the moment that sin entered into the world because God is holy, because God is just. We should have all been thrown into hell and there would have been nothing wrong with it.
And by the way, let me just say this, there’s nothing wrong with anybody going to hell as far as God is concerned. He did nothing wrong. God’s mercy compels him not to bend the rules but to create a way within those rules to save us. God is love. He sacrificed his Son. God’s righteousness provided salvation. God’s truth allows us to know him. God’s jealousy makes him want us. God’s faithfulness keeps us with him. And when you realize that, all you can do is walk away and say God is good to me. God is good to you. Because of the moral attributes of God, this is what makes God different than you and I. Yes, the omniscience and omnipresence and all that but the moral attributes make God different than you and I. He’s holy, just, merciful, loving, righteous, truth, jealous, faithful and good.
Let’s pray.