Worshiping Our Savior!

The family was down at the pier one day fishing.

The dad was busy watching the rods and bobbers while his two sons, a 12-year old and a 3-year old were down playing along the dock.

                      The 12 year old was supposed to be watching his little brother, but he got distracted.

The 3 year old, named Billy, thought that would be a good time to see if he could reach the bottom of the water and stretched his little arm down into the water and then just a little further.

He lost his balance and fell into the water, which was about 5 or 6 ft deep.

The splash alerted the 12-yr old who screamed for help and Dad came running from the end of the pier, jumped into the water, swam down, but unable to see anything, came up for air.

Sick with panic, he went right back down into this murky water, and began to feel everywhere around the bottom.

He couldn’t feel anything and had to come back up for air.

On his way up, he felt little Billy’s arms locked in a death grip on one of the posts of the dock, about 4 ft under water.

Prying the boy’s fingers loose, they broke the surface of the water and filled their lungs with air.

After 5 minutes of holding, when the tears stopped, and nerves had calmed down a little bit, the dad asked his son, “What on earth were you doing down there hanging onto the post so far under the water?

                      And little Billy answer in a 3 year olds matter of fact way, he said,

                                 "I was just waiting for you dad. Just waiting for you."

Today we celebrate, that 2000 yrs ago, the God of the universe, left the glory and the splendor of heaven, a place where there was no pain and no sickness, no accidents, no hurt, and no death.

           And He plunged into this dark, gloomy world on a rescue mission,

                      a rescue mission for all of us who are drowning,

                                 a rescue mission for all of us who are barely hanging on,

                                            a rescue mission for all of us who are lost in the darkness.

To properly worship God, we must understand what God has done to save us.

           This morning we will look at 3 vital parts of the nature of God.

                      And what they tell us about God Himself and why we worship Him as Savior.

I. Righteousness of God!

People are predictable.

           Where they sit in church.

                      Jep & Jean

                      Bill Johnson

                      Ron & Lois

           Always early - JW & Anita

           Always chilly - Sally Childers & Sherry Thomas 

           Always hot - Sherry Curry Bryant

God is predictable.

           He always acts according to His nature.

                      He is righteous, always true to His nature.

           He is holy, pure, love, and just.

                      He will never depart from his nature.

Hebrews 13:8 Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.

That is a problem for us as sinners.

           God is Holy & Pure

                      In His righteousness, He hates sin.

                      He can not even look at sin.

           And God’s justice demands that He punish the sinner.

                      God is righteous, that is His eternal nature.

                                 And that righteousness demands that we pay an eternal penalty for our sinfulness.

II. Holiness of God!

To be Holy means to be separated/distinct.

           In His being, God is transcendent, uncreated, eternal.

           In His character, God is pure, without sin or evil.

Our sin presented a problem for God’s righteousness, because of His holiness.

           Now, we have to understand that God never lowers His own standards to accommodate us.

                      Most people believe that God is going to grade on a curve.

                      Nobody is perfect, surely God won’t punish everyone.

                                 It isn’t fair, God will grade on a curve.

                                            And on that curve, I won’t look so bad.

But, God’s holiness should evoke a great sense of terror in us all.

           Because it’s clear, God is not going to grade on a curve.

Look at God’s feelings toward sinners.

James 4:4 You adulterous people, don't you know that friendship with the world is hatred toward God? Anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God.

1 Peter 3:12 For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous and his ears are attentive to their prayer, but the face of the Lord is against those who do evil."

Romans 2:8 But for those who are self-seeking and who reject the truth and follow evil, there will be wrath and anger.

Revelation 19:15 Out of his mouth comes a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations. "He will rule them with an iron scepter." He treads the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God Almighty.

Romans 12:9 Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil; cling to what is good.

Most people just ignore the holiness of God.

           They find bliss in ignorance.

           They find comfort in their platitudes:

                      I believe God will ultimately save everyone.

                      How could a loving God condemn anyone to eternal punishment?

The question that we must ask is:

           How can this Holy God save anyone?

           For God’s holiness demands that His divine wrath be unleashed upon us as sinners.

           Now terrifying to think of the wrath of God, but it doesn’t have to be that way!

III. Love of God!

Romans 3:21-26 But now a righteousness from God, apart from law, has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify. 22 This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference, 23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24 and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. 25 God presented him as a sacrifice of atonement, through faith in his blood. He did this to demonstrate his justice, because in his forbearance he had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished-- 26 he did it to demonstrate his justice at the present time, so as to be just and the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus.

Propitiation/Atonement - it means to satisfy the wrath of God.

           To do what is necessary to make God look favorably toward us, by dealing with our sin.

           God provided Jesus as the propitiation for our sin.

1 John 2:2 He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world.

1 John 4:8-10 Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. 9 This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. 10 This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.

Most people see a God of wrath in the O. T. and a God of love and forgiveness in the N. T.

           To say that reveals your lack of knowledge of the Bible and of God.

           In the O. T. God was extremely merciful, patient, and compassionate.

                      He rarely gave people what they deserved.

           God was waiting to pour out His wrath on sin.

                      Waiting for what?

Waiting for His plan to be fulfilled.

A plan that would allow Him to look favorably upon us sinners and save us without compromising His holiness.

                      A plan that would not violate His nature of purity, but allow His love to save us.

           He was waiting for the CROSS!

God in the N. T. is still a God of holiness, wrath and justice.

The most brutal act of divine vengeance and wrath recorded in the Bible, isn’t found in the O. T.

                      The most violent expression of God’s holy wrath upon sin is seen on the cross.

The cross was at one time both the most horrible and the most beautiful example of the nature of God.

When Jesus willingly took the sin of all the world upon himself on the cross of calvary, He became the most vile thing to the Father.

With the concentrated load of the sin of all the world for all time on Him, He had become utterly repugnant to the Father - who in His holiness, could not look upon the Son.

           He then became the object of divine wrath that had been stored up for so long.

           And God poured out His holy wrath upon Christ on the cross (Matt. 27:45,46).

Jesus became sin that we might be made the righteousness of God, the Bible says.

           We become right in the sight of God!

           It’s too amazing to fathom.

                      Jesus became the propitiation for our sins, satisfying the holy wrath of God.

           In doing so, the cross became the greatest act of divine love ever seen.

I am the sinner.

           God owed me nothing good.

                      I owe Him everything.

           And yet it is He, who loved me so much, that He saved me,

                      by punishing His own perfect Son, for my sin.

           O Lord, forgive us for taking your love and mercy for granted!
 

"For God so loved the world . . ."

           There is a lot of meaning under the surface to John 3:16 isn’t there?

VI. Responding to God!

Where do we begin?

The cross becomes the place where we find our ultimate motivation for faith, obedience, evangelism, service, and the pursuit of holiness in our life.

           But this morning, I want you to see it as the supreme motivation for Worship!

Creation gives us more than enough reason to worship God.

           And Sin should cause us to be terrified of God

                      Romans 3:23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,

                      Wrath of God upon sinner.

                                Hebrews 10:31 It is a dreadful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.

But at the cross we find out more about God.

There we see Him not just as the great and good creator, but as a merciful and loving savior.

So wise and so powerful that He came up with a plan to remain righteous and true to Himself, and still be able to lovingly forgive us of our sins.

Hymn & song writers, painters, sculptors, writers, have for centuries tried to find ways to express our awe, appreciation, and adoration for the God who saves us.

The response of terror because of sin, is replaced with the response of thanksgiving and adoration.

We draw near to God and worship at His feet, and at the feet of His Son, the lamb that was slain for us.

Jesus has made it possible for us to be the objects of God’s love for all eternity, instead of objects of His wrath.

           We get what we don’t deserve, because Jesus took upon Himself what we did deserve.

                      That’s why we praise Him.

Join me as we do just that, Praise the Lord for His great salvation,

           as we sing Shout to the Lord.