When God's Omnipresence Bumps Up Against Our Depravity
Notes
Transcript
Sermon Tone Analysis
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Intro
Intro
What do we do when we mess up as Christians?
Can Christians reject God?
Young Lady who had no idea God loved her.
Drama
Drama
Israel rejected God’s chosen man.
Rejected Moses
God chose him and sent him, they rejected
Israel rejected God’s chosen worship.
Rescued from bondage and built a golden calf
Israel rejected God’s chosen involvement in their world.
They wanted God to be in their little box
They wanted to control Him.
Adam’s desire
Doctrine
Doctrine
Our depravity often causes us to reject God
How?
We reject God’s chosen men (35-39)
God sent him
As ruler - To establish God’s laws
As a redeemer - To save his people from bondage
We reject Pastors, Elders, Deacons, Husbands
App: One way you can overcome this is to not just like them, but love them.
Mentors.
We reject God’s chosen worship (39-44)
God commands how he is to be worshipped
Our worship is a reflection of our heart
Our hearts are bent toward worshipping things
Toward Egypt (39)
Golden calf (41)
God may let us worship our hearts desire for a time
Worship Wars
Seeker Friendly Church, Experience, emerging church, etc . . .
The Sin is when we look at what we desire in worship rather than what God desires and commands
Worship
We reject God’s chosen involvement in the world (45-50)
We attempt to place on him attributes that do not belong to him
We attempt to place him where he does not belong
David and the Ark of the Covenant
Solomon and the Temple
Both attempts fall short of the chosen dwelling place of God
Everywhere
Omnipresence - God is everywhere
WCF LC
The Westminster Larger Catechism Question 7
Question 7
What is God?
God is a Spirit, (John 4:24) in and of himself infinite in being, (Exod. 3:14, Job 11:7–9) glory, (Acts 7:2) blessedness, (1 Tim. 6:15) and perfection; (Matt. 5:48) all-sufficient, (Gen. 17:1) eternal, (Ps. 90:2) unchangeable, (Mal. 3:6, James 1:17) incomprehensible, (1 Kings 8:27) every where present, (Ps. 139:1–13) almighty, (Rev. 4:8) knowing all things, (Heb. 4:13, Ps. 147:5) most wise, (Rom. 16:27) most holy, (Isa. 6:3, Rev. 15:4) most just, (Deut. 32:4) most merciful and gracious, long-suffering, and abundant in goodness and truth. (Exod. 34:6)
O Lord, you have searched me and known me!
You know when I sit down and when I rise up;
you discern my thoughts from afar.
You search out my path and my lying down
and are acquainted with all my ways.
Even before a word is on my tongue,
behold, O Lord, you know it altogether.
You hem me in, behind and before,
and lay your hand upon me.
Such knowledge is too wonderful for me;
it is high; I cannot attain it.
Where shall I go from your Spirit?
Or where shall I flee from your presence?
If I ascend to heaven, you are there!
If I make my bed in Sheol, you are there!
If I take the wings of the morning
and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea,
even there your hand shall lead me,
and your right hand shall hold me.
If I say, “Surely the darkness shall cover me,
and the light about me be night,”
even the darkness is not dark to you;
the night is bright as the day,
for darkness is as light with you.
For you formed my inward parts;
you knitted me together in my mother’s womb.
Psalm
beyond space and time
Doxology
Doxology
How does the gospel bring new light to this passage?
Like Israel Rejects Moses men reject Christ
Rich Young Ruler
And a ruler asked him, “Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” And Jesus said to him, “Why do you call me good? No one is good except God alone. You know the commandments: ‘Do not commit adultery, Do not murder, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Honor your father and mother.’ ” And he said, “All these I have kept from my youth.” When Jesus heard this, he said to him, “One thing you still lack. Sell all that you have and distribute to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me.” But when he heard these things, he became very sad, for he was extremely rich. Jesus, seeing that he had become sad, said, “How difficult it is for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of God! For it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God.” Those who heard it said, “Then who can be saved?” But he said, “What is impossible with man is possible with God.” And Peter said, “See, we have left our homes and followed you.” And he said to them, “Truly, I say to you, there is no one who has left house or wife or brothers or parents or children, for the sake of the kingdom of God, who will not receive many times more in this time, and in the age to come eternal life.”
Like Isreal even Christians reject Christ in various ways:
As a ruler - We don’t submit to his authority
As a redeemer - we don’t accept him and rest on him for salvation
Tim Keller tells the story of a woman who was scared to death that God offers salvation as a free gift:
If works were a requirement than she can is limited in how much He can ask of her. She is in control.
But,
If God’s salvation is truly free than there is nothing she could do to earn God’s salvation, then there is no limited to what God could ask of her.
Salvation is free, but following God is not.
Like Israel we worship wrongly
We attempt to be biblical and the service is solid
But, often our attention goes elswhere
Our singing is off key
We harbor hate for our brothers and sisters as we sing praises to God
Like Israel we diminish God’s abilities
We operate as if he needs our help
Tim Keller tells the story of a woman who was scared ro death
We don’t trust that he cares for us.
We don’t believe that he is using us or this church
Let’s face it, we are all guilty of many of these things, aren’t we?
And a ruler asked him, “Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” And Jesus said to him, “Why do you call me good? No one is good except God alone. You know the commandments: ‘Do not commit adultery, Do not murder, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Honor your father and mother.’ ” And he said, “All these I have kept from my youth.” When Jesus heard this, he said to him, “One thing you still lack. Sell all that you have and distribute to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me.” But when he heard these things, he became very sad, for he was extremely rich. Jesus, seeing that he had become sad, said, “How difficult it is for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of God! For it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God.” Those who heard it said, “Then who can be saved?” But he said, “What is impossible with man is possible with God.” And Peter said, “See, we have left our homes and followed you.” And he said to them, “Truly, I say to you, there is no one who has left house or wife or brothers or parents or children, for the sake of the kingdom of God, who will not receive many times more in this time, and in the age to come eternal life.”
But, if we embrace Jesus Christ through faith
We have overcome these things if we repent and believe
We have been given a spirit to look away from these sinful ways
We can submit to men God sends to lead us
When we look at Christ we see that God sends certain men to share his word
We can walk by faith and not by sight
We are drawn to worship God over all other things
We know that even when we get it wrong that Jesus the High Priest intercedes for us in our worship
We understand that our body is the temple of a Holy God
When we look at Christ we see that God expects to be worshipped a certain way
In all of this, living in light of the gospel we can see that even though our hearts still have this lingering sin, we can come before him and repent:
And, when we do we have a savior who stands ready to forgive.