A Different Perspective Official Podcast

There's a great swindle, a great con going on in our society – and in part, we're all being conned.  It goes like this – if you look after numero uno – everything else will be fine.  We know it doesn't work, but somehow we still want to believe it.
Today … today we're starting a new series that, I have to warn you, the devil does not want you to hear. In fact he'll do anything he can to keep you away from what we're going to be talking about over these coming few days and in fact next week as well. Why? Because if we let loose in our hearts and our lives, the thing that we're going to be talking about, it is going to mess up his game plan for your life and for mine, big time.
Well, what are we going to talk about? The subject is this, Breaking Free from the Power of Sin. That's the name of the series: Breaking Free from the Power of Sin. See, I have this crazy notion that God means, for you and me, to live not just a good life, not just a great life but an utterly sensational life. What I don't mean is that each one of us should live in a mansion with 2 Merc's in the garage.
What I don't mean is that everything in life will go well, always healthy, live to a ripe old age. It doesn't work. Life's not like that. But what I do mean is that, come what may, God means for us to live a life of joy and peace and fulfilment and contentment. The question is; how do you get that life? Problem is there's a big con being perpetrated in this world today.
The big con of this world is that what you do is you earn, you spend, you buy. That'll give you all those things. The big con is that you look after number 1 and everything else will be fine. You and I know it doesn't work. We know that it's a big con but it's a big con that we really, really, really want to swallow, hook, line and sinker And then some joker comes along and talks about sin and you think, "Well you have got to be kidding me. We're not in medieval times, we're not in the 1950's. This is the 21st century. Sin? Oh please, what planet are you living on?"
What does sin conjure up in your mind? Some old-fashioned, moralising, finger-pointing, self-righteousness. That might have worked in the dim dark ages but don't try that religion stuff on me today buddy! Sin, how gullible do you think I am? Crimson clad clergy pointing their bony fingers at me. Get out of here! Hmm, you might wonder, how is it that Berni can articulate this position so passionately? And well, the answer is this: it's one that I held for most of my life.
Religion's a bunch of rules; I don't need a bunch of rules. Sin is an old-fashioned concept, that's it, buzz off! And yet, if we were completely honest with ourselves, each one of us would admit we do things and we think things and we say things that hurt us, that ruin our lives. What we don't often realise is how much they ruin our lives. Ever asked yourself exactly what sin is? Is it an out dated concept or is it real. And does it have consequences. And is it the thing that's robbing me of a full and satisfying life?
Sin is one of the most frequently used words in the Bible, 486 times – 486. There is kind of various concepts but at the heart of it is this notion that God is perfect and that we've rebelled against God and we've broken His law and that will bring punishment. That's the kind of "sin" thing in a nutshell and I guess that's it for many people.
You mention sin and that's what it conjures up; rules, religion, moralising and who needs that? Rebellion against God, well it is that, it's all of those things. But I don't know, my hunch is, giving where we are today maybe that's not the best place to start to really understand what sin means because we've been conned.
See, I used to go scuba diving when I was younger and what you discover when you want to go scuba diving is we were made to float, we weren't made to sink. You jump in the ocean or any body of water and you'll float. And when you put on diving gear you float all the more because your wetsuit is very buoyant. So what the diver does is he or she straps weights to their body. It helps them to sink, that's what they want to do, it works for a diver and these weights are these ugly old lumps of lead that you strap on.
I look back on my life, a life of sin for the most part and it was like I was bobbing around in the ocean. All these boats would sail by. All these different shapes and sizes and people would bend over the side and offer me this and that. This ball, that trinket. "Oh yes please, I'll have that one and that one and that one and that attitude and that selfishness and this ambition and this desire. Oh yes please!"
But actually, what they were was lead weights only they'd been dressed up to look attractive. And you don't have to be Einstein to figure it out. The more I took on, then the more I started to sink. That's the big con and then, because we're not made to sink, we frantically thrash around with our arms and legs to get back to the surface because we're drowning. We're not made to drown.
Interesting, God's word talks about that. Over and over again He talks about sin as this concept of missing the mark. It's the image of an archer shooting at a target and missing. Literally, what the word means is "to miss the point". That's how we'd say it today. People are drowning on mass because they're missing the point. Have a listen to this. It's what the apostle Paul writes about sin, he says:
Don't deceive yourselves! If you think that you're wise in this age, well you're going to have to become fools in order to become wise because the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God. It's written, 'He catches the wise in their craftiness' and again the Lord knows the thoughts of the wise, that they are futile. (1 Corinthians 3:18-31)
See, we think we're clever. We think that with our sophisticated economic systems and share portfolios and cable television and electronic gadgets. We think we're so clever.
In this context, Paul was talking about quarrels and factions – earthly wisdom as opposed to God's wisdom. See the earthly wisdom is "win", get on top, be number 1, that's the wisdom of this world. And okay, we dress it up to make is look respectable but at its core, it's rotten.
Contrast that with God's wisdom, James chapter 3, verse 17:
But the wisdom from above (God's wisdom) is first pure then peaceable, gentle; willing to yield, full of mercy and good fruits without a trace of hypocrisy.
Do you see the difference, the contrast? Here's the con. We trade in the good and wondrous things of God, the diamonds if you will, for the stones or the lead weights of this world. Our attitude of selfishness, anger disputes, horrible things that people do to one another. We justify those through this whole "number 1" mentality because we've been sold that con. We've swallowed it hook, line and sinker and yet, those are the things that are like lead weights, those are the things that make us sink to the bottom. And it's exhausting because we're not made to sink to the bottom.
Finally, one day I got it. Sin wasn't some old-fashioned, moralising from an irrelevant Church. Not that. It's here, it's now. It's important, it's vital. It was something that was ruining my life. And at some point we have to do something about it otherwise we spend the rest of our lives missing the point and eventually we drown.

The vow people make when they get married is to be with their soul mate until the end. And yet almost half of all marriages fail. So, given those human frailties, sometimes we expect God to desert us too – but it just doesn't work that way.
I'm someone who, by and large, enjoys their own company; I don't need a lot of people around me. That doesn't mean I don't enjoy being with people but I don't need a lot of company, if that makes sense. Even so, you and I are made to be with people and the worst thing in the world is when we find ourselves completely alone. Oh we can be surrounded by a crowd; sure, we can be in the middle of a huge crowd and yet, still be completely alone.
I've been there a few times in my life and it is the most awful feeling, to feel cut off from everyone; having nobody that you can share with or connect with or be with. But the reality is that, every now and then in life, we can find ourselves in that place and it's chillingly cold and lonely. That's because we're social creatures, we're just made to be with other people, to connect with people. That's why most people end up married, to fulfil the desire for a soul mate.
When I set out on a journey with God, when I first accepted Him, Jesus as my saviour, I was always afraid that I'd lose Him. It was a feeling that, for a long time, didn't go away, sometimes I'd experience the joy of His presence and other times, it felt like He'd left me and those times were times of panic. The reality is, I didn't understand who He is; His nature and His promises.
Over these last couple of weeks we've been looking at the promises we can depend on, promises from God. It's so important to know that no matter what we're going through or what the world's throwing at us or how we're feeling, the promises that God makes in His word are rock solid. You know don't you that our feelings, our emotions, they go up and down depending on our hormones or how tired we are or our circumstances or just the natural ebb and flow of our emotions.
On top of that there's a spiritual dimension. Make no mistake about it, the devil is alive and well, he knows that the joy of the Lord is my strength and he'll do everything he can to rob me of that joy. He thinks if he can rob me of my joy, he'll rob me of my strength.
Last week on the program we looked at God's promises, that He does have a plan for our lives, that He'll provide for us, that He'll comfort us and protect us and forgive us and this week we've been looking at some of the promises about His character. Who He is, that He's slow to anger, that He's abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, that He's able and willing to help us. Today, we're going to finish off this series of ten programs called, "Promises I Can Depend On" with a final promise that He will always be with us.
There was a time in Israel's history, they'd been led out of slavery in Egypt through the Red Sea, they'd spent 40 years in the Exodus, led by Moses in the desert and Moses had died and they're about to cross over into the Promised Land. You can read about it at the end of the book of Deuteronomy and at the beginning of the book of Joshua in the Old Testament.
It was a trying time because Moses, their leader of 40+ years was dead, they're about to cross over the Jordan River into this Promised Land and they know they're going to have to fight battle after battle after battle, war after war, to take the Promised Land. It was a scary time and three times God makes this one particular promise to them. Let me read them to you, Deuteronomy chapter 31, verse 6. He says:
Be strong and courageous; do not be afraid or terrified because of them (these people in the land) for the Lord your God goes with you. He will never leave you nor forsake you.
Two verses later, Deuteronomy 31:8:
The Lord Himself goes before you and will be with you. He will never leave you nor forsake you. Do not be afraid, do not be discouraged.
And then, over the page in Joshua chapter 1, verse 5:
"No-one will be able to stand up against you all the days of your life. As I was with Moses, so I will be with you." He says Joshua, "I will never leave you nor forsake you".
See, when we know we're headed for stormy waters as Israel was at that point, the most important thing we need to know, at least I do, is that God is with me and this is how God treats His people, He says:
I will never leave you nor forsake you.
Do you know what never means? Never means never. Jesus, just before He ascends to heaven, remember all they'd been through, the tumultuous days of the betrayal and the crucifixion and the resurrection and now He's going to return who knows when. What does He say to His disciples, Matthew chapter 28?
Surely I am with you always even until the very end of this age.
These are promises that God makes to Gods people, these are promises that God makes to people, ordinary everyday people like you and me who have said, "you know something God; you're my God. I'm sorry, please forgive me, I've stuffed up so many things in my life, I want to turn away from those, I accept you as my God".
These are promises God made to His people, not to someone who's kind of drifted off, not to someone who's intent on doing their own thing, living the life of Riley, pleasing themselves, thumbing their nose at God. They're not promises for those people, these are promises that God makes to His people, imperfect as they all are, to Israel, to the disciples, to you and me if we believe in Jesus. People with a heart to follow after God, to be about His business, to honour Him.
I, over my life, have lived through quite a lot of turmoil, lots and before Jesus in my life; I lived through that turmoil completely alone. Today, today I still travel through the odd turmoil and tempest, hand in hand though with my God. I know that I am never left alone, ever, because this is an unbreakable promise, it's "God has said He will be with me even until the end of the age".
It seems that every week brings a new challenge in this ministry. Do you know, here at Christianityworks we produce hundreds of programs a year, all written and voiced by yours truly. We have to raise finances to support that, there are generous donors, there are often financial challenges, often resource challenges, often people or organisations who inexplicably want to come against us in what we're doing. And initially I thought, "no, it will be easy", it's not like that. Yet, what I get to do amidst a storm and a tempest is to quietly walk through it in faith.
You know why? I know I don't always get it right, what I do know is that my God is always with me. To correct me when I get it wrong, to soften my heart if it grows hard. To give me strength and courage when I have to stand against something that's wrong. To give me compassion and understanding to deal with those who need my help, to give me wisdom when I just don't know what to do next. To provide when I don't know where it's coming from.
The more we reach out and touch people with the love of Christ, the more the devil wants to stop us, to attack us, to divide us. And every day I get up and say, "Lord, I don't know what today will bring but Lord, bless those people who'll listen to the program today. Bless them, touch them, hold them and thank You for being with me to guide me and hold me and protect me as I get about your work". In fact, I would encourage you to read the first 9 or 10 verses of the 1st chapter of Joshua and to take them and lay them on your heart, where God says:
No-one will be able to stand against you all the days of your life. As I was with Moses, so I'll be with you. I will never leave you or forsake you.
God is a God who is for His people and with His people and He holds us and protects us and above all, above all He is always there, always someone we can turn to in any and every situation. To pray is to ask; to pray is to thank Him.
I am with you, I will never leave or forsake you.
It's a promise from God, it's a promise that you and I can depend on.

It's great that God is God. But is He willing to step in and help? Is He able to step in and help?  I mean – when it really counts.  Well, let's meet some people who can answer those questions firsthand.
Do you recognise these words?
Faster than a speeding bullet, more powerful than a locomotive, able to leap tall buildings in a single bound, look up in the sky, it's a bird, it's a plane, it's Superman! Yes, it's Superman, strange visitor from another planet who came to earth with powers and abilities far beyond those of mortal men. Superman, who can change the course of mighty rivers, bend steel with his bare hands and who, disguised as Clark Kent, mild mannered reporter for the Great Metropolitan newspaper, fights the never ending battle for truth, justice and the American way.
I don't know about you but I grew up watching superman every afternoon after school on our old black and white television. There was something, something awesome about this Superman who was able to do all these super human things, things that I couldn't do. As I look back on it now, it was kind of a comfort, something that I wanted to be part of, in this "superman" thing, this man of steel. He was so strong, so invincible, awesome to a young boy growing up.
Superman, in that series, was played by a man called George Reeves. They recorded 104 episodes in the series between 1952 and 1957. It went from black and white to colour in 1954 but between 1.30am and 2.00am on the 16th of June 1959, Superman, George Reeves was dead. Just 3 months and 1 day after I was born. Little did I know, as a young boy watching these re-runs, that this hero of mine, superman was already dead.
What happened? Well they found George Reeves dead, lying across his bed, naked and face up with his feet on the floor. The position was attributed to Reeves sitting on the edge of the bed when he shot himself after which time his body fell back on the bed and the 9m Lugar pistol fell between his feet on the ground. The front page headline of the New York Post that day read: TV SUPERMAN KILLS HIMSELF.
What's my point? Well, I think that we all want to believe in some power for good that's bigger and stronger than us, some overall power for good that we can absolutely depend upon like, well like superman. But ultimately, most of us come to the conclusion that there's no such thing. Superman was a sham; superman shot himself. There can't ever be such a power. Even God, look at all the dumb and horrible and criminal things that have been done in the name of God over the centuries. People claim this and that about God but well, what does God claim about God? What does the evidence say? Is He just another sham like superman or is there something there?
Over these last couple of weeks on the program we've been doing a series that I've called 'Promises I Can Depend On' and the question is, is God just like superman, when we grow up you discover it was a kids fantasy at best, a sham at worst? Or is there something more?
Even in the days when I was running away from God, which has been most of my life, the one thing that always spoke in my heart about Him was when I managed to get away from the lights and the smog of the city in which I lived and at night I'd wander out and look up at the stars, the milky way, millions of stars – awesome!
Actually they're just a handful of the stars, there's a trillion in the milky way but so far we know of a trillion, trillion. I could never look on that awesome sight without somehow knowing, in my heart, that God was God and He was the most mighty and powerful force for good, beyond anything that I could ever have imagined.
Maybe that's what prompted the apostle Paul to write this to his friends in Rome:
Ever since the creation of the world, Gods eternal power and divine nature, invisible though they are, have been understood and seen through the things that He has made.
But it's one thing to think of a God so great He can create the universe but what about me? Is this God willing and able to help me? We're going to look at the stories of some men today who can tell us first hand. A leper and then some blind men, people who, because of their diseases, were outcast, poor and destitute. First the leper:
A man with leprosy came to Jesus and begged Him on his knees, "If you're willing you can make me clean" and filled with compassion, Jesus reached out His hand and touched the leper, He said, "I am willing, be clean." Immediately the leprosy left him and he was cured.
In effect, the leper asked Jesus, "are you willing?" And Jesus replied, "I am, I am willing". He says it, He does it. Now, the blind men:
When Jesus entered the house some blind men came to Him and Jesus said to them, "Do you believe I am able to do this?" And they said to Him, "Yes Lord" and then He touched their eyes and said, "According to your faith, let it be done to you" and their eyes were opened.
To the leper He is willing and as it turns out, able. To the blind men He is able and as it turns out, willing.
I think it's fantastic, wonderful, stupendous that God created the universe, this vastness beyond any imagination, any comprehension and yet a complexity and an intricacy and a beauty that's way beyond our understanding. See, what that tells me, the universe, is that God is able but it's when He reaches out and He touches the leper and the blind men, that's when we discover that He's willing as well as able. That's when the power of God comes to you and to me. That's when we hear Him whisper into our hearts, "I am willing, I am able".
When I look back on my walk, from a kind of a vague distant belief in perhaps this mighty God, who made the universe and moving from that to a deep belief in the God who is willing and able to work His miracles in me, the thing that changed me was reading about how He works, God's word and like the blind men, believing and then seeing those miracles rort in me.
The changes, from this man who only ever wanted to be rich or only ever wanted stuff for himself, to becoming someone who now, all I want is to share Gods love with you. That's like a complete 180 degree turn and it's not because I'm some wonderful guy, it's because of the miracles God has rort in me. The passion that you hear in my voice, that's beating in my heart, that only comes from Him.
Listen to His promises: I am willing, I am able. No matter what confronts us, those promises stand. God is saying to you and to me today, "I am willing, I am able". Not some hollow fantasy, not some superman who shoots himself dead but the God who created the whole universe, a powerful reality, a willing God, an able God. A God who comes to you and me with promises that we can depend on.

Trustworthy people – people who stick by you through thick and thin can be few and far between. God on the other hand – He has an abundance – an abundance of steadfast love and faithfulness.
Yesterday on the program we started talking about trust, people we can trust. And God, can we actually trust Him? It's a big question, let's say God's all powerful, let's say He can actually do anything He wants to do. Well that could be bad news instead of good news if what He wants to do is punish us every time we take a step out of line, if He's just a nasty old piano teacher that wraps you over your knuckles with a ruler every time you play a wrong note, that is definitely not good news and what we looked at yesterday is this promise from God about himself, this is what He says. It comes from the book of Exodus chapter 34:
The Lord your God is merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness. Keeping His steadfast love for the 1,000th generation, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin.
That's interesting, this promise of being slow to anger appears quite a few times and it's always accompanied by these words; not only is He slow to anger but He is "...abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness."
And it's that steadfast love that we're going to take a look at today, it's that steadfast love that's the flip side of the coin that has the "slow to anger" on the front of it.
I was talking to a young person recently and he's gone to take up an apprenticeship as a motor mechanic. A young boy, who had struggled at school, wasn't academic but he was great with his hands. Anyhow he takes up this apprenticeship and what he discovered was that his employers were great trainers, they really invested in him and he learned a lot but every now and then the boss would explode, lash out at his staff, get angry at the smallest thing.
Do you see the conflict? On the one hand the boss invests a lot in these apprentices, He's in it for the long haul. He takes them through thick and thin. And yet, on the other hand, the guy's got a short fuse and he's not slow to anger. And that places immediate conflict in the minds of these apprentices. In his anger he would lash out and say stupid things like, 'I'm going to sack you and get rid of you' and rob them of their sense of security even though he never intended to get rid of them, even though his history was actually going the distance with his apprentices.
The conflict arises in the apprentices mind and heart because being slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love are two sides of the one coin. One is a part of the other, you can't really be abounding in steadfast love and yet have a short fuse.
"Steadfast" is not a word that we use that much these days but it's a great word. It means, "rock solid", it means "unfailing", it means "something that will stand fast through the storms", something you can absolutely rely on, on the bad days as well as the good days.
Now I want to go back and look at the circumstances that this promise was given. It was given to Moses who was heading up Israel at the time and they'd just come out of Egypt. He'd brought them through the Red Sea, they'd seen amazing miracles done to the Pharaoh and to the Egyptians and the parting of the Red Sea and then it came crashing down on the Egyptians and destroyed the Egyptian army. Amazing stuff and yet, the moment they get to the other side, the moment they find themselves in the desert, what do they do? They start to grumble.
Anyway Moses goes up to Mt Sinai and he received from God two tablets – not pills, tablets – stone tablets containing the Ten Commandments. But while he's up there the people down in the valley, are making an idol, a golden calf. That's an offence to God 'cause they go and worship this other thing instead of worshipping God.
Moses comes down, sees that, smashes the tablets with the Ten Commandments on them, Gods not happy with them, Moses is not happy with them. And so eventually he goes back up a second time to get the Law from God again and just as he gets up there, this is the promise that's given to him.
The Lord passes before him and proclaims, "The Lord, your God is a merciful and gracious God. Slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, keeping steadfast love for the 1,000th generation, FORGIVING the people their iniquity and transgression and sin. Yet by no means clearing the guilty but visiting the iniquity of the parents upon the children and the children's children, to the third and fourth generations.
See, what this says is, God is slow to anger. He's abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness and He will keep that love to the 1,000th generation. You know that's an awfully long time, if a generation is roughly 25 years, He's talking 25,000 years. Where as iniquity and sin is only visited to the third or fourth generation. This God is slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin but if we keep on and on and on in it, by no means clearing the guilty.
You know what this promise means; that God will hang in there for us, He is "abounding in steadfast love", that's an over the top statement. I love this 'abounding' thing. I walk past a florist shop and there's all these flowers and smells and beauty and life, that's abundance. I sit down to a really warm hearty meal on a cold winter's night, that's abundance. There's an overflowing, there's a "more than enoughness" of His steadfast, rock solid love that goes on to 1,000 generations.
See, this promise comes in the face of a people who, the moment Moses turns his back, start making idols for themselves, turning their backs on God. See this is about mercy, this is about grace, this is about God being slow to anger. That is definitely an abundance of steadfast love.
God knows we're going to make mistakes, the name Israel means literally, "to struggle with God" and the whole of the Old Testament is the story of how this nation, Gods chosen people, Israel, struggled with God. He knows that, He knows that you and I are going to stumble; He knows that you and I are going to make mistakes and some days we'll even fall flat on our faces. He knows that. And at those times, here is the promise of God, it's the same promise He made to Israel in the face of their sin, "I am slow to anger, I am full of mercy and grace and I am abounding in steadfast love towards you".
That … that is a promise that you and I can depend on, it's rock solid. And let me tell you why it's so important, because when we fail, which we do, God doesn't fail. When we desert Him, God doesn't desert us. That is so amazing, that is so hard to get our minds around. You see, sin is a two sided transaction, it separates us on God's side because He is a good and holy and perfect God and it separates us on our side through our sin.
God is righteous. He made you and me in our image and so when we reject Him, He can't accept us until we're forgiven and that's what Jesus Christ did on the cross. He paid the price and grace is a double sided transaction because it opens the door to God and removes our sense of guilt.
God is full of grace and mercy and slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness. He is ready to forgive, that's who God is, that's why in Hebrews we read:
For we will not have a high priest who's unable to sympathise with our weaknesses but one who, in every respect, has been tested as we are but was without sin. Therefore, let us approach the throne of grace with boldness so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.
God is abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness. That my friend is a promise you and I can depend on.

All too often these days, people fly off the handle. We're under pressure, all this stuff happening – so we just react.  But there's a promise of God that runs in completely the opposite direction to that.
It's amazing these days how quick people are to fly off the handle. Just recently on the evening news I was listening to reports of a man in his fifties who murdered his wife and his two grandchildren with an axe. What drives people to do that? And it's not just axe murderers, you look around there's road rage, there's supermarket rage, people are under so much pressure they just snap. And there seems to be precious little grace and tolerance in this world.
You know maybe, maybe I sound a bit pessimistic but so much of our interactions with other people is moving away from the gentle pace of close relationships to the frenetic pace of a transaction orientated world; from the quiet chat with the owner of the corner store just down the end of the street to the "beep, beep, beep" of the bar code scanner at the supermarket.
And as we're squeezed into this battery hen cage, our expectation is that, that other people become just like us, that the anger and the tension and the pressure, well that's just the norm, it's the way things are. People are angry and the more we live our lives in that reality the more our image of God changes – well surely He must be angry too.
Over the years I have sadly been a person who possesses a short fuse. It's something that finds its roots in my personality. I'm a "goal" orientated "outcome" orientated person who always wants to do my very best. In fact you could say that I've had to be delivered of being a perfectionist. Nothing wrong with that until the arrogance of perfectionism creeps in. Something that Gods really had to deal with me in is this whole issue of rolling over the top of people and it's not been easy for me to let that go.
See the upside of having a personality like that is you get things done. The down side is you do roll over people, bang, bang, bang, quick decisions, quick actions, get it done, leave a trail of destruction of broken relationships in my path. That was the pattern of my life before coming to faith in Jesus Christ 13 years ago and as I said, it's the main thing that God's had to deal with me, to take me from the arrogance to humility, from hatred to love, from perfectionism to compassion.
Been a big journey, it's a journey that continues. So given that, it's really easy for me to think of God as well, being like me, as being a grumpy old man with a big stick. The more we get to know Him the more we realise how far we fall short of who He is and the more we depend of His grace. I think that's the way it's meant to be but you know something, it's not meant to be a guilt trip. I know I fall short of the glory of God and if He's some grumpy old man with a stick, there's no good news in that. It's bad news. And yes, God is a God of judgement; yes, one day there will be a day of reckoning and yet, every day I fall short in some way, every day I stuff something up and if I think of God as being this old grumpy man with a big stick, well holy good night! What sort of life is that going to be.
It's kind of weird; Proverbs chapter 1 beginning at verse 7 says this:
The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge. Fools despise wisdom and instruction.
But that doesn't mean we spend the rest of our lives running scared under some sort of campaign of fear and tyranny from God. In fact it's meant to be the exact opposite. God is a God of grace, I am forgiven freely, you are forgiven freely because Jesus paid that price for you and me on the cross. All we have to do is to believe that. It's the same for you as it is for me but believing is tough if we still harbour this secret "grumpy old man with a big stick" image of God.
This week and last on the program we've been working our way through a 10 part series that I've called, "Promises I Can Depend On' and one of the most important ones, one we're going to look at today, speaks directly into this 'grumpy old man' image, this reality. Here it is, it's repeated over and over again in His word. The first time it appears is when God passes before Moses and this is what He says to Moses:
The Lord your God is a merciful and gracious God. Slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness. Keeping steadfast love to the 1,000th generation, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin. Yet by no means clearing the guilty but visiting their iniquity upon their children and their children's children to the third and fourth generation and Moses quickly bowed down his head towards the earth and worshipped God.
Isn't it really interesting? Tells us a lot about God, God is saying about Himself, "I am merciful and gracious and slow to anger". Let's just think about this "slow to anger" thing for a minute. How contrary it is to what we experience in our world today, a world that lives on a short fuse, everybody's racing around, everybody's under pressure and stress. Slow to anger people are actually quite hard to find and when we do, aren't they wonderful? We do something wrong or fall short in that relationship, they don't jump down our throats, they don't cut us off, they don't belittle us and humiliate us and they don't punish us.
Well, God is slow to anger, that's what He's like. As He told Moses, ultimately He will act, ultimately, if we continue rebelling against Him. He will act but He is slow to anger and that gives us space and time to change. That's safety, that's security, that's a promise of God, Gods saying, "I am merciful and gracious, I am slow to anger". Instead of exacting His punishment straight away, instead of that He comes to us in mercy and in grace, in steadfast love and faithfulness that abounds through to the 1,000th generation.
We don't deserve any of that, I know I fall short of the glory of God and you do too. But it's not about what we deserve, it's about who He is and He has made an unbreakable promise:
I am merciful and gracious, I am slow to anger.
That's a promise that you and I can depend on; when we're living through the consequences of our own stupidity, while we're in that place, when those consequences are lashing at us with a fearsome storm, that's okay 'cause it doesn't change who God is. He is still merciful and gracious and slow to anger and as we'll see, over the next few days, ready to forgive.
That changes a whole bunch of things for me. God, my God, is not some grumpy old man with a big stick that's just sitting there waiting to whack me over the knuckles the first time I step out of line. In fact it's the complete opposite. At the end of the day God is a just God. That's why He gives us His Son, to pay the price for you and me on that cross and through the cross. Because His just anger towards you and me was poured out on Jesus Christ on that cross, we're forgiven.
God is slow to anger! Just let it sink in, just sit there and think it through. God, who could snuff you and me out in a second, in an instant, that God is full of grace and mercy, He is slow to anger. Now that, that's a promise that you and I can depend on.