Exodus 4 Understanding The God Of The OT
9 Principles to Help Us Know, Understand, and Love the God of the OT
4. These two truths make God Just in all He does in the Old Testament (and beyond).
A. God is far more holy, righteous, and pure than we can ever really grasp.
B. Man is far more sinful, unrighteous and evil, than we can ever really grasp.
God is righteous, and requires perfect righteousness.
Man is unrighteous, not meeting God’s requirement.
Therefore, all men deserve God’s wrath.
Therefore, no one can ever receive injustice.
In the end, most will receive God’s justice,
Some will receive God’s mercy,
And these will also receive God’s grace.
Therefore…
God’s attitude toward man in the OT is
1000x more merciful than it is wrathful.
When we think of men as victims, we necessarily are saying God is unjust.
– Job 40:8 Would you really annul My justice?
– Would you condemn Me to justify yourself?
Mercy that is deserved, is not mercy.
Grace that can be demanded, is not grace.
Some might ask…
Why focus so much on the contrast of the holiness of God and the evil of man?
Isn’t that too negative?
25 Reasons Why We Need This Worldview
– This is God’s view.
– The Biblical worldview is a big God and small man. We can’t interpret scripture without it.
– This is the beginning of wisdom (salvation). “Blessed are the poor in spirit”
– We experience true joy and blessing, paradoxically through a God-centered worldview rather than a man-centered worldview.
– God’s mercy in salvation is much more precious to us when we know what we have been saved from.
– God’s mercy in salvation is much more precious to us when we know what we have been saved to.
– It causes us to love Him and worship Him in truth. It causes us to be eternally grateful for His mercy.
– It makes Jesus Christ’s sacrifice on the cross the centerpiece of all creation.
– It humbles us and removes all boasting from us. It raises my daily dependence on Him.
– The Christian faith is not about good “self-esteem”, But it is about “Christ esteem”.
– Living as though my ‘old self’ is dead and my ‘new self’ is “in Christ”, is now a blessing, not a curse.
– It causes me to think of pleasing God before I think of pleasing myself, or others.
– It eliminates complaining and murmuring. Everything in our lives is better than what we deserve.
– It causes me to want others to share this worldview.
– When God is big and I am small… Then others become just the right size.
– It makes Jesus Christ’s sacrifice for me an example of my sacrifice for others.
– It makes me want to trust Him with the rest of my life.
– It places Him above all other things in my life.
– It brings God glory.
– When I see my nothingness and His everythingness, It makes me want Him to receive glory, not me.
– It makes Him worth dying for.
