OUT OF OUR CONTROL 5 Things God CAN T DO! Jeremiah 32:17 (+ Various Selected Verses)

Transcription

1 OUT OF OUR CONTROL 5 Things God CAN T DO! Jeremiah 32:17 (+ Various Selected Verses) How many of you have ever heard the children s song My God Is So Big? It goes like this: [PLAY VIDEO CLIP 1 min 21 sec] He made the trees He made the seas He made the elephants too. The mountains are His The rivers are His The stars are His handy work too. For you! There is a lot of truth in that little song in fact Jeremiah 32:17 (NASB) says: Ah Lord God! Behold, You have made the heavens & the earth by Your great power & by Your outstretched arm! Nothing is too difficult for You! God Himself says there is nothing too difficult for Him when He says in Jeremiah 32:27 (NASB): "Behold, I am the Lord, the God of all flesh; is anything too difficult for Me?" Our God is a BIG God & there is nothing He cannot do but the truth of the matter is there are some things that God cannot do. Today we will look at 5 of those things. 1. GOD CANNOT SIN God is pure & God is spotless. There is no stain or blemish on Him. He is holy & righteous & He cannot sin. 1

2 Leviticus 11:44 (NLT) tells us: For I am the LORD your God. You must consecrate yourselves & be holy, because I am holy. The prophet Samuel also tells us in 1 Samuel 2:2 (NLT) No one is holy like the LORD! There is no one besides you; there is no Rock like our God. Our God has high expectations for His people because His very nature is sinless, pure & holy. When you are dealing with God do not think that you are dealing with a mere man. You are not! He is completely pure & holy He has never allowed sin to enter His life or to alter His character. The prophet Habakkuk (1:13) (HCSB) said of God: Your eyes are too pure to look on evil, & You cannot tolerate wrongdoing. No God does not even like to look on sin. He is pure. He is holy. Because God cannot sin it stands to reason that: 2. GOD CANNOT LIE Did you know that there are actually 7 things that God cannot stand & that lying is one of them? In fact the scripture tells us that God hates lying. Look with me at a passage from Proverbs 6:16-19 (TNIV): There are six things the LORD hates, seven that are detestable to Him: haughty eyes, a lying tongue, hands that shed innocent blood, a heart that devises wicked schemes, feet that are quick to rush into evil, a false witness who pours out lies & a person who stirs up dissension in the community. Notice in this passage that lying is mentioned twice a lying tongue & a false witness who pours out (or utters) lies. Do you think that God himself would lie if He hates lying? No way! God does not lie. God is pure God is holy. He does not have a lying tongue. No false statement comes from His lips. No deceit is found in His heart. Therefore, all that God has said in His word is true! His promises you can depend on because God always speaks the truth. In John 14:17 the Holy Spirit is called the Spirit of Truth. 2

3 In 1 Samuel 15:29 (NIV) God is called The Glory of Israel & it says: "He who is the Glory of Israel does not lie or change His mind; for He is not a human being, that He should change His mind." God is not a liar therefore So God will not lie to you! One of the characteristics of God is that He is always truthful. Truth lies in His character. In fact in John 14:6 (NASB) Jesus confirms this when He says: "I am the way, & the truth, & the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me. Christ did not only speak the truth He was the truth. God cannot lie! Lying goes against the very being of God. We serve a pure & holy God. He is a God who hates haughty eyes, a lying tongue, hands that shed innocent blood, a heart that devises wicked plans, feet that would run a marathon to do evil & spread discord instead of unity. God is pure God is Holy God is righteous therefore God cannot lie to you. Also: 3. GOD CANNOT IGNORE SIN Folks the scripture is very clear on this point. God does not ignore our sin. It bothers Him so much God cannot just try to hide it in a closet - He cannot just ignore it! The Bible tells us in Hebrews 9:27(NIV): Just as people are destined to die once, & after that to face judgment -- God cannot undo our sinful deeds -- God cannot unsay our sinful words -- God cannot un-think our sinful thoughts -- God cannot ignore our sin... God does not just sweep our sins under the rug. He does not just hide them in a closet. God does not just pretend that they are not there. God looks our sins square in the face & deals with them. When Adam & Eve committed the first sin God did not ignore it. God went looking for them & confronted them. God asked them a series of questions: 3

4 Where are you? Genesis 3:9 Who told you that you were naked? Genesis 3:11 Have you eaten from the tree that I told you not to eat from? Genesis 3:11 What is this that you have done? Genesis 3:13 God always confronts sin He does not ignore it. Sin is like a cancer in our lives that will eat us alive. It must be removed it must be dealt with or it will kill us. The Bible tells us simply in Romans 6:23a (NIV): For the wages of sin is death. There should be no question in your mind sin will kill you unless it is dealt with. God does not ignore your spiritual cancer God does not ignore your sin God deals with it. That is why the rest of that verse Romans 6:23 (NIV) says: The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord. The most important word in this verse is but. Imagine, you are sick & dying your sin is killing you - but God can heal you. You are laying on your death bed but God steps in to cure you. You have one foot in the grave but God sends His expert physician to heal you to fix you to make you well. That physician is Jesus Christ. In Matthew 9:12 (HCSB) Jesus said: "It is not those who are healthy who need a physician, but those who are sick. Are you sick? Are you sick & tired of the sin that is in your life? Are you sick & tired of trying to cover up all your spots & blemishes, hoping no one will notice them? Are you sick & tired of pretending that there is nothing wrong with you? There is something wrong we all have something wrong there is sin in our lives & it is killing us. 4

5 But God is not going to ignore it God has never ignored it God cannot ignore it but He sent the great physician to deal with it. But here is a great truth: 4. GOD CANNOT SAVE APART FROM THE SACRIFICE OF JESUS God s plan of redemption & salvation is through His Son Jesus Christ. There has never been any other plan. There is no "Plan B". Jesus is the answer. Earlier we looked at John 14:6 (NASB) but let s look at it again. Remember Jesus said: "I am the way, & the truth, & the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me. This verse makes it very plain. There is no salvation outside of Jesus Christ. God does not ignore your sin sin must be confronted & it must be dealt with. Jesus came to deal with it. Do you remember the story of Adam & Eve how they fell into sin? Do you remember what God did in that story? God confronted Adam & Eve but then He did more than that. He offered a sacrifice for them & covered there nakedness. Adam & Eve tried to cover their own nakedness by sewing leaves together to cover themselves but it was not adequate. Their feeble attempts feel short of a proper covering for their nakedness. God stepped in & covered them with animal skins. Genesis 3:21 (NASB) tells us: The Lord God made garments of skin for Adam & his wife, & clothed them. This became the first sacrifice for sin a picture of what was to come. A system of sacrifice was set up by God to cover the sins of the people. But Hebrews 10:4 (NASB) tells us: It is impossible for the blood of bulls & goats to take away sins. Since it is impossible for the sacrifice of animals to cover sin a better sacrifice was needed a perfect sacrifice. That sacrifice was found in Jesus Christ. Hebrews 10:11-18 (NASB) tells us: Every priest stands daily ministering & offering time after time the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins; but He (Jesus), having offered one 5

6 sacrifice for sins for all time, sat down at the right hand of God Now where there is forgiveness of these things, there is no longer any offering for sin. Jesus became the perfect sacrifice for us. He gave His life so that we may have life. It is impossible for a person to be saved outside of Jesus Christ. Acts 4:12 (NIRV) tells us: You can t be saved by believing in anyone else. God has given us no other name under heaven that will save us. Then in John 3:18 (NIV) Jesus says this: "Whoever believes in Him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God s one & only Son. Jesus is God s one & only plan to save people. That brings us to our last point. It is the most important point: 5. GOD CANNOT SAVE THOSE WHO REFUSE TO BELIEVE Romans 10:9-10 (NASB) tells us: If you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, & believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved; for with the heart a person believes, resulting in righteousness, & with the mouth he [or she] confesses, resulting in salvation. Your salvation is dependent upon what you do with Jesus. The Bible tells us that you must confess Jesus as Lord with your mouth you must believe that God raised Him from the dead. If you do this a promise is made. You will be saved. As a young Christian there came a point where I questioned whether or not I was really saved. In other words: Was my salvation real? God brought me to this verse in Romans. I asked myself these questions. Did I really believe in my heart that Jesus was raised from the dead? Did I really confess that Jesus was my Lord? The answer to both of these questions was Yes! 6

7 I confessed I believed. I had done what God had required me to do I kept my part now I need to trust God to do His part. I believed I confessed now God will save me. There should be no shadow of doubt in my mind because God always keep His promises. And remember God cannot lie. Our salvation is dependent upon our relationship with Jesus. We must believe in Him. In John 5:39-40 (NLT) we find a warning where Jesus says: "You search the Scriptures because you think they give you eternal life. But the Scriptures point to me! Yet you refuse to come to me to receive this life. If we are unwilling to come to Christ - we will die (without Him) no matter how religious we are! But God can save you. Are you willing to come to Christ? Are you willing to believe in Him to trust in Him to put your faith in Him to confess Him? That decision is up to you. The choice is totally in your hands! [BIG PAUSE] During the presidency of Andrew Jackson, George Wilson, a postal clerk, robbed a federal payroll from a train & in the process killed a guard. The court convicted him & sentenced him to hang. Because of public sentiment against capital punishment, however, a movement began to secure a presidential pardon for Wilson, & eventually Andrew Jackson intervened with a pardon. But, amazingly, Wilson refused it. Since this had never happened before, the Supreme Court was asked to rule on whether someone could indeed refuse a presidential pardon. Chief Justice John Marshall handed down the court s decision: "A pardon is a parchment whose only value must be determined by the receiver of the pardon. It has no value apart from that 7

8 which the receiver gives to it. George Wilson has refused to accept the pardon. We cannot conceive why he would do so, but he has. Therefore, George Wilson must die." George Wilson was punished for his crime. He was hanged. A Pardon (declared the Supreme Court) must not only be granted it must be accepted. This is something that is in your control & God CANNOT DO FOR YOU! Pardon Forgiveness Salvation has been offered to you A Free Gift for the taking. What will you do? Will you accept it? Will You embrace it? Or like George Wilson refuse it? The choice is yours!...let s Pray! 8