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Source: https://www.sermonindex.net/speakers/brody-thibodeau/the-character-of-god/
Luke 13, verse 34. We're reading now the words of the Lord Jesus. He says, O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, which killest the prophets, and stonest them that are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together, as a hen doth gather her brood under her wings, and ye would not.
Behold, your house is left unto you desolate, and verily I say unto you, ye shall not see me until the time come when ye shall say, Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord. We read one more time, verse 34.
He says, O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, which killest the prophets, and stonest them that are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together, as a hen doth gather her brood under her wings, and ye would not.
That's all we'll read for the first part of our gospel meeting. So I look over a crowd like this, see most of the people I'm not sure if we met before. I definitely have not gotten to know you well enough to know whether or not you're saved, and I'm not sure about your background, I'm not sure about your personality, I'm not sure about your attitude, and I'm not sure what you know about God.
Because let's be honest, there are many different concepts and ideas right here in this part of the world, and in my part of the world, it's very much the same. There are many different concepts and ideas about who people think God is, or what people think God is like.
There are different religions all over the world, and too many to count I would say. There are people who have made estimates as to how many different religions and religious practices and sex and denominations there are in the world, and each has their own belief system, and some of them have different slants on particular belief systems, and each of these belief systems claims to be accurate and right, and some belief systems claim that you cannot be accurate, and you cannot have knowledge, and you cannot know any absolute truth about God, right?
So there are so many things out there. What I want to do for the first part of our meeting is really talk about the character of God, and once we have established from the Bible key aspects of the character of God, it will become very clear why we as individuals need to be saved.
Very often we throw the the verses out there from the Bible that say you need to be saved, and it's absolutely accurate when the gospel preacher or the Sunday school teacher tells people that they need to be saved, but I think sometimes we miss the point when we are preaching to people who have never grasped the real identity of the God with whom they have to do.
You see, God is unchanging. God is not malleable. He is not able to be formed into whatever we would like him to be. No matter how hard you would like to believe that, God is an unchanging consistent character, one who has never changed morally and never changed in character for all eternity.
He has ever existed as he is right now, and he will never ever change. Our society changes. See, that's why I'm bringing this up. Our society changes as to our moral convictions, and as we change, because we live in a democratic society, as we change, those who are elected into public office begin to change things when it comes to the laws to reflect the hearts of those in our society.
Now, I want you to think with me for a second, those who who are able to do so, just think what goes on in different levels of government as we are talking about the morality of our nation and our nation back home in Canada as well, that is not separated from the wants and the desires of the people in the nation.
In fact, what is taking place right now in governments across the world is a reflection of what is in the heart of each individual in said society. So when the laws change around morality, make no mistake, that is the immorality that is coming from the hearts of men and women and boys and girls, and every individual who is in this room tonight, make no mistake, our hearts are all the same.
In fact, the things that you do, the sins that you commit are serious in the eyes of God, but what you are is even more serious in the eyes of God. For what you are, a sinner, what you are is the reason for the things you do.
You see, God doesn't call you a sinner because you sin, God says you sin because you are a sinner. Have you ever thought of that? I'm going to tell you something, and some of the children may find this amusing, but have you ever heard the idea about an apple tree?
Let's say I had an apple tree at home. I like apples, right? I like different kinds of apples. There's the Royal Gala apples, is that what they call them? And the Honeycrisp apples, I like all those things, but let's say I have an apple tree in my yard, right?
And every year, what comes on an apple tree? Even the little ones could tell me. Apples, right? Every year, apples. So you wait, and in the springtime, you get blossoms, and if everything has gone according to plan, and it's pollinated, then you get apples.
Blossoms and apples, right? But let's say we don't like apples, and we don't want to have apples on our tree. Let's say we like oranges instead, right? So we go out in the fall of the year with all of those apples on the tree, and we cut each one off.
And down at my place, I live near the ocean, so I'm going to cut every apple off of my tree, I'm going to put them in buckets, I'm going to take them down to the ocean, and dump them in, and watch them float way out to sea as the tide takes them, and I'm never ever going to see those apples again.
I'm going to come back to my yard, I'm going to take the best kind of fertilizer you would use to grow oranges, I'm going to put it all around the base of my tree. Same tree. I'm actually, some people talk to their plants, right?
I don't know if that means that they're lonely, or that they really think the plants will respond, but some people talk to their plants, right? So I'm going to talk to my tree, and I'm going to be very clear, I don't want apples, I want oranges, right?
See this fertilizer? Orange fertilizer. See this orange in my hand? That's what I want next time, right? And I encourage it along, and the winter comes, and the spring comes, and I continue this kind of encouragement, and all the while I'm looking for oranges, and I see blossoms coming, and I'm hoping that it gets pollinated properly, and I'm waiting for those oranges, and I see after those little blossoms come a little bud, and I see a fruit starting to form, and when the fruit gets bigger, I look at it, and what do I see?
Apples, right? Apples. You see, just because you take the apples off the apple tree, and throw them away, doesn't mean it's not still an apple tree. It's not an apple tree because of the apples, you get the apples because of the apple tree, and sinners are exactly the same.
All those swear words that you say, right? And all those lies that you tell, if you were to quit lying, and quit swearing, and quit stealing, and quit deceiving, and quit all of the disobedience to your parents, that would just be like taking all the apples off of the tree.
But the problem is not the apples, the problem is the root of the tree, and God says your problem is that you are a sinner, and God is holy. See, holy means he's the exact opposite of sin. Holy means that he cannot have sin near him, and he cannot have sin in his presence.
Some of these boys will know what I mean when you take two magnets, right? You take two magnets, and you try and push them together, and if the poles line up correctly, they'll draw together, won't they?
They'll even snap. You have them on the table right there, and you get them close together, and they snap, right? But if you take them, and you put the poles at opposites, and you try and get them to come close together, you know what happens?
You get the magnet close, and the other one goes away further, right? And you get it a little closer, and then it goes away further. And that's just like the character of God when it comes to sin. God's character of absolute holiness repels sin.
God's character of holiness means that every little sin... Now, you think of the lies you told, even this week. You think of those words you use at school with the boys when the teachers aren't there, and when mom and dad don't know, and you think of all those times you've disobeyed your parents, and even those little small things, when they're shown up beside God's holy character, they show up dark, black stains.
God is not only holy, he's righteous, isn't he? Have you heard that God is righteous? God's holiness means that in relation to sin, he is exactly the opposite. But God's righteousness means that he is always right, and he will always do right.
So when God makes a decision, or God makes a judgment, it is always right. God will never ever make a mistake when it comes to judgment. Those of us who are saved and going to heaven appreciate that we have a God of absolute righteousness, don't we?
We appreciate that God will never make a mistake, that God can never be contaminated, or can never compromise when it comes to proper judgment. The God that we have placed our trust in for all eternity will always do that which is right.
But there are sinners here in our meeting tonight who are crossing their fingers and hoping for the best when it comes time to meet God, that he will be lenient, that he will let things go. And the fact is, when it comes to judgment, in your case against sin, God will not compromise.
And God's judgment against you will be according to truth, it will be according to the things which are written in the books, and it will be absolutely right down the line, righteous. So when it comes to God's holiness, it shows up your sin.
And when you think about meeting God, never forget, it is not the God of your preference, it is a God of unchanging holiness that you have to meet. And it is not a God who will compromise, it is a God of unchanging righteousness that you have to meet.
And this God is also a God of love, a God of love. I don't have to start quoting all the verses in the scriptures that tell us about this, do I? I can go to 1 John and find out these words, God is love.
I can go to John chapter 3 and verse number 16 and find that God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life. And I can find out that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.
This is how God commendeth his love toward us. And we have a God in heaven who is a loving, caring God. Now I'm not sure what kind of relationships, what kind of relationships you currently have. Perhaps there are some here tonight and you are children, right?
And you have parents. Do you love your parents? I know that's a tough one, right? There are parents here, they love their children. There are husbands here, they love their wives. There are wives here and they love their husbands, right?
I'll tell you something, when I go away for a little while and by myself and I come home to see my family again and I come in the house and my family's all there in the house, what do you think I do? Do you think I come in and tip my hat, say hello, nice to see everybody and then I sit in the corner by myself just twiddling my thumbs?
You think I maybe just go in and wave my hand and say hello and goodbye and I'm gone again? You know what I do? I come in and I go to where they are and I want to bring them close. So one by one, you bring them close, right?
Because I love them, I want them near me. So you hug them and you get close to them and you talk to them and you enjoy their company because that love that you have for them desires a closeness and an intimacy, right?
That's what love does and the love of God is no different. I'm not sure what you have been told about God or what you know about God. Perhaps all you think about God is that God wants you to be in heaven.
God desires that you be close to him after you die. You've been taught that in Sunday school. God gave his son because he doesn't want you to be in hell. God gave his son because he wants you to be in heaven so that you'll have that relationship with him there.
I'm here to tell you tonight, I believe 100 according to the Bible, it's not God's desire only to have you close to him in eternity. It is God's desire right here on this earth while you are still living and breathing to have a close, intimate, real living relationship with you.
That's what he wants. As he looks at every individual on the face of the earth, but we're going to bring it a little closer, every individual in this gospel meeting in Garnevillo, he is looking at people that he loves.
He's looking at girls over here and he loves each one and these young men and each one is an object of his love. These little people over here and everyone in our meeting, he loves each one individually and without any preference one over the other.
Because he loves you, he wants to bring you close. There's that desire in God to bring you close to him where he can keep you safe. Not only keep you safe, but where you can enjoy his presence and he can enjoy your presence.
That really is the desire of God and if you've never heard that before, believe it. That is God's desire. But while he looks at you and he loves you, his holiness demands that you're kept at a distance.
Right? Because of your sin. Because sin has defiled you. Sin has contaminated you to the point where even the good things that you do are contaminated in the eyes of God. Sin has separated you from God to the point where even God's love and desire can't bring you close.
But that's why he gave his son, isn't it? That's why the Lord Jesus died on the cross of Calvary. When he died, he died as a sacrifice for sin so that your sins can be taken away. And if your sins were to be taken away, now picture this, the God who desires to bring you near but can't because of your sin, if those sins were to be completely removed and you were to be absolutely washed white as snow from every stain and defilement that sin has caused, then you would have a God who is able freely and righteously, according to Romans chapter 3, remaining just and becoming the justifier of them which believe in Jesus, he is now able to bring you close to him where he wants you to be.
But it'll never happen if you still have your sin. See, this is what we're breaking into here in Luke chapter 13. We're breaking in to really a picture of the heart of the Lord Jesus Christ. He's speaking to this city, this city that was full of people that God loved, this city that had been the object of his love for so many years, this city that he wanted to dwell in the midst of the people that were in it.
You go back in the Old Testament, I oversimplify things, maybe I do, but you think of it, that was God's desire, wasn't it? He wanted to be with those people, he wanted those people to want to be with him.
And when they started to go astray, even after they had come out of the land of Egypt, he would send messages to them, he would send prophets to them, he would send warnings to them, don't go that way, stop and turn and come and I will receive you, I want you to remain here with me.
And yet they would turn and they would go after other gods, they would turn and they would mix with the nations, they would turn and they would continue their road away from God and the whole time God is trying to intervene, he's trying to get their attention, he's trying to speak to them.
That's what he does in gospel meetings too, I hope you know that. That's what he does in the circumstances of life, I hope you realize that. There are things that he brings into your life that cause you to think about your sin and meeting God in eternity, that is God speaking and he's speaking not so that you will feel bad, he is speaking so that you will stop and respond and come.
That was his desire for these people and he sent prophets and they would preach and the people wouldn't turn and he sent another messenger and they would stone that messenger and he sent every different type of messenger that he thought was necessary and they would have nothing to do with it, they wanted nothing to do with this God and the Lord Jesus says it's just like a mother hen, right?
A hen who has little chicks and some of these boys and girls here have lived on farms and seen this happen probably where the hen has little chicks and out in the barnyard she wants them to be happy so she lets them have a little freedom, right?
But she's always keeping an eye out because she wants them to be safe, right? She always wants them to be safe and when she sees danger she calls and the only reason she calls is so that they will stop and turn and come and be safe.
That's all she wants, she doesn't want to ruin their fun, she doesn't want to cramp their style, she doesn't want to hurt them, she wants to save them. So when she sees danger overhead or danger coming and she lets that call go and that call falls on the ears, I don't know if hens have ears but they hear it, right?
They hear the call and the desired response is that they would stop and turn and come and when they stop and they turn and they come she puts them under her wings and she puts them in a place of safety where no danger can touch them.
That's her desire. The Lord Jesus says that's what God wanted to do with Israel. He wanted them to stop, hear my voice, turn, respond and I will make you safe and that's what God is doing in this gospel meeting to so many people who don't care if they've ever heard about God and yet God keeps speaking and he keeps telling you, these young men, he's telling you stop.
All of these people on this side, stop on the road you are going and turn and come to the Lord Jesus. He only wants to save you. Your answer is the same as the answer those people. They just said no. You know that's why you're not saved.
Not because God doesn't want to save you. It's not because you haven't heard the gospel. It's not because of a hundred different reasons that you could probably try and come up with. It's just because you don't want God.
You say well I'm not so sure if you're right. Sorry. If you wanted God and you turned, you would find a God who's willing to accept you. It's a promise from the scriptures. The heart of the Savior, I believe, was grieved with sinners who wouldn't come.
Right here in this meeting tonight, I believe the heart of the Savior is touched and grieved because he knows if you continue on the road you're on, it'll be a lost eternity. It's nothing more serious than that.
Come to the Savior tonight. Trust him and be saved.