God Wants To Be Your Attitude Transplant Donor Series

Praying Your Friends & Family To Christ Series (3 of 5)

God Wants To Be Your Attitude Transplant Donor

Habakkuk 1.13a

October 24, 2004 Chester FBC, Chester, Illinois Mike Fogerson, Speaker

Introduction:

I read a Perfect Story This week about a perfect man & a perfect woman who had a perfect courtship, perfect wedding, perfect marriage.

A They are out on a snowy, stormy night and happen across a man carrying a large bag of toys. Santa Clause! They pick him up.

a Unfortunately, in the process of delivering toys there was a wreck and only one survived. The Perfect Woman: She’s the only one that existed in the first place.

b Everyone knows there is no Santa Clause and there’s no such thing as a perfect man . . . So, if there is no perfect man and no Santa Claus, the perfect woman must have been driving, which would explain why there was a car accident.

The truth is that there is neither perfect man nor woman. All have us has sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.

If we compare ourselves to one another, we may not be to bad . . . but when we compare ourselves to God’s holiness . . . we’re not that great.

B Today we are continuing the series Praying Your Friends & Family To Christ series with God Wants To Be Your Attitude Transplant Donner.

a Habakkuk 1.13a 13 Your eyes are too pure to approve evil, And You can not look on wickedness with favor.

b Habakkuk wrote that God could not stand the sight of sin. (ETS)

C REVIEW:

Heart: Pray they have receptive hearts to the Gospel.

Eyes: Pray that the veil would be taken from their hearts.

Attitude:

a Pray that our unbelieving friends/family will have God’s attitude toward sin. (ESS)

b I hope you’ll pray that your lost friends/family would see their sin the way God does. (Objective)

D How are you praying for your lost friends/family to have a change of attitude toward their sin? (Probing Question)

a Let’s look at two perspectives we can pray our lost friends/family to consider that can change their attitude toward sin.

b Pray

I The first perspective we can pray our lost friends/family to consider is God’s Holiness.

A Habakkuk knew that God was holy. (Too pure & holy to condone evil & wickedness.)

a God was unable to tolerate the presence of evil/sin. (Allergic to Sin)

b His holiness had two basic aspects to it.

1 Uniqueness

*Ex. 15.11 "Who is like You among the gods, O LORD? (NONE)

Who is like You, majestic in holiness (NONE), Awesome in praises (NONE), working wonders (NONE)?

*I Sam 2.2 2 "There is no one holy like the LORD, Indeed, there is no one besides You, Nor is there any rock like our God.

*There Is None Like You Chorus: There is none like you, no one else could touch my heart like you, I could search for all eternity long, and I would find there is none like you.

2 Goodness

*Matt 5.48 " . . .your heavenly Father is perfect."

*Hab 1.13 " . . . you can not look on wickedness with favor."

*The goodness of his holiness insists that God hate sin.

*16 There are six things which the LORD hates, Yes, seven which are an abomination to Him: 17 Haughty eyes, a lying tongue, And hands that shed innocent blood, Prov 6:16-17 (NASB)

*17 ’Also let none of you devise evil in your heart against another, and do not love perjury; for all these are what I hate,’ declares the LORD." Zech 8:17 (NASB)

B God is STILL HOLY!!!.

a Holiness is the centerpiece of God’s Attributes.

*The bible says God is love, truth, eternal . . . but it never says God is "love, love, love" or "Truth 3x" or "Eternal 3x." However, the bible twice emphatically declares (Is. 6.3; Rev. 4.8) that "Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord of Hosts."

b Because God is still holy . . . he still HATES sin.

*God doesn’t dislike, disapprove sin. Isn’t unfavorably disposed to sin.

HE HATES SIN!!! He’s allergic to SIN!!

*God has not softened his stance against sin! HE’S HOLY!!!

C Adam & Eve had the perfect set-up!!

a Do whatever they wanted to, just don’t eat from the tree of life.

b They did! God’s allergic to sin and kicked’em out but not without the lovely parting gifts of hard labor and painful childbirth. Thanks so much for playing Who Wants To Tick God Off?

*Why did they get kicked out of Eden? God is HOLY and HATES SIN!!!

II The second perspective we can pray our lost friends/family to consider is their sinfulness.

A Habakkuk described with detail what sin was in two words: evil & wickedness.