The Other Side Of God Series

Sunday

April 6, 2008 River of Life Ministries Pastor Michael West

Series: His majesty, His Names pt 4 — Jehovah Tsidkenu

Sermon: The Other Side of God Scripture: Romans 11:22

"Then note and appreciate the gracious kindness and the severity of God: severity toward those who have fallen, but God’s gracious kindness to you—provided you continue in His grace and abide in His kindness; otherwise you too will be cut off (pruned away)." (AMP)

"Make sure you stay alert to these qualities of gentle kindness and ruthless severity that exist side by side in God—ruthless with the deadwood, gentle with the grafted shoot. But don’t presume on this gentleness. The moment you become deadwood, you’re out of there." (MSG)

Jehovah Tsidkenu: The Lord our righteousness—Jesus is the King who would come from David’s line and would be the only One who could impart His righteousness to us—

Jeremiah 23:5-6; 33:16;

"Behold, the days are coming," says the Lord, "That I will raise to David a Branch of righteousness; A King shall reign and prosper, And execute judgment and righteousness in the earth. In His days Judah will be saved, And Israel will dwell safely; Now this is His name by which He will be called: The Lord Our Righteousness.

Ezekiel 36:26-27—I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will keep My judgments and do them.

All people, not one excluded, fall short of the glory of God, but God through His Son has made us righteous by our faith in Him. God had promised that a righteous King who would reign with wisdom would come and do what is right and just in the sight of the Lord and all of the people would dwell in safety—Jehovah Tsidkenu.

As I said in part three, God is a good God...all the time, but let’s not get all mushy-mooshy. There is the other side of God. There is the flip side to His infinite goodness and it’s found in His righteousness.

God is not only good, but He is severe: Romans 11:22: “Therefore consider the goodness and severity of God: on those who fell, severity; but toward you, goodness,…”

God is good toward all who will accept His goodness and severe to those who reject it. Because of man’s freewill, there isn’t much God will be able to do for those who refuse Him. That freewill was given as a gift to us and we can use it for righteous purposes or we can abuse it for evil’s sake. It is up to us as individuals to choose heaven or hell and to live on the paths that lead us there.

If a person chooses the path of rebellion, to not follow through with God’s plan of salvation and go it their own way, then they will be partaking in the severity of God which, could wind them up in hell.

God is bound by His righteous virtues, commands and laws to follow through in their judgments. There is nothing God can do as His justice dispenses the ramifications of rebellion.

For those who have surrender to God’s love, He being holy as well as good and kind and yet righteous, what do we have to cling to as being sinners just as well?

That’s where Jesus fits in. He who became flesh, a man, who did take the sins of this world upon Himself has made a way to save us. God came down to where we were, and in so doing, He understands us by sympathy and empathy.

Sympathy. Pathy the “feeling or suffering often”; Sym means “together,” like in symphony, playing together in harmony. Therefore, Jesus, feeling and suffering along with us.

Empathy. The ability to project yourself into somebody else and feel as they feel. Now lets look at the Bible’s description—

Hebrews 2:17-18:

17) So it is evident that it was essential that He be made like His brethren in every respect, in order that He might become a merciful (sympathetic) and faithful High Priest in the things related to God, to make atonement and propitiation for the people’s sins.

18) For because He Himself [in His humanity] has suffered in being tempted (tested and tried), He is able [immediately] [7] Kenneth Wuest, Word Studies in the New Testament. to run to the cry of (assist, relieve) those who are being tempted and tested and tried [and who therefore are being exposed to suffering]. (Amplified)

Hebrews 4:15-16

15) For we do not have a High Priest Who is unable to understand and sympathize and have a shared feeling with our weaknesses and infirmities and liability to the assaults of temptation, but One Who has been tempted in every respect as we are, yet without sinning.