God Is A God Of Righteousness And Judgment Attributes Of God ( 9 Of 10 Sermons)

Then she appeared before the national television news broadcasters and lied, saying a black man jumped into her car, made her get out, and drove off with her two sons.

Later, when they found the car with the little boys in it, she confessed that she had done this horrendous thing herself. When it was revealed that she had done this horrible thing, people all over the nation were shocked. People were asking themselves, "How could a mother do such a thing?"

If you were to ask the PSYCHOLOGISTS, they would probably explain that she did it because of a deep emotional problem that stemmed back to her childhood.

If you asked some of the LIBERAL POLITICIANS in this country, they would probably tell you she did this terrible thing because society let her down.

If you asked her FRIENDS and FAMILY, they would tell you they are simply mystified that she would do what she did.

Illus: In fact, a neighbor lady said she used to watch her play with her children in the yard and she always thought she was a good mother.

But, if you really want to know WHY that mother did that dreadful deed, you have to turn to the WORD OF GOD. The Bible makes it clear why she did what she did. Look at Jeremiah 17:9 where we read, "The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?"

This is true of my heart and your heart. We can not only surprise our family and friends with the wicked deeds we can do, we can even surprise ourselves.

-We have men and women who are in prison today because certain conditions arose and the evil in their hearts prevailed and they killed someone. It was not something they had premeditated months in advance, but the conditions were such that the evil in their hearts drove them to do such an evil thing as to commit murder.

-We have men who are in prison today because of certain conditions that prevailed and they raped a woman. Again, it was not something that was planned months in advance, but the conditions were right and the evil in their hearts drove them to rape a helpless woman.

-We have married couples today who are having a sexual affair with someone other than their married partner. It is not something they woke up one morning and decided, "I think I will have an affair," but it happened because the evil was in their hearts and the conditions were conducive to causing them to fall into the sin of committing adultery.

We can make all kinds of explanations for why we do what we do, but the Bible makes it clear that we do whatever evil we do because we have hearts that are "desperately wicked." The Bible tells us, "The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?" It does not matter what kind of "Spin" we place on sinful deeds, God says they come from wicked hearts.

That is why when the Lord saves us, He gives us a new heart. God does not want shame brought upon His name. In Ezekiel 36:26-27 we read, "A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh. And I will put my spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep my judgments, and do them."

Notice, it is after God's Word says we shall receive a new heart that we will "...walk in..." His "...statutes and...keep (His) judgments, and do them." For example...

Illus: We Christians know how hard it is to get lost people to attend church. Why is it so hard? Because the gods they worship and serve are the gods of this world. Every week they have time only for their gods. But if they become born again no longer will people have to beg or plead with them to attend church. Why the difference? Because when they have been born again they have a desire to worship the true and living God because He has given them a new heart.

We mortals do what we do because:

(1) We have GODLY HEARTS within us that want to please God. Or, because we have

(2) EVIL HEARTS that want to please the devil.

The Bible makes it clear WHY WE DO WHAT WE DO!

I WANT TO ASK YOU SOMETHING; Why does GOD DO WHAT HE DOES?

GOD IS MOTIVATED TO DO WHAT HE DOES BY HIS RIGHTEOUSNESS. God is a...

-Loving God.

-Merciful God.

-Patient God.

-Holy God.

-Omniscient God - knows all.