Five Things God Cannot Do
How many of you have heard the children’s song – My God is so Big?
It goes like this:
My God is so big, so strong and so mighty,
There’s nothing my God cannot do.
My God is so big, so strong and so mighty,
There’s nothing my God cannot do.
He made the trees
He made the seas
He made the elephants too.
My God is so big, so strong and so mighty,
There’s nothing my God cannot do.
My God is so big, so strong and so mighty,
There’s nothing my God cannot do.
My God is so big, so strong and so mighty,
There’s nothing my God cannot do.
The mountains are His
The rivers are His
The stars are His handy work too.
My God is so big, so strong and so mighty,
There’s nothing my God cannot do.
There’s nothing my God cannot do.
There’s nothing my God cannot do.
For you!
(The song can be found on You-Tube with many variations.)
There is truth in this little song – in fact the Jeremiah says:
’Ah Lord God! Behold, You have made the heavens and the earth by Your great power and by Your outstretched arm! Nothing is too difficult for You!’ Jeremiah 32:17 (NASB)
God Himself says there is nothing too difficult for Him when He says:
"Behold, I am the Lord, the God of all flesh; is anything too difficult for Me?" Jeremiah 32:27 (NASB)
Our God is a BIG God and there is nothing He cannot do – but the truth of the matter is – there are some things that God cannot do. Today we want to look at five of those things.
1. GOD CANNOT SIN
God is pure and God is spotless. There is no stain or blemish on Him. He is holy and righteous and He cannot sin. Leviticus tells us:
‘I am the Lord your God. Consecrate yourselves therefore, and be holy, for I am holy.’ Leviticus 11:44 (NASB)
Samuel tells us:
"There is no one holy like the Lord, Indeed, there is no one besides You, Nor is there any rock like our God.” 1 Samuel 2:2 (NASB)
Our God has high expectations for His people – because His very nature is sinless, pure and 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 and holy – He has never allowed sin to enter His life or to alter His character.
The prophet Habakkuk said of God:
“Your eyes are too pure to approve evil, And You can not look on wickedness with favor.” Habakkuk 1:13 (NASB)
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 seven things that God cannot stand – and that lying is one of them? In fact the scripture tells us that God hates lying. Look with me at a passage from Proverbs:
“There are six things which the Lord hates, Yes, seven which are an abomination to Him: Haughty eyes, a lying tongue, And hands that shed innocent blood, A heart that devises wicked plans, Feet that run rapidly to evil, A false witness who utters lies, And one who spreads strife among brothers.” Proverbs 6:16-19 (NASB)
Notice in this passage that lying is mentioned twice – a lying tongue and a false witness who 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 chapter fourteen the Holy Spirit is called “the Spirit of Truth”. (John 14:17) In First Samuel chapter fifteen God is called “The Glory of Israel” and it says:
"The Glory of Israel will not lie or change His mind; for He is not a man that He should change His mind." 1 Samuel 15:29 (NASB)
God is not a liar. He will not lie to you.
One of the characteristics of God is that He is always truthful. Truth lies in His character. In fact Jesus said:
"I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me.” John 14:6 (NASB)
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 and 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 and 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 – He cannot just try to hide it in a closet - He cannot just ignore it. The Bible tells us:
“It is appointed for men to die once, but after this the judgment.” Hebrews 9:27 (NKJV)
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. He does not just pretend that they are not there. He looks our sin square in the face – and deals with them. When Adam and Eve committed the first sin – God did not ignore it – He went looking for them and confronted them. God asked them series of questions:
“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:
“The wages of sin is death.” Romans 6:23a (NKJV)
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 the verse says:
“The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Romans 6:23 (NKJV)
The most important word in this verse is “but”. You are sick and 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. Jesus said:
"It is not those who are healthy who need a physician, but those who are sick.” Matthew 9:12 (NASB)
Are you sick? Are you sick and tired of the sin that is in your life? Are you sick and tired of trying to cover up all your spots and blemishes? Are you sick and tired pretending that there is nothing wrong with you? There is something wrong – we all have something wrong – there is sin in our lives and it is killing us. But God is not going to ignore it – God has never ignored it – He cannot ignore it. 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 to save you – is through His Son Jesus Christ. There has never been any other plan. There is no "Plan B". Jeus is the answer. We looked at John fourteen six earlier – but let’s look at it again. Remember Jesus said:
"I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me.” John 14:6 (NASB)
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 and Eve how they fell into sin? Do you remember what God did in that story? God confronted Adam and Eve – but then He did more than that. He offered a sacrifice for them and covered there nakedness. Adam and 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 and covered them with animal skins. Genesis tells us:
“The Lord God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife, and clothed them.” Genesis 3:21 (NASB)
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 the book of Hebrews tells us:
“It is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins.” Hebrews 10:4 (NASB)
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 tells us:
“Every priest stands daily ministering and offering time after time the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins; but He (Jesus), having offered one 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.” Hebrews 10:11-18 (NASB)
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 chapter four tells us:
"There is salvation in no one else; for there is no other name under heaven that has been given among men by which we must be saved." Acts 4:12 (NASB)
And in John chapter three we find:
"He who believes in Him (Jesus) is not judged; he who does not believe has been judged already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. John 3:18 (NASB)
Jesus is God’s one and 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
The book of Romans tells us:
“If you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and 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, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation.” Romans 10:9-10 (NASB)
Your salvation is dependent upon what you do with Jesus. The Bible tells us that you must confess Jesus as Lord – 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. 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! 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. Remember God cannot lie. Our salvation is dependent upon our relationship with Jesus. We must believe in Him. In John chapter five we find we find a warning. It says:
"You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; it is these that testify about Me; and you are unwilling to come to Me so that you may have life.” John 5:39-40 (NASB)
Folks if you are unwilling to come to Christ - you will die. 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 in your hands.
During the presidency of Andrew Jackson, George Wilson, a postal clerk, robbed a federal payroll from a train and in the process killed a guard. The court convicted him and sentenced him to hang. Because of public sentiment against capital punishment, however, a movement began to secure a presidential pardon for Wilson, and eventually Andrew Jackson intervened with a pardon. 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 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 punishment for his crime. He was hanged. Pardon – declared the Supreme Court – must not only be granted – it must be accepted.
Pardon – forgiveness – salvation – has been offered to you. What will you do? Will you accept it?
I would like to thank Gerald Flury, Kenneth Trent, Monte Brown, George R. Dillahunty and James Owens for the sermon starter ideas.
