As we have been looking at the attributes of God, we have considered how unique God is, for there is nothing like Him
Isaiah 44:6b ‘I am the first and I am the last, And there is no God besides Me.
God’s qualities include being all powerful (omnipotence), God possess all the power in the universe, He is the source of all Power.
God is all knowing (omniscience), God knows everything, including the thoughts of our minds. he knows the words in our mouth even before we speak it.
God is everywhere (omnipresent), this does not mean that God is in everything are part of everything, But there is nowhere in all creation we can hide from God.
Then we considered His holiness. His Chief quality. Only God is “holy, holy, holy. Only God is completely and totally holy. When we consider his holiness, we must consider his command for those who belong to Him:
Leviticus 19:2 “Speak to all the congregation of the sons of Israel and say to them, ‘You shall be holy, for I the LORD your God am holy.
this command is repeated in the New Testament in 1 Peter 1:16. Herein lies the problem. How many of us measure up to the holiness of God? The Bible is real clear about this.
Romans 3:23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,
And what is the penalty for sin, for offending a most holy God?
Romans 6:23a For the wages of sin is death ...
And this has been the penalty since the Garden of Eden. This is where the compassion of God comes in. But we cannot appreciate the compassion of God unless we first have a grasp on the justice of God. This is where today’s focal verses comes in: The people had sinned and they knew it. What were they do to?
Ezekiel 33:10–11 “Therefore you, O son of man, say to the house of Israel: ‘Thus you say, “If our transgressions and our sins lie upon us, and we pine away in them, how can we then live?” ’ 11 Say to them: ‘As I live,’ says the Lord GOD, ‘I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way and live. Turn, turn from your evil ways! For why should you die, O house of Israel?’
With the heart beating an average of 100,000 times a day it’s surprising that the heart doesn’t give out more often than it does. After all, have you ever heard of a car engine that ran 24 hours a day, 7 days a week for 70 plus years without the need of a tune-up or an oil change or some sort of servicing? Still, there are times when the human heart goes bad from lack of exercise, failure to eat right, or bad genetics. In some cases the heart may be so damaged that a new one is needed.
How is your heart feeling this morning? Is it beating with strong regular intervals, delivering an adequate supply of oxygen throughout your body? Even if you haven’t had so much as a heart flutter, God tells us this morning that we all need a new heart. Of course he’s not talking about this thing beating inside of us, he’s talking about an attitude. God wants us each to have a heart, an attitude, that recognizes its own sinfulness and treasures God’s forgiveness. If we don’t have such a heart, then we are to get one because it’s a matter of eternal life or death. And we cannot do it ourselves. Although they didn’t know it, the people of Ezekiel’s day were badly in need of such a heart transplant.
Ezekiel 18:31 Cast away from you all the transgressions which you have committed, and get yourselves a new heart and a new spirit. For why should you die, O house of Israel?
God wants to change our hearts, but He will not come where He is not wanted and un welcomed. This morning, before we look at God’s compassion, we must first look at his Righteousness, His justice. What is justice, biblical justice?
Eerdmans Dictionary of the Bible tells us: “In a philosophical sense, justice is understood as fairness, correct treatment, or equitable distribution of resources, but biblical justice is more than a mathematical distribution of goods. The Bible speaks of justice as a chief attribute of God, with biblical justice inextricably tied to God’s mercy and grounded in the relationship between God and humankind.” [1]
God’s justice is not about what is fair, but what is right. Even in the Garden of Eden, God defined what was right and the penalty for not doing what was right to Adam.
Genesis 2:16–17 And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, “Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat; 17 but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.”
You know the story. Adam and Eve had but one rule and they broke it, and we have inherited death and our nature to sin from them. Yet we think God is unfair. God made all that there is. He sets boundaries, He set standards. Not me. Herein is the problem. It matters little whether we agree with God or not. He is God and God alone, and we are not. If we offend a holy God, break His morals and His rules, the penalty is death. If that seems extreme, it is only because we do not grasp how high and holy God is.
As I mentioned in last week’s message, every time someone enters the very presence of God, their sin becomes very evident, no matter how good a person they may think themselves to be.
What is a person to do? How can we stand before God? If we had a true concept of God’s holiness, then the real question is not “do I deserve to see heaven?” but rather the question should be, "what is it that keeps me from the wrath of God and His sending me to hell right now?" If nothing else, I do believe the ancient Israelites understood that.
Ezekiel 33:10 “Therefore you, O son of man, say to the house of Israel: ‘Thus you say, “If our transgressions and our sins lie upon us, and we pine away in them, how can we then live?” ’
Can you see and understand the question of the Jews? Considering how we have sinned, how stained and soiled we are, and we see the punishment that is coming, how can we possibly survive?
A little background to this passage. Israel, as God’s chosen people and as a nation, they had greatly offended God and God was bringing punishment down on them. Babylon had invaded, A large portion of the population had already been exiled to Babylon and Ezekiel would be carried off soon as well.
In this chapter (Ezekiel 33) Ezekiel was being charged by God to be a watchman. The watchman’s duty was to warn the people. Our duty as Christians is to be like Ezekiel and warn our people of the coming wrath of God. It did not take much to convince the Israelites of their sin. When people realize that they are lost in their sins, they despair. This where we begin to see deep into the heart of God. God did not create us to be object of His wrath. God grieves at the wickedness in the world.
Go back again to Genesis. God grieved at the wickedness of man.
Genesis 6:5–6 Then the LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. 6 And the LORD was sorry that He had made man on the earth, and He was grieved in His heart.
God exercised his judgment on the whole world and saved only Noah and His family. When Jesus comes again, we will see His judgment again on the whole world, a world that has rejected their Maker, and wallows in unrighteousness and wickedness.
Ezekiel 33:11a Say to them: ‘As I live,’ says the Lord GOD, ‘I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked …
God does not desire for any to perish, for any to go to hell. Hell was made for the devil and his angels, not people. But here is the thing - God is also just. Payment for sin will be made. We cannot pay that penalty, so here is the compassion of God. So God sends a substitute, Jesus. Why? Because God loves His creation.
John 3:16a For God so loved the world …
World here means more than just the earth, it means the people of the earth. God wants His creation to live and not die. But justice must be met, for the penalty for sin is death.
John 3:16a For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son ...
This is why about Jesus. We cannot pay what is owed for our sins, so God sent Jesus to make that payment.
Mark 10:45 For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many.”
Jesus paid the price we could not pay. When we could not help ourselves, Jesus steps in.
Romans 5:8 But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
God made a way for sinful people to come to Him. And how do we come to Almighty God. The Bible is quite clear. We come to God by way of Jesus. Jesus said: “No one comes to the Father but by me.” (John 14:6b)
The rest of John 3:16 says: “that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.” That belief in Jesus means a lot more than a mere belief about Jesus. It is a trust we have when He is approached in repentance. Repentance is a turning from where ever we are at and a turning toward God.
You cannot not say you believe in Jesus and yet live like the rest of the world. There must be repentance. There must be a turning around. And that only truly happens when Jesus comes in and changes the heart. Belief must be accompanied by change in direction. Let’s look again at verse 11.
Ezekiel 33:11 Say to them: ‘As I live,’ says the Lord GOD, ‘I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way and live. Turn, turn from your evil ways! For why should you die, O house of Israel?’
This theme of repentance, that turning away from evil, is found throughout the Bible.
Matthew 4:17 From that time Jesus began to preach and to say, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”
Peter, in talking about the coming judgment on earth says this about God:
2 Peter 3:9 The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance.
If Jesus delays His return to judge the earth, it is only because God desires more to turn to Him in repentance. It is the desire of God for all to be saved.
1 Timothy 2:4 who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.
Truth here is not some abstract concept. Truth is person. Jesus said in John 14:6a: “I am the way, the truth and the life.” The Greek is very emphatic: Jesus is not a truth, He is the truth. He is not a way, He is the only way. And He is life itself.
God does not desire for any to be lost. He takes no pleasure in the death of the wicked. His desire for you and me is that we all come to Him, through His Son Jesus, in repentance. This is the compassion of God. Making a way for all to return to Him.
Isaiah 30:18 Therefore the LORD longs to be gracious to you, And therefore He waits on high to have compassion on you. For the LORD is a God of justice; How blessed are all those who long for Him.
God has given us Jesus, and at the end of the day it is all about Him. How is your heart? Is your heart in the world or has the Holy Spirit of God turned your heart in repentance toward Jesus. Where do you stand with Jesus today? It is a matter of eternal life or death.
[1] Michelle Tooley, “Just, Justice,” ed. David Noel Freedman, Allen C. Myers, and Astrid B. Beck, Eerdmans Dictionary of the Bible (Grand Rapids, MI: W.B. Eerdmans, 2000), 757.
