Sermon Tone Analysis

What Is God Like?

Dr. Ron Dunn

Micah 7:18-20

 

        The meaning of Micah is "who is like Jehovah?" and he plays on that in this last passage.

We're going to read Micah 7:18-20...

 

        "Who is a God like Thee, who pardons iniquity and passes

        over the rebellious act of the remnant of His possession?

He does not retain His anger forever, because He delights

        in unchanging love.

He will again have compassion on us;

        He will tread our iniquities underfoot.

Yes, Thou wilt cast

        all their sins into the depths of the sea.

Thou wilt give truth

        to Jacob and unchanging love to Abraham, which Thou

        didst swear to our forefathers from the days of old."

Who is like Jehovah?  Who is a God like unto Thee?  Let's compare Gods and see if there is a God like our God.

One of the most helpful books that I have ever read and I highly recommend it to you...I've read it more than once and I keep it in my study because it is a book that I have gone back to time and time again...is a book by the title KNOWING GOD by J. I. Packer.

If you have never read that book, let me urge you to read that book.

It is one of the best books that I have ever read.

If I had to list ten books throughout my whole ministry that have blessed me and influenced me, that book would be one of them and near the top...KNOWING GOD...because there is nothing more important than knowing God.

But it is not only important to know God, but to also know what kind of God we know.

And that's the burden of Micah.

What is God like?

You see, there is God as He is and then there is God as you and I conceive Him to be.

Now, when we come into this place to worship we're not necessarily worshiping God as He is...we are worshiping God as we conceive Him to be.

And if our concept of God is wrong, then our worship of God is going to be wrong, you see.

That's why there have been religions through the ages in which the worshipers would sacrifice the firstborn.

Well, what made them worship in that way?

That's the kind of god they had.

Their god demanded that kind of sacrifice and that was their concept of God and their concept of God determined how they worshiped.

You see, it is important for us to understand what God is really like.

If you don't, you may be worshiping Him in the wrong way.

Augustine said, "Teach me O Lord, which is first...to know Thee or to praise Thee...or to know Thee or ask of Thee...for if I know Thee not I may ask of Thee other than Thou art."

Now, Augustine is saying is "If I don't have the right conception of God in my praise and in my praying I may be asking God to do something that's contrary to His nature."

So, it is important for us to have right concept of God.

You remember Jesus talking to the woman at the well in John 4, the conversation drifted around to worship and she revealed her ignorance of true worship...she said, "Oh I know you Jews.

You believe you have to worship in a certain place...in a certain mountain."

Her concept of God was that He was a geographical God...limited to a geographical location.

But Jesus corrected that when He said, "God is Spirit and they that worship Him must worship Him in Spirit and in truth," you see.

God is not a geographical God.

He is not limited to one physical location.

He is a Spirit and you worship Him according to His nature.

Your concept of God will determine how you worship.

It will also determine how you walk.

That's why John says that God is a God of light.

"God is light and in Him is no darkness at all and if we say we have fellowship with Him and walk in darkness we lie and have not the truth."

When the Bible describes God as light, it describes Him not only in His moral perfection but also in His high holiness.

Now, you know, if I don't have a high concept of the holiness of God that's going to affect the way I live...for if I don't think God is all that concerned about sin and holiness then why should I be concerned about it?

That's why we must take God seriously.

Peter said, "Be ye holy..."  WHY?

"Because God is holy."

Why should you and I live a life of holiness?

Because  God is holy.

You see, everything in the Christian life...how I pray, how I live, how I respond to tragedy, how I respond to difficulty...everything in the Christian life is going to be determined by my idea, my concept of God, you see.

It's always been interesting to me that when God said, "Be ye holy," and if you go back and read then rabbinical health laws, He doesn't say, "If you eat like this, you'll live longer."

He never says that!

He doesn't say, "If you'll not eat this kind of meat and if you'll not put together this kind of meat and if you'll live like this, you're going to be healthier and you won't have indigestion and you won't have ulcers and you'll live longer..."

He never says that!

The only reason He gives those laws is "because I am the LORD and I am holy."

So, my concept of God...what I believe about Him determines how I live my life.

Now, as Micah comes to the end of this book, he has said a lot of things about God.

Most of the things he has said about God have been things concerning judgment and wrath and retribution, but as Micah brings his prophecy to a close, he signifies that he's coming to a summary of the whole business.

When he plays on his own name – "who is like Jehovah?" – he says, "Who is a God like unto Thee?"

And then in the next three verses, he describes to us what kind of God we have.

So, let's just look at these three verses tonight...  Verses 18, 19 and 20 give us three different points concerning our God and so they make up the points of the message.

 

1) Micah tells us our God is a God of forgiving love...He is a God of pardon.

Look at the 18th verse.

"Who is a God like Thee, who pardons

                iniquity and passes over the rebellious act of the

                remnant of His possession?

He does not retain

                His anger forever, because He delights in mercy."

Micah's message has been largely one of judgment...one of condemnation...but the last word is this... "I want you to know something, this is what God is like...He is a God who delights in mercy.

He is a God of forgiving love."

What is so incomparable about our God?

He said, "Let's compare Gods."

What is so special about our God?

And you know, if you have ever done a study about the gods of history...the gods of Egypt and the gods of the Greeks and the gods of the pagans...all the way through, there is one glaring, one noticeable incomparable difference between pagan gods and the God of the Christian.

You know what that is?

Our God forgives sin.

Ours is a God who delights in mercy.

You cannot say that about any pagan god...that he delighted in mercy.

This was a whole, new revelation to the people of that day because the only gods they had known were gods of judgment and of wrath, gods of capriciousness and gods who just threw the dice and a person's fate depended upon a roll of the dice, but Micah said, "I want you to know what makes our God so incomparable is He is a God of forgiving love.

He forgives sin."

And that's the one thing that you and I need more than anything else in all this life...we need to be forgiven of our sin.

I was talking to a person the other day and he said, "You know, I've kind of gotten into Zen, and I'm getting more into it and I like it."

And so as we talked, I said, "Let me ask you one question...is there any place in Zen or any other religion like that as a matter of fact, where there is forgiveness of past sin?"

You see, the appeal of these false religions, Zen and some of the other Eastern religions and the New Age, which many are into, even Christians are into without knowing it, is that they promise a better life here and now, they promise a healthier life, they promise a richer and fuller life, but one thing they never ever promise is they never promise forgiveness of past sin.

They never do! 

 

        See, that is the problem.

Let's just suppose that I have a charge account at your grocery store and I've run up about a thousand dollar grocery bill, and I haven't made a payment in six months.

I come into your store one day and I say, "Listen, I want to apologize to you because I owe you money and I haven't paid and I want you to know from now on I'm going to pay everything in cash.

I'm not going to charge anything else.

From now on, everything will be paid in cash.

How about that?"

You know what you'd say?  You'd say, "Well, that's all well and good...but what about that old debt?

Your simply making a new resolution to charge no more and to pay everything in cash...that's fine...that's good...but that doesn't take care of the past debt that you owe.

You've got to take of that past debt."

Now, I might turn over a new leaf and try to live a good life, but friend, what about that past debt of sin that is against God that I must face some day in the Judgment?