I AM: God The judge of all

August 30, 2015 Series: Who? I Am

How do you like to think about God? How do you picture him in your mind’s eye?
The Bible uses many different terms to describe Him: King, Lord, Father, Savior, Shepherd, Potter, to name a few.
You may have a favorite. Perhaps you prefer to think about God as a perfect Father providing for His children, or a good shepherd tending His sheep, or a great and powerful King ruling over his kingdom.
Today’s message is the last in our sermon series this summer on the character of God.
The title of this sermon series is Who? I AM.
It comes from Moses’ interaction with Go at the burning bush, when He asked God
how he should respond when the people of Israel ask what His name is
God said to Moses, “I AM who I AM.” And he said, “Say this to the people of Israel, ‘I AM has sent me to you.’”
Exodus 3:14
The verb translated I AM is related to The word YHWH, which is written as LORD in capital letters in the Bible.
This is his name: I AM who I AM. It is a statement of His self-existence. He defines himself. He is simply the God who is there.
Why should this matter to us?
God is who he is. We are not free to think of him however we like.
It can be tempting to pick out certain aspects of God’s character that we like and focus only on those, ignoring others.
But, we need to learn of Him as he reveals Himself to us.
Toward this end, over the summer we have been looking at a number of his different attributes: His Love, His Mercy, His truthfulness, His Wisdom, His Power, His Holiness, the fact that He doesn’t change, that He is everywhere.
In closing the series this week, I would like to speak about God as Judge, and consider his justice and wrath.
These are not popular subjects. As this is the last in the series, it may seem that when it came to dividing the topics among the various speakers, all the other cards were dealt out and I got what was left (which was not the case).
Page 1
Why are these unpopular subjects? I think that there are at least two reasons:
1. In today’s world, the concept of judgment has a strong negative connotation. We are made to believe that morality is simply a matter of personal choice. One person may choose a particular lifestyle while another may choose a very different one, and both are perfectly valid. The only thing that we cannot say, we are told, is that one is right and the other is wrong. The only wrong thing is to make a judgment about someone else’s choice. After all, doesn’t the Bible say “do not judge”?
2. The second reason is that when it comes to questions of judgment and particularly wrath, we somehow think it is unworthy of God. Why? Because we project human qualities on Him. We think of what it is like when we, or someone we know, fly off into a rage, and we cannot imagine that this is fitting for a loving God. So we downplay this side of His character.
But if we are to get to know the true God, the God who is there, we can’t project our ideas of what we think God should be like onto Him. We have to learn of Him as he reveals himself in Scripture.
With this introduction, the rest of what I want to say is broken into four parts:
• First, I want to talk about God’s justice – that is the fact that God is the very definition of what it means to be just.
• Second, I will talk about judgment – the fact that God enforces justice.
• Third, I will talk about the wrath of God, which is his right reaction to evil and
injustice.
• Finally, I will close by thinking about how these aspects of God’s character can co- exist in a God who is love.

More in Who? I Am

August 23, 2015

I AM: The inescapable God

August 16, 2015

I Am: Holy

August 9, 2015

I Am: Truth