I had been working on the message for Sunday Morning and the Lord woke me up with this thought.

God is serious. He is a serious God who is serious about you. He is serious about His Church. He is serious about souls. He is serious about His Word. We should be equally serious about Him. We should be equally serious about His Church. We should be equally serious about lost souls. We should be equally serious about His Word.

He has given us His Word, the Bible, sixty-six books, that gives us instruction, knowledge, direction, everything we need to live in this life to make us ready for the eternal life that we “lay hold of.”  He especially has given us His Word to KNOW Him. Who He is in all His character and attributes.

You can no more separate God into segments of your choosing and say that is who He is to you and leave out parts of His being that you do not like. God cannot be love and not be wrath because He is Holy. God cannot save if God cannot judge because He is righteous. You cannot separate the Word of God into segments and take the parts you like and make them “your truth”.

Moses had been up and down the mountain acting as mediator between God and Israel. He had broken the tables of stone containing God’s law because Israel had turned to idolatry very quickly, breaking their covenant with God. Moses is to go back up the mountain again with two new tables of stone so the Words of the law can be inscribed on them again. Israel was in mourning because God told them He would not go with them to drive out the enemy. He said they were stiff-necked, and He might consume them in a moment. The Bible tells us that Israel mourned when they heard these evil tidings. They did not mourn for their sin or transgression or iniquity. They mourned because of the evil tidings. Moses is mediating for Israel and God shows mercy to them. And Moses upon hearing this and knowing he has found grace in the sight of God, who knows Moses by name, “And he said, I beseech thee, shew me thy glory. And he said, I will make all my goodness pass before thee, and I will proclaim the name of the LORD before thee; and will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will shew mercy on whom I will shew mercy.” Exodus 33:18-19

“And the LORD descended in the cloud, and stood with him there, and proclaimed the name of the LORD. And the LORD passed by before him, and proclaimed, The LORD, The LORD God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abundant in goodness and truth, Keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, and that will by no means clear the guilty; visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, and upon the children’s children, unto the third and to the fourth generation.

And Moses made haste, and bowed his head toward the earth, and worshipped. And he said, If now I have found grace in thy sight, O Lord, let my Lord, I pray thee, go among us; for it is a stiffnecked people; and pardon our iniquity and our sin, and take us for thine inheritance. And he said, Behold, I make a covenant: before all thy people I will do marvels, such as have not been done in all the earth, nor in any nation: and all the people among which thou art shall see the work of the LORD: for it is a terrible thing that I will do with thee.” Exodus 34:5-10

As Moses ascended the mountain, God Himself came down to meet Moses and He stood with him there! God Himself proclaimed His own name! He, the Lord God Jehovah, the Great I AM, proclaims to us who He is! The Bible tells us that the Bible was written by “holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost.” But here, God Himself tells us who He is.

Yes, He is merciful, gracious and long suffering. He IS abundant in goodness and truth. God does keep mercy for thousands and forgives iniquity, transgression and sin. But God…God will by no means clear the guilty.

This world, the denominational organizations, have made God relatable to them. They have watered down His Word so much that some versions of the Bible that exist are unrecognizable as being anything like the true Word of God. They have watered down His Word so much that they have not only lost the power of the Word but they have watered God down too. He is His Word and He cannot be separated from His Word.

They have stripped God of His power! If He has no power to judge He has no power to forgive, no power to save, no power to deliver!

They have not the Spirit of God. They are carnal and walk in the flesh and because of this they have had to rewrite the Bible. They cannot understand the Words of God, nor can they know them. Therefore cannot understand God, they do not know Him, they cannot know Him.

1 Corinthians 2:14

“But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.”

It’s foolish to them that God does not accept them as they are, so they make Him like them. Sin is foolish to them. It is foolish to think there is eternal punishment, because there is no sin.

Many verses of Scripture could be submitted here, but I think one verse can sum it up best.

John 3:16 “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”

But for those who think that does not mean He saves us from our sins, hear the verses that follow.

John 3:17-21: For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved. He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved. But he that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God.

I’ll take the Gospel that I believe in, that I am not ashamed of, for it is the Power of God unto salvation! Not just for me, but to everyone who will believe! Oh, I am thankful for the Sovereign, Omnipotent, Merciful, Righteous, Holy God that has brought this glorious Gospel down to you and me! Thank God for His power!

I want to see the marvels God is going to do in these last of the last days! Certainly, I do not relish the idea of seeing any of the unimaginable tribulation that is to come upon this wicked world. Jesus tells us “Watch ye therefore, and pray always, that ye may be accounted worthy to escape all these things that shall come to pass, and to stand before the Son of man.” Luke 21:36

I believe as He did in the days of Moses, Joshua, and the early Church, God is again going to do marvels and terrible works. Church, let us be as equally faithful in our Covenant as God is to us in our Covenant! Lord, show us your glory! Show us your power, for we have made a covenant with you!

God Bless You,

April Millican- Trion, Georgia