Participants: Pr. Doug Batchelor
Series Code: EG
Program Code: EG002702
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00:09 It's been 2000 years since the glorious light of the cross
00:12 illuminated the world veiled in darkness and confusion about 00:16 the character of God. And still today the greatest need of 00:19 mankind is a revelation of God's love as revealed in the life 00:22 of Christ. Amazing facts presents the everlasting gospel 00:26 with Pastor Doug Batchelor coming to you each week from 00:30 Sacramento Central Church in sunny California. Discover 00:33 hidden treasures in God's word today. 00:38 Well happy Sabbath. It's a pleasure to see you and our 00:45 family as well as our visitors We're very thankful that you're 00:48 here. I'd like to invite you to turn in your Bibles to the book 00:52 of Exodus. It was interesting that Carol in her offering 00:56 thoughts was talking about Exodus chapter 35. Well I'm 01:00 going to invite you to go to Exodus chapter 33. Now this is 01:06 after the 10 commandments have been delivered orally and if you 01:12 go to verse 12 Moses is conversing with the Almighty 01:19 And Moses said to the Lord, see you say to me bring this people 01:25 but you have not let me know whom you will send with me. 01:30 Yet you have said, I know you by name and you have also found 01:35 grace in my sight. Now therefore I pray if I have found grace in 01:41 your site, show me now your way that I might know you, that I 01:46 might find grace in your sight and consider that this nation is 01:51 your people. And God said, my presence will go with you and I 01:57 will give you rest. Then I want you to go down to verse 18. 02:03 And Moses said, Please show me your glory. He said I want to 02:09 know you. I want to know your way. Moses is yearning after God 02:14 and his prayer is show me your glory. Well our message this 02:18 morning is dealing with the subject of the character of 02:23 Christ, the character of Christ. I do not think that there is any 02:28 theme that is more worthy of our attention. After all what kind 02:33 of church is this? A Christian church. What is a Christian? 02:37 A follower of Christ? What would be the very best theme upon 02:42 which we could talk and dwell? Christ. More specifically, the 02:48 character of Christ. So we are in a very real sense entering 02:53 into sacred ground with our study this morning. Do you have 02:58 the yearning that Moses had? I mean here Moses is talking to 03:02 God. He's seen the burning bush, he's seen the miracles of God 03:06 and after all of the wind and the fire, the manna from heaven, 03:11 what is Moses' prayer? I want more of you. He's not saying 03:16 Lord I want riches or Lord I want the vindication on my 03:20 enemies. He's saying Lord I want you. I want to know you, I want 03:25 to know your way. Show me your glory. He's not asking for 03:29 fireworks. He's asking to know the Lord. I'll prove this as we 03:33 proceed here. Show me your glory and here's what God said, verse 03:38 19; I'm still in Exodus 33. I will make all of my goodness 03:43 pass before you. So what is the glory of God? The goodness of 03:49 God. And I will proclaim the name of the Lord before you. 03:53 You remember one time Moses said to the Lord when he was 03:57 first commissioned to go to Egypt. He said, whom shall I say 04:01 sent me to the Pharaoh, to the children of Israel. You're the 04:05 God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. You know there's lots of Gods in 04:10 Egypt. Whom shall I say? And the Lord told Moses that he's the 04:14 self-existent, eternal one. I Am that I Am. And he also gave him 04:18 more specifically the name Jehovah. So he's revealed his 04:23 eternal nature, he's revealed his name and Moses is saying, 04:27 no Lord, I want to see your glory. I want to really get a 04:32 picture of who you are. He said I'll proclaim the name of the 04:37 Lord before you. I will be gracious to whom I'll be 04:39 gracious and I'll have compassion on whom I will have 04:41 compassion. But he said, God is speaking, You cannot see my face 04:48 for no man shall see me and live. Now that's a heavy thought 04:53 I want to take you on a little detour if that's okay and talk 04:59 about seeing God. I collected some verses this morning. 05:05 We are separated from God because of sin. I mean, you 05:10 would think why would God want to make creatures that couldn't 05:13 see him? That was not his original plan. Man used to 05:16 converse with God face to face in the garden but in the 05:20 beginning after sin man ran from God and God said where are you? 05:25 The purpose of the plan of salvation is to restore us to 05:29 fellowship with God. Sin has separated us. Your iniquities 05:33 have separated you from your God. But it's a little confusing 05:37 sometimes. You read the statements about can we see God 05:40 or can't we see God. Jacob wrestled with an Angel and he 05:43 says, For I have seen God face to face and yet I am preserved. 05:47 Well evidently God did not reveal himself in his full glory 05:51 because when Jacob first starts wrestling with the angel he 05:54 doesn't even know who it is. If it was God in his unveiled glory 05:58 he would have know right away. Isn't that right? But he found 06:03 out God had veiled himself. Christ had come in one of his 06:08 manifestations before his incarnation. In Deuteronomy 5 06:13 verse 4, God said to Moses, I talk to you face to face out of 06:17 the midst of the fire. So when the Bible says Moses previously 06:21 spoke to the Lord face to face, yes, but it was out of the fire. 06:25 God's glory was veiled somehow by this light and the smoke and 06:29 the fire on the mountain he spoke to him. And then we just 06:33 read where he said, No man will see my face and live. Judges 06:36 chapter 6, when Gideon perceived this was the Angel of the Lord 06:40 he said, Ah, ah, alas, I'm going to die for I have seen an angel 06:44 of the Lord face to face. Some believe this was Christ because 06:48 he believed that he had seen the divinity of God and the Lord 06:51 said, Peace, you will not die. They believed that if they saw 06:56 God in his glory it would just destroy them. John chapter 6 07:00 verse 46, the Lord helps us understand this because he said, 07:05 not that any man has seen the Father. So when he tells us no 07:10 man can see God in his glory and live well God the Father in his 07:14 unveiled glory, the presence of the Lord is a consuming fire. 07:19 Who can endure that? When Daniel saw the Lord he fell down as 07:23 though he was dead. When Haggai saw the Lord he said 07:26 he trembled with fear. When Ezekiel saw the Lord he thought 07:31 he was going to die. You can see many examples of this among the 07:35 prophets. Matthew 17 verse 6, when the disciples were on the 07:38 mountain and they saw Jesus glorified they were overcome 07:42 with fear. Sore, exceedingly afraid, when they saw Christ in 07:48 his glory. I Timothy 6 verses 15 and 16: Which in his times 07:53 he shall show who is the blessed and only potentate, the King of 07:57 kings and Lord of lords who only has immortality dwelling 08:01 in, listen to this, God dwelling in light that no man can 08:06 approach unto whom no man has seen nor can see. No man, in his 08:12 mortal condition, has seen or can see God in his glory. It's 08:17 too much. Even Moses, as good and godly as he was, the meekest 08:22 man in all the earth, he, God said, could not see his undimmed 08:27 glory, his heavenly glory that the angels veil their faces to. 08:32 Even the angels cover their faces, holy angels, in the 08:35 presence of God. Now some of the reason I'm sharing this with you 08:39 is I just wanted to raise your concept of the glory of God a 08:43 notch or two. When we come into church here, you know sometimes 08:46 the pastors and elders here, we're constantly harping about 08:51 reverence. We're doing this because God tells us that his 08:55 holiness is something that we cannot even endure. If he should 08:59 suddenly manifest himself to us the way that he did to Moses, I 09:04 dare say that many of us wouldn't survive the experience. 09:06 I'm not done yet. I John 4:12: No man has seen God at any time. 09:13 Revelation 1:17, John gets this vision of God in his glory. And 09:19 when I saw him I fell at his feet as dead. This is that holy 09:24 St. John. But he laid his right hand on me saying, Do not be 09:28 afraid. I am the first and the last. It says he laid his hand 09:32 on Daniel and he almost fell down. When an angel of the Lord 09:35 appeared to resurrect Christ or roll away the stone, the guards 09:39 fell down as dead from the glory of an angel. So right now if God 09:43 should enter this place and if he should peel back the veil 09:47 that separates the physical from the spiritual and let his glory 09:52 shine forth undimmed. The presence of the Lord is a 09:55 consuming fire. What is it that destroys the wicked. The wicked 09:59 are destroyed by the brightness of his coming, his very presence 10:02 God is awesome and glorious. I Corinthians, here's the good 10:08 news. Right now in our mortal condition, in our sinful 10:11 condition we can't behold him. Now we see through a glass 10:15 darkly but then in our glorified condition we may veil our faces, 10:20 but we will see him face to face. And if you have any 10:24 doubts, last chapter in the Bible, Revelation 22 verse 4: 10:28 And they shall see his face and his name shall be in their 10:31 foreheads. I want to see him face to face, don't you? 10:34 So just to give you the background for why God is saying 10:37 to Moses in his mortal condition no man, no human, your mortal 10:41 flesh cannot endure it. But I want to show you as much as you 10:44 can handle because I love you and we've got this relationship. 10:48 He said, You shall not see my face for no man shall see me and 10:52 live. That's verse 20. And God says in verse 21, I'm back in 10:58 Exodus 33. He said, here's a place by me and you shall stand 11:04 on the rock and so it shall be that while my glory passes by 11:10 that I will put you in the cleft of the rock and cover you with 11:15 my hand while I pass by. And I will take my hand and you will 11:20 see my back, but my face shall not be seen. Whoo. Just gives 11:24 you chills to think about the glory of God and here is Moses 11:28 saying I want to see your glory and God is saying, the only way 11:31 you can do it is if you're in the rock. You know you've sung 11:34 that song, He Hideth My Soul In the Cleft of the Rock. That's 11:37 based on this passage of scripture. So there's another 11:41 exchange between the Lord and Moses and finally in verse 5 the 11:45 moment comes. He's going to receive the 10 commandments but 11:49 what Moses wants is to see his glory. I'm in chapter 34 of 11:55 Exodus verse 5, Then the Lord descended in the cloud and stood 12:00 with him there. Moses is in this cleft of the rock and God places 12:05 his hand over Moses and he passes by as he descends and he 12:09 removes his hand. And the Lord passed before him and proclaimed 12:15 verse 6, The Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious, long 12:20 suffering and abounding in goodness and truth, keeping 12:24 mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and 12:28 sin, by no means clearing the guilty, visiting the iniquity 12:32 of the fathers upon the children and the children's children to 12:36 the third and fourth generation. So Moses made haste and he 12:41 bowed his head toward the earth and he worshipped. Now after 12:44 Moses saw just even this glimpse of God's glory, he couldn't see 12:48 his face, he was overwhelmed with the desire to worship. 12:52 What was it that compelled him to just worship overflowing with 12:57 adoration? He saw a bright light A lot of religions talk about a 13:02 bright light and you can go to Vegas and stand on top of the 13:07 Luxor Hotel and see a bright light. There's a lot of things 13:13 you can do just to get a bright light. You can ask the police to 13:16 shine their search lights in your face. That won't inspire 13:19 you to worship. What was it that evoked this desire to worship? 13:25 He saw the character of God. Now I want you to think about that 13:29 because the character of Christ, that's our message today and 13:33 we're going to look at some of the specifics. First I want to 13:37 begin with a definition. What is character? It is the combination 13:41 of qualities or features that distinguishes one person, group 13:46 or thing from another. A distinguishing feature or 13:50 attribute of an individual. Now you may not know it. You've been 13:54 wondering what a character is, you're probably sitting 13:56 surrounded by them right now. We're all characters. Sometimes 14:00 a person says that in a derogatory say, Boy he's a 14:03 character. But what that means is we all have our distinct 14:07 characteristics and you all have your unique character. Someone 14:13 said one time reputation is what others think about you and what 14:17 you might want others to think about you but character is who 14:21 you are regardless of what people think. Sometimes the 14:24 public opinion will turn against a person who has a great 14:30 character. It did against Jesus. His reputation changed among 14:35 the politicians but his character did not change. 14:38 What topic would be more important for us to talk about 14:42 than the character of Christ. Nothing. This is the best thing 14:46 we could do in church. II Corinthians 3:18. Why are we 14:50 talking about the character of Christ? Notice. 14:54 II Corinthians 3:18: But we all with unveiled face, God had to 14:59 hide or veil his face, beholding as in a mirror the 15:02 glory of the Lord. Is it the bright light or is it the 15:05 character? What is the glory of God? It's his personality, it's 15:09 who he is. He's not just a bright light. By beholding the 15:13 glory of the Lord are being transformed into the same image 15:18 from glory to glory. As you and I behold the character of God, 15:22 these attributes of God our souls are something like a 15:26 photographic plate. When you pull aside the shutter for an 15:29 instant and close it again, even digital cameras use the same 15:32 principle, it's got a shutter that opens and closes. 15:35 It captures an image. You and I beholding Christ, his 15:40 characteristics, his character is impressed on our souls. 15:45 You know this happens with children. Children often assume 15:49 the characteristics of their parents. They say that with a 15:52 number of animals, especially with birds, they've got this 15:56 time, they call it imprinting. It's very common among ducks and 16:00 and swans and some of these birds, that when they first come 16:05 out of the shell whatever they see, they start peeping and 16:10 chirping, they will bond and it imprints on them and they say 16:15 mama. And it's really funny because sometimes... Karen and 16:20 I were watching this nature video and they're trying to 16:25 retrain these whooping cranes that are a threatened species to 16:31 multiply and get into their regular form of migration. 16:35 And it's quite a challenge because the scientists that are 16:38 trying to train them they know about this bonding and they 16:41 showed this one lady that happened to be there when this 16:44 whooping crane hatched and the thing just follows her around 16:47 all the time like a dog in the house. They said this one is 16:50 hopeless now. We can never train this one to be a wild whooping 16:52 crane because it bonded and it was imprinted with a human. 16:55 And it goes to the beach with her, everywhere she goes it's 16:58 following her around her house, sleeps in a bed next to her at 17:01 night. It would drive me crazy because this thing is like a 17:05 little ostrich. So what the biologists have to do for these 17:09 whooping cranes, they dress up like cranes. They dress in white 17:14 and they get this puppet on their arm and when the chick 17:16 first hatches all they see is this puppet that's got a crane's 17:19 head on it and they got a microphone that's playing crane 17:22 music through this thing. So they think it's a real crane 17:26 and they can associate and they're not malformed thinking 17:29 that they're humans. Every time these scientists do anything 17:33 with these cranes they've got to dress up in their whooping crane 17:36 suit. It's kind of funny. And they feed them with this little 17:40 whooping crane puppet because they don't want them to be 17:42 psychologically disturbed and need therapy and everything 17:45 because they imprint. Well when you're born again we need to fix 17:51 our eyes on Jesus. That's why it's so important for those of 17:55 us who have been in the church that are Christians that we 17:59 model Christ for others because when people first come into the 18:03 church they're going, So what is a Christian anyway? They're 18:05 just hatched, they're a baby Christian. They're looking at 18:08 you and you're going to imprint them. A lot of these folks come 18:12 into the church, they're wondering what's appropriate 18:14 behavior, what's appropriate conduct and that's why it's so 18:18 important we're Christ-like in our behavior because if the 18:22 existing Christians are not modeling Christ very well, then 18:26 the new Christians, they don't stand a chance do they? And that 18:29 is why often in some churches where we're not constantly 18:32 lifting the standard, the pattern of Christ-like living 18:36 continues to plummet. So as we behold Christ, we are 18:40 transformed from glory to glory. Now when Moses began to behold 18:45 the glory of God, what words came out of his mouth? First of 18:49 all he talked about the Lord and the word he used twice there is 18:53 Jehovah, Jehovah, God and then he said God and the word God 18:57 there is Elo, Elohim and it means powerful God. And then he 19:01 begins to give specifics; merciful, which is synonymous 19:06 with forgiving. Well this is a characteristic of God that 19:10 should be replicated in his children. God is merciful. What 19:15 does Jesus say in his constitution? In the sermon on 19:18 the mount, Matthew 5 verse 7, blessed are the merciful for 19:24 they will obtain mercy. There in Micah chapter 6 verse 8 what 19:29 does he require of you oh man but to love mercy and to walk 19:35 humbly with your God. God wants us to love mercy. Luke 23 verse 19:39 Father forgive them, Jesus said, they don't know what they 19:43 do. Even when Christ was dying he showed mercy on his 19:47 persecutors. I heard about a missionary, George Atley, who 19:52 was hired by the Central African Mission and he carried a 19:56 Winchester repeating carbine with 10 shells in it. It was 19:59 quite a lethal weapon in it's day and he was out in the 20:03 brush and in Africa he needed that for the wild animals, but 20:05 he was a missionary. They'd established a new mission. 20:09 He ran into a small group of hostile natives and he sized 20:13 things up and they had their spears and they were threatening 20:16 him. He knew he could have dispatched them quickly with his 20:19 rifle. But he set his rifle down and he calculated, you now I've 20:22 got to show mercy on them because our whole mission 20:25 project will be in jeopardy if I use violence against them. 20:29 He laid his rifle down and he allowed them to kill him rather 20:32 than defend himself. When they found him, his rifle was at his 20:36 side. He hadn't fired a single shot. He showed them mercy. 20:40 He was willing to sacrifice himself in order that he might 20:43 save them. This is what Jesus did. He laid down his life to 20:47 save others. Ephesians 4:32. Be kind to one another, 20:52 tenderhearted, forgiving one another just as God in Christ 20:56 forgave you. We are to model the glory of God and the character 21:00 of Christ and one of those attributes is he's merciful. 21:03 He's forgiving. Psalm 52 verse 8 I trust in the mercy of God for 21:10 ever and ever. He is longsuffering in his mercy for 21:14 us which brings me to the next point. Patience. This is one of 21:18 the things that was identified in the character of God. 21:21 Patience and longsuffering are characteristics of Christ. 21:25 Galatians 5:22. And by the way if you'd like to better 21:29 understand the personality of Jesus. Would you like to know 21:34 Jesus better? How do you fall in love with anybody. Do they 21:40 send you a name? Some people begin to date on the internet. 21:46 Now I'm not criticizing that. I think it might be a nice vehicle 21:52 There's danger there because if all of your exposure is based on 21:57 the internet, it's possible that somebody could portray themself 22:03 as tall, dark and handsome. They could e-mail you a counterfeit 22:08 picture and you may not really know who they are. You know 22:11 you can get to know a person through letters. I know two 22:14 people, very happily married, they didn't do it through the 22:17 internet but one was doing mission work and the other was 22:19 in North America and they corresponded by letter and they 22:21 fell in love with each other based on the letters and they're 22:24 still happily married many years later. They got to know each 22:27 other based on the communication That's one aspect. You can sort 22:30 of get to know a person through their communication. But there's 22:34 more to it than that. You want to be able to behold them and 22:37 really know who they are. I think I can find this for you 22:40 real quick. I saw something just this morning as I was touching 22:43 up my sermon. Sabbath morning that's 90% of my sermon I touch 22:46 up. This is from Good Housekeeping 1985. 22:50 Ladies listen carefully. Six ways to learn everything you 22:54 need to know about a man before you decide to marry him. I don't 22:58 see anyone reaching for their pen. This is good. Watch him 23:03 drive in heavy traffic. Play tennis with him. I guess you 23:08 have to learn tennis, but I think the point is see how he 23:12 behaves competitively. Some men act like total gentlemen but as 23:18 soon as they're watching a football game or they start 23:20 behaving competitively, it's like they become possessed. 23:25 Listen to him talk to his mother when he doesn't know you're 23:30 listening. He's going to talk to you that way some day. By the 23:34 way, Spirit of Prophecy says the same thing. Look at how he 23:38 treats his mother because that tells you a lot about his 23:41 concept of and respect for women By the way this works both ways. 23:46 See how he treats those who serve him. Is he condescending 23:51 to waiters, maids and people in fields of service, the clerk at 23:55 the market. Is he degrading? Is he impatient? Is he kind and 23:58 respectful for those people. Because if he's not to them 24:02 someday he'll treat you like a servant and he won't be kind 24:07 either. Look at his friends. And then it says notice how he 24:12 spends his money, what he buys. That tells something about how a 24:16 man spends his money tells something about the priorities. 24:20 And I like this and if you still can't make up your mind then 24:24 look at his shoes. Now I'm not going to look up but I think 24:28 everybody's probably looking at my shoes right now because 24:32 I'm up front. Look at his shoes. A man who keeps his shoes in 24:36 good repair usually tends to the rest of his life also. This is 24:39 written by Lois Weiss. That's pretty good wisdom there, right? 24:43 I mean, you really don't know a person just by getting their 24:47 e- mail. Sometimes you've got to behold them in a variety of 24:51 circumstances. I heard one pastor say, actually I think it 24:54 was C.D. Brooks, and he said today everybody says you need to 24:57 live with a person to get to know them before you get 24:59 married. And he said, you don't need to get to know a person by 25:03 sharing a bed with them. That's usually not what causes divorce. 25:06 You share a checkbook with them and you'll find out whether 25:10 you're going to survive or not. People always wonder if the 25:13 plumbing's working. We got to live together for a while to 25:16 make sure we're compatible. That's rarely where the problem 25:21 is. I think they've shown statistically that marriages are 25:25 more inclined to fail when people live together before 25:29 marriage than if they do it virtuously. That's what the 25:33 data supports. Now how did I get there from patience. I'm talking 25:38 about patience and longsuffering Romans 15 verse 5: Now may the 25:42 God of patience and comfort grant you to be like-minded 25:45 toward one another according to Christ Jesus. He is the God of 25:49 patience. That's one of his characteristics. 25:51 II Thessalonians 3:5: Now may the Lord direct your hearts into 25:56 the love of God and into the patience of Christ. Our hearts 26:01 must assume the mind and heart of Christ and what is it, the 26:05 patience of Christ. Christ is patient. The very fact you and I 26:09 are alive is evidence of that. Amen? The penalty for sin is 26:13 death. We've all sinned yet we're alive. Why? God is patient 26:17 He's longsuffing to us not willing that any should perish. 26:21 Revelation 1:9: I, John, both your brother and companion in 26:25 the tribulation and kingdom and patience of Jesus Christ. 26:29 Do we all agree patience is one of his characteristics? Then he 26:33 tells us Jesus said by your patience possess your souls. 26:37 Here is the patience of the saints. Another characteristic 26:41 that we find about the Lord that it would be appropriate for us 26:47 to model is truth and honesty. Jesus is the truth. The Bible 26:53 tells us the truth will set you free. God cannot lie the Bible 26:58 tells us. He is the very embodiment of truth. 27:02 It's an attribute of his character that I would like to 27:06 emulate. I think for a Christian you never hesitate deciding 27:11 whether or not to tell the truth. You might hesitate 27:13 deciding how to say the truth, but you never hesitate wondering 27:18 shall I tell the truth. A Christian should always have it 27:22 resolved in his mind never to tell anything but the truth. 27:26 When Jesus stood before Pontius Pilate, Pilate said what is 27:30 truth? It's interesting they had this exchange because Christ had 27:34 the opportunity to just alter the truth a little bit and save 27:39 his life, but he was willing to die rather than lie. Have you 27:43 ever known somebody that had such a respect for the truth? 27:47 I think the conventional wisdom of our age ah well of course you 27:51 have got to lie because you get charged more if you don't. 27:54 I remember. It made an impression on me I'll never 27:58 forget and all due respect for my mother. My brother and I 28:03 stood in line. Mom frequently took us to the theater plays on 28:07 Broadway or the movies. You know 12 and under, different price. 28:10 And we'd stand in line and my brother because he had cystic 28:14 fibrosis was short for his age. He was my size even though he 28:18 was two older than me. Most of my adolescence finally caught up 28:22 and we were the same size in adulthood. But he was always the 28:25 same size as a younger brother. So we'd stand in line. Falcon is 28:29 14 years of age and Mom would say to him, now they'll never 28:33 know, Falcon. Just say you're 12. And that made an impression 28:37 on me. I thought, I guess it's okay to lie if you can save 28:40 money. What kind of signal does that send. Christians, you don't 28:45 even consider it. The truth is the truth is the truth. You know 28:51 God is looking for people who are honest. Jesus is truthful. 28:56 He is the truth and the truth will set you free. How many of 29:00 you know somebody that has that kind of integrity and honesty. 29:06 Do you know somebody like that? Do you like them? Sometimes does 29:11 that annoy you that they're so honest? I love those kind of 29:15 people. I'm attracted. There's so much deception in the world. 29:18 Jesus is that kind of person. It should attract you to him. 29:23 Do you know patient people? How many of you know somebody that 29:27 is a good listener. Everybody loves a good listener. Good 29:32 listeners don't spend all their time talking about themselves. 29:35 They're interested in you. And we like those kind of people. 29:39 That's how Jesus is. Sometimes it helps us love Christ when you 29:42 meet Christ like people. You say so that's what Jesus is like. 29:46 He's the embodiment of these characteristics. It goes on to 29:51 tell us - I Peter 2 verse 21: For to this you were called 29:55 because Christ also suffered for us leaving us an example. 29:59 Jesus is an example. What kind of example? That you should 30:03 follow in his steps, who committed no sin nor was deceit 30:08 found in his mouth. Not even a little bit. Not the slightest 30:12 bacteria of dishonesty was in his mouth. Christ was perfectly 30:16 pure and honest in everything he said. And he is our example, 30:20 Peter said, that we should do as he did. We should be perfectly 30:24 honest. D. L. Moody said, Character is what you are in the 30:29 dark. It's who you are when you don't think anyone's watching. 30:33 It goes on to tell us, speaking of Christ, and this is the 30:38 vision of Moses. He is abounding in goodness. What is good? 30:43 I looked up a definition. Moral excellence or admirable, 30:48 desirable or positive qualities. God is good. You know one reason 30:54 I know that? Look at the creation. It's interesting. 30:59 In Genesis chapter 1, the word good appears seven times. 31:03 The last time it appears it says very good. And then James tells 31:08 every good and perfect gift comes from God. Everything God 31:12 does is good because God is good One time a rich young ruler 31:17 came to Jesus and he said, Good Master what must I do that I 31:20 might inherit eternal life? And Jesus stopped him before he went 31:24 any further. He said, No one is good except one and that's God. 31:28 Christ was not denying his goodness, he was embracing his 31:34 Godness. And I understand that even in old English if you trace 31:39 the word God back it is drawn from the word good. So when you 31:43 say good morning to people in old English it used to be God 31:48 morning. The words good and God were springing from the same 31:52 word in the early Anglo Saxon language because God is the 31:57 the embodiment of everything good. It's the goodness of God 32:02 that leads us to repentance and so by beholding the glory of 32:06 Christ and his goodness what does that do? It leads us to 32:10 repentance. By the way, that's Romans chapter 2 verse 4. 32:13 Exodus 33:19, He said: I will make all my goodness pass before 32:21 you. Isn't that what we read? Goodness is sort of a 32:25 coalescing of all his characteristics. But we go on 32:28 and we read about the characteristics of Christ. 32:31 Is it safe to say that among his attributes Jesus is meek and 32:36 humble. Meekness, humility. Matthew 11 verse 28 Christ says 32:41 Come unto me all you who labor, that are heavy laden and I will 32:45 give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn of me. 32:49 By beholding his glory we become like him for I am meek and 32:54 lowly and you will find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is 32:58 easy and my burden is light. One reason I know that the Holy 33:02 Spirit's working in my life is because of the way I drive. 33:06 It's changing. Some of it's that as you get older you're not in 33:11 such a big hurry. I was talking to Karen on my phone but I was 33:15 on the cordless. I had both hands on the wheel on my way 33:18 home from prayer meeting this week and while I'm talking to 33:22 her she's hearing me give her the blow by blow description of 33:26 how I'm almost being killed. I stopped at this intersection 33:30 on Fair Oaks that turns onto Walnut, the way I always go home 33:35 Actually it wasn't prayer meeting. It was Saturday night, 33:38 last Saturday night and these two cars were racing. Two 33:42 teenagers that were just full of vinegar racing. And I stopped 33:46 because the light turned yellow. When I was younger yellow was 33:50 very close to green and I would have tried to go through. 33:54 You mellow out a little bit you know. And so I stopped, I'm in 33:57 no big hurry and these guys screeches on his brakes, almost 34:01 plows into me, stops just inches from me, leaves a big black 34:04 strip and the one he was racing with, he didn't have time to 34:07 stop. He drives over the concrete median into oncoming 34:11 traffic and just barely makes this deadly, squirrely turn off 34:15 onto another road. I thought about that and I thought praise 34:19 the Lord, my angels are on duty. Then I thought, I remember when 34:23 I used to drive like that. I remember I used to get upset 34:26 when someone pulled in front of me. You know when traffic is 34:29 merging I'll slow down and let one person in front but 34:31 sometimes people try and take advantage of you and they try 34:34 and get their nose in there and I just crunch my nose up real 34:37 close and say, I'm not letting you in. But you know, you walk 34:41 with Christ a little longer and you say, all right, you too, go 34:45 ahead. What would Jesus do? It's hard to let them in. They have 34:49 no manners. They don't understand roadside etiquette. 34:51 Be meek, let them in. You don't have to honk the horn and make 34:56 gestures. Just be meek. That's how Jesus is. How would Jesus 35:00 do it? Can you picture Jesus laying on his horn and glaring 35:06 at them and... So this is the meekness of Christ. Blessed are 35:11 the poor in spirit. Two of the beatitudes have to do with 35:16 humility and meekness. Did you know that? Blessed are the poor 35:19 in spirit; that's the humility, the meekness. Recognizing our 35:22 poverty of spirit. Theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Matthew 35:25 5:5, Blessed are the meek for they shall inherit the earth. 35:29 We must behold his glory and allow the meekness, the humility 35:34 of Christ to be impressed on our soul. I understand even though 35:38 he was often very gregarious and outspoken, Winston Churchill was 35:42 somewhat of a humble person. One time he'd just finished speaking 35:46 to 10,000 people and he walked off the platform and someone 35:50 said, Mr. Prime Minister, it must be quite a thrill to have 35:54 10,000 people gathered to hear you speak. And he said, it 35:57 doesn't mean anything to me in his gruff way. He says, 100,000 36:02 would come and watch me hang. And you know some of the same 36:06 people that gathered to hear Christ speak, some of the very 36:10 same people that said Hosanna to the Son of David gathered to 36:15 watch him hang didn't they. Christ did not have any 36:19 illusions and by the grace of the Lord I try to keep balance. 36:24 Whenever you stand up and you say anything if you do anything 36:28 right there's always a temptation that it's going to be 36:30 about you. But God has been good I know that he can also have you 36:35 stand up in front of a lot of people and make a total fool out 36:39 of yourself at any moment. And so you need to take it all in 36:43 stride and keep perspective. Whosoever therefore shall humble 36:47 himself as a little child, he shall be great in the kingdom of 36:53 heaven. Matthew 18 verse 4. Let me read you a quote from the 36:58 Spirit of Prophecy, Desire of Ages, p. 134. Jesus came in 37:03 poverty and humiliation that he might be our example as well as 37:08 our Redeemer. We should be humble as Christ was. If he had 37:11 appeared with kingly pomp how could he have taught humility? 37:14 How could he have presented such cutting truths as the sermon on 37:18 the mount? Where would have been the hope of the lowly life in 37:21 Jesus that he had come to dwell as a king among men? Christ came 37:25 humbly to teach meekness and humility. Moses said, Lord show 37:29 me your glory. What does the Bible say about him? He was the 37:33 meekest man in all the earth. You know, it's always made me 37:36 wonder where do you find that statement, Moses was the meekest 37:41 man in all the earth? Come on scholars. Where is it? It's in 37:47 the books of Moses. Who wrote that? Did Moses write that he 37:52 was the meekest man in all the earth. I think it might have 37:57 been a commentary that was inserted by somebody else. 38:00 Joshua may have added it. Moses might have said it because he 38:05 knew that he had a terror of crowds. You remember when God 38:10 said to talk to the Pharaoh and he said oh I can't speak, I'm no 38:14 good up front. He was a meek man. I'm anxious to find out in 38:17 heaven who actually wrote that. Did Moses write he was the 38:21 meekest man in all the world? Another characteristic of the 38:27 Lord - Compassion. Now when you say the word compassion is the 38:32 word pathos. The word pathos means feeling and that's where 38:37 we get the word in our language - empathy. When you 38:42 empathize you feel what another feels. Sympathy. It means you're 38:47 feeling what someone else feels. Jesus feels what we feel. He has 38:53 compassion. Matthew 9 verse 36: After preaching he realized the 38:57 multitudes had sat there all day they hadn't eaten, they were 39:01 wandering around like sheep without a shepherd and he fed 39:05 them. He had compassion on the multitude. Mark 1 verse 40: Now 39:08 a leper came to him, imploring him, kneeling down and saying 39:13 to him: If you are willing you can make me clean. Then Jesus 39:18 moved with compassion. He tells a parable in Matthew chapter 18 39:23 about the King and the unmerciful debtor and it says 39:27 the king was moved with compassion. Jesus' heart just 39:32 pulsated, it was swollen with compassion for people. He feels 39:36 what we feel. Sometimes we wonder if the Lord knows what 39:39 we're going through, but oh he does, better than you do and if 39:42 you're hurting, he's hurting. He feels it. How many parents ache 39:46 with their children when their children are hurting. 39:47 Did you ever have a child go into 39:48 surgery? Have you ever seen your child really hurt themselves. 39:53 Oh, I remember little Nathan. I told you some of the story. 39:56 He broke his arm this last year. And you look at your kid and see 40:00 their arm twisted, all obviously broken, and you see that they're 40:04 wincing and they're in agony. Just breaks your heart to watch 40:07 them hurt. The empathy that we feel for our children is 40:15 somewhat natural. Even animals have an element of that, don't 40:17 they? Love for their offspring. But the Lord feels that 40:23 infinitely more for us. He feels. That's why Jesus came. 40:28 He's sensitive to our estate. He has compassion for us. 40:33 And though he said to the leper, I am willing, be thou cleansed. 40:39 You know I remember reading... I talked a little bit about 40:44 pilots today. You know Will Rogers the famous humorist was 40:48 also a pilot. He actually died trying to cross the polar cap, 40:53 in an adventure. But he was a great humorist. Next to Mark 40:58 Twain there have been few people that had a better clean 41:02 sense of humor than Will Rogers and periodically he would go and 41:06 he would do these little benefit I don't know if you call it a 41:09 performance or talks, but he just tried to cheer people up. 41:12 And he went to this one hospital in southern California, it was a 41:15 polio hospital. A friend of his was the director, actually 41:20 his name was Marion Berry. I know it sounds similar but it's 41:24 someone else. He had this hospital for polio victims. 41:29 Many of them could not walk. They also were treating people 41:32 who had paralysis from back injury and other very serious 41:35 injuries. They gathered them all in the ward and wheeled them in. 41:38 He got up and he gave his little talk in his very engaging way 41:41 and had even these people that were paralyzed in stitches 41:45 laughing. After awhile he excused himself and went to the 41:48 restroom and the director thought, Oh there's no towels 41:50 in there and he went to bring him a towel and he opened up the 41:53 door and Will Rogers was leaning against the wall crying and 41:57 sobbing uncontrollably. Pretty soon he collected himself and he 42:00 went back out and he carried on and had everyone laughing again. 42:05 Somebody said one time, You can tell the value of a man by what 42:10 it is that makes them laugh, what is it that makes them cry, 42:15 what is it that makes them angry. That really reveals 42:18 something about a person's character. Do you laugh at other 42:24 people's misfortune or do you laugh at yourself? What made 42:29 Jesus angry? When someone slighted him, when someone 42:34 mistreated him? No, he never got angry about how he was treated. 42:38 Jesus got angry when he saw others mistreated or he saw the 42:41 glory of God defaced as in the temple when he chased out the 42:45 money changes. When he saw the disciples steering the children 42:49 away from him, it really bothered him and he wanted them 42:54 brought to him. Jesus stood up for those who were oppressed. 42:59 He got angry with false teachings that kept people in 43:02 bondage when he derided the scribes and the Pharisees and 43:05 the hypocrites because they were leading people astray like 43:08 wolves. You can learn a lot about a person. Christ had 43:11 compassion and you can tell from the way he responded. 43:15 In keeping with compassion I added another category. Jesus 43:20 is gentle and tender. That's one of his characteristics. Mark 43:26 chapter 10 verse 14, verse 16. When he saw the children chased 43:31 away Jesus was greatly displeased and he said to them 43:35 Let the little children come to me and do not forbid them for 43:38 of such is the kingdom of God. Notice he took them up in his 43:43 arms. He put his hands on them. He blessed them. This is what 43:48 reveals the character of Christ, his tenderness, his compassion, 43:53 his sympathy, his love, his goodness. What is your character 43:57 can you change your character? Now I've already told you that 44:02 we are transformed by beholding the character of Christ. 44:06 You become like your friends. You know why? Because people 44:09 are creatures like little ducks. We sort of absorb the behavior 44:13 of those that we idolize, those we spend time with. Why is it, 44:18 why should it be a concern of parents who our children's 44:22 heroes are? Because they want to emulate their heroes. 44:27 Why should it be a concern to parents who their friends are? 44:31 Because they start talking like and acting like their friends. 44:35 You will act like your heroes. You will act like your friends. 44:41 Is Jesus your friend? Is he your hero? That's how we become like 44:45 him. Somebody once said, I don't know who it was but this is an 44:50 old adage: Sow a thought, reap an act. Sow an act reap a habit. 44:56 Sow a habit, reap a character. Sow a character, reap a destiny. 45:02 It begins with your thoughts that often then play themselves 45:07 as actions that then become habits that really communicates 45:11 what your character is that determines what your destiny is. 45:15 By the way, you know why it's so important to talk about the 45:17 character of Christ? It's by beholding his character, it is 45:21 superimposed on us and what is the only thing you get to take 45:26 out of this life? You don't get to take your clothes. We might 45:30 fix up our church, but we don't get to take our church. It's 45:35 going to just melt someday. You don't get to take your car, your 45:40 house. You might remodel or redecorate. You don't get to 45:45 take it. You might even have cosmetic surgery. You don't get 45:50 to take that to heaven. Only thing you get to take is your 45:55 character, who you are. And you get to take other characters 46:01 with you. That's true. That's why I'm involved in ministry 46:05 because I've said many times, this is the most important work 46:08 in the world. You name something that's more important than 46:12 trying to win souls to Christ, trying to encourage people to 46:16 stay with Christ. The work that you do as a Christian and that I 46:20 do as a Christian is a work in helping people to model the 46:24 character of Christ that they could live forever. That's the 46:29 most important work in the world Praise the Lord! Christ is 46:34 faithful. I Corinthians 1 verse If you have any doubts it 46:39 says it many times. God is faithful by whom you are called 46:44 into the fellowship of his son Jesus Christ our Lord. 46:47 I Corinthians 10:13: No temptation has overtaken you 46:50 such as is common to man, but God is faithful who will not 46:55 allow you to be tempted above what you are able to bear. 46:59 You can trust him. How many of you have a friend that you know 47:04 you can always count on? If they say they're going to do 47:07 something, they're going to do it. If they say they're going to 47:10 be somewhere, they're going to be there. If they say if you 47:13 every need help give me a call, they're not just reciting 47:17 clichés but they really mean it. Do you know some people like 47:21 that? They're faithful, you can count on them. Those are the 47:24 kind of people that we love, isn't that right? Christ is that 47:27 way. He will never let you down. He will never disappoint you. 47:30 It would be incomplete if I didn't take some time and talk 47:34 about another characteristic of the Lord. He's awesome! 47:38 By the way, I need to give some credit to our pastors. 47:42 You know what I did is we got together for our staff meeting 47:45 this week and for worship I said all right I'm going to get some 47:47 mileage out of this worship. I asked everyone on our pastoral 47:50 staff, Rosie and the pastors and Melissa. I said, tell me the 47:53 characteristics of God that you think of, name them. And they 47:56 began to recite all the different characteristics of God 47:58 and we got a pretty long list. I can't give you everything in 48:02 my list. We just began to think of the characteristics of God 48:05 and how wonderful he is and how good he is and all the different 48:08 beautiful attributes that he has and so I just wanted to give 48:12 them credit where credit's due. Just thinking about the facets 48:16 of his character. But one that we must not pass is the 48:19 awesomeness of God. I Kings 8:27 Solomon said when he built the 48:25 temple, Behold the heavens cannot contain you. How much 48:30 less this temple which I have built. He's so big, he's so 48:34 awesome. Revelation 1 verse 17: And when I saw him I fell at his 48:38 feet as dead. We've already read that, because of the power, the 48:42 awesomeness of God. You know I think that word awesome sort of 48:45 got overused a couple years ago. It was the in word among the 48:49 teenagers. They talk about some television personality or some 48:52 rock star and they go well man they're awesome. You know 48:56 problem with that is you use up a good word and you have nothing 49:01 left. I mean we're in the day and age where everything is 49:06 jumbo and mega and we apply it to soft drinks. Pretty soon 49:10 you don't have the adjectives that really belong to God to use 49:13 anymore for God because the same things we say for rock stars and 49:16 jumbo drinks you know we're using for soda pop and 49:21 television personalities. You just don't even want to use that 49:26 word anymore for God. But what words do we have to describe the 49:31 incredible immensity of God. Psalm 90 verse 2: Before the 49:36 mountains were brought forth or ever you had formed the earth 49:42 and the world even from everlasting to everlasting you 49:46 are God. God is omnipotent, he's all powerful. Some of us 49:51 appreciate our friends in high places don't we. He is 49:56 omnipresent. He can always be with us. He is omniscient. He 50:00 knows everything. Do you have any friends that they just 50:05 always know everything? I guess they've got this TV program 50:08 called Who Wants to Be a Millionaire and one of the 50:11 features that they have if you don't know the answer you're 50:14 allowed to pick your smartest friend at some point and call 50:17 him up and if I was ever in that predicament, I'm not saying I've 50:22 ever applied for that program, I'm just saying I know a couple 50:27 people I would call. They're just absolute brains. They've 50:30 got facts tumbling out of their minds all the time. They know 50:34 everything about everything and sometimes they're the most 50:37 unassuming people. They're so smart because they read all the 50:40 time and they remember what they read and it's fun to have those 50:42 friends because whenever I'm in a pickle sometimes I can call 50:45 them up and say hey I need an amazing fact. I've got a radio 50:48 program. And they just say oh blah, blah, blah. They're 50:50 e- mailing me these incredible things. Just knowledge. I like 50:54 knowledge, don't you? I like people with that characteristic. 50:57 Jesus is like that. He knows everything. I Timothy 1:17: 51:04 Now to the King eternal, he's a king, he's a monarch, immortal, 51:10 invisible, to God who alone is wise be honor and glory forever 51:15 and ever. Paul is looking for words to describe the immensity 51:20 of God. He really waxes eloquent Finally what I be leaving out 51:26 when I talk about the characteristics of Christ? 51:28 There's a lot I'm leaving out. But I'll tell you I didn't want 51:31 to quit before I said love. I mean if you're wondering about 51:37 his characteristics, God is love. For God so loved the world 51:43 Jeremiah 31:3. Yes, I have loved you with an everlasting love. 51:47 Therefore with loving kindness I have drawn you. God is love. 51:52 Jesus is love. Have you ever looked at somebody and you've 51:56 see their expression of love. You might see it in a mother 52:01 looking down at her new baby before they turn into real 52:05 children. (Laughter) And you just see this sparkling glow of 52:12 love and just adoring the child. Well Jesus loves you more than 52:18 that. He loves you more than any mother loves their child. 52:22 Romans 8:37, one of my favorite verses: Yet in all these things 52:27 we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For 52:31 I am persuaded that neither death nor life nor angles nor 52:34 principalities nor powers nor things present nor things to 52:37 come nor height nor depth nor any other created thing shall be 52:42 able to separate from the love of God that is in Jesus Christ 52:46 our Lord. To him who loved us and washed us from our sins 52:51 in his own blood. God is love. As you consider the 52:56 characteristics of Christ here's a few others you might add to 53:01 the list. God is pure, God is good, he is our hero, he is 53:07 strong, he's righteous, he is holy, he's our advocate, he 53:13 intercedes, he's our friend, he's joyful, he's rich. Anyone 53:18 here like a rich friend? Merciful, generous, simple, 53:25 selfless, eternal, fearless, consistent, gentle, wise and 53:29 he's human. He was tempted in all points as we are tempted. 53:33 He identified with us, yet without sin. John chapter 1 53:42 verse 14: And the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us and we 53:49 beheld his glory as the only begotten of the Father, full of 53:55 grace and truth. What was it that they beheld? Did John see 53:59 him shining. Well at one point on the mount of transfiguration. 54:03 But when John says we beheld his glory, what's he talking about? 54:06 What was the glory of Christ that they beheld? His 54:10 characteristics. Like a diamond that is shining with all these 54:15 beautiful varied facets and it's unique from every angle. They 54:19 beheld in this human, the Word was manifest, the personality of 54:23 God was revealed in Jesus. That is probably one of the most 54:27 important things I could say. The personality of God was 54:31 revealed in Jesus. You and I need to get to know him because 54:36 we become like him as we get to know him. I Corinthians 11:1, 54:41 Paul said: Imitate me as I imitate Christ. How can you 54:46 imitate somebody that you don't know? Have you ever known 54:49 somebody who's an impersonator? There's a few good ones out 54:53 there and most of us here have tried at least once or twice 54:57 to impersonate somebody, sometimes a family member or 54:59 somebody who's got some... Sometimes it borders on mocking. 55:04 They've got idiosyncrasies. Probably one of the most famous 55:08 impersonators was a guy named Rich Little. He could 55:11 impersonate the singing of a man of a woman to a T, their voice 55:14 their mannerisms and it's hilarious because it was so much 55:17 like them. He'd pick up on all the little idiosyncrasies. 55:22 I would like to be able to personate Christ, to model 55:27 Christ. Paul says only imitate me as I imitate Christ. By the 55:30 way I'd like to say that to you. Friends, don't imitate Pastor 55:35 Doug except the areas where you see me imitate Christ and the 55:39 characteristics of Christ. I've been praying this week as I 55:43 prepared for this message, Lord I want to be more like you in 55:47 everything I do. I want to evaluate my behavior so that I 55:51 imitate the characteristics of Christ. Horace Greeley said fame 55:55 is vapor, popularity is an accident, riches take wings, 56:00 only one thing endures, that's character. Are you developing 56:06 a character like Christ? Could you love a person with these 56:09 characteristics that we've identified. Jesus is that way 56:14 and more. So I invite you to behold his glory, to behold his 56:18 goodness and that you might be modeling your life after his. 56:25 Father, we would pray show us thy glory. Hide us in the cleft 56:30 of the rock, the Rock Jesus and then we pray that you will have 56:35 the panorama of your beautiful characteristics pass before us. 56:40 Help each one of us here listening, watching, to be awed 56:46 as Moses was as we behold that there is a being that is so good 56:53 and loving and merciful and compassionate and powerful. 56:57 And Lord I pray that we will be overwhelmed with a sense to fall 57:01 down before you and worship you, to praise you and then to 57:05 imitate your characteristics in our lives. Bless each person 57:10 here that we might fix our eyes on Jesus and as we behold thee 57:14 that your characteristics, your attributes, might be imprinted 57:19 on our souls. Lord I pray that we might imitate you and that 57:23 we might model you in this lost world that people might know 57:28 through your body who Christ is. Bless each person here, forgive 57:32 us for the times when we have failed to imitate Christ and 57:37 help us to be Christians not only in name but in character. 57:41 It's in Jesus name we ask. Amen. |
Revised 2014-12-17