I Want God

I Want God

Portion One, Do I Want God, Or My Version of God?

I want God.

And when I say that, I mean I want the real God.

Not my version of God.

Not your version of God.

Not the God our culture has created.

Not the God a preacher created for me.

Not the God my parents handed down to me.

Not the God of my traditions.

Not the God who conveniently agrees with everything I already believe.

I want God.

But here is the question I think every one of us needs to ask.

Do we really want God?

Or do we want a God who agrees with us?

Because there is a difference.

And it is a much bigger difference than most people realize.

Think about this for a moment.

If God disagreed with you about something you deeply believed, who would you expect to change?

Would God need to change?

Or would you?

That sounds like an easy question.

Of course we would say that we need to change.

But do we actually live that way?

What happens when we open the Bible and discover something that challenges us?

What happens when Scripture confronts something we love?

What happens when God tells us something that we do not want to hear?

Do we submit?

Or do we start explaining?

Do we obey?

Or do we start looking for another interpretation?

Do we say, God has spoken?

Or do we say, well, I just don't think God would do that?

Have you ever heard somebody say that?

I just don't believe God would condemn somebody for that.

I don't think God cares about that.

My God would never do that.

I believe God understands.

I believe God just wants me to be happy.

But listen carefully to those statements.

Where did God speak in any of them?

He didn't.

We did.

And that brings me to one of the Ten Commandments.

In Exodus 20:4, God says, "Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image."

Now, most people immediately picture an idol.

Maybe you picture a golden calf.

Maybe you picture a carved statue.

Maybe you picture someone bowing before an image made of wood or stone.

And certainly, that commandment directly forbids making an image to worship as deity.

But I want us to think about the principle behind it.

What is idolatry really doing?

It is taking God and reshaping Him according to human imagination.

It is man attempting to define deity.

It is the creature trying to redesign the Creator.

And we can do that without ever carving a statue.

You don't need a hammer and a chisel to manufacture a false god.

You can build one in your mind.

You can create a god who approves of everything you approve of.

You can create a god who hates everything you hate.

You can create a god who never corrects you.

You can create a god who never judges you.

You can create a god who never requires repentance.

You can create a god who never tells you no.

And then you can call that god the God of the Bible.

But is He?

That is the question.

Is the God I believe in actually the God who has revealed Himself?

Or have I created a graven image in my own mind?

People sometimes treat the commandment against graven images as though God were saying you cannot have artwork.

That misses the point of the commandment.

The issue was not simply making an image.

The issue was making an image as an object of worship, attempting to represent deity according to man's imagination, and then bowing before what human hands had created.

God continues in Exodus 20:5, "Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them."

There is the issue.

Worship.

Allegiance.

Devotion.

Replacing the true God with something man has made.

And what concerns me today is that we have learned how to manufacture gods without using gold, silver, wood, or stone.

We manufacture them with opinions.

We manufacture them with feelings.

We manufacture them with traditions.

We manufacture them with theology.

We manufacture them with politics.

We manufacture them with culture.

We manufacture them with phrases like, "I think God..."

Stop right there.

What does God say?

Because if I really want God, then what I think God should be like is irrelevant.

Imagine meeting someone for the first time.

Before they can tell you anything about themselves, you tell them who they are.

You tell them what they believe.

You tell them what they like.

You tell them what they dislike.

You tell them how they should behave.

Would you really know that person?

Of course not.

You would know a character that you invented.

So why do we think we can do that with God?

Why do we tell God who He is?

Why do we tell God what He would never do?

Why do we tell God what He should accept?

Why do we tell God what worship He should enjoy?

Why do we tell God what obedience He should require?

Why don't we let God tell us who God is?

That is what I want.

I want God.

And if the real God makes me uncomfortable, then I need to become uncomfortable.

If the real God contradicts me, then I need to admit that I am wrong.

If the real God commands something I don't understand, then I need enough faith to obey Him anyway.

Because God is not clay in my hands.

I am clay in His.

So here is where our journey begins.

Forget the God you have imagined for a moment.

Forget the God popular culture has presented.

Forget the God Hollywood has presented.

Forget even the God religious tradition may have presented.

Open His Word.

Listen to what He says about Himself.

And ask one question.

Do I want this God?

Because wanting God means wanting Him as He is.

Not as I wish He were.

Portion Two, A God Made in Our Image

There is something fascinating about idolatry.

Man was created in the image of God.

But idolatry reverses the order.

Instead of man being made in God's image, man makes a god in his image.

Think about that.

Genesis 1:27 says that God created man in His own image.

But fallen humanity has spent thousands of years returning the favor.

We keep creating gods who look like us.

Gods who think like us.

Gods who share our priorities.

Gods who share our prejudices.

Gods who share our politics.

Gods who share our morality.

Gods who share our preferences.

And then we worship what we have created.

Isn't that exactly what happened with the golden calf?

Exodus 32 records one of the most shocking moments in Israel's history.

Moses was on Mount Sinai.

The people became impatient.

And they told Aaron to make them gods.

Aaron collected their gold.

He fashioned a calf.

And the people said, "These be thy gods, O Israel, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt."

Think about the insanity of that statement.

They had watched God work.

They had witnessed His power.

They had experienced His deliverance.

And now they were standing before something they had made with their own hands and giving it credit for what God had done.

But notice something even more disturbing.

Aaron built an altar before the calf and proclaimed, "To morrow is a feast to the LORD."

They were using God's name while practicing idolatry.

Don't miss that.

They didn't necessarily believe they had completely abandoned the God who delivered them.

They were attempting to worship Him through something they had created.

And that ought to frighten us.

Because it means a person can use God's name while holding a completely distorted understanding of God.

You can say "God" and still not be talking about the God revealed in Scripture.

You can say "Jesus" and still create a Jesus who bears little resemblance to the Jesus revealed in Scripture.

You can sing about Him.

You can preach about Him.

You can pray to Him.

You can put His name on a building.

And still be worshiping an idea that human beings created.

So let me ask you something.

Where did your understanding of God come from?

Have you ever seriously asked that question?

Did it come from Scripture?

Or did it come from childhood?

Did it come from your family?

Did it come from your congregation?

Did it come from a preacher?

Did it come from television?

Did it come from social media?

Did it come from something somebody told you thirty years ago that you never bothered to examine?

And what would happen if you discovered that something you had believed about God your entire life wasn't true?

Would you change?

That is the test.

Because everybody says they want truth until truth threatens something they love.

Everybody says they follow Scripture until Scripture contradicts their tradition.

Everybody says they want God until God refuses to fit inside the box they have built for Him.

Isaiah 55:8 records God saying, "For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways."

We need to hear that again.

God does not think like us.

That means I should expect God to disagree with me sometimes.

In fact, if the God I worship agrees with me about absolutely everything, I should become suspicious.

What are the chances that the eternal Creator of heaven and earth happens to share every opinion I already possess?

Maybe I haven't discovered God.

Maybe I have discovered myself and called it God.

That is intellectual idolatry.

That is theological idolatry.

That is creating a graven image in the imagination.

And our generation is particularly vulnerable to this.

We hear people constantly say, "My truth."

But truth doesn't belong to me.

Truth doesn't belong to you.

Truth simply is.

If I say two plus two equals five, calling it "my truth" doesn't make it true.

And when God has spoken, my feelings cannot rewrite His words.

Jesus prayed in John 17:17, "Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth."

Notice what Jesus did not say.

Your feelings are truth.

Your experiences are truth.

Your traditions are truth.

Your opinions are truth.

He said God's Word is truth.

So when my understanding collides with God's Word, which one moves?

Mine.

When my feelings collide with God's Word, which one moves?

Mine.

When my tradition collides with God's Word, which one moves?

Mine.

When something I have preached for twenty years collides with God's Word, which one moves?

Mine.

That requires humility.

And humility is difficult.

Because sometimes admitting that God is right requires admitting that we have been wrong for a very long time.

But wouldn't you rather discover that now?

Wouldn't you rather be corrected by Scripture than comforted by error?

Wouldn't you rather lose an opinion than lose the truth?

Wouldn't you rather have the real God than a comfortable counterfeit?

I would.

Because I want God.

Not a God made in my image.

Not a God who exists to affirm me.

Not a God who changes whenever society changes.

I want the God who said, "I AM THAT I AM."

He does not need my permission to be God.

He does not need my approval.

He does not need to explain Himself until I am satisfied.

He is God.

The question is whether I am willing to let Him be God.

Portion Three, What Happens When God Offends Me?

Now we arrive at the difficult part.

What happens when the God of the Bible says something you don't like?

Because eventually He will.

If you read Scripture long enough and honestly enough, you are going to encounter something that challenges you.

Something that bothers you.

Something that confronts you.

Something that makes you say, I don't understand that.

And maybe even something that makes you say, I don't like that.

What do you do then?

Do you change God?

Or do you allow God to change you?

This is where many people create their graven image.

They don't carve it out of stone.

They carve unwanted attributes away from God.

They like God's love, so they keep that.

They don't like His wrath, so they remove it.

They like His mercy, so they keep that.

They don't like His judgment, so they remove it.

They like heaven.

They don't like hell.

They like forgiveness.

They don't like repentance.

They like Jesus as Savior.

They become uncomfortable with Jesus as Lord.

They want grace.

They don't want obedience.

But who gave us permission to divide God into pieces and select the parts we prefer?

God is love.

First John 4:8 says exactly that.

But Hebrews 12:29 also says, "For our God is a consuming fire."

Which one is true?

Both.

God is merciful.

God is also just.

God forgives.

God also judges.

God is patient.

God also commands repentance.

God welcomes sinners.

God also commands sinners to leave sin.

And if we remove one attribute because it makes us uncomfortable, we are no longer dealing with God as He has revealed Himself.

We are editing God.

And you cannot edit God.

Consider Jesus.

People love talking about the compassion of Jesus.

And we should.

Jesus showed extraordinary compassion.

He touched lepers.

He welcomed children.

He ate with sinners.

He wept with grieving people.

He forgave.

He healed.

He showed mercy.

But is that the whole Jesus?

What about the Jesus who called people hypocrites?

What about the Jesus who overturned tables?

What about the Jesus who warned about hell?

What about the Jesus who told people to repent?

What about the Jesus who said that the way to life is narrow?

What about the Jesus who said, "If ye love me, keep my commandments"?

Do we want that Jesus too?

Because there aren't two Jesuses.

There is one.

And if I only accept the sayings of Jesus that make me comfortable, am I following Jesus?

Or am I following myself?

John 6 gives us an uncomfortable picture.

Jesus taught something difficult.

The people struggled with it.

And John 6:60 says, "This is an hard saying; who can hear it?"

Does that sound familiar?

People still say that.

That's too hard.

That's too strict.

That's too narrow.

Surely Jesus didn't mean that.

Surely there is another interpretation.

But look at what happened.

John 6:66 says that many of His disciples went back and walked no more with Him.

Jesus did not chase them down and rewrite the message.

He turned to the twelve and asked, "Will ye also go away?"

Think about that question.

Jesus was willing to let people walk away rather than change the truth to keep them.

Would many religious leaders today do that?

Would we?

Or are we constantly trying to make God more acceptable to people?

Maybe our job isn't to make God acceptable to people.

Maybe our job is to tell people the truth about God and let them decide whether they will accept Him.

Peter answered Jesus, "Lord, to whom shall we go? thou hast the words of eternal life."

That is the answer.

Where else are we going to go?

If God's Word confronts me, where else am I going to find eternal life?

My opinion?

My emotions?

My culture?

My denomination?

My favorite preacher?

No.

I want God.

And wanting God means accepting that He has the authority to correct me.

I don't sit in judgment over Scripture.

Scripture sits in judgment over me.

I don't examine God's Word to determine whether God meets my standards.

God's Word examines me.

Hebrews 4:12 says the Word of God is living, powerful, and sharper than any two edged sword.

A sword cuts.

Sometimes truth hurts.

Sometimes truth exposes things we would rather keep hidden.

Sometimes truth destroys beliefs we have cherished.

But would you rather have a lie that comforts you or truth that saves you?

That is the question.

I don't need a God who always makes me feel good.

I need the God who can save me.

I don't need a God who confirms everything I believe.

I need the God who tells me when I am wrong.

I don't need God to become more like me.

I desperately need to become more like Him.

So when God offends my opinions, let my opinions die.

When God challenges my traditions, let my traditions be examined.

When God exposes my sin, let me repent.

When God corrects my theology, let me learn.

Because I want God.

Even when the real God is uncomfortable.

Portion Four, Stop Telling God Who He Is

There is a phrase I hear constantly.

"I think God..."

And sometimes those three words make me nervous.

Not because thinking about God is wrong.

We ought to think deeply about God.

But what comes after those words often reveals something.

"I think God doesn't care about that."

"I think God understands."

"I think God accepts everybody."

"I think God just wants us to love each other."

"I think God knows my heart."

Maybe.

But how do you know?

Did God say it?

Or did you?

There is a tremendous difference between saying, "God has revealed this," and saying, "I think God is like this."

One begins with revelation.

The other begins with imagination.

Proverbs 14:12 says, "There is a way which seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death."

Notice that it seems right.

That means something can feel completely reasonable and still be completely wrong.

Something can make sense to me and still be false.

Something can feel loving and still contradict God.

Something can feel unfair and still be perfectly just.

Why?

Because I am not God.

Neither are you.

And that is actually liberating.

I don't have to invent God.

I don't have to figure out what God should be like.

I don't have to redesign Him for every generation.

God has revealed Himself.

He has spoken.

Our responsibility is to listen.

Romans 11:33 says, "O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God!"

Then Paul asks, "For who hath known the mind of the Lord? or who hath been his counsellor?"

What a question.

Who has been God's counselor?

Who advises God?

Who corrects God?

Who sits God down and explains morality to Him?

Who tells the Creator that His standards need updating?

Who tells the Judge of all the earth that modern society has developed a better understanding of righteousness?

Nobody.

Yet isn't that exactly what we sometimes do?

We approach Scripture as though God is on trial.

We read something and ask whether we approve of it.

We read a command and decide whether it seems reasonable.

We read God's judgment and decide whether it seems fair.

We read God's pattern and decide whether it is still relevant.

But who is judging whom?

Am I examining God?

Or is God examining me?

Job learned something about this.

Job had questions.

And some of those questions were understandable.

He had suffered terribly.

He wanted answers.

Then God spoke.

And God's response is remarkable.

God essentially asked Job, where were you when I created everything?

Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth?

Do you command the morning?

Can you bind the stars?

Can you control the sea?

Can you explain the mysteries of creation?

God was reminding Job of something fundamental.

You are the creature.

I am the Creator.

And maybe we need that reminder.

Because modern man has become very confident.

We have technology.

We have universities.

We have laboratories.

We have satellites.

We have artificial intelligence.

We have information available instantly.

And yet we still cannot create a single universe.

We cannot speak matter into existence.

We cannot command death to release its prisoner.

We cannot see tomorrow.

And somehow we think we are qualified to redesign God.

Maybe the problem isn't that God needs to makeI Want God

Portion One, Do I Want God, Or My Version of God?

I want God.

And when I say that, I mean I want the real God.

Not my version of God.

Not your version of God.

Not the God our culture has created.

Not the God a preacher created for me.

Not the God my parents handed down to me.

Not the God of my traditions.

Not the God who conveniently agrees with everything I already believe.

I want God.

But here is the question I think every one of us needs to ask.

Do we really want God?

Or do we want a God who agrees with us?

Because there is a difference.

And it is a much bigger difference than most people realize.

Think about this for a moment.

If God disagreed with you about something you deeply believed, who would you expect to change?

Would God need to change?

Or would you?

That sounds like an easy question.

Of course we would say that we need to change.

But do we actually live that way?

What happens when we open the Bible and discover something that challenges us?

What happens when Scripture confronts something we love?

What happens when God tells us something that we do not want to hear?

Do we submit?

Or do we start explaining?

Do we obey?

Or do we start looking for another interpretation?

Do we say, God has spoken?

Or do we say, well, I just don't think God would do that?

Have you ever heard somebody say that?

I just don't believe God would condemn somebody for that.

I don't think God cares about that.

My God would never do that.

I believe God understands.

I believe God just wants me to be happy.

But listen carefully to those statements.

Where did God speak in any of them?

He didn't.

We did.

And that brings me to one of the Ten Commandments.

In Exodus 20:4, God says, "Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image."

Now, most people immediately picture an idol.

Maybe you picture a golden calf.

Maybe you picture a carved statue.

Maybe you picture someone bowing before an image made of wood or stone.

And certainly, that commandment directly forbids making an image to worship as deity.

But I want us to think about the principle behind it.

What is idolatry really doing?

It is taking God and reshaping Him according to human imagination.

It is man attempting to define deity.

It is the creature trying to redesign the Creator.

And we can do that without ever carving a statue.

You don't need a hammer and a chisel to manufacture a false god.

You can build one in your mind.

You can create a god who approves of everything you approve of.

You can create a god who hates everything you hate.

You can create a god who never corrects you.

You can create a god who never judges you.

You can create a god who never requires repentance.

You can create a god who never tells you no.

And then you can call that god the God of the Bible.

But is He?

That is the question.

Is the God I believe in actually the God who has revealed Himself?

Or have I created a graven image in my own mind?

People sometimes treat the commandment against graven images as though God were saying you cannot have artwork.

That misses the point of the commandment.

The issue was not simply making an image.

The issue was making an image as an object of worship, attempting to represent deity according to man's imagination, and then bowing before what human hands had created.

God continues in Exodus 20:5, "Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them."

There is the issue.

Worship.

Allegiance.

Devotion.

Replacing the true God with something man has made.

And what concerns me today is that we have learned how to manufacture gods without using gold, silver, wood, or stone.

We manufacture them with opinions.

We manufacture them with feelings.

We manufacture them with traditions.

We manufacture them with theology.

We manufacture them with politics.

We manufacture them with culture.

We manufacture them with phrases like, "I think God..."

Stop right there.

What does God say?

Because if I really want God, then what I think God should be like is irrelevant.

Imagine meeting someone for the first time.

Before they can tell you anything about themselves, you tell them who they are.

You tell them what they believe.

You tell them what they like.

You tell them what they dislike.

You tell them how they should behave.

Would you really know that person?

Of course not.

You would know a character that you invented.

So why do we think we can do that with God?

Why do we tell God who He is?

Why do we tell God what He would never do?

Why do we tell God what He should accept?

Why do we tell God what worship He should enjoy?

Why do we tell God what obedience He should require?

Why don't we let God tell us who God is?

That is what I want.

I want God.

And if the real God makes me uncomfortable, then I need to become uncomfortable.

If the real God contradicts me, then I need to admit that I am wrong.

If the real God commands something I don't understand, then I need enough faith to obey Him anyway.

Because God is not clay in my hands.

I am clay in His.

So here is where our journey begins.

Forget the God you have imagined for a moment.

Forget the God popular culture has presented.

Forget the God Hollywood has presented.

Forget even the God religious tradition may have presented.

Open His Word.

Listen to what He says about Himself.

And ask one question.

Do I want this God?

Because wanting God means wanting Him as He is.

Not as I wish He were.

Portion Two, A God Made in Our Image

There is something fascinating about idolatry.

Man was created in the image of God.

But idolatry reverses the order.

Instead of man being made in God's image, man makes a god in his image.

Think about that.

Genesis 1:27 says that God created man in His own image.

But fallen humanity has spent thousands of years returning the favor.

We keep creating gods who look like us.

Gods who think like us.

Gods who share our priorities.

Gods who share our prejudices.

Gods who share our politics.

Gods who share our morality.

Gods who share our preferences.

And then we worship what we have created.

Isn't that exactly what happened with the golden calf?

Exodus 32 records one of the most shocking moments in Israel's history.

Moses was on Mount Sinai.

The people became impatient.

And they told Aaron to make them gods.

Aaron collected their gold.

He fashioned a calf.

And the people said, "These be thy gods, O Israel, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt."

Think about the insanity of that statement.

They had watched God work.

They had witnessed His power.

They had experienced His deliverance.

And now they were standing before something they had made with their own hands and giving it credit for what God had done.

But notice something even more disturbing.

Aaron built an altar before the calf and proclaimed, "To morrow is a feast to the LORD."

They were using God's name while practicing idolatry.

Don't miss that.

They didn't necessarily believe they had completely abandoned the God who delivered them.

They were attempting to worship Him through something they had created.

And that ought to frighten us.

Because it means a person can use God's name while holding a completely distorted understanding of God.

You can say "God" and still not be talking about the God revealed in Scripture.

You can say "Jesus" and still create a Jesus who bears little resemblance to the Jesus revealed in Scripture.

You can sing about Him.

You can preach about Him.

You can pray to Him.

You can put His name on a building.

And still be worshiping an idea that human beings created.

So let me ask you something.

Where did your understanding of God come from?

Have you ever seriously asked that question?

Did it come from Scripture?

Or did it come from childhood?

Did it come from your family?

Did it come from your congregation?

Did it come from a preacher?

Did it come from television?

Did it come from social media?

Did it come from something somebody told you thirty years ago that you never bothered to examine?

And what would happen if you discovered that something you had believed about God your entire life wasn't true?

Would you change?

That is the test.

Because everybody says they want truth until truth threatens something they love.

Everybody says they follow Scripture until Scripture contradicts their tradition.

Everybody says they want God until God refuses to fit inside the box they have built for Him.

Isaiah 55:8 records God saying, "For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways."

We need to hear that again.

God does not think like us.

That means I should expect God to disagree with me sometimes.

In fact, if the God I worship agrees with me about absolutely everything, I should become suspicious.

What are the chances that the eternal Creator of heaven and earth happens to share every opinion I already possess?

Maybe I haven't discovered God.

Maybe I have discovered myself and called it God.

That is intellectual idolatry.

That is theological idolatry.

That is creating a graven image in the imagination.

And our generation is particularly vulnerable to this.

We hear people constantly say, "My truth."

But truth doesn't belong to me.

Truth doesn't belong to you.

Truth simply is.

If I say two plus two equals five, calling it "my truth" doesn't make it true.

And when God has spoken, my feelings cannot rewrite His words.

Jesus prayed in John 17:17, "Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth."

Notice what Jesus did not say.

Your feelings are truth.

Your experiences are truth.

Your traditions are truth.

Your opinions are truth.

He said God's Word is truth.

So when my understanding collides with God's Word, which one moves?

Mine.

When my feelings collide with God's Word, which one moves?

Mine.

When my tradition collides with God's Word, which one moves?

Mine.

When something I have preached for twenty years collides with God's Word, which one moves?

Mine.

That requires humility.

And humility is difficult.

Because sometimes admitting that God is right requires admitting that we have been wrong for a very long time.

But wouldn't you rather discover that now?

Wouldn't you rather be corrected by Scripture than comforted by error?

Wouldn't you rather lose an opinion than lose the truth?

Wouldn't you rather have the real God than a comfortable counterfeit?

I would.

Because I want God.

Not a God made in my image.

Not a God who exists to affirm me.

Not a God who changes whenever society changes.

I want the God who said, "I AM THAT I AM."

He does not need my permission to be God.

He does not need my approval.

He does not need to explain Himself until I am satisfied.

He is God.

The question is whether I am willing to let Him be God.

Portion Three, What Happens When God Offends Me?

Now we arrive at the difficult part.

What happens when the God of the Bible says something you don't like?

Because eventually He will.

If you read Scripture long enough and honestly enough, you are going to encounter something that challenges you.

Something that bothers you.

Something that confronts you.

Something that makes you say, I don't understand that.

And maybe even something that makes you say, I don't like that.

What do you do then?

Do you change God?

Or do you allow God to change you?

This is where many people create their graven image.

They don't carve it out of stone.

They carve unwanted attributes away from God.

They like God's love, so they keep that.

They don't like His wrath, so they remove it.

They like His mercy, so they keep that.

They don't like His judgment, so they remove it.

They like heaven.

They don't like hell.

They like forgiveness.

They don't like repentance.

They like Jesus as Savior.

They become uncomfortable with Jesus as Lord.

They want grace.

They don't want obedience.

But who gave us permission to divide God into pieces and select the parts we prefer?

God is love.

First John 4:8 says exactly that.

But Hebrews 12:29 also says, "For our God is a consuming fire."

Which one is true?

Both.

God is merciful.

God is also just.

God forgives.

God also judges.

God is patient.

God also commands repentance.

God welcomes sinners.

God also commands sinners to leave sin.

And if we remove one attribute because it makes us uncomfortable, we are no longer dealing with God as He has revealed Himself.

We are editing God.

And you cannot edit God.

Consider Jesus.

People love talking about the compassion of Jesus.

And we should.

Jesus showed extraordinary compassion.

He touched lepers.

He welcomed children.

He ate with sinners.

He wept with grieving people.

He forgave.

He healed.

He showed mercy.

But is that the whole Jesus?

What about the Jesus who called people hypocrites?

What about the Jesus who overturned tables?

What about the Jesus who warned about hell?

What about the Jesus who told people to repent?

What about the Jesus who said that the way to life is narrow?

What about the Jesus who said, "If ye love me, keep my commandments"?

Do we want that Jesus too?

Because there aren't two Jesuses.

There is one.

And if I only accept the sayings of Jesus that make me comfortable, am I following Jesus?

Or am I following myself?

John 6 gives us an uncomfortable picture.

Jesus taught something difficult.

The people struggled with it.

And John 6:60 says, "This is an hard saying; who can hear it?"

Does that sound familiar?

People still say that.

That's too hard.

That's too strict.

That's too narrow.

Surely Jesus didn't mean that.

Surely there is another interpretation.

But look at what happened.

John 6:66 says that many of His disciples went back and walked no more with Him.

Jesus did not chase them down and rewrite the message.

He turned to the twelve and asked, "Will ye also go away?"

Think about that question.

Jesus was willing to let people walk away rather than change the truth to keep them.

Would many religious leaders today do that?

Would we?

Or are we constantly trying to make God more acceptable to people?

Maybe our job isn't to make God acceptable to people.

Maybe our job is to tell people the truth about God and let them decide whether they will accept Him.

Peter answered Jesus, "Lord, to whom shall we go? thou hast the words of eternal life."

That is the answer.

Where else are we going to go?

If God's Word confronts me, where else am I going to find eternal life?

My opinion?

My emotions?

My culture?

My denomination?

My favorite preacher?

No.

I want God.

And wanting God means accepting that He has the authority to correct me.

I don't sit in judgment over Scripture.

Scripture sits in judgment over me.

I don't examine God's Word to determine whether God meets my standards.

God's Word examines me.

Hebrews 4:12 says the Word of God is living, powerful, and sharper than any two edged sword.

A sword cuts.

Sometimes truth hurts.

Sometimes truth exposes things we would rather keep hidden.

Sometimes truth destroys beliefs we have cherished.

But would you rather have a lie that comforts you or truth that saves you?

That is the question.

I don't need a God who always makes me feel good.

I need the God who can save me.

I don't need a God who confirms everything I believe.

I need the God who tells me when I am wrong.

I don't need God to become more like me.

I desperately need to become more like Him.

So when God offends my opinions, let my opinions die.

When God challenges my traditions, let my traditions be examined.

When God exposes my sin, let me repent.

When God corrects my theology, let me learn.

Because I want God.

Even when the real God is uncomfortable.

Portion Four, Stop Telling God Who He Is

There is a phrase I hear constantly.

"I think God..."

And sometimes those three words make me nervous.

Not because thinking about God is wrong.

We ought to think deeply about God.

But what comes after those words often reveals something.

"I think God doesn't care about that."

"I think God understands."

"I think God accepts everybody."

"I think God just wants us to love each other."

"I think God knows my heart."

Maybe.

But how do you know?

Did God say it?

Or did you?

There is a tremendous difference between saying, "God has revealed this," and saying, "I think God is like this."

One begins with revelation.

The other begins with imagination.

Proverbs 14:12 says, "There is a way which seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death."

Notice that it seems right.

That means something can feel completely reasonable and still be completely wrong.

Something can make sense to me and still be false.

Something can feel loving and still contradict God.

Something can feel unfair and still be perfectly just.

Why?

Because I am not God.

Neither are you.

And that is actually liberating.

I don't have to invent God.

I don't have to figure out what God should be like.

I don't have to redesign Him for every generation.

God has revealed Himself.

He has spoken.

Our responsibility is to listen.

Romans 11:33 says, "O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God!"

Then Paul asks, "For who hath known the mind of the Lord? or who hath been his counsellor?"

What a question.

Who has been God's counselor?

Who advises God?

Who corrects God?

Who sits God down and explains morality to Him?

Who tells the Creator that His standards need updating?

Who tells the Judge of all the earth that modern society has developed a better understanding of righteousness?

Nobody.

Yet isn't that exactly what we sometimes do?

We approach Scripture as though God is on trial.

We read something and ask whether we approve of it.

We read a command and decide whether it seems reasonable.

We read God's judgment and decide whether it seems fair.

We read God's pattern and decide whether it is still relevant.

But who is judging whom?

Am I examining God?

Or is God examining me?

Job learned something about this.

Job had questions.

And some of those questions were understandable.

He had suffered terribly.

He wanted answers.

Then God spoke.

And God's response is remarkable.

God essentially asked Job, where were you when I created everything?

Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth?

Do you command the morning?

Can you bind the stars?

Can you control the sea?

Can you explain the mysteries of creation?

God was reminding Job of something fundamental.

You are the creature.

I am the Creator.

And maybe we need that reminder.

Because modern man has become very confident.

We have technology.

We have universities.

We have laboratories.

We have satellites.

We have artificial intelligence.

We have information available instantly.

And yet we still cannot create a single universe.

We cannot speak matter into existence.

We cannot command death to release its prisoner.

We cannot see tomorrow.

And somehow we think we are qualified to redesign God.

Maybe the problem isn't that God needs to make more sense to us.

Maybe we need more humility.

Isaiah 66:2 tells us the kind of person God regards.

The one who is poor and of a contrite spirit, and who trembles at His Word.

When was the last time we trembled at the Word of God?

We debate it.

We analyze it.

We argue about it.

We post about it.

We preach about it.

But do we tremble before it?

Do we open Scripture knowing that something in these pages might require us to change?

Do we come prepared to surrender?

Because Bible study is dangerous if you are serious about it.

It might destroy your favorite doctrine.

It might expose your favorite sin.

It might challenge something your family has believed for generations.

It might show you that your congregation is wrong.

It might show you that your preacher is wrong.

It might show you that you are wrong.

Are you willing to follow truth that far?

I am not a more sense to us.

Maybe we need more humility.

Isaiah 66:2 tells us the kind of person God regards.

The one who is poor and of a contrite spirit, and who trembles at His Word.

When was the last time we trembled at the Word of God?

We debate it.

We analyze it.

We argue about it.

We post about it.

We preach about it.

But do we tremble before it?

Do we open Scripture knowing that something in these pages might require us to change?

Do we come prepared to surrender?

Because Bible study is dangerous if you are serious about it.

It might destroy your favorite doctrine.

It might expose your favorite sin.

It might challenge something your family has believed for generations.

It might show you that your congregation is wrong.

It might show you that your preacher is wrong.

It might show you that you are wrong.

Are you willing to follow truth that far?

I am not a