God Is Not Who People Say He Is!

God Is Not Who People Say He Is!

The Church and people who don’t know God is where most people’s source of information about who God is comes from. Most people don’t take the time to seek a relationship with God or to read His Word. I mean read it in the original languages. Read God’s Word without preconceived ideas. You don’t have to be a Greek or Hebrew scholar, just use the tools that are out there.

Most people are told that God is angry, judging, condemning or out to get them. Most people are told that they have to earn God’s love, earn their way to heaven and that they have to be good enough to get God to love them. So let’s look at God’s love in light of:

 John 3:16  "For this is how God loved the world: He gave his unique Son so that everyone who believes in him might not be lost but have eternal life.

John 3:17  Because God sent the Son into the world, not to condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through him.

John 3:18  Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe has already been condemned, because he has not believed in the name of God's unique Son.

First of all, who is saying this? Jesus. For those who don’t know whenever something in the New Testament is printed in red, it is Jesus speaking. So with all the bad things that church and people have told us about God, let’s look at what is being said here from a common sense perspective. You don’t need to be a scholar to understand what’s going on.

In verse 16 the word for world means you. So right at the beginning here God loves you. Next He gave His Son Jesus so that everyone who believes in Jesus would have eternal life with God and Jesus. So what does it mean that God gave us Jesus? God sent Jesus with one mission and that was to die on the cross, take the punishment for our sins, sickness, disease, poverty and etc. He sent Jesus to die for you and me. Now let’s look at this a little further and ask yourself, would you give up one of your children to die for my sins? No! So then ask yourself questions in light of what you have been told. If God was angry with me, would He send Jesus to die for me? If God hated me, would He send Jesus to die for me? The common sense answer is no. I could preach on this verse for hours, but let us continue.

Verse 17 says God is not condemning you for anything you have done in the past, present or future. Enough said on verse 17.

Verse 18 repeats again that God is not condemning you. But here’s what most religions can’t or don’t want to grasp, even Christianity. That if you don’t believe in the finished work of Christ,  you will spend eternity in hell. Unbelief is what keeps us from eternity with God, not sin. I’ve heard Christians tell homosexuals that they were going to hell because they were gay. This is an outright lie. They don’t think they’re lying because they believe this nonsense. Committing adultery, murder, theft, rape nor any sin keeps you from heaven. Only the unbelief in the finished work of Christ.

I feel that I must take the time to briefly explain what the finish work of Christ is. When Jesus died on the cross, He took our place for our sins, sickness, disease, poverty and etc. God substituted Jesus for us. Jesus took our punishment, which is God’s wrath, anger, judgment, and condemnation. Then Jesus died, went to hell where He defeated Satan (which is another misunderstood practice), rose from the grave on the third day, ascended to heaven and now sits at the right hand of God our Father. After the cross God went from being our God to being our Father, who is God.

Now can you see God as He is? He is even more than what you see here. The more you study God’s Word, the more you have a relationship with Him, the more you love Him and understand His love for you. The more you fall in love with Him. We can never fully understand God’s love for us. But one day we will.