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Hillside O’Malley SDA Church

David Shin

Our Picture of God

Our Picture of God- Part 1

Our Picture of God- Part 2

Our Picture of God- Part 3


Let's pray. Our Father in Heaven, we thank you for this beautiful Sabbath that you've given to us, this opportunity that we have to come apart from the cares of this life to worship you in spirit and in truth. We pray that you bless us now as a community of faith. Bless us with your spirit. We ask that the Holy Spirit that inspires may also be the spirit that instructs.

Draw us closer to You and give us a deeper, more fuller sense of Your Spirit, for we ask these things in Jesus' name. Amen. On the screen I have a photograph of my wife and I in Portland, Oregon on a tram that overlooks the city. If you look at this photograph closely, you'll notice something a little bit unusual about my arms. This is not an accurate portrayal of me, and it's actually a distortion.

This is not through Photoshop. 1 of my hobbies is photography. It gives me stress relief for some reason. And this was taken with a fish eye lens, which does 180 degree view, but in the process, it does not give an accurate picture of what reality is. I'll give you another photograph that was taken on that same trip.

Obviously, this is not how the horizon looked. It is incredibly distorted. And Distortions are fun for art and for photography, but they are not good when it comes to someone's character. And today we begin a three-part series of messages entitled Our Picture of God. And for the next 2 weeks, including today, or next 3 weeks, including today, we'll be going through 3 different vignettes from the life of Christ that give us a glimpse or a picture of who God actually is.

Have you ever wondered what it would be like to meet Jesus face to face? Ever imagine what that's going to be like? I've had the privilege of being on 3ABN a few times and I want to tell you that when I meet somebody that has seen me, sometimes they say, pastor, You're shorter than I thought you would be. Evidently, the television camera makes me look taller, praise God, than I actually am in person. And so, have you ever wondered, when you meet God face to face, heaven forbid you're like, oh, you're nothing like I imagined you would be.

Can you imagine you meet him and you're like, you're not even in the same universe I thought you would be. How do we know if we have an accurate picture of God? And our picture of God is essential, as we talked about this last week, 3 aspects of our Christian experience. Our picture of God, foundational, because when we recognize that God is beautiful, God is love, God is wonderful and long-suffering, you can't help but love a God like that. To know God is to love Him.

So this is foundational. Our picture of God brings out our love for God. The love we have for God is grounded in our picture of who God is. And because we love God, John 14, 15, Jesus says, if you love me, keep my commandments. So the things we do for God flow out of our love for God because of our picture of God, that He's a wonderful and beautiful God.

But if we start out here with the things that we do for God, and we don't have a love for God, because we don't have an accurate picture of God, it can be quite grueling in our Christian experience. So we must have an accurate picture of who God is. And this can be challenging because in the book Great Controversy 569, there's an individual that is out to distort who God really is. Great Controversy 569, it is Satan's constant effort to misrepresent the character of God. You can see that this is something that Satan does not want us to see.

He wants to distort it. He wants to have false propaganda in regards to who God really is because it will lead us down a path of not having a love for him and not keeping his commandments because if we have a distorted view of who he is. Now, the purpose of Jesus in coming to earth, desire of ages, page 19, by coming to dwell with us, Jesus was to reveal God both to men and to whom? And to angels. He was the Word of God, as we read today in John chapter 1, God's thought made audible.

Until Jesus came and revealed who God really was, Even the angels had a deeper appreciation for the character of God after Jesus' revelation here on this earth. Therefore, if we want to get the most accurate picture of who God is, we need to look at the face of Jesus Christ. All of us have inherited a distorted picture of God. We get a distorted picture from our parents. You know, parents, bless the Lord for them, but I grew up with sinful parents, loving parents, but there are certain things that get passed down even with parents' best intentions that can sometimes distort our picture of God.

We can get a false picture of God from church, believe it or not. Church members, Society, culture, all of these things. And so it is important that we get an accurate picture of who God is, that way when he comes, we can have a relationship that picks up right where we left off. 2 Corinthians 4, verse 6, the light of the knowledge of the glory of God is found where? In the face of Jesus Christ.

So today, Let's go to our first vignette from the life of Jesus. Next few weeks, we'll be looking at the final moments of the life of Christ. Open your Bibles with me to Matthew 26, as we look at Jesus' final moments before the cross. Matthew 26, verse 36, this is in Gethsemane, right after the Last Supper, Him and His disciples are going to a very familiar place there and as He's going there, the desire of ages tells us that the disciples noticed that Jesus was not the same as usual. He was staggering.

He was struggling and as they got to this place, in verse 36, Then Jesus came with them to the place called Gethsemane and said to the disciples, Sit here while I go and pray over there. And he took with him Peter and 2 sons of Zebedee, and he began to be sorrowful and deeply distressed. Jesus had an inner circle. The Bible tells us that he had the 70 disciples, then he had the 12, and then he had the 3. So he takes these 12 disciples and he leaves them in a certain spot and he says, Peter, James, and John, I want you to come with me.

These were the inner circle. And he goes with them to another place and says, look, my soul is exceedingly sorrowful, even unto death. So he is going through something here, and then the Bible says in verse 38, then he said to them, my soul is exceedingly sorrowful, even unto death. Another translation says, deeply grieved to the point of death. Jesus is dying.

What is taking place here? Desire of Ages points out, page 685. Now he was numbered with the transgressors. The guilt of fallen humanity he must bear. Upon him who knew no sin must be laid the iniquity of us all.

So dreadful does sin appear to him, so great is the weight of guilt which he must bear, that he is tempted to fear it will shut him out forever from his father's love. Feeling how terrible is the wrath of God against transgression, he claims, my soul is exceeding sorrowful, even unto death. In this moment, the sins of the world, he is taking upon himself. And he is feeling the crushing weight of that reality, according to the book, Desire of Ages. He goes a little way off from the 3 and he prays and he fell on his face and prayed, Oh my father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from me.

He prays this prayer 3 times. In Luke chapter 22 verse 44, Luke gives this account of the physical effect of what is taking place. And being in agony, he prayed more earnestly and his sweat became like great drops of blood falling down to the ground. This is a physical condition caused by great stress where you actually sweat blood. Now if there was ever a moment that Jesus needed support, especially from his disciples, the chosen 3, Peter, James, and John, it was here because you can see what Jesus says to them 26 verse 38 stay awake with me verse 41 stay awake and pray Now a few years ago.

I was at an evangelistic series as a Bible worker in South Central Los Angeles, and we would have these all-night prayer vigils every other night. I love my sleep. That was challenging, And I remember getting up in the wee hours of the morning, they would let us sleep a couple hours, but then we would have this all-night prayer vigil for 5 hours. It seemed like all night, but it was only 5 hours. And we would pray and pray for a Bible study context.

And we did this night after night, every other night. And finally, your body starts to crave sleep. Have you ever micro-sleep before? You know, I'm praying over these names and sleeping. I remember 1 time I was praying through my names and I woke up and everybody had left me.

I didn't know how long I was sleeping but there I was. And so this is an all night prayer vigil. They are praying with Jesus and they want to pray, they want to support and Jesus specifically says, look I'm going through a lot right now, please stay with me, pray with me. So he prays, then comes back in verse 40, then Jesus returned to his disciples and found them sleeping. He wakes them up and says, look, can't you just pray for me or with me for a little bit?

Then he goes back and prays a little bit more and then comes back and you can see that this is becoming a frustrating situation. He comes back a second time and Jesus found them sleeping again. You know the story. The third time, then Jesus returned to the disciples and said to them, Are you still sleeping and resting? Now, these are the men that are going to be the leaders of his church.

These are the men that he has just spent 3 and a half years with, the apostles, and he comes back to them 3 times in a moment that he needs them most, and they are failing him terribly. Now, what would be your reaction to that? Has someone ever failed you miserably before? What's the temptation? Fire them?

Is that what you said? Get a new 1. Jesus could have said, you know what? I've had it with you 3 disciples. We're done.

Probation has closed. I'm sorry. I mean, I'm about to go to the cross and die. Look, you're not worthy to be my disciples. It's over.

He would have had every right to do that, especially after the third time, after 3 and a half years. And here we get a picture of how God responds when we fail Him. Have you ever felt like this before? You know, growing up, I had a picture of God that was quite distorted. I had a picture of God that when I would fail Him, even when I was trying my best, that God was up there with an exacting hand.

You ever felt like that before? Especially when you're trying, yet you're failing. And here the disciples are, failing Jesus in a moment that He needs the most. This is a stressful time for Jesus. And this is from Steps to Christ, page 10.

Satan led men to conceive of God as a being whose chief attribute is stern justice. This is the propaganda of the devil. He says, look, this is the way I want you to view God. Satan led men to conceive of God as a being of chief attribute, is stern justice, 1 who is a severe judge, a harsh exacting creditor. He pictured the Creator as a being who is watching with jealous eye to discern the errors and mistakes of men that he may visit judgments upon them.

This is the propaganda of Satan. This is the view that he wants us to have. And how many of us, when we have fallen, when we have made a mistake, we feel like this. The temptation comes into my mind, oh, David, how could you do that? You're a pastor.

You made a mistake. Shame on you. And I feel sometimes in the back of my mind, even though I don't believe this, but emotionally I feel this. I feel like sometimes I have to be in the doghouse. You know that proverbial metaphor for those of you that are married?

What does it mean? You're in the doghouse. It means that you're in a probationary status. You ever heard you're sleeping on the couch tonight? What does that mean?

It means that you're in this provisional status and have you ever gone or someone gone to you and tried to ask for your forgiveness and you're going to forgive them eventually, but you want them to grovel and beg and show that they are really, really sorry. And then they are allowed back into the favor and grace of your relationship. And this is the picture that we have of God sometimes. We make a mistake and we say, Lord, if I just grovel, if I just do enough, if I just be enough, if I'm just good for the next 3 to 4 days, have a better track record, will you accept me back into your grace then? This is not the way it works.

1 of the prayers that we can pray that we always know it's a yes prayer is the prayer for forgiveness. Amen? It's always a Yes. Ask for a Ferrari. Ask for forgiveness.

Always yes. And it's always instant. The moment you ask for forgiveness, even though you may not feel it, you can get up from your knees and say, praise God, not because of the way I feel, but because of what you said in your word. First John 1.9, if we confess, He will forgive. That's the promise.

So this picture of God is really distorted. Satan has done a number in propaganda. And notice what the next paragraph says, It was to remove this dark shadow by revealing to the world the infinite love of God that Jesus came to live among men. And this story of Gethsemane, there's many lessons that we can draw out of it, but here is a moment when Jesus is literally dying. He's looking to his disciples for support.

And he says, look, just pray with me, pray for me, pray for yourselves. He goes back 3 times. They're sleeping every single time. And the next verse shows us how Jesus responds when we fail him. Here it is.

The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak. What is Jesus doing here? He's understanding. He says, look, I know where your heart is.

You're trying, but your flesh is weak. And I believe that in our Christian experience, as we are struggling, how many of you struggled in your Christian experience? How many of you are struggling? This is the way Jesus looks at us. He's not up there, a big old, ready to swat us when we make a mistake.

He says, look, I understand your heart. The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak. You're trying. You know, I don't know any loving parent whose child is struggling to learn how to walk. At the moment that child falls, no loving parent spanks a child for falling while they're learning how to walk.

If they do, they need to be reported. No loving parent does that. How does the parent respond? Oh, wonderful, he took his first step. Did you see that?

Get the camera out. You know, just leading along in that process. And sometimes, we attribute to God worse characteristics than we do to parents who are sinful. This is the regard. So Jesus says the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.

No 1 is more patient than God when we fail him. This is the beauty of the gospel. There is grace along the way. I wish someone had told me that after I got baptized, it's not graduation. It's like the metaphor of being born again.

When you're born, you don't come out walking and then run a marathon the next day. There's a process that takes place. After you're baptized, there's a whole lot of neural pathways that are still there. Habits, tendencies. The difference is, after you accept Jesus, he gives you the power to build new neural pathways.

But it's a process. And eventually, by the grace of God, you can build those new neural pathways so that it becomes a lot easier. I remember the first time I learned how to drive. My poor parents. I remember the first time I learned how to type.

It was a process. But eventually, You can do it without even thinking. And that's the same thing in our Christian experience. As we learn how to walk in him, there is a time of struggling, not because God is not able, but because of our human limitations. And there is grace all along the way.

When I accepted Jesus as my Savior, there were certain habits and sins that fell off right away. You know what I'm talking about? Just, oh, I don't have to deal with that anymore. Just gone. But there were other habits that dogged me, that were a struggle.

And I want to invite you to turn with me to Proverbs 24, verse 16. Proverbs 24, verse 16, where Solomon talks about this aspect of the Christian experience. Proverbs 24, verse 16, for a righteous man may fall how many times? May fall 7 times and rise again, but the wicked shall fall by calamity." The difference between a righteous person and a wicked person is not that a righteous person never falls. Now this number 7 does not indicate that the limitation is 7 times but rather indicating that this is multiple times so here is a righteous person that falls and gets back up how many times does a wicked person fall?

Falls once and says you know what I'm just gonna stay down here forget it now I remember at Andrews University I was going between classes at the seminary and there was ice everywhere and I fell. Grown adult. Fell. Between classes. All these undergrad and co-eds walking by.

And I didn't even have time to catch myself. Now I had a decision I had to make, didn't I? I could have said, you know what, I don't want to fall again, I'm just going to stay down here. I got back up. Spiritually it's the same thing.

When we fall, get back up. When I accepted Jesus, the person who led me to Christ said, you know what, you're gonna fall, David, but get back up and ask Jesus to forgive, and He will hold you throughout your Christian experience. This is the beauty of the gospel. No 1 is more patient than God when we fail Him. This is from Steps of Christ.

We shall often have to bow down and weep at the feet of Jesus because of our shortcomings and mistakes, but we are not to be discouraged. We are not cast off, praise God, not forsaken and rejected of God. No, Christ is at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us. And do not forget the words of Christ, the Father himself loveth you. Praise his name.

Let us pray. Our Father in heaven, we thank you today for grace. We recognize that all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. And Lord, today, in the struggles of our Christian experience, Help us by looking at the face of Jesus to have an accurate picture of who you are. That you are not a vindictive, exacting God, But you're a God of love and mercy.

Help us to recognize that no 1 is more patient than God when we fail. Help us to recognize that a righteous person may fall 7 times and rise again. And Lord, we pray that you'd give us endurance to run the race before us looking unto Jesus the author and the finisher of our faith. For we ask these things in Jesus' name, Amen. AudioVerse, or if you

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