How To Respond To The Kindness & Severity Of God

• So you see [Notice; Consider] that God is kind and also ·very strict [stern; severe; harsh]. He ·punishes [is strict/severe/harsh toward] those who ·stop following him [have fallen]. But God is kind to you, if you continue ·following in [trusting in] his kindness. If you do not, you will also be cut off from the tree. Romans 11:22 (EXB)

GOD USES TWO PRIMARY ATTRIBUTES TO MOTIVATE US:

1. GOD USES ____________ ________________ TO MOTIVATE.

Or do you show contempt for the riches of his kindness, forbearance and patience, not realizing that God’s kindness is intended to lead you to repentance? Romans 2:4 (NIV)

…“I have loved you with an everlasting love; I have drawn you with unfailing kindness.” Jeremiah 31:3b (NIV)

And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.” ³³ He said this to show the kind of death he was going to die. John 12:32-33 (NIV)

• God Confronts Our Sin, But Uses The Story Of ________ To _____ us.

Then he adds: “Their sins and lawless acts I will remember no more.” ¹⁸ And where these have been forgiven, sacrifice for sin is no longer necessary. ¹⁹ Therefore, brothers and sisters, since we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus, ²⁰ by a new and living way opened for us through the curtain, that is, his body, ²¹ and since we have a great priest over the house of God, ²² let us draw near to God with a sincere heart and with the full assurance that faith brings, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water. ²³ Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful. ²⁴ And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds, ²⁵ not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching. Hebrews 10:17-25 (NIV)

WHAT EFFECT SHOULD GOD’S KINDNESS HAVE ON MY LIFE?

• It Should Motivate Me To ________________ _______ _______ To God.

let us draw near to God with a sincere heart and with the full assurance that faith brings, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water. Hebrews 10:23 (NIV)

Who may ascend the mountain of the Lord? Who may stand in his holy place? ⁴ The one who has clean hands and a pure heart, who does not trust in an idol or swear by a false god. ⁵ They will receive blessing from the Lord and vindication from God their Savior. ⁶ Such is the generation of those who seek him, who seek your face, God of Jacob. Psalm 24:3-6 (NIV)

• It Should Motivate Me To Be _________________________ In My Faith.

Let’s hold firmly to the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful; Hebrews 10:23 (NASB)

• It Should Motivate Me To ________________ __________ With Others.

And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds, ²⁵ not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching. Hebrews 10:24-25 (NIV)

NOTE:  I’m called to ________ up not just ________ up.

2. GOD USES THE _______ OF _________________ TO MOTIVATE ME.

So, as the Holy Spirit says: “Today, if you hear his voice, ⁸ do not harden your hearts as you did in the rebellion, during the time of testing in the wilderness, ⁹ where your ancestors tested and tried me, though for forty years they saw what I did. ¹⁰ That is why I was angry with that generation; Hebrews 3:7-10a (NIV)

• God uses the story of ________ to invoke fear of God’s severity in us.

Through love and faithfulness sin is atoned for; through the fear of the Lord evil is avoided. Proverbs 16:6 (NIV)

…God has come to test you, so that the fear of God will be with you to keep you from sinning.” Exodus 20:20b (NIV)

NOTE:  When I take God _____________, I stop taking sin ___________.

WHAT EFFECT SHOULD GOD’S SEVERITY HAVE ON MY LIFE?

If we deliberately keep on sinning after we have received the knowledge of the truth, no sacrifice for sins is left, ²⁷ but only a fearful expectation of judgment and of raging fire that will consume the enemies of God. ²⁸ Anyone who rejected the law of Moses died without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses. ²⁹ How much more severely do you think someone deserves to be punished who has trampled the Son of God underfoot, who has treated as an unholy thing the blood of the covenant that sanctified them, and who has insulted the Spirit of grace? ³⁰ For we know him who said, “It is mine to avenge; I will repay,” and again, “The Lord will judge his people.” ³¹ It is a dreadful thing to fall into the hands of the living God. Hebrews 10:26-31 (NIV)

• It Should Motivate Me To __________ __________ __ ____.

“Woe to me!” I cried. “I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the Lord Almighty.” Isaiah 6:5 (NIV)

…There is no fear of God before their eyes. ² In their own eyes they flatter themselves too much to detect or hate their sin. Psalm 36:1b-2 (NIV)

• It Should Motivate Me To ____________ & ____________.

And I will put the fear of me in their hearts, that they may not turn from me. Jeremiah 32:40b (NIV)

Oh, that their hearts would be inclined to fear me and keep all my commands always, so that it might go well with them and their children forever! Deuteronomy 5:29 (NIV)

You need to persevere so that when you have done the will of God, you will receive what he has promised. ³⁷ For, “In just a little while, he who is coming will come and will not delay.” ³⁸ And, “But my righteous[g] one will live by faith. And I take no pleasure in the one who shrinks back.” ³⁹ But we do not belong to those who shrink back and are destroyed, but to those who have faith and are saved. Hebrews 10:36-39 (NIV)