3 Things God Wants You to Know

Its flated image in English is teslem. It's t-s-e-h-l-e-m, teslem. T-s-e-h-l-e-m. It means a phantom.

It means an illusion, a resemblance, hence a representative figure. So what did he mean here? Does it mean that God created something that has a head, two eyes, two ears, lips, nose? No. He did that when he made a chimpanzee. You see, that's not what it's talking about, a physical like this. God had already done that. He'd been there, done that. When it said that man was created in his image, it was talking about God-like qualities of being able to reason, analyze, design, build. And that's why God said, I'm giving you responsible dominion over the earth. Go and take the mountains and level them. Build roads, build bridges, build cities and beautiful complexes. Do it in a responsible way, because you're a steward of this beautiful earth that I've given. You don't rape it, don't destroy it, don't pollute it. But in a responsible way, God said, I'm giving you stewardship. I'm giving you dominion over this earth to continue to fashion it and design it and create it and build upon it, because those are the qualities of what it means when it says we were made in God's image. We have minds that can analyze and understand and reason and ask questions and solve problems. And those are the qualities that it's meant here when it says that we were created in God's image. God made a lot of things in the universe. He made stars and planets and angels. He made the heavenly realm. He also made vegetables. He made beautiful flowers, like this little rose. It's on my lapel today. He made flowers and He made our physical home that we call the earth. But something special happened. There was something unique in God's mind when He came to this world and He pushed a little bit of stardust together that we call dirt. And He pushed it together into a mound and He breathed into it and it became a living soul and He created man. That was very, very special to God. He had anticipated doing that since the dawn of time because He wanted to begin to grow His own family. Now, granted, at times God has been very disappointed at the conduct of His creation. So much so in the time of Noah that He basically destroyed all of mankind through a flood and saved just a very few. We haven't, as a people mankind, and I mean that is, of course, mankind and women and everyone who's ever lived, we haven't lived up to the potential that God originally had intended when He created us as a people, have we? You know, you look at history and what you see is war and violence and abuse and society's just taking advantage of one another. It's pretty sad when you look at human history what we've done to ourselves. But in spite of the fact that we've saddened and at times disappointed God, we must never forget that He loves His creation.

He loves mankind and He even has a plan to heal our self-inflicted wounds as a people.

He loves us so much that He's going to start over again. He's going to send His Son someday to establish that paradise back on earth that was lost when Adam and Eve sinned. That's how much He loves mankind. He always has loved mankind. Now, have you ever thought of creation as a process instead of a one-time event? Do you know that there's something even more exciting to God than that physical creation when He created Adam and Eve, when He took that pile of stardust together, that red mud and He piled it, and He breathed onto it and it was fashion. Do you know that there is a creation that's even more wonderful to God, that's even more beautiful than that? There really is. Let's go to 2 Corinthians 5 and be reminded of what that creation is.

The difference is you're a descendant of that original creation that we read about in Genesis 1. You are part of the creation that I'm going to read about right now.

2 Corinthians 5, verse 17.

Paul wrote, Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation.

Old things have passed away, behold, all things have become new. Have we allowed that to become part of our lives? Now that we have God's Spirit, do we look at the world in a different way than we did before? In spite of the flaws and problems, do we see that God has a plan? And even though we don't understand the violence, we don't understand a lot of things that go on today, that He is a God who's in charge and in control of the universe, that His plan must come to pass. Can we understand that the spiritual creation, that God is working out in us, is even more valuable and important than the physical creation when He made Adam and Eve? He's excited about the new creatures in Christ. Verse 18.

How wonderful it is to have a relationship with God, to no longer be divided from Him because of sin, to no longer be cut off from knowing God because of sin and the effects of sin, but to be reconciled, to have all of those barriers removed because of what Christ did and be able to be reconciled with God. He calls it a ministry of reconciliation. Verse 19. That is that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not imputing their trespasses to them, and is committed to us the word of reconciliation. Now then, we are ambassadors for Christ as though God were pleading through us. We implore you on Christ's behalf be reconciled to God. So the first thing that we need to do is make sure that we have a direct and deep relationship with God. If we're going to be ambassadors, if we're going to be lights to a very dark world, we have to make sure that we're in the right position, that we are in the right relationship with God. That's very, very important. He says, be reconciled to God. Verse 21. For He made Him who knew no sin, this is regarding Jesus Christ, for He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him. You say, Mr. Thomas, but I fall short. Mr. Thomas, I try real hard. I still sin. I still have problems. God knows that. That's why it was His desire that Jesus Christ, who knew no sin, would become sin for us, and that we have the righteousness of God, not because of what we do. We have the righteousness of God in Him. That's what makes us righteous in God's eyes, in spite of the fact that we still have flaws, and we still have weaknesses, and we still have struggles. Rather, every human being is precious in God's eyes, and His plan allows for everyone to be called and have their minds opened at an appointed time that God has designated. Have you ever thought how important it is to God, when just one person seeks forgiveness and desires to change their life and become better? Desires to turn from a life of sin and to turn towards God and live a life of righteousness? We heard a lot of wonderful parables today. I'm only going to refer to one in Luke 15, what we call the parable of the prodigal son. Remember that parable? The young man, the young brother, says, I want to live life, and I want to live the fullest, and I want to live it now. So he goes to Dad, and he says, give me my inheritance right now. And his father gives it to him. Do you remember that he goes out, and he wanders it all, and he wastes it all foolishly, and then there's a famine in the land. And one day, he's feeding these dried up seed pods, the swine. He's been hired, so the only thing he can do is get a job. And he says to himself, you know what? These pigs eat better than I do. I'm hungry.

These pigs, at least, are eating something and filling their bellies. I'm going to go back to my father, and I'm going to humbly say, Dad, I'm willing just to be a hired servant, because, you know, my father's servants eat better than I do right now. They're treated better than I am. And that's exactly what he did. When the rebellious son finally came to his senses and returned home, you may recall it said in verse 20, and he arose and he came to his father, but when he was still a great way off, his father saw him and he had compassion. And he ran, and he fell on his neck, and he kissed him. That's what the father did.

Have you ever considered the fact that this is the only place in the entire Bible, from Genesis to Revelation, that pictures God the Father running? And you know why he's running?

He's running to welcome home a son who was lost. The only time in the entire Bible that pictures the father running, he's running in joy and in compassion to welcome home a son who was lost. The day you repented and you received God's Spirit, that's how God felt about you, and he still does. He's crazy about you. He's wild about you. You are his new spiritual creation. You are what he always intended from the beginning before Adam and Eve blew it and sinned and caused a barrier between mankind and God. That barrier for us has been removed, and we have that opportunity to be a new creation. So again, the first thing that God wants us to know is that his greatest creation is mankind. Number two, his son Jesus Christ came to earth to be our Savior. His son Jesus Christ came to earth to be our Savior. Let's go to Hebrews chapter 2 and verse 6. Hebrews chapter 2 and verse 6.

Paul wrote to the Hebrews, he said, but one testified in a certain place, and he's going to quote from Psalms the eighth chapter, talking about the state or the condition of man, what God originally intended and what ended up happening and how that problem was solved. Let's read it here. But one testified in a certain place, saying this is Hebrews chapter 2 and verse 6.

We are a very aggressive creation of God. We've changed the face of the earth. We've driven some of his creation into extinction. We, indeed, he set us over the work of his hands, and we've lived up to that part of his expectation. Verse 8, you put all things in subjection under his feet, for in that he put all things in subjection under him. He left nothing that is not put under him.

Is that true? Well, he continues. He kind of steps back and says, well, but now we do not see all things put under him. Right now, are we over angels? No, we're not over angels. What Paul is telling the Hebrews is what our potential was intended to be when God created mankind. God created mankind to begin building a family, and his intention was that mankind would rule with him, and would even rule over spiritual things, would even rule over angels, would be literal children of his as part of his family. Let's pick it up now in verse 9. But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels, and he did walk into this earth as a mere man of flesh, and at that point he was lower than the angels, for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honor, that he by the grace of God might taste death for everyone.

Again, my second point was his son Jesus Christ came to earth to be our Savior. How was he our Savior? He tasted death for everyone. He made it possible for every human being to be reconciled to God. Verse 10, for it was fitting for him, for whom are all things, and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons to glory, to make the captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings. Take a look at verse 10 again. Paul said it was fitting that the very Creator himself, the Word who said, land appear, water separate from the heavens and from the skies, that the very Creator himself would come down to earth and for a while be subjected to angels under the authority of angels. But because of his life, that he would make it possible to bring many sons to glory and that he would taste death for everyone. It was fitting that the Creator himself would make that sacrifice and make it possible. Verse 11, for both he who sanctifies and those who are being sanctified are all of one. Do you realize that you're sanctified? It says, for both he who sanctifies and those who are being sanctified are all of one. That's how God looks at us. For which reason he is not ashamed to call them brethren, saying, I will declare your name to my brethren in the midst of the assembly. I will sing praise to you. Jesus Christ is not ashamed to call you his brother.

Jesus Christ is not ashamed to call you his sister. That's what Paul writes here in the book of Hebrews. God created man with the intention to rule with God, even over angels and over the spiritual world. That was our potential and our original destiny, but it was stunted with sin. And that potential was held back until God took matters in his own hands. The Creator himself, that we call Jesus when he walked in this earth, came and had a physical birth, came into this world as a man. He made it possible for us to be forgiven and to be sanctified. And it says he's bringing many sons to glory, and he's not ashamed to call you his brother, you his sister. Let's go to John, chapter 3, verse 16, scriptures that we're very familiar with, especially if you watch football games. John wrote, For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. Remember, the second thing God wants you to know is that his Son Jesus Christ came to earth to be our Savior.

Verse 17, For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through him might be saved. He who believes in him is not condemned, but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he is not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. Everyone in this world, including us before we were called, has a death sentence on our head. Every human being who lives is condemned, has a death sentence on our head. What made it different for us, what makes it different for the people that he calls, is because when he calls the people and they respond to that calling, and they repent of their sins, and they receive God's Spirit, and they make a commitment, and they say that, I'm putting my hand to the plow, and I'm only going forward. I'm not looking back. I'm not living a life of regret. I'm moving forward, and I'm becoming a disciple, a follower of Jesus Christ. That's what John meant when he said, believes. He didn't mean someone who just utters the word, I believe. He was talking about someone who makes it part of their lifestyle. He sent his son into this world to offer salvation and eternal life. First, for us, his first roots. We've been very blessed, but he has the intention of doing it for everyone, because don't forget the first thing that God wants you to know, how important the creation of mankind was to him. The third thing that God wants you to know, Christianity is a light burden.

Christianity is a light burden. Deluded people make it hard. Let's go to Matthew 19, verse 16. Matthew 19, verse 16. This is an interesting story we remember.

Well, you wealthy young man, and unfortunately his great wealth became a stumbling block to God being able to work with him. But he has an interesting conversation with Jesus.

He says, Now, behold, one came to him, said to him, Good teacher, what good things shall I do that I may have eternal life? So he said to him, Why do you call me good?

There is good, but one that is God. Some translators say that in a roundabout way that Jesus was complimenting him for recognizing that he must be the Son of God, since he gave him that title. But, he says, if you should enter into life, keep the commandments. Now, natural question is, which commandments? I mean, this is a pretty thick book.

Which of the many commandments in here? And, thankfully, we're told. We're given examples. He said, Which ones? Jesus said, You should not murder, you should not commit adultery, you should not steal, not bear false witness, Honor, your mother and your father, and love your neighbor as yourself. The young man said to him, All these things I've kept from my youth. And, of course, Jesus knew that.

Jesus could read the heart. What do I still lack? And Jesus said to him, If you want to be perfect, he's offering him literally a discipleship. There could have been thirteen disciples. Well, would that have been fun in numerology, studying numerology? If you want to be perfect, go sell what you have, give to the poor, and you'll have treasure in heaven, and come and follow me. And the young man, unfortunately, worshipped his wealth, and that was a stumbling block.

But the principle here, I think, is very powerful for us to understand. Christianity is simply a life of living God's values. They're reflected in what we commonly know of as the Ten Commandments. And they, by example, they gave many of the commandments relating to our relationship with others. The first four of the Ten Commandments refer to having a positive and healthy relationship with God, and the last six refer to having a right relationship with our neighbors.

They're very simple. And Jesus said, If you want to, here's what you need to do. If you want to enter into life, you keep the commandments. Now, one of those commandments is referring to acknowledging God as the one and only Supreme Creator. That's a very powerful commandment, and that should lead us to ask questions to ourselves, like, how does He desire to be worshipped?

Does He have specific days that are important to Him that I should know about and worship on? Another one is, don't create icons to worship or admire in place of the Creator God. And that leads us to understand that He alone is worthy of adulation and worship, and we should never try to create anything physical in place of God. Mankind has this consistent problem in our spiritual DNA of reversing what God intended.

God created us in His image, and mankind ever since, when they learn about God, they want to recreate God in our image. So we want to have birds and rocks and all kinds of icons and idols to represent God. And God says, you cannot do that. I am so great and magnificent and powerful, there's nothing a human being that can create, that can even touch upon the degree of my magnificence, so don't even try. You have to worship Me in spirit and in truth, not through physical things, not through rocks and stones and icons and idols and other things.

Another one of those commandments tells us to respect and honor the name of God in a sacred way. By that we can understand, be careful not to associate God's name with vile or useless statements, not to say God's name with a curse word, not to boldly and dogmatically say, well, God says when we're clueless, and God never said that in the first place. That is as much as using God's name as vain as linking God's name to a curse word, saying that God says something and God didn't say it.

Vain, using God's name as vain, is using God's name as vain. Another thing we learn is to respect and honor the days that God said to rest and set aside and worship Him. And of course, we understand the Seventh-day Sabbath and how every week it reminds us of what we all long for, the kingdom of God established on this earth. And we learn that the Sabbath is a convocation. That means as long as Mr. Thomas is healthy enough, he needs to get out of his house and he needs to publicly go and worship with God's people.

There are no excuses. That's what that commandment teaches us. It's a holy convocation. We learn to honor the physical parents who brought us into this world. You know what? They weren't perfect. Some of our parents may have even been cruel. My, I had a particular parent who was a drunkard. But God says in spite of that, a good principle to learn about forgiveness of other human beings, even those who have hurt you, is to show honor to them in spite of their flaws and weaknesses. It says, don't murder anyone.

We come to the conclusion and understand that taking someone else's life is the sole prerogative of God or the government he allows to survive into, the government he allows to rule at any given period of time. God says, I am the creator. I have the right to take life. You, as an individual, do not have the right to take life.

We learn that sex inside a marriage relationship is a sacred trust, and when it's violated, it doesn't just hurt the husband and wife. It hurts the entire family. It hurts the children. It destroys their confidence in the marriage system. Sometimes it destroys their own self-esteem and sense of self-worth. You know, adultery is a terrible thing that literally destroys people's lives, and we learn the importance of cherishing the marriage relationship.

We learn that stealing is one of the most sickening things that a human being can do. Taking something that belongs to someone else is selfish and ignorant. It's a violation of trust, and it's a violation of respect of other people's property and belongings. We learn not to tell lies or exaggerate events about other people or about their own lives. Be a person of integrity. And we learn not to desire or lust after things that other people possess, because it only leads to jealousy. We sit and dwell in what everybody else has that we don't have. All it does is it leads to resentment and jealousy and comparisons. And that's not a good thing. Let's go to Matthew 11, verse 25.

See what Jesus said about the message that he preached.

What did he say about the message that he preached?

Matthew 11, verse 25. It says, At that time Jesus answered, Said, I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth. Did you have hidden these things from the wise and prudent, and would have revealed them to babes? Talking about the truth. Even so, Father, for so it seemed good in your sight. All things have been delivered to me by the Father, and no one knows the Son except the Father, nor does anyone know the Father except the Son, and the one to whom the Son wills to reveal Him. And let's zero in, beginning in verse 28. He says, Come to me, all you who labor and are heavy, laden, and I will give you rest. So he says to his audience, all of you who are weighted down with the burden of sin, all of you who have this guilt that your lives are unfulfilled, maybe you even feel like you're a failure, maybe you feel like you're a complete loser, and you have this weight, this burden of guilt and shame. He says, You know what you can do about that? Come to me, and I'll give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart. You will find rest for your souls, for my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.

This is, oh, this way of life. Wow! What a load! I don't even know how you can handle it.

He doesn't say that. He says, My yoke is easy. Let go. Let go and give it all to God.

My yoke is easy, and my burden is light. Now, as a counterpoint to what he just said, what happens in the very next verse? Here come the Pharisees, here come the burden givers.

Chapter 12, verse 1, At that time Jesus went through the grain fields on the Sabbath, and His disciples were hungry, and began to pluck eggs of grain into the yeet. And when the Pharisees saw it, they said to Him, Look, your disciples are doing what is not lawful to do on the Sabbath. Oh, he found what a great counterpoint to what Jesus said. He said, You know what?

Come to Me, if you are heavy laden, I'll give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, it's easy, and my burden is light. And the very next statement are, Here come the burden givers. Let's make life complicated. Let's make faith ten times harder than it was ever created to be.

In contrast to the Pharisees, Jesus is saying His calling is a light burden. Your sins are forgiven. A patient and gentle teacher brings you to increased learning and spiritual peace.

In contrast to this, the Pharisees bring anxiety. They bring questioning. They bring unnecessary burdens to people. Their obsession with unbiblical rules and teachings made religion a heavy burden on everybody that they met with. And don't ever think that the Pharisees died out. Trust me, there are Pharisees in every generation, including our very own.

2 Corinthians 11, verse 1. See what Paul says about this subject. Is Christianity intended to be complex? Is it intended to be this giant five thousand piece jigsaw puzzle? And when you do everything right, when you get every puzzle piece lined up, then you find out that really the intent was a five thousand and one piece jigsaw puzzle. Paul says in 2 Corinthians 11, verse 1, he says, Oh, that you would bear with me in a little folly. And indeed you do bear with me.

He's talking to a congregation that he founded that he loved very much. He says, I'm jealous for you with a godly jealousy, for I betrothed you to one husband that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ. That is simple, uncomplicated. Verse 3, But I fear lest someone, as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, so that your mind may be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ. So is understanding Christ hard? Is it a huge burden? Is it a great load? Is it knowing one thousand and one rules? No, not at all. Who makes it that way? God never made it that way.

Paul says he's concerned that they'd be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ.

For if he who comes preaches another Jesus whom we have not preached, if someone else comes and says to you, well, your knowledge isn't complete because you have to believe that some man, living or dead, somehow said or did something that is important to world events of your salvation, that is another Jesus. It's just plain and simple. If someone comes and preaching another Jesus who we have not preached, or if you receive a different spirit from which you have not received, a spirit of anxiety, oh, it's about what you know. Salvation is, did you hear about this new truth? Well, you're incomplete because you don't understand this new truth. He says if you receive a different spirit, what did Jesus say his spirit was? Let me read this again. He said, Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. That's his spirit. If another spirit comes in which everything is anxiety and new truth and knowledge and salvation is tied to how you look or hair length or how you dress or how you act or acknowledging a certain truth or whatever, that's a different spirit than the one that is revealed right here in this book.

Or if you receive a different spirit which you have not received or a different gospel which you have not accepted, you may well put up with it. If people come to you with a gospel that has a political agenda or has something tied to it that takes the focus off of Jesus Christ and puts it on men or organizations, it is a different gospel than the one spoken of in the New Testament.

What does Paul say about it? He says this is kind of an aside. He says you may well put up with it. He said, I love you to the congregation. He says, I'm jealous for you with a godly jealousy. He says, I betrothed you to one husband. He says, but you're very susceptible to being hooked, that being hoodwinked, suckered, sucked in, used, manipulated.

That's what Paul was concerned about. Paul states that living a Christian life is intended to be what he calls the simplicity that is in Christ. What is that simplicity? We heard about it today from the fine split sermon by Mr. Henderson. It's genuine faith combined with obedience that in this book, not in booklets, that's in this book, genuine faith, obedience, and what happens when you put those together? You have abundant fruits. That's a basic biblical process. Faith, obedience, roots. It's no more complicated.

People should make it no more complicated than that. But every generation has certain individuals who deceive some of the flock into believing that salvation is somehow dependent on obeying hundreds of silly and unbiblical doctrines of men. It's like you take this beautiful painting, and then they take a ruler, and they slop over it with paint. They take another color of paint, and they slop it the other way with another color of paint. And they take it, and they slop it over with another color of paint, and pretty soon you forgot what that beautiful picture called Christianity looks like. It has so many layers of slop that you can't see the beauty of the original intended picture anymore. And, brethren, we have to be very, very careful of that.

There are individuals, always have been, always will be, who create doctrines about their own pet gospel, cultural distinctions, their own political biases, or control freak rules to make Christianity going from simple, the simplicity that's in Christ, to becoming a burden of understanding and knowing 400 doctrinal points. And, frankly, why do they make it so complex? So that the followers will need them, so that the followers are forced to go to them to provide all the answers.

That's why they make it so complex. So please don't fall prey to the modern Pharisees.

Today, we talked about three things that God wants us to know. His greatest creation is mankind.

His son, Jesus Christ, came to earth to be our Savior. Christianity is a light burden. Deluded people make it very, very hard. In our world of confusion and constant distractions, I encourage you to bloom where you're planted. You see this beautiful rose in my lapel today? It's from a plant called Strike It Rich. And even though it's mid-December and there have been heavy frost, that plant is thriving and still producing blooms. You know why it's still producing blooms? Why that plant is so healthy in the middle of November? Why it has survived frost and problems and difficulties? Because it bloomed where it was planted. It wasn't dug up five times this season. It didn't have its roots ripped out from under it, so that it had to regrow itself all over again five times this season. It bloomed where it was planted. And I encourage you to do the same thing.

Remember the three things God wants you to know, especially the fact that Christianity is intended to be a light burden, spiritually refreshing, not a lifestyle of anxiety, self-righteousness, and judgmentalism. Please don't make your life or your relationship with Christ any more complicated than it needs to be, or more complicated than God ever intended.

Have a wonderful Sabbath day!