Good morning on this Lord’s Day morning and welcome to the Berean Break.  My name is George A. Sinkie and I am so glad that you have joined me this morning.  I hope that we can grow together this morning in the grace and knowledge of God.  As we begin this morning, let’s go to God in prayer.

Dear God in Heaven, Thank You for this day in our lives, Help us today to learn more of Your will, and to apply Your will more diligently, We pray that You be with those who are hurting today, And comfort them in Your will.  We thank You especially for Jesus, And how by Your grace You sent Him to die for us.  Pierce us with Your truth that we will obey Your will.  In Jesus’ name !! AMEN !!

     Today, I would like for us to consider a principle and teaching that is spoken of in the Old Testament.  We do not live under that Old Covenant today, but we can learn many things from it in how God deals with people.  I would like for you to turn with me over to the book of Psalms and we are going to look at Psalm 50.  This is a psalm of Asaph and consider for a moment what he writes in Psalm 50:16-21

   16 But to the wicked God says, “What right have you to tell of My statutes, And to take My covenant in your mouth?
   17 “For you hate discipline, And you cast My words behind you.
   18 “When you see a thief, you are pleased with him, And you associate with adulterers.
   19 “You let your mouth loose in evil, And your tongue frames deceit.
   20 “You sit and speak against your brother; You slander your own mother’s son.
   21 “These things you have done, and I kept silence; You thought that I was just like you; I will reprove you, and state the case in order before your eyes.”

Today’s program is going to deal with the phrase God says there in verse 21, “You thought that I was just like you.”  These Jews that God is speaking to thought that God was a being that had the weaknesses and tendencies that they did, but the teaching here is that God is not like that.  Let’s consider this way of thinking in light of the Scriptures.

     First, Man hides from man; so man thinks he can hid from God.  This we see from clear back in Genesis 3:8, after Adam and Eve had sinned,

   8 And they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden.

Adam and Eve knew that they could get behind some trees and bushes and they would be hidden from each other and so when they wanted to hid from God they followed the same course of action.  But it did not work.  One thing that we need to understand is that when God asked the question, “where are you?”  It was not because God didn’t know where they were, it is so man will consider what he is doing.  God knew where they were, as He knows all things, as we learn from Hebrews 4:12-13

   12 For the word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart.
   13 And there is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are open and laid bare to the eyes of Him with whom we have to do.

Consider how man tries to hid from man.  This is why so many things take place in the dark.  Many crimes are committed in the night because it hides the criminal from the eyes of man.  They rob, drink, commit adultery and fornication all in the cover of darkness and they think because man does not see them, then they have gotten off free.  One day God will call all these acts into judgment and He knows what they have done.

     The next way that man thinks of God as being like man is that:  Man deceives man, and so he thinks he can deceive God. We have an example of this in Acts 5:1-10,

   1 But a certain man named Ananias, with his wife Sapphira, sold a piece of property,
   2 and kept back some of the price for himself, with his wife’s full knowledge, and bringing a portion of it, he laid it at the apostles’ feet.
   3 But Peter said, “Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit, and to keep back some of the price of the land?
   4 “While it remained unsold, did it not remain your own?  And after it was sold, was it not under your control?  Why is it that you have conceived this deed in your heart?  You have not lied to men, but to God.”
   5 And as he heard these words, Ananias fell down and breathed his last; and great fear came upon all who heard of it.
   6 And the young men arose and covered him up, and after carrying him out, they buried him.
   7 Now there elapsed an interval of about three hours, and his wife came in, not knowing what had happened.
   8 And Peter responded to her, “Tell me whether you sold the land for such and such a price?”  And she said, “Yes, that was the price.”
   9 Then Peter said to her, “Why is it that you have agreed together to put the Spirit of the Lord to the test?  Behold, the feet of those who have buried your husband are at the door, and they shall carry you out as well.”
   10 And she fell immediately at his feet, and breathed her last; and the young men came in and found her dead, and they carried her out and buried her beside her husband.

If God was like man, Ananias and Sapphira probably could have pulled off their deception about how much they got for the land.  But you see God is not like man.  Paul warns about being deceived by this kind of thinking in Galatians 6:7,8

   7 Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, this he will also reap.
   8 For the one who sows to his own flesh shall from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the Spirit shall from the Spirit reap eternal life.

There are many yet today who think God is like them. They think they can “pull the wool over His eyes,” as it were.  But they will have a rude awakening on the day of judgment.

     The third point I would like to consider today is that:  Man is slack about his word; so man thinks God will be slack about His word.  Peter writes about some of these men in 2 Peter 3:3-4

   3 Know this first of all, that in the last days mockers will come with their mocking, following after their own lusts,
   4 and saying, “Where is the promise of His coming?  For ever since the fathers fell asleep, all continues just as it was from the beginning of creation.”

They had waited so long for God to fulfill His promise to send Jesus back that they thought God had forgotten about the Second Coming.  But Peter goes on to show why the Lord had not returned in that day, and it is the same reason why Jesus still hasn’t returned.  Read with me 2 Peter 3:8-9

   8 But do not let this one fact escape your notice, beloved, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.
   9 The Lord is not slow about His promise, as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance.

Peter is pointing out that God is not limited by time like we are and the fact that Jesus has not returned yet does not show that God is slack, it shows His patience and love for all mankind.

     The fourth and final point that I would like us to consider from the Scriptures today is that:  Man thinks one religion is as good as another, so man thinks that God feels the same way.  The Jews of the first century had developed a system of faith quite different from what God had established in His covenant with that nation.  Jesus shows this very clearly in Matthew 15:1-9,

   1 Then some Pharisees and scribes came to Jesus from Jerusalem, saying,
   2 “Why do Your disciples transgress the tradition of the elders?  For they do not wash their hands when they eat bread.”
   3 And He answered and said to them, “And why do you yourselves transgress the commandment of God for the sake of your tradition?
   4 “For God said, ‘Honor your father and mother,’ and, ‘He who speaks evil of father or mother, let him be put to death.’
   5 “But you say, ‘Whoever shall say to his father or mother, “Anything of mine you might have been helped by has been given to God,”
   6 he is not to honor his father or his mother.’  And thus you invalidated the word of God for the sake of your tradition.
   7 “You hypocrites, rightly did Isaiah prophesy of you, saying,
   8 ‘This people honors Me with their lips, But their heart is far away from Me.
   9 ‘But in vain do they worship Me, Teaching as doctrines the precepts of men.’”

These Pharisees and scribes were offended that Jesus would teach the idea that God was not as pleased with their system of religion as they were.  Read on in Matthew 15:12-14

   12 Then the disciples came and said to Him, “Do You know that the Pharisees were offended when they heard this statement?”
   13 But He answered and said, “Every plant which My heavenly Father did not plant shall be rooted up.
   14 “Let them alone; they are blind guides of the blind. And if a blind man guides a blind man, both will fall into a pit.”

Denominationalists of today do the same thing that these Pharisees did in the first century, they teach as doctrines the precepts of men and they think that God is pleased with them.  But God only built one church and only has one system of faith.  We can read about that church and that system of faith in the Bible.  But men write their own creeds and catechisms and develop their own religions.  God is not please with this and they will one day be rutted up and destroyed.  Sadly many people never check out the Bible and so they fall for these man-made doctrines.

     Some of these man-made doctrines are seen very clearly in the next couple of months.  If we are going to follow the Bible, I would like to know where the Scriptures are that support such doctrines as, Ash Wednesday, Lent, Good Friday, and Easter?  These man-made holy days are not taught in the Bible and the church that Jesus built never observed them, so why should I?  Since I am guided by the Scriptures, I have no authority for observing them.  I would be interested if an of you have scriptural references that support these teachings.
     We need to beware that we don’t think that God is like man and can be fooled by us.