CAN'T RUN FROM GOD'S LOVE
 
        Like as a father pitieth his children, so the Lord pitieth them that fear him.  Ps. 103:13.
 
    One day you see a large crowd gathered on a mountaintop.  They have been there since early morning, called together by a man the king has hunted futilely for more than three years.  It's rumored that he is responsible for the three-year drought in the land, and the people wait, whisper, and wonder near the two altars that have been erected at Elijah's direction.
 
    With a blaze of fire from heaven, Elijah's sacrifice, the water, and even the altar are consumed, and all present are brought to acknowledge the God of heaven.
 
    That very night, aroused from sleep by a palace messenger, Elijah flees for his life before an angry woman.  He fears that even God who answers by fire is not big enough to protect him from the wicked Jezebel.
 
    He flees in terror through the darkness of the night, with the greater darkness of his own fears and discouragement accompanying him.  Finally he comes to the end of his own resources, sits down under a juniper tree, and prays that he might die.
 
    "Did God forsake Elijah in his hour of trial?  Oh, no!  He loved His servant no less when Elijah felt himself forsaken of God and man than when, in answer to his prayer, fire flashed from heaven and illuminated the mountaintop."--Prophet and Kings, p. 166.
 
    Instead of answering Elijah's prayer to take his life, a God of infinite love and pity, who knew his frame and sympathized with his humanity, sent a heavenly messenger with food and water to sustain his life.  A second time the angel came, saying, "Arise and eat; because the journey is too great for thee."
 
    When our faith fails, when discouragement comes to our lives, do we flee in terror, expecting an angry God to consume us for our lack of trust?  Are we any less inclined to misunderstand His love and compassion?  Do we constantly expect a God of fire and lightening to execute judgment, and fail to recognize the gentle touch, the still small voice, of our best Friend, who says, "I love you just as much when the journey becomes too great for you"?
 
    That's God speaking.  That's God.  The Old Testament God--the God of the New Testament, the God of today.

THE FRIEND OF GOD
 
        By faith Abraham, when he was called to go out into a place which he should after receive for an inheritance, obeyed; and he went out, not knowing whither he went.  Heb. 11:8.
 
    Many people question the God of the Old Testament versus the God of the New Testament.  One person says, "The God of the Old Testament was a God of judgment, a God who put to death men, women, and children."  This is what man has done to God in the Old Testament.  Let's look again at one Old Testament example of what God is like.
 
    You see a man who has left his country, his kindred, and his father's house.  He has gone out, not knowing where he was going, believing God's promise to make of him a great nation.  He is called the friend of God.
 
    Even after he reaches the Promised Land, the story has just begun.  A famine comes, and Abraham is forced temporarily to seek refuge in the land of Egypt.  There his faith fails.  He fears that God isn't big enough to protect Sarah, his wife, who is fair to look upon.  So he decides to help God out.  He tells a half-truth, which is really a falsehood, that Sarah is his sister.  When the king of Egypt hears of her great beauty, he has her brought to his palace, intending to have her for his wife.
 
    How did God handle this?  Did He rain fire down from heaven to destroy Abraham?  Did He withdraw His protection from him, from Sarah?  Did He say to Abraham, "Some friend you turned out to be--forget you"?
 
    "And the Lord plagued Pharaoh and his house with great plagues, because of Sarai Abram's wife" (Gen. 12:17).  "Pharaoh saw in this stranger a man whom the God of heaven honored, and he feared to have in his kingdom one who was so evidently under divine favor."--Patriarchs and Prophets, p. 131.
 
    A man who lied is under divine favor?  How can that be?  Abraham had sinned, he had failed, but he was still God's child, still His friend.  This did not mean that God approved of Abraham's deception. But it must mean that God approved of Abraham.
 
    Apparently Abraham's friendship with God was based on something other than the occasional good deed or misdeed.  What a picture of the God of the Old Testament--His mercy, His justice, and His love.
 

 MERCY STILL PLEADS
 
        And he answering said unto him, Lord, let it alone this year also, till I shall dig about it, and dung it: and if it bear fruit, well: and if not, then after that thou shalt cut it down.  Luke 13:8, 9.
 
    "Are you, O careless heart, a fruitless tree in the Lord's  vineyard?  Shall the words of doom erelong be spoken of you?  How long have you received His gifts?...How often has the tender gospel message thrilled your heart!  You have taken the name of Christ, you are outwardly a member of the church which is His body, and yet you are conscious of no living connection with the great heart of love."--Christ's Object Lessons, p. 216.  The issue is not how much foliage.  It is whether you are conscious of a living connection, a personal, vibrant, living connection with Jesus.
 
    Wouldn't you like to be in the group who bear fruit and are never cut down?  This is possible.  We can respond to God's mercy by accepting and receiving His gift of Christ each day.  There's no other way, because in order to realize the goodness and mercy of our patient God of justice, we need to study and contemplate Him continually.  We may hear about His love from the pulpit, but this happens only once a week, or perhaps even less often.  In order to repent daily, we need to contemplate and understand the goodness of God for our lives each day.
 
    Listen, friend, even if you've run away from God because you've misunderstood His character: if you're now tired of running, but afraid He won't accept you back, hear His friendly words of invitation, "Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest" (Matt. 11:28).  Find out what it means to fall low before the cross and to communicate with your Saviour, Lord, and Friend.  "In His great mercy God has not cut you down.  He does not look coldly upon you.  He does not turn away with indifference, or leave you to destruction.  Looking upon you He cries, as He cried so many centuries ago concerning Israel, 'How shall I give thee up?' "--Ibid., pp. 217, 218.
 
    As we recognize His acceptance of us just as we are, and as we daily behold His love and mercy, fruit springs forth spontaneously.  The secret lies in the living connection with the great heart of love.

STILL MORE TIME
 
        For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.  Rom. 8:38, 39.
 
    "A certain man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard; and he came and sought fruit thereon, and found none.  Then said he unto the dresser of his vineyard, Behold, these three years I come seeking fruit of this fig tree, and find none: cut it down; why cumbereth it the ground?" (Luke 13:6, 7).
 
    The owner of the vineyard says, "This tree is filling the place that a useful tree might occupy."  When a tree has lots of foliage but no fruit, the first tendency could be, "Let it alone--its not doing any damage."  But, according to this parable, it is doing damage, because it's robbing the world of the blessing of another tree that might bring forth fruit.  It misrepresents God in the world, and is not merely useless but a hindrance.
 
    In the climax to this story, when the drama seems particularly tense and you wonder whether the tree is going to be cut down or not, there is this argument from the dresser.  He does not argue that the master's statement isn't true.  It is true, and he admits it, but he says, "Let it alone this year.  Give it a little more time till I shall dig about it and dress it."
 
    God and Jesus are together here, the Father and the Son, in unity of purpose, and this is a dialogue between them.  "Shall we cut it down"  Shall we?"  And they say, "No, we will not cut it down.  Instead, we'll let it alone this year.  We'll try something else.  We'll give it more advantage."
 
    Listen, friend.  Do you feel that you've about gone the limit and that all you deserve is to be cut down?  Here you have the evidence of God's judgment concerning you in His day of mercy and grace.  "Let it alone.  Give that young person, give that older person who has bartered away God's grace for years--give him another year.  And then another one after that, and then another."
 
    Man cuts off quicker than God does.  What a God we serve!  He doesn't treat us as human beings treat one another, but continues to offer mercy and His love.

 TWO KINDS OF TREES
 
        And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season; his leaves also shall not wither; and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper.  Ps. 1:3.
 
    In the Bible, Israel and God's people have often been likened to trees.  Isaiah 61:3: "They might be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, that he might be glorified."  Beautiful trees, to bring forth fruit and foliage, shelter and hope.
 
    The people of Christ's day made a great show of piety.  They had a lot of leaves, much foliage.  You remember the story of the fig tree, cursed because of all the foliage but no fruit.  In Jesus' day the Jews made a great show of piety, more than did those of earlier ages.  But they were "more destitute of the sweet graces of the Spirit" (Christ's Object Lessons, p. 215).
 
    Sometimes we confuse what the fruit is all about on these trees.  The statistician says that the fruit is x number of souls saved, that the fruit of the Christian is how many people he can count on his list that he has converted, or how many stars he will have on his crown.  That's not the fruit.  The fruit that Jesus is really talking about here is the fruit of the Spirit.
 
    The sweet graces of the Spirit--what are they?  We are told in Galatians 5:22 and 23.  "Love, joy."  You see a person who goes around gloomy--that means that he probably doesn't have a fruit of the Spirit.  One of them is missing.  "Peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance."  The people of Christ's day had many leaves, but few of the sweet graces.
 
    As we approach the very end of time, we discover that God's patience goes on and on and on until the time of Revelation 11:18.  There we find what it is that finally ends things in this world, that finally results in the unfruitful trees' being cut down.  Evidently God's patience is going to continue until man has come to the place of destroying himself.  It will go to that point.  You know, if your eyes are open, that we have almost reached that place.  Therefore the rest of it must be fulfilled very soon.
 
    In the meantime, Jesus "is not come to destroy men's lives" (Luke 9:56).  And when the disciples said, "Let's call down fire," Jesus said, "You don't know your spirit.  I came not to destroy, but to save."

 MERCY AND JUSTICE FOR ALL
 
        The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.  2 Peter 3:9. 
 
    "He spake also this parable; A certain man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard; and he came and sought fruit thereon, and found none.  Then said he unto the dresser of his vineyard, Behold, these three years I come seeking fruit on this fig tree, and find none: cut it down; why cumbereth it the ground?  And he answering said unto him, Lord, let it alone this year also, till I shall dig about it, and dung it [fertilize it, as we would say today]: and if it bear fruit, well: and if not, then after that thou shalt cut it down" (Luke 13:6-9).  Let it alone this year also.  Don't cut it down yet.
 
    And did He cut it down after one more year?  What does the "Let it alone this year also" really mean?  It suggests today that the mercy and patience of God is almost limitless.  "Almost" because we know that there comes a time when mercy no longer pleads and justice must be dealt.  But Jesus in His life here on earth gave considerable evidence that God is exceedingly merciful.
 
    The combination of the proper blend of mercy and judgment is one of the things that Christians have struggled with for a long time.  We try to figure through all the whys and wherefores of all the possible differences between the God of the Old Testament and the God of the New Testament.  This at times brings question upon the Old Testament and its validity.  However, there are equal evidences of judgment in the New Testament.  It's rather hard to surpass the story of Ananias and Sapphira for judgment.  There are points that we cannot understand fully in both Old and New Testaments.
 
    But it is for sure that a father of love will not let his boy hurt his girl without doing something to stop his boy.  He doesn't love his girl or his boy if he doesn't do something in that kind of situation.  We've heard a lot of angles in regard to God's justice and judgment, but there is one great beautiful truth that lasts to your day and to this moment.  God's patience continues.  Spare them this year also.  Don't cut them down yet.  Give them a little more time.  Somehow the mercy and the patience of God blends with His justice and judgment, and we have redemption.

 THE PATIENCE OF GOD
 
        Then said Jesus, Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do.  Luke 23:34.
 
    One day, centuries ago, Jesus was in close conversation with the Father.  The angels looked on.  The air was heavy with suspense.  Everyone was wondering how God's original plan had gone wrong after sin entered, and they were wondering what God would do to complete the plan.
 
    After a long time, Jesus came from that close communion with His Father, and it was revealed that He had offered Himself to die in man's place.  God gave all heaven, His own Son.  He couldn't have given anything more.
 
    Here you see God and Jesus together, one in purpose.  They're together in this great plan of redemption.  God's character is best revealed by Jesus and how Jesus related to sinners when He was on this earth.
 
    He gave the Jews mercy time and time again.  They had turned God down earlier, killing the prophets and stoning those who had been sent to help them.  Finally, God sent His Son Jesus in person, as the greatest manifestation of Himself.  "Give them another opportunity."  What a demonstration of His mercy!
 
    If we had been on the cross, with evil men mocking us, we would have said, "Bring on the twelve legions of angels.  Bring them on.  We'll deal with these people."  But instead, Jesus uttered the pardoning words, "Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do."
 
    Even after the cross, God's patience wasn't over.  After the nation was rejected, He continued to plead with individuals.
 
    The Shekinah glory was removed from the Temple, but God sent the disciples first of all to Jerusalem, to the place where Jesus had issued the words of doom, "Your house is left unto you desolate."  During all the missionary journeys of the apostles, the Jewish people were included year after year.
 
    As Stephen was stoned to death by an angry mob, the Holy Spirit came upon him, and he prayed, "Forgive them.  Don't give up on them yet."
 
    Don't let this story rest simply with the people in Christ's day.  Apply it to your life, to your family, to those you've been praying for.  His call of mercy and love continues today--to every person, to every heart.

WHEN GOD SPARED NOT
 
        He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things?  Rom. 8:32.
 
    God could not spare the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah when their rebellion reached a certain point.  Another time that God "spared not" is found in Romans 11:21.  Paul was writing to the Christians in Rome, imploring them to change their ways.  He reminded them that even though they were wild branches that had been grafted into the olive tree, God had broken off the natural branches because there came a point where He could no longer spare the entire Jewish nation.
 
    A third instance when God "spared not" because of His justice is described on 2 Peter 2:5: God "spared not the old world, but saved [only] Noah the eighth person, a preacher of righteousness, bringing in the flood upon the world."
 
    The fourth time that God "spared not" involves the very universe--2 Peter 4:4: "God spared not the angels that sinned."  Sin went on in the very presence of God--rebellion broke out in His courts, led be a mighty angel.  Although God was extremely patient, He eventually had to call a halt to the rebellion.  You know the results of that war in heaven.  Those angels who were cast out are still present in our world today.
 
    Well, the justice of God looks rather grim, doesn't it?  He didn't spare a city, a nation, a world, or even a universe because of sin!  How can this same God ever find enough mercy to pardon one individual sinner?
 
    There is hope for each of us because God "spared not" one more time.  Romans 8:32 tells us that He "spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all."
 
    If you will study the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross you will discover that this is the greatest time when God "spared not."  Here is demonstrated the realization that God gave Himself.  None of this idea of God pleading for His Son to go, or Jesus pleading with His irate Father to spare these people!  Away with such concepts!
 
    Instead, you can see the Father and the Son involved together in this great sacrifice.  Jesus was the greatest gift that God could have given us.  He spared not His own Son so that His justice could remain true and His love could equal it. 

 THE JUSTICE OF GOD
 
        Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?  Gen. 18:25.
 
    There had been popular uprisings against Pilate, governor of Judea, and to restore order to the province, he had allowed his soldiers to invade the Temple and kill Galilean pilgrims who were offering sacrifices to God.
 
    The Jews told Jesus about this calamity, not from a sense of pity and sympathy, but with a deep-down sense of satisfaction that "this hasn't happened to me--therefore I must be better and more favored than those people to whom it happened."  Jesus knew that, and said, "I suppose you think this happened because they were great sinners above the rest of you."  He continues: "Not so.  Unless you repent, you are all going to perish."
 
    Jesus does not ignore the justice of God.  In fact, it is an important thing to recognize the justice and judgment of God.
 
    We know that a time will come when mercy will no longer plead and justice will be dealt.  The Bible describes times in the past when God "spared not," because His justice could no longer permit conditions to continue as they were.  One of the times when God "spared not" is recorded in Genesis 18.  Abraham, "the friend of God," was bargaining with Him about Sodom's fate.  He must have had a deep relationship with a friendly God to bargain in this way.
 
    He questioned, "Are You going to destroy the righteous along with the wicked?  Suppose there are fifty righteous people within the city.  Will You spare it for the righteous that are within?  He appealed to God's fairness.
 
    God was patient with this man who was trying to tell his Creator the proper thing to do, for He answered, "If I find in Sodom fifty righteous within the city, then I will spare all the place for their sakes."
 
    Then Abraham became nervous.  What if there weren't fifty?  So he continued to bargain for a lower number--forty-five, thirty, twenty, and finally ten.  And the Lord replied, "I will not destroy it for ten's sake."  You know the rest of the story.  God saw a point past which iniquity and rebellion could no longer be allowed to continue, because He is a God of justice.  There weren't even ten righteous people, and Sodom was destroyed.  But the pitiful handful of righteous were spared.

GOD'S LOVE FOR SINNERS
 
        For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.  John 3:16.
 
    The apostle Paul tells us that God's character has been misunderstood and misinterpreted since the beginning of the world.  People knew something about Him once, but they didn't glorify Him as God.  As a result they "became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened.  Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools, and changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man, and to birds, and fourfooted beasts, and creeping things (Rom. 1:21-23).
 
    It is possible for us, in our minds, to change God into something other than He really is, even if we don't bow down to idols of wood and stone.  If we don't have the proper understanding of His character, then we're worshiping a false God!  We understand that the last rays of merciful light, the last message of mercy to be given to the world, is a revelation of His character of love.  Unless we know what God is really like, we won't be able to reveal Him to the rest of the world!  Jesus came to demonstrate to the world what the Father is really like.
 
    One day Jesus and His disciples passed by a blind man (John 9:1).  The disciples asked, "Master, who sinned? this man, or his parents, that he was born blind?"
 
    The question was based on the common concept of God and evil.  The people of Christ's day believed that disease and death were God's arbitrary punishment for wrongdoing, either by the sufferer himself of by his parents.  Because of this, the suffering person had the additional burden of being considered a great sinner.
 
    Jesus corrected their error by explaining that sickness and pain are caused by Satan.  But one of the devil's clever traps is to project his own attributes onto God, and as a result millions of people through the centuries have blamed God for suffering, sickness, and death.
 
    John 3:16 and 17 tells us that God loved the world enough to send His Son to redeem us.  He "sent not His Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved."  That's the gospel!  That's redemption!