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God And Individual
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Hi, I'm Dave DeWitt, and today I want to talk about God and the individual.
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I can find nothing in the Bible that says God is interested in populating heaven, bringing
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social justice to the world, influencing politics, filling large assemblies, or finding leaders
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who can accomplish such things.
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Here's what I have found.
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Genesis 5, 24, Enoch walked with God.
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He was not, for God took him.
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Among the genealogies of the antediluvian world, one man is noted as having walked with
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God.
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In Genesis 6, 5, and 8, the Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great on the earth
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and that every intent of the thought of his heart was only evil continually.
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But Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord.
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Then in 7, 1 it says, Then the Lord said to Noah, Enter the ark, you and all your household,
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for you alone I have seen to be righteous before me in this time.
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When every intent of the thoughts of the men of the hearts were only evil continually,
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God noted the one man who was righteous.
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Genesis 18, 26 to 32.
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So the Lord said, If I find in Sodom fifty righteous within the city, then I'll spare
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the whole place on their account.
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Then after further discussion with Abraham, trying to deal him down to forty, he said,
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I'll not destroy the city if I find forty.
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Then he's agreed to not destroy the city if he found thirty, and then twenty, and then
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ten.
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And then he rescued Righteous Lot, who Peter said was oppressed by the sensual conduct
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of unprincipled men, and then God destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah.
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So Abraham began with the proposal for God.
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If there were fifty righteous men in Sodom, he'd spare the city.
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Then when he renegotiated it down to ten, God agreed.
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But only Lot was who Peter had called a righteous man.
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So the angels pulled him out and destroyed Sodom.
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In Job 1, 8, the Lord said to Satan, Have you considered my servant Job?
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For there is no one like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, fearing God and
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turning away from evil.
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When God talked to Satan about what was going on upon the earth, he didn't talk about the
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morality of mankind or how many people were seeking to follow God or Satan.
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He talked about one man who was blameless and upright, fearing God and turning away
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from evil.
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In 1 Kings 8, 32, when Solomon consecrated the temple, he prayed, Render to each according
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to all his ways, to whose heart you know, for you alone know the hearts of all the sons
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of men.
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Solomon understood that God was not interested in the masses going to the temple he had just
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completed, but the hearts of the people, and that was known by God alone.
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Second Chronicles 16, 9, the eyes of the Lord moves to and fro throughout the earth that
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he might strongly support those whose heart is completely his.
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It seems that God is not focused on global economy, global politics, but he's constantly
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searching the earth to find the individual whose heart is completely his.
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Jeremiah 5, 1, Rome to and fro throughout the streets of Jerusalem, and look now and take
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note and seek in her open squares.
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If you can find a man, if there is one who does justice, who seeks truth, I'll pardon
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her.
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Before destroying Jerusalem, God told the people to search the city.
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See if you can find a man, if there's one, just one man, any man who does justice, exercises
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judgment according to the character of God, who seeks truth the way things actually are.
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Second Kings 19, 34 and 5, this is Isaiah told Hezekiah that God said about the Assyrian
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campaign against Jerusalem, so this is what Isaiah told Hezekiah from God.
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God says, for I'll defend the city to save it for my own sake and for the sake of my
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servant David.
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Then it happened that night that the angel of the Lord went out and struck 185,000 in
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the camp of the Assyrians, and when men rose early in the morning, behold, all of them
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were dead.
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God has some interesting math.
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One man, David, who had been dead for over 400 years, was worth more than 185,000 Assyrians.
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Isaiah 66, 1 and 2, thus says the Lord, heaven is my throne and the earth is my footstool.
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Where then is a house you can build for me, and where is a place that I may rest?
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For my hand made all these things, thus all these things came into being, declares the
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Lord.
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But to this one I'll look, to him who is humble and contrite of spirit and trembles at my
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word.
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What gets the attention of the Almighty Creator of the universe?
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One man or woman who is humble and contrite of spirit and who trembles at my word.
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Esther 4.14, Mordecai told Esther, and who knows whether you have not attained royalty
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for such a time as this?
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Mordecai was making the point that Esther had been specifically, personally chosen by
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God for this occasion.
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Luke 1, 28 to 30, and coming in he, referring to the angel Gabriel, said to her, referring
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to the Virgin Mary, greetings favored one, the Lord is with you, you have found favor
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or grace with God.
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Mary was singled out as one among the women of Judah who found favor with God.
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Matthew 7, 13 and 14, and then again in 22 and 23, Jesus says, enter through the narrow
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gate.
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Many will say to me on that day, Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and in your
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name cast out demons, and in your name perform many miracles?
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And I will declare to them, I never knew you, depart from me, you who practice lawlessness.
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The general public, the masses, even the masses of those who think they are believers and
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do miraculous works, will not find a small and narrow way that leads to eternal life.
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That's only for the one who does not practice lawlessness.
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Of course, that provides the cross being the only way, but most never find it.
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Matthew 16, 18, I also say to you that you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build
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my church, and the gates of Hades will not overpower it.
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This rock the church was built on may refer to Peter's statement about Jesus being the
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Christ, but it's also true that Peter was chosen to be the first apostle to lead the
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church.
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John 1, 47, Jesus saw Nathan coming and said to him, Behold, an Israelite indeed, in whom
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there is no deceit.
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Nathan was the fifth disciple chosen by Jesus, who already knew him as an honest man.
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Acts 13, 36, this is while speaking in the synagogue in Pisidian Antioch, Paul included
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the comment, quote, For David, after he had served the purpose of God in his own generation,
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fell asleep and was laid among his fathers and underwent decay.
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Paul mentioned David specifically and individually because he served the purpose of God in his
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own generation.
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Second Timothy 2, 2, The things which you've heard from me in the presence of many witnesses
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entrust these to faithful men who will be able to teach others also.
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Timothy's assignment was not to pastor an assembly, fix the world, influence politics.
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His assignment was to find and build into faithful men who will be able to teach others
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also.
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Conclusion.
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God through his omniscience searches the world to find believers who are humble, contrite
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of spirit, and tremble at his word.
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We're saved by faith in the finished work of Christ on the cross, but God did not save
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us to populate heaven or fix the earth or fill our assemblies with people.
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He saved us so he could, quote, strongly support those whose heart was completely his.
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Well thanks for listening.
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If you want my paper on God and the individual, it's available on our website relationalconcepts.org.
