An American tourist was traveling in Europe.
When he went to the desk to pay his hotel bill, the cashier asked if he wished to wait for a receipt.
" No, thank you, " he said, " if God wills, I will be back here next week
and you can give it to me then."
" Do you still believe in God?" asked the cashier.
" Why, of course," said the tourist, " don't you?"
" Oh, no," he answered, " over here we gave that up a long time ago."
" In that case," replied the traveler, " I believe I will wait for my receipt."
It makes a big difference with you whether you believe in God and, more particularly what kind of god
you believe in.
What you believe about God is the pivotal fact of your experience, for it determines
what you believe about life and duty and destiny.
For many years God tried to teach His people how to spell His name.
He gave one syllable to Moses, and another to Isaiah, and another to Jeremiah.
Finally, He spoke again, and when the Word was made flesh the full name of God was spoken.
The letter to the Hebrews puts it this way: the Son is " the express image of his person."
In other words, Jesus is the epitome of God.
Jesus gathers up within Himself all that the seers and prophets of old had been trying to say about God.
He sums up the whole truth when he says in our text: " He that hath seen me have seen the Father."
So, when we look at God through Christ, we are seeing God as He is.
So, I believe that there are some important things that we can say that we know about God
First, we can say that God is a Father whose love never lets us down.
Christ is the authorized spokesman of God.
What He said was the truth about God, and what He did was the life of God.
In His life while here on the earth, Jesus never let anyone down.
Jesus went about lifting people up.
He taught people to believe in God as the dependable One that they could always count on.
Of course, there are times when it seems that God lets us down.
A student may pray for a passing grade on an examination test, and does not pass the test.
Some may pray for a job, and it goes to someone else.
Some may ask to be delivered from some crippling handicap, but remained handicap.
Some may seek a detour around the road with a cross at the end of it, but find
all other roads are closed.
Sometimes, it does seem as if God lets us down.
The reason for our thinking in this way is our self centeredness.
We put ourselves at the center of the universe and expect God to make it His chief business
to look after us.
We consider Him as our private property and our personal servant who has nothing else to do
but to watch out for our interest and save us from trouble.
And so, whenever we mash our finger, or have a flat tire, we cry out that God has let us down.
That is to misunderstand God.
We are not the center of the universe.
God is the center.
His eternal purpose, not our personal pleasure, is the main thing.
But though God never promised to save us from our troubles, He does promise to save us
when we are in trouble.
We can count on that promise for God will not let us down.
He "preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies."
God has the resources to help us when we are in trouble, and He will never let us down.
A man received a letter from his son in the army.
His son was on a foreign battlefield, and he was writing to encourage his father.
He knew his father was suffering what seemed to be more than his share of trouble,
and he also knew that there would probably be more to come.
But he said just the right thing in his letter.
What the soldier said is what we're trying to say: " Dad, I know you've had to take a lot lately.
But remember, God never overloads anybody.
He gives us power to pull whenever He puts on you."
This is different from what we put on ourselves.
And we must remember that God never overloads us.
He will always give us strength equal to the struggle.
He will never let us down.
Then, we must say a second thing.
God's love never lets us down, but it also never lets us off.
The love of God is not soft like a jellyfish.
It has backbone.
It is built on certain standards, and when those standards are not met, the penalty falls
heavy and sure.
The God who never lets us down is also the God of moral holiness.
Our forefathers had much to say about the wrath of God, and and a God who demands
that sin be punished.
Jonathan Edwards pictured so vividly the dangers of a sinner in the hands of an angry God
that women fainted and strong men clung to the pews in agony.
We have given up that imagery, and in doing so, we are in danger of losing sight of a truth
which we can lose sight of only with great peril.
God does require that sin be punished.
So it is impossible for us to do wrong and get by without having to pay for it.
Galatians 6:7 says: "Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth,
that shall he also reap."
Too often, we have watered down our belief, and made God a sort of soft, sentimental grandfather
who winks at sin, and says it doesn't matter.
But any one who looks at God through the eyes of Jesus knows that along with the
tenderness of God, there is also the terror of God.
God does not find any pleasure in punishing sin.
But God is totally holy -- completely righteous, and with God right is right and wrong is wrong,
and wrong must be punished.
God has not and will not repeal that law.
Jesus called God, " Father," but He never called Him an over-indulgent grandfather.
He called Him a righteous Father whose love is built on certain standards and that He expects
those standards to be met.
Remember Galatians 6: 7.
It is clear what that verse means.
It means that hang-overs always come the morning after.
It means that the man who sows his wild oats will have to reap what he sows.
It means that punishment is connected to sin like a burned spot is to the blaze.
It means that if a man eats salty country ham that he is going to be thirsty.
It means that while God is always compassionate toward the sinner,
He is never complacent about the sin.
It means that while God is a Father whose love never lets us down is also a Father
whose love cannot let us off.
We must mention a third truth.
God never lets us down.
This is a word of strength for the person who is in deep water.
He never lets us down.
It is also a word of warning for them and who would play fast and loose with sin, deluding himself
with some false notion that he can get away with his sin.
Furthermore, God is a Father whose love never lets us go.
That is a word of hope for the person who thinks he is past all hope.
This is the greatest word that can be spoken about love.
It is a love that keeps on loving in spite of everything.
It doesn't take account of wrongs done against it.
No matter how often its offers are spurned, and no matter how often its favors are refused;
and no matter how deeply it is wounded or haw far away the loved one wanders
-- His wonderful love never gives up, and never lets go.
When you look at God through Jesus, that is the one thing that you see standing out above all others.
Do you remember when our Lord was criticized by self-righteous Pharisees for associating
with people like the publicans and sinners who were considered outcasts.
Jesus answered them by telling three little stories.
A woman lost a piece of money.
A poor woman who couldn't afford to lose even a penny.
She went all through the house, moving chairs and tables, taking out the rug,
and sweeping out every dark corner, looking for the coin.
God is like that woman.
A shepherd had a hundred sheep, and when one strayed and was lost, the shepherd left
the flock and went out on the mountains wild and high seeking the lost sheep,
and looking until he found it.
God is like that shepherd.
A father had a son.
The son showed himself to be ungrateful for his father's favor, turned his back on his father,
and went out to a far country and through his life away.
But the father always kept a candle burning in the window, and and always kept watching
for his son's return.
One day he sees a spec coming over the hill.
Gradually, it gets larger.
It comes nearer.
He cries out: " It walks like my son! It is my son!"
He hurries down the stairs, through the open door, out through the gate,
and " when he was yet a great way off, his father… ran, and fell on his neck,
and kissed him."
God, says Jesus, is like that father.
The sure test of love is always the length to which it is willing to go.
He never lets us down, and He never lets us off.
But, bless His holy name, He never, never, never lets us go.
That is the real gospel!
He is seeking now, and he is seeking you.
What will you do with Him?
