5 G’s
Hook – I stand amazed in the presence of Jesus the Nazarene and wonder how He could love me a sinner condemned unclean. How marvelous! How wonderful! And my song shall ever be: How marvelous! How wonderful! Is my savior’s love for me!
So goes the first verse of the old familiar hymn “My Savior’s Love”
Title – “5 G’s”
Text Connection
• Now, the title “5 G’s” has nothing to do with money
• It doesn’t mean five grand or five thousand dollars
• It’s not talking about the force of gravity experienced in a jet fighter plane
• And it’s also not referring to the latest networking speed
• But rather, I feel like the writer of the hymn “My Saviors Love”
• In that I stand amazed in the presence of my God and my Savior Jesus Christ this morning
• There are many attributes of God that I find amazing
ETS – This morning we will be reading from various passages that speak of some of our God’s amazing attributes.
ESS – We will discover five attributes of God that I stand amazed at this morning which all begin with the letter “G”.
OSS - And my prayer for us today is that not only be grateful for the many blessings that we have, but that we would also stand amazed and grateful for the great God who provides all of those blessings.
I Stand Amazed at:
I. The Greatness of God (Ps. 145: 1-3)
A. The word for Great in this verse means powerful, important, or great in size.
B. The Psalmist says that God is so incredibly huge and powerful that we don’t even have the capacity with our little finite brains to take Him all in.
C. I believe the slang word for large now is ginormous – friends God is ginormous
D. And I’m not sure why, I guess it’s because of our sin nature, but we tend to make God seem small
E. As Christians, we often times live our lives in a way that says we’re greater or know better than God.
F. Now we would never openly acknowledge this and maybe we do this subconsciously but
1. We like to set the terms on how much control our reign God has over our lives.
G. Have you ever known anyone who collects little boxes or have had little decorative boxes in your home? My wife has some of these small decorative boxes in our home
1. I mean these cute little wooden boxes that are covered with carvings, little jewels, or cloth
2. And if you open these little boxes what do you find in them many times?
a) Rubber bands, paperclips, hair pins, spare change, an old breath mint – our minds are like that
b) We don’t have paperclips or old breath mints in our heads but
3. When it comes to our spiritual lives, most of us have a little mental box that we keep God in
4. You see we like the idea of God being powerful and great when we need His help
5. But many times when He begins to convict us about issues in our lives that we don’t want to deal with we put Him in the box – or stop listening to Him
6. If He begins to ask for more control or tries to get us out of our comfort zones – back in box
7. You see, if there’s something we don’t agree with or like about the Bible, we just put it in our little box also
8. Things like not coveting, loving those who wrong us, or being 100% honest 100% of the time. – They go in our little box also
9. When we sin we are essentially telling God at that moment, “I don’t need you right now, go back in your box.”
10. You see, God wants all of us: our thoughts, actions and affections.
11. Now friends, isn’t it silly to try and limit God or put Him in our little box?
H. We might as well stop trying to put Him in a box
I. Or shut Him out of certain areas of our lives because we’re only hurting ourselves
J. God sees and knows all and He even knows us better than we know ourselves – We can trust Him!
K. Here’s a few illustrations from creation to give us a glimpse of the greatness of God
1. To illustrate the vastness of the universe
a) Let’s imagine that the thickness of a piece of paper represents 93 million miles (the distance to our sun)
b) To represent the distance to the nearest star we would need a stack of paper 71 feet high.
c) To cover the Milky Way galaxy we would need a stack of paper 310 miles high
d) To reach the edge of the known universe a stack of paper 31 million miles high (and that’s the known universe)
2. Hollow Sun Illust.
a) If the sun were hollow – one million, three hundred thousand earth’s could fit in it
b) A star named Antares, if hollow, could hold 64 million of our suns
c) In the constellation Hercules, there is a star that could hold 100 million like Antares
d) The largest known star, Epsilon, could easily swallow up several million stars the size of Hercules.
3. Atoms are so small that it would take the population of the world 180 million years to count the number of atoms, in one cup of water, counting one per second. If you were in a hurry you could do it in 90 million years counting two per second.
L. I don’t know about you friends, but I stand amazed at the greatness of God!
II. The Glory of God (Ps. 19:1-3)
A. The word glory here is referring to God’s impressiveness, His beauty, splendor, and majesty.
B. And it carries with it the idea of something that is to be reverenced or worshipped
C. Friends, God is so glorious that if He were to reveal His full glory to us this morning we would all fall down dead.
D. Remember what God told Moses when Moses asked to see God’s glory
E. God said that no man could behold His full Glory and live
F. So God hid Moses in the cleft of the rock with His mighty hand
G. God passed by and removed His hand and Moses caught a glimpse of God’s glory.
H. The small glimpse that Moses caught of God’s glory caused his face to shine to the point he had to wear a veil because it frightened the people.
I. But now God does reveal some of his glory here on this earth
1. For example: we went to the Peaks of Otter last fall.
a) What do you think of when you’re at the top looking out at the beauty scenery?
(1) Wow! It’s amazing what an explosion in outer space millions of years ago can create.
(2) No! You think of the glory of God – His handiwork
b) Or when you look at the face of a little child or hold a baby what do you think of?
(1) Just to think, a million years ago this would have been a little monkey – Ha Ha
(2) No friend! You think, “God created this”
c) Or when my wife sees me at home in a muscle shirt
(1) She thinks, “That’s the glory of God”
(2) She probably thinks I’m still in the ape stage – Ha Ha
J. Friends, God is so glorious the Bible says there are angels
K. Who are dedicated solely to circling the throne of God crying,
L. “Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord of hosts: the whole earth is full of His glory.”
M. And when I say angels friends, I don’t mean babies with wings
N. I mean angels that are so powerful that one angel killed 185,000 soldiers in one night
1. Angels so awesome that when the Apostle John was caught up into the third heaven to receive the vision of the end times in the book of Revelation
2. He said that he saw the angel of God and fell at his feet as a dead man
3. And almost worshipped him, but the angel stopped him and said, “Don’t worship me worship God.”
4. I’m talking about angels so incredible that any time they revealed themselves to mankind they always had to say, “Fear not”
5. Because people thought they would die just from looking at them.
6. As incredible as these creatures are friend, they are nothing compared to the glory of God.
7. They must bow before the throne of the One who is worthy
8. The book of Revelation also paints for us a glorious scene of what it will be like in heaven as God’s glory is put on full display. Rev. 7 says:
a) 9After this I beheld, and, lo, a great multitude, which no man could number, of all nations, and kindred’s, and people, and tongues, stood before the throne, and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, and palms in their hands;
b) 10And cried with a loud voice, saying, Salvation to our God which sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb.
c) 11And all the angels stood round about the throne, and about the elders and the four beasts, and fell before the throne on their faces, and worshipped God,
d) 12Saying, Amen: Blessing, and glory, and wisdom, and thanksgiving, and honor, and power, and might, be unto our God forever and ever. Amen.
9. Friends, I stand amazed at the glorious and majestic God we serve!
III. The Grace of God (2 Cor. 9:8)
A. Have you ever experienced God’s grace in your life?
B. By the way - grace is only available for those who have a relationship with Jesus Christ
C. It’s one of the many benefits of knowing the Lord and being in His family (We are saved by grace)
D. We really don’t see this word “grace” in this form until the New Testament – OT it meant mercy
1. In NT it literally means God’s divine influence on the heart and it’s reflection in one’s life
2. It is not earned or deserved by the recipient but it is a gift to be received
3. Grace is when God helps your heart or works in your heart to help you do what’s right
E. And by the way friend – We cannot manufacture grace
1. Grace is not pulling yourself up by your boot straps
2. Grace is not somehow mustering up the courage or the strength on your own
3. Grace is not merely “putting up with someone” who annoys you
4. Grace is something that God gives you when you need it.
5. And the book of James say’s that he only gives it to the humble
6. The Bible says, “God resists the proud in heart but gives grace to the humble.”
F. Friends, life can be tough sometimes – can’t it?
1. Have you ever struggled with life’s trials and felt weak like you couldn’t go on?
2. Have you ever wanted to give up the fight?
3. But somehow you mustered up enough strength to pray to God
4. And He supernatural “helped your heart” or gave you the strength to go on
G. That strength or encouragement that He gave you was grace
1. As a matter of fact, the idea and determination to even pray was grace given by God. –
2. Friend, we also need grace to even desire to live a clean, holy life or to please Him.
H. I said earlier that you really don’t find this definition for grace until the New Testament
I. The Old Testament doesn’t really name this type of grace but it does model it
J. Isaiah 40: 28-31 has an awesome definition or explanation of what grace is:
1. V.28 Hast thou not known? hast thou not heard, that the everlasting God, the LORD, the Creator of the ends of the earth, fainteth not, neither is weary? There is no searching of his understanding.
2. V.29 He giveth power to the faint; and to them that have no might he increaseth strength.
3. V.30 Even the youths shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall:
4. V.31 But they that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.
K. Friend, God is the One who can give you power when you’re faint
1. God is the one who can give you strength when you are weak
2. God can give you the grace to wait on Him when you want to rush in
L. You know I’ve found that God’s is available to us - it pursues us
M. Are we surrendering to God’s grace or going our own way? Are we resisting God’s provision?
1. Illust. - A little boy had an accident and was taken to a hospital. After he was made comfortable, a nurse brought him a large glass of milk. He looked longingly at it, but he did not pick it up. He had come from a poor home where his hunger was seldom satisfied. If he ever received a glass of milk, it was only partly filled, and even that had to be shared with another child. Finally he looked up at the nurse and asked, “How much may I drink?” The nurse replied, “Drink it all! There’s more where that came from.”
N. Friends, God is saying about his grace, “Drink up my child, there’s more where that came from.”
O. Are we taking advantage of God’s amazing grace?
P. Friend, I stand amazed at the grace of God.
IV. The Goodness of God (Ps. 103: 1-5)
A. God is good to us isn’t he friends?
B. Ps. 107:8-9 says,
1. “Oh, that men would praise the Lord for His goodness, and for His wonderful works to the children of men.
2. For He satisfieth the longing soul, and filleth the hungry soul with goodness.”
C. Illust. - Mexico trip, van breaking down, and lady getting saved.
V. The Gift of God (Eph. 2:8-9)
A. What does being saved or born again mean?
B. What is the gift of God once you boil it down to its basic component?
C. Read Eph. 1:3-6
1. The gift of God friend, is being accepted by Him
2. Its benefits are forgiveness of sin, eternal life, and a place in God’s family.
D. Christian, isn’t it wonderful to know that you are accepted by God and your sins are forgiven
E. You know, humans by nature are acceptance magnets
1. That’s why we do much of what we do
a) Dress, comb our hair, the cars we drive, music we listen to, etc.
2. We want to be accepted by those around us
F. And Christian, the reason God can accept us is because He accepts Jesus sacrifice on your behalf
G. Therefore if we accept Jesus then God accepts us.
H. If you’re here this morning and you’ve never accepted Jesus Christ as your Savior
1. Or know for sure that you are accepted by God – you can know before you leave today
I. You say, “How can I know?”
1. To make it easy to remember I like the ABC’s of salvation
a) A – Admit that you’re a sinner and cannot work your way to heaven
(1) Rmns. 3:23 “For all have sinned and come short of the….”
b) B – Believe that Jesus died and rose again to pay for your sins
(1) “For Christ has once suffered for sin, the just for the unjust that He might bring us to God…” (1 Pet. 3:18)
c) C – Call upon Him, confessing him as Lord of your life – accepting His free gift
(1) Rmns 10:13 “For whosoever shall call upon the Lord shall be saved”
2. Friend, if you’ve never done that you can do it today!
J. Closing
Illustration: Bridge operator
The story is told of a man who operated a drawbridge. At a certain time each afternoon, he had to raise the bridge for a ferry boat and then lower it quickly for a passenger train that crossed at high speed a few minutes later. One day the man’s young son was visiting his father at work and decided to go down below to get a better look at the ferry as it passed. Fascinated by the sight, he did not watch carefully where he was going and fell into the giant gears. One foot became caught and the boy was helpless to free himself. The father saw what happened, but knew that if he took time to extricate his son, the train would plunge into the river before the bridge could be lowered. But if he lowered the bridge to save the hundreds of passengers and crew members on the train, his son would be crushed to death. When he heard the train’s whistle indicating it would soon reach the river, he knew what he had to do. His son was very dear to him, whereas all the people on the train were strangers. The sacrifice of his son for the sake of the other people was an act of pure grace and mercy. That story portrays something of the infinitely greater sacrifice God the Father made when He sent His only beloved Son to earth to die for the sins of mankind – to whom He owed nothing but condemnation.
**Friend God made that sacrifice for you – so that you can be saved and be accepted by Him
**Christian – He died to give you life
1. Are you living for Him
2. Are you worshipping Him
3. Are you giving Him your all.
