Knowing God Series #20
“Our Great, Pure and Good God
Much is said about worshipping God and yet we really no little about the God we claim to worship.
Some focus on a God that has little to do with His creatures.
Others think God is a mean policeman.
Still others think there is more than one God.
Some have a view of God that is not balanced.
They irreverently see Him as the good buddy or the man upstairs.
Some emphasize one attribute over another.
We must continually adjust our view of God as revealed by Him.
We can learn about Him by observing what He has and still does in creation.
We learn most what He has revealed about Himself in the scriptures.
He is a self-revealing God.
He has not left us up to our own imaginations of feelings.
There is a reliable record of His communication to and dealings with His creatures.
For the past five months I have tried to expand our view of God; not just for the information but so that we can better understand Him, serve and worship Him.
The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom, and the knowledge of the Holy One is understanding. Proverbs 9:10
The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge; Fools despise wisdom and instruction. Proverbs 1:7
Knowing about God is intricately connected to fearing Him and worshiping Him.
Today I want to wrap up our series on Knowing God Better by reviewing and responding to some of what we have learned about God.
This service will be different than most.
I encourage participation all through with singing, prayer, declaration and affirmation.
I. The nature of God
A. God is Spirit
B. God is personal
C. God is a Triunity (three in one)
D. God is infinite
The names God has revealed indicate something of His nature.
Yahweh (Jehovah) normally translated LORD highlights His eternity and continual availability.
Elohim normally translated God highlights His greatness and power.
Adonai normally translated “Lord” or Master highlights His sovereignty or authority.
Father shows up in the New Testament with an emphasis on intimate and loving connection.
Other names are actually not technical names but adjectives linked to a name for God revealed in the context of His interactions with His creatures.
“The God who sees.”
II. The Attributes of God
As I have tried to emphasize all thought this series, God’s revealed attributes of
God could all be logically deduced from just three basic attributes.
His infinite greatness in His abilities and capacities
His infinite purity in His morality and judgments
His infinite goodness in all His relationships
God is GREAT. God is PURE God is Good.
A. God is infinitely GREAT in His ability / capacity
We begin with praise to our GREAT GOD.
Many Songs use the term “Hallelujah”. It combines two Hebrew words “Hallelu” (praise) and “Yah” which is short for (Yahweh) the great “I AM”.
Great is the LORD, and highly to be praised; and His greatness is unsearchable.
Great is our Lord, and abundant in power; his understanding is beyond measure. Psalm 147:5
“Immortal Invisible”
“I Sing the Mighty Power of God”
“Great Are You Lord”
1. Self-Existent
If God is infinitely great in regard to existence, He would have to be uncreated.
If He were created by someone else, He would not be infinitely great.
We believe that God is SELF-EXISTENT.
Before anything we see and don’t see came into existence, God was there.
"For just as the Father has life in Himself, even so He gave to the Son also to have life in Himself; and He gave Him authority to execute judgment, because He is the Son of Man. John 5:26-27
2. Self-Sufficient
If God is infinitely great in regard to ability He would need nothing outside of Himself.
We believe that God is SELF-SUFFICIENT.
“Were all human beings suddenly to become blind, still the sun would shine by day and the stars by night, for these own nothing to the millions who benefit by their light. So, were every man on earth to become atheist, it would not affect God in any way. He is what He is in Himself without regard to any other. To believe in Him adds nothing to His perfections; to doubt Him take nothing away.” AW Tozer
3. Eternal
Before the mountains were born, or You gave birth to the earth and the world, even from everlasting to everlasting, You are God. Psalm 90:2
4. Immutable
This means that God does not change.
God does not change because He has no need to change.
He is infinitely great.
He is infinitely pure.
He is infinitely good.
I, the LORD, do not change… Malachi 3:6
5. Incomprehensible
Given God’s infinity and greatness it would naturally follow that no one can fully comprehend.
"For My thoughts are not your thoughts, Nor are your ways My ways," declares the LORD. "For as the heavens are higher than the earth, So are My ways higher than your ways And My thoughts than your thoughts. Isaiah 55:8-9
Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and unfathomable His ways! For WHO HAS KNOWN THE MIND OF THE LORD, OR WHO BECAME HIS COUNSELOR? Or WHO HAS FIRST GIVEN TO HIM THAT IT MIGHT BE PAID BACK TO HIM AGAIN? For from Him and through Him and to Him are all things. To Him be the glory forever. Amen. Rom 11:33-36
6. Omnipresent -- Available
God is not limited by time or space.
7. Omniscient -- Aware
God knows all about us.
8. Omnipotent -- Able
By the mere exercise of His will He produces whatever He wills whenever He wills.
PERSONAL IMPLICATION
Time for reflection and response.
Because you are or since you are ________, I __________.
PERSONAL IMMITATION
Since God made us in His own image, it follows that He passed on certain aspects of His nature to us.
He gives believers the gift of ETERNAL Life.
He shares His life with us.
In some ways we are to be established and unmovable.
Human beings are complex creatures and sometimes incomprehensible.
God created us with the ability of strength and creativity.
We have the capacity to know.
Paul hints our presence can expand beyond our geographical location. “with you in spirit”
CORPORATE PRAISE
B. God is infinitely and perfectly PURE in His morality and judgments
Not only do we serve a great God but we serve an infinitely pure God.
God cannot sin or do wrong.
God always does right.
His purity manifests in three ways.
1. God is infinitely Righteous or Just
To be righteous is to absolutely conform to a moral standard.
God always does what is right.
2. God is infinitely Holy
God is absolutely separate from all that is contrary to His own moral law.
3. God is truth
God always tells the truth.
None of His words will go unfulfilled.
He cannot lie.
Due to His purity, God responds to impurity.
4. He responds to evil with wrath and anger.
5. He responds to infidelity with godly jealous.
He exhibits a passion for fidelity.
6. He responds to evil with discipline and judgment.
“Holy Is The Lord”
PERSONAL IMPLICATION
Time for reflection and response.
Because you are or since you are ____________, I __________.
PERSONAL IMMITATION
God is transforming us beyond our general resemblance to His image.
He is transforming us into the image of His son Jesus.
He wants us to be so full connected to Him that our lives reflect His purity.
“Be holy for I am holy.”
“Be angry but don’t sin.”
“Pursue and live the truth.”
“Speak the truth in love”
MSPW 91 “Take My Life”
CORPORATE PRAISE
“We praise you for.
C. God is infinitely GOOD in His relationships
Goodness is a term used to describe God’s overall inclination to relate to His creatures with benevolence in spite of their belligerence.
When Moses asked to see God’s glory, God allowed His goodness to pass over him as he was sheltered in the crevice of a rock.
The LORD descended in the cloud and stood there with Moses as he called upon the name of the LORD. Then the LORD passed by in front of him and proclaimed, "The LORD, the LORD God, compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in lovingkindness and truth; who keeps lovingkindness for thousands, who forgives iniquity, transgression and sin; yet He will by no means leave the guilty unpunished, visiting the iniquity of fathers on the children and on the grandchildren to the third and fourth generations." Exodus 34:5-7
1. God’s infinite LOVE – acceptance
2. God’s infinite GRACE – weakness
3. God’s infinite MERCY – our lost condition
4. God’s LONGSUFFERING & FOREBEARANCE
5. God’s GENTLENESS – wounds and fear of rejection
6. God’s FORGIVENESS – rebellion
7. God’s FAITHFULNESS – fear of abandonment
“How Great is the Love” [Bb]
“You Are” [G]
PERSONAL IMPLICATION
Time for reflection and response.
Because you are or since you are _______________, I __________.
PERSONAL IMMITATION
God commands all of us to imitate ALL of these attributes.
Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children; and walk in love, just as Christ also loved you and gave Himself up for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God as a fragrant aroma. Ephesians 5:1-2
Lord may I reflect Your ________.
CORPORATE PRAISE
Thank You Lord” [F]
