The God We Worship
Exodus 34:6-7
Deuteronomy 6:4-5
Deuteronomy 6:12-15
What advise did the old preacher give to the young preacher when the young man asked him about what to preach? His answer, preach about God and preach about twenty minutes.
Children ask the darndest questions. Many of their questions are similar to the questions of the great philosophers. They ask, what is God like? This is an important question. A right view of God is basic to all Christian understanding and living.
The importance of answering this question is understood from the quote by A. W. Tozer, “The heaviest obligation lying upon the Christian Church today is to purify and elevate her concept of God until it is once more worthy of God, and of the church.”
We must use that which is not God as the building blocks to develop our concept of God.
When the prophets speak of God, they use words and phrases of approximate, “likeness”, “appears” “as it were” and the likeness of the appearance.”
God also, the scripture says, reveals himself in the creation as is said in Romans. There is enough revealed about God in creation to hold us accountable for our sins. For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse. (Romans 1:20)
The Christian view of God comes from the biblical revelation. We must therefore examine Scriptures carefully. Human language is all we have, and it is inadequate to fully comprehend God. Our human minds too fall short in taking in the massive theme of the greatness of God.
God’s Character
We have the names of God to understand God. El, Elohim. We are totally dependent on Almighty God. These names convey the thought of transcendent, set apart, God who everything else depends.
The name Adonai, the one who rules over everything. God has rule over all creation.
The name Yahweh is the covenant name. When God first stated this name to Moses at the burning bush it meant, “I am what I am” And he passed in front of Moses, proclaiming, “The LORD, the LORD, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness, 7 maintaining love to thousands, and forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin. Yet he does not leave the guilty unpunished; he punishes the children and their children for the sin of the parents to the third and fourth generation.” (Exodus 34:6-7)
The names of God compounded with El and Yahweh or pronounced Jehovah each give us more knowledge of the God we worship.
Elohim – (Genesis 1:1)
https://www.sermoncentral.com/sermons/1-creation-god-39-s-work-brad-beaman-sermon-on-creation-265776
The Lord Hears - Ishmael (Genesis 16:11)
https://www.sermoncentral.com/sermons/live-by-gods-promise-brad-beaman-sermon-on-promise-265857
El-Rohi: The Lord Sees - (Genesis 16:13)
https://www.sermoncentral.com/sermons/live-by-gods-promise-brad-beaman-sermon-on-promise-265857
El-Shaddai- God Almighty (Genesis 17:1)
https://www.sermoncentral.com/sermons/10-is-anything-too-difficult-for-god-brad-beaman-sermon-on-names-of-god-265874
Jehovah-Jireh: The Lord our provider (Genesis 22:14)
https://bradbeaman.wordpress.com/2022/06/04/the-lord-provides/
Jehovah-Rapha: The Lord is our healer. (Exodus 15:26)
https://bradbeaman.wordpress.com/2022/05/19/the-lord-our-healer/
Jehovah-Nissi: The Lord is our banner, our victory. (Exodus 17:15)
https://www.sermoncentral.com/sermons/the-lord-is-my-banner-brad-beaman-sermon-on-banner-265767
Jehovah-Kanna: The Lord Whose name is Jealous (Exodus 34:14)
https://bradbeaman.wordpress.com/2022/07/21/the-lord-whose-name-is-jealous/Jehovah-Kanna
Jehovah-M’Kaddesh: The Lord is our Holiness. (Leviticus 20:8)
https://bradbeaman.wordpress.com/2022/07/12/the-lord-who-makes-you-holy/
Jehovah-Shalom: The Lord is our peace. (Judges 6:26)
https://bradbeaman.wordpress.com/2022/07/15/the-lord-is-peace/
Jehovah-Rohi: The Lord My Shepherd (Psalm 23:1)
https://bradbeaman.wordpress.com/2022/08/09/the-lord-is-my-shepherd/
Jehovah-Tsidkenu: The Lord is our righteousness. (Jeremiah 23:6)
http://the%20lord%20our%20righteousness/
Jehovah-Shammah: The Lord is present. The Lord is there (Ezekiel 48:34)
https://bradbeaman.wordpress.com/2022/07/09/the-lord-is-present/
God is All Powerful and Sovereign
God has a plan His creation. He has been in control of the events of history, and He is bringing all events in order, for his purposes. Despite disobedience of humans, despite satanic obstruction, God achieves his pre-set objectives. God ordained everything. He is all powerful and can do everything.
God is self-existent, self-sufficient and self-sustaining. No one created God and he He is eternal. We live a short span on the timeline of history, but God has a timeline with both ends knocked out. God is Perfect and Unchangeable.
God cannot change, not for the better or for the worse. He is perfect and he cannot rise above it. He cannot go below it. God is perfect in time past, the present and the future. How God deals with us may change. There might be manna in the wilderness one day and no manna the next. But God did not change. God is infinite, all present and all knowing. God is personal. He is the living active Lord of history.
God is One in Essence
Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one. 5 Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. (Deuteronomy 6:4-5)
The Christian view of God is called Theism. The view that that there is one God. The Bible denounces polytheism that is many gods. Israel took a radically different approach to the world around them in Theism. They would drift from their position and be rebuked. God called them back to Himself.
God is the sole deity and there is none besides God. In the trinity there is one God and three persons, God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit. This is not three gods, but three distinct person of one God.
The great deeds that constitute the Exodus were made known to the Israelites so they would know there is none besides Him.
Has any god ever tried to take for himself one nation out of another nation, by testings, by signs and wonders, by war, by a mighty hand and an outstretched arm, or by great and awesome deeds, like all the things the LORD your God did for you in Egypt before your very eyes? 35 You were shown these things so that you might know that the LORD is God; besides him there is no other. (Deuteronomy 4:34-35)
The fundamental article of the Old Testament faith is the Shema.
Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one. (Deuteronomy 6:4)
There are other Old Testament passages with the clear statement there is one God.
I, even I, am the LORD, and apart from me there is no savior. (Isaiah 43:11)
Remember the former things, those of long ago; I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like me. (Isaiah 46:9)
Jesus deeply offended the scribes when he claimed to be the Messiah. But when Jesus affirmed the there is but one God he received their kudos. Well said teach, there is one God.
“Well said, teacher,” the man replied. “You are right in saying that God is one and there is no other but him. (Mark 12:32)
When we say trinity, we do not mean three gods. What we mean is one God, we mean, like in the hymn Holy, Holy, Holy, God in three persons blessed trinity.
God in Three Persons
The trinity is in harmony with the One God only belief. The trinity is the doctrine that the personal creator is truly three in one. God is Father, Son and Holy Spirit. They are coequal, coeternal in power and glory.
The Old Testament does not speak of the trinity. The emphasis of the Old Testament is the oneness of God. The writers of the Old Testament emphasized one God and keeping the Israelites away from idolatry and polytheism.
In the New Testament the Trinity is clear. At the baptism of Jesus all three persons of God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit are specifically mentioned.
At that time Jesus came from Nazareth in Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan. 10 Just as Jesus was coming up out of the water, he saw heaven being torn open and the Spirit descending on him like a dove. 11 And a voice came from heaven: “You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased.” (Mark 1:9-11)
Other passages with a reference to the trinity:
Now this is eternal life: that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent. (John 17:3)
Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. (Ephesians 1:2)
There is equality in the Trinity, the Father is equal to the Holy Spirit and equal to God the Son. There is unity in the three persons of the trinity. There is also diversity in the three persons of the trinity. God the Father is not God the Son.
Conclusion
God is not one of our beliefs, He is our belief. He is not one doctrine he is the heart of everything we believe. Our finite minds can never attain to perfect knowledge of God in this life. Our sin separates us from Holy God. Our end is to know God through Jesus Christ. We are created by God to worship God.
Below is the statement on God from the Baptist Faith and message.
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https://bfm.sbc.net/bfm2000/
God
There is one and only one living and true God. He is an intelligent, spiritual, and personal Being, the Creator, Redeemer, Preserver, and Ruler of the universe. God is infinite in holiness and all other perfections. God is all powerful and all knowing; and His perfect knowledge extends to all things, past, present, and future, including the future decisions of His free creatures. To Him we owe the highest love, reverence, and obedience. The eternal triune God reveals Himself to us as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, with distinct personal attributes, but without division of nature, essence, or being.
