We're going to talk about one God today. If we were to walk down the street and ask everybody we encountered, "Do you believe in God?" most people would say yes. The problem is, what are we defining as God? Who are we defining as God? How are we defining God? When we talk about this idea of God, there's a technical term we're going to use called theism. By the way, I'm going to apologize if there are 87 slides. This is not really a sermon-kind-of-sermon; this is teaching. So, those of you who graduated school and thought, "I hope I never sit in a classroom again," today is not your day. However, if I see you nodding off, we'll stand up and shake it out.
The term is theism—the belief in God or the existence of a god or gods. There are four basic theisms that exist in our world today. The first one is atheism, and if it has an "a" in front of it, it just simply means "I don't believe in it." So an atheist says there is no god or gods. What's interesting with most atheists is they actually reject a certain definition of God. There's monotheism, the doctrine or belief that there is only one God. Judaism, Islam, and Christianity would all be monotheist religions. This is going to bring up another question: Well then, aren't they all essentially the same? This is something we hear: all religions are essentially the same; they lead to the same place. But what we're going to find is they really aren't.
There is a distinguishing feature in Christianity: polytheism, the belief in and worship of more than one god. Behind me is a picture of the Meenakshi Temple in Madurai, India. A few of us have been there on mission trips because Pastor Paul has his church there. Every one of those little carved features represents a god. There are four of those towers that surround the square of the city, each one depicting a deity. Hinduism has approximately 300 million deities within the religion. So when we talk about a polytheist or polytheism, Hinduism would be a great example of that.
Then finally, you have what's called pantheism. Pantheism says God is everywhere, kind of like the Force. You can feel it; it's in the trees; it's in the rocks. Pantheists say everything's acceptable, everything can be God. What you find is this is sometimes found in Buddhist philosophy and New Age philosophy.
But where we have to define God is from Scripture. So before I dive into this, I want you to finish this sentence in your mind: "God is…" and think about what terms you come up with. Then we're going to dive into why we come up with those terms and, more importantly, we're going to dive into what does God say about Himself. Because here's the real issue when it comes to viewing God: Our knowledge of God comes only by the means of, and must be derived out of, His own self-revelation. What we know about God is what God reveals about Himself. We must allow God to determine our understanding of who He is.
Here's why this is so important: "I don't like your God; my God is all love." Really? Where'd you get that from? What context does that come from? What do you have to validate that? One of the things we find in people's viewpoints of God, much like Scripture, often they reject God because "I would have to change." What God has revealed about Himself… I don't know if I want to embrace that because I might have to live differently.
So let's take a look here. A couple of flawed things when we try to create our own idea of who God is: Number one, we have limitations in our human understanding, meaning the finite cannot define the infinite. The temporal can't define the eternal. And so when I come along and say, "You know what, this is who God is," how am I going to define that? I don't have those character qualities. So, God can only be known to the extent that He reveals Himself.
Now, here's where the page turning comes in. If you haven't opened this this week, you're going to spend a lot of time here. I will tell you that we probably will not get through every passage. If you have a mobile device or an app, you are 10 miles ahead of me today because you're going to get there quicker than I am. But we're going to go into the Word of God and see what does God say about Himself, how does God reveal Himself to mankind, and how do we need to adjust accordingly.
So, let's dive in. God can only be known to the extent that He reveals Himself. John chapter 1, verse 18, is going to be our context for this point: "No one has ever seen God; the only God, who is at the Father's side, He has made Him known." So, Jesus is saying, "No one's ever seen God, but Jesus, the Son of God, reveals who God is. He makes Him known. He reveals His nature and His character." Romans chapter 1, verse 20—this one talks about creation, how creation testifies of God's greatness and who God truly is. So, Romans chapter 1, verse 20, let's take a look there: "His invisible attributes, namely His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse."
The context of that verse—Paul was saying to the Roman church, "Listen, nobody has an excuse for not knowing that God exists. Creation evidences His existence." Let's keep going here. Exodus chapter 3, verse 14—God is personal. He is a personal God to His people. And so in Exodus chapter 3, God is speaking to Moses about how He wants to deliver His people from captivity in Egypt. And so Moses asks a pretty logical question, "Alright, well, when I go tell them that you're leading us to freedom, who do I say sent me? Like, if I'm gonna go tell people this, shouldn't I be able to tell them who sent me?"
So here's what God says to Moses in that context. Uh, He says, verse 13 is, we'll back up to then Moses said to God, "If I come to the people of Israel and say to them, 'The God of your fathers has sent me to you,' and they ask me, 'What is His name?' what shall I say to them?" God said to Moses, "I AM WHO I AM." And He said, "Say this to the people of Israel: I AM has sent me to you."
Now, we're going to see this here a little later as we go through this teaching. This is one of the things that allows us to really look to Jesus and realize He's as much God as God the Father because of those "I AM" statements. Then we find that He is revealed through the incarnation of Jesus Himself. And so how do we know what God is like? We know that through Jesus, His Son.
So let's go to John chapter 4, or excuse me, chapter 1, verse 14. And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen His glory, glory as of the Son from the Father, full of grace and truth. John chapter 14, verse 9, will be the next passage we want to look at to just validate this thought. John 14, verse nine, and aren't you glad I'm not asking, "If you got it, got it?" Like we'd be here till like three o'clock. It's taken me that long to get to these, right?
So Jesus said to him, "I have been with you so long, and you still do not know me, Philip? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, 'Show us the Father'?" And then let's go to Luke chapter 10, verse 22. Luke 10, verse 22. So, Luke 10:22: "All things have been handed over to me by my Father, and no one knows who the Son is except the Father, or who the Father is except the Son, and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal Him."
So, it is through Jesus that we know God, that we know who He is, that He is revealed to us. Now, let's break into this a little further. As I discussed earlier, there's four viewpoints of theism. As Christians, we would be considered monotheists. And so how do we know that? How do we know it's one God and not 300 million gods? Well, Scripture reveals that to us. First of all, in Genesis chapter 1, verse 1, "In the beginning." So let's go to the beginning for a minute—the creation story. And we're going to find a lot of attributes of God in this moment. So, John, excuse me, Genesis 1, verse 1—almost there—"In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth."
So, a couple of things we're gonna understand out of this one verse: God created everything except Himself. He was already there. So He is eternal in nature. He is the Creator. He created all things. He's living and personal. God's not the Force. So, it's not like pantheism; it's not like polytheism. It's one God creating all things, except Himself because He's eternal, everlasting. Here's a key point I want you to grab, and this is something you might want to write down because it's kind of the context of everything we're going to talk about today: What God is, only God is. Let me say that again: What God is, only God is. That means that nothing else can be that thing, and I'm going to have to explain that because when we get to it, you're going to scratch your head for a moment possibly. So let's take a look at uh, what comes out of this. Mark chapter 10, verse 18: God is good.
Alright, so who here has been in church the majority of your life? A long time, right? And so you've heard, if I stand up here—for all you've been in church a long time, people—I go, "God is good." All the time. God is good, right? You're going to recite it back to me. And you've probably sung, "God is good all the time," right? We know that, but then the question comes: Well, what about people? I think I'm good. What's the breakdown?
Well, we have to look at what does Scripture say about goodness? Because here's the thing: I can do good things, but good is not my nature. Good is not the essence of who I am. I can choose to do good, but I'm not good. And here's what we want to see the Bible says about God. Mark chapter 10, verse 18. And this is, we'll start with 17: And as He was setting out on His journey, a man ran up and knelt before Him and asked Him, "Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?" And Jesus said to him, "Why do you call me good? No one is good except God alone." That is His nature.
So when I say, "God is good all the time," that is His nature. Carl is good some of the time. If you ask Carol, there are days where Carl is not good any of the time. And some days, he's just better than nothing. God is good all the time. He's faithful to who He is. God is holy. First Peter chapter 1, verses 15 and 16. God is holy, and this one is key. It means He's without error, without blemish. He is undefiled. So, First Peter chapter 1, verses 15 and 16. Let's take a look at these: "But as He who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, since it is written, 'You shall be holy, for I am holy.'"
So God declares Himself holy. He asks us to be set apart because He is holy. When we are called to holiness in the Christian life, it means we begin to walk in holiness. That doesn't mean our character is holy. God's character is holy. First John 4, 8-16. Now this is the one everybody gravitates to: God is love. And that one's pretty easy, but it's deeper than I think we tend to take it. So, First John chapter 4, verse 8: "Anyone who does not love does not know God because God is love." And if we drop down to verse 16, "So we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us. God is love, and whoever abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him."
Love is His character. It is His nature. As we come down a little further, we need to understand this: God does what He does because He is who He is. So the first point I made to you is the fact that what God is, only God is. God is love. God is holy. All of those things, that's who He is. But then His action comes out of His character. What God does, He does because He is who He is. You see, God's being is the basis of His doing. Because of who He is, He does what He does. God's character is expressed and revealed in His actions, and God always acts in accord with who He is. It's a consistency of character.
Now, this is important. His actions will always be consistent with His character, and this is why this is important because, John, God is also just. But God is also love. So His justice is grounded in His love. Does that make sense? There's not one aspect of His character that is separated from any other aspect of His character. Now, this gets even more important. Second Timothy chapter 2, verse 13, if you'll turn with me there, what we want to discuss here is that God cannot overlook or tolerate that which is contrary to who He is.
So here's where we run into a little bit of a train wreck with popular thoughts about God. God loves you, but He does not excuse things that are contrary to His nature. He's holy, and His holiness will continue to stand firm. So, Second Timothy chapter 2, verse 13: "If we are faithless, He remains faithful, for He cannot deny Himself." For God to excuse or overlook or sidestep any issue of His character would completely destroy who He is. He would no longer be valid. Let me say this: If you could define God, if you could create God to your specifications, He's not worth worshiping anyway. If you can understand Him, put Him in a box, or get your mind around Him, He's not worth praying to. And that's what we need to understand.
Part of what we're delving into is the mystery of God as He reveals Himself. Let's keep going here. Hebrews 6:18, God cannot lie because He cannot deny Himself. So, this is another thing we need to pick up. Sometimes we are guilty of, "Well, I think God made me do this." Well, if it's not consistent with His character, probably not. So one of the things you'll hear sometimes is, "God just wants me to be happy." Can't find that one. It's not consistent with His character. He's not going to slice out the happiness piece just so you can be happy. That's not the way God's character operates. So, Hebrews chapter 6, verse 18, actually goes back up to 17.
So, when God desired to show more convincingly to the heirs of the promise the unchangeable character of His purpose, He guaranteed it with an oath so that by two unchangeable things, in which it is impossible for God to lie, we have fled for refuge, now that we might have strong encouragement to hold fast to the hope set before us. God is true to His word.
Next thing we want to get into: God is one. Deuteronomy chapter 6, verse 4. This is called the Shema prayer. So if you'll turn with me, that—this is what I actually, if you are flipping pages, make sure you turn to this one. This one's good. I mean, they're all good, but this one is foundational. Deuteronomy chapter 6, verse 4: "Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart." The Lord God is one. Psalm 86:10, the psalmist says, "You alone are God."
So again, we're talking about how do we know we're not polytheists, and pantheists, and atheists. We know that because of what Scripture reveals. Now, the next thing we need to understand, though, is God is being, but He's not a being. He's the essence of all being. And that sounds really philosophical and heady, right? God is the essence of everything, and yet not in a pantheistic view. I don't go out to my walnut tree and put my hand on it and get a full dose of God, and yet His essence is presence. Exodus 3:14, which we already read. He's a personal being. Moses said, "Lord, who do I say sent me?" You tell them, "I AM sent you."
Now here's what's interesting, okay? God's one, and yet there's Father, Son, Holy Spirit. How do we reconcile that? We'll get into that momentarily, but let's start with Jesus. Jesus, as we learned already, is the revelation of who God is. The reason the Pharisees wanted to put Jesus to death is He kept using two words that only God was supposed to use: "I AM." So in John chapter 14, verse 6, Jesus says, "I am the way, the truth, and the life." In John 11:25, He says, "I am the resurrection and the life."
Now, what's interesting, if we were to take the time to go through all those—which I won't, or we'd be here till three o'clock, right? Behind each of those "I AM" statements, generally the next verse says, "And they picked up stones to stone Him to death." He was declaring Himself God. John 8:12, "I am the light of the world." John 10, verse 11 and 14, "I am the good shepherd." John 10, verse 7, "I am the door." John 6, verses 35, 48-51, "I am the bread of life." John 4:26, "I am the expected Messiah." John 8:58, "Before Abraham was, I am."
Let's actually go to those last two because these are critical for us as we go forward. So, John chapter 4, verse 26, Jesus declares Himself to be the Messiah that has been anticipated through the ages. So, John chapter 4, verse 26: Jesus said to her, "I am He who speaks to you." The context is, the woman at the well was saying, "Hey, there's a Messiah that's supposedly coming, and when He comes, He's going to lead us all into proper worship." And Jesus said, "I am He. I'm the one that you're talking about." John 8:58, "Before Abraham was, I am." Let's read that one again—one of those where they just want to stone Him to death. John chapter 8, verse 58: Jesus said to them, "Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I am." Verse 59: So they picked up stones to throw at Him. Jesus continued to declare, "I am God."
Remember what we read earlier: all that we know of God is revealed in Jesus Christ. John chapter 10, verse 30, "I and the Father are one." Let's read that one together. John chapter 10, verse 30. "I and the Father are one." The context is He's talking about, "I will give them eternal life because My Father has given them to me, and no one can snatch them out of my hand because I and the Father are one."
The next thing we need to understand: God is person-based on the interrelation between the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit. He's relational. We see that in the working of the Trinity, which we'll get into here momentarily. God is spirit. Let's go back to John chapter 4, verse 24, and we're going to see a picture of this. And then we're going to go to Genesis. So, John chapter 4, verse 24 reads this way: "God is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship Him in spirit and truth." Genesis chapter 1, verse 2. We read Genesis 1:1 a moment ago. Now we're going to read Genesis 1, verse 2. And Genesis 1, verse 2 gives us a glimpse of the Spirit at work. "The earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters."
Now we also need to understand—we caught this characteristic earlier—God is love. First John 4:8, "God is love." Jeremiah 31:3, "His love is everlasting." He tells Jeremiah in that passage, "I have loved you with an everlasting love." He also tells Jeremiah, "Before you were knitted together in the womb, I knew you." So, His love is very personal in nature. It's expressed through the Trinity. Let's look at Matthew chapter 3, verse 17.
And we're going to see a visual picture of this relationship at work. Matthew chapter 3, verse 17. Actually, it's back up to 16: And when Jesus was baptized, immediately He went up from the water, and behold, the heavens were opened to Him. He saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and coming to rest on Him. And behold, a voice from heaven said, "This is My beloved Son, with whom I'm well pleased." The Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit interrelate and show love by showing honor to one another. That's the picture that is shown. God's love is always directed towards other persons. And so we need to see this picture.
Romans 5:8, if you'll turn with me there. Great passage because God loved us even before we acknowledged Him. And so His love is demonstrated outward. Romans 5, verse 8: "But God shows His love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us." John 3:16, "For God so loved the world that He gave His only Son, that whosoever would believe in Him would not perish but have eternal life."
Now, here's what we need to understand, though: This does not mean that His love is compromising. His love is always integrated with the rest of His attributes. He is just. He is holy. He is righteous. His love will always be in coordination with those things. Real quick, because this is lengthy, lots of Scripture, stand up for a minute. Shake your arms out, throw your head back, and don't fall off the stage, right? Alright, sit down. We needed to pop you back into place here. We're all—we're on the, uh, final approach, if you will.
So, God is life. This is important for us. John chapter 5, verse 26, remember who God is. No one else can be that. So, there are things, there are actions I can take that mirror these things to a certain degree, but they're not the essence of who I am. John chapter 5, verse 26 says this: "For as the Father has life in Himself, so He has granted the Son also to have life in Himself." He is the giver of life. God is truth. First John chapter 5, verse 20. We talked about the fact that God cannot lie. He is true to His character, true to who He is. God is holy. We saw this verse earlier, where He tells the people of Israel, "Be holy, for I am holy." That comes in Leviticus chapter 20, verse 26. God is good. We talked about this one earlier. Third John, verse 11. God is good. Philippians 3:9, God is righteous.
So, we know that God is one, but now we have to tackle this whole Trinitarian issue because here's where we have to bust through the narrative that all religions are basically the same. And here's the argument to that: Islam, Christianity, Judaism, all recognize the first five books of the Bible as being authoritative, holy Scripture. All three religions refer to God in some form—God, Allah, or Jehovah God. What makes Christianity unique is the Trinitarian view of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
So, there are folks that like to come at your doorstep, or at least before COVID, at about seven or eight o'clock in the morning, and bang on the door and ask you to talk about the Bible. And one of the things they like to put before you is that Jesus was the firstborn, created of God, and that the Holy Spirit is an "it," not a "he." So what they're really saying is there is no Trinity. God created Jesus; the Holy Spirit is the force that does God's bidding. That's the context along those lines. You also have another group of people that sometimes like to come knock at your door, and they would like to tell you that God was once a man, which means He's not eternal, and that if you live a life that is good enough, you too can be god in your own universe. That's not what Scripture reveals.
So when we talk about this stuff, you know why aren't you talking about all this? Because those folks will come back to your door when COVID is over. So now, you can talk intelligently, right? Genesis 1:26 and 27, let's turn there. Go back to creation. How do we know there's a Trinity? What's this Trinity all about? And how come we're not polytheists if we believe in Father, Son, and Holy Spirit? So, first of all, let's deal with how we know there's a godhead. Genesis chapter 1, verses 26 and 27: "Then God said, 'Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.' Our image, and yet, verse 27, 'So God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.'"
We're getting a glimpse into that Trinitarian relationship. Part of how we understand the Trinity, the Trinity's not easy to describe, but here's the thing that'll make this easier: When we deal with Trinitarian understanding of the Bible, we're not dealing with mathematical singleness. We're dealing with relational singleness. It's different. Where it's hard for us to grasp as I go, "Well, if I have one, I have one. How can there be three and I still have one?" It's because we're dealing with the relational character of God. Who God is, remember, if you could fully understand it, probably not worth praying to. Let's keep going. Mark chapter 10, verses 10 and 11, we read through this already. It was demonstrated at Jesus' baptism. Jesus is in the water; the sky is open; the Spirit of God descends upon His shoulder, and a voice speaks from heaven, "This is My Son, in whom I'm well pleased."
Matthew 28:19, let's turn there. The Great Commission. And you see this portrayed every time we do a baptism. We actually say the same things as part of our baptism celebrations here. Matthew 28:19 and 20: Jesus is giving final instructions to His disciples, and He says this: "Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age." In Hebrew, the name that was used for God was Elohim. Elohim, in Hebrew, is a plural. It's not singular. So even in God's revelation of who He is, a plural was used to use His name throughout the Old Testament. John chapter 10, verse 30, and John 17, verse 22, Jesus declares, "I and the Father are one." And as we saw earlier, every time He makes those statements, they pick up rocks.
There's a difference. Acts chapter 5, verse 4, let's turn there. The Holy Spirit is God. Acts chapter 5, verse 4: "While it remained unsold, did it not remain your own? And after it was sold, was it not at your disposal? Why is it that you have contrived this deed in your heart? You have not lied to man but to God." And then Ananias drops dead. So the Holy Spirit is shown as being equal. Let's keep going. Second Timothy 3:16, we talked about this last week. The Word of God, Scripture, is inspired. Every word was breathed by the Holy Spirit and written down by men. First Corinthians 6:19, we are the temple of God because the Holy Spirit lives within us. So those connections are made. John 15:26, John 16:7, and John 16:14, the Holy Spirit is distinct from the Father and the Son. They are all three unique.
So, let's summarize because we flipped a lot of pages. God does what He does consistent with Himself. So whatever He's going to do is always going to be consistent with His character. And your anchor point for this is Second Timothy chapter 2, verse 13. If you are taking notes, by some reason, that's one you might want to write down. II Timothy chapter 2, verse 13. God does what He does by and of Himself. This comes from Isaiah 44, verse 24, in John chapter 1, verse 3. God does what He does out of Himself. Romans 11:36, 1st Corinthians 8:6, and Nehemiah 9:6. God does what He does giving Himself for others, comes from Romans 8:32, John 3:16, First John 4:9 and 10. And God does what He does unto Himself, for His glory. Isaiah 43:7. Now, let's finish out with some subpoints to that. God does not give His glory to anyone else. He does not give His glory to anyone else. This is important because God the Father glorified Jesus, His Son. But God is true to His character. So when He glorified the Son, He's glorifying Himself. He cannot dissect His glory from His being. And that last point, Isaiah 42:8, "This point, He cannot dissect His glory from His being." Romans 11:36, "He's not going to carve out pieces of Himself to give away." God is complete in all form. God is glorified when His glorious character is manifested in His creation. Psalm 19:1 and First Corinthians 10:31.
So, here's why we need to understand one God: because in our world today, we're told all religions are essentially the same. They all lead to the same place. We all basically worship the same God, or the religions are different, but their overlap is where the truth is found. And yet, that's not what God reveals in His Word. And so, if we're going to stand on the promises of God's Word, so last week we, I believe the Bible's true. May not read it all the time, but I believe it's true. Then if I'm going to say that, I have to believe what God reveals about Himself. And invariably, what's probably going to happen is He's going to reveal some things that are really tough for me because they mean I have to change my mind or I have to change my behavior. And that ultimately is why people reject the God of the Bible. I don't want to change. And so the thing that I want to put before you, though, is when we come in here, we sang four songs this morning about how great God is. So the question is, what God were you singing to? If we fully understand who God is to the degree that He's revealed Himself in Scripture, we understand that we can't understand fully. That's a God worth worshiping. That's a God worth praising. If I could define Him, if I could put Him in a box, or I could control Him, I wouldn't want to worship Him. He's not big enough. Yet, as God reveals Himself, He's more than enough.
And so as we leave today, that's the thing I want you to kind of ponder: I can't fully explain God. In fact, when I saw what I had to teach on today, couldn't Scott have gotten a later flight? I want the easy stuff. But the truth is, realizing God's so much bigger than I allow Him to be in my life, what it points out to me, though, is I may not fully understand Him, but I do understand me, and I am broken, and I am flawed, and I need something much greater than me. I need a cross. I need a Savior. I need it all. And I am so grateful that He is who He is, even if I don't always get it, even if I don't fully understand.
