TEXT: Psalm 95:3
SUBJECT: THE ATTRIBUTES OF GOD
The attributes of God refer to the characteristics of God. It is those things that distinguish something about who God is. From the Bible we learn what the living God is like. But the Scriptures never attempt to give a complete list of His attributes.
By looking at the attributes of God we should praise Him for who He is as well as see how much we should be relying on Him and not worrying so much. Because he has everything in control.
Omniscience of God. This means that God knows all things; God is all-knowing. He has perfect knowledge of all that was or is or can be. He has no need to learn. We do not know tomorrow until tomorrow, but He knows it today. His knowledge encompasses the past, present, and future. The Bible teaches that God has never been taught by anyone. “Who has known the mind of the LORD? Or who has become His counselor?” (Romans 11:34). God has never sat at the feet of a teacher whether the teacher be highest cherub or archangel.
His knowledge is absolutely comprehensive: Proverbs 15:3 – “The eyes of the Lord are in every place, keeping watch upon the evil and the good.”
Basically the omniscience of God means two things: (1) At once God knows all things. No one could reveal anything about us to Him that He does not already know. He knows the smallest details, even the number of hairs on our head (Luke 12:7). We should take comfort in this – know matter what the situation is in your life God knows all about it and who better than Him to give you counsel since He knows everything about your situation that can be known. But also understand that He also knows all the sins we commit, nothing is hidden from Him. Hebrews 4:13 – “And there is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are naked and open to the eyes of Him to whom we must give account.” You might can hide things from parents, spouses, friends or teachers but you can’t hide anything from God because He knows all things. (2) God knows all things in and outside of Himself. His knowing is absolute. His knowledge is an eternal knowledge. Nothing has been added to God’s knowledge and nothing can be.
His Wisdom. Knowledge is related to wisdom, but there is a difference. Wisdom is the application of knowledge. God uses the best means to accomplish the highest ends. His wisdom is boundless, but ours is very small. For this reason both the apostle Paul and Jude spoke of “God who alone is wise” (1 Timothy 1:17; Jude 25). Nothing that He does can be improved. God sees all things in their proper perspective and is therefore able to effect flawless ends. He weighs all ends, knows all needs, comprehends all possibilities and understands all means.
This being true, don’t you think it would be better for us to seek God’s wisdom about whatever we face in life before we seek the wisdom of man?
Job 12:13 - "With Him are wisdom and strength, he has counsel and understanding.”
Psalm 147:5 – “Great is our Lord, and mighty in power; his understanding is infinite.”
God’s Goodness. God’s goodness disposes Him to deal kindly and bountifully with His creatures. His goodness is infinite, eternal, and unchangeable. God is just as good now as He has ever been and ever will be. He makes the sun to shine on both the good and the evil and sends rain on the just and the unjust.
Exodus 34:6 - “And the LORD passed before him and proclaimed, ‘The LORD, the LORD God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abounding in goodness and truth.’”
Psalm 73:1 - “Truly God is good to Israel, (church name)…”
Nobody will be any better to you than God. He only seeks to do you good and not harm.
God’s Love. Jesus answers forever any question about God’s love. “In this is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation [all-sufficient sacrifice] for our sins” (1 John 4:10). “But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8). To know the love of God is to know Jesus in His saving action toward us.
God’s great love became visible in the sending of His Son and His Son’s self-sacrifice on the cross.
John 3:16 - "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.”
People may stop loving you but God will never stop loving you. He may not like what you do but He will always love you.
God’s Mercy. Mercy is God’s love and goodness shown to those in distress and trouble and to those who are guilty. Mercy disposes God to be compassionate toward the miserable, the wretched, and wrongdoers.
Psalm 86:5 - “For You, Lord, are good, and ready to forgive, and abundant in mercy to all those who call upon You.”
Psalm 107:1 - “Oh, give thanks to the LORD, for He is good! For His mercy endures forever.”
1 Peter 1:3 - “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His abundant mercy has begotten us again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead”
We don’t deserve His compassion but He gives it to us anyway.
God’s Faithfulness. God is absolutely consistent. He is completely reliable and firmly constant. Never is He given to shams or to fickleness. He is faithful to His people and to His promises.
Psalm 94:14 - “For the LORD will not cast off His people, nor will He forsake His inheritance.”
Isaiah 44:21 - "Remember these, O Jacob, and Israel, for you are My servant; I have formed you, you are My servant; O Israel, you will not be forgotten by Me!”
God will never let you down; you can depend on Him to do all that He said He would do.
God’s Justice.
God always acts consistent with His own character. His justice demands obedience and punishes transgression. He is impartial in His judgments and renders to each what is his due. The psalmist spoke of God’s justice: “Righteous are You, O LORD, and upright are Your judgments” (Psalm 119:137). God deals with us without showing favoritism. From Him we receive what is just.
Psalm 7:11 - “God is a just judge, and God is angry with the wicked every day.”
Psalm 67:4 - “Oh, let the nations be glad and sing for joy! For You shall judge the people righteously, and govern the nations on earth. Selah”
Romans 2:2 - “But we know that the judgment of God is according to truth …”
The Omnipotence of God. This means that God can bring to pass everything which He wills.
Job 42:2 - "I know that You can do everything, and that no purpose of Yours can be withheld from You.”
Luke 1:37 - "For with God nothing will be impossible."
God is Omnipresence. He is not limited by space and thus He is present everywhere at once. In Psalm 139 David declared that God is present in all the universe. David inquired, “Where can I go from Your Spirit? Or where can I flee from Your presence?” (v. 7). These questions are rhetorical, and so he answers, “If I ascend into heaven, You are there; if I make my bed in hell [sheol], behold, You are there. If I take the wings of the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, even there Your hand shall lead me” (vs. 8-10).
“He is not far from each one of us; for in Him we live and move and have our being” (Acts 17:27, 28). God sees, hears, and knows everything because He is present everywhere to see, hear, and know everything. Where two or three believers are gathered in the Lord’s name, He is present (Matthew 18:20).
God is Immutable. The God of the Bible is One who does not change. This means that God is consistently good, He is constantly faithful to His promises, and He is absolutely dependable. God will never be any better than He is now, because He is the perfection of goodness. He will never be any holier than He is now, because He is the essence of holiness. God’s attitude toward sin is the same as the day He drove Adam and Eve out of the Garden of Eden. As God has always been, He is receptive to faith and love.
All other things change, but God is “the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning” (James 1:17). Likewise Jesus is declared to be “the same yesterday, today, and forever” (Hebrews 13:8).
