What The Bible Says About God Series

Title: What the Bible Says About God

Text: The Lord is righteous in all His ways, Gracious in all His works. The Lord is near to all who call upon Him, To all who call upon Him in truth. (Psalms 145:17-18)

Scripture Reading: Psalm 145

It is impossible to define God. Because if you could, you could limit Him. It is possible, however, to describe God. And the source book from which we arrive at a description is the Bible. Therefore, it is appropriate to title this Bible lesson, “What the Bible Says About God.” –for that is all that matters.

There are four questions that the Bible answers about God.

1) What is the nature of God?

2) What are God’s natural attributes?

3) What are God’s moral attributes?

4) What are the roles of God?

The Scripture reading is Psalm 145.

Let’s begin by reading this great Psalm.

1 I will extol You, my God, O King; And I will bless Your name forever and ever.

2 Every day I will bless You, And I will praise Your name forever and ever.

3 Great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised; And His greatness is unsearchable.

4 One generation shall praise Your works to another, And shall declare Your mighty acts.

5 I will meditate on the glorious splendor of Your majesty, And on Your wondrous works.

6 Men shall speak of the might of Your awesome acts, And I will declare Your greatness.

7 They shall utter the memory of Your great goodness, And shall sing of Your righteousness.

8 The Lord is gracious and full of compassion, Slow to anger and great in mercy.

9 The Lord is good to all, And His tender mercies are over all His works.

10 All Your works shall praise You, O Lord, And Your saints shall bless You.

11 They shall speak of the glory of Your kingdom, And talk of Your power,

12 To make known to the sons of men His mighty acts, And the glorious majesty of His kingdom.

13 Your kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, And Your dominion endures throughout all generations.

14 The Lord upholds all who fall, And raises up all who are bowed down.

15 The eyes of all look expectantly to You, And You give them their food in due season.

16 You open Your hand And satisfy the desire of every living thing.

17 The Lord is righteous in all His ways, Gracious in all His works.

18 The Lord is near to all who call upon Him, To all who call upon Him in truth.

19 He will fulfill the desire of those who fear Him; He also will hear their cry and save them.

20 The Lord preserves all who love Him, But all the wicked He will destroy.

21 My mouth shall speak the praise of the Lord, And all flesh shall bless His holy name Forever and ever.

The first question we asked is, “What is the nature of God?

There are at least four answers to that question.

First, God is Spirit (John 4:24).

In John’s Gospel he wrote, “God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.”

People tend to depend on some tangible evidence for the existence of God. But it is a ministry of the Holy Spirit to enable people to grow in their understanding and perception of God as “Spirit.” Jesus made it clear in His conversation with a Samaritan woman, that the place of worship is not important. The important things are the object of our worship and the manner of our worship. When we worship, we must depend upon God’s Spirit to help us fix our thoughts on Him and express our love for Him.

Christ came to declare God to us and He did it by showing us Himself. Nothing contributes more to worshiping God rightly than having the right knowledge of Him. In the Bible we are told that God is Spirit, for He is an infinite and eternal mind; an intelligent being, spiritual, invisible, and incorruptible.

We worship God in truth, by being sincere, for God requires not only the inward part to our worship, but truth in the inward part. When we worship, we must seek to declare God’s glory and to draw near to Him with a true heart, and not to be seen of men.

Second, we are told in Deuteronomy that God is one (Deut. 6:4).

Monotheism, which is the belief in one God, was the idea that set Judaism apart from all other religions. On the other hand, Polytheism, the worship of many gods, was the curse of the ancient world. Even though God has expressed Himself to humans in a variety of ways, He is still one God. The Bible exclaims, “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one!” This verse is called “the Shema,” from the Hebrew word for “hear.” The devout Jew recites it several times a day to affirm his faith in Jehovah. The worship of foreign gods was always a threat to Israel, and this statement of faith reminded the Jews that Jehovah is the true and living God who alone deserves worship and obedience.