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Title: What the Bible Teaches About God Pt 2: The Natural Attributes of God Text: Hosea 4:6 Date: 2-4-07.am Introduction: The topic of this series of sermons What the Bible Teaches about God isn’t the most popular, most of the time we want to be encouraged or even scolded but the truth is too often we don’t want to be taught The prophet Hosea warned in Hosea 4:6: My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge. Because you have rejected knowledge, I also will reject you from being My priest. Since you have forgotten the law of your God, I also will forget your children. (NAS) In his book When Bad Christians Happen to Good People, written in 2002 Dave Burchett making a reference to the lack of knowledge in what appears to be a growing number of modern Christians took the tune to an old Sam Cooke song “wonderful Life”and to make a point wrote these words: Don't know much about theology, Don't know much Christology. Don't know much about Leviticus, Don't know why they had the Exodus. But I do know that God loves you, And I'm trying hard to be good too. What a wonderful faith this would be. Well, I don't claim to be a good Christian, But I'm trying to be. For maybe by bein' a good person, brother, I can gain eternity. Don't know much about the Pharisees, Can't explain the Trinity. Don't know much ecclesiology Don't know what a good tithe should be. But I think that God forgives my quirks, And I figure if I do good works, What a wonderful faith this would be. In an editorial piece he wrote more recently he said: “I had to admit in that book that I could name the entire starting lineup of the 1961 Cincinnati Reds but I probably could not name all 12 disciples.” He went on to write: “Recently I have become aware of how much I have heard over 35 years of sermons, Bible studies, and reading books and magazines. But only in recent years have I really sought to know and apply what I believe.” Perhaps that doesn’t apply to us, but then again maybe it does. In his book The God Delusion, prominent Oxford scientist and atheist Richard Dawkins calls for the obliteration of all religion because he considers it a “very evil” force in the world. That’s to be expected it’s nothing new but the kicker is found in a book review in the Times of London by Steven Weinberg who is a nobel laureate Dr Albert Mohler of Southern seminary quotes Weinberg in a article in Jan 31 Baptist Press News on line: Weinberg urges Dawkins to realize that religion is not the formidable foe he thinks it is. “We are winning,”Weinberg writes. “Europe is so thoroughly secularized that churches are virtually empty. Americans may look unsecular, but Weinberg sees this as an illusion. After all, millions of Americans claim to be Christians, but have virtually no idea of what Christianity really is. As he explained, ‘although most Americans may be sure of the value of religion, as far as I can tell they are not very certain about the truth of what their own religion teaches.’ Just this past week there was an article in the Journal Star about a couple in suing a hospital for allegedly violating their religious rights concerning blood tests. The article goes on to say they are members of fundamentalist Christian church, but also hold beliefs from Scientology and it’s the Scientology beliefs that are the basis for the law suit. Now If there has ever been two sets of beliefs anymore incompatible that Christianity and Scientology you would probably have to go back to the Old Testament. But that’s not isolated. The Values section recently featured an article about a fast growing South African “Christian” church that also held spiritist beliefs as well and was just one of a growing number of this kind of church. So if there has ever been a time when the church needs to be about teaching the things God wants us to know it is now. So we resume this morning: I. The Nature of God - Spirit, Person. Unity, Trinity II. The Natural Attributes or Characteristics of God Eternal - without beginning without end God transcends all the limitations of time. We saw that in Gen 1:1 and repeated in John 1:1. We saw that in talking about His nature. He is infinite - There is no limit to His being 1 Ki 8:27, Acts 17:24-28 Infinity means that God has no bounds or limits. He is in no way limited by the universe or by time-space boundaries. The next few attributes we cover more deeply or adequately explains the truth God is infinite. 1. He is Omnipotent – God is all-powerful; Job 42:2 "I know that Thou canst do all things, And that no purpose of Thine can be thwarted. NASB Gen 18:13-14 13 And the Lord said to Abraham, "Why did Sarah laugh, saying, 'Shall I indeed bear a child, when I am so old?' 14 "Is anything too difficult for the Lord? At the appointed time I will return to you, at this time next year, and Sarah shall have a son." NASB Matt 19:25-26 25 And when the disciples heard this, they were very astonished and said, "Then who can be saved?" 26 And looking upon them Jesus said to them, "With men this is impossible, but with God all things are possible." NASB When we use the term omnipotent we mean God’s power is infinite. He can do anything consistent with His own nature. Omnipotence is not the power to do things which are contradictory to the nature of God such as illogical things, things such as creating a rock He cannot move or impossible things and there are some impossible things, things contradictory to the nature of God; for God to lie, to sin. to die. To do such things would not imply omnipotence, but impotence or powerlessness. God has all power but will do only what infinite wisdom, holiness, and love dictate. What omnipotence does mean is this: All nature is absolutely subject to God. Ps 33:6-9; 107:25-29 All mankind, believers and nonbelievers, is absolutely subject to God. James 4:12 12 There is only one Lawgiver and Judge, the One who is able to save and to destroy; NASB Angels and all spirit beings are absolutely subject to God Heb 1:13-14 13 But to which of the angels has He ever said, "Sit at My right hand, Until I make Thine enemies A footstool for Thy feet"? 14 Are they not all ministering spirits, sent out to render service for the sake of those who will inherit salvation? NASB And last but not least Satan himself is absolutely subject to God. Job 1-2; Lk 22:31; Rev 20-10 Accept him or deny him all creation is absolutely subject to Him. 2. He is Omnipresent God is everywhere present with His whole Being always at all times. He is in all parts of the universe and near each individual. In Him each individual lives and moves and has his being.
God is not everywhere in the same sense. What does that mean? He is not in trees and rocks and animals in the same sense he is present in man. God the Father is especially manifested in heaven. God the Son has been especially manifested on earth. (See also John 3:13, the entire gospels and "the Angel of the Lord" in the O.T.) God the Son is now in heaven. ( Acts 7:56; Ephesians 1:20 and many other passages.) God the Holy Spirit is manifested everywhere: (a) in nature ( Genesis 1:2; <19A430> Psalm 104:30); (b) in all believers ( John 14:16-17; Romans 8:9); and (c)with unbelievers ( John 16:7-11). Through the Spirit, the Father and the Son dwell in the believer ( John 14:17, 19-20, 23). (See also Matthew 28:19-20.) 3. Omniscience: God knows everything, things actual and things possible, effortlessly and equally well. He sees all that occurs in every place and keeps watch over the evil and the good. Jer 16:17 He knows everything in nature, every star and every sparrow. Ps 147: 4-5 He sees all our humanity. He knows all our deeds and experiences. He knows all our words - like we saw in the skit this morning. He knows all our sorrows - the pain, the heartache, the disappointment, the hurt. He understands all our thoughts – good and bad Ps 139:2-5
God's knowledge extends to minute particulars. Matt 10:29 "Are not two sparrows sold for a cent? And {yet} not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your Father. (NAS) Matt 10:30 "But the very hairs of your head are all numbered. (NAS) He knows what the future holds – not only the future, but our future Isa 46:9-10 The whole plan of the ages has been known to God for all eternity – That’s what the book of the Revelation is about, really that’s what then entire Bible is about. 4. He is immutable - God does not change James 1:17 Every good thing bestowed and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation, or shifting shadow. (NAS)
Unchangeableness We can define the unchangeableness of God as follows: God is unchanging in his being, perfections, purposes, character, counsel, and His promises, yet He does act and feel emotions, and he acts and feels differently in response to different situations.(from Systematic Theology, Copyright © 1994 by Wayne Grudem. All rights reserved.) Malachi 3:6 — -"For I am the LORD, I change not." James 1:17 — "Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning."
But what about? Jonah 3:10 — "And God saw their works, that they turned from their evil way; and God repented of the evil, that he had said that he would do unto them; and he did it not." Here it says that God repented. Unlike man, who under the conviction of sin feels genuine remorse and sorrow, God is free from sin. he relents or changes his dealings with men according to his sovereign purposes. God remained the same in character, infinitely hating sin, and in His purpose to visit sin with judgment. But as Nineveh changed in its attitude toward sin, God changed in His attitude toward Nineveh. God remains the same, His attitude toward sin and righteousness are unchanging, His dealings with men change as men turn from sin to repentance. That’s the message of salvation - the wages of sin is death but the gift of God is eternal life. God's character remains always the same, but His dealings with men change as men change from a position of hatred and animosity towards God's hatred of sin to a position that is pleasing to his love of righteousness. Genesis 6:6 is another example (1) Man's wickedness was so great and so abhorrent that his very creation was an object of great grief to God. This does not imply that God wished He had not created man. Rather it suggests God grieved that He had. Many things we do grieve us, and yet, all things considered, we do not wish that we had not done them. What does this mean for us today? It means we can be sure of our salvation. It means that salvation is by grace through faith today just as it has always been. It means salvation will be by grace through faith tomorrow and the day after. There will be no updates or add ons. Everything in this world changes. What we think we know today we find out we didn’t know tomorrow. If we learn anything in this world it’s that fact that things change. This week there was an email about pop history on the internet someone sent. My daughter didn’t know why you would put a cap with holes in it on an RC cola bottle, she had no idea what a mimeograph machine was or where the dimmer switch used to be on cars. We live in a computer generation but many of them have never heard of DOS. And you might know the price of gas this morning but not this afternoon. But God does not change and your salvation and the means of obtaining it does not change and will not change. Our God is not like the gods of men He alone is eternal, infinite, omnipotent, omnipresent, omniscient and unchangeable. When we surrender all to Him we can rest assured whatever may come we are in good hands. Will you surrender your all to Him today? |