190 Sermon Illustrations on God

Do you wander abroad in foreign lands? Are you solitary among crowds? Are you weary of seeing endless faces that have no history for you and touch no string in your nature, and do you at last come upon a countryman speaking your language, your sweet mother tongue, whom you distinguish by ear before you can see him, and do you cry out, "Our countryman! our countryman"? How much is there in that our, which appropriates! How much pride and affection is blended with the appropriation when we say, "Our circle, our family, our companion, our friends, our child!" How many circuits of love does this word take! And how vast is the meaning when the soul, looking upon God, clasps him with this embrace, and is able to say, "My Father"; or when men standing as a congregation of Christians are able to say "Our Father!"

Many in this day set God aside, and hold the view that each man, in some sense, is another little god in himself. I have no sympathy with such a view. None shall go further than I in estimating the sacredness of man; but to my thought, what man is, he is by virtue of his connection with God. Broken off, he is like a branch broken off from the vine. No matter how fine those leaves are, no matter how beautiful those clusters are, they at once begin to wither and shrink, and tomorrow will be severed from the branch, fit for nothing but to be gathered up and burned. The man in whose veins flows the sap of the vine; the man who carries in him the blood of Christ; the man whose reason is daily summoned by the inspiration of God; the man whose affections are daily purified by the inflowing affections of God; the man who has the dependence of weakness and love jointly, and lies in the bosom of the great All-father, and is strong because God is strong, though weak in and of himself-that man is sacred.

After the Mutiny, some wounded soldiers were brought home from India in a vessel that was found to have water rising in her hold before the voyage was half finished; and night and day the pumps had to be kept working. The noise of the machinery most sadly inconvenienced the sick men on board; and many times they begged the chief officer to stop the pumps, so that they could rest their shattered nerves. This, of course, he dared not do; but being a God-fearing man, he prayed most earnestly that God would send a stiff gale to hasten them on their way. But only calm weather accompanied them: the calmest weather ever experienced on that voyage by any of the crew. When at last the sad journey was over, and the ship safe in dock, she was examined for the cause of the leak, when it was found that a bad hole had been made in her side below the water line, which was only covered by a sheet of copper held by two rails. Only the calm weather had saved her. The "stiff gale" prayed for must certainly have sent her to the bottom of the sea!

One Sunday morning an instructor in a theological school was sharing a seat with a small boy on a shuttle train, says the Philadelphia Bulletin. The boy was holding a Sunday-school lesson leaflet.

"Do you go to Sunday school, my boy?" asked the man in a friendly way.

"Yes, sir."

"Tell me, my boy," continued the man, thinking to have some fun with the lad, "tell me where God is, and I'll give you an apple."

The boy looked up sharply at the man and promptly replied, "I will give you a whole barrel of apples if you will tell me where He is not."

Years ago a gentleman in Ireland had a farm, about a mile and a half from his house. It was situated on the side of a hill, and from his attic window he could get a view of every portion of the land. He would often go to this window, with a powerful telescope, and about five minutes every day he would spend in this way, examining what his workers were doing, and whether the work of the farm was being carried on properly or not. The men happened to know this, and it often quickened them in their various duties to know that the master's eye from the little attic window might possibly at that very moment be resting upon them. Our Master's eye is always resting upon us. He sees and knows all we think, or do, or say, and yet how many people act as though God were both blind and deaf!

So long as a man is living for himself and honoring himself, there is an association, however remote it may be, with all the lowest forms of selfishness in which men have lived; but the moment a man begins to live in genuine adoration of the absolute good, and worship God, he parts company from all these lower orders of human life .... When you say to God, "O God, take me, for the highest thing that I can do with myself is to give myself to Thee," you sweep into the current of the best, the holiest, and the most richly human of our humanity, which in every age has dedicated itself to God.

-Phillips Brooks

Here is another poignant quotation by John Hall:

"Moses was a true servant of God, called to and fitted for His great work. But Moses had times of great anxiety. Then he made his appeal to God, recalled God's gracious words, and as we read the record we see how faithfully God fulfilled His promises to him. So God's children, passing through a fallen world, and with remaining evil within-against which there must be watchfulness and war-have times of fear, of deep anxiety; and there is one way, and but one, of getting out of them: 'Call upon me in the day of trouble: I will deliver thee, and thou shalt glorify me'" (Psalms 50:15).

-John Hall

The summer is smiling around, and trees and flowers return the smile. Many have the charms of country life around them all the year. Now the dwellers in the cities begin to seek the clear air and the beautiful surroundings of the country home. Well, here is a fresh call to remember the Creator. It is not only that astronomy displays His power and wisdom. You consider the lilies how they grow. As the charms and beauties of these "products of nature," as we sometimes say, forgetting that nature is only a name for what God has made-as these attract and delight us, let us look up and think of our Father, the maker of all.

-John Hall

As the sun shines upon a bank of snow, no two of all the myriad particles catch His light alike or give the same interpretation of His glory. Have you ever imagined such a purpose for your commonplace existence? If you have, you must have asked yourself what the quality is in a man's life which can make it reflective of God-capable of bearing witness of Him. There is some quality in the polished brass or in the calm lake that makes it able to send forth again the sunlight that descends upon it. What is it in a soul that makes it able to do the same to the God who sheds Himself upon its life? The Bible is not so much an action of the soul as it is a quality in the soul permitting God to do His divine actions through it. The love of God is a new nature, a new fiber, a new fineness and responsiveness in the soul itself, by which God is able to express Himself upon and through it as He cannot when He finds only the medium of the coarse material of an unloving heart.

For we know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God, an house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens (2 Corinthians 5:1).

Death is mysterious and awful to man naturally. Hence it is feared, under the influence of natural religion, all the world, over, except where even natural religion is put aside by some attractive error. The religion of our Bibles recognizes its solemnity, but removes the terror, and shows how mortality is swallowed up of life. The disciple of Christ passes from death unto life. It is not merely that there is a Father's house above, but the spirit enters into it in a state of perfection never reached on earth. The soul, absent from the body, is at home with the Lord.

God is the only final dream of man. Door after door opens; there is no final chamber till we come where He sits. All that ought to be done in the world has a right to know itself as finally done for Him.

It is God, and the discovery of Him in life, and the certainty that He has plans for our lives, and is doing something with them, that gives us a true, deep sense of movement, and lets us always feel the power and delight of unknown coming things.

-Phillips Brooks

As a boy in Oklahoma my family would spend a lot of time on the creeks and rivers. As a small boy my Dad would take me by the hand and would wade out to the sandbar in the streams. The swift water was dark and often over my head, but how I loved and enjoyed the water, because of my father's hand. My father is dead, and if asked, "What do you miss about your Dad?" it would be his hand.

All of us today do have a hand we can hold on to. It is the hand of God. We can remember the words of the Psalms: "If I take the wings of the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea; even there shall thy hand lead me, and thy right hand shall hold me" (Psalms 139:9, Psalms 139:10).

Today we must take hold of the right thing in our life, for holding on to the wrong thing will end in death. The story is told of a sailor on one of the sailing ships of the last century. He tumbled out of the rigging. In his fall he caught with both hands a rope; and observers said, he is saved! But the rope itself had no fastening, and he fell further and faster as the rope played out, till he struck the deck a mangled mass. A man may attempt to save himself by will-power; but what if the will itself has no hold on God!

Proverbs 16:25 says, "There is a way that seemeth right unto a man; but the end thereof are the ways of death."

-J. F. Carter

"...Master, which is the great commandment in the law? Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord, thy God, with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like it, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets" (Matthew 22:36-40).

We are hearing it backwards these days. This self-esteem stuff is getting way too much of the spotlight. God-esteem isn't even a recognizable catch phrase: and what God thinks of me is infinitely more important than anything I could ever think about myself.

Ponder this: Healthy self-esteem either comes as a by-product of doing right or else it is not healthy at all. So it would seem that we ought to quit focusing on how we feel about ourselves and simply set about the life of serving our Lord.

Add this to the mix: Jesus said that even when we have done all the commandments, we are still unprofitable servants who have only done what was their duty to do (see Luke 17:7-10). So, what could I ever do that I could hold up as reason for thinking highly about myself?

When has God ever taught His people to focus on their self-esteem? What He has always taught us is that we must trust in Him and keep His commandments. What we will find is that in living a life of trusting Him and keeping His commandments, cheerfully serving God and our fellow man, self-esteem will take care of itself. It becomes a by-product that no one really pays much attention to or worries about. It just comes. And even as it comes, no one really gives it much thought. As a matter of fact it will probably never be an issue with us at all while we do our best to keep those two commandments.

So we can put an end to the pity parties. We can quit moping and whining, and just do what's right. And if we don't want to do that ... then we don't have any right or reason to feel good about ourselves. After all, shame has its place, too. But that's another lesson.

-Marty Kessler

A rabbi was forced by persecution to leave his homeland, according to an ancient Hebrew story, and to wander about in distant countries. His only earthly possessions, other than the clothing he wore and a copy of the Scriptures, were a lamp by which he studied and a donkey upon which he rode.

Late one evening, after a long day's journey, he came upon a small village where he sought shelter for the night. The villagers, however, turned him away. The only shelter this weary rabbi was able to find was next to a wall which surrounded a well on the outskirts of the village.

Trying to make the best of the situation, he lit his lamp and began to read from the Scriptures. Soon a violent wind arose and repeatedly blew out the lamp. Unable to read in the darkness, he reclined against the wall and tried to go to sleep. His rest was soon disturbed, however, by the nearby roar of a lion. He looked over the wall just in time to see the lion dragging his slaughtered donkey into the underbrush.

The rabbi was overwhelmed with distress, grief, and a sense of self-pity. He tried praying to God, but his prayers were hindered by the many complaints and embittered sentiments which kept going through his mind. Finally, in exhaustion, he fell into a deep sleep.

The next morning, upon awaking and coming from behind the shelter of the wall, he beheld a shocking sight. On the streets of the village lay the mutilated bodies of the villagers; slain by a vicious band of marauders who had descended from the hills during the night.

It was only then that the rabbi began to understand, and to put his losses in perspective. If the villagers had received him, he also would have been killed. If the lion had not killed and dragged away his donkey, its presence may have given him away. He had learned a valuable lesson: Sometimes great gain comes from great loss!

-Al Maxey (Abridged)

Mr. Spurgeon once had a singular experience. He had been out in the country to preach, and, when traveling back to London, suddenly found that he had lost his railway ticket. A gentleman, the only other occupant of the compartment, noticing that he was fumbling about in his pocket, said, "I hope you have not lost anything, sir?" Mr. Spurgeon thanked him, and told him that he had lost his ticket, and that by a remarkable coincidence he had neither watch nor money with him. "But," added Mr. Spurgeon, "I am not at all troubled, for I have been on my Master's business, and I am quite sure all will be well. I have had so many interpositions of Divine Providence, in small matters as well as great ones, that I feel as if, whatever happens to me, I am bound to fall on my feet...." The gentleman seemed interested, and said that no doubt all would be right. When the ticket collector came to the compartment, the collector touched his hat to Mr. Spurgeon's companion, who simply said, "All right, William," whereupon the man again saluted and retired. After he had gone Mr. Spurgeon said to the gentleman, "It is very strange that the collector did not ask for my ticket." "No, Mr. Spurgeon," he replied, using his name for the first time, "it is only another illustration of what you told me about the Providence of God watching over you, even in small matters; I am the general manager of the line, and it was no doubt divinely arranged that I should be your companion just when I could be of service to you."

One hundred Puritans sail across the ocean on the "Mayflower" and in New England find a home where they can serve God according to the dictates of their conscience. Persecution in England being continued, men cross the Atlantic to join the Pilgrim Fathers, in a land where religion and liberty have found a sure home. In ten years twenty thousand persecuted Englishmen find a refuge in that Western land. A Protestant colony is founded by sturdy, resolute men; not only were they religious men, but they were the noblest class of emigrants who ever left the shore of any land, and in that new land God's Church prospered, and today Protestant America is the result of men flying from one land to another for liberty to serve God. He guided the Mayflower across the sea and watched over the infant colony and founded His church on free American soil.

Are you extremely proud of your lifetime accomplishments?

It was on November 21 of 1877 that Thomas Edison announced to the world that he had invented the phonograph.

Edison's accomplishments are often forgotten. In his Menlo Park, New Jersey fix-it shop he designed the following items: the household light bulb, a motion picture device, the telephone transmitter, stock ticker improvements, the mimeograph machine, the dictating machine and much more. If anyone had a right to brag, Edison did. However, he humbly acknowledged he couldn't create the simplest form of life.

The Creator of everything and everyone has this perspective on bragging rights. He inspired: "Let not the wise man boast of his wisdom or the strong man boast of his strength or the rich man boast of his riches, but let him who boasts boast about this: that he understands and knows me, that I am the LORD" (Jeremiah 9:23, Jeremiah 9:24 NIV. When you understand how incomparable your Creator is and then realize how your knowledge, talents and wealth are but gifts from his limitless storehouse, then and only then will you discover how few bragging rights you really have.

Reflections

God's promises are ever on the ascending scale. One leads up to another, fuller and more blessed than itself. In Mesopotamia, God said, "I will show thee the land." At Bethel, "This is the land." In Canaan, "I will give thee all the land, and children innumerable as the grains of sand." It is thus that God allures us to saintliness. Not giving us anything till we have dared to act-that He may test us. Not giving everything at first-that He may not overwhelm us. And always keeping in hand an infinite reserve of blessing. Oh, the unexplored remainders of God! Who ever saw His last star?

-F. B. Meyer

1 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 1

God’s Nature and Attributes

…a brief, systematic Bible search

– - – - – slide above, notes below – - – -

A. Today’s lesson is complementary to the subject of our morning service,

1. Where we will look at Isaiah 40:12-31

2. “God Is Incomparable”

2 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 2

The Knowability of God

Is it possible for man, the created being to come to knowledge about God, the Creator?

– - – - – slide above, notes below – - – -

A. We are in the position of the clay on the potter’s wheel

B. It seems arrogant to talk about knowing God

3 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 3

God is beyond our knowledge…

A. “There is no one holy like the LORD, Indeed, there is no one besides Thee, Nor is there any rock like our God.” (1 Samuel 2:2 NAS)

B. “Great is the LORD, and highly to be praised; And His greatness is unsearchable.” (Psalms 145:3 NAS)

– - – - – slide above, notes below – - – -

A. Many times we find statements in the Holy Scriptures to this effect: you cannot understand God … He is too great, too exalted, too perfect for us to understand

4 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 4

Yet, we CAN know God …

A. Jesus said, “And this is eternal life, that they may know Thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom Thou hast sent.” (John 17:3 NAS)

B. And the evangelist John later wrote, “And we know that the Son of God has come, and has given us understanding, in order that we might know Him who is true, and we are in Him who is true, in His Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God and eternal life.” (1 John 5:20 NAS)

– - – - – slide above, notes below – - – -

A. As Christians it is important that we be assured that we CAN know God, we CAN have a personal relationship with Him

B. This is the purpose of the entry of the Son of God into the world as Jesus of Nazareth, the promised Christ

C. So, we come to this conclusion:

1. God can be known

2. But it is impossible for man to have knowledge of Him that is exhaustive and perfect in every way

D. And the second verse in front of you introduces the next statement

5 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 5

How can we know God?

A. Self-revelation is a prerequisite of all knowledge of God

1. Without God’s spoken words, His revelation of Himself, we cannot learn about Him

2. Even the witness from the world around us, is from God: “and yet He did not leave Himself without witness, in that He did good and gave you rains from heaven and fruitful seasons, satisfying your hearts with food and gladness.” (Acts 14:17 NAS)

– - – - – slide above, notes below – - – -

A. If God had not spoken

1. through all the prophets from Moses to Zachariah

2. then through His Son

3. Then through the apostles

B. We could not know what He is like: this is the problem with every false religion and substitute religion in the world today, that they ignore the self-declaration by God Himself

6 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 6

What is God’s Essence?

God is radically different from man in His Essence (being) …can we even begin to perceive His essence?

– - – - – slide above, notes below – - – -

A. God is not just a ‘big man’ but a Being unlike ourselves

B. This creates a separation which our minds find impossible to span.

7 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 7

God’s Being

A. The Bible uses many anthropomorphisms, using the human body to describe God: His arm (power), ear (attentiveness to prayer), eye (knowledge of our actions) and so on. These pictures of the material world help us understand a God who is immaterial.

B. How did Jesus describe God’s being to the woman at the well? (John 4:24)

1. “God is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.” (NAS)

– - – - – slide above, notes below – - – -

A. So, for those who have the Spirit of God residing in them by the grace of God, there is a possibility of our new spiritual nature knowing this God.

B. Therefore, Paul can say: “so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; and that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled up to all the fullness of God.” (Ephesians 3:17-19 NAS)

8 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 8

God’s self-declared name

A. The Names of God are revelations of His Being, His Nature and are a special study in themselves; but the what does the Name He gives to Moses, “I AM THAT I AM” (Exodus 3:14) tell us about God’s essence?

1. God exists because He exists

2. He exists without dependence upon any external being or matter for His existence

B. Similarly, from God’s telling us, we can know God’s attributes; what He is like

– - – - – slide above, notes below – - – -

A. We could study the many various names of God

1. Such as Jehovah-Tsidkenu, the LORD our Righteousness

2. Or Jehovah-Sabbaoth, the LORD of Hosts

3. And each is a self-revelation by God of Himself, His Nature, His Character

9 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 9

First Group of God’s Attributes

Attributes of God that distinguish His Essence (Being) from all others

10 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 10 John 5:26 (NAS)

A. “For just as the Father has life in Himself, even so He gave to the Son also to have life in Himself” (John 5:26 NAS)

B. God is …

1. Self-existent and independent (as already discussed in His Name, “I AM THAT I AM” which is considered to be the root idea of His Name “Jehovah” or “YAHWEH”)

11 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 11

Psalm 102:26-27, Malachi 3:6

A. “Even they will perish, but Thou dost endure; And all of them will wear out like a garment; Like clothing Thou wilt change them, and they will be changed. But Thou art the same, And Thy years will not come to an end.” (Psalms 102:26-27 NAS)

B. “For I, the LORD, do not change; therefore you, O sons of Jacob, are not consumed.” (Malachi 3:6 NAS)

1. God is changeless

– - – - – slide above, notes below – - – -

A. The immutability of God …the fact that He does not change

1. Has some logical consequences

2. It implies, as is stated in the first of these passages, that He must therefore be eternal

3. With His other attributes – power, knowledge, wisdom – it implies His perfection

4. And it is consistent with other attributes such as His faithfulness

12 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 12

Matthew 5:48

A. “Therefore you are to be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.” (Matthew 5:48 NAS)

1. God is perfect

– - – - – slide above, notes below – - – -

A. Here Jesus states specifically what we might conclude from the previous

13 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 13

Psalm 90:2, 2 Peter 3:8

A. “Before the mountains were born, Or Thou didst give birth to the earth and the world, Even from everlasting to everlasting, Thou art God.” (Psalms 90:2 NAS)

B. “But do not let this one fact escape your notice, beloved, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.” (2 Peter 3:8 NAS)

1. God is eternal; He stands outside of time

14 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 14

1 Kings 8:27, Psalm 139:7-10

A. “But will God indeed dwell on the earth? Behold, heaven and the highest heaven cannot contain Thee, how much less this house which I have built!” (1 Kings 8:27 NAS) – also look at Psalm 139:7-10

B. God is

1. Immense (goes beyond this universe)

2. Omnipresent and immanent (pervading this universe)

– - – - – slide above, notes below – - – -

A. “Where can I go from Thy Spirit? Or where can I flee from Thy presence? If I ascend to heaven, Thou art there; If I make my bed in Sheol, behold, Thou art there. If I take the wings of the dawn, If I dwell in the remotest part of the sea, Even there Thy hand will lead me, And Thy right hand will lay hold of me.” (Psalms 139:7-10 NAS)

15 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 15

1 Kings 8:60, Zechariah 14:9

A. “so that all the peoples of the earth may know that the LORD is God; there is no one else.” (1 Kings 8:60 NAS)

B. “And the LORD will be king over all the earth; in that day the LORD will be the only one, and His name the only one.” (Zechariah 14:9 NAS)

C. God is

1. One in that He is Unique, the only One who can bear the Name “Jehovah” or “YAHWEH”

– - – - – slide above, notes below – - – -

A. We have already touched on this and will do so further in the morning service: God Is Incomparable

16 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 16

Deut 6:4, 1 Timothy 2:5

A. “Hear, O Israel! The LORD is our God, the LORD is one!” (Deuteronomy 6:4 NAS)

B. “For there is one God, and one mediator also between God and men, the man Christ Jesus,” (1 Timothy 2:5 NAS)

C. God is

1. One in that He is Unity, He is indivisible

2. The Trinity is NOT three Gods, but One, in whom there are three distinct manifestations for whom we use the term ‘Persons’

– - – - – slide above, notes below – - – -

A. The word ‘one’ in Deuteronomy 6:4 is perhaps better translated as ‘oneness’ or ‘unity’

B. Note that it is not the divine aspect of the Lord Jesus Christ who acts as Mediator, not the Son of God, but the human aspect, the Son of Man. Even in saying that, we perceive that the nature of the Lord Jesus Christ is beyond comprehension. We shall look at this somewhat next Sunday in the morning service when we look at Philippians 2 and ‘The Emptying of God the Son’

17 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 17

Summation of these attributes

A. What has distinguished this first grouping of attributes of God that we have just looked at …His self-existence, His immutability, His perfection, His eternality, His immensity, His Oneness …how do they compare with our nature?

1. These are attributes that only God as an Absolute Being can possess

2. They cannot be applied or assumed in any sense in humankind

– - – - – slide above, notes below – - – -

A. These are sometimes called God’s ‘incommunicable’ attributes.

B. In this phrase, communicable is used in the same sense as in ‘communicable diseases’

C. These are incommunicable because they cannot be communicated, or passed along, to humans.

18 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 18

A Second Group of Attributes

This group differs from the first; you should think of how they differ as we look at them.

19 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 19

John 4:24, 1 Timothy 1:17

A. “God is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.” (John 4:24 NAS)

B. “Now to the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honour and glory forever and ever. Amen.” (1 Timothy 1:17 NAS)

C. God is

1. Spiritual; that is, immaterial, undetectable and unapproachable by our physical senses

– - – - – slide above, notes below – - – -

A. Spiritual is used in the Bible in contrast to

1. Carnal or fleshly

2. Material or physical

20 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 20

Psalm 147:4

A. “Great is our Lord, and abundant in strength; His understanding is infinite.” (Psalms 147:5 NAS)

B. God is

1. Infinite in His knowledge

– - – - – slide above, notes below – - – -

A. God’s knowledge is absolute

B. It is innate (not learned from others or experience) … there is a verse form Isaiah 40 in our sermon this morning that speaks to this fact … see if you can spot it!

C. God’s knowledge encompasses

1. The past, present and future

2. All of His plans and purposes

3. What is in the innermost intents of a man’s heart: “”I, the LORD, search the heart, I test the mind, Even to give to each man according to his ways, According to the results of his deeds.” (Jeremiah 17:10 NAS)

21 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 21

Psalm 147:4

A. “Great is our Lord, and abundant in strength; His understanding is infinite.” (Psalms 147:5 NAS)

1. God is Infinite in His knowledge

2. and, this includes His foreknowledge

– - – - – slide above, notes below – - – -

A. And includes his foreknowledge of contingent (that is, “if …then …”) events: “”Oh that My people would listen to Me, That Israel would walk in My ways! “I would quickly subdue their enemies, And turn My hand against their adversaries.” (Psalms 81:13-14 NAS) … the King James puts this in the past tense, but the implication is the same in either case … God knows what His actions are even in events that do or did not come to pass (this is a concept that gives many difficulty and they therefore deny either man’s freedom and responsibility or God’s foreknowledge)

22 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 22

Hebrews 6:18

A. “in order that by two unchangeable things, in which it is impossible for God to lie, we may have strong encouragement, we who have fled for refuge in laying hold of the hope set before us.” (Hebrews 6:18 NAS)

B. God is

1. Truthful in what He says and what He promises

– - – - – slide above, notes below – - – -

A. From the fact of God’s truthfulness, together with the fact that He is immutable, we can also conclude that He is faithful … another attribute which we will just mention this morning

23 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 23

I John 4:7-8, 10

A. “Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. The one who does not love does not know God, for God is love. … In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins.” (1 John 4:7-10 NAS)

B. God is …

1. Love

– - – - – slide above, notes below – - – -

A. Not just shows love, or has love, but it is an innate part of His Being

24 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 24

Psalm 86:15

A. “But Thou, O Lord, art a God merciful and gracious, Slow to anger and abundant in lovingkindness and truth.” (Psalms 86:15 NAS)

B. God is …

1. Merciful

2. Gracious

3. Slow to anger

4. Full of lovingkindness

5. Full of truth

25 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 25

Leviticus 19:2

A. “”Speak to all the congregation of the sons of Israel and say to them, ‘You shall be holy, for I the LORD your God am holy.” (Leviticus 19:2 NAS)

B. God is …

1. Holy

– - – - – slide above, notes below – - – -

A. Holy, meaning sanctified or separated, does not simply speak of God being exalted and transcendent, but it means that He is pure, separated from sin, with no taint of its blemish

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1 Timothy 6:15

A. “which He will bring about at the proper time—He who is the blessed and only Sovereign, the King of kings and Lord of lords;” (1 Timothy 6:15 NAS)

B. God is …

1. Sovereign, ruler, the One who accomplishes His will as and when He sees fit

– - – - – slide above, notes below – - – -

A. Now, remember our question about this second group of attributes? How do these differ from the first (or ‘incommunicable’ attributes).

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Summation of Second Group

A. What makes this group of attributes — He is spiritual, He is knowing, He is truthful, He is love, He is merciful, gracious, slow to anger, full of lovingkindness, He is holy, He is ruling — differ from the first group? Like the first group, God possesses these absolutely; unlike the first …?

1. These are communicable attributes: they can be passed on to God’s created creature, man

– - – - – slide above, notes below – - – -

A. Note, though, that while these attributes (and others which we have not looked at) are found perfectly in God, they are only found imperfectly in man, in Christians, and that will be the case as long as we are in this world. When Christ returns we are told “Beloved, now we are children of God, and it has not appeared as yet what we shall be. We know that, when He appears, we shall be like Him, because we shall see Him just as He is.” (1 John 3:2 NAS) This is part of our becoming conformed to the image of Christ. What a future we anticipate!

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The last time I talked about being on top of a grain bin. Last week I was up on top of Grandpa Neal’s barn repairing the roof. It seems the higher I get off the ground the more I think about God.

When you are up there only 2 things worry you, wind and gravity. You can’t see the wind. You can’t grasp the wind. But it will sure blow you off the ladder. That wouldn’t be a problem if it weren’t for gravity. You can’t see it either. You can’t grasp it. You really can’t feel it. But you know it is going to affect you, and gravity doesn’t respect anyone. We are all affected equally by it.

God is kind of like that. You can’t see Him. You can’t reach out and physically grasp Him. And we all are affected equally by Him. In Romans 3:23 we are told, “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.”

We all have sinned equally. One little bitty sin or a whole bunch of big ones, it doesn’t matter. We all have fallen short of the glory of God.

But now that you are knocked off your ladder, read the rest of the thought, Romans 3:24, “and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.”

Even though we have sinned we are made righteous because of what Jesus did for us. That is why we take communion. The communion service is to remind us of the sacrifice Jesus made for us. Of His broken body and of His spilled blood.

We take communion in remembrance of Jesus.