| Andrew Lim
4 May 2008
In the beginning of time ancient people didn’t know God as God
He was terrified of the vast and wild jungle
and he believed it to be inhabited by all kinds of spiritual forces
at war with one another
wind against water / sun against moon
male against female / life against death
He believed that there must be as many gods
as there are needs he wanted met / for his survival
- a god of the spring planting / a god of the harvest
- a god who puts fish in the fishermen's nets
- a god who specializes in caring for the females during childbirths
Each god demanded a bribe or a flattery.
and to keep the harmony / they had to be appeased
and people didn’t quite know what exactly to do
for what pleased one deity / often enraged another
When Moses came along / he knew he was talking to a people
who had been surrounded for 400 years
by a variety of Egyptian gods and goddesses
- they worshipped anything from the dung beetle to the Nile River
Moses also knew that the land of Canaan
was inhabited by a pagan people enslaved by gods and goddesses
and these gods held the Canaanites
and the surrounding nations captive / by fear and superstition
Then slowly/ through the process of time
God revealed Himself to be One God
“Hear O Israel / The Lord our God is ONE Lord!”
The Jews declared it / The Christians proclaimed it / The Muslims echoed it
It seemed to be the greatest discovery ever made / God is ONE God
When people came to know that God is one / it changed their lives
- they stopped believing the storm demons
- they stopped believing in the evil fiend
that brought earthquakes and tidal waves
- they stopped believing in the genie
that inflicted the harvest with diseases
- people stopped fooling around with gnomes and elfs and djinns
How very liberating
- no longer do you need to put on talismans around your waist
- no longer do with have
to water the great oak trees with the blood of virgins
- the altars of Molech / upon which the breasts of tender children
were cut open in sacrifice / were all smashed
- the erotic orgies
like those celebrated by the Baal followers / were swept away
Belief in One God / had this tremendous purging power!
And they came to know Who this ONE God is
And they came to know that only because God revealed Himself to them
What we know about God / we know because He has revealed Himself to us
Had he chosen to remain hidden / we would still be / in the dark
So Who has God revealed Himself to be?
When we say / in the Creed / “I believe in God”
Who is this God that we say we believe in? / What is He like?
To understand that / we go to what the Bible says He is like?
We look for His nature / character / what theologians call His attributes
and I want for us / this morning
to take a look at four aspects of God’s character
First / God knows all things / we say God is omniscient
God knows and perceives all mind / all matter / all spirit / all being
all thought / all mysteries / all enigmas / all feeling / all desires
every unuttered secret / all things visible and invisible
in heaven and in earth
motion / space / time / life / death / good / evil / heaven / and hell
He knows the timing of every birth and death
He knows all human history and civilization
And God’s knowledge is perfect and complete
You can’t throw God / a surprise party / can you?
The Psalmist tells us / “His understanding is infinite” / Psalm 147:5
Tozer says “Only the Infinite can know the infinite”
Because He is an infinite God / He possesses infinite knowledge
Kuiper says “All things are constantly before the mind
of the timeless God / and His remembrance of them is perfect”
The writer of Proverbs says / “The eyes of the Lord are in every place
beholding the evil and the good” / Prov 15:3
He knows every intent of your thoughts / 1 Chronicles 28:9
He knows the number and names of all the stars / Psalm 147:4
He knew before Jeremiah was conceived in his mother’s womb
that he would be a prophet / Jeremiah 1:5
He knew before the apostle Paul was born
that he would reach out to the Gentiles / Galatians 1:15-16
He knew what was in Nathaniel’s heart
even before He spoke a word to him
The first time Jesus laid eyes on Nathaniel He said
“Behold / an Israelite indeed / in whom is no guile!” / John 1:47
He knew who was going to betray Him
“Behold / The hand of the one who is going to betray me
is with mine on the table. Luke 22:21-22
He said to Peter / “Peter / before the rooster crows
you will have three times denied that you know me” / Lk 22:34
He saw Cain slaying Abel / He heard Sarah laughing in her tent
He saw Achan burying the bar of gold in the sand
He heard David plotting the death of Uriah /scheming to seduce his wife
He saw the hands of Judas reaching out to receive the 30 pieces of silver
But perhaps more amazing than all this / He knows everything about us
Psalms 139 is a classic statement on this
He knows when we sit down / when we stand up / v.2
He knows our thoughts even before we ourselves think them / v.2
In fact / even when a word is still on our tongues
before it ever comes out of our mouths / He know it / v.4
He knows all our ways / v.3
In fact / in the end / David threw his hands up in the air / and exclaims:
Such knowledge is too wonderful for me
It is too high / I cannot attain to it” / v. 6
God’s knowledge is all-encompassing / comprehensive
Nothing lies outside the scope of God’s grasp
Nothing can happen to you that God does not already know
He knows no thing better than any other thing
He knows all things equally well
He never discovers anything / He never learns anything new
He never wonders about anything
When He asked the woman who touched the hem of His garment
“Who touched me?” / it wasn’t that He need to learn something new
He asked that question to draw her
comprehend a truth / that He Himself already knows
God’s knowledge is innate and inherent / nobody taught God what He knows
I love that verse in Isaiah 40
“Who has understood the mind of the LORD
or instructed him as his counsellor?
Whom did the LORD consult to enlighten him
and who taught him the right way?
Who was it that taught him knowledge
or showed him the path of understanding? / Isaiah 40:13-14
God’s knowledge never changes
He does not increase or decrease in knowledge
He does not now know more / than He did a century ago
He has always known all things infinitely from all eternity
He didn’t acquire what He knows from somewhere else
He does not come to know through observation / consultation / or study
He simply “knows” / by virtue of Him being Who He is
If God needs to acquire a piece of knowledge
that He didn’t have before / He would be imperfect
Tozer says / To think of a God who must sit at the feet of a teacher
even though that teacher be an archangel or a seraph
is to think of someone other than the Most High God
maker of heaven and earth”
And God knows all things most clearly / most distinctively
God’s knowledge is certain / He is never deceived
There is no cloudiness to His knowledge
There is no dimness no obscurity to His vision
1 John 1:5 / “God is light / and in him is no darkness at all”
In fact / “Darkness and light are both alike to him” / Psalms 139:12
Heb 4:13 / “Nothing in all creation is hidden from God's sight
Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes
of him to whom we must give account”
God has perfect knowledge not only of things that exists
but also things which could have happen / but didn’t happen
He says “Woe to you / Bethsaida!
If the miracles that were performed in you
had been performed in Tyre and Sidon
they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes”
Mt 11:21
There are no secrets / you can hide from God
There isn’t one thing secretive in our heart / He does not know
“He knows the secrets of the heart”/ Psalm 44:21
Like Adam some of us think
we can run to the garden and hide among the trees
But where can we hide?
The psalmist says / “Where can I go from your Spirit?
Where can I flee from your presence?
If I go up to the heavens / you are there
If I make my bed in the depths / you are there
If I rise on the wings of the dawn / if I settle on the far side of the sea
even there your hand will guide me
your right hand will hold me fast
If I say / ‘Surely the darkness will hide me
and the light become night around me’
even the darkness will not be dark to you
the night will shine like the day
for darkness is as light to you” / Ps 139
Two / God is unchangeable / He does not change
You have all heard / that one of the certainties of life is the uncertainty of life
and life is uncertain primarily because everything around us changes
The world we live in is changing
People change: children grow up / we grow old
friends become enemies / stranger become friends
Things change: shoes wear out / computers crash / weather goes wonky
Only God alone / is unchanging
God is neither capable of change / nor susceptible to change
Satan may marshal a mighty force / and pit himself against God
God remains unchangeable
The empires of the world / rise and fall
God remains unchangeable
The heavens and the earth will one day vanish
and a new heaven and a new earth take their place
but God remains unchangeable
And even finally when the day comes
for God’s chosen people to enter into glory
and the those who rebelled against Him enter into their damnation
God will remain unchangeable
The Word of God puts it very simply / Heb 13:8
“Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever”
God does not grow older
“In the beginning you laid the foundations of the earth
and the heavens are the work of your hands
They will perish / but you remain / they all wear out like a garment
Like clothing you will change them / and they will be discarded
But you remain the same and your years will never end” / Ps. 102:25-27
“Before the mountains were born
or you brought forth the earth and the world
from everlasting to everlasting you are God” / Ps. 90:2
All that God is / He has always been / and is / and ever will be
And all that God has decreed / will come to pass
“The LORD foils the plans of the nations
he thwarts the purposes of the peoples
But the plans of the LORD stand firm forever
the purposes of his heart / through all generations” / Ps. 33:10-11
“The LORD has sworn / and will not change his mind” / Ps 110:4
“The LORD Almighty has sworn: ‘Surely / as I have planned
so it will be / and as I have purposed / so it will stand’” / Isa. 14:24
“I am God, and there is none like me
declaring the end from the beginning and from ancient times
things not yet done / saying:
‘My counsel shall stand, and I will accomplish all my purpose'’
I have spoken / and I will bring it to pass
I have purposed / and I will do it” / Isa. 46:9-11
“Many are the plans in a man’s heart
but it is the LORD’S purpose that prevails” / Prov. 19:21
“I know that You can do all things
and no plan of Yours can be thwarted” / Job 42:2
And God’s Word is unchangeable / God does not change His words
Psalm 119:89 /
“Your word / O LORD / is eternal / it stands firm in the heavens”
Num 23:19: “God is not a man / that he should lie
nor a son of man / that he should change his mind
Does he speak and then not act? / Does he promise and not fulfil?
When God makes a promises / He keeps it
The promises of God are eternal
Third / God is the holy
If you look up the related words for holiness
you’ll get words like: blamelessness / wholesomeness
awesomeness / blessedness / cleanness / flawlessness / spotlessness
righteousness / sacredness / saintliness
You’ll also get / what I call the “t” words
you’ll also get words like unspeakability / felicity / impeccability
integrity / sanctity / purity / unimpeachability
Now / let’s be careful / God is not holy because He is all that
God is essentially holy in His Being
God is innately holy / in the very essence of His Being
God’s holiness is the crown over all His other attributes
God’s holiness spreads itself throughout all the other attributes
His power is holy power / mercy - holy mercy
wisdom - holy wisdom / love - holy love / justice - holy justice
His holiness is Who He is
He doesn’t conform to some holy standard / He is the standard
There are no degrees to His holiness / He is perfectly holy
In fact God singles out His holiness / as representing His very Being
For example / whenever God takes an oath
He takes an oath by His holiness
Amos 4:2 / “The Sovereign Lord has sworn / by His holiness”
God swears by His “holiness”
because / more than any other single attribute
His holiness / is the fullest expression of Who He is
The Word of God defines God as “the Holy One” / Job 6:10
He is referred to as “the Holy One of Israel” / Isa. 1:4
John says: “God is light / and in Him is no darkness at all” / 1 John 1:5
God appointed singers in Israel
so “that should praise the beauty of holiness” / 2 Chron 20:21
Moses and the sons of Israel said of God
“Who is like You among the gods / O LORD?
Who is like You / glorious in holiness” / Ex 15:11
And Hannah / in her song of thanksgiving / prayed:
“There is no one holy like the LORD / 1 Samuel 2:2
David says: “Holy and awesome is His name: / Ps 111:9
When the prophet Isaiah had this vision the Lord
He saw that above the Lord / stood angels / called “seraphim”
They have six wings and they hover around the throne of God / 6:2
With two wings they cover their feet
The reason the seraphim covered their feet
- because the place where they were standing / was holy ground
They covered their eyes / not their ears
They did not cover their ears
because their task was to listen to what God would say
But they did cover their eyes
because their task / was not to pry into what God is like
They are flying so close to the face of God
they are running the danger
of being consumed by the awesome holiness of God
No creature can come this near to the full glory of God and live
God is sheer brilliance
God is unapproachable / in the sense that no single human has ever seen
or will ever get to see His full glory
Is it any wonder / that after being visited by the angel of the Lord
Manoah the father of Samson / says to his wife:
“We shall surely die / for we have seen God” / Jud 13:22
You’ll remember / by the burning bush / God told Moses
“Do not come near here / remove your sandals from your feet
for the place on which you are standing is holy ground” / Ex 3:5
There is nothing about the ground itself / that made it holy
The ground was holy because God was there
It is God’s presence / that sanctifies the earth beneath His feet
This is why when Moses made that stupid request to see God
God had to first wedge him / into a narrow cleft of rock
And even that / passed by in such a way
that all Moses could see / was His back
For no one could look upon God’s face and live
It would probably suck the breath right out of you
dissolve all your bones / and turn your flesh into ash
vaporising you into pure spirit on the spot
Whenever God has appeared to human people
the impact of His holiness has always been shattering
- there is trembling / Ex. 19:18 / Acts 4:31
- there is smoke / Isa. 4:5 / Ex. 33:9 / there is smell of the incense
Often we hear from people that the reason why they stopped going to church
was that they found it boring
In the Bible / the worship of God is anything but boring
When God appeared in the temple / the doorposts and the thresholds
though made of inanimate materials like wood and metal
shook / for they could to be moved by the presence of God
If people in church could be texting phone messages during worship
then it is a very serious state of affairs
for it tells us / that we have lost the sense of God’s holiness
We live in a time / when the idea of God’s holiness
has virtually evaporated into almost nothingness
The God / in the heart of many Christians / is not the God of the Bible
The God / in the heart of many Christians / is not the God that Isaiah saw
Fourth / God is sovereign
The Bible leaves us / with not a shred of doubt / that God is in control
But what do we mean by this expression / God’s Sovereignty
Arthur Pink says
To say that God is Sovereign is to declare that God is God
To say that God is Sovereign is to declare that He is the Most High
doing according to His will in the army of Heaven
and among the inhabitants of the earth
so that none can stay His hand or say to Him
“What is this you are doing”
To say that God is Sovereign is to declare that He is the Almighty
the Possessor of all power in Heaven and earth
so that none can defeat His counsels / thwart His purpose
or resist His will / Psa. 115:3
To say that God is Sovereign is to declare
that He is “The Governor among the nations”
setting up kingdoms, overthrowing empires / and determining
the course of dynasties as pleases Him best
To say that God is Sovereign is to declare
that He is the “Only Potentate / the King of kings
and Lord of lords”
This is the God / the Bible reveals Him to be
So let’s take it straight from the Bible / Listen to these breathtaking statements!
“I know that you can do all things?
No plan of Yours can be thwarted / Job 42:2
“Our God is in heaven / He does whatever pleases Him” /Ps 115:3
“For the Lord Almighty has purposed / and who can thwart Him?
His hand is stretched out and who can turn it back?? / Is 14:27
“Yes and from ancient days I am he / no one can deliver
out of my hand when I act / who can reverse it” / Is 43:13
“I make known the end from the beginning / from ancient times
what is still to come / My purpose will stand
and I will do / all that I please” / Is 46:10
“He does as He pleases with the powers of heaven
and the people of the earth / No one can hold back His hand
or say to him / “What have you done?”” / Dan 4:35
“Consider what the Lord has done
Who can straighten what the Lord has made crooked” / Ec 7:13
“What He opens no man can shut
and what He shuts no man can open” / Rev 3:7
God is sovereign over rulers and kings
He sets up those in authority / He removes authority
* Proverbs 21:1 / “The king's heart is in the hand of the LORD
Like the rivers of water / He turns it wherever He wishes”
God is sovereign over life and death
Psalm 104 / tells us that God gives people their food
They open their hands / God fills them
When He hides His face / they are thrown into confusion
Now listen to this / when He takes away their breath / they die
and return to their dust
God is sovereign / even over those apparently evil afflictions of life
Exodus 4:11 So the LORD said to him / “Who gave man his mouth?
Who makes him deaf or mute?
Who gives him sight or makes him blind? / Is it not I / the LORD?”
Right here / God openly assumes responsibility
for deafness / muteness / and blindness
We may rightly attribute the direct causes
to an abnormal genes / or careless medical research
but behind them all / stands a sovereign God
whose purposes cannot be frustrated
As Donald Grey Barnhouse once said
No person in this world was ever blind
that God had not planned for him to be blind
No person was ever deaf in this world
that God had not planned for him to be deaf
If you do not believe that / you have a strange God
who has a universe which has gone out of gear
and He cannot control it
We almost always use the expression “the providence of God’
when we talk of something good that has happened to us
e.g. in the providence of God I met a man who gave me a job
But you almost never hear anyone say something like
“In the providence of God / I had an accident
and was paralyzed from my waist down”
We are reluctant to attribute “bad” things
to the intervening hand of God
But the Word of God is clear / He is totally sovereign in “all” things
Rom 9:14 / “I will have mercy on whom I have mercy
and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion”
Lam 3:38 / “I help one / and I harm the other”
Peter was delivered from prison / but John was beheaded
And still further / God is sovereign over the evil and the good
People are offended when we speak of a God
who allows calamites and disaster to happen to innocent people
But what does God’s Word say?
Lamentations 3:37,38
“Who can speak / and have it happen / if the Lord has not decreed it?
Is it not from the mouth of the Most High
that both trouble and good things come ?”
After losing all ten of his children in the collapse of his son's house
Job says / “The LORD gave and the LORD has taken away
Blessed be the name of the LORD” / Job 1:21
After being covered with boils he says: “Shall we indeed accept good
from God and not accept adversity?” / Job 2:10
Remember it was Joseph’s brothers who sold him into slavery
And yet years later / Joseph had this to say to his brothers
Looking at his brothers in the eyes / He said
“It wasn't you who sent me here / but God” / Ge 45:8
Then he added these now famous words / “You intended to harm me
but God intended it for good” / Ge 50:20
People may plot your fall / instigate / gossip /write a dozen letters
and you may indeed end up looking like a victim of their plot
But are you? / Not according to Scriptures!
They may write a dozen letters
but no one can touch you / unless God allows it
And if God allows it / it must be for your good
and for the good of God larger purpose for you
“Who can speak / and have it happen
if the Lord has not decreed it” Lam 3:37
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