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God Is - Do you Really Believe Series
52 Plays9 months ago
In this Sunday’s sermon, Pastor Ridley Barron took us through a transformative journey to better understand the nature of God with his sermon titled "God Is." He illuminated the profound interaction between Moses and the burning bush, emphasizing God's eternal and multifaceted character, and strongly rebutted the need for any physical products, like the Holy Spirit board, to communicate with God, underscoring the innate human connection to the divine. Throughout the sermon, Pastor Barron urged us to simplify our approach to scripture, focusing on the core message of Jesus Christ and salvation, while fostering a personal relationship with our Creator. By highlighting God's attributes—His omnipresence, omniscience, wisdom, goodness, and faithfulness—Barron reminded the congregation of the invitation to align our lives rightly with God. The sermon closed with a powerful prayer, inviting members to recognize God in his full glory and to embrace the joy He finds in us.
TimeStamps:
00:00 Humans seek God, but need His revelation.
04:02 Jesus embodies God in human form, revealing him.
09:43 God's character offers fulfillment and reflection.
10:47 Helps defend the idea of God, gospel conversations.
14:33 God wants personal relationship, not casual approach.
17:35 Sunday school teacher says God created us because of loneliness, but it's not true.
21:59 Moses pleads for God's mercy and promises.
25:00 God is beyond time, aware of everything.
28:15 God's visible manifestations reveal omniscient nature.
32:05 Trust in God's unwavering faith and guidance.
36:16 Sin exists but not in God's presence.
38:41 Jealousy is not a sin, but actions count.
43:04 Right view of God essential for relationship.
45:59 Prayer for new faith and divine presence.
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Transcript
Introduction: Connecting with God Without Cost
00:00:00
Speaker
glad you're here this morning because I'm gonna save you $30 today. Apparently, over the last few weeks, I was just made aware of this morning, Amazon has a new product. It's entitled the Holy Spirit Board, which is taking the place of Ouija boards for Christians.
00:00:21
Speaker
And apparently, if you get this board, you get direct connection to talking to Jesus, although on the box he looks like Moses. And you can use this just for $30 to have a conversation with God.
The Existence of a Higher Being
00:00:34
Speaker
I'm gonna tell you, you can do it for free. You don't have to buy a book.
00:00:39
Speaker
You don't have to buy a board, you don't have to buy a game, and today the reason I'm excited you're here is because we're going to be talking about God just in general, very much about who God is. The world is obviously a mess, right? You look around you, you don't have to take long to see it, to see that the world's struggling in a lot of different ways, but what we know to be true is that
00:01:00
Speaker
in their own way everybody knows just deep down inside there is something out there someone who has created all this even many of the greatest skeptics of history are starting to come around and go well this couldn't have just happened by accident there's got to be somebody behind all this order that's been produced last week when we started this series we were talking about absolute truth well for absolute truth to exist there has to be an absolute truth giver
00:01:26
Speaker
There has to be a standard of truth, and that arbiter of truth has to be somebody who is unchallengeable, I think that's a word, unchallengeable in their character, in their existence, in who they are as a being,
Revelation and Understanding of God
00:01:41
Speaker
okay? So this morning, what we're gonna talk about is that everybody is searching for God. They're just doing it in their own way. In fact, the last count sociologists tell us there are more than 4,200 different religions in the world.
00:01:56
Speaker
4,200 different ways of people trying to find a way to connect to that higher being, to sense a bit of purpose in their lives, to find out why they exist. And so they all have this deep inner sense that he exists and that he's out there. C.S. Lewis said this, if we find ourselves with a desire that nothing in this world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is that we were made for another world.
00:02:25
Speaker
But this search for God by humans is impossible unless God chooses to reveal himself. He is so much higher and above who we are as human beings that our attempts to get him on our own don't work. It's only because of his kindness and his compassion that God has revealed himself to us that we get a chance to see anything of what he is like. This is why the story of Jesus is so amazing.
00:02:52
Speaker
because Jesus is the biggest part of revelation that God has given of Himself. And the reason I say biggest part is because we know that the Word is one way that God reveals Himself, right? All 66 books written over thousands of years by different authors on different continents, and yet there's such a continuity and unity to everything that's written there. We know that God orchestrated this book for us.
00:03:14
Speaker
Then there's the prophets who made prophecies, all of which, well, most of which have come true. The only ones not coming true so far are the ones that pertain to the end of time that have yet to be fulfilled. But most of the prophecies of God have come true. Once again, just revealing who He is. Thirdly, we have just the creation itself.
00:03:34
Speaker
The Bible tells us, we'll read a passage in just a minute, the Bible tells us that everything around us, every part of creation reveals a little bit about who God is and what he desires for us. But the greatest revelation is Jesus himself, the biggest unveiling of who God is. John chapter 1, verse 14 is probably a familiar passage. I'm going to read it from a different translation this morning, the message. It's not usually my favorite translation, but this particular verse, I love the way Eugene Peterson reworded it. It says this,
00:04:04
Speaker
The word became flesh and blood and moved into the neighborhood. We saw the glory with our own eyes, the one of a kind glory, like father, like son. Generous inside and out, true from start to finish. And when it says like father, like son, it's literally saying that when you see Jesus, you see God. When you see the character of Jesus as it's revealed in the scriptures, you come to know God his father because he is a perfect reflection of who he is.
The Story of Moses and God's Revelation
00:04:33
Speaker
So this verse, John 1.14, is right there in the middle of this great beginning, this opening to the book of John, written by John the Apostle, who was probably the most familiar with Jesus during his time on this earth. But right in the middle we read that verse, verse 14, and it seems like this subtle little transition as if John is saying, oh, by the way, God showed up. But what in reality he is saying is this, buckle up and hold on. You've seen the creation.
00:05:03
Speaker
It's all around you. You've read about Noah and his incredible ark in the middle of the desert. You've seen the stories of young boys killing giants and walls falling when people give a shout. You've read the stories of amazing miracles all the way through the Old Testament and how nations were driven out and how prophets predicted all these things and even miracles that came true. But oh, by the way, God's about to show up, buckle up because the very best is still yet to come.
00:05:32
Speaker
You haven't seen anything yet. And so Jesus shows up and begins to reveal all these things to us about God. This is really what this series is about. It's about waking us up, all of us, to a story that is way bigger, infinitely bigger than yours or mine. It is a story that started long before you were born and it will be here long after you and I are gone. To the dismay of many of us, this story is not about us.
00:06:01
Speaker
It already has a star and it's not you. And despite what our culture tells us, that's a really important thing to understand because the culture tells us that God exists for us.
00:06:12
Speaker
Do you hear that and all the things you see around us? God wants to take care of you, God wants to provide for you, and he does, but God didn't create you for you, he created you for his glory. And we're gonna see this as we unpack these traits today. If you've already looked ahead at the listening guide, you're gonna know we're gonna hit a whole lot of stuff and some of it's gonna be fast and some of it's gonna be a little bit more surface than I'd love to give you, but let me just go ahead and tell you this disclaimer. I cut out about 30 of the traits we were gonna talk about.
00:06:40
Speaker
And I actually have a friend who is a pastor who has for over a year on Facebook every single day been listening a different characteristic of God that's revealed from Scripture. Over 400 of them at this point. So I saved you by just doing 16. Human history is filled with many people who have smaller stories, men and women who vainly tried to enlarge their story and make a name for themselves.
00:07:08
Speaker
And in every single instance, it ended in tragedy. It ended in chaos because we know, we know that in the end, it all points back to the one who called himself, I am. I wanna go back to that story because it's an important part of this as we begin to set the table for our conversation today. Exodus chapter three, for those of you who aren't familiar, let me tell you the background of what's happened. Moses,
00:07:35
Speaker
has been born into royalty or adopted by royalty in Egypt. The rest of the Hebrew people have been slaves there for over 400 years in Egypt. But Moses is born, he's adopted as a prince under Pharaoh. He grows up and as an adult one day, he's walking the streets. He sees one of his own kind being mistreated by one of the slave drivers and he kills that man in an effort to protect his friend, if you will.
00:08:02
Speaker
Instantly, he has rushed out into the wilderness, exiled there because of his guilt and his fear of what might happen to him. The Bible tells us he comes across a beautiful woman, that he meets the beautiful woman's dad, they get married, and he becomes a part of the family and becomes a shepherd on the backside of the wilderness, as it's described.
00:08:23
Speaker
One day he is walking through the wilderness with those sheep and on the side of a mountain he sees a bush, the Bible says, is burning but not being consumed. So obviously that gets Moses' attention and he decides to step aside and go see what is happening with that bush. And what happens is an incredible conversation between an ordinary man and an amazing God.
00:08:45
Speaker
And what's so incredible about this is this is literally the first conversation that's recorded between Moses and God. First time God reveals himself to him in a very personal way.
00:08:56
Speaker
And so they begin this conversation. God says, you're gonna deliver my people. Moses says, you got the wrong guy. I'm not him. Moses continues to give excuses. God continues to insist. And then Moses in verse 13 gets to this excuse. He says, Moses asked God, if I go to the Israelites and say to them, the God of your ancestors has sent me to you and they asked me, what is his name? What should I tell them?
00:09:20
Speaker
God replied to Moses, I am who I am. This is what you're to say to the Israelites. I am has sent me to you. God also said to Moses, say this to the Israelites, the Lord, the God of your ancestors, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, the God of Jacob has sent me to you. This is my name forever. This is how I am to be remembered in every generation.
00:09:48
Speaker
God was saying to Moses and to every generation that would follow, I am capable of being everything you need to find fulfillment in this life. I am the only way you will find that fulfillment, but it's my character that will deliver you from an ordinary, broken, and tragic existence in this world. So, I wanna take a moment this morning to look at who God is, what makes up his character, and how he has revealed himself to us.
00:10:17
Speaker
And while creation does give us a lot of evidence that God exists so that the Bible says man is without excuse, I believe that the creation that gives him the most evidence of God is us because we are a reflection. We were created in his image.
00:10:35
Speaker
So we're going to talk about this, and as I said, there's three reasons I want to talk about this that I think is going to help us in our ongoing conversations about God and our ongoing relationship with God.
God's Nature and Simplicity
00:10:47
Speaker
Number one, it helps to defend the idea of God as you
00:10:51
Speaker
Grow filled people, you're challenged weekly to live sent lives, to go out and have gospel conversations. But I want you to have intelligent conversations so that when people come back to you with questions, you have the ability to answer them and say, this is what I know about my God. As we go through this this morning, I'm gonna share a few of those false ideas that have crept their way into the church silently. Some that we have adopted and unquestioningly have brought into our way of thinking, but the Bible does not teach or endorse those ways of it.
00:11:20
Speaker
I'm going to give you lots of scripture. Some places I will only give you the reference for the sake of time, but most of them I'm going to try to read for you here today so you have a good idea that this isn't Ridley's thoughts. This is straight from scripture, okay? The second reason that I want to talk about this is because it clarifies our understanding of Christian doctrine. Earlier this week I learned that I have a new member to my fan club.
00:11:43
Speaker
He's the only member of my fan club, but with my wife, sorry. But this guy came on our Instagram feed. We have an Instagram feed for the church, and we share like 50-second blips of the sermon sometimes. And on this particular blip, this guy comes on and says, you are a garden variety dolt who oversimplifies things to scare people.
00:12:05
Speaker
My wife got all excited and said, don't, that's pretty funny. What's that mean? And she looked it up. It means imbecile, for those of you who don't know, or idiot, if you would prefer that term. So I politely deleted it instead of trying to defend myself. But I've been thinking about that quote this week, and I think he has nailed it on the head. This is the problem. Not that we oversimplify God, but we've overcomplicated God.
00:12:32
Speaker
The Bible is simple. It's us who makes it complicated. So just so you don't miss it this morning, and you're one of us, the humans who like to over-complicate things, I'm gonna simplify this whole thing for you. There are 66 books in this Bible that say this one thing. God created us out of love. We messed up every single one of us. And we have done what is known as sin. It's rebellion against God's will.
00:13:02
Speaker
We all need a Savior, every last one of us. And because God, again, is kind and compassionate, He sent His Son to do what nobody else could possibly do because He's the only one that's ever lived a sinless life.
00:13:17
Speaker
So Jesus laid down willingly on a cross, not because nails held him there, but because love held him there. He died for us three days later. He was resurrected for the sole purpose that one day he's going to come back and collect his family known as the church, the ones who've chosen to follow him. And at the end of that, we're going to gather together and spend eternity in heaven where we will continue to exist for one purpose, to give God glory. End of story.
00:13:43
Speaker
You can burn every other commentary. You can throw away all your spiritual books for spiritual living. You can cut off all your feeds to podcasts and those kind of things. That is it. And if you don't know anything else but John 3 16 that God so loved the world he gave his son, you've got everything you need to know to get to God. Let's not make it complicated.
00:14:05
Speaker
So what I want to do, like I said, is to give us some knowledge here this morning that helps to clarify that first. The third thing, it deepens our relationship, our personal relationship with God. This is what God has desired all
God's Relationship with Humanity
00:14:18
Speaker
along. He wants a personal relationship with us. It's why he introduced himself to Moses on the backside of the wilderness. It's why he shows up to Abraham and makes promises to him that he didn't have to make. It's why he sent prophets to warn people when they made mistakes.
00:14:33
Speaker
It's why Jesus showed up, why Paul was called out of sin to go and share gospel with the world, and why John revealed everything that he revealed through the gospels and through the revelation that he shared with us. And it's why he's made this promise that he is coming back. God wants a personal relationship with you and I. And that alone should boggle our minds. But I promise you that by the time this morning's over with, if you listen with an attentive and open heart, there's gonna be steam coming out of your ears.
00:15:02
Speaker
You're gonna be so blown away by who God really is. Now, what do I mean by that? I think the church has become too casual in its approach to God.
00:15:14
Speaker
we have become too friendly with him, too common with him. Now, don't get me wrong, the Bible says itself that God wants to be our friend. He desires to be our friend, but it's not friend in the sense of somebody who lives next door and throws the ball with you across the fence, okay? This is a friendship like he's the king of the universe and out of kindness, he says, I'm gonna make you a part of what I'm doing.
00:15:37
Speaker
I'm gonna invite you into an intimate setting where you and I come to know each other more deeply, day by day by day, as we walk through life together. So, here we go. Right fast, hang on. I promise not to go too fast. God is knowable. God is knowable. Not only does God exist, but he exists in such a way that we can personally know things about him, like a friend.
00:16:05
Speaker
But let's be clear, we will never fully know God. Why? Because He is infinite and we are not. We're going to spend the rest of our lives in heaven learning more from God and we will never know everything that God knows.
00:16:20
Speaker
Greatness is unsearchable, Psalm 145.3 tells us that. Psalm 147.5 tells us his understanding is immeasurable. Psalm 139.6 says his knowledge is too wonderful. Psalm 139 verses 17 and 18 says his thoughts outnumber ours, but while we will never fully know him, we can know him personally. That's the great invitation that God has given to us.
00:16:47
Speaker
Jeremiah 9 24 says this, but the one who boasts should boast in this that he understands and knows me that I am the Lord showing faithful love, justice, and righteousness on the earth for I delight in these things. This is the Lord's decoration. So in order to know him best there are two things that have been given to us and I've already said this but I want to be real clear. God's Word is
00:17:12
Speaker
Our ability to look into this book and as more we know it, to know Him more intimately and the Word made flesh. The more we study the life of Jesus, the more we are drawn closer and closer to the image of what God has for us. So God is knowable. Secondly, God is independent. He doesn't need anything in His creation.
00:17:35
Speaker
Not one thing. I remember as a young boy growing up in a Southern Baptist Church down in Georgia, one day when I was curious enough to ask the question of my Sunday school teacher, this great man of God who I love even to this day, even though he's passed away, great, great man. I said to him, why did God create us? And he looked at me in the eye and with the greatest genuine heart, I guess probably that he could offer, he looked at me and said, because God was lonely and wanted to create something to have fellowship with.
00:18:05
Speaker
That's untrue. That's not true. It was well intentioned and probably the best thing he knew at that point. But guys, if God is lonely, what that means is that he is open to doing what we do when we get lonely and that is compromising in order to form relationships that we don't need. But God's not lonely. God has always fully been completely content with his existence from the very, you can't say the very beginning because he has no beginning, but all the way back. He's always been fully content.
00:18:35
Speaker
He's always been fulfilled in His existence. He does not depend on anything. Acts 17, 24, 25 says, the God who made the world and everything in it, He is Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in shrines made by hands. Something else that I was taught when I was growing up, that God lived in the temple in Jerusalem.
00:18:53
Speaker
God does not live in the temple in Jerusalem, never lived in the temple in Jerusalem. He would show up in the temple in Jerusalem in order to introduce himself to people and to guide them in their worship of him, but God doesn't live in anything because he's too big to live in anything. The verse goes on to say, neither is he served by human hands as though he needed anything since he himself gives everyone life and breath and all things. So though he's completely independent,
00:19:21
Speaker
Out of his kindness and his compassion, he chooses to give us value and significance.
God's Eternal and Unchangeable Nature
00:19:27
Speaker
You see, without God, we don't matter. Without God, there's no end of the story because the end of the story just isn't worth telling. So God, because of his kindness, gives us value and significance. He allows us to be important. Isaiah 43.7, everyone who bears my name and is created for what?
00:19:49
Speaker
You're not with me. Y'all wake up. Come on. What are we created for? My glory. You see, you were not created for you, and this world was not created for your comfort. It was not created for your convenience. It's created to tell a story, and that story is His glory. It's His metanarrative. It is His ongoing tell that's being told. Again, He is the hero of the story. Number three, God is unchangeable.
00:20:19
Speaker
God is unchangeable. Now pay attention to this because God is not unchangeable in every way that you think. He is unchangeable in his being. He is unchangeable in his attributes. He is unchangeable in his purposes and he is unchangeable in his promises. Okay. Let me show you where that is in scripture and then I'll tell you how he is changeable. It says, but you are the same. Your years will never end.
00:20:47
Speaker
Malachi 3.6 says, because I the Lord have not changed, you descendants of Jacob have not been destroyed. So he is unchangeable in his being, his attributes, his purposes, and his promises. But his unchangeableness, which by the way, I looked at the dictionary, that is a word. His unchangeableness does not mean he will not act or feel differently in response to different situations.
00:21:14
Speaker
Because God would not be good, He would not be just, and He would not be loving if He did not respond differently to sin than He did to repentance and righteousness. You see, when I confess and repent, it opens my life to the power of God willing to change me.
00:21:34
Speaker
So look at this verse, Exodus 32.9, it says, the Lord also said to Moses, I have seen this people and they are indeed a stiff-necked people. Now leave me alone so that my anger can burn against them and I can destroy them. Then I will make you into a great nation. The people of Israel had messed up again. They had chosen to follow an idol. And so Moses is having to intercede for them. He's having to plead with them because God just wants to destroy them and start over with Moses.
00:21:59
Speaker
But Moses sought the favor of the Lord. Lord, why does your anger burn against your people, which you brought out of the land of Egypt with great power and a strong hand? Why should the Egyptians say he brought them out with an evil intent to kill them in the mountains and eliminate them from the face of the earth? Turn from your fierce anger and relent concerning this disaster planned for your people.
00:22:21
Speaker
Remember your servants Abraham, Isaac, and Israel. You swore to them by yourself and declared, I will make your offspring as numerous as the stars of the sky and will give your offspring all this land that I have promised and they will inherit it forever. So Moses is interceded, but let's be clear. Moses did not tell God anything that he didn't already know.
00:22:43
Speaker
He was not reminding God, oh, you forgot this, you forgot that, you need to be aware of this. He is simply interceding something that God knew would happen. And we'll talk more about that in just a second, but the passage ends this way. So the Lord relented concerning the disaster. He responded to the confession and the repentance and the intercession of Moses on behalf of the people. When you pray and intercede for people, God listens.
00:23:09
Speaker
When you pray for one another, God listens. When you confess and repent your own sin, God listens to those things. It's not just some trite ritual that we do. We do it because it opens us up to the power, the forgiving grace of a God who already wants to grant that mercy and grace to us. All right. Number four, God is eternal.
God's Omnipresence and Omniscience
00:23:32
Speaker
We're getting into some of the mind-blowing things here. God is eternal. Psalm 90, verse two says, before the mountains were born, before you gave birth to the earth and the world, from eternity to eternity, you are God. He has always existed. He is first and last, beginning and end, the alpha and the omega. And because he is eternal, his view of time is radically different than yours and mine. Can I get amen? You know how we are as humans, we will pray and 30 seconds later we're going, God, why haven't you moved?
00:24:02
Speaker
It's been a whole 27 minutes and I do not feel like you have answered my prayers yet. But if you want to write these passages down, Psalm 90 verse 4 and 2 Peter 3 and 8 says that a thousand years to the Lord are as one.
00:24:19
Speaker
because he's always been around that a thousand years are like one year to God. He sees and knows all past, present, and future with equal vividness as if they were all now moments. If you were here back, I think in the fall we were doing one of the studies, one of the sermons that we were doing, and I brought in this clear glass tube. You remember that, some of you?
00:24:41
Speaker
that clear glass tube, that defines human existence inside the tube. Our existence is like a speck inside of the tube where you can see in it. God is everything around it. God is everything that can see into it. He is part of the tube. He is outside of the tube. He is outside the existence of time. There is no real good way to define it, but if I were to do a timeline here on the ground that represented our existence, it would be like a speck on the floor.
00:25:10
Speaker
And if you were to continue that timeline to show God's existence, it would go past the state line of Tennessee in that direction and past the state line of Tennessee in that direction and continue all the way around the world over and over and over again. But here's the mind-boggling part. God exists outside of that so that with one glance he sees it all. So Moses' story as he's standing next to the burning bush, God sees that at the same time that he saw you were going to be here today.
00:25:39
Speaker
and at the same time that he knows what's gonna happen to you 40 years from now. There is no decision you make that does not come as a moment of awareness to him. He is ever present in every single moment. Number five, God is omnipresent.
00:26:00
Speaker
This kind of ties into being eternal. This means he's unlimited by time and space. He does not have size or spatial dimensions. Remember I told you he can't live inside the temple in Jerusalem. He's too big for all of that.
00:26:13
Speaker
He is present in every point of space with his whole being. So what that means for you and I this morning to help us understand that as we are sitting here worshiping God, God is in our presence and at the same time he's in an operating room in downtown Nashville while somebody's having surgery who has been prayed for by their church family and as that surgery happens God is there. At the same time he's in the middle of war torn Ukraine.
00:26:38
Speaker
trying to take care of things there and watching over those situations there. At the same time, he's in the jungles of Eastern Amazon. He's in Brazil. He's in Russia. He's in China. And oh, he's on a star out past wherever we can. He is everywhere at once and always fully there.
00:26:55
Speaker
So when we say he's there, that doesn't mean his toes in Brazil and his fingers over here. He's not that kind of thing. He is everywhere fully all at once. Starting to have your mind blown a little bit this morning? Starting to understand the power of the God we worship?
00:27:11
Speaker
This is an amazing thing to conceive of, that he is omnipresent. Jeremiah 23, 23 and 24 says, am I a God who is only near? This is the Lord's decoration. And not a God who is far away? Can a person hide in secret places where I cannot see him, the Lord's decoration? Do I not feel the heavens and the earth?
00:27:32
Speaker
It's an amazing concept. And then the psalmist in Psalm 139 said this, where can I go to escape your spirit? And where can I flee from your presence? If I go up to heaven, you are there. If I make my bed and she old, you are there. If I fly on the wings of the dawn and settle down on the Western horizon, even there, your hand will lead me. Your right hand will hold on to me. Trait number six, God is invisible. God is invisible because he is spirit.
00:28:00
Speaker
God is not a physical being. God is spirit. Because He is spirit, He is invisible. But what is really interesting is that the Bible shows outward manifestations of God that He kindly gives to us to increase our faith. Don't let you write these down. Isaiah 6.1, the prophet says, I have seen the Lord in His temple and sitting on His throne.
00:28:20
Speaker
In Genesis 18.1, it says that the Lord showed up at the tent of Abraham so that he could have the conversation where he promises to him the child that will be the child of promise. Genesis 32.30, it talks about the fact that Jacob was face to face with God. All of these are simply just visible ways that God shows himself.
00:28:43
Speaker
even though he is not a physical person. He is a spirit. And the reason he does that, again, is just to simply increase our faith and to give us better communication with him in some key moments, some special moments throughout human history. Number seven, God is omniscient. Omniscient. This is a fancy way of saying God knows everything. He is the one true know-it-all.
00:29:08
Speaker
Okay? He knows everything. He is always fully aware of everything. This concept right here just boggles me for this reality. I want you to understand something. God never gets smarter because He always already knows everything. There will never be a time when you wake up and go, hey, God, I want to tell you something. He's going to go, already been there, done that. By the way, I created it.
00:29:34
Speaker
or there's never been a moment when you're gonna wake up and say, God, I need to pray about this to you because this is happening. God goes, eh, not a surprise, I was already there.
00:29:43
Speaker
I've been a part of it. I know I'm there in all things. He loves to hear from us, but our prayers aren't to make God aware of anything. It's to make us aware of where God is working in those things. It's to align our heart with what He's already up to. So God is omniscient. By the way, I want to go back to the sixth one. God is invisible just to say two quick things, just to kind of teach you a little bit this morning.
God's Wisdom and Justice
00:30:05
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God showing up in the Old Testament, Abraham's tent, is an example of what we call a theophany.
00:30:10
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A theophany that is a showing up of God in a situation, a visible form. A Christophany is an example of Christ showing up in situations like in the Old Testament, okay? So that's two fancy words you can go impress people at lunch with, all right? Number eight, God is wise. God is wise. God always knows what's best, but get this, He always chooses that for us.
00:30:39
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He always chooses that for us. So what that means is whenever we align ourselves with the character of God because he always knows what's best, we are guaranteed to receive what is best. The problem in our lives when we run into trouble, we run into misgivings, we run into sin, we run into any of those things, the problem is because we have chosen not to align ourselves with the one who knows what is right in all situations. We can count on him because his promises are always kept. He's always faithful to his promises.
00:31:08
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and we are encouraged to imitate his truthfulness and his wisdom in all these things. Now, here's something you need to understand. God shares his wisdom with us out of kindness. Science is an example of God revealing the universe to us, allowing us to see things that we could not see or comprehend on our own. By the way, the Bible does not contradict science. Science does not contradict the Bible, true science.
00:31:36
Speaker
Science just simply affirms everything the Bible's already told us, already revealed to us. So, now, keep in mind, we will never fully share God's wisdom. There'll never be a day when we know what God knows. Romans 11, 33 says, oh, the depth of the riches and the wisdom and the knowledge of God, how unsearchable His judgments and untraceable His ways. We'll never understand it completely. Number nine, God is truthful. God is truthful.
00:32:05
Speaker
All his knowledge and words are both true and the final standard of truth. We can count on him again to always be faithful to his promises. Now, this is a place where I want to take a side note for just a second. When things don't go according to our plan, it's not because God isn't keeping his promises, it's because we've chosen to follow our own path.
00:32:26
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When we begin to come back to His path is when we realize, oh, it's because I wasn't trusting you that I didn't see your faithfulness at work. It's because I was not doing your plan that I realized everything was going off track. So when we want to get back on track, God welcomes us there and says, oh, this is what I was up to. You just had to be with me and track with me on what was going on. Number 10, God is good.
00:32:50
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God is good. Jesus said no one is good except God. He was greeted by a lawyer who came and said, you know, you're a good guy, you're a good teacher, and he said, no, no, no, don't call me good. Only God is good. God is the final standard of good. All he does is good, and because it's good, that's why we worship him. Can I just say that to you this morning? The reason we come in here to worship is because God is good.
00:33:17
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because he is so kind, so compassionate. So here's something you need to be aware of. And I say this out of a kindness of my heart. When you come to me on Sunday morning and say, I didn't like that worship song, I'm going to lovingly say, I don't care. It wasn't for you. Right? Are you with me? We don't come into this place and design worship around Ridley. Let's go make Ridley feel good this morning. What's going to help Ridley feel better about himself this morning? Because guess what? It's not about me.
00:33:47
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It's not about you. It's not about your preferences, your biases, your prejudices. It is about Him and His goodness. So on those Sundays when you come in here and you're going, I'm having a hard time getting into worship this morning. Let me encourage you, first of all, show up on time. Better yet, show up a few minutes early, sit down, open the Bible, and begin to read how good God is to you.
00:34:11
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how good God has been in the past, how good God will be in the future, how he's kept every promise. And by the time that first note comes, I'm pretty sure you're gonna feel a little bit more about worshiping because you have acknowledged the goodness of the God you came to worship. I love you, but I don't care what we sing. I don't care. I just say it with me. He doesn't care. That's gonna save you a phone call and an email this week. We're here to worship him.
00:34:42
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Number 11, you were wondering when I was gonna get to this one, God is love. This is the one the world loves to talk about, right? God is love, and rightfully so. We love this about him. He eternally gives of himself for our good. Think about this. Every single moment of every single day of our existence as human beings, God has never needed anything from us. He's always given to us.
00:35:09
Speaker
always going all the way back from the moment that Adam was pulled out of the dust of the earth and and Air was breathed into his lungs. God has been given every sense Gives us the rain gives us the Sun gives us the food that we eat gives us our health gives us the breath in our lungs every single day and all he's ever said is worship me worship me
00:35:33
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John 17, 24 acknowledges that Jesus says, you know what? In the beginning, God loved me and I in turn Him, turning to love you. Number 12, God is holy. God is holy. He is wholly separate from sin and evil. He is devoted to upholding His honor.
00:35:53
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He has a reputation to look out for and he jealously preserves that. Okay, so let's be careful about one thing that's been said. I don't think people are doing it maliciously that people would like to say sin cannot be in the presence of God. That's not a true statement because God is here right now. We just said he was omnipresent right and you and I are a bunch of sinners.
00:36:16
Speaker
So sin exists in the presence of God. The correct statement is sin is not allowed into heaven into the presence of God because the minute it is, then heaven stops being perfect. So what has to happen is our sin has to be removed by the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. Sin can be in the presence of God, but it does not exist in God. He is completely wholly separate from all sin and evil. Number 13.
00:36:43
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God is righteous and just. This is the one we don't like to talk about, right?
00:36:49
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Because when we acknowledge that God is righteous and just, then the next statement is we have to acknowledge that He has to deal with our sin, that He cannot just overlook it. He always acts in accordance with what is right because He is the standard of what is right. And so as judge of the world, He must always treat all people according to what they deserve. He must punish wrong. If God is not just, then He is not loving. And if He is not loving, then He won't be just.
00:37:18
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The two are opposite sides of the same coin. What do I mean by that? Think about your kids. If your kids do something wrong, are you loving if you just let it go? Not at all. Your kid goes running out in the middle of I-65, and you go, oh, I just love you. Express yourself however you choose. I mean, that's not loving at all. You snatch the kid up, put him back on the side of the road, and go, don't ever do that again. Ever.
00:37:49
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Sometimes it requires some kind of punishment to correct the behavior. God's in the business of doing that sometimes to get our attention.
00:37:56
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But because he's loving, he is just and he is righteous and he has to take care of sin. Now here's what you do not need to, again, people, well, many people say this, oh, God just overlooks our sin. No, he can't because he's just and righteous. He does not overlook our sin. Sometimes he forgives our sin and does not punish it, but that's only because Jesus died to have it forgiven.
00:38:24
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If Jesus doesn't die for us, forgiveness is not real, and we've wasted our time. Number 14, God is jealous. This is an example of one of those traits that in the world, when we talk about it, we misuse it so much that we think, oh, well, if God is jealous, then he is sinned. No, jealousy in itself is not sin. It's the kind of jealousy, the object of the jealousy, and the actions out of the jealousy that make it sin. It is right for me to be jealous about my wife to protect her honor, right?
00:38:54
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You talk smack about my wife, we have to have a conversation, right? You try to bring her down and belittle her, I want to have a conversation with you because I am jealous of her reputation. God is jealous of his reputation, his honor, because he is holy and so he seeks to protect his own honor and as part of that, he reserves the right for every ounce of worship that comes out of humanity. You worship anything else, his jealousy pays.
00:39:23
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a consequence for it. Not because he wants to punish you, but because he wants to rightly bring you back into the correct kind of worship. Number 15, God is omnipotent. God is omnipotent. Jeremiah 32, 17 says, Oh Lord God, you yourself made the heavens and earth by your great power and with your outstretched arm. Some of you need to read this right here. Nothing is too difficult for you. Now,
00:39:51
Speaker
He can completely carry out all of his will, regardless of what opposes him. There is nothing you can do to knock him off of his throne. Your sin does not disturb him, to surprise him, distract him, discourage him. He knew it was gonna happen before he created you. He's fully aware of it. So he is all powerful. Now, let's correct some thinking
God's Omnipotence and Perfection
00:40:12
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here. There are some things that God cannot do. You ready for this? Here's the long list of them.
00:40:21
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It's not a long list. He cannot contradict or deny his own character. So God cannot tell a lie, okay? But here's another example. Be ready for this one. This is gonna help you the next time some skeptic comes and talks to you. Have you ever had somebody who doesn't believe in God who says, if God's so powerful, can he create a rock so big he can't lift it? You ever heard that one? Can he? The correct answer is why would he?
00:40:51
Speaker
not yes or no, it's why would he? Here's the reason. God's character means that everything he does is always on time and on purpose. He always has a purpose. There's never a moment where God doesn't have something in mind for what he's doing. So to create a rock or even to attempt to create a rock that he couldn't lift would be a waste of time. Because he does not waste time, God's character says he would not do that. Could not do it is not the right answer. Would not do it is the right answer.
00:41:22
Speaker
He wouldn't even try because he says, I got eight billion people on the planet to take care of. I've got better things to do than to create rocks. I can't lift. That's against my character. Okay? And that's just one example. There are probably others that are much better, but that's one great example. So the next time some skeptic says to you, would God create a rock too big to lift? You go, ha, I have an answer for you. Y'all aren't excited about that as I was. Okay. Number 16, God is perfect.
00:41:50
Speaker
This is a great one to end it on. Like I said, there were about 30 others that were originally on the list. This means that God fully possesses every excellent quality that you need at the fullest extent possible. You need God's love? He's got it. In the fullest extent possible. You need God's justice? Always there, always on time, never ever diminished. You need God's strength? He's got it all. And he has the ability to carry out whatever he needs to.
00:42:23
Speaker
Matthew 548 says this, be perfect therefore as your heavenly Father is perfect. Now that's a scary verse to think about because the challenge there is that we're supposed to be as perfect as the God that we just described. And you know the only way that's possible? By being in God. And the only way to be in God is to surrender your life to Him.
00:42:47
Speaker
Now, like I said, some of this stuff, you're probably going, whoa, my mind is blown. I'm a little frazzled. You got past number four. I lost it. Maybe some of you are going, why did you just spend 30 minutes telling me all this? I've always heard all this, that kind of stuff. Here's the
Aligning with God's Purpose
00:43:01
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bottom line. Here's the simple thing. Until you and I have a right view of God, we will never have a right relationship with God. And a right view of God starts at realizing that we desperately need him.
00:43:17
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I go to an auto shop to get my vehicle worked on and I go in and the guy looks at me and says, your thingamajig is not doing what the thingamabob should do and what you might call it turns on.
00:43:32
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And I look at him and I go, I can change a tire. I can put air in that tire and I could possibly change the oil with a little help. But everything else you tell me, I'm going to have to trust you. OK. And the reason that's important is because when I put in the key and turn it, I believe you're going to make it work.
00:43:53
Speaker
This is the way we approach God. It's not the perfect analogy, but I think it works because you and I will never fully understand how God brings all of this together. Deuteronomy 29, 29 is one of my favorite verses because I lean on it all the time where it says, there are some things that God will reveal to us. There are some things that God will never reveal to us. Why? Because he's God and we're not. But here's what I do know.
00:44:18
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that when I start to engage in my life, when I've aligned it rightly with God, things work like they're supposed to work. The motor turns, the thing my ball goes, the whatchamacallit works like it's supposed to. And even though I don't understand every element of it, I do know this, my God is good. And every one of these qualities that we've discussed here today make Him worth the worship that we bring.
00:44:46
Speaker
So this morning, that's the question for you. As Jaden comes to lead us in the song as part of our response to him this morning, you may be going, I think I've got more questions than I had answers when I came in this morning. That's great. That's a good place to be because God's not afraid of your questions. The question is, are you going to listen when he gives you answers?
00:45:06
Speaker
Maybe this morning you want to talk to somebody a little more about some of those questions. Maybe this morning you realize that you've had an improper view of God and you just need to confess that where you're at or maybe here at this altar. Maybe you want somebody to pray with you or pray for you. Absolutely we would love the privilege of doing that. But what you don't need to do is walk out of here thinking that God is just your buddy. What you don't need to do is walk out of here with bad theology and bad doctrine about who God is and what he's done for you.
00:45:36
Speaker
What you need to do is to dig into his word and become more intimate with this God who's given everything he has so that you can live in a way that brings him glory. It's why we were created, it's why we exist, it's why Grovefield Church is who it is. This morning the invitation is for you to align your life rightly with him. Father God, we thank you for this day and as we come to this moment, my prayer is that somebody in this place would bow their knee to God for the first time.
00:46:06
Speaker
Maybe somebody's gonna acknowledge God for the first time to be exactly who He confessed to be to us. Remind us that He is the great I am. No matter where we are this morning, no matter how broken we are this morning, no matter how discouraged or lonely we might be, you are a God who is given your all so that we might have a relationship with us.
00:46:29
Speaker
Zephaniah 3 17 tells us that the God of the universe dances over us and rejoices over us with singing. Right now in heaven you are ecstatic about who we are, not because of what we bring to you, but because of the way we can point others to you by our lives. That we can bring you glory by what we do right even here in this moment. So thank you for the word that brings you alive to us.
00:46:57
Speaker
who points you out to us, who reveals you to us. Thank you for a savior who did the same thing, who came and showed us what you look like and then lay down his life so that we could have access to you. This morning I pray that somebody receives that. It's in Jesus' name I pray, amen.