Getting to Know God

September 16, 2007 - Sunday


By Mark G.


Today we started a new series with our youth at church. We are beginning a study on the attributes of God. I have been becoming more and more concerned with the fact that very few people seem to know what God is really like. Most people these days are quick to talk about His love (and they describe it inaccurately), but leave out many other of His characteristics. That leaves us with an incomplete picture of who God really is. So over the next few months, we are going to be looking at some of His attributes. We will be looking at such things as His holiness, love, justice, faithfulness, and wrath, to name a few. I thought I would share my teaching outlines with you with some additional thoughts thrown in. I hope you are blessed as you see what God has to say about Himself. I pray that we are drawn to love and worship God more and more as we begin to see Him as He really is. The first one we are going to look at is the holiness of God. Before you look at my outline, I wanted to borrow a quote from Charles Spurgeon that sums up how I feel as I struggle to teach on our infinite God.

"The highest science, the loftiest speculation, the mightiest philosophy, which can ever engage the attention of a child of God, is the name, the nature, the person, the work, the doings, and the existence of the great God whom he calls his Father. There is something exceedingly improving to the mind in a contemplation of the Divinity. It is a subject so vast, that all our thoughts are lost in its immensity; so deep, that our pride is drowned in its infinity. Other subjects we can compass and grapple with; in them we feel a kind of self-content, and go our way with the thought, "Behold I am wise." But when we come to this master-science, finding that our plumb-line cannot sound its depth, and that our eagle eye cannot see its height, we turn away with the thought, that vain man would be wise, but he is like a wild ass's colt; and with the solemn exclamation, "I am but of yesterday, and know nothing." No subject of contemplation will tend more to humble the mind, than thoughts of God. We shall be obliged to feel—


"Great God, how infinite art thou,
What worthless worms are we!"

But while the subject humbles the mind it also expands it. He who often thinks of God, will have a larger mind than the man who simply plods around this narrow globe. He may be a naturalist, boasting of his ability to dissect a beetle, anatomize a fly, or arrange insects and animals in classes with well nigh unutterable names; he may be a geologist, able to discourse of the megatherium and the plesiosaurus, and all kinds of extinct animals; he may imagine that his science, whatever it is, ennobles and enlarges his mind. I dare say it does, but after all, the most excellent study for expanding the soul, is the science of Christ, and him crucified, and the knowledge of the Godhead in the glorious Trinity. Nothing will so enlarge the intellect, nothing so magnify the whole soul of man, as a devout, earnest, continued investigation of the great subject of the Deity. And, whilst humbling and expanding, this subject is eminently consolatary. Oh, there is, in contemplating Christ, a balm for every wound; in musing on the Father, there is a quietus for every grief; and in the influence of the Holy Ghost, there is a balsam for every sore. Would you lose your sorrows? Would you drown your cares? Then go, plunge yourself in the Godhead's deepest sea; be lost in his immensity; and you shall come forth as from a couch of rest, refreshed and invigorated. I know nothing which can so comfort the soul; so calm the swelling billows of grief and sorrow; so speak peace to the winds of trial, as a devout musing upon the subject of the Godhead." Charles Spurgeon



OUR GREAT GOD PART 1

(Selected Scripture)




1 Samuel 2:2- There is no one holy like the Lord, indeed, there is no one besides You, nor is there any rock like our God.

Scripture continually describes God as being holy. What exactly does that mean, though? Holy means "set apart". So, God is completely set apart from mankind. He is higher in every way. He is completely and utterly perfect. He has no faults or weaknesses in any way. He is set apart from everything sinful. Every characteristic of God hinges on His holiness. I say that because every one of His characteristics is infinitely higher and set apart from our sinful ways. Let's begin to look at some things that illustrate that God is infinitely more holy than us.




GOD IS HOLY IN HIS SINLESSNESS

James 1:13- Let no one say when he is tempted, "I am being tempted by God"; for God cannot be tempted by evil, and He Himself does not tempt anyone.

1 John 1:5- This is the message we have heard from Him and announce to you, that God is Light, and in Him there is no darkness at all.

Matthew 5:48- Therefore you are to be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.

Psalm 119:142- Your righteousness is an everlasting righteousness, and Your law is truth.

Habakkuk 1:13a- Your eyes are too pure to approve evil, and You can not look on wickedness with favor.

It is not just a case of God always choosing to do the right thing. He is right. It is impossible for Him to do wrong. Everything He does is right and holy. Righteousness and holiness is who He is, not just what He does. Not only is He set apart from sin, but He is set against those who sin.



GOD IS HOLY IN HIS VIEW OF SIN AND SINNERS

Psalm 97:2- Clouds and thick darkness surround Him; righteousness and justice are the foundation of His throne.

Psalm 7:11- God is a just judge, and God is angry with the wicked every day.

Psalm 5:4-6- For You are not a God who takes pleasure in wickedness; no evil dwells with You. The boastful shall not stand before Your eyes; You hate all who do iniquity. You destroy those who speak falsehood; the Lord abhors the man of bloodshed and deceit.

Deuteronomy 25:16- For everyone who does these things, everyone who acts unjustly is an abomination to the Lord your God.

Psalm 11:5- The Lord tests the righteous and the wicked, and the one who loves violence His soul hates.

We often hear the phrase "God loves the sinner, but hates the sin". Yet these verses and others teach that God not only hates sin, but hates those who sin. The verses above plainly say that He hates them and goes so far to say that they are an abomination to Him. God cannot give His love to people that are sinful without something being done about their sin. Sin is so sickening and loathsome to Him that on our own we simply cannot come to God. He is too holy to accept sinful creatures. Sinful creatures would be destroyed by the very presence of His holiness. Even holy angels cover their faces in the presence of His holiness (Isaiah 6). When we realize how God views us and our sin, it should make us tremble with fear. Especially since the Bible includes these verses: Romans 3:23- "For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God." Romans 3:10- "There is none righteous, not even one." Isaiah 64:6a- "And all of our righteous deeds are like filthy rags." Psalm 130:3- If You, Lord, should mark iniquities, O Lord, who could stand?" It is no wonder that Romans 5:10 says that we are enemies of God, since we are all sinful.




GOD IS HOLY IN HIS PUNISHMENT OF SINNERS

Romans 1:18- For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness.

Isaiah 13:9- Behold, the day of the Lord is coming, cruel, with fury and burning anger, to make the land a desolation; and He will exterminate its sinners from it.

2 Thessalonians 1:9- These will pay the penalty of eternal destruction, away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of His power.

Revelation 20:15- And if anyone's name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.

Matthew 12:36- But I tell you that every careless word that people speak, they shall give an accounting for it in the day of judgment.

2 Corinthians 5:10- For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may be recompensed for his deeds in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad.

The Bible is crystal clear about how God views sin and how He will punish sinners. We are all deserving of the full fury of His wrath. That leaves a question. How can a holy God accept a sinful man into His presence?




GOD IS HOLY IN HIS REMEDY FOR SIN

Romans 3:24-26- Being justified as a gift by His grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus; whom God displayed publicly as a propitiation in His blood through faith. This was to demonstrate His righteousness, because in the forbearance of God He passed over the sins previously committed; for the demonstration, I say, of His righteousness at the present time, so that He would be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.

2 Corinthians 3:21- He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.

Mark 1:15- The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand, repent and believe in the gospel.

Ephesians 2:8-9- For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast.

Jesus became the substitute of those who repent and put their faith in Him as their only hope of salvation. When Jesus was on the cross, the Father poured out His full wrath on the Son. He gave the sinless Son of God the wrath that we deserve. Because Jesus took the full impact of God's anger and wrath, He can offer us His own righteousness. God can view us as sinless because Jesus offers us His spotless righteousness. What does it mean to repent and believe, though? To repent means that we can't stand our sin and we want to be rid of it. It is a change of mind about our condition that results in a change in our actions. To believe in Christ means that we realize that there is absolutely nothing we can do to earn our salvation, so we trust in Christ as our only hope. That is the only way a holy God can accept a sinful person. Since we sin (fall short of the mark of perfection) every second of the day, that means we sin at least 86,400 times a day. In one year, that makes at least 31,536,000 sins. It amazes me that people with that much sin want to stand before a holy God to answer for it. It amazes me even more that people who claim to be Christians can look at sin like it is no big deal and keep doing things that we know God hates. We can slap God in the face and then we don't think twice about it. May God open our eyes to the seriousness of our sin and His incredible holiness before we have to stand before His holiness ourselves.

Now I want to add one more thing. This lesson goes against what most people have been taught. We have been taught to think that our sin is no big deal. When people read the verses that talk about how severely God views sin and the sinner, most people think that makes God unloving. Actually, it has the opposite effect on me. When I realize how sinful I am and how holy God is, I am amazed that He offers His love to me. It is one thing to offer your love to people who treat you well. It is quite another to offer your love to people who are completely against everything you are. That is not the fickle and conditional love that we give each other. That is the purest and most amazing form of love imaginable. We deserve nothing but His wrath and anger, yet He offers us His unconditional love. What a wonderful thought. If that is not a reason to worship Him, I don't know what is.



Until next time, blessings to you...