WEBVTT 00:00:00.466 --> 00:00:01.399 Good morning church. 00:00:01.399 --> 00:00:03.966 How are we doing? 00:00:03.966 --> 00:00:05.966 It's great to be with you this morning. 00:00:05.966 --> 00:00:09.566 If you have your Bibles, turn with me to the Book of Exodus. 00:00:09.566 --> 00:00:14.132 We are continuing our series and what it means to know God. 00:00:14.132 --> 00:00:17.132 And if we know God, we love God. 00:00:17.300 --> 00:00:24.132 And we've been talking about some big concepts, some big ideas about theology and doctrine. 00:00:24.132 --> 00:00:31.100 And Pastor John has started us off really well in this series, and I have been tasked today with talking about the attributes of God. 00:00:31.100 --> 00:00:41.932 So we're going to be in the book of Exodus, and we're to have a couple of passages that we're going to see from there, but we're also going to just shine a light on the whole scripture, on all the scripture that we have, which is why it's important. 00:00:41.932 --> 00:00:44.232 If you've got notes, you'll be using them today. 00:00:44.232 --> 00:00:49.765 I encourage you to do so, but will mainly be in the book of Exodus this morning. 00:00:49.765 --> 00:00:59.932 But I want to start by just giving us a base point, because there are some things in life that are really hard to describe. 00:00:59.932 --> 00:01:01.600 Are there not? 00:01:01.600 --> 00:01:16.165 When I moved to Memphis, I tried what I discovered for the first time to be basically a new food group for me, and that is Memphis Barbecue. 00:01:16.266 --> 00:01:20.566 I tasted it and just that the taste of it. 00:01:20.566 --> 00:01:22.533 I couldn't compare to anything else. 00:01:22.533 --> 00:01:32.599 And so calling back to my family in Kentucky, explaining to them this Memphis barbecue, no words would do it service, right? 00:01:33.365 --> 00:01:51.400 But even for me, for maybe something a little bit more serious, when I got to hold my first child after she was born, and to describe the emotions and, just the sudden change in reality was very difficult. 00:01:51.400 --> 00:01:58.132 And even for me to come up with words to fully describe what I was experiencing in that moment would be very difficult. 00:01:58.132 --> 00:02:09.066 Some of you, if you've seen the Grand Canyon, you might experience the same thing to try to describe something as large and as beautiful and as vast as the Grand Canyon is not easy. 00:02:10.032 --> 00:02:20.233 Well, we're at a talk this morning about the God who created all of those things, but the God who gave us Memphis barbecue and the beautiful, nature of childbirth. 00:02:20.233 --> 00:02:27.265 And then even the Grand Canyon, the God who put all of the stars in the sky and put them each in their place and named them all. 00:02:27.265 --> 00:02:31.400 We're going to try to describe that God using human words. 00:02:32.432 --> 00:02:35.133 So you can already tell it's not easy to do so. 00:02:35.133 --> 00:02:50.000 But we have been given what we need to understand God however much he wants us to understand him, because this is the baseline fact that we're in start with this this morning is that God is incomprehensible. 00:02:50.000 --> 00:02:53.932 He is incomprehensible because you and me, we're humans. 00:02:53.932 --> 00:02:54.566 We're finite. 00:02:54.566 --> 00:03:03.765 We're unable to comprehend God, but yet he graciously makes him, makes himself known to us. 00:03:04.500 --> 00:03:10.932 Even though God is incomprehensible, God still graciously makes himself known to us. 00:03:10.932 --> 00:03:15.566 In all of the scriptures we are shown who God is. We look to creation. 00:03:15.566 --> 00:03:17.199 We see who God is. 00:03:17.199 --> 00:03:24.032 And the greatest revelation that God has given us is when he became human himself. 00:03:24.532 --> 00:03:34.400 And we receive the Son of God to be born on this earth, that we, if we say it, Jesus would even said, if you've seen me, you've seen my father. 00:03:34.400 --> 00:03:36.765 So God has revealed himself to us. 00:03:36.765 --> 00:03:39.832 But that doesn't make our task any less easier. 00:03:39.832 --> 00:03:43.099 But because of that, we can know God. 00:03:43.099 --> 00:03:45.000 God is knowable. 00:03:45.000 --> 00:03:48.800 Just because he's incomprehensible doesn't mean we can't know God. 00:03:48.800 --> 00:03:52.665 It just means our brains struggle to understand the infinite. 00:03:53.699 --> 00:03:56.532 But I've got a quote for us this morning that's going to help us. 00:03:56.532 --> 00:03:59.000 It's by, said by a guy named A.W. 00:03:59.000 --> 00:04:02.900 Tozer who wrote a book called Knowledge of the Holy. 00:04:02.900 --> 00:04:07.233 And this is one of my favorite quotes because it's incredibly humbling and incredibly important. 00:04:07.233 --> 00:04:09.233 He says this. 00:04:09.233 --> 00:04:12.233 What comes into your mind? 00:04:12.633 --> 00:04:27.399 What comes into our minds when we think about God is the most important thing about you, meaning who you think God is or what you think God is, is the most important determining thing in your life. 00:04:27.399 --> 00:04:32.466 Because whoever God is to you, that's going to control how you live. 00:04:32.565 --> 00:04:46.165 If you in your mind think God is an angry, wrathful God, that you're going to live your life scared if you believe God is all love, accepting of all things, of all lifestyles, then you're going to accept everything. 00:04:47.699 --> 00:04:54.699 But God is so much greater, so much more complex, and so much more beautiful than that. 00:04:55.000 --> 00:04:58.833 But who you think God is is going to determine your entire life. 00:04:58.833 --> 00:05:14.199 Which is why we've had this whole series that talk about theology and doctrine, because we need the right systems to understand who God is, and without him we can fall into heresy and idolatry. 00:05:14.199 --> 00:05:15.800 So hear me out this morning. 00:05:15.800 --> 00:05:30.833 It is of the utmost importance that we know God rightly, because we will become whatever we love the most, whatever we love the most, whatever we adore the most. 00:05:30.833 --> 00:05:35.266 We are designed to become whatever we love the most. 00:05:35.600 --> 00:05:41.000 And so whoever that God is to you, you're going to become like them. 00:05:41.333 --> 00:05:45.632 And so this is why it's so crucial that we have these systems in place. 00:05:46.733 --> 00:05:49.699 We gotta have something to work from. 00:05:49.699 --> 00:06:00.233 So when I started to learn how to play drums, I simply would listen to a song and I would try to repeat everything that I heard. 00:06:00.233 --> 00:06:13.533 Unfortunately, I never really learned how to read music, despite the fact I spent three years playing clarinet in middle school, I still didn't learn how to read music, but I would listen and I would try to repeat it as best as I could. 00:06:13.533 --> 00:06:16.565 And that's how I learned how to play drums. 00:06:16.565 --> 00:06:29.565 And so even today, like, my skill and ability is lacking because I don't have that musical language in the technicality, in that formal training to know how to play drums better. 00:06:29.865 --> 00:06:32.600 And it's the same way we know God. 00:06:32.600 --> 00:06:36.065 Yes, we can know God without knowing all the technical terms. 00:06:36.065 --> 00:06:38.233 Praise God that we can. 00:06:38.233 --> 00:06:43.033 And yet our knowledge of God can be lacking and somewhat insufficient. 00:06:43.033 --> 00:06:49.300 If we don't have doctrine, we don't have it systematized in our mind, which is why this is helpful. 00:06:50.365 --> 00:06:55.466 So we're going to walk through some big ideas today, and I need you to to jump in with me. 00:06:55.466 --> 00:07:04.665 My wife and I, we had a we had a wonderful Valentine's Day dinner, and I had me a big old steak and that steak, it takes some chewing to do. 00:07:04.665 --> 00:07:05.865 And that's what we're going to do this morning. 00:07:05.865 --> 00:07:11.000 We're going to chew on some really big but very important ideas. 00:07:11.000 --> 00:07:14.500 So I need an amen from me if you're ready. Are y'all ready? 00:07:14.500 --> 00:07:15.365 All right. 00:07:15.365 --> 00:07:18.132 So here's the main point for this morning. 00:07:18.132 --> 00:07:26.533 We can know the God of the Bible because he has identified and described himself to us. 00:07:27.533 --> 00:07:34.766 And here's some funny words through incommunicable and communicable attributes, I'm unpack with those words mean. 00:07:34.766 --> 00:07:53.300 Traditionally we've understood God in these attributes as we've as he's described himself and revealed himself in two different categories Incommunicable and communicable Incommunicable means these things are only true about God and nothing else, nothing else in creation. 00:07:53.300 --> 00:08:04.100 No one else communicable means these are infinitely true about God, but in some way they trickle down and it's true about us in a weaker way. 00:08:05.065 --> 00:08:10.132 So you might hear these words sometimes used when discussed about diseases or sicknesses. Right. 00:08:10.132 --> 00:08:13.132 So heart disease is non-communicable. 00:08:13.365 --> 00:08:14.699 It's yours. 00:08:14.699 --> 00:08:18.600 It's not something you can pass on directly by being near somebody. 00:08:18.600 --> 00:08:23.266 So heart disease cancer those types of things are non-communicable. 00:08:23.266 --> 00:08:27.500 But something like a virus like the flu is communicable. 00:08:27.500 --> 00:08:31.432 We can pass the flu along to other people that we're around. 00:08:31.432 --> 00:08:33.500 And so think of it like that is helpful. 00:08:33.500 --> 00:08:47.566 Also, maybe a positive example might be how we can relate to our parents that there are some traits, some attributes that are passed down from father to son or daughter, from mother to son or daughter. 00:08:47.566 --> 00:08:48.865 So those things are passed down. 00:08:48.865 --> 00:08:52.865 And yet at the same time, there are some ways we're nothing like our parents. 00:08:53.966 --> 00:08:56.966 And so if we think of them this way, this is how we can understand God. 00:08:56.966 --> 00:09:02.232 There are some things about God that is not true about anything else in in it, in creation. 00:09:02.232 --> 00:09:04.566 And then that it exist. 00:09:04.566 --> 00:09:07.100 But while there's other things that can be true. 00:09:07.100 --> 00:09:08.500 So this is what we're going to walk through. 00:09:08.500 --> 00:09:17.399 And we're going to be in Exodus chapter three as we see God's interaction with Moses is the incident of the burning bush. 00:09:17.399 --> 00:09:22.399 If you're familiar with it, Moses encounters a burning bush, walks up to it. 00:09:22.399 --> 00:09:25.365 It's a bush that's on fire, but it's not being consumed. 00:09:25.365 --> 00:09:27.932 And he begins talking to it. 00:09:27.932 --> 00:09:35.365 And it is God who has revealed himself to Moses in this beautiful, incredible moment. 00:09:35.365 --> 00:09:45.732 And what we get here is some of the most important revelation about God and God's Word, because he gives us his personal name. 00:09:46.432 --> 00:09:50.600 So look with me here in Exodus chapter three. We're in verse 13. 00:09:50.600 --> 00:09:52.066 We're going to look at a couple verses here. 00:09:53.066 --> 00:09:59.899 Then Moses said to God, if I come to the people of Israel and say to them, The God of your fathers has sent me to you. 00:09:59.899 --> 00:10:02.865 And they ask me, what is his name? 00:10:02.865 --> 00:10:04.966 What shall I tell them? 00:10:04.966 --> 00:10:07.365 What shall I say to them? 00:10:07.365 --> 00:10:18.232 So Moses has been asked by God to go back into Egypt and to tell the people of Israel, hey, God's here, and God's told me a word. 00:10:18.232 --> 00:10:23.066 But Moses is concerned because they've been in Egypt for over 400 years. 00:10:23.066 --> 00:10:25.299 They haven't had a place of worship. 00:10:25.299 --> 00:10:27.700 They don't have a Bible to read. 00:10:27.700 --> 00:10:32.133 So their knowledge and understanding of God is very, very, very limited. 00:10:32.133 --> 00:10:39.732 In fact, it's only been passed down through oral traditions from parent to kids and their kids to their kids. 00:10:39.765 --> 00:10:43.466 So Moses is like, listen, what do I tell them? 00:10:43.466 --> 00:10:44.700 Who is sending me? 00:10:45.666 --> 00:10:55.700 And so God gives us a beautiful, complex, unbelievable answer that Moses couldn't even have fully understood at this moment. 00:10:55.700 --> 00:10:59.700 14, God responds. 00:10:59.700 --> 00:11:05.765 He said to Moses, I am who I am. 00:11:05.765 --> 00:11:08.765 I am who I am. 00:11:09.166 --> 00:11:16.066 And he goes on and he said, say this to the people of Israel, I am has sent me to you. 00:11:17.332 --> 00:11:20.332 Now there's so much to unpack here. 00:11:20.432 --> 00:11:22.399 This phrase, I am who I am. 00:11:22.399 --> 00:11:26.732 It's it sounds similar to the Hebrew verb to be. 00:11:27.966 --> 00:11:31.100 So this is why it's translated as I am. 00:11:32.265 --> 00:11:39.666 And this is where we get the the name Yahweh, because it sounds similar to that Hebrew verb. 00:11:39.666 --> 00:11:51.932 And the Jews were so cautious and so worried about saying God's personal name that they would put Adonai, which is the Hebrew word for Lord, in its place. 00:11:51.932 --> 00:12:04.100 And so they would say Lord instead of say Yahweh, because they were nervous that if they said his name in any and any kind of improper way, that they were going to be smited for it. 00:12:04.100 --> 00:12:06.232 So they were super extra cautious. 00:12:06.232 --> 00:12:12.865 And so whenever you see in your Bible translations, in your English translations, you'll see the word Lord in all caps. 00:12:13.600 --> 00:12:15.865 That's where the name of Yahweh appears. 00:12:15.865 --> 00:12:18.832 And where the people of God would say Yahweh. 00:12:18.832 --> 00:12:21.299 Instead, they would say the word Lord instead. 00:12:21.299 --> 00:12:25.666 But God's personal name is given here for a purpose. 00:12:25.666 --> 00:12:31.799 God was communicating to Moses that I am who I am. 00:12:32.033 --> 00:12:33.232 And there's a lot to unpack here. 00:12:33.232 --> 00:12:44.066 But but first, before we jump into the specifics, there is no was or will be God, but he eternally is God. 00:12:45.299 --> 00:12:49.899 It's not that God was, and one day he'll no longer exist. 00:12:49.899 --> 00:12:54.299 It's not that God somehow won't be God in the future, but he's not now. 00:12:54.299 --> 00:12:57.299 It's God is eternally present. 00:12:57.500 --> 00:13:00.033 God. He always has been. 00:13:00.033 --> 00:13:01.633 He always will be. 00:13:01.633 --> 00:13:06.600 This is when the New Testament will say that God is the Alpha and Omega. 00:13:06.966 --> 00:13:11.966 It's the two ends of the the Greek alphabet, that he is the beginning and the end. 00:13:11.966 --> 00:13:14.966 The one who was, who is, and who is to come. 00:13:14.966 --> 00:13:18.066 God is always God. 00:13:18.399 --> 00:13:19.633 That's where we start. 00:13:19.633 --> 00:13:24.533 So when he says to Moses, I am who I am, he's it's kind of like a flex. 00:13:24.533 --> 00:13:30.033 I'm God, and I've always been and I always will be God. 00:13:30.432 --> 00:13:34.966 So in your notes you're going to have we've got six things that I'm going to unpack for us. 00:13:34.966 --> 00:13:38.133 There are tons of things we could say, but we don't have time for all of that. 00:13:38.133 --> 00:13:44.466 So I'm going to fine tune it to six specific attributes that God reveals to us about himself. 00:13:44.466 --> 00:13:44.966 Y'all ready? 00:13:46.133 --> 00:13:47.732 Here's the first one. 00:13:47.732 --> 00:13:50.732 God is personal. 00:13:51.265 --> 00:13:55.232 God is not some spiritual force out in the middle of nowhere. 00:13:55.232 --> 00:13:57.033 God is not some thing. 00:13:57.033 --> 00:13:58.732 He is a person. 00:13:58.732 --> 00:14:04.832 And John unpacked this last week that we worship a God who is one God in three persons. 00:14:05.633 --> 00:14:07.700 God is personal. 00:14:07.700 --> 00:14:14.133 That means we can pray to God and he will respond to us through His Word and through our lives. 00:14:14.133 --> 00:14:21.000 God is so personal that he was willing to descend from heaven and become a man to walk among us. 00:14:21.200 --> 00:14:23.365 He is a personal God. 00:14:23.365 --> 00:14:26.365 We can get to know God. 00:14:26.533 --> 00:14:32.232 One of the shortest verses in the Bible is Jesus wept because he is a person. 00:14:32.232 --> 00:14:33.500 God is a person. 00:14:33.500 --> 00:14:35.332 He reveals that with his name. 00:14:35.332 --> 00:14:40.299 The second thing is that God is self-existent. 00:14:40.865 --> 00:14:45.633 You might sometimes find in in commentaries or even in your Bibles. 00:14:45.633 --> 00:14:47.732 If you've got a study Bible, the word is aseity. 00:14:47.732 --> 00:14:51.299 All it means is that God is self-existent. 00:14:51.299 --> 00:14:56.166 There is nothing outside of God that helps him exist. 00:14:56.166 --> 00:14:57.365 God has always been. 00:14:57.365 --> 00:14:58.700 He was, always will be. 00:14:58.700 --> 00:15:00.899 Meaning he's created everything. 00:15:00.899 --> 00:15:02.533 He doesn't have a beginning or an end. 00:15:02.533 --> 00:15:05.732 He doesn't depend on anybody to exist. 00:15:06.700 --> 00:15:08.166 This is why the Bible begins. 00:15:08.166 --> 00:15:14.066 It says in the beginning, God, God's always been. 00:15:14.066 --> 00:15:18.033 He doesn't rely on other things to make him exist. 00:15:18.033 --> 00:15:19.666 And we're to unpack this a little bit later. 00:15:19.666 --> 00:15:25.100 But God is the, in one sense, the most simple thing to exist. 00:15:26.133 --> 00:15:31.066 He's the most fundamental foundational because he alone is God. 00:15:32.332 --> 00:15:36.899 Third thing, God is self sufficient. 00:15:38.000 --> 00:15:44.566 I sometimes wish my kids had this ability, but God is self-sufficient. 00:15:44.566 --> 00:15:47.299 He doesn't need anything. 00:15:47.299 --> 00:15:50.966 Newsflash God doesn't need me. 00:15:51.100 --> 00:15:53.633 He doesn't need you. 00:15:53.633 --> 00:15:55.700 God doesn't need anything. 00:15:55.700 --> 00:15:56.865 God doesn't get tired. 00:15:56.865 --> 00:15:59.133 He doesn't get hungry. 00:15:59.133 --> 00:16:01.633 He doesn't get impatient. 00:16:01.633 --> 00:16:06.865 God doesn't need other things around him to help him be God or to function. 00:16:06.865 --> 00:16:13.399 God is self sufficient, meaning he doesn't need anything from anyone. 00:16:13.966 --> 00:16:16.666 Praise God for that. 00:16:16.666 --> 00:16:19.865 Fourth, he's omni present. 00:16:19.865 --> 00:16:21.700 You may have heard this before. 00:16:21.700 --> 00:16:25.865 This is only true of God, that God is present everywhere. 00:16:26.166 --> 00:16:33.799 Psalm 139 kind of gives us this picture here, that there's nowhere we can go to escape the presence of God. 00:16:33.799 --> 00:16:37.100 God is not limited by time and space like you and I are. 00:16:37.100 --> 00:16:38.700 In fact, God created time. 00:16:38.700 --> 00:16:39.732 He created space. 00:16:39.732 --> 00:16:41.299 He exists outside of that. 00:16:41.299 --> 00:16:43.966 That's how big God is. 00:16:45.000 --> 00:16:47.365 And then he chose to become a man to dwell among us. 00:16:47.365 --> 00:16:50.666 Which is why Jesus coming to earth is even more amazing. 00:16:50.666 --> 00:16:54.432 Because God exists everywhere all the time now. 00:16:54.432 --> 00:16:55.432 Yes he can. 00:16:55.432 --> 00:16:58.966 He can reveal himself specifically in unique ways. 00:16:58.966 --> 00:17:01.166 But it's also true that God is everywhere. 00:17:01.166 --> 00:17:04.165 He cannot be boxed in. 00:17:05.032 --> 00:17:10.566 Fifth, God is immutable. 00:17:10.566 --> 00:17:13.599 This word means God doesn't change. 00:17:14.900 --> 00:17:17.900 Psalm 102 27 two. 00:17:20.000 --> 00:17:24.400 Saying, and your years have no end. 00:17:24.500 --> 00:17:32.133 The God who existed in eternity past is the God who will always exist forever, and he never changes. 00:17:32.500 --> 00:17:40.400 And we hear this sometimes from people that will make the statement that the God of the Old Testament is different from the God of the New Testament. 00:17:40.400 --> 00:17:44.232 God in the Old Testament was judgmental, angry, wrathful. 00:17:44.232 --> 00:17:46.299 The God New Testament. He's all love. 00:17:46.299 --> 00:17:47.665 He's all good vibes. 00:17:48.633 --> 00:17:50.232 But that's not what we get. 00:17:50.232 --> 00:17:56.032 In fact, God is just as wrathful in the New Testament as he is as an Old Testament. 00:17:56.032 --> 00:17:59.333 God is just as loving in Genesis one one that he is today. 00:17:59.333 --> 00:18:08.566 He does not change and praise God in a world that is always changing, that we have a God that never changes. 00:18:09.865 --> 00:18:16.232 Sixth, this is kind of tied to all the rest of him that God is eternal. 00:18:16.232 --> 00:18:21.732 Just think to yourself, there was a time when you did not exist. 00:18:23.465 --> 00:18:29.932 Then your mom and dad brought you into this world by God's power, and you existed. 00:18:29.932 --> 00:18:36.932 But can you imagine just never having not existed? 00:18:37.299 --> 00:18:45.133 God has always been before the earth, before the universe, before the stars, before all the things. 00:18:45.133 --> 00:18:47.833 God was there. Perfect. 00:18:47.833 --> 00:18:51.165 And I can say this about God that he was content. 00:18:51.165 --> 00:19:00.766 He was perfectly in a communal relationship, father, son, spirit in a loving, caring relationship between the three. 00:19:00.766 --> 00:19:09.099 They didn't need anything and yet he still created God didn't create us because he needed us. 00:19:09.099 --> 00:19:11.665 God didn't create the universe because he needed something to do. 00:19:11.665 --> 00:19:15.700 God was perfectly content, exactly where he could be. 00:19:15.700 --> 00:19:19.732 But the only reason why he created us was out of love. 00:19:19.732 --> 00:19:24.633 We'll unpack that in just a second, but I'll go here to Acts chapter 17. 00:19:24.633 --> 00:19:25.266 You can turn there. 00:19:25.266 --> 00:19:32.833 You can see the words on the screen, because I believe there's something so interesting about what this passage brings to light for us. 00:19:32.833 --> 00:19:51.799 This is the apostle Paul walking through the the Greek city of Athens, and he's walking in this place of worship, and he's noticing all of these idols, all of these statues, all of these things that have been built and created for worship. 00:19:51.799 --> 00:19:55.665 And of course, the Greeks, they held a Greek mythology with Zeus and Athena. 00:19:56.965 --> 00:20:07.200 And what was interesting about the Greeks is they were really nervous that there was a God out there that they did not yet know about. 00:20:07.232 --> 00:20:12.900 They were concerned that if they didn't worship every God that existed, that they might get smited. 00:20:12.900 --> 00:20:21.032 And so Paul encounters a situation where he sees something with inscribed that said to the unknown God. 00:20:21.633 --> 00:20:28.299 So Apostle Paul, being the wise, incredible man he is, he swoops in and he shares an incredible word. 00:20:28.299 --> 00:20:28.833 Look at this. 00:20:28.833 --> 00:20:31.833 Act 17, verse 23. 00:20:32.165 --> 00:20:43.900 He says, or the Scripture say, for as I passed along and observe the objects of your worship, I found also an altar with this inscription to the unknown God. 00:20:45.532 --> 00:20:50.299 What therefore you worship as unknown this I proclaim to you. 00:20:51.665 --> 00:20:55.500 And Paul is about to hit them with the true God. 00:20:55.665 --> 00:21:05.000 Verse 24, The God who made the world and everything in it, being Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in temples made by man. 00:21:05.000 --> 00:21:08.599 Already God has just destroyed their worldview. 00:21:08.633 --> 00:21:17.133 He says there is a God who created everything and everyone who lives in heaven, and he is over heaven, over earth. 00:21:17.133 --> 00:21:20.932 There is one God, not little gods. 00:21:20.932 --> 00:21:24.266 There is one God, and he's over all. 00:21:25.066 --> 00:21:32.766 And he doesn't live in temples made by man because this is what they did. 00:21:32.766 --> 00:21:38.200 The Greeks would see something like, oh, there's the sun, we need a God for that sun. 00:21:38.200 --> 00:21:43.833 Oh, there's the crops we need to make a god for the crops that we get a good crop yield this year. 00:21:43.833 --> 00:21:47.599 Oh, there is, there is this pleasure we get from from sex. 00:21:47.599 --> 00:21:48.932 So we need to build a temple. 00:21:48.932 --> 00:21:50.333 And a god is for that. 00:21:50.333 --> 00:21:51.865 Do you see what I mean? 00:21:51.865 --> 00:21:55.865 So you would build a building, make it, make an idol and put it in there. 00:21:55.865 --> 00:22:00.000 And Paul was saying, I worship a God who doesn't need to be built. 00:22:01.365 --> 00:22:08.365 I worship of God, who's always existed and isn't in a building that needed to be made by hands. 00:22:08.365 --> 00:22:11.299 And look what he says in verse 25 here. 00:22:11.299 --> 00:22:16.932 Nor is he served by humans hands as though he needed anything. 00:22:17.732 --> 00:22:23.566 Because these idols, these fake gods, need everything from these Greek people. 00:22:24.500 --> 00:22:26.066 They need everything. 00:22:26.066 --> 00:22:31.432 They need the workers who were chiseling and putting together, who were overlaying with silver and overlaid with gold. 00:22:31.432 --> 00:22:42.532 They need these worse, these acts of worship where they're cutting themselves or they're going and spending a night with a prostitute, or they have all these different ways and forms of acts of worship that these God needs with God. 00:22:42.532 --> 00:22:47.400 But Paul says, listen, I have a God who doesn't need anything. 00:22:47.599 --> 00:22:54.133 And since he himself gives to all mankind life and breath and everything. 00:22:55.165 --> 00:22:56.066 So here's what Paul says. 00:22:56.066 --> 00:22:58.400 Because my God doesn't need anything. 00:22:58.400 --> 00:23:00.965 You know what my God does? 00:23:00.965 --> 00:23:03.965 He gives. 00:23:04.000 --> 00:23:08.633 Think of that reality because God doesn't need anything. 00:23:08.633 --> 00:23:15.833 He doesn't expect us to give him everything as an act of like, subservience or like anything like that. 00:23:15.833 --> 00:23:17.599 God doesn't need anything. 00:23:17.599 --> 00:23:32.232 Instead, because of that, God gives everything and notice if God doesn't need anything, God doesn't give us things because he wants something in return. 00:23:33.200 --> 00:23:42.599 God gives purely, solely motivated by grace and love. 00:23:42.599 --> 00:23:45.700 That should change our lives. 00:23:45.700 --> 00:23:52.099 If we get that and I'm going to, I'm going to bring it down to a really small point. 00:23:53.333 --> 00:23:59.432 God does not need you, but he wants you. 00:24:00.165 --> 00:24:05.032 When you get that in your mind and in your heart, it changes the way that you live. 00:24:06.700 --> 00:24:09.700 God doesn't need you to worship him. 00:24:09.799 --> 00:24:15.365 God doesn't need you to stand in here and to sing a song. Although he loves it. 00:24:15.365 --> 00:24:19.299 God doesn't need you to tithe and give money to the church. 00:24:19.299 --> 00:24:20.766 God doesn't need you here. 00:24:20.766 --> 00:24:22.099 But you know what he does. 00:24:22.099 --> 00:24:31.365 He wants you here and it's better to be wanted than needed because God loves you. 00:24:32.032 --> 00:24:34.865 He has grace for you. 00:24:34.865 --> 00:24:37.465 God did not need any of us to exist. 00:24:37.465 --> 00:24:39.465 He didn't need Valley View Church to be here. 00:24:39.465 --> 00:24:42.165 He didn't need this earth, this universe to exist. 00:24:42.165 --> 00:24:48.599 And yet he created purely out of love and grace. 00:24:48.965 --> 00:24:55.932 It's my first point for you this morning is we need to worship the Lord who lacks nothing. 00:24:56.465 --> 00:24:58.165 And we worship him. 00:24:58.165 --> 00:25:02.599 In light of that, we don't get up and read our Bibles. 00:25:02.599 --> 00:25:03.932 We don't pray. 00:25:03.932 --> 00:25:09.066 We don't lift our hands and worship as if, oh, I've got to appease God today. 00:25:09.066 --> 00:25:10.700 I got to make God feel happy. 00:25:10.700 --> 00:25:12.566 Today. 00:25:12.566 --> 00:25:20.432 God is fully 100% happy and full of joy and full of life without a song sung to his name. 00:25:20.432 --> 00:25:23.299 And yet he calls us to sing. 00:25:23.299 --> 00:25:25.032 He calls us to read. 00:25:25.032 --> 00:25:27.032 He calls us to pray. 00:25:27.032 --> 00:25:28.766 Catch this. 00:25:28.766 --> 00:25:33.200 Not to make him happy, but to make us happy. 00:25:33.333 --> 00:25:35.500 The reason why God wants us to worship. 00:25:35.500 --> 00:25:45.200 The why God wants us to praise him, the why we need to read him, learn more about him is because when he's most glorified us in us, we are most satisfied. 00:25:45.200 --> 00:25:47.566 In him we are filled up. 00:25:49.099 --> 00:25:55.400 The beautiful part about our God is that he doesn't need anything from you, but he asks us. 00:25:55.400 --> 00:26:00.900 He invites us to worship him and we are satisfied because of it. 00:26:01.500 --> 00:26:10.266 Praise God that he doesn't need anything from us, and yet he chooses to love us and give us grace. 00:26:10.266 --> 00:26:13.266 So now we're into Exodus 34. 00:26:13.900 --> 00:26:15.299 Flip your Bibles over a little bit. 00:26:15.299 --> 00:26:19.799 Same book, same person encountering God. 00:26:19.799 --> 00:26:25.965 Story about Moses after they've gotten out of Egypt, after they've hidden in the wilderness. 00:26:25.965 --> 00:26:28.299 They've had several incidences that have happened. 00:26:28.299 --> 00:26:31.299 And Moses records this incredible story. 00:26:32.732 --> 00:26:38.000 He goes to God and says to God, I want to see your glory. 00:26:41.299 --> 00:26:44.299 Great question, great request. 00:26:44.532 --> 00:26:49.299 But God says, listen, you can't see my face and live. 00:26:50.299 --> 00:26:51.865 If you saw my face, you would die. 00:26:53.299 --> 00:26:54.165 I'm too glorious. 00:26:54.165 --> 00:26:55.200 I'm too holy. 00:26:55.200 --> 00:26:56.032 I'm too beautiful. 00:26:56.032 --> 00:27:00.932 I'm too wonderful that if you saw me, you would die because you are sinful and I mean just sinful. 00:27:00.932 --> 00:27:02.932 That you are human. 00:27:02.932 --> 00:27:04.099 And so what God is like. 00:27:04.099 --> 00:27:07.099 I've got another, another way to do this. 00:27:07.165 --> 00:27:16.133 Moses, you go in the cleft of the rock and inside of this mountain, I'm going to put my hand over it so you can't see me, and I'm going to pass by you. 00:27:16.133 --> 00:27:18.200 So you see my back. 00:27:18.200 --> 00:27:22.599 I'm going to give you a taste, a glimpse of my glory. 00:27:23.432 --> 00:27:25.200 And so what happens in response to this? 00:27:25.200 --> 00:27:27.599 God is he's passing by Moses. 00:27:27.599 --> 00:27:30.133 He describes himself again. 00:27:30.133 --> 00:27:31.566 Y'all ready for this? 00:27:31.566 --> 00:27:36.665 God describes himself in Exodus 34, verse five, Exodus 34, verse five. 00:27:36.665 --> 00:27:37.133 Look at this. 00:27:38.299 --> 00:27:43.799 The Lord descended in the cloud and stood with him there and proclaimed the name of the Lord. 00:27:43.799 --> 00:27:48.500 The Lord passed before him and proclaimed the Lord the Lord. 00:27:48.500 --> 00:27:57.500 There's his personal name again, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness. 00:27:57.500 --> 00:28:10.833 So we see God has to descend to get to where Moses is, and we see God's full on display with his words of who he is merciful, gracious, slow to anger, abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness. 00:28:10.833 --> 00:28:25.165 He goes on to verse seven, keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, but who will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers iniquity is transgression. 00:28:25.165 --> 00:28:29.165 Sin of the fathers on the children and the children's children. 00:28:29.165 --> 00:28:32.500 To the third and the fourth generation. 00:28:33.665 --> 00:28:39.200 So the Lord once again describes himself using his personal name, and then gives us. 00:28:39.200 --> 00:28:50.432 What I see is three attributes I could go on for several more weeks to just covering all the attributes of God that we can, that he's revealed himself. 00:28:50.432 --> 00:28:52.700 But let me give us three in this part. 00:28:52.700 --> 00:28:53.900 Okay? 00:28:53.900 --> 00:28:57.665 First we see that the Lord is holy. 00:28:59.599 --> 00:29:01.700 Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty. 00:29:01.700 --> 00:29:03.732 He was and is and is to come. 00:29:03.732 --> 00:29:05.099 God is holy. 00:29:05.099 --> 00:29:10.333 It's one of the most common use words about God in the Bible. 00:29:11.032 --> 00:29:12.299 He's holy. 00:29:12.299 --> 00:29:16.500 The Hebrew word kadosh literally means separate or apart. 00:29:16.500 --> 00:29:24.532 God is so wonderful, beautiful, great that he is separated apart from us because he's holy. 00:29:24.532 --> 00:29:27.732 Second, it says that God is love. 00:29:29.299 --> 00:29:30.400 Notice what I said there? 00:29:30.400 --> 00:29:33.232 Love is not God. 00:29:33.232 --> 00:29:36.200 God is love. 00:29:36.200 --> 00:29:40.900 God is the epitome, the originator, the definer of love. 00:29:40.900 --> 00:29:42.066 God is love. 00:29:42.066 --> 00:29:59.799 As it says in First John, the reason why God has mercy, the reason why God hates sin, the reason why God forgives, the reason why Christ came to this earth die on the cross is because God is love. 00:30:01.400 --> 00:30:03.200 God is love. 00:30:03.200 --> 00:30:07.665 Third, God is righteous. 00:30:08.900 --> 00:30:13.099 Another word might say is God is always right. 00:30:13.665 --> 00:30:21.599 Like I tell my kids all the time, although I'm not always right, but God is always right. 00:30:21.633 --> 00:30:25.165 Another word we might use is God is always just. 00:30:26.066 --> 00:30:39.133 We see in the past, as we just read, that God will not clear the iniquity of the guilty, that sin must be dealt with because God is always right. 00:30:39.133 --> 00:30:48.500 Meaning it's not just that God does right, it’s that whatever God does that is always right. 00:30:48.500 --> 00:30:53.532 If it's a little bit different, God is the definer of what right is. 00:30:53.532 --> 00:30:57.865 God determines what is right so that everything he does is right. 00:30:57.965 --> 00:31:01.732 That's why we would say God is righteous. 00:31:02.900 --> 00:31:21.799 And so we see some things here that I want to unpack as we we kind of brought these three attributes up because how can God be both loving and just at the same time, how can God love sinners but also judge them for their sin at the same time? 00:31:21.799 --> 00:31:23.965 How is that possible? 00:31:23.965 --> 00:31:24.799 Because this is important. 00:31:24.799 --> 00:31:30.200 We have to understand this more that God cannot be reduced to his attributes. 00:31:31.599 --> 00:31:36.865 Meaning, we can't just say God is just a loving God and that's it. 00:31:37.465 --> 00:31:40.465 Love is God. 00:31:40.532 --> 00:31:43.532 Love is more fundamental than God. 00:31:44.333 --> 00:31:50.965 We can't reduce God to something like that, but he is the very definition of his attributes. 00:31:51.599 --> 00:31:54.599 My wife, she is a fantastic cook. 00:31:54.665 --> 00:31:57.665 She makes a mean chili. 00:31:57.766 --> 00:31:59.833 She's yet to enter in the chili contest. 00:31:59.833 --> 00:32:01.465 I really hope that she does this coming year. 00:32:01.465 --> 00:32:15.799 She might not, but she makes a mean chili and she has all these ingredients, all these spices, all these things that she puts together in the pot, and she makes it between the spices, the, the, the meat, the, the beans, the tomato, and of course, the noodles. 00:32:15.799 --> 00:32:17.099 Amen, Amen. 00:32:17.099 --> 00:32:19.732 Come on, come on. 00:32:19.732 --> 00:32:28.833 So all those things add up to make chili so I can break chili down to its ingredients. 00:32:28.833 --> 00:32:31.232 Chili is its meat. 00:32:31.232 --> 00:32:32.365 It's spices. 00:32:32.365 --> 00:32:33.500 It's all of these things. 00:32:33.500 --> 00:32:36.799 It's it's the ingredients make up what chili is. 00:32:36.799 --> 00:32:37.900 Humans can be the same way. 00:32:37.900 --> 00:32:40.133 You and I can be the same way. 00:32:40.133 --> 00:32:43.200 We are bone in flesh muscles. 00:32:43.200 --> 00:32:45.766 Some of us have hair like all those features. 00:32:45.766 --> 00:32:48.799 Ingredients make us human. 00:32:50.165 --> 00:32:52.066 But listen to me. 00:32:52.066 --> 00:32:55.066 God cannot be described that way. 00:32:55.599 --> 00:32:57.500 God is so perfect. 00:32:57.500 --> 00:33:01.000 He is the originator of all of those things. 00:33:01.000 --> 00:33:06.099 So we can't say love is God, righteousness is God, wrath is God. 00:33:06.099 --> 00:33:09.200 No, no, God is love. 00:33:09.266 --> 00:33:11.032 God is just. 00:33:11.032 --> 00:33:14.766 God is wrath all at the same time. 00:33:15.299 --> 00:33:19.133 Equally, it's mind blowing to think that. 00:33:19.133 --> 00:33:24.532 So all of these things must be equally true about God at the same time. 00:33:26.665 --> 00:33:33.965 As we draw to a close, I'm going to share with you the what I think is probably the most one of the most important passages we have in the New Testament. 00:33:33.965 --> 00:33:39.599 In Romans chapter three, because I'm going to show to you why this has to be true. 00:33:39.633 --> 00:33:45.865 How can God be both loving and righteous at the same time? 00:33:45.865 --> 00:33:51.400 Because if God is righteous, you know what we deserve death. 00:33:51.400 --> 00:33:56.665 But if God is loving, then he wouldn't send us to our death. 00:33:56.665 --> 00:33:58.400 Watch what happens. 00:33:58.400 --> 00:34:01.099 Romans chapter three, verse 23. 00:34:01.099 --> 00:34:06.500 You may be familiar with this verse, for all have sinned fall short of the glory of God. 00:34:06.500 --> 00:34:12.900 Everybody, you, me, everyone who has been and will be is a sinner separated from God. 00:34:12.900 --> 00:34:20.233 For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God in verse 25, and are justified by his grace as a gift. 00:34:21.500 --> 00:34:32.000 We can stand before the court of God, and he says, you are righteous, and it's given to us as a gift through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. 00:34:32.000 --> 00:34:40.233 That is the redemption that that Christ accomplished on the cross and in his resurrection, that that saves us from our sin. 00:34:40.233 --> 00:34:44.000 And now we can stand before a holy, righteous God. 00:34:44.000 --> 00:34:58.699 Look at verse 25, this gift, this redemption, whom God put forward as a propitiation, as a payment, as an offering by his blood to be received by faith. 00:34:58.699 --> 00:35:00.400 And notice what this says. 00:35:00.400 --> 00:35:02.800 I need you all to catch this. 00:35:02.800 --> 00:35:05.800 This was to show what? 00:35:05.932 --> 00:35:08.932 God's righteousness. 00:35:11.900 --> 00:35:15.666 God loves us, but God is also righteous. 00:35:15.666 --> 00:35:22.132 Hold these two things right now, it says, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins. 00:35:23.599 --> 00:35:31.333 So for Adam, Abraham, Moses, all the Old Testament, all the people that were sinning, what did God do with all that sin? 00:35:31.333 --> 00:35:35.000 Shouldn't have you smited them right there? 00:35:35.000 --> 00:35:37.400 Here's what God did. 00:35:37.400 --> 00:35:41.000 Just like he pulled out a credit card and you swipe that credit card. 00:35:41.000 --> 00:35:45.699 You put that payment on deferment and you pay for it at a later time. 00:35:45.699 --> 00:35:50.900 And every time Adam, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, David. 00:35:50.900 --> 00:35:51.865 They sinned. 00:35:51.865 --> 00:35:56.599 God swiped a credit card and said, listen, I'm gonna pay for that sin. 00:35:56.599 --> 00:35:59.199 Later. 00:35:59.199 --> 00:36:03.900 So God, by his grace, shows I love you enough that I'm going to pay for it. 00:36:03.900 --> 00:36:22.733 And so verse 26, last verse, it was to show his righteousness at the present time and catch this church so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus. 00:36:24.365 --> 00:36:39.065 I know this is deep, understand, but this is the gospel that God displayed to us, that not only does sin need to be paid for, but he was willing to be the one to pay for it with his own son. 00:36:39.065 --> 00:36:41.300 Jesus. 00:36:41.300 --> 00:36:42.565 And this is what this comes to. 00:36:42.565 --> 00:36:53.166 The cross of Christ is a shining beacon that God is both love and just at the exact same time. 00:36:55.800 --> 00:36:58.800 That God had to deal with sin. 00:36:59.000 --> 00:37:07.565 He couldn't just say, oh, sin doesn't matter because then he's not righteous and God wasn't going to let us die in our sin because he loves us. 00:37:07.565 --> 00:37:09.699 So we had to do something. 00:37:09.699 --> 00:37:14.599 He not only paid for the sin, but he loved us enough to be the one who actually paid for it. 00:37:14.599 --> 00:37:15.300 Do you see that? 00:37:16.333 --> 00:37:17.500 For this morning 00:37:17.500 --> 00:37:22.900 worship the Lord for who he truly is. 00:37:24.032 --> 00:37:33.333 Worship the Lord for who he truly is, not some version that we have in our head, not some version that we see in our culture, but the God of the Bible. 00:37:33.333 --> 00:37:37.132 That God has revealed himself through the word and through Jesus Christ. 00:37:37.132 --> 00:37:51.000 That is the God we are to worship, who is both love and just, who's both kind and wrath, who's both a consuming fire and full of grace and truth. 00:37:51.065 --> 00:37:52.333 And so let me give you four things. 00:37:52.333 --> 00:37:56.599 As we close, four things that you can take home. 00:37:56.599 --> 00:37:57.532 We talked about a lot. 00:37:57.532 --> 00:37:59.233 So I'm a boil this down to what we talked about. 00:37:59.233 --> 00:38:10.865 The four things already. Four things one, we should strive to know God as he reveals Himself in His Word and in Christ. 00:38:10.865 --> 00:38:16.032 We shouldn't try to come up with our own version of God or box God, anyone. 00:38:16.032 --> 00:38:18.132 This is my God. 00:38:18.132 --> 00:38:23.733 This isn't like Talladega Nights where we say, wow, I like my Jesus to be 6 pounds, seven ounces like that. 00:38:23.733 --> 00:38:25.432 That's not what we're talking about here. 00:38:25.432 --> 00:38:29.432 We can't make Jesus who we want Jesus to be. No. Jesus is. 00:38:29.432 --> 00:38:31.300 God is. 00:38:31.300 --> 00:38:33.132 That's the God we worship. 00:38:33.132 --> 00:38:41.199 Two we should first love God for who he is before what he does. 00:38:41.199 --> 00:38:46.300 Imagine if we loved our spouse just for what they do. 00:38:46.300 --> 00:38:46.532 Nice. 00:38:46.532 --> 00:38:48.199 If we love their kids just for what they do. 00:38:48.199 --> 00:38:54.500 Imagine if we loved our friends just for what they do and it's conditional. 00:38:54.500 --> 00:38:57.766 If they don't do what I want them to do, then I'm not going to love them. 00:38:57.766 --> 00:39:01.900 But what if we loved God for who he was first? 00:39:02.666 --> 00:39:06.733 Of course we should love God for all the many miraculous, beautiful, wonderful things that he does. 00:39:06.733 --> 00:39:14.099 But first, we need to love God for who he is, not just what he can give us, but for who he is. 00:39:14.099 --> 00:39:22.699 Truly. Third, we should not isolate or elevate one attribute over another. 00:39:22.699 --> 00:39:27.465 We can't say God is all loving, but he doesn't judge sin. 00:39:27.465 --> 00:39:29.733 That gives you in heresy. 00:39:29.733 --> 00:39:34.365 We can't say God is wrathful and vengeful and he doesn't really love people. 00:39:34.365 --> 00:39:36.699 That also leads to heresy. 00:39:36.699 --> 00:39:39.300 All the attributes are true of God all at the same time. 00:39:39.300 --> 00:39:52.032 And number four, which I think probably is the most important, we should get to know God more so Art, sorry, we should get to know God more so that we can enjoy him more. 00:39:54.099 --> 00:39:55.699 Did you hear me this morning? 00:39:55.699 --> 00:40:03.500 Your knowledge of God increases your love for him. 00:40:03.500 --> 00:40:10.000 Meaning, if I can put it this way, your love of God is limited to your knowledge of God. 00:40:10.000 --> 00:40:18.032 The more you know God, the more you can love him, the more you get in His Word and understand who he is, the more you're going to love him. 00:40:18.032 --> 00:40:20.532 Yes, it's true, we don't need systems. 00:40:20.532 --> 00:40:23.000 We don't need doctrine to love God. 00:40:23.000 --> 00:40:25.865 We don't have to have all that worked out. That's true. 00:40:25.865 --> 00:40:29.565 But the more you get to know him is, the more you will love him. 00:40:30.800 --> 00:40:31.965 So here's your challenge this morning. 00:40:31.965 --> 00:40:40.400 Does your knowledge of God come from His Word or something else? 00:40:40.400 --> 00:40:48.532 Does your knowledge and personal knowledge of God, does it come from the Bible, come from Christ, or does it come from something else? 00:40:48.699 --> 00:40:54.532 Because it is so important that we know God rightly. 00:40:54.532 --> 00:40:56.432 Let's pray. 00:40:56.432 --> 00:40:57.699 Father, thank you for this morning. 00:40:57.699 --> 00:41:00.099 Thank you for your word. 00:41:00.099 --> 00:41:07.900 These are big, complex ideas and yet you chose to reveal yourself in ways that we can understand. 00:41:08.500 --> 00:41:13.632 And God, you didn't need us but yet you want us. 00:41:13.632 --> 00:41:17.365 You didn't need us to be here, but you put us here. 00:41:17.365 --> 00:41:21.865 And now our worship of you is not something that you need. 00:41:21.865 --> 00:41:24.199 It's what you want for us. 00:41:24.199 --> 00:41:39.932 So I pray, father, that we would worship you for who you truly are and not some God that we make up in our head, but we worship you according to what your word says and who Christ is. 00:41:40.065 --> 00:41:42.065 We pray this in Jesus name, Amen.