The Attributes of God (a)

Sovereign Grace Family Church

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October 17, 2018

00:02: Welcome everyone back to our study of an overview of doctrine and theology here at Sovereign Grace Family Church and for those of you who have been with us you know that we are in the first portion of our study which we call Theology Proper which is the doctrine of God and because of time I'm not going to rehearse everything we've learned so far but I do want you to notice on your sheet that we have five categories that we're looking at under the subject of Theology Proper.
00:39: The five categories are the existence of God, the revelation of God, the names of God, the attributes of God and the nature of God as Trinity.
00:50: We are at the attributes of God that's where we are tonight and as we begin looking at the attributes of God I want to tell you this will not be one lesson.
01:01: This will not be two lessons.
01:04: I don't know how many lessons it will be.
01:07: I sat down to begin writing this lesson out and immediately split it into two parts as we're going to see in a moment there are two aspects of the attributes of God that we have to make distinct and so I knew it was going to at least be two parts but as I began to examine and study and move through these things I began to realize that even two parts would probably not be enough.
01:30: However, I want to say this, it is not my desire to belabor any points.
01:38: I'm not doing this just to prove that I can or to say that we're going to go on and on and on but I don't want to simply skirt over something without explaining it either.
01:49: As my professor used to say it's more important to get the lesson through than it is to get through with the lesson and so we're going to focus on the things that we need to focus on and if it takes time it takes time.
01:59: I don't have anywhere to go until the Lord calls me home.
02:01: Hopefully I'll be here and you all will be here to hear me.
02:05: So we're going to begin tonight on the subject of the attributes of God.
02:11: Now in our handbook, the Moody Handbook of Theology, he gives a definition of the attributes of God and I wanted to begin with this definition.
02:21: The attributes of God may be defined as those distinguishing characteristics of the divine nature which are inseparable from the idea of God and which constitute the basis and ground for his various manifestations to his creatures.
02:40: God's attributes are to be distinguished from his works.
02:44: God's attributes do not add anything to God, they reveal his nature.
02:50: I was thinking as I was reading this as you guys were praying and as we were praying, I got to thinking about the fact that I do a lot of funerals and when I do funerals I ask for the people who are telling me, because normally it's people I don't know.
03:05: I work with a funeral home and I do services for people that I don't know and I have to learn about them and I ask them, I give them a piece of paper and I said, write down some words that describe your loved one to me.
03:22: And what I'm asking for, write down some of their attributes.
03:26: They're a kind person or they were a good father or maybe they were a good provider or maybe not.
03:35: That is sometimes I get a list back and it's not so kind because the person had sort of a scoundrel behavior and sometimes I say I don't have anything good to say, I'd rather not say anything at all.
03:47: Okay, it's going to be a little hard to give a eulogy.
03:49: Eulogy means good word.
03:51: It's going to be hard to give a eulogy for a person when there's no good words.
03:55: So tonight we're going to begin talking about the attributes of God.
03:59: These are those aspects of God's nature, the aspects of God's character that we want to learn about and this is not something that is without controversy.
04:17: And I use the word controversy quite a bit and I think you guys sometimes might think that I just love controversy.
04:23: I don't.
04:24: I don't revel in controversy.
04:25: I don't enjoy controversy.
04:27: Controversy is not my favorite thing.
04:29: However, if you are about the truth, you're always going to be at odds with people who hate the truth.
04:35: And the Bible says that the world hates the truth of God.
04:39: It hates God.
04:40: It's at enmity, at war with God.
04:42: And so when you speak the truth, it's going to be controversial.
04:47: I want to quote Paul Washer.
04:49: Now if you've never heard of Paul Washer, you've probably heard me mention him a few times.
04:52: Paul Washer is a wonderful missionary, evangelist, preacher and teacher.
04:59: And he said this and I'll never forget this.
05:01: He said, sometimes pastors will ask him to come to their church and teach on the attributes of God.
05:11: And he said, I tell them no.
05:14: He said if I come to your church and teach on the attributes of God, I'll split your church.
05:21: I want to finish the quote.
05:23: He said, I'll split your church.
05:26: And the pastor says, teaching on the attributes of God would split my church? Yes, it will.
05:31: Because if I start teaching on the love of God, everything will be fine.
05:35: But if I start teaching on the justice of God, the holiness of God, the sovereignty of God, I'll make it about three days in most churches.
05:42: And then you know what's going to happen? People are going to start standing up and say, that's not my God.
05:46: I don't believe in a God like that.
05:48: I could never love a God like that.
05:52: That's why people all over America today are sitting in churches and they're committing idolatry because they're not singing to the God of the Bible.
05:59: They're singing to a God they've made in their own mind that looks more like Santa Claus than he does Yahweh.
06:05: That's the end of the quote.
06:07: He said, you know, if people ask me to come and teach on the attributes of God, I really can't do it because I split churches.
06:12: People get upset.
06:13: They don't want to hear the true nature of God.
06:18: They want to be told the things about God that agree with that which they already assume about God, that he is much more like Santa Claus than he is like Yahweh.
06:27: And when I start to challenge that, Paul Washer says, when I begin to challenge that, I immediately get rebuffed.
06:33: And I want to tell you, over the years, I've been rebuffed.
06:36: This room used to have a stage in the corner.
06:40: That door used to be here.
06:42: This room was a little different.
06:43: And we had a stage in the corner where we would do activities.
06:46: And one night I was preaching on the nature of man as in total depravity and sin.
06:55: And I had a person just outright say, I don't agree.
07:00: That's not what I believe.
07:02: And I opened the Bible.
07:04: I said, but it's what this book says.
07:09: We are by nature children of wrath.
07:11: That's what I was trying to say, that we are by nature sinful.
07:14: I don't believe that.
07:15: Here's what it says.
07:18: And that's what this is going to be.
07:20: There are going to be times that I say things in this course and it may ruffle your feathers.
07:25: It may cause you to be uncomfortable.
07:27: But if it is what the word of God says, then we must be acquainted with discomfort.
07:35: If that's what's necessary.
07:36: To become acquainted with discomfort if that's what it takes.
07:40: And so I know how controversial some of these things can be.
07:44: And I'm going to tread with fear and trembling because I want to make sure that I'm speaking the truth.
07:50: Not just trying to be controversial for controversy's sake.
07:53: There's no use in that either.
07:57: Now, in your sheet, on your sheet, you'll see that it says there is a prerequisite to studying the attributes of God.
08:05: The prerequisite to studying the attributes of God.
08:09: And I hope this marker works.
08:10: I didn't test it.
08:12: The prerequisite to studying the attributes of God is this.
08:15: To recognize divine incomprehensibility.
08:24: Incomprehensibility.
08:33: Divine incomprehensibility.
08:35: If you would open your Bible, we'll look at a passage which basically gives that in a shortened form.
08:43: If you'll turn to Psalm 145 and look at verse 3.
08:49: Psalm 145 and verse 3.
08:56: Some of you may know this passage.
08:58: In fact, I believe it may have been quoted in our prayer time.
09:03: I'm not certain.
09:04: But I think I've maybe heard someone quote at least a portion of it.
09:07: Because it says, Great is the Lord.
09:10: I'll give you guys a second to get there.
09:12: Psalm 145 and verse 3 says, Great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised, and His greatness is unsearchable.
09:26: His greatness is unsearchable.
09:30: You see, you have to understand that the finite, and that's what we are.
09:34: We are finite creatures.
09:36: The finite cannot contain the infinite.
09:41: In fact, the finite cannot fully grasp the infinite.
09:45: It's as if you were trying to take the Atlantic Ocean and contain it in a bucket.
09:52: There's just too much for us to contain in our finite minds.
09:58: Dr.
09:58: R.C.
09:59: Sproul says this, Human beings are finite creatures, so our minds will always work from a finite perspective.
10:04: We live, move, and have our being on a finite plane.
10:07: But God lives, moves, and has His being an infinite.
10:11: Infinity.
10:12: Our finite understanding cannot contain an infinite subject.
10:15: Thus God is incomprehensible.
10:17: This concept represents a check and balance to warn us, lest we think we have captured all together and mastered in every detail the things of God.
10:26: Our finitude always limits our understanding of God.
10:32: So we have to start out with a sense of humility.
10:36: We have to start out by saying, as much as we're going to learn, as much as we're going to try to expand our mind, as much as we're going to try to renew our mind through the study of the Word, there is so much to know.
10:51: And there is so vast a body and reservoir of knowledge that we could never possibly plumb its depths.
11:03: But here's something I want to add to that.
11:06: To say that God is incomprehensible does not mean that God is unknowable.
11:15: To say that God is incomprehensible, in fact I would say that's the most dangerous misunderstanding, is if you hear me say God's incomprehensible and you say, well that means I don't need to come to class, I don't need to learn, if I'm not going to comprehend it, if I'm not going to get anything out of it, if I'm not going to really learn, then what does it matter? You see, God is incomprehensible, but that doesn't mean that what we say about Him is meaningless.
11:42: Doesn't mean what we say about Him has no, is just gibberish.
11:46: And some people believe that.
11:47: Some people believe that because, there I go stuttering, I sound like a porky pig.
11:52: People believe that because God is incomprehensible, that we really can't have this conversation.
12:00: He's so far above us, He's so far greater than us, He's so far removed from us that we can't even discuss anything about Him, but that is not true.
12:10: We can have a conversation about God, and we can study things about God, because while God is incomprehensible, He is not irrational.
12:21: In fact, if you want to put a little note beside that, you could write God is rational.
12:27: You say, well, what does that mean? God's knowledge will always be above what we can understand, but it will never be irrational.
12:37: It will never be contradictory.
12:39: It will never be something that cannot be.
12:45: God does not contradict Himself.
12:46: You guys are familiar with the law of non-contradiction? The law of non-contradiction says that something cannot be and not be at the same time and in the same relationship.
12:56: That's the law of non-contradiction, and it's the most basic law of logic.
13:01: I can't say, Cody is here, and he's not here.
13:06: And both of those things be true at the same time and in the same relationship.
13:11: Something cannot be and not be at the same time and in the same relationship.
13:17: That is the law of non-contradiction, and you'll hear people all the time will say, oh, the Bible's full of contradictions.
13:23: No, it's not.
13:24: You can't find one, because you will find in the Bible something called paradox.
13:30: In fact, tomorrow morning at set free when I'm teaching, I'm in James chapter 1, verse 2, where it says to count our trials as joy.
13:38: Well, that's paradoxical, because nobody likes to think of trials as joy, right? But it's not contradictory.
13:47: It's just paradoxical.
13:49: From the face value, it looks like it contradicts, but when you step back from it and try to understand what God is saying, He's saying He has a purpose even in our trials, and because He has a purpose and the purpose is to build you up in your faith and to take you from infancy to maturity, and that's the reason for those trials, then you understand it's not contradictory at all.
14:08: But at face value, it might look that way, and that's what paradox means.
14:12: OK, so when we come to the subject of God, he is not irrational, and thus we can understand him as far as we can.
14:23: We can understand him as much as he gives us knowledge and reveals himself to us.
14:32: But we must never think that because God is rational, everything about him can be known to our complete satisfaction.
14:41: Just because God is rational does not mean everything that can be known about him can be comprehended by us.
14:50: Where this becomes an issue is when somebody says this, I can't comprehend X, so X cannot be true.
15:04: Ever heard somebody say that? I just can't comprehend hell, so hell can't be true.
15:10: I can't comprehend how God knows perfectly the future, so that can't be true.
15:16: Or I can't comprehend a being that lives outside of time, so God's eternity can't be true.
15:24: That's sort of the Mormon doctrine of God, right? As he was once a man that lived on another planet, and he became God through obedience, because they can't comprehend in the idea of a God who is eternal, so they don't believe it.
15:38: So that's where this issue of incomprehensibility comes in.
15:41: Just because we can't comprehend something as deep and as wide as the doctrine of predestination, and that will become an issue later on when we start talking about salvation and sovereignty and foreknowledge and all those things, we may not be able to understand it completely and how it all works out in the mind of God.
15:58: But yet if the Bible teaches it, we can't deny it.
16:04: We can't fully grasp the doctrine of the Trinity, but we can understand it.
16:09: We can't fully grasp the doctrine of eternality, but we can understand what it's saying.
16:15: So we understand what we can, and we understand also that there are some things that are going to be incomprehensible.
16:22: So here's another verse I want to show you on this same subject.
16:24: If you'll turn with me to Deuteronomy 29.
16:29: So take a left turn from Psalms.
16:32: Go over a few books.
16:36: Excuse me.
16:37: I'm sure that sounds great coming through the microphone as I cough.
16:41: Sorry.
16:43: Deuteronomy 29 and verse 29.
16:57: Alright, when we're there I'll look.
16:58: It says in verse 29, The secret things belong to the Lord our God.
17:06: But the things that are revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may do all the words of this law.
17:16: See right there it tells us there are some things that we're not going to understand.
17:20: There are some things that we're not going to know.
17:21: There are some things God didn't intend for us to know.
17:25: Because they're the secret things.
17:26: And they don't belong to us.
17:29: Think of yourself as a parent.
17:32: You share a lot with your children, but you don't share everything.
17:35: And I know that's a much different category than God, but it's a way to sort of apply it to our own lives.
17:41: There are things that are just mine and Jennifer's, and it doesn't belong to the children.
17:47: There are things, and there are some things that are God's things.
17:51: Understanding why He chooses, whom He chooses, how He chooses, is God's and not mine.
18:01: But understanding that when He chooses, I will repent and trust and believe, that's mine.
18:07: He gave that to me to know, and that's how I can know whom He chose.
18:12: Because they'll repent and believe and follow Him.
18:16: You see, so there's a part of that that I don't know, and there's a part of that that I do know, and I'm completely satisfied with the part I don't know, because it don't belong to me.
18:26: The secret things belong to the Lord, our God.
18:32: Alright, so that's the first part.
18:34: Divine incomprehensibility must be a prerequisite to this study.
18:39: Alright, next thing on your list is God's attributes can be subdivided into two categories.
18:48: The first category is incommunicable.
18:57: Incommunicable, and then the opposite of that is communicable.
19:05: You have one is incommunicable, and two is communicable.
19:12: Now when we think of the word communicable, our minds usually go to the idea of the disease.
19:19: But that's actually helpful.
19:22: Because if I said, hey, this is a communicable disease, that means you can share it.
19:28: That means if I have it, and it's communicable, and it's something that's airborne and we're in the same room, you can get it.
19:37: And that's called a communicable disease because it's shared.
19:42: So if you want to write next to the word communicable, write the word shared.
19:45: Because there are attributes of God that belong only to Him.
19:50: That's the incommunicable ones, the ones that He does not communicate or does not share with us.
19:57: And then there's the communicable ones, those things that we do share.
20:03: Or another word for share, experience.
20:06: I like the word experience.
20:07: Even though I'm not Pentecostal, I can use that word sometimes.
20:10: Because Pentecostals really like that word experience.
20:12: They don't have worship services, they have worship experiences.
20:16: Very, very important.
20:18: And so we see the difference is there are some things about God and His attributes that I cannot experience.
20:27: I can't experience infinitude.
20:30: Even though I'm going to live forever, there was a time when I didn't live at all.
20:35: There was a time when there were not a Keith at all.
20:40: Sometimes I have a hard time just grasping that.
20:42: Not that I think that I'm at the center of the universe or anything.
20:45: But it's hard to imagine what was before me.
20:47: I know there were thousands of years before me.
20:50: But I didn't come into the scene until April 2nd, 1980.
20:59: Some of you guys are getting a giggle out.
21:00: Yeah, I'm a little younger than some of you.
21:02: But 1980, I was born.
21:07: Before that, I didn't exist.
21:09: So I don't understand infinitude.
21:10: I don't understand not having a beginning.
21:13: Because I certainly did.
21:16: I don't understand omnipresence.
21:18: Because I'm centrally located in one place, my body.
21:21: And I can't go out of this.
21:23: I can't leave it.
21:24: Some people talk about having an out-of-body experience.
21:27: I don't know if you can or can't.
21:29: But I know this.
21:30: I know that in the sense of general terms, we're located right here where we are.
21:38: So those things about God are not communicable to us.
21:42: It's important to note that how we categorize the attributes of God and defining them will have some overlap.
21:49: And they're not really universal.
21:51: If you look at the Moody Handbook of Theology, there's actually like two or three pages where it says, This theologian sees this as this.
21:58: And this theologian sees this as that.
22:00: And I didn't want to bring that into the conversation.
22:02: I didn't want to make that part of this.
22:03: Because I don't want to bring confusion.
22:05: So here's what I'm going to say.
22:06: There are some things that are absolutely incommunicable.
22:09: They only belong to God.
22:11: There are some things that absolutely are shared or communicable.
22:14: The things that I would say we have that God shares with us.
22:17: And there are some things that I say are in the middle.
22:21: And I'm not trying to be confusing.
22:22: But I would say something like holiness, right? God is holy.
22:27: And in His holiness is absolutely unique.
22:29: And we don't get to share in that.
22:30: But He makes us holy by His word and by the cross.
22:34: And we're called holy.
22:35: And so there's a sense in which we share in holiness.
22:38: But it's not of the same category of holiness.
22:42: So there is a sense in which I have what I call the middle attributes.
22:47: And if somebody from another theologian watches this and says, Well, I don't like that.
22:51: I don't care.
22:52: I'm the one teaching this class.
22:54: It really does.
22:55: It's just distinguishing.
23:00: The three primary ones, I'll go ahead and give them to you.
23:01: It's the last three on your list.
23:03: It's God's holiness, God's sovereignty, and God's will.
23:05: I consider those the middle attributes.
23:06: Because I consider us having qualities of those.
23:10: You say, how do we have qualities of sovereignty? We're called in Genesis 1 to subdue this world and take dominion over it.
23:17: Right? So there's a sense in which we've been called to have a certain type of authority.
23:22: And also we have a will.
23:23: Is our will free? No, it's not.
23:25: We're going to talk about that when we get to anthropology and the nature of man and how our will is bound in sin.
23:29: But we do have a will.
23:30: And we do make legitimate choices.
23:32: And those choices are ours.
23:36: God is sovereign over those things.
23:38: We're going to talk about that.
23:39: But in the reality, we have a will.
23:40: But God's will is greater than ours.
23:41: In fact, like R.C.
23:42: Sproul said, he said, God is free.
23:44: You're free.
23:45: When your freedom runs into God's freedom, you lose.
23:48: Because he's more free than you.
23:50: And so that's simple enough.
23:52: Right? The will of God is free.
23:55: And we'll talk about that more when we get there.
23:57: So, like I said, I designate those as middle attributes.
24:02: But the first set here, the aseity, immutability, eternality, omnipresence, potence, science, and foreknowledge, I would say, belong completely and only to God.
24:13: And so that's going to be the first part of our lesson.
24:16: We're going to start with the aseity of God.
24:22: Now, each one of these could be a 45-50 minute lesson in and of itself.
24:26: But I don't want to try to do that.
24:29: I want to introduce them to you, maybe answer a few questions about them, and then move on to the next one.
24:35: But on this first one, we're going to just stop for a second and talk about the word.
24:40: Because this is not a word that a lot of people are familiar with.
24:45: Even people who've been in church for years have not heard the word aseity.
24:50: Aseity is not something that we're very familiar with because it comes from Latin.
24:55: And most of us are not familiar with Latin.
24:57: Now, 150 years ago, everybody had to study Latin.
25:00: It was part of the general curriculum that most people studied, especially if you were going on to higher education.
25:05: Everybody had to study Latin, but not so much anymore.
25:08: And when we look at this, the A in aseity here means self.
25:15: No, I'm sorry.
25:18: The A means from.
25:19: Excuse me.
25:20: The A means from.
25:22: And the S-E means self.
25:25: And so the aseity of God is speaking of his self-existence.
25:31: The aseity of God is speaking of his being uncaused.
25:39: Absolutely independent.
25:41: That's what aseity refers to.
25:49: In our study of the names of God, one of the names of God was I Am.
25:55: Remember? And what do we say about the I Am? It's God's expression of his self-existence.
26:02: He says, I am that I am.
26:05: I am who I am.
26:07: I am not.
26:09: I am not am because something gives me the am.
26:13: I am in myself.
26:15: I know that's bad grammar.
26:16: But am is a form of being.
26:22: The form of to be.
26:24: If I said I am here, that's a verbal form of I could say I be here.
26:33: But you'd say, well, that's the wrong way of saying it in English.
26:35: That's true.
26:36: But you understand that the word the am is a verbal form of the word to be.
26:42: Right? If I say I, I be here.
26:45: You be there.
26:45: She be over there.
26:47: Right? That's not great English, but that is expressing the truth.
26:53: That's am.
26:54: That's being.
26:55: Right? So when God says I am, he's saying I be.
26:59: Again, not great English, but it is truth.
27:03: I exist without any qualification.
27:07: I exist without dependence on anything or anyone else.
27:12: This is also called, and I always like to give credit when I learn something new.
27:19: How many of you know Matt Slick? Matt Slick's theologian, CARM, Center for Apologetics and Research Ministry online.
27:27: Good guy.
27:28: Good pastor, preacher, teacher.
27:30: Actually, I don't know if he's a pastor, but he's a preacher and a teacher.
27:33: He calls this the non-contingency of God.
27:37: The non-contingency of God.
27:45: And you say, well, what does that mean? Well, contingency is something that depends on something else.
27:52: It's contingent.
27:53: You've heard the word contingent, right? Can I do this? Well, that's contingent on you doing that.
27:58: Therefore, that which is contingent may or may not occur depending on what happens.
28:03: It's the alternate plan.
28:05: It's the opportunity.
28:05: It's something else.
28:07: It's the just in case.
28:09: It's a contingency, right? So how does this relate to God? God is not contingent on anything else.
28:18: He didn't have to be brought into being by anything else.
28:24: And His decisions are not contingent on anything else.
28:30: God decided before the foundation of the world everything He was going to do.
28:35: That's a hard part for some people to realize.
28:38: Because some people believe that God makes His decisions based on our decisions.
28:43: You've heard that before? God looked down the corridor of time.
28:46: He saw what you were going to do.
28:47: And so He determined what He was going to do based on what you decided.
28:51: And so God's decisions are contingent on your decisions, right? And that's very popular.
28:57: That is the Arminian view of predestination.
29:00: God looked down the corridor of time, saw what you were going to do, decided what He would do based on what you were going to do.
29:05: And that's contingency.
29:07: God's decisions, God's determination is not contingent on us.
29:13: A passage, if you want to write down a scripture that goes with this, I won't make you look it up, but Isaiah 44 and 24.
29:20: Thus says the Lord, your Redeemer, who formed you in the womb, I am the Lord who made all things, who alone stretched out the heavens, who spread out the earth by myself.
29:40: Alone He stretched out the heavens.
29:42: He did it by Himself.
29:46: God is independent in self-existence.
29:50: That's the aseity of God.
29:51: Like I said, we could go much further than that, but I think you understand what that means.
29:54: And since we talked about it some when we looked at the names, I want to look at the second one tonight.
29:58: At least get through two if we can.
30:02: Because this next one is going to take a minute.
30:06: The next thing on the list is the immutability of God.
30:08: What does immutability mean? Unchanging.
30:15: Immutability means not changing over time or unable to change.
30:22: The inability to change.
30:24: Now, this one takes, I'm going to write a few things up here.
30:28: That's why I've turned and erased my board.
30:32: I want to make a point.
30:34: One is where this word comes from.
30:36: Because every time somebody says immutable, does that mean he can speak? Because we think of mute as taking away sound, right? Somebody who's mute can't speak.
30:48: Or we mute the television and you can't hear it.
30:51: Mutability, no.
30:52: It's actually from where we get the word mutate.
30:56: That's the root of immutable.
30:59: Because mutate means what? To change.
31:03: So when we put the I at the beginning of mutate, we make it immutate or immutable.
31:11: That means unchanging.
31:13: Without the capacity or ability to change.
31:20: From our handbook, immutability is that perfection of God by which He is devoid of all change.
31:27: Not only in His being, but also in His perfections, in His purposes, and in His promises.
31:37: And it's free from all accession or diminution, and from all growth or decay.
31:44: In His being or perfections.
31:46: Let me say this.
31:48: Before we even go further, because we're going to talk about this for a minute.
31:52: We talk about God's being immutable.
31:56: This is why we can have confidence in our salvation.
32:03: Because God doesn't make a promise that He doesn't keep.
32:08: And God doesn't say that which He will later change.
32:13: You ever had your child catch you on that? Where you say you're going to do something, and then you don't? Yesterday, my daughter was at a class of conversations.
32:25: Five-year-old daughter.
32:26: And the teacher who was there, was having to do all these things.
32:30: Had to repeat these things, and sing these songs, and all these things.
32:33: And she said, if you do this really well, I'm going to give you some candy.
32:38: So they all did.
32:40: Little soldiers doing it good, because they want the candy.
32:42: At the end of the class, opens her purse.
32:47: There's no candy.
32:49: I wasn't there, but my wife said it was like, it was just, it was the end of the world, for those five-year-olds.
32:57: Because they've been promised a reward, and the teacher couldn't fulfill the promise.
33:03: She messed up.
33:05: And I understand, we all make mistakes.
33:10: But God doesn't have an empty purse.
33:14: He didn't make a promise, that he can't keep.
33:18: And that's part of the beauty of immutability, is trustworthiness.
33:23: We are inherently untrustworthy, because we're so mutable.
33:26: We're so changeable.
33:29: You know, we say we're going to do something, and we do it if we feel like it.
33:33: Hopefully we have a little more integrity than that.
33:34: But honestly, that's what happens, right? We RSVP.
33:39: Why do we demand RSVP anymore? Because people used to say they're coming, they won't.
33:42: So we demand RSVP, they still don't come.
33:46: Because people change their minds at the last second.
33:49: They don't care.
33:51: God doesn't change his mind.
33:53: And here's the point.
33:56: Immutability is actually what confirms God's attribute.
34:01: And this is not one of the attributes here, but I didn't put this on the list, because they go together.
34:05: Immutability is what confirms God's perfection.
34:15: Immutability is what confirms God's perfection.
34:18: You say, what do you mean? Well, change is either for the better or for the worse.
34:31: And were God to change for the worse, he would cease to be perfect.
34:38: And were God to change for the better, it would indicate a lack of perfection.
34:50: So immutability tells us that God is perfect.
34:53: Because he can't change for the better, because that would mean he's not perfect now.
34:57: He can't change for the worse, because that would mean he would cease to be perfect.
35:00: And somebody says, well, what about a lateral change? A lateral change would denote the need to change, and thus still indicate that he was imperfect.
35:13: And that is if we could even conceive of a perfectly lateral change that neither added or took away anything.
35:21: And let me tell you, this is not just a logical conclusion.
35:24: This is a scriptural one.
35:26: Write these verses down.
35:26: I'll give them to you very quickly.
35:28: Numbers 23.19.
35:30: You probably know it.
35:32: If you don't know the number, you've heard it.
35:34: God is not a man that he should lie, nor is he the son of man that he should change his mind.
35:40: Numbers 23.19.
35:46: Malachi 3.6.
35:48: I, the Lord, do not change, therefore you, O children of Jacob, are not consumed.
35:53: That's a promise God tells Israel.
35:56: You're not consumed because I don't change.
35:58: You change, but I didn't change.
36:00: And that's why you're still here.
36:02: Because I've got a promise I'm working out in all this.
36:04: It's going to come through Jesus Christ.
36:06: And if that promise wasn't to be fulfilled, and I hadn't made a promise to you and to your father Abraham, you'd have been cut off a long time ago.
36:13: But I don't change.
36:14: My promise doesn't change.
36:16: James 1.17.
36:17: We're going to look at this in our study of James.
36:19: It's set free in a few weeks.
36:20: Every good gift and every perfect gift is from God, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change.
36:32: God doesn't change.
36:36: However...
36:36: I hate to throw in the however.
36:39: Because it's such a strong...
36:40: We can just end there.
36:41: God doesn't change.
36:42: Let us pray.
36:43: I have to add this.
36:47: There's always an objection to the doctrine of immutability.
36:53: In fact, I'll never forget 2008-ish.
36:58: Church was going through a time of issues regarding theology, subjects of reformation.
37:04: And I had a woman who made a very bold assertion to me.
37:08: I remember where I was.
37:09: I remember where I was standing.
37:10: I remember when she said it.
37:12: She said, God does change.
37:17: It's in the Bible.
37:20: I tried to reason with her.
37:22: I tried to show her Scripture.
37:24: She was determined, though.
37:26: She was very determined.
37:28: And I could not change her mind.
37:29: Ironically, she was immutable.
37:31: God was not.
37:33: She was not willing to be changed in her mind.
37:36: But she felt like God could change his.
37:39: There are passages, beloved, that do express what we would consider a change in God's mind.
37:50: And so we have to go back to the question of contradiction.
37:53: Right? We talked about that earlier.
37:55: Does the Bible contradict itself? I don't believe it does.
37:58: But what is the law of non-contradiction? Something cannot be and not be at the same time and in the same relationship.
38:03: Right? If you want to write down a verse that is in question, Exodus 32, 14.
38:11: In fact, if you want to turn there, that's fine.
38:12: But it's Exodus 32, 14.
38:15: And the Lord relented from the disaster that he had spoken of bringing on his people.
38:22: And now, that doesn't sound so strong.
38:25: But if you read it in the King James Bible, it says God repented.
38:30: Now, what does the word repent mean? Change your mind.
38:34: Turn.
38:35: And so immediately, people say, well, here's a contradiction.
38:39: It says over here, God doesn't, he's not a man that he would change his mind.
38:42: Over here it says he changed his mind.
38:44: There it is.
38:44: God's a married bachelor.
38:45: He doesn't exist.
38:46: I don't know if you've ever heard that phrase.
38:48: Bart Ehrman, famous agnostic, he said, I don't believe in the God of the Bible because he contradicts himself.
38:53: He's like a married bachelor.
38:55: You can't be both married and be a bachelor.
38:58: So he's saying that God is a contradictory being.
39:01: And so he doesn't exist.
39:03: That's not true, but that's the argument.
39:05: But that would be the argument from here, right? Is God is like a married bachelor.
39:08: He says he changes his mind in some places.
39:10: In other places, he doesn't change his mind.
39:15: You've all heard me explain studying the Bible.
39:18: Years and years and years, I've said the same thing.
39:20: If we're going to understand any passage of Scripture, we have to understand the context.
39:25: Context rules.
39:27: Context always rules interpretation.
39:29: When it comes to this passage, Exodus 32, what's happening? The people of God have rebelled against God, and God has told Moses, Step aside, and I'll destroy them, and I'll start over with you.
39:42: Remember that? The people were worshiping a golden calf.
39:48: God says, Just move out of the way, Moses, and we'll take them out, and we'll start over with you.
39:58: Exodus 32, verse 9, And the Lord said to Moses, I have seen this people, and, behold, it is a stiff-necked people.
40:03: Now, therefore, let me alone, that my wrath may burn hot against them, and I may consume them, in order that I may make a great nation of you.
40:10: Moses doesn't step aside.
40:13: Instead of stepping aside, Moses stands and intercedes for the people of God as the intercessor, the proto-Christ, in this sense, standing in the gap, interceding for the people, and he prays that God would not bring judgment, and God doesn't.
40:33: So the question is this.
40:35: Did God not know, with a perfect knowledge, that Moses would intercede? Absolutely.
40:43: I would say absolutely.
40:45: Had God not already ensured that the people of Israel would have a nation numbering as that of the stars of heaven, He'd already made that promise.
40:54: Did God not promise that this nation would go into the promised land? Yes, He already had it.
40:59: And did that promise change? No, it did not, as it would have made God a liar.
41:04: So in the end, the question becomes this.
41:07: Did this event make God a better God, or Moses a better intercessor? I think the answer is simple.
41:15: Yeah, it's absolutely.
41:16: But somebody still objects and says, but that doesn't answer the question.
41:20: God still changed His mind.
41:22: And this is where we have to understand the difference, beloved, between two things.
41:25: There's a difference between a decree and an announcement.
41:33: There's a difference between a decree and an announcement.
41:36: You say, well, what do you mean? God makes decrees which are immutable.
41:40: They govern the world.
41:41: They ensure that ultimately His plan is being worked out.
41:44: But God also makes announcements which are conditional.
41:47: If you do this, I will do this.
41:49: And if you don't do this, then I won't do that.
41:56: His decrees are unconditional, known only to Him.
41:59: But His announcements are at times conditioned on response.
42:05: He told Jonah, go and tell them in 40 days I'm going to bring judgment.
42:10: Jonah prays, or goes and preaches, and the people pray and repent, and God relents because it wasn't a decree.
42:17: It was an announcement of judgment.
42:19: You say, are you splitting hairs? No, I'm not.
42:24: Because this is the difference between the secret things that belong to God, and tying it all together, and the things that are revealed to us.
42:33: The secret things that belong to God are His decrees.
42:36: We don't always know what He has decreed until it's done.
42:42: Absolutely.
42:44: Exactly.
42:47: And we haven't gotten there.
42:49: It's going to be next week or the week later.
42:51: We haven't gotten to omniscience yet, and we certainly haven't gotten to foreknowledge yet.
42:55: So part of this kind of fits into that.
42:57: But you have to understand this.
42:59: If God is omniscient and foreknowing, He already has determined the end from the beginning perfectly.
43:06: Yet because man is finite and does not know the future, God announces the stipulations of His plan.
43:12: He commands men to repent, and those who refuse to do so will be judged.
43:19: God does not change, but His knowledge is also never in doubt either.
43:24: And His perfect plan is always being worked out.
43:28: In every case where a change in God is envisioned or reported, God had not yet made known His final decree.
43:36: Instead in those instances, He chooses to use warnings to bring His people to their senses and make judgment unnecessary, even if it's just Moses who hears it.
43:45: Moses is the only one who heard the announcement, and yet who was changed? Moses.
43:54: The Bible indicates that with intercession and or repentance, God will make a change in an announcement, but not in His eternal decree.
44:10: You say, well that sounds again like you're splitting hairs.
44:12: Here's the thing.
44:13: As I said before, if God is omniscient, and He is, then He knows His plan, and He does.
44:19: And He has ordained also what the means to that end will be, and sometimes the means to that end is the warning of judgment.
44:28: Sometimes that which brings about the end is the warning.
44:35: And so God uses those warnings to bring us to repentance.
44:42: As I said, the secret things belong to the Lord.
44:46: How all of this works out in time, we don't know everything about it, but we do know this.
44:51: The Bible clearly declares God is unchanging.
44:54: Now, next week, we continue on the attributes.
44:58: We're going to talk about something called open theism, but I just want to open this up to you now, just as we close.
45:04: I'm going to open it as we close.
45:06: How many of you know what open theism is? Okay.
45:10: I'll make it very quick, because I'll go over it more in the weeks to come.
45:14: Open theism says God doesn't know the future.
45:17: That the future is to God as an open opportunity.
45:23: And so in the sense, they will say God does change because God is always reacting to the decisions of men.
45:34: I think that's blasphemous.
45:36: I think not only is it blasphemous, I think it demeans God and diminishes Him as God.
45:42: And so we really have to come...
45:44: I think immutability is why I spent so much time on it tonight.
45:47: I think this is the place where we have to come to a conclusion one way or another.
45:50: That woman who's looked at me, she pointed her little finger in my face, and she said, God does change.
45:56: I said, we have a different God.
45:58: A much different understanding of who God is if you believe that God will and can change in an essential way or change His decree.
46:12: I don't believe that He can.
46:13: I don't believe that He will, because to do so would rob Him of His perfection.
46:20: And so with that, we'll end for tonight.
46:22: Next week, we will begin by looking at God's eternality.
46:25: Let's pray.
46:27: Father, I thank You for this opportunity to study.
46:30: I thank You for the attention and focus that we've given to tonight.
46:33: I pray that it's been useful and will build us up in the faith that has been once for all delivered to the saints.
46:41: In Jesus' name, amen.