Why Study the Attributes of God? (Part 1)

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Welcome to No Compromise Radio, a ministry coming to you from Bethlehem Bible Church in West Boylston.

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No Compromise Radio is a program dedicated to the ongoing proclamation of Jesus Christ, based on the theme in Galatians 2, verse 5, where the

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Apostle Paul said, �But we did not yield in subjection to them for even an hour, so that the truth of the gospel would remain with you.�

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In short, if you like smooth, watered -down words to make you simply feel good, this show isn�t for you.

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By purpose, we are first biblical, but we can also be controversial. Stay tuned for the next 25 minutes as we�re called by the

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Divine Trumpet to summon the troops for the honor and glory of her King. Here�s our host, Pastor Mike Abendroth.

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Welcome to No Compromise Radio, a ministry. My name is Mike Abendroth. Actually, we�re doing a little Facebook Live now.

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It is Friday the 13th. I don�t think it is

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Friday the 13th. I don�t know when it is. This is low connection?

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What�s a low connection? I have no idea. Well, it�s been some time since I�ve done a Facebook Live. You can go to the

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No Compromise closed group, I guess, and ask for access, and then

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I guess we do some of these. I don�t know if they�re helpful or not, or you want to see versus here. Not sure, but that�s just what we do.

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It doesn�t cost me anything except to click the button. You can write me, Mike, at NoCompromiseRadio .com

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or info at NoCompromiseRadio .com. It�s almost summer for the

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NoCo season, and that is we�re going to play some Ruth messages, some Jonah messages,

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Joner, and then a few others. I just interviewed Joel Beakey with his new reformed systematic theology book, which is right here, and excellent regarding the volume one here, and it is

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Revelation and God. Very devotional. His whole theme at the seminary that he�s the president of is head, heart, and hands, and therefore he wants to show exegesis, historical theology, and then an experiential kind of theology in a good way, in a good sense, in a

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Puritan sense. What else is happening? So, it will be Ruth this summer, Jonah this summer.

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I preached Ruth and Jonah when I was younger, and I think it was pretty Christless.

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I probably mentioned Jesus sometimes, at least I hope I did, but I�m afraid of those messages, so I wanted to redo it and preach the book of Ruth and Jonah in a more

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Christ -centered way. So, we�ll play those on No Compromise Radio, and then mid -August or something we�ll start with some newer shows.

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I think there�s a few Tuesday Guy shows that are loaded up, and I just interviewed Chris Gordon of Bounding Grace Radio just a few minutes ago.

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That will probably play next week as well. Other than that, a couple thousand reruns. You can listen to the earlier reruns.

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Maybe I�m not quite as nuanced theologically, if you know what I mean. It�s kind of a weird view there.

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I want to talk a little bit today about God Himself, and how do we think about God.

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Sometimes people talk about His perfections, His attributes. I�m reading the book by Matthew Barrett called

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None Greater, an excellent book that I recommend for everyone to read.

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I was just going through some of my notes, and I thought, why is it good to study the attributes of God? I mean,

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I�m quite convinced that most people, or many people in evangelicalism today, go to churches where they don�t really hear about God.

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I mean, yeah, it�s a backdrop, but it�s mainly about themselves, principles for living, tips to get through the week, communication skills, financial improvements, ways to do things, methods to do them, where essentially the subject of the sermon are the people.

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Because people want to know about themselves and hear about themselves. Instead of the subject of the sermon is

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Jesus, and my object of the sermon, that is to say, the people

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I�m preaching to, of course, the congregation, but I want to tell them about the subject of the message, and that is the

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Lord Jesus. I want to have you attend churches where they�re talking about the triune

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God. He, God the Father, God the Son, God the Spirit, is the subject for the sermons, not the persons.

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People don�t, pastors shouldn�t exegete the people and then say, well, what do they want to hear?

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I mean, if you�re the pastor, you ought to be called by God, and God is going to tell a person who�s called by himself to say, don�t talk about yourself, don�t talk about even the people.

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Of course, show them how these truths apply to the people and how they need to think through these things properly. There are responses to the gospel.

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There are imperatives in the Bible, but the Bible�s not really about them primarily.

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The Bible is about who God is, and it�s by God�s grace and his gracious revelation that he has told us about how he deals with sinful people, how he reconciles them to the person and work of his beloved

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Son, the Lord Jesus. Therefore, sermons ought to be about God, in particular, the person,

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Christ Jesus. The Holy Spirit says, it�s said of the

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Holy Spirit, rather, in John 14, that Jesus said, �I�m going to send him, the Holy Spirit, in my name.�

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John chapter 15, the Holy Spirit is going to bear witness of Jesus, and in John chapter 16, the

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Holy Spirit is to glorify Jesus, and we�ve been talking about that at some length here on Sunday mornings, that Holy Spirit -filled churches,

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Holy Ghost -filled churches talk about the Lord Jesus, and it�s amazing to me that Holy Ghost churches talk more about the

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Holy Ghost than they do of Jesus. These are my own anecdotal stories, obviously, but that�s not a

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Holy Ghost -filled church. Holy Ghost -filled churches talk about the Lord Jesus. So anyway, I want you, dear listener, to enjoy sermons about God.

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I want you to be convicted by, encouraged by. I want you to go tell your pastor, if he�s talking about God, �Thank you for giving me sermons about God.�

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I mean, moralism, and how -to stuff, and everything, I mean,

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TED Talks, those are probably better than most pastors� moralism, and plus,

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I don�t need more things to do. I�m already crushed by what I don�t do that�s already revealed in Scripture, that I�m supposed to respond to with grace and gratitude as a�

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I mean, respond to with gratitude because of God�s grace as a Christian. I don�t need more law. It�s back to that old paradigm that I heard that some pastors do.

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It�s law, grace, and then more law. No wonder there are people who are abandoning

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Christianity, because they heard about Jesus, they heard about free grace, they heard about forgiveness, they heard about reconciliation, they heard about redemption, they heard about propitiation, they heard about triumphing over death and Satan and sin that is the

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Lord Jesus and how He�s enthroned and how He is this wonderful Savior and Captain and Author and we�re to fix our hope on Him.

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And they think, �Yes, and we trust in Him, and we believe in Him, and we rest in Him.� And then the pastor gets up every

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Sunday, and then it�s more law, and get going, and do more, yield more, surrender more, obey more.

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I�m not afraid to tell people to obey, based on who you are in Christ Jesus. Husbands, love your wives, right?

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Like Christ loved the Church. That�s not my point. My point here is, we have to remember, and this would solve the problem, we have to remember to talk about God when we preach.

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And by the way, if you�re listening today or watching, the two people that are watching, when you teach the Bible to your children, it�s the same thing.

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Well, where�s the Bible say that again about they can�t have tattoos, and I�m going to use the Bible to dictate morals to my children.

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Let�s see, where�s that thing about alcohol, and tobacco, and movies, and I don�t know what people do today, dancing, don�t do that,

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I�ll find a Bible verse for that. It�s kind of like, the Bible�s a manual for living. If that�s what you think, you ought not to think that anymore, that�s dumb, that�s stupid thinking, that�s, as my dad would say, stinking thinking.

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When Luke, one time, did something wrong, and I was walking through some of the issues with him, and why, and how, and everything else, so he could think through it again,

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I said, �Luke, just tell me what you were thinking before you did X.�

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He said, �Dad, I wasn�t thinking.� Okay, and I don�t think

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I gave him any discipline, because he was honest, and that was exactly right, I wasn�t thinking.

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Anyway, so None Greater by Matthew Barrett, you can get Arthur Pink�s Attributes of God for free online.

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Great stuff. Today, on No Compromise Radio, after a lengthy eight -minute intro, why should we study the attributes of God?

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In no particular order, number one, God�s attributes, His person, His work, they humble us.

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John Flavel said, �They that know God will be humble, and they that know themselves cannot be proud.�

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And I think that�s what I need, I know that�s what you need, if you�re listening or watching, a good dose of humble pie, and I don�t mean the band.

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I just was at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland not that long ago with my friend John Tucker, and I didn�t see any humble pie stuff.

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I saw Johnny Cash�s boots, I saw Roy Orbison�s glasses. I saw

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Jimi Hendrix�s guitar, but I didn�t see humble pie�s microphone. I don�t even know what humble pie is saying, but I think that�s a band in the 60s, humble pie.

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Think about what kind of world we live in, self -esteem, self -righteousness, and we have high views of ourselves.

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I have a high view of myself, you have a high view of yourself. And when you study the Lord God, and you realize how vast

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He is, how infinite He is, how transcendent He is, how superior He is, that�s humbling, right?

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That�s Jeremiah, �Let not the wise man boast of his wisdom, and let not the mighty man boast of his might.

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Let not a rich man boast of his riches, but let him who boasts boast of this, that he understands and knows me, that I am

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Yahweh the Lord, who exercises loving -kindness, justice, and righteousness on earth, for I delight in these things ,� declares the

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Lord, Jeremiah 9, 23 and 24. This is good for us to study who God is, because then we realize who we really are, and aren�t we just creatures?

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Aren�t we just, of course, loved by God, but we�re simply creatures? And I think too often when we think about the attributes of God, let�s say

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God is love, God is just, God is holy, what we end up doing is we say, �Well,

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I�m kind of holy, I�m kind of just, and therefore God is just, but just to a greater degree, a greater level, a greater amount, and so if I�m just at a one scale,

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He�s just at a million scale.� But even that is false to think about. We�re not talking about degrees, we�re talking about a difference in essence, a difference in nature, a difference in kind, type, whatever kind of taxonomical chart you want, it�s other, alien.

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That�s why sometimes we talk about the righteousness of Christ as an alien righteousness. I remember the story of Charles Haffey, H -A -F -F -E -Y, in 2002 he changed his name to I Am Who I Am Why?

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You say he did that. Well he wanted to change his name to God, but the judge said, �No, it must not have been in the

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Ninth Circuit in California.� So he said, �Well,

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I�ll just change it to I Am Who I Am ,� and when he was asked, Charles was asked, �What�s your first name ?� Because I Am Who I Am, those are five words.

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He said, �Well, my first name, of course, would be I Am.� And what is appalling in Haffey, what is awful in Haffey, what is prideful in Haffey, is easy to see, but secretly

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I think deep down, don�t we struggle with some of the same things? Pride? Of course we do.

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Arrogance? Of course we do. And that�s why when you study who God is and you realize he never learned anything, wait a second, he never learned anything.

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That�s amazing to think about. He�s never tired, he�s everywhere at the same time.

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All of him, I mean, it�s just not like he�s dissipated everywhere. Everything about God and who he is is everywhere at the same time, okay?

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And pretty soon you start thinking, you know what, I�m not so big. Spurgeon said, �The proper study of the

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Christian is the Godhead. The highest science, the loftiest speculation, the mightiest philosophy, which can engage the attention of a child of God, is the name, the nature, the person, the doings and the existence of the great

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God which he calls Father.� Now in light of this whole reason why we study the attributes of God and the person of God to humble us, here�s what he says,

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Spurgeon, �Other subjects we can comprehend and grapple with, and then we feel a kind of self -content and go on our way with the thought, �Behold,

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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, �I am but of yesterday and know nothing.�

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No subject of contemplation will tend more to humble the mind than the thoughts of God.� End quote,

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Spurgeon. That�s so true. I�m reading a systematic theology, it�s a theology book, four -volume,

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Richard Muller, M -U -L -L -E -R. And every once in a while I tweet when I�m reading it because I can only read a couple pages because my mind is blown because it�s talking about the simplicity of God, and the aseity of God, and the essence of God, and the nature of God.

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I�ve tweeted before with a picture of that on my lap, and here�s the Twitter comment, �Another weekly episode of I Am Dumb.�

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Now maybe you�ve watched the movie I Am Legend, remember that was from the

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Omega Man with Charlton Heston, but it was updated. Another weekly episode of I Am Dumb.

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You know, God gives grace to the humble, but he resists the proud. And I know deep down who

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I am, and just a focus on the Lord reminds me of that very thing. This should help us as Christians not to be so focused on ourselves when we really realize how weak we are, and sinful, and fragile.

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And Jehoshaphat in 2 Chronicles 20 said this, �Oh our God, will you not judge them?

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For we are powerless before the great multitude who are coming against us. Nor do we know what to do, but our eyes are on you.�

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That is 2 Chronicles 20. What a great verse. We�re weak, everybody else is strong,

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I don�t know what to do, so I�m going to look to you. Isn�t that a great thing? �The just shall live by faith.� That is a great way to kind of think about life.

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I�m trying to figure out how to get comfortable here. This is a dumb chair, another episode of I Am Dumb.

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A lot of reruns you could play on that. A lot of parts, right? We could have Mondays a sermon,

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Wednesdays I interview people, Tuesdays is the Tuesday guy, and Thursdays, Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays are

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I Am Dumb. What was that Gail Sayers book?

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Remember Brian Piccolo died of cancer, the Chicago Bears football players in the 70s? Let�s see.

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God is first, my neighbors are second, and I am third, or something like that. Who knows? All right, number two, why should you study the attributes of God?

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I think let�s approach it this way. The more you study Him, the more you want to know

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Him. So it�s good, it builds on itself. I have never come across anyone who honestly, as a regenerate person, would say to me, �You know what?

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I�ve studied God enough, I�m on to better subjects. I�m on to bigger subjects, I�m on to other subjects, I�ve exhausted the knowledge of God.�

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I don�t know anybody who talks that way, because any sane person, any thinking person, any regenerate person doesn�t talk that way.

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How do they talk? They say, �You know, my mind is blown, my gasket mentally is blown, and one of the wonderful things about studying who the

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Lord is, is until you�re deathbed, if you want to live to Methuselah�s age of 969, you can�t.

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But if you could, you would still be studying God then, and you would not have exhausted

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God�s thinking. And even think about books in the Bible. Hebrews, and Job, and Romans, and the book of Revelation.

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So many books. You could just study, study, study, and after you study every book of the Bible, every verse of the Bible, just go back to Genesis 1 -1, and you would see more, you would see things again, a different light, in such a way that you would say, along with Moses and Elijah and Priscilla, Paul, everyone else, they would want to know

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God better. Psalm 42, �As the deer pants for the water brooks, so my soul pants for thee,

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O God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living

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God. When shall I come and appear before God ?� Psalm 42, 1 -2. Stephen just said, �I�m stuck at work and I can�t watch.�

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Well, then I won�t make any faces at you, Stephen. I�ll just keep talking. When you get to know who

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God is, and you understand Him, it�s like salt. It gives you the desire for more.

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So why should you study the attributes of God? Well, because no other person in the world could quench your soul�s thirst and desires, and at the same time then give an increased appetite for more communion with God, communion, satisfying communion with the

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Lord God. Well, my name is Mike Abendroth. We�re 18 minutes in, so we�ve got about six minutes to go. Why study

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God? Number three, because there are many false gods in the world today. You�ve got the panoply of, umbrella of, all kinds of gods today that are vying for your worship and money.

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These gods actually are demons, Paul says, and are ensnaring people, captivating people, going after unsuspecting unbelievers.

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And there�s Mark, says he�s working so he can�t listen. Okay, well, if you don�t listen live, then you don�t get the same anointing.

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No anointing unless it�s live. That�s one of the things about Facebook Live. You could listen to this on the podcast, or you could watch, and that�s the special anointing.

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Today�s society, they worship all these false gods, and one of the things about the study of the real

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God, the only way you can study this real God outside of nature, seeing his wisdom and his power, there�s the phone.

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I thought I had turned that phone down. Anyway, it�s just going to ring away. That�s the way we do live radio around here.

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I actually got new phones and didn�t turn down the ringer. That�s the problem, so I can�t blame anybody else. You�ve got the � how do we do this?

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When you study God from the scriptures, then you�re focused on who this God is, and so I think you�re going to be stiff -arming these false gods and views of God that aren�t true.

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Tozer said, �The essence of idolatry is the entertainment of thoughts about God that are unworthy of him.�

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That is to say, unworthy and unbiblical. The only way I can think about God. My God is a

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God of love. No, your God is a God of imagination, and you�ve just made up this

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God in the left ventricle of your heart and your cerebral cortex, but that�s not

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God. The main imagination is about God, and my God would do this. No, the God, the only

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God, is the God in scripture, and that�s the one that you have to submit to. So when you study God, you can easily see the false gods, and it�s driving you back to who

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God is, as he has revealed himself in scripture. It says in 2

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Timothy 4 .3, �For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires.�

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I mean, Wendy just said, �It might be Jesus calling.�

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Well, it might not be. It might be Beth Moore, for all I know. Maybe she�s calling, or it could be Beth Moore�s husband.

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Who knows? But I think maybe that would be a different show. One man said, �Liberal teachers, quote, �swarm like the flies in Egypt.

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The demand creates the supply. The hearers invite and shape their own preachers. If the people desire a calf to worship, a ministerial calf -maker is readily found.�

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And so we want to study who God is from scriptures, and then we can easily see the false idols. And remember, how does 1

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John 5 end? How does 1 John end? You know, lots of times, �Grace to you.�

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That�s how New Testament epistles end. �Peace, comfort, prayers, benedictions.�

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How does 1 John end? I mean, it�s like, �Oh, that was stark.�

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And it�s there for a reason. The apostle of love, John, the dear apostle, the disciple whom

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Jesus loved, how does he end it? �Little children, guard yourself from idols.�

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And he�s not talking about just any kind of idol there, although that�s true. Any kind of idolatry, guard yourself from that idolatry.

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Run from that. But what�s the context of the book? Here�s the personal work of Jesus and how the

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Eternal Son adds human nature, incarnation, and He perfectly obeys the law, born of a woman, born under the law, that He might redeem us because we need to be redeemed.

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Wendy just made a comment. Miracle. That�d be a miracle. And if you deny that Jesus has come in the flesh, that�s of the

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Antichrist. That�s not Jesus. That�s anti -Jesus. That�s Antichrist. That�s the kind of idolatry that you need to guard yourself from.

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Wrong thinking about the Son. And of course, all idolatry is awful, but that particular idolatry found there in is if you don�t think

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Jesus is truly God and truly man, if you don�t think Jesus is perfectly God and perfectly man, if you don�t think

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Jesus is the perfect representative and the true substitute confirmed by the literal resurrection of the dead, that�s idolatry and it�s damning.

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It�s not going to help you. Even if you want something to be true about Jesus, you have to accept Him as He is, and that is

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Lord and God and Savior. You can�t just kind of make up your own

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God. When I was a kid, we did kind of Plato, and you can make certain things, and there�s no Plato gods around.

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I don�t mean Plato, like P -L -A -T -O, but I mean P -L -A -Y space D -O -H.

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I think that�s right. Any God that�s not

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God, any small G that�s not capital G, takes away from the glory of God and His majesty and His nature and you don�t want that because then they vie for the worship of other people when only the

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Lord God, He won�t give His glory to another. Well, my name is Mike Abenroth, and this is

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No Make Believe Radio, No Covenantal Properties Radio, Some Compromise Radio.

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We�ve been called all kinds of things. You can write me info at nocompromiseradio .com and maybe either in a few minutes or tomorrow we�ll do a couple more of these.

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God bless you. No Compromise Radio with Pastor Mike Abenroth is a production of Bethlehem Bible Church in West Boylston.

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Bethlehem Bible Church is a Bible teaching church firmly committed to unleashing the life -transforming power of God�s Word through verse -by -verse exposition of the sacred text.

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Please come and join us. Our service times are Sunday morning at 1015 and in the evening at 6. We�re right on Route 110 in West Boylston.

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You can check us out online at bbcchurch .org or by phone at 508 -835 -3400.