Introduction To The Attributes Of God

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Well, tonight we're embarking on a new series, The Attributes of God. And this series will cover, tonight, the introduction, and then 26 weeks.
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There are very many attributes of God, but tonight we'll just get into the introduction. And, again, it stems out of Grudem's Systematic Theology, and he only covers attributes for a couple of weeks.
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And I just didn't really want to do that, so I wanted to just park it and look at the attributes of God. Really life -changing.
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I think the most influential book in my life, outside of the Bible, was written by Arthur Pink, and it was called,
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The Attributes of God. It is life -changing to look at the attributes of God, and it lines everything up perfectly.
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And so we really want to look at a different attribute for the next 26 weeks. It'll be a little bit different. We're going to go alphabetically.
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And, by the way, that is biblical. If you look at Psalm 119, or some other psalms, how they are arranged in an acrostic, so you might memorize those.
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We're going to try to do it expositionally, so we'll look at passages, not just jumping all around.
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We will try to make it Christ -centered, and we will start off with the A's. Not next Sunday, because Jeremy Smith will be in town preaching, but the next
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Sunday night after that. So with an occasional question and answer, which is translated,
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I need to stall a little bit, and I didn't get to study. By the way, you can always know about a pastor's week.
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If there's not a really good introduction, the transitions and the segues aren't there, there's not some fantastic close, you know it has been a very difficult week, either personally or pastorally.
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Because those are the last things to get added to the sermon. If I have to pick, do I want a really good introduction, or do
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I want to be faithful to the text, which one do you think I might pick? And that is, I want to be faithful to the text.
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And so, if we're running out of time, we'll just go to the question and answer.
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But the next 26 weeks, hopefully the next 26 times rather we meet, will be on the attributes of God, and I trust it will be a life -changing time here for our church.
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Who said this? What I want to achieve, what
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I have been striving and pining to achieve these 30 years, so here's a religious man,
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I'll give you a hint, he's pining and striving for 30 years, is self -realization, to see
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God face -to -face, to attain moksha, spiritual deliverance.
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I have not yet found Him, but I am seeking after Him, for it is an unbroken fortune to me that I am still so far from Him.
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I have not seen Him, neither have I known Him. Who said that?
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After a 30 year intense spiritual pilgrimage. I still don't know
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God, but I'd like to. That was
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Autobiography, page 252, Gandhi. I still don't know
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God. And I began to read in 1 John, how many times John the
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Apostle says, we can know Him. Just a few. I won't give you the references.
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By this we know that we have come to know Him, if we keep His commandments. Whoever keeps
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His word, in him the love of God has truly been perfected. By this we know that we are in Him.
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I am writing to you fathers, because you know Him, who has been from the beginning. He says the same thing in verse 14.
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I am writing to you fathers, because you know Him, who has been from the beginning. The next chapter, we know that we have passed out of death into life, because we love the brethren.
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He who does not love, abides in death. We will know by this that we are of the truth, and will assure our heart before Him.
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The one who keeps His commandments, abides in Him, and He in Him. We know by this that He abides in us.
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By this you know the Spirit of God. Every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh, is from God.
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By this we know that we abide in Him, and He in us, because He has given us of His Spirit. These things
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I have written to you, who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may what? Know that you have eternal life.
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We know that we are of God, and that the whole world lies in the power of the evil one. And then lastly, 1
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John 5, 20. And we know that the Son of God has come, and has given us understanding, so that we may know
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Him who is true. I couldn't think of a more sadder thing than Gandhi not knowing
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God, after all that seeking and searching. But we, beloved, have a privilege to know
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God. And I have a question before we start. What is the one vehicle, or mode, or method, by which we can know
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God? And there is only really one. Certainly we can see God's power, and that's evident in nature, but the one way we can really know
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God, is from His Word. And so that is going to be our basis of this Attributes of God series.
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His Word. My purpose of the series is to show you the next 26 times we get together on Sunday night, to show you the attributes and excellencies of God, so that you think properly about God.
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Indepthly. I was reading one man who said, Indepth study makes you appreciate things, just like a man who touched down on top of Everest in a helicopter, if it were possible, would not at that moment feel anything like that of Hillary and Tenzing felt, when they stood on the same spot after climbing the mountain.
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And when you study, we'll get the payoff. And that's what I hope we'll do by the grace of God.
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Okay. Congregation, I'd like to ask you for the definition of the Attributes of God. What is an
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Attribute? Just please raise your hand and I'll call on you. What's an Attribute of God, by definition?
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Characteristic of God. Characteristic of God. Okay. Let's just keep building. What is an Attribute of God? Yes, Wesley?
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Something that describes God. Sounds like you're kind of talking about doctrine, aren't you? Okay. Anybody else?
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Yes, Bruce? His personality. His personality. Good. His essence.
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Good. Anyone else? Well, I have found a few.
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A .W. Tozer said, If an Attribute is something true of God, it is also something that we can conceive of being true of Him.
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Easier, Wilmington Bible Guide said, Reduce to its simplest definition. An Attribute of God is whatever
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God has, in any way, revealed as being true of Himself. And we could call
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Attributes, we could call them Perfections, we could call them Characteristics, we could call them His Nature.
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And some people like to split up these Characteristics of Divine Nature. And how do people like to categorize some of these things?
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Pardon me? Mutable and immutable. Which is to say, sometimes, Mutability has something to do with changing.
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Changing or not changing. I think probably what you're saying is, Incommunicable or communicable. That was it.
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That's okay. Where some Attributes are beyond us, they are incommunicable.
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God alone is omniscient. We cannot be omniscient. But as God can be holy, to a lesser degree, we can be holy as well.
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So, sometimes people say, Communicable or incommunicable. Some people say,
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Absolute or relative. Moral or non -moral. But I'm going to be like Buswell and Ryrie and refuse to make categories.
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Because I need 26. So why do all the categories? True or false?
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There are more than 26 Attributes of God. You sure? Well, there are.
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And I liked what Tozer said. I'll be quoting him a lot. It's just stunning to listen to him. In the awful abyss of the
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Divine Being may lie Attributes of which we know nothing, and which can have no meaning for us, just as the
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Attributes of Mercy and Grace can have no personal meaning for the Seraphim or Cherubim.
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These holy beings may know of these qualities in God, but are unable to feel them sympathetically for the reason that they have not sinned, and so do not call forth
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God's Mercy and Grace. So there may be, and I believe there are surely, other aspects of God's Essential Being, which
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He has not revealed even to His ransomed and Spirit -illuminated children.
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There are more than 26, but God is so awesome, He could be more than what
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He's even decided to tell us. So the outline for tonight is basically this. I'm going to give you reasons why you should study the
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Attributes of God. I've got about 10 or 12, but every time I say that, you're going to want me to give you all 10 or 12, but I'm just going to give you as many as I can tonight.
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And if it's only 6, then you're going to have to buy the book to get all 12. We're going to try to take this information and put it into book form.
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So, reasons we should study the Attributes of God. Now, before I do that, it's been a long day, and so I'm going to ask you some questions about that.
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Tell me, why do you think we should study Attributes? Anyone? To know
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God better? Okay, good. Yes, John? You can't worship who you don't know.
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And if you do worship somebody that you don't know, you do it blindly. Yes, great. Find strength in time of need.
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I hated to make my own self be quoted on that insert today, but Tracy just does what
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I tell her to do, and I said, well, I could find somebody else to quote, but my quote goes something like this, that every problem in life can be solved or understood by knowing who
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God is. It doesn't get rid of your problem, but you can see your problem in light of God, and so that's a good one.
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Yes. Why else should we study the Attributes of God? Well, it certainly will chip away your man -centered theology, if you've got any, as you study the greatness and transcendence of God.
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Good. Anyone else? Why should we study? Why should we take 26 weeks? I mean, we could talk about financial stability and solvency.
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We could talk about relationships and authentic community and other things. Yes. It determines how we praise
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Him. Excellent. Tied close to what Jonah said. Good. So you know how to praise
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Him properly. It would probably help our prayer life. That's not one of mine here, but it would help our prayer life, and when it comes to praising
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Him, I think that maybe is in there. Okay, anyone else? Pradeep. That's pretty much why we exist.
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Yes? Yes. We were born for this very reason, to study God, and to praise Him, and we'll do it throughout all eternity.
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I met a guy one time, and he said, if his dog isn't in heaven, it's not going to be heaven to him. He's got a pretty low view of heaven.
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Okay, anybody else? Before I give you my 10, or 12, or 7? All right.
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Reason number one, I believe we should study the Attributes of God, is that what you believe determines how you live.
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Does that sound familiar after this morning? Your doctrine, what you believe about God, will determine your duty, how you live.
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Belief, and behavior. Creed, and conduct. Credenda, the
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Latin word for what you believe. Agenda, what you do. These things are tied together, and if you turn to Ephesians chapter 4,
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I want to press that a little bit, and show you biblically, that there's a tie -in between what you believe, and what you do.
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Steve Nelson's letter this morning, talked about the first 11 chapters of Romans, typically doctrinally, setting forth
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God's righteousness, and then practically, is in chapters 12 through 16.
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And Ephesians does the same thing. How many chapters in Ephesians? Six chapters. The first three talk about who
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God is, what he's done, i .e. chapter 1, this great triune God has elected us, before eternity passed.
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Jesus at Calvary died in our place, on our behalf, in our stead. The Spirit sealed us to the day of redemption, and we're to praise him for that.
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Chapter 2, we are to praise God for something, that we rarely praise him for, and that is, that we were
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Gentiles, and now we're part of the family of God. When was the last time you said, God, I'm just a Gentile, and I get to praise you,
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Israel's God. Chapter 3, Paul says, I'm actually an apostle for the
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Gentiles. And then if you see the first two words, of Ephesians chapter 4, verse 1, you see this lever, you see the hinge, you see the tie -in between doctrine and life.
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That's why we have to teach doctrine. That's why much of the Bible is doctrine. I, therefore, therefore based on what has been said, in chapters 1, 2, and 3, the prisoner of the
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Lord, entreat you to walk in a manner, worthy of the calling, with which you have been called.
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It's absolutely wonderful, when you start to study that. I urge you, I entreat you, the same word we get, the comforter, the
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Holy Spirit, the paraclete, I want to come alongside of you, and say this, I want you to walk in a worthy way.
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And that word worthy, if you notice that, right there in Ephesians chapter 4, verse 1, means equal weight.
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I want you to walk in a way, that you have equal weight, between what you believe, and what you do.
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How many people know about seesaws? They don't really have too many seesaws anymore, in children's parks, because there's one kid, who always jumps off, and then the other kid, just slams down, and has some kind of,
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L4, L5, L5, S1, kind of spinal problem. And so, you don't see seesaws very often, but basically, that's the idea here, with that word worthy.
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Here's the straight board, and here's a little point there, and you've got chapter 1, 2, and 3, of Ephesians there, with all this weight, all these indicatives, all these things, that God has done for us.
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We are in Christ. And then He says, in chapter 4, 5, and 6,
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I want you to walk in such a way, that as you walk, you live out who you are, you become more of who you are, and balance it out.
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You've heard of this phrase before, haven't you? Conduct befitting an officer. Conduct befitting someone, who has received this grace of God, in Ephesians chapter 1, 2, and 3.
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There's a link. It doesn't say either, or, but both and.
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Doctrine and duty. Credenda and agenda. Theology affects your methodology.
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It determines what you do. That's why it's such a scam, when in the old days of Christianity today, somebody wrote a seven page article, on Rick Warren's Saddleback Community Gathering, in California.
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Thousands of pastors went there, to the conferences. In one particular May, the conference drew 3 ,800 pastors, and one of the other pastors at Saddleback said this,
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We're not talking about doctrine. We're talking about how to do church, in a way that meets people where their needs are.
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Can you imagine having 3 ,800 pastors come, and say here's how we do church, but by the way, we're not going to learn about doctrine.
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No. What we do, stems out of our relationship with the Lord, and our union with Him.
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We are in Christ. Paul says, become who you are. He says it to the Romans in chapter 12,
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I urge you therefore brethren, by the mercies of God, chapters 1 -11, present yourselves and your bodies, a living and holy sacrifice.
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The inseparable link between what we believe, and who we are. And that is the incentive for divine living, that Pat talked about this morning.
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We obey not because God's up there, with a big guillotine saying, if you mess up I'm going to nab you, and I'm going to pop you on the head.
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I couldn't believe Gracie came up the other day, and she was singing some little bunny foo -foo, hopping through the forest.
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What's the next part of the song? Scooping up the field mice, and bopping them on the head.
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I thought, it's a private Christian school. My hard earned money is going there.
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God is not saying, well you know, if you don't obey these commands Christian, you are going to be judged.
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He certainly says that to the unbelievers. But because God has done what He's done, Ephesians chapter 1, 2, and 3, or Romans chapters 1 through 11, or back to the
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Israelites, Exodus chapter 20 verses 1 and 2, because He's done this, then in response to His goodness, and kindness, and generosity, and graciousness, that is the incentive for divine, that is the incentive for living, to please
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God. What God has done for us. And He says,
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I therefore entreat you to walk in a manner, with the same equal weight as your calling.
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So I believe, as we study the doctrine of the attributes of God, it will help us live out properly, what we believe.
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Reason number two. This is a big one for me. I don't know about you, but sometimes I'm prideful.
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Reason number two, the attributes of God humble us all. When we study the attributes of God, it is going to be humbling.
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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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Don't we need that today in our church? A fresh dose of the awesomeness of God.
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His transcendence, His fear, His greatness, His wonder, His awe. It's humbling to look at God.
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I read in Christianity Today in 2002, a man named Charles Haffey, who legally changed his name to, ready,
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I am who I am. This was after the judge rejected his efforts to change his name to God.
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Ask, What would your first name be? He said, Of course, my first name would be,
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I am. And what
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Haffey overtly does, sometimes I think we all secretly do. We worship ourselves at the expense of worshiping
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God. Is there anything worse for a Christian than to be prideful?
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Charles Spurgeon said, The proper study of the Christian is the Godhead, the highest science, the loftiest speculation, the mightiest philosophy, which can engage the attention of a child of God as the name, the nature, the person, the doings, and the existence of the great
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God, which he calls his Father. Listen to this, this is so crucial.
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There is something exceedingly improving to the mind in the contemplation of divinity. It is a subject so vast that all our thoughts are lost in its immensity, so deep that our pride is drowned in its infinity.
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Other subjects we can comprehend and grapple with, and then we feel kind of self -content, and we go on our way with the thought,
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Behold, I am wise. But when we come to the 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,
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I am but of yesterday and know nothing. No subject of contemplation will tend more to humble the mind than the thoughts of God.
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The first sermon Charles Spurgeon preached is true. When we know
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God, we'll really know ourselves. And we'll stop this, and don't we all do it? Compared to this person over here,
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I'm pretty good. Even as Christians. But now for 26 weeks we'll see
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God in His glory, and then we'll realize how blessed we are to be called His children, and not
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His enemy. John Calvin's institute starts off this way, Wisdom consists entirely of two parts, the knowledge of God and of ourselves.
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But as these are connected together by many ties, it is not easy to determine which of the two proceeds and gives birth to the other.
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When we know God, we'll know ourselves. We need to be humble. We focus on ourselves too much.
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And here we'll be able to get our eyes off of ourselves, and up to the Lord, off of our problems.
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The answer to life's problems are not found in me, nor are they found in you. Yes? I love 2
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Chronicles 20. O our God, will You not judge them? For we are powerless before this great multitude who are coming against us.
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Nor do we know what to do, but our eyes are on You. We're going to get wiped out by these people, and we don't know what to do, but we're going to just keep watching
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You. A good intake of God's attributes will help us with questions like this in our local church.
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Do you think you're doctrinally superior to others? As one man said, theological orthodoxy with a swagger.
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Are you trying to exalt yourself or your ministry so other people can see? Do you think you're better than those who have immature doctrines, like Arminianism?
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Are you easily offended? All signs that we could be prideful.
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Do we want preeminence in the church? Do you rejoice in the spiritual accomplishments of others?
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When we see God for who He is, and His attributes, He will humble us. William Temple said,
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Pride is always the root of spiritual failure. And if I could expand a little bit,
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I would say pride is always the root of the spiritual failure of forgetting the greatness of God.
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Well, number three. If you're taking notes, we're doing these at ten minutes a shot. But like every preacher, a preacher says,
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I've got three points. And the first point's 25 minutes, the second point's 15 minutes, the third point's going to be a lot less.
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The first points always go longer. Reason number three. The more you come to know
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God, the more you'll want to study Him. Now, I'm not trying to compare
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God to salt and popcorn or anything like that. Listen to my words carefully. Just like eating something salty gives you an appetite for more of that same thing, so too, when you study the greatness of God, you'll want to study
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Him more. You'll never find in the Bible, Moses, John, Paul, Elijah, any of these great people,
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Sarah, you'll never find them saying this, I'm over the study of God.
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That was a phase of mine, I really got into God and kind of studied Him for a while, but I have accomplished everything,
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I know all about God, and I'm kind of over with God, chapter two of my life. No, you'll find these, that the closer they got to God, the more they wanted to study
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Him and know Him. I like the psalmist in 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 God. When shall I come and appear before God?
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It's refreshing to study someone so great, so pure, so large, and it makes you want to study all the more.
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Number four, reason number four, I told you we would speed up, there are many false notions of God that exist today.
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There are many false notions of God that exist today, and if we study the biblical attributes, we can make sure we understand
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God correctly. You know the great quote by Tozer, the essence of idolatry is the entertainment of thoughts about God that are unworthy of Him.
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I call God these days, Plato God, silly putty God, the
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God of love and tolerance, the God that tolerates everything except people like Christians who are intolerant, the
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George Burns God, and whether it's O God 1, 2, or 3, it doesn't matter. They're all looking at God like He's got one guitar string, love.
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The one trick pony God, He just loves. People don't want righteousness, they don't want holiness, they don't want justice, and as C .S.
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Lewis said a long time ago, the pantheist God does nothing, demands nothing.
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He is there if you wish for Him, like a book on a shelf, but He will not pursue you. With liberals and emergents, it's the same difference.
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Wrath is out, hell is out, black and white truth is out, and syncretism is in.
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Just combine it all. We're watching that with our very eyes with this whole Pope deal. Muslims, one religion assimilated into another.
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An amalgam of eastern ideas and western ideas. Strangely, why would
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John say, after never talking about idols in 1 John 5, end his sermon with what?
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Little children? Affectionately? Dearly? I want you to keep yourself from idols.
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It's important. And by the way, we have lots of idol factories out there, not just in our own heart.
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Would you turn to 2 Timothy chapter 4? This is why we need to preach, because there are lots of people selling false religions out there, and we need to know the real
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God, and when we do, it will be easy to spot the false ones. I don't study, by the way,
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Walter Martin's Kingdom of the Cults very often. How many people have that book? When you first get saved, you get two books right away, besides the
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Bible. Kingdom of the Cults by Walter Martin. And you get some book about, you know, you get
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Left Behind series. I don't know what you get. Some kind of end times deal. Study the book of Revelation.
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I don't think either are bad, but that's what we do.
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That's what I did. I don't think Walter Martin is that popular anymore, is he? Some other kind of encyclopedia of heretics, or something, that are out there.
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What's the one that I'm thinking about? Hank does some of the things with the word faith stuff, but there's another book by McDowell and Stewart, maybe it's a different, it talks about Seventh Day Adventism, and Mormonism, and Jehovah's Witnesses, and all that.
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Paul is telling Timothy to preach the word, and look what he says in 2 Timothy 4, verse 3.
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And this is the society we live in, and we're influenced by, and this is why it's so good to have the right view of God.
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Look at what happens in 2 Timothy 4, verse 3. For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but wanting to have their ears tickled.
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I mean, don't we want that sometimes? Don't they want that? The word of God boxes your ears, and they want people to tickle their ears.
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I want to feel good. I come to church to feel good. I only boxed one time, it was with my friend
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Scott Labs, and he was probably 13, and I was probably 14, and he got on his boxing gloves at his house, over on Pratt Street, and I got my boxing gloves, and we started, we were best friends, and we started sparring back and forth, and just playing around.
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Best friends, we weren't mad at each other or anything, but we want to box. Why would we want to box each other, when we're not even mad at each other?
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So we began to box, and he came across, and kind of did, I don't even know what kind of punch it was, but it was kind of a roundhouse, kind of a, something from the hip, and he hit me on the ear.
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I have to admit that I did one thing. I started bawling like a baby. It hurt so bad, my ear.
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It just, you know, you think just it's ear, it's cartilage. It hurt so bad, and sometimes this word of God, like a hammer, shatters us, and we want to hear nice things.
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We want to hear that we're good, and we're popular, and people like us, and God is just so pleased, that you would actually think of Him.
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But wanting to have their ears tickle, they will do what? Accumulate for themselves teachers, in accordance to their own desires.
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This is more than they don't like something, but they hate it. They despise it. They don't want sound doctrine, healthy doctrine.
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They care about them. As we say in Nebraska, they are wanting, or hankering, after something that's unhealthy spiritually.
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They want something new, and they accumulate, literally they're going to heap in piles.
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You say, well, that's a great church, because there's 10 ,000 people there. Oh, really? Oh, that's a great church, because there's 35 ,000 people at the compact center in Houston, and they all go there.
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It must be good. Really? Vincent said, teachers of all kinds swarm like the flies in Egypt.
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The demand creates the supply. The hearers invite and shape their own preachers.
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Listen to this. This is classic. If the people desire a calf to worship, a ministerial calf maker is readily found.
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If people desire a calf to worship, a ministerial calf maker is readily found.
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And these people, verse 4 says, will turn away their ears from the truth, and will turn aside to myths. And we live in this culture of people turning aside, literally wrenching or twisting, dislocating.
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Have you ever had your arm dislocated? I was watching the football game last night, the USC -Nebraska game.
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In the very almost first play, some USC football player got strained backwards, and his leg didn't go like this with his ankle up, his foot.
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His foot wasn't going like this anymore. His foot was going like this, some kind of weird contorted thing.
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It was just one of those, it was the Joe Theismann leg break kind of moment. And these people, they want to dislocate, take things out of their proper place.
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They don't want a gospel that is hard. They want the gospel that satisfies people's curiosity.
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They want something new. And they turn aside to myths. And so we need to study the attributes of God, because we live in a society, and we need to know the real
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God. Because knowing the real God is a preservative from this kind of sin. Even in Isaiah chapter 1, an ox knows its owner, and a donkey its master's manger.
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But Israel does not know, my people do not understand. You say, well, it's not that big a deal.
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Oh, really? Do you want to do a little study sometime in New England in the 1700's? And here's what happened with the attributes of God.
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God is too stark. God is too masculine. God is too sovereign. How could a
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God determine who goes to heaven and who does not? How could this God that people say has a
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Calvinistic view of God, a high view of God, we can't take it anymore. So what did they do in New England?
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I'll tell you what they did. They said, we're going to turn from some of those stark, masculine, transcendent things, and we're going to say, you know what?
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God's a little more loving than we have been giving Him credit for. Matter of fact, He's all love, and He's not any of these other things.
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And something happened. We had a group of people in New England that went from Congregationalism, the
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Jonathan Edwards type, to another religion called what? Because they couldn't stand the high view of God.
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And they're called Unitarians. That's exactly right. It does matter.
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Reason number five. Praising God and His attributes is what you were created for.
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This is why you were created. To praise God in a fallen world.
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Turn to Jude, if you will, at the end of Jude, a great little epistle, one chapter. Jude is doing what the great
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Puritan Thomas Watson said. Praising God is one of the highest and purest acts of religion.
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I think Jude would say what Spurgeon said, if I did not praise and bless Christ my Lord, I should deserve to have my tongue torn out by its roots from my mouth.
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And look at how he ends this epistle. Remember the epistle? I was going to write to you something really nice. Here's the
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Christian faith. But while I was in the middle of that, these false teachers that were among us needed to be dealt with, but he ends in praise.
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And one of the greatest benedictions ever is found in Jude 24 and 25. We sing this. It's called the doxology.
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Jude's doxology. Charlie does. Now, to Him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to make you stand in the presence of His glory blameless with great joy, to the only
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God our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, glory, majesty, dominion, and authority before all time, now and forever.
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In the original language, if you take a look at verse 25, you see that little word be?
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To the only God our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory. It's not in the original.
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It's not in the Greek. He doesn't say, these things belong to God. He just shouts them out.
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To God our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, glory, majesty, dominion, authority.
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He just blurts out these four adjectives of praise. Ascribing worship and greatness to God in this benediction.
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And let's look at each one of those words of just praise. As we understand the attributes of God, we'll be able to do this better.
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The first one related to His divine person, glory. What's the Greek word glory?
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Does anybody know where we get the word glory? Doxa. Glory. Glory. How about the
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Old Testament word for glory? It's a good one. For those of you in the 60's especially, remember the 60's.
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It's kavod. But you don't get that from the 60's. Hate Ashberry and kavod. No. Kavod means something that's heavy.
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That's heavy they would say back in the 60's. It has weight. I think of Mario Cuomo saying, that other person that is running against me has no what?
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Gravitas. There's nothing weighty there. And here the word glory. It's weighty.
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But it also talks about radiance and splendor. I was thinking about that today at the Transfiguration.
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Glory and splendor and radiance. Expressive of God's very nature.
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The sum of all His attributes. Glory shines forth. To ascribe glory to God, the commentator
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Hebert said, is to recognize and praise Him for His infinite excellencies whereby He excels all.
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I have a little snippet here and it says, God's glory shines. The angel of the Lord appeared to them and the glory of the
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Lord shone all around them and they were terrified. And not only does God's glory shine, it also blinds.
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My companions led me by the hand to Damascus because the brilliance of the light had blinded me.
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Then he blurts out another thing. Majesty. Majesty. I love this word for majesty.
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You ready for it? Megalucena. What's the first four letters? Mega. What's a megaphone?
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What's mega? What's the meta burger? Where they have lots of big burgers.
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It's probably the new advertising campaign. This is huge. This is big.
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Surpassing greatness. A term only occurring in the New Testament three times and always of God.
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Hebrews 1, Hebrews 8 and right here. God is on His throne. It's like Hebrews 1, 3.
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It translates it this way. Jesus sat down at the right hand of the majesty in heaven. And then he shouts out another one.
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Power or dominion. God's absolute power and sovereign reign. All about His attributes.
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Praising God for His attributes. And then authority. God does whatever He wishes. God has the freedom to do whatever
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He'd like. Our God sits in the heavens and He does whatsoever what? He pleases. Not just adjectivally.
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With adjectives there, He does it by time. Before all ages, now and forever. God's worthy of praise throughout eternity.
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Past, present and future. Ages coming one after another after another.
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And what does Jude say? He doesn't know what else to say. He can't say anything else. He just has to say, Amen. A strong affirmation.
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Personal seal. I think of good seals and I think of U -L -O -S -H -A. Good housekeeping seal.
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Here's Jude's seal. Alright, we've got to get going.
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Number six. It will help you evangelize. The more you study the attributes of God, the easier you can evangelize.
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If you turn to 1 Peter 2, I'm only going to make one quick comment here. By the way, Pat, this morning I noticed you had fallen sinful and foolish or fallen sinful and rebellious as part of your testimony.
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And I did catch that. That was an excellent testimony this morning, by the way. God -centered. Well thought out.
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1 Peter 2, verse 9. The more we understand God and His excellencies, the more we can proclaim
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Him. Creator, Judge, Savior, and everything else that He is. But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation for God's own possession.
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A people for God's own possession. That you may what? Proclaim, and I could even translate it, the attributes of Him, the excellencies of Him, His nature, who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light.
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His self -declarations. As one man said, the church is to advertise God. David Brainerd said of evangelism,
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I care not where I go, or how I live, or what I endure, so that I may save souls. When I sleep,
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I dream of them. When I awake, they are first in my thoughts. And when you get a good glimpse of God, and you realize that He's a judge, you'll want to tell your friends about the only
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Savior. Number seven, it will help you die well. If you know
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God, it will help you die well. News bulletin, everyone here is going to die.
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And you're going to die, and it will be you and God. And I'll never forget, as long as I live,
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I think it was nine years ago, we had John Debrine as a speaker here, and he was standing right over there.
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How many people know John Debrine? What's it called? Songtime maybe? Is he still around? Does he still have a cat or a dog or something like that that he's talking about?
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And he said, I just had had a heart attack. And as I was laying there, trying to get my breath, thinking that I'm going to die, he said something that has always shook me.
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He said, I began to think of songs. I mean John Debrine, songtime, thinking of songs all the time.
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He said, and what was not going through my mind was shine, Jesus, shine.
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Shine, Jesus, shine. Now maybe there's some truth in that, I don't know, in terms of the truth in the song.
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One of you will probably pick it next Sunday night. By the way, when Jeremy is here, let's pick songs we know, next
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Sunday night. He said, rather, I was laying there thinking of songs that had the attributes of God and songs that had good theology, and I kept thinking about the solid rock.
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And how everything else was sinking sand except this great God who saves me. And I think if you study the attributes of God, I think you'll die well.
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John Wesley said, Christians die well. John Knox the Scottish Reformer was dying and could no longer speak.
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You know the story I tell you about it all the time. The servant said, I'd like you to raise your hand because you can't talk anymore and I want to know if the gospel that you believe when you were preaching, you still believe now.
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Raise your hand. And John Knox raised his hand how many times?
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Three hands. I affirm that. As Pastor Steve said several weeks ago, J. Gresham Machen, shouldn't have been up in North Dakota running on fumes, super sick.
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I have too much to do, he said, even though his chest was tight from pneumonia. The next day however, he was hospitalized.
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New Year's Eve, the host pastor visited Machen on his deathbed. And he had a dream which made him just long for the joys of heaven and he said to his friend named
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Sam, it was glorious, it was glorious. Isn't the Reformed faith grand, Sam? And then he dictated a letter to John Murray, professor at Westminster Seminary in Philadelphia.
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And he said this, I am so thankful for the active obedience of Christ, no hope without it.
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What helps me die is knowing that it's not my life that makes me acceptable to God, but it is the doctrine that Jesus died in my place.
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Without getting into too many details, when I was standing there watching my mom die as we had to agree to unplug everything else,
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I wasn't thinking about shine Jesus shine either. I was thinking about God's faithfulness.
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Well, there's so many. Let me just give you quickly number eight.
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It will make us study the Old Testament a lot. Even though I said this morning we're not under mosaic law as Christians.
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I think I want to make sure we understand the Old Testament is important and I'll talk about that next
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Sunday morning. Let me just show you one illustration. Turn to Acts chapter 8. If you don't study your
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Old Testament, you should. You are missing out on 70 % of the revelation of God. This is one of my favorite passages to encourage people to find treasures in their
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Old Testament. Treasures of the doctrine of God and who He is, how He deals with people.
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This is so good. Acts chapter 8. Probably my favorite place to find this treasure about the
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Old Testament and how it should motivate me to study it. We're going to close with this one. Acts chapter 8 verse 5.
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And Philip went down to the city of Samaria and began proclaiming Christ to them. Scroll down to verse 26.
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But an angel of the Lord spoke to Philip, saying, Arise and go south to the road that descends from Jerusalem to Gaza.
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This is a desert road. And so basically, we've got the Spirit of God and I'll travel where you wish,
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God. It's a deserted road. It's a lonesome road. It's kind of a strange command. It's the southernmost of five
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Philistine cities. 55 mile journey. Verse 27.
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And he arose and went, and behold, there was an Ethiopian eunuch, a court official of Candace, queen of the
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Ethiopians, who was in charge of all her treasure. And he had come to Jerusalem to worship.
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Now here's this eunuch, some kind of secretary of finance or treasurer, some big shot.
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He's Ethiopian. Queen of Sheba was from that area. He was a court official of Candace, which was a title for Ethiopian queens.
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Not her personal name, but the dynastic title name, like Sultan or Pharaoh. And here's this
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Ethiopian entourage. It's a thousand miles from Ethiopia to Jerusalem.
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He's got prestige. He's got power. He's a big shot. Yet something's missing, and he doesn't have forgiveness.
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Verse 28. And he was returning and sitting in his chariot and was reading the prophet Isaiah. Maybe he got a copy there and was reading it on his way back.
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We don't know how he got it, but he was reading Isaiah. Kind of preoccupied.
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He doesn't even notice Philip immediately. In verse 29 it says,
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And the Spirit said to Philip, Go up and join this chariot. So here's this man reading
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Isaiah over and over and over. The tense is, he was reading it, probably out loud, probably from the
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Septuagint. And the Spirit said to Philip, Go up and join this chariot. So here's the second command from God.
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Is he going to go do it or not? And when Philip had run up, he heard him reading Isaiah the prophet. See, he was reading out loud and said,
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Do you understand what you're reading? My favorite story along those lines is when the man gave
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Denzel Washington a study Bible because he had asked Denzel Washington on the set in Los Angeles.
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Denzel was reading the Bible and the man walked up to Denzel and said, Do you understand what you're reading? And Denzel said,
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Oh, not really. And so then he was presented with the MacArthur Study Bible as a gift. Do you understand what you're reading?
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Now when you read a scroll, where do you start? I think you probably start at the beginning, yes?
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Chapter 1, there was no chapters then. You get the scroll and you go, I'm going to hit my highlights. I really love
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Isaiah chapter 1 verse 18 and I really love chapter 3 and I love chapter 6 and I love chapter 9 verse 6.
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No, he just began to read. And verse 31, you say,
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Where is this going? Hold on. It's worth the payoff. And he said, Well, how could
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I? Unless someone guides me. And he invited Philip to come up and sit with him. Kind of royalty? Hey, come on up.
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Now so far as I've been reading, I see Eunuch five times. Verse 27, 34, 36, 38, and 39.
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The writer of Acts, who is Dr. Luke, wants you to know that this person is a what?
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Eunuch. Some eunuchs are born that way from their mother's womb.
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Others are made eunuchs by other men. There are other eunuchs who keep themselves eunuchs for the sake of the kingdom.
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That's Matthew 19. We don't know how he was a eunuch. But let me tell you a little bit about eunuchs. Deuteronomy 23 .1
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No one who is emasculated shall enter the assembly of the Lord.
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Let me read further. Well, you know what? I'd like you to go there. Isaiah 56. Let me show you what this man was reading.
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Why would a eunuch so want to read what's happening here? He's a big shot in the
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Ethiopian realms, but certainly in God's eyes, he's no big shot. In Isaiah 56, he had to have read it.
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I think he read this and then started back over again. Isaiah 56 .3 Listen to this God who does something strange for eunuchs.
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Unbelievably, warmly, wonderfully strange. Let not the foreigner who has joined himself to the
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Lord say, Isaiah 56 .3 The Lord will surely separate me from His people. Neither let the eunuchs say,
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Behold, I am a dry tree. For thus says the Lord to the eunuchs who keep
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My Sabbaths, and choose what pleases Me, and hold fast My covenant, to them
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I will give in My house, and within My walls a memorial. Do eunuchs have memorials?
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Do eunuchs have offspring? Do eunuchs have people who carry the name of them?
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If they can't have children, I said to the girls the other day, I said, Girls, it'll be daddy's desire for you, if the
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Lord so pleases, to all have husbands, and you'll no longer be called
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Abendron. You're going to get a new last name. The girls are like, Oh, do we have to?
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I said, People, whatever new name you get, they won't slaughter it as much as Hafenhorf. That's for certain.
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I know it's junk mail when it says Mike Haferhorf. But I said to Luke, You're going to carry on our name.
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The Abendroth name. If you're a eunuch, you don't have too many children. You don't have any children.
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And here in verse 5, I will give in My house. What do you mean in My house? Deuteronomy 23 says if you're emasculated, you don't enter into the assembly of the
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Lord. And a name better than that of sons or daughters.
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Everything to these people back in those days was the son. If you think China's bad now, we want the sons.
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It was worse here. I will give them, look at verse 5 of Isaiah 56, an everlasting name which will not be cut off.
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The language is obvious. If you're a eunuch, their thing's been cut off.
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You've been emasculated, but this name will never be cut off. Verse 6 of Isaiah 56.
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Also the foreigners who join themselves to the Lord to minister to them. He is a foreigner. And to love the name of the
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Lord. To be His servants. Everyone who keeps from profaning the Sabbath and holds fast My covenant. Even those
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I will bring. Listen to this. It's got to be blowing his mind. Bring to My holy mount and make them joyful in My house of prayer.
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Their burnt offerings and their sacrifices will be acceptable on My altar. The eunuchs. For My house will be called the house of prayer for all peoples.
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Isaiah 56. Eight. The Lord God who gathers the dispersed of Israel declares, yet others I will gather to them to those who are already gathered.
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Now I can't be sure, but here's what I think's happening. The eunuch is being drawn by God.
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He's what we would call a seeker, as it were. No one seeks after God, I know, but he's trying to understand.
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And he's reading Isaiah, and he's coming home from Jerusalem where he's picked up the scroll, and he's read the scroll, and he realizes there's this great
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God of Israel who can take a guy like me, a eunuch, and make him something great and to give him a name that will last forever and to be called a son.
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And now I think he's rereading it and rereading it saying, how do I believe in this great God? Now let's go back to Acts chapter 8 and we'll finish there.
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His attention is riveted to this God who could save him.
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Remember the passage in Acts. A eunuch five times. Not allowed to worship.
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Can't go to God's house. But he's reading over and over and over. This is the kind of God that can do this to eunuchs.
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And certainly then, by the providence and grace of God, Acts 8 .32,
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now the passage of Scripture which he was reading was this. This is Isaiah 53. Just a few chapters before.
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He was led as a sheep to the slaughter and as a lamb before its shearer is silent, so he does not open his mouth.
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In humiliation his judgment was taken away. Who shall regulate his generation? For life is removed from the earth.
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Acts 8 .34. And the eunuch answered Philip and said, Please tell me.
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And I don't think it was just kind of a bored thing. Tell me. It's kind of a long ride. I'm just interested to know.
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It's kind of trivia. Trivial pursuit. Please tell me. Of whom does this prophet say this?
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I need to know. I'm a eunuch. Of himself or someone else. And Philip opened his mouth.
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Well, of course he did, but that's New Testament talk for like Jesus going to the Sermon on the Mount, opening his mouth. And beginning from this
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Scripture, he preached Jesus to him. How awesome is that?
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If you don't go back to the Old Testament to understand the place of a eunuch, it's not great at all.
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It's not amazing at all. Here's Isaiah chapter 53. It's read from the scroll. He's got the whole scroll.
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He can afford all that. And he realizes in 56, he had to have read it. I could be a child of God.
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I could have a name that's not cut off. And I think that's a great reason to study the Old Testament because it makes the
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New Testament come alive. The Old Testament can teach us about the attributes of God and many other things.
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If you'd like to do some reading ahead of time, I would suggest you get two books. One book is The Attributes of God by Pink and the other one is
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The Knowledge of the Holy by Tozer. And you will not be disappointed.
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The book that I give out when people ask, I'd like to evangelize my friend. He's an unbeliever.
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And what book do you think I should give to him? Well, besides the Bible, I say, why don't you give him
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The Attributes of God by Pink because he needs to know about this God who is his
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Creator, Savior and Judge. Savior if he calls on Him. So, not next
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Sunday because Jeremy will be preaching. But the Sunday after that, if you'd like to study ahead of time, A.
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God is Almighty. The power of God. And why does that matter for Christians?
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If you understand the power of God, what difference will that make in your life? Well, why don't we just stand and sing a song a cappella before we leave?
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I'm trying to think of a song about the nature or the attributes of God. You know what I think we should do? Why don't we stand up, a cappella, 542.
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This was the song that I picked that Mark wouldn't call on me. And so now by divine right that I have here as pastor, we'll do 542 when we all get to heaven.
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I asked Sinclair Ferguson this question, what is God doing right now? Sinclair Ferguson answered, he said,
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God is simultaneously exercising all of His attributes. Years later
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I was in Scotland and asked Sinclair Ferguson, I said, I was in Pasadena at an R .C. Sproul conference and asked you the question, what is
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God doing now? And he said, well, I'd like to know what my answer was. And I said, your answer,
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Dr. Ferguson, was that God is simultaneously exercising all of His attributes. And he said, that was a very good answer
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I gave. And so the wonder of heaven will be not, will be many things, but it will be this.
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I'm a compartmentalized guy, next time it will be almighty. But in heaven we will be able to simultaneously experience all the attributes of God at the same time.