Lesson # 3 / Part Two - God: His Character & Attributes (Fundamentals of the Faith)

So we're continuing to go through our study of the fundamentals of the faith by John MacArthur last week

We didn't get through lesson three. So this will be part two of lesson three

God his character and attributes The attributes we're going to be looking at Are his holiness his righteousness and justice his sovereignty his eternality

His immutability omniscience omnipresence omnipotence love truth and mercy

But before we get into those and get into the book, I have a few things to start out with First of all

God, I don't think we talked about this I'm not sure it must mention it in the lesson But God is triune in nature if there's one thing we should tell people about God That that's it

God is triune God is a Trinity meaning there is one

God but He has made himself known and you have to be careful actually with how you say this

But there's one God in three persons father son and Holy Spirit that sets

The the true God apart from all the false gods The gods of all the other religions is either many gods or like with Islam and Judaism God is singular he's not a

Trinity, but the true God is father son and Holy Spirit, but That's something that's basic So even if it's not brought out in this book, it's it's something that any believer would would know

So in his prayer to the father in John 17 verse 3

Jesus said that they may know you the only true God and Jesus Christ who you have sent

And it was Christ's desire and it should be the desire for every believer to not only know

God But to want to make him known to tell other people about God and who he is and what he's like and we talked about this last week to know

God you need to know about him You need to know his character his attributes

That's why a study like this is important. But you also must know him personally and we spent some time on that and to know

God personally, that's only possible through a Personal relationship with Jesus Christ because as Jesus said he came to make the father known 1st

John 2 23 Says whoever denies the son does not have the father either

Of course, Jesus said I'm the way the truth and the life no man comes into the father except by me

Put it plainly a person cannot know God unless they believe in Jesus Christ We talked about this last time how

The the nation's most famous pastor said that Hindus know

God and they love God No, they they don't know they don't believe in Christ.

So it's impossible that they would love the true God they are unaware of the true God and a lot of people would view that as a

Hateful statement a judgmental statement, but it's a true statement That's the thing the devil wants to make the truth sound like hate and the truth does sound like hate to those who

Hate the truth So our love for people Should cause us to tell them the truth about who

God is and you can only know the one true God Through a personal relationship with Jesus Christ.

I saw a hand John 17 verse 3. This is

Jesus praying to the father Turn to 1st Corinthians chapter 8 we'll get into the book in just a moment

But this is really what sets evangelicals apart from all other professing

Christian groups that evangelicals believe that you must know Christ that Christ is the only path to the father in 1st

Corinthians chapter 8 We'll look at that in a second But Paul makes it clear that no, there's oh, there's a lot of false gods, but there's only one true

God Today, however, the majority of professing Christians in the world. It's 2 0 .3

billion people or whatever the number is The majority of professing Christians in the world today even people within evangelical churches the majority opinion is universalism or a quasi form of universalism or as long as you believe in some

Concept of God or as long as you've taken a step in the right direction as long as you live a good life

Whatever that means Then then you'll be okay. That's the majority viewpoint.

That is not what the Bible teaches However, I like to call that's the new order

That's the new order of Christianity Today, but again, it's not biblical

Christianity We've mentioned last week Max Lucado the best -selling

Christian author He affirmed that Mormons have the Holy Spirit That's synonymous with saying that Mormons are saved and Mormons are true

Christians. That statement would have been absolutely scandalous 60 years ago 50 years ago, maybe even 30 years ago.

I don't know. Can you imagine that? I mean some of you older folks if somebody said back in the 1950s

Or 60s an evangelical preacher that hey all these other groups they're saved too

Can you can you imagine that people's head would explode but now it's just common.

That's the new belief system and the pastors of the major churches today that's that's what they're preaching as long as you live a good life and believe in Some sort of concept of God or Jesus, however, you understand that's that's good enough

Is that what the scripture teaches? Okay, let's look at 1st Corinthians chapter 8 verses 4 through 6

Well, if you don't really know the true God or know about him, you would be sucked in by that 1st

Corinthians 8 4 through 6 verse 4. He's talking about idols and He says that there is no other

God but one verse 5 For even if there are so -called gods whether in heaven or on earth as there are many gods and many lords

Paul says that there's many gods meaning there's many false gods that people worship many idols

Yet he says for us there is what? one God the father of whom are all things and we for him and one

Lord Jesus Christ through whom are all things and Through whom we live

So he connects the father and the son just like what John said if if you don't have the son

You don't have the father or any comments or questions so far so as long as we lay that as the basis and we understand that's who

God is and He has revealed himself through his only begotten Son Jesus Christ If you got that right you're on the right track if you don't have that You have a different religion it's not

Christianity. All right, so let's get back into the book God's character and Attributes we ended last time

Number two righteousness and justice. I'll give you a moment to find that Might be

I don't know if it's the second page Okay, 27 in your book,

I'll ask one more time does anyone want a free book Fundamentals of the faith you want it, okay

So, let's look at his righteousness and justice

It says righteousness and justice are derived from the same root word in the original language of the

New Testament the meaning is being right or Just you know, there's a lot of talk about justice in our society today ever since 2020 that's been the buzz term justice, there's people fighting for social justice and They try to connect it to what the

Bible talks about justice, right? The Bible does talk about justice and it's synonymous with righteousness and what they're talking about is not the righteousness of God Sometimes I'm sure there are some people who who really?

Do mean well and use that terminology, but from what I hear that's not that's not righteousness.

That's a different type of justice It says righteousness Designates the perfect agreement between God's nature and his acts

Justice is the way God legislates his righteousness there is no action that God takes in relation to man that violates any code of morality or justice

So you can't burn down a city because you're fighting for justice because burning down a city

Vandalizing things Slandering people that's not that's not a righteous thing to do.

So you can't fight for justice when you're committing immoral acts Right.

I mean, this is pretty basic and yet you'll have pastors from pulpits basically

Going along with that But again, that's the new order of Christianity. That's not biblical

Christianity The quote is there is no law above God But there is a law in God According to Psalm 119 verse 137

God's righteousness is displayed in his what? Judgments good

Section B in Psalm 89 verse 14 righteousness and justice are referred to as The Inhabitation of your throne or the foundation of your throne

There's a lot of people who believe in you know This is more common in Eastern religion where they bow and pray to idols and some of the idols

I mean they look like demons like snakes and these grotesque Monsters and they're bowing and that this is our

God and they worship and offer food and incense to this Deity who's like this grotesque demon character well, if here's the thing or there's other gods and like the

Aztec religion in South America where they they These gods would call for human sacrifice

Well, if you're worshiping a god that is evil Of course, what does the scripture say that the whole world is under the sway of the wicked one?

A lot of people are worshiping Satan and that they don't even realize it. They just label it something else.

But the thing about the true God he's righteous He is righteous righteousness and justice are the foundation of his throne that's the only

God who is worthy of worship The the scripture it was at Moses who talked about the detestable gods of the the

Canaanites That was mentioned somewhere All right. It says how does your standard of?

What is right and just compare with God's standard? Does anyone want to give the personal application here?

How does your standard of what is right and just compare with God's standard?

Yeah, we never live up to God's standard that's true all of sin and come short of the glory of God that that's true and Man -standard alone man just keeps lowering the standard, right?

People aren't measuring up. Well, let's lower it and and it just we've entered into the downward spiral in our nation when

Justice is this stuff and it's you know today's morality. I like to say today's morality is just yesterday's immorality

Marcus you had your hand up I think that's the point

Larry you had something Just comes from my limited and fallible knowledge of God's standard

Right standards are from my human emotion and beliefs from my limited view of life or like the picture of all that I see as opposed to God's view of the entire

Picture, right? Yeah, our standard Our standard is way down here

God's standard is perfect and sometimes when people hear you talking about God's standard

They assume that you're you're claiming that you live up to it or something or that we're claiming that we're no

We all recognize that we all have a long way to go. I'm learning new things all the time

The first year that I was saved to right now if I could talk to myself

Back then the the mic of back then would be offended of what the mic today thinks and believes because I was so saturated by and still am to some degree, but I was so Influenced and saturated by yeah the culture what it means to be an

American, you know The Constitution is what's really important and I wouldn't have said that of course But you know, we're affected by the culture and we have our own beliefs

And then when you read something something in the scripture and you're like, whoa that's

That's too little radical or that's too harsh or I don't know But but over the years and when you grow in Christ, you come to realize that no

I was wrong and the scriptures true The culture is wrong and the Bible is right and then you just come to that place where you just accept

Okay, whatever the scripture teaches is true The Bible is right and I'm wrong

But not everybody's at that place yet. Yes Commandments, I mean

I jumped up to American because this is the godliest nation Or at least it was set up that way and when

I went through police Academy We did learn that that I don't know if it was the

Tommy Robbie or maybe, you know, I don't know but It is based and like the

Ten Commandments, you know several half of them are relate to God and half of them right to other people

Yeah, and then when I got into Constitutional law, I could see that it was based.

It was based in the same way and of course the Massachusetts general laws Are the same way crimes against people crimes against this crimes against that and there's more and more and more laws all the time

Yeah, and what and I know people think well politics. That's a whole other thing and you probably shouldn't talk about it

Here's the thing when they pass a law People generally will obey the law to avoid the consequences

So after a generation, whatever the law of the land is the majority of people are conformed to it so if it goes against the scripture

My point is Politics does matter because it shapes the minds of Christians whether they know it or not

Let me give this illustration of man's law versus God's law when

I Go to the post office every week I pull in front of I'm gonna get myself into trouble by admitting

I pull in intentionally to a spot and the sign in that spot says

No idling it's against the law whatever and I intentionally leave my car on I Leave my car on for 30 seconds when

I run in grab the mail come out. It's literally about 30 seconds Pastor that's a terrible thing.

You're breaking the law Well, I lock it Yeah, oh

I locked the car so now we're 90 section 16, all right why do

I do that because somebody at some point is going to say something and I'm gonna respond.

Isn't it strange that there's a law that you can't leave your car idling for 30 seconds

But in this state, it's perfectly illegal to kill children in the womb But most people in this town are

Perfectly okay with that, but they'll get upset because you idle your car for 30 seconds

So if you think I'm wrong for doing that and I'm a terrible person then just pray for me, but that's

That's why I do it Well Hasn't actually one person did say something and I'm like, well, that's illegal.

You could get a ticket I said I'll take my chances, but I said well, no, I need a better response

And so now I have my response plan. All right, let's move on number three sovereignty the word sovereign

Means chief or highest supreme in power or superior in position to all others

Isaiah 46 9 and 10 says I am God and there is no other

I am God and there is none like me declaring the end from the beginning and from ancient times things that have not yet been done saying my purpose will be

Established and I will accomplish all my good pleasure and notice

This is the sovereignty of God notice. It doesn't say that God knows the end from the beginning

It says God declares the end from the beginning So whatever happens

God is involved in it. He's not the author of sin He doesn't force people to sin God does not tempt people to sin

But God is in control of it all and it's all working together to fulfill

His good pleasure. Isaiah 45 verse 23 says I have sworn by myself

The world has gone forth from my mouth and righteousness and will not turn back

That to me every knee will bow and every tongue will swear allegiance

Says the idea of sovereignty is encouraging For it assures the

Christian that nothing is out of God's control and that his plans

Cannot be thwarted. Do you believe that this morning? Some people don't believe that there's the and you don't have to be a

Calvinist to believe this because there's the Calvinist Arminian debate Calvin this would be something a

Calvinist would say and again many non Calvinist is still biblical you would still agree with this, but there's a lot of people more on the

Arminian side of things that emphasize man's free will to such an extent that That's when when something bad happens

God had God's not involved that God had nothing to do with that So if there's some horrible thing that happens

Say well God had nothing to do with it. Well, God might not have caused it.

That's true God has something to do with everything. Otherwise, he's not sovereign

He can take the most evil act The world has ever seen and turn it around and use it for good can't he but we know we did because the book of Acts says that the cross

Jesus dying on the cross for the sins of The world was actually for ordained. It was God's determined purpose.

So even though sinful men Committed an evil act God used it to bring about good

Yes, I just make the free will Dispensation point that they are parallel truth, and I'm not saying

Arminianism Arminianism is definitely a false False of gospel.

There's no question about that And when you put Calvinism versus Arminianism, of course, if you had to choose you would choose

Calvinism. I Believe that the truth between free will and predestination

Is right in the middle of both of them? Yeah They don't coincide.

They don't make sense to each other and that's your opinion and you're fond of it They don't coincide free will

Okay, Romans 828 is the verse that's listed it says and we know That all things work together for good to those who love

God and to those who are the called according to his purpose Then then he goes on for whom God foreknew.

He also predestined to be conformed to the image of his son It's just the idea that God is in control of all of all things again.

That's a bigger debate Not everyone's gonna see all of that the same way and that's fine You don't have to be a

Calvinist to be a true believer That's obviously not what I'm saying, but I mean that's kind of the way the debate has been framed historically

Larry did you have your hand up? 1726 says and he has made for one blood every nation of men to dwell on all the face of the earth and has

Determined their pre -appointed times and the boundaries of their dwellings

So not only when Each person that has ever lived or is living now or about to Will live not only their times, but where?

They will dwell Yeah He has a plan and a purpose for everybody and for his will

I And you are here for a reason and a purpose

It's hard to wrap your mind around it all but it's I think the the most or one of the most comforting comforting thoughts that God is

God's got it all under control And he's gonna use everything to bring about his will in the end

If God isn't if there's something that God is not in control of then who's to say how it's gonna turn out

Well, he says he already says it's gonna turn out this way. Yeah, but if he's not in control of it That opens the door to a lot of troubling things

Right and whatever man's will is whatever you decide to do It's gonna be within the plan of purposes of God like there's nothing a person can do to thwart

God's plan That's all he's saying that there's nothing a person can do to thwart the plan of God Oh, but if we crucify

Jesus that'll really thwart God's plan. No, you're playing into it There's nothing a person can do that So no, it's not saying that man is a robot and has no will and just you're only doing things because God's for it

That's not that's not what's being said Okay next God's eternality, so we looked at is

Sovereignty now is eternality says since God is eternal There has never been a time when he did not exist

He had no beginning and will have no end Isaiah 44 verse 6 says

I am the first and I am the last and there is no God besides Me Isaiah 43 verse 13 even from eternity

I Am he so God is eternal we heard of the story about the child

Who created the the trees well God created the trees who created the lake

Well, God created the lake who created the flowers God created the flowers. Well who created

God? Well God created himself No, God did not create himself.

He is from everlasting. He's always existed Well, that's hard to understand but we live within time and space we think of everything as having a beginning and we can't

We've never been outside of that. God is outside of that or argue God created time so God is eternal.

We all agree with that. God is eternal If God isn't eternal then we're yeah who or what created

God Then that thing that created God would be God, of course, then you'd have to ask well who created

That and then then it goes back forever. It's if something exists now, then something must have always existed and That something is

God. It says being eternal God is not bound by time having always existed

He sees the past and the future as clearly as he sees the present with that perspective

He has a perfect understanding of what is best for our lives Therefore we should trust him with all areas of our lives and then it gives a personal application

Does anyone want to share? What they wrote for personal application? Kareen Sometimes we think we can do things on our own, but we need to pray and ask

God for help. Okay Good Marcus you add something

Very good. Does anyone else want to share something? All right,

Larry One strand of his workmanship

One day we'll see how we are connected to all the other strands

Are you a poet and we never we never knew All right, let's move on to the next section number five

Immutability not a word we use very often, but something is immutable. It does not change

I think of the verse I am the Lord I change not Jesus Christ is the same yesterday today and forever

Well, at least Malachi 3 verse 6 for I the Lord do not change so God's immutability

It means God never changes in his nature or purpose One thing people do get wrong

And this is one one thing that comes up when we get to the spiritual gifts if I've heard this once I've heard it a thousand times

That some people believe the the miraculous gifts of the Spirit continue and that what

God was doing in the early church He's doing the same things today in 2022 and their proof text is

Jesus is the same yesterday today and forever Right Jesus is the same yesterday today and forever, but he's not always doing the same things

God never changes in his nature or his purpose but God as a good dispensationalist we would say

God works in different ways at different times With different people groups.

So just because God was doing one thing back then it doesn't mean he well He never changes. So he's doing the same thing now wrong.

That's not the case God was working in and through the nation of Israel under the

Old Covenant Through the law of Moses and the Ten Commandments and all the laws for the gods not doing that today in this age

God has set them on the shelf and is working in and through the New Testament Church and then he's gonna go back

We believe in the end times to work with Israel. So God will do different things at different times

That doesn't mean he changed you see the difference between God changing and what he's doing at any given time

Might be different. Okay The Bible contains numerous promises for those who belong to him he can be trusted to keep his word and it gives another

Opportunity for personal application so the immune immutability of God Personal application anybody want to share

Marcus Okay You can go through life encouraged by God's help.

Yeah We live in a changing world Things are constantly changing

The things that you were taught as a child the values and just the way the world is it's completely different now and Next year the next five ten years we're going to see

If things keep going the way they're going we're gonna see even more radical changes

If you could see into the future ten years You probably wouldn't even believe it

How do I know that well because I think of the way things were ten twenty years ago and the way they are now

Right. I can't believe what's happening right now. I keep saying You know now at this point nothing would surprise me, but that's not true things still

Surprise me. Well, at least the church that churches wouldn't go in this direction. No They'll go along to many of them.

So The point is there's great comfort in knowing that God doesn't change everything else might change

But God he is the solid rock Amen, you can you can depend on him.

Maybe you can't depend on much else, but you can depend on him Larry Yeah Yeah, great great point

Because if God changed then yeah, he was like this back then but he might not be like that tomorrow or he promised this back

Then but he might go back on his word Great comfort and the sovereignty of God and the immutability of God.

All right anything else before we move on? I think those two are my favorite at least right now at this moment.

I might change my mind Number six omniscience, what is

God's omniscience? Well says he knows all things present and future

Nothing takes him by surprise Job 34 verse 21 for his eyes are upon the ways of a man and he sees all his steps

Psalm 139 1 through 6. Oh Lord, you have searched me and known me

You know when I sit down and when I rise up you understand my thoughts from afar

You scrutinize my path in my lying down and are intimately

Acquainted with all my ways even before there is a word on my tongue behold Oh Lord, you know it all you have enclosed me behind and before and laid your hand upon me

Such knowledge is too wonderful for me. It is too high. I cannot attain to it

Says since God is omniscient he knew all our sins past present and future at the time of our salvation

Says he still forgave us and received us into his family forever

And what does that say about the security of our? salvation

What does it say? It says that we're secure

Yeah, but if I do something really bad in the future God might cast me away

Yeah, but didn't he already know you were gonna do that I mean he might He might chastise you he might put you through a lot of stuff like but he's not gonna cast you away

Yeah, but you don't know what I've done yeah, well God knows what you've done and he said he says believe in Jesus Confess your sins and and they'll be forgiven

So this is I think this is one of my favorites too, I'm gonna add this can I have that All right personal applications or thoughts

Larry Was teaching on this subject he said that you know he used to think that God knows him

And I mean I think that about myself too that God knows me better than I know myself

And he knows my sin. He knows my fallibility Yet he continues

Amen Right great Yeah, this the messages so far have been powerful they're long, you know, it's not a it's not a 20 -minute sermon that kind of sets you at ease and It's a lot of information.

It's like whoa, you know, it's it's powerful. That's that's way I think preaching should be but Yes, you had something

We don't have to worry about Hmm don't have to worry

About anything in regards to our security in salvation, right?

Yes Okay. The next one is God's omnipresence Time is going by very fast so I Think there could be a part three

All right, yeah, I think that's the way it's gonna be whether I want it to be or not Larry wants it to be

I know that so I don't want to rush I'm not

I and I'm not rushing don't be breaking the speed limit, but this this seems to be There seems to be a lot here

Just a lot we could talk about and before with the personal applications, you know, there wasn't a lot of sharing

There's a lot of sharing with this so that this is good. This is very good So any knowing that okay, we'll have a part three and so I didn't want to ask this question

I didn't want to say this If you have any questions or comments Please feel free.

We got we're getting a lot of input so No, okay.

All right, we'll move on then Yeah You do you do have the right to remain silent

Yeah Well, that's good because if I was in a Sunday school class where nobody ever said anything

I mean, I'd be able to get a lot and cover a lot of ground, but I like personal interaction

I've said this before I I Enjoy teaching Sunday school and Wednesday nights.

I think more of them sermons because it's just me talking I don't know. Don't tell me what you prefer. I don't

Yeah, it's

Sunday school right you're supposed to be supposed to be learning Larry We all think

But when we open up and share with one another like this Other others are going through similar things right, so I mean being as part of the body of believers of Christ you know our own body each part of our body is vitally important to the whole body right, so as you and I are part of the body here and along with the universal body of Christ, you know each one of us is

Vital to to the growth and to the

Right to the body Yeah The thing about discipleship this week and some people have the idea that discipleship is when

You know a church leader spends a few hours on Tuesday evening or a

Saturday afternoon with somebody one -on -one Honestly most pastors wouldn't have the time to do that with everybody in the congregation

Some situations might not be appropriate to do that But Discipleship should be happening the main place discipleship should happen is within the church

You know, I think about Sunday school from 10 to 10 45. This is discipleship

The morning worship service us getting together talking with one another sharing Hearing a sermon you are being taught you are being decide

What's a disciple a disciple is someone who who learns right you're you're being discipled

Sunday morning Wednesday night, so The more times you get together maybe you have a small group or a small

Bible study you meet with other people That's where the real discipleship Happens anything on top of that there may be other ways that it's done

But primarily the average person is discipled Sunday morning

Wednesday night and those Bible studies during the week so when when people don't take advantage of that or you know, they're not really being discipled the way they

The way they should and sometimes we have these terms. Well, I'm a believer.

I'm a Christian Okay, but and then you ask well, are you a follower? are you following Jesus and then you start seeing a contrast between those who say they believe and Those who are actually following Christ Or are you a disciple?

I used to work with a guy You would go he would talk to people they say well, are you a

Christian? of course the majority of people said yes, but then he would say but are you a disciple and Then not so many people say said yes.

All right God's Omni -presence, this is number seven God is present everywhere in the universe

Proverbs 15 verse 3 the eyes of the Lord are in every place watching the evil and the good and Then Psalm 139 verses 7 through 12

David is writing where can I go from your spirit? Or where can I flee from your presence if I ascend to heaven?

You are there if I make my bed in Sheol Behold you are there if I take the wings of the dawn

If I dwell in the remotest part of the sea even there your hand will leave me in your right hand

Will lay hold of me So God is everywhere all at At once this statement of one

Psalm 139 Some translations put it this way if I ascend to heaven you are there if I make my bed where in hell

You are there and you could argue that it should be Sheol or it could be hell Here's the thing a lot of people if you ask them

What is hell or define what hell is like? The most common evangelical response is hell is when somebody is

Is outside of the presence of God or hell is this is this is what they usually say hell is eternal separation from God So this is your homework for this week

If hell is eternal separation from God How does that jive with his attribute of omnipresence that there's not a single place where God?

Where God isn't or is the premise wrong that you're assuming that hell is defined as eternal separation from God?

And actually that's not So that's your homework. Think about it. Look up some verses How does that concept of eternal punishment?

Fit in with the omnipresence of God does it fit in? And we'll pick up here next week the omnipresence of God and we'll read it again.

Give the personal application and See what you came up with during the week.