THEOLOGY IS THE LOVE LANGUAGE OF GOD
We are going to talk about God at church today. What a novel concept! Prepare yourselves as we are going to go heavy into that “theology stuff.”
The Bible is a very practical book that addresses virtually matter of life. If it is important and meaningful, God’s Word has something to say about it. And if it’s trivial and pointless, the Bible will make as much clear. Therefore, I would not be out of bounds to preach any number of different how to messages:
- how to be a better spouse, parent or friend
- how to conduct ourselves in the workplace and in business
- how to effect social change or engage in politics
- how to view current events
- how to manage money
- how to find purpose and meaning
- how to regulate our thoughts and emotions
- how to plan for the future
- even how to pursue leisure and find enjoyment in this earthly life.
People love these kinds of messages, and will fill up church pews to hear them, and even pay hefty registration fees to glean all they can about these topics. But, first and foremost, the Bible is all about us teaching us how to know God, how to love God, how to worship God, and how to live in relationship with God.
Many people who don’t grasp this will try Christianity and find it wanting. They want practical wisdom, they want their felt needs to be met, they want results, they want a better life, they want their hopes and dreams fulfilled, but they don’t want God. One problem is, while the Bible gives guidance that can lead to health, wealth and prosperity, it’s never guaranteed. (In fact, the Bible in many places promises persecution and hardship for the Lord’s disciples.) But what is one promise I can take to the bank? What is one bit of instruction that anyone can follow and get the advertised results? That “If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved” (Romans 10:9), and, as having “been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ” (Romans 5:1). In other words, the Bible’s central message is how to be saved from your sins through faith in Jesus Christ that you may have peace with God.
If peace with God does not interest you, then the Bible is not for you. Go read Tony Robbins. And while you’re at it, stop going go to church and go find a self-help seminar. Church is for the saints to worship and draw near to their God and Savior.
2 Timothy 3:15
“…and how from infancy you have known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus.”
So, yes, today, on the Lord’s today, gathered together with God’s people, we will talk about God. Because we love God and we want to know Him better. That is at the heart of all theological study and discourse. “Knowledge puffs up while love builds up” (1 Corinthians 8:1). Your relationship with God is the most important relationship in your life. “What you think about when you think about God,” said A.W. Tozer, “is the most important thing about you.”
God has gone to great lengths to reveal Himself to mankind despite our willful ignorance and our choice of loathsome idols over Him. If we claim to love God, then we should put forth some effort to learn about who He is. It should bring joy, not frustration, to talk about our God and proclaim Him. And what better place to start to start than with the book He wrote?
GOD IS GOD, AND YOU ARE NOT
Isaiah 40:13-18
13 Who can fathom the Spirit of the Lord,
or instruct the Lord as his counselor?
14 Whom did the Lord consult to enlighten him,
and who taught him the right way?
Who was it that taught him knowledge,
or showed him the path of understanding?
15 Surely the nations are like a drop in a bucket;
they are regarded as dust on the scales;
he weighs the islands as though they were fine dust.
16 Lebanon is not sufficient for altar fires,
nor its animals enough for burnt offerings.
17 Before him all the nations are as nothing;
they are regarded by him as worthless
and less than nothing.
18 With whom, then, will you compare God?
To what image will you liken him?
Isaiah 40:25-26
25 “To whom will you compare me?
Or who is my equal?” says the Holy One.
26 Lift up your eyes and look to the heavens:
Who created all these?
He who brings out the starry host one by one
and calls forth each of them by name.
Because of his great power and mighty strength,
not one of them is missing.”
Isaiah 43:10-13
10 “You are my witnesses,” declares the Lord,
“and my servant whom I have chosen,
so that you may know and believe me
and understand that I am he.
Before me no god was formed,
nor will there be one after me.
11 I, even I, am the Lord,
and apart from me there is no savior.
12 I have revealed and saved and proclaimed—
I, and not some foreign god among you.
You are my witnesses,” declares the Lord, “that I am God.
13 Yes, and from ancient days I am he.
No one can deliver out of my hand.
When I act, who can reverse it?”
Isaiah 44:6-8
6 “This is what the Lord says—
Israel’s King and Redeemer, the Lord Almighty:
I am the first and I am the last;
apart from me there is no God.
7 Who then is like me? Let him proclaim it.
Let him declare and lay out before me
what has happened since I established my ancient people,
and what is yet to come—
yes, let them foretell what will come.
8 Do not tremble, do not be afraid.
Did I not proclaim this and foretell it long ago?
You are my witnesses. Is there any God besides me?
No, there is no other Rock; I know not one.”
Isaiah 45:21-22
21 Declare what is to be, present it—
let them take counsel together.
Who foretold this long ago,
who declared it from the distant past?
Was it not I, the Lord?
And there is no God apart from me,
a righteous God and a Savior;
there is none but me.
22 “Turn to me and be saved,
all you ends of the earth;
for I am God, and there is no other.
Isaiah 45:9-10
9 Remember the former things, those of long ago;
I am God, and there is no other;
I am God, and there is none like me.
10 I make known the end from the beginning,
from ancient times, what is still to come.
I say, ‘My purpose will stand,
and I will do all that I please.’
THE ATTRIBUTES OF GOD[1]
- Eternality: Self-existent, without beginning or end, not bound by time (Exodus:14; Psalm 102:12; Hebrews 13:8).
Psalm 90:2
1 Lord, you have been our dwelling place
throughout all generations.
2 Before the mountains were born
or you brought forth the whole world,
from everlasting to everlasting you are God.
- Goodness*: Moral excellence, the rule and measure of what is “good” (Psalm 25:8; James 1:17).
Exodus 34:6-7
The Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abounding in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, by no means clearing the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children and the children’s children to the third and the fourth generation.
- Grace*: Blessing and kindness bestowed on underserving creatures (Romans 1:5; Romans 3:24; Romans 5:15, 20; Ephesians 4:7; Hebrews 4:16).
Psalm 145:17
The Lord is righteous in all His ways, gracious in all His works.
- Holiness*: Set apart, pure and incorruptible (Exodus 3:5-6; 1 Samuel 2:2; Psalm 99:2-3; Revelation 4:8)
Isaiah 6:3
“Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is full of His glory!”
- Immanence: Active involvement and nearness to His creatures (Acts 17:27-28; Haggai 2:5).
Jeremiah 23:23-24
“Am I a God near at hand?” says the LORD, “And not a God afar off? Can anyone hide himself in secret places, so I shall not see him?” says the LORD; “Do I not fill heaven and earth?” says the LORD.
- Immutability: In a constant state of perfection and completeness, does not grow, progress, evolve or change His mind (Malachi 3:6).
James 1:17
Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning.
- Justice*: The prerogative to judge man’s actions and behaviors in truth and righteousness (Exodus 34:6-7; Exodus 34:6-7; Nehemiah 9:22-23; Psalm 99:4).
Genesis 18:25
Far be it from You to do such a thing as this, to slay the righteous with the wicked, so that the righteous should be as the wicked; far be it from You! Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?
- Love*: Seeking the good of others, bestowing the greatest good on His creatures by sharing His glory with them (Deuteronomy 7:7-8; John 14:31; Romans 5:5, 8).
1 John 4:8, 16
He who does not love does not know God, for God is love. And we have known and believed the love that God has for us. God abides in him, and who abides in love abides in God, and God in him.
- Mercy*: Compassion and pity on the lowly, and patient endurance with the wicked (Psalm 6:4; Hebrews 4:16; Romans 9:23-24; Titus 3:5).
Ephesians 2:4
God, who is rich in mercy.
- Omnipotence*: Unlimited power and ability to achieve whatever He so wills (Romans 11:36; Ephesians 1:11; Hebrews 1:3; Mark 14:36; Jeremiah 32:17; Psalm 115:3).
Jeremiah 32:17
“Ah, Lord GOD! Behold, You have made the heavens and the earth by Your great power and outstretched arm. There is nothing too hard for you.”
- Omnipresence: Fills the whole creation, not bound by spatial limitations ( Job 11:7-9; Jeremiah 23:23-24; Psalm 139:7-10; Psalm 90:1-2)
1 Kings 8:27
“But will God indeed dwell on the earth? Behold, heaven and the heaven of heavens cannot contain You.”
- Omniscience: Knows all there is to know, possesses exhaustive knowledge of all things (Psalm 147:5; Ezekiel 11:5; Acts 15:18)
Hebrews 4:13
And there is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are naked and open to the eyes of Him to whom we must give account.
- Righteousness*: Always right, ability through saving acts to set things right (Psalm 19:7-9; Psalm 145:17).
Jeremiah 9:24
“But let him who glories glory in this, that he understands and knows Me, that I am the Lord, exercising lovingkindness, judgment, and righteousness in the earth. For in these I delight,” says the Lord.
- Self-existence: Uncreated, does not depend on anything else for His existence, but rather everything else depends on Him (John 1:1-5; John 5:26; Colossians 1:15-17).
Exodus 3:14
And God said to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM.”
- Sovereignty: Authority to act on His creation as He pleases (Genesis 14:19; Matthew 10:29; Romans 9:15).
Daniel 4:35
All the peoples of the earth are regarded as nothing. He does as he pleases with the powers of heaven and the peoples of the earth. No one can hold back his hand or say to him: “What have you done?”
- Transcendence: Unlike any other being, beyond analogy or comparison (Isaiah 55:8-9; Psalm 113:5-6).
John 8:23
And He said to them again, “I am going away, and you will seek Me, and will die in your sin. Where I go you cannot come. You are from beneath; I am from above. You are of this world; I am not of this world.”
*Denotes transferrable attributes that God may share with His creatures that we might display them. All other attributes are non-transferrable, exclusive to God alone.
THREE FOUNDATIONS FOR THE TRINITY
- There is One True God
- There are Three Divine Persons: The Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit
- The Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit are coequal and coeternal.
Everything that is revealed to be true of God is revealed to be true of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. This includes salvation: The Father saves, the Son saves, the Holy Spirit saves.
Psalm 3:8
Salvation belongs to the Lord;
May Your blessing be upon Your people!
Psalm 62:1
My soul waits in silence for God alone;
From Him comes my salvation.Revelation 7:10
And they cried out in a loud voice: “Salvation belongs to our God, who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb.”