TEXT:Rom 11:33 O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! how unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding out!
INTRO: A. Instead of “TOTALLY AWESOME!” I thought of titling this message “TOTALLY INSCRUTABLE! The word “inscrutable” means “impossible to understand or interpret”. That tells us Who God is and God is the subject of this message. 💥💥There are not enough words in the English language, or any other language, to describe God because He is infinite and humans are finite. When Moses asked God for something of a definition of Himself, God said simply “I AM!”
B. Even the Bible itself never attempts to describe God. It simply assumes His existence. No writer of Scripture wastes any time trying to describe God. The Bible uses the word “God” over 500 times, but takes Him and His existence for granted. Even the very first verse in the Bible simply mentions Him, but doesn’t attempt to portray Who or What He is! Jesus alone comes the closest to portraying Who He is, but even He never attempts a description of the Godhead. He simply declares Him, in the sense of embodying His nature… John 1:18 No man hath seen God at any time; the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him.
QUOTE: Dr. Tony Evans, pastor of a large church in Dallas, Texas says: “No study of God can be said to be comprehensive for three reasons:
1. The firsthas to do with the sheer limitation of the human mind. A finite mind cannot fully grasp an infinite being. 2. Second is the moral problem. The presence of sin even in our converted state has limited our capacity for understanding spiritual truth. 3. Third, we have a resource problem. God has simply not told us everything about Himself. What He has told us we can know, but He has not revealed everything.”
C. All of that being said, the Bible reveals as much of the Person and nature of God as to give us a glimpse of some of His qualities and attributes so we humans can comprehend that He is the Creator and our Savior so we can get to know something about Him. In fact, He became a Man so we humans could better understand Who He is and our relationship to Him.
NOTE: We can learn some things about His Person and Nature from The Word (in written form) and the Word (in human form - Christ).
💥We learn about…
1. His Law (expectations) from Moses 2. His Worship through David 3. His Protection through Daniel 4. His Sovereignty through Job 5. His Grace through Peter 6. His Care for suffering saints through Paul 7. His universal Love through His Son, Jesus
D. What we can (and will) learn are His attributes or characteristics. But God is more than the sum of those. He has to “rub off” on us to truly get to know Him, and knowing Him defines who we are or will become.
I. HIS CREATION: Genesis 1:1
A. The Universe:
1. “In the beginning”…(time) 2. “God created”…(energy) - (Solves the time, space, matter continuum) 3. “the Heaven”…(space) 4. “and the earth”…(matter)
NOTE: One way we learn about a person (or Person) is by his or her works or accomplishments. Thus in Creation we learn of the awesome POWER of God as well as His fantastic and unlimited intelligence!
B. The Complexity:
1. God’s creation is fantastic, unfathomable, immense, infinite (almost), complete, orderly (even though fallen [tides, seasons, storms, etc.]– think of that!) 2. And God is greater than His creation! He alone is infinite (impossible to imitate or calculate)
QUOTE: Check out this quote from the agnostic (or possibly atheist) movie star, Morgan Freeman…
II. HIS NATURE:
ILLUS.: 🔶Dogs bark, 🔶birds fly, 🔶snakes bite. It’s their nature. Ex.: A scorpion says to a frog. “I need to get to the other side of the lake, can you give me a ride?” The friendly frog says “Sure, hop on.” The scorpion hops on and rides to the other side. Then he stings the frog. The frog lays dying and asks: “Why did you do that to me, I just helped you?” The scorpion says, “I can’t help it, it’s my nature.”
So, what is God’s nature?
A.His Characteristics: (His attributes, e.g., 🔸Holiness, 🔸Love, 🔸Hatred of sin, 🔸Unchangeableness, 🔸Incorruptibility, 🔸Omnipotence, 🔸Omniscience, 🔸Omnipresence, et.al.)
B. His Nature: (His nature is intrinsic [essential] or inseparable to His Being or Who He is)
1. Cows moo, chickens cluck, ducks quack…it expresses who or what they are. 2. So God’s nature expresses something of Who He is.
Isa 40:13-14 Who hath directed the Spirit of the LORD, or being his counsellor hath taught him? 14 With whom took he counsel, and who instructed him, and taught him in the path of judgment, and taught him knowledge, and shewed to him the way of understanding?
Isa 40:25-26 To whom then will ye liken me, or shall I be equal? saith the Holy One. 26 Lift up your eyes on high, and behold who hath created these things, that bringeth out their host by number: he calleth them all by names by the greatness of his might, for that he is strong in power; not one faileth.
a. He is the Creator, but He is distinct from His creation. (Nothing to compare Him to!) b. He is distinct and unique in His Person and like and unlike the humans He created.
Isa 55:8-9 For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the LORD. 9 For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.
NOTE: 💥This is why pictures, icons, statues, images and even crosses are considered idolatry. 💥(The only representation we are allowed to enhance our worship is the bread and juice of the Lord’s Table since they are not depictions of His Person, but only of the price He paid for our redemption.)
III. HIS PERSON:
A. He is A Spirit:
John 4:24 God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.
1. Thus He is invisible.
ILLUS.: He is likened to the wind. We can see and feel and experience it’s effects, but we cannot see it!
2. He is immaterial, but He thinks, feels, chooses, decides and acts.
B. He is Eternal: “I AM!”
1. There is no time with God. 2. The future? He has (is) already been there – thus we can count on prophecy!
CONCL.:God IS! 💙He is enjoying being Himself, 💙but He has created us so that we can enjoy Him, 💙benefit from Him and His power, and 💙participate in His world, 💙not to make up something He is lacking. 💙God does not need us, 💙but created us and desires our fellowship.
“There is only one true God, not the god of this or that religion, You are either related to the one true God, Who is transcendent, spirit, eternal and immutable, or to no God.” - Tony Evans