God is Sovereign
Ai Transcript
Amen, amen, thank you Ryan. Good morning Redemption Parker. Good morning, good to see you guys. If you would, you can begin making your way to Genesis chapter 50. Genesis chapter 50.
What feels like a lifetime ago, was sitting outside a coffee shop in town, reading the works of Jonathan Edwards, volume one. And I came across a line. went something like a leaf doesn't fall to the ground except that God ordained it.
Many of y'all know my story. As I read this line, I was right in the thick of my dark night of the soul. A season where I experienced the deepest kind of
abandonment and betrayal. A season where I related most to the Psalmist who says, darkness is my only companion. A season where my prayer walks often didn't have many words, but had many tears.
In the season I was living in my pastor's basement with a couple of items to my name, a stack of books written by some old dead guys and a few outfits. And as I read one of those lines from one of those old dead guys, a leaf doesn't fall to the ground except that God ordains it. It gave me a strange, peculiar comfort to my weary
soul. many the doctrine of God's sovereignty, his complete control of all things, that nothing comes to pass unless God himself decrees it, makes us mad.
argumentative even. We argue against God because we don't like the idea of God being that in control. We've experienced enough pain in our lives and in lives of others. We've seen the brokenness, the suffering and the evil in this world. So we struggle coming to grips with this idea of God's sovereignty.
On the total other side of the spectrum. I've seen this topic make folks mad and argumentative because they love the topic. The cage stage Calvinist more of a Calvinist than John Calvin himself. All they want to do is get into an argument with an Armenian. Those who don't believe he's that in control of all things.
What about you? When you hear these three words, God is sovereign. What, what emotions evoke in you? love what one pastor says. The doctrine of God's sovereignty is not so I can win a free will debate. is for my survival. Friends, God's sovereignty.
If understood rightly can be the pillow we rest our head on in this broken world filled with pain, suffering, evil. And that's my aim this morning. I don't want to get overly theological. have Institute classes for that, but at the same time, unless we understand big doctrines like God's sovereignty, we could miss out on the comfort from God.
and the trust in God that we so desperately need, especially when life hurts. If you're not already there, Genesis 50 this morning, our main verse we're to look at is verse 20. Genesis 50 verse 20. We'll start here and then we'll actually be all over the book of Genesis looking at the account of Joseph.
With this topic, God is sovereign. There are so many places we could turn from Job to Esther, from Abraham to Ruth.
Could also just hang out with Jesus, our good shepherd whose sheep hear his voice. Of course we could turn to the apostle Paul and his many words on God's sovereignty, but the account of Joseph is where we're going to find ourselves this morning. So Genesis 50, I'm going to read the first half of verse 20. As for you, you meant evil against me.
But God meant it for good. This is the word of God. When you think of the book of Genesis, much comes to mind, right? So many important moments and key characters from the creation account itself to our great great grandparents, Adam and Eve, the tragedy of their kids, Cain and Abel, to Noah and his family.
the ark, the animals, and the flood of God's judgment, to the Tower of Babel and humanity being scattered over the ends of the earth, to Father Abraham and elderly Sarah and their miracle son Isaac, after well, Hagar and Ishmael.
to Jacob and Esau and that wild story when Jacob with the help of his mom stole his brother's blessing. Then Jacob, the deceiver himself gets deceived. He works seven years for the love of his life. Rachel only to wake up to a bad dream. Married to her ugly sister, Leah. That's what the Bible says. So he worked seven more years only to leave there with four baby mamas.
Jacob then wrestles with God and God renamed him Israel. Genesis is packed with drama and brutally honest about life's brokenness. But you know who gets more screen time than anyone in Genesis? It's Joseph. Joseph.
Joseph first gets brought up in chapter 30 and then from chapter 37 all the way to the end of Genesis chapter 50, he's the main character or so we think at first glance. We don't have time to read 14 chapters. So we're to be doing a lot of summarizing this morning and I'll be throwing verses from his story all over the place. But, but, but try to stay with me because the point this morning is in.
His story. It's through the Joseph story that you see God's sovereignty. And when you see God as sovereign, you can't unsee it. And we so need it. Like I mentioned, Jacob gets renamed Israel and then Israel has 12 sons.
through four different ladies. These 12 boys are also known as the 12 tribes of Israel. Rachel, the wife, Jacob, loved the most, because though you're not supposed to have favorite kids, I guess you can have a favorite wife. Now Rachel had to wait to become a mom as God was blessing others with her husband's sons. And then we hear, God remembered Rachel.
And God listened to her and opened her womb. She conceived and bore a son and said, God has taken away my reproach. And she called his name Joseph saying, may the Lord add to me another son. Joseph, whose name literally means may God add.
Well, by Genesis 35, God does add another son, Benjamin, Joseph's little brother. And unfortunately, trauma ensues as Rachel dies giving birth. This is life east of Eden. Obviously, Joseph is tight with Benjamin, but what about his other 10 brothers? Well, the Bible says now Israel loves Joseph.
more than any of his sons." Told you the Bible was honest. Because he was the son of his old age. And he made him a robe of many colors. But when his brothers saw that their father loved him more than all his brothers, they hated him and could not speak peacefully to them. Just like every modern film when you get to understand that the f-
villain, you can start to grow maybe a little sympathetic. It's not just that Joseph was loved more by his father, how painful would that be? But he loved to rub it in.
going around everywhere in that rainbow robe of his. And by telling them all about his dreams, his dreams through symbols like the sun and the moon and the stars, that he was telling them that one day he would rule over them. How would you feel being one of his brothers?
The Bible tells us his brothers were jealous of him, but his father kept the dreams in mind. Well, we know from a little earlier in Genesis with Cain and Abel, what can happen if we don't kill the sin of jealousy in our lives. As the story continues, Israel sends out Joseph to check on his brothers. Go now, he says. See if it is well with your brothers and with the flock and bring me word.
His dad didn't know what was about to take place. Joseph brothers see Joseph from a distance, can't miss that rainbow jumpsuit, they start salivating. I'm not thrown away.
my shot. This is our chance. We're done with this guy. Finally, they think dad might look at me and finally be proud of what he sees. Here comes this dreamer. say, let us kill him and throw him into one of the pits. Let's see what becomes of his dreams. Ruben, the oldest and probably a six on the Enneagram sees what's about to go down. He tries his best to stop this nonsense.
Don't take his life guys. Do whatever you got to do. Do not kill him. We're God's people for crying out loud. It is written, do not shed innocent blood. says, throw him in the pit, but, do not kill him. That is what they do.
As a brother approaches, they yank off daddy's robe and throw him naked into this empty pit. this moment, Judah, one of the brothers has a brilliant idea. Yo, what, what profit is it if we leave him dead and cover it up? Let's, let's, let's sell this clown so at least we can make some money. And so they do for 20 shekels of silver or around 500 bucks split 10 ways.
As Father Israel hears the news from his lying sons that a fierce animal has come and devoured his beloved, he is crushed.
As you would expect, he begins mourning. The Bible tells us he cannot be comforted. Grief often hits in waves, one wave after another. Lord, why? First you take my wife. Now my beloved son. Why, Lord?
And you'd imagine the same prayer from Joseph now in Egypt all alone, betrayed by his family, by his own brothers. God, we're supposed to be as numerous as the stars in heaven. That's what grandpa Abraham said. How's that going to pan out now? Why? God, why? As he finds himself in the unknown land of Egypt, he's purchased to be a slave by Potiphar.
the officer of the king. Then we read the Lord was with Joseph. Joseph friends is about to find out what suffering is all about. As Tim Keller says, only when God is all you have, do you realize he's all you need.
As the Lord begins to bless everything that Joseph touches and even his master takes notice of God's hand, God's favor on Joseph, his master's wife wants some of Joseph. Alone in his master's home, his master's wife puts him in a corner. Sleep with me, she says. I can't, he says.
And after explaining to her how, good her husband has been to him, says this, how then can I do this great wickedness and sin against God? Though Joseph is a long way from the people of God, he has not forgotten his God.
Reminds me of when Job's wife looks at her broken, beat down husband and says, curse God and die, honey. Job says, naked I came from my mother's womb, naked I shall return, the Lord gives and the Lord takes away, blessed be the name of the Lord. Though you slay me, God, I will trust in you.
Now I'm sure Joseph had thoughts like, dude, wake up. Where has God been for you curse God and just sleep with her. You deserve this. And yet even Joseph doesn't know. And even Joseph, though he does not know what his future holds, he knows who holds it. Later. She tries again, sleep with me.
But who knows what she's wearing or lack thereof. What we do know is this time Joseph doesn't even try to have a conversation. He gone. Dude runs out of the room. Some of us can learn something from Joseph right here. If you don't put sin to death, it will kill you. So run. Well, Ms. Potiphar had grabbed part.
of his outfit during the escape, all the evidence she needed to tell her husband quote, this Hebrew servant whom you have brought into our home came in to violate me. as soon as I screamed for help, he left his garment beside me and ran outside. wonder if Potiphar really even believed his wife will never know, but he did throw Joseph into prison.
And so here he is alone and in prison, his life not working out the way him and his dad had planned. Could you imagine why? Lord, maybe you've felt this before, like God, what are you doing?
I'm serving you. I'm putting you first. Why are you not answering my prayers? But again, like Tim Keller says, God will either give us what we ask or give us what we would have asked if we knew everything he knows.
prison starts off promising for Joseph. Again, we read, but the Lord was with Joseph and showed him steadfast love and gave him favor in the sight of the keeper of the prison. Whatever he did, the Lord made it succeed.
And he's figuring out what his new normal is in jail. Some cats come rolling in who have been in the company of the king, the king's chief cup bearer and the king's Baker.
Well, one night they, they both have wild dreams and as they're tripping out in their jail cell, wondering who can bring meaning to their dreams. Joseph says, do not interpretations belong to God? Let's hear what you guys got. As they shared, Joseph gives them the interpretation. And now unlike the Baker, the cup bearer is given a good interpretation.
One that will get him out of prison and back to his royal post. So Joseph in his own desperation reaches out to the cupbearer and says, remember me when it is well with you. Please do me the kindness to mention me to Pharaoh. And so get me out of this house.
For I was indeed stolen out of the land of the Hebrews. And here also I have done nothing that they should put me into the pit. As the dreams pan out exactly how Joseph interprets them. The chapter ends by telling us yet the chief cut bear did not remember Joseph, but forgot him when it rains. pours another blow.
for Joseph, forgotten yet again. Too bad Joseph didn't have the Psalms, they weren't written yet. Yet a third of the Psalms are these prayers of laments, like Psalm 13. How long, O Lord, will you forget me forever? How long will you hide your face from me?
These prayers, these prayers of lament that we see all over scripture teach us that we can be honest with God. They also tend to end in a deeper trust of God, even amidst pain and suffering. They hope in a God they cannot see and yet know that he knows everything.
Psalm 13 will eventually end by saying, I have trusted in your steadfast love. My heart shall rejoice in your salvation, which is what we're going to see next in the story of Joseph. So then we read, after two whole years pass.
Sometimes we can read our Bibles too quickly and miss so much. If you know anything about being in a hard season, each day is filled with its own pain, despair, discouragement, anger, sadness, regret, only to do it all over again the next day. And here Joseph is in prison for two whole years.
Imagine how many times he replayed that final scene with his brothers or how often he would dream of seeing his dad and little brother Benjamin again. How much he would long to trade in his prison garb for that old rainbow robe day in, day out. Pain.
Welcome to the dark night of the soul. But, as one pastor theologian puts it, life is hard and God is good. As Joseph is for sure wondering what this is all for. He's about to see like the title of Elizabeth Elliott's book, suffering is never for nothing.
After those two long years, Joseph gets a call from the pen and he's ready. And so I have to ask, are you walking with God only when he's blessing you in the ways you want to be blessed? Are you walking with God because he's well, God.
Pharaoh the king of Egypt was having a dream nobody could interpret the cup bearer remembers good old Joseph and the king calls Joseph into his throne I'll tell you one thing Joseph has not been spending the last two years scrolling reels on YouTube His mouth speaks what is in his heart Pharaoh
I don't have the power to interpret dreams, he says. But I know the one who does. And I've been spending a lot of time with him over the last few years. And that him is God. The one true God. Yeah, I serve him. And yes, he'll give you the answer you need. As Joseph interprets the dream and in it warns the king about
The future, the king, Pharaoh is blown away by this God fearing man. And so he calls Joseph to power quote, see, I have set you over all the land of Egypt. What a turn of events.
fresh out the slammer to the right hand of the king. Joseph is now calling the shots. He runs the play from the dream, save food, during the seven years of plenty, and then you will have abundance for Egypt and for the ends of the earth in the coming seven years of famine. During the years of plenty, Joseph settles down,
and marries. He even has some children of his own.
named his first manatha, which means God has made me forget all my hardship and all my father's house. His second Ephraim translation for God has made me fruitful in the land of my affliction. And though he hopes to never think of his family again, to sail off into the sunset of the King's royal cabinet, never to endure any more
pain from this life. The sovereign God has other plans. I'd encourage you to read Genesis 42 to 50 on your own. It's so good. Talk about drama. Let's not settle just for Netflix when we have the drama of redemption at our fingertips.
But the short of it is that the famine happens just as God reveals. And because Joseph has been storing up grain, Egypt becomes the place where starving nations come for food. And one of these nations is his very own, which means Joseph comes face to face with the brothers who betrayed him.
By Genesis 45, he finally reveals himself to them. He tells them not to be distressed, not to even be angry at themselves. As he's weeping over them, he begins to kiss his brothers. This is radical forgiveness, And then he explains to them, brothers,
God has sent me here to preserve life.
Don't be distressed. Don't be mad at yourselves. God sent me here to preserve life. That's one way to look at it. His brother is probably thinking, what do you mean? We did this to you. Well, eventually his entire family gets to settle into the suburbs of Egypt. His dad even gets to meet and bless his grandkids and then their father Israel in the land of Egypt takes his final breath.
If you're still in Genesis 50, look with me at verse 15.
Genesis 50 verse 15. When Joseph's brothers saw that their father was dead, they said, it may be that Joseph will hate us and pay us back for all the evil we did to him. So they sent a message to Joseph saying,
Your father gave this command before he died still lying. Verse 17, say to Joseph, please forgive the transgression of the servants of the God of your father. Joseph wept when they spoke to him. Think about all that trauma. His brothers also came and fell down before him and said, behold, we are your servants. I guess those dreams were right after all. Oh, but look at verse 19. But Joseph said to them,
Do not fear, for am I in the place of God? As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good. To bring it about that many people should be kept alive as they are today. So do not fear. I will provide for you and your little ones. Thus he comforted them and spoke kindly to them. Wow.
would end to the story. But that line, as for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good. This verse is hard for us. But because of the Bible, we have to make it a category in our finite minds for the total sovereignty of God.
and real human agency responsibility. What they did was wrong. And throughout human history, humanity, men and women will be held accountable for what they do. But at the same time,
God meant it for good. A leaf doesn't fall to the ground unless God himself ordains it. reminds me of Job at the end of his suffering. Job says, I know speaking to God, I know that you could do all things and no purpose of yours can be thwarted.
No purpose of yours can be thwarted. had heard of you before, but now my eyes have seen you. Oh God. This is why Charles Spurgeon says there's nothing like the school of affliction. God is suffering. God.
is sovereign as R.C. Sproul used to say there are no maverick molecules in the universe. Last week as we looked at the question if God is good. Why is this place so bad? And then though we had some answers ultimately we can't answer every why and how question regarding the problem of evil but but we did note one thing is for certain.
It's not because God does not care. He cares so much that He enters the suffering Himself. Well, this morning, I want us to see that same truth from the vantage point of God's sovereignty. When the Son of God took on flesh and became a man,
Because like I said, we will be held accountable for everything we do. And we have all, every one of us, we have all sinned and fallen short of His glory. The penalty of our sin is death. And so the Son of God incarnate, Jesus of Nazareth, came to die.
But even his death for sinners wasn't a roll of the dice. Remember, God is sovereign. Here's how Luke tells us how sovereign he is in the book of Acts.
for truly in this city in Jerusalem. They were gathered together against your holy servant Jesus whom you anointed both Herod and Pontius Pilate along with the Gentiles and the people of Israel to do whatever your hand and your plan had predestined to take place. Did Herod Pilate?
Gentiles and the Jews crucified Jesus. Yes. Did we because of our sin, crucify Jesus? Yes. And at the same time, God did whatever his hand and his plan predestined to take place. God is sovereign friends. And this is good news.
Just imagine if he wasn't sovereign. Imagine life if God wasn't in control. And not only is he in control, but like we saw last week, he's good. In his sovereignty, all things work together for our good. Now we named our only son Joseph.
And to be honest, it wasn't my first choice. wanted Zion. Holly, on the other hand, was tired of naming our kids after land from the Bible. But if you go on the Israel trip, you'll get it. You might even name some of your own.
When our little guy came into this world on August 28th, I couldn't help but to think of one of my favorite Bible verses, Romans 8 28. And for me, the best picture of what Romans 8 28 looks like is the story of Joseph. Romans 8 28 says this, and we know that for those who love God, all things.
All things, whatever situation you find yourself in right now, all things work together for good for those who are called according to his purpose. Sometimes we get to see how things play out and praise God for those moments. I've gotten to witness some of those in my own life. Other times we just have to trust God.
Even when life hurts one day like Joseph will know why. but, but I hope when you hear those words, God is sovereign. wouldn't just be some cliche phrase, so some throw away attribute of God, but you would know.
You would know deep in your knower that God's sovereignty is for your good, your joy, and your survival. Amen. Amen. Let me pray.
God is Good
Ai Transcript
Amen. Thanks Holly. Happy Mother's Day. Happy Mother's Day you guys. If you would, why don't you make your way to Psalm 34. Psalm 34 is where it will be this morning, this Mother's Day.
We're entering into a strange new world, you haven't noticed. Mark Sayers, an Australian pastor and cultural analyst, argues that we are living in a gray zone. A cultural moment where the old world, what we know, is breaking apart. All the while, the new world has not yet been fully formed.
rewind to 2008, pre-COVID, pre-AI, and in the thick of that old world, Pastor Tim Keller wrote, The Reason for God, Belief in an Age of Skepticism. became a New York Times bestseller.
That book met a very particular cultural moment. As people in the old world were asking the question, can Christianity be intellectually credible? Can belief in God make sense in this secular age? Keller was helping skeptics see that that faith was more than reasonable. It was compelling.
This was the world we all once lived. It was post-Christian and very secular. Well, this new world we're heading toward is still post-Christian, but it's becoming post-secular as well. We're in the midst of what some are calling the shaking of secularism. In other words, the old secular story is beginning to break down.
People are realizing that they cannot live without meaning, transcendence, and hope. Even among cultural elites, there is a renewed openness to spirituality. The University of Harvard, for instance, offers classes now on happiness. Because in this anxious generation, nobody has it.
and everybody wants it. Some of those lectures include the happiness non-negotiable to transcend yourself. Whatever your higher power is, the happiness scholars are saying, find one because you can't be happy without it.
And yet, even though more people are spiritual and atheism is on the decline, the age old question remains when people begin talking about God. If there is a God and if this God is good, why is there so much evil? Maybe you've had the same question.
I remember being at Auschwitz a couple years ago and just having a pit in my stomach all day long looking face to face in this place where evil, so much evil took place. You can't help but to ask the question, why? Why God? Why?
Maybe you're in a season right now where you're experiencing the brokenness of this world and you're questioning the goodness of God. You look outside and you see wars, abuse, natural disasters. You look inside and you find a body that is not what it once was. A job you hate. A hard marriage.
Maybe for you, you long to be a mother. And that's just not happening. Mother's Day is brutally hard. It took so much courage just to be here this morning.
I'm so glad you came. Or you're struggling to trust God because life is just hard. You thought the abundant life that Jesus promised would be a little more, I don't know, abundant.
I'm glad you're here this morning because this is where we are headed. If God is good, what does it mean not only to explain the world around you, but what does it mean as you try to find meaning to your own existence? So if you're not already there, Psalm 34 is where we are going to be.
And if you're able, why don't we stand this morning for the reading of God's word. I'll read the whole chapter.
Amen. Psalm 34. I will extol the Lord at all times. His praise will always be on my lips. I will glory in the Lord. Let the afflicted hear and rejoice. Glorify the Lord with me. Let us exalt his name together. I sought the Lord and he answered me. He delivered me from all my fears. Those who look to him are radiant.
Their faces are never covered with shame. This poor man called and the Lord heard him. He saved him out of all his troubles. The angel, the Lord encamps around those who fear him and he delivers them. Taste and see that the Lord is good. Blessed is the one who takes refuge in him.
Fear the Lord, you his holy people, for those who fear him lack nothing. The lions may grow weary and hungry, but those who seek the Lord lack no good thing. Come, my children, listen to me. I will teach you the fear of the Lord. Whoever of you loves life and desires to see many good days, keep your tongue from evil and your lips from telling lies. Turn from evil and do good.
Seek peace and pursue it. The eyes of the Lord are on the righteous and his ears are attentive to their cry. But the face of the Lord is against those who do evil to blot out their name from the earth. The righteous cry out and the Lord hears them. He delivers them from all their troubles. The Lord is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit.
The righteous person may have many troubles, but the Lord delivers him from them all. He protects all his bones. Not one of them will be broken. Evil will slay the wicked. The foes of the righteous will be condemned. The Lord will rescue his servants. No one takes refuge in him will be condemned. This is the word of God. Amen. You guys may be seated.
Tov, tov, tov, tov. This is the Hebrew word that gets translated good four times here in Psalm 34. Taste and see that the Lord is tov. Those who seek the Lord lack no tov thing. Verse 12, to see many tov days in verse 14, turn from evil and do.
Tov. Last week I read Psalm 34 to my oldest before I dropped her off at school. We got to school early and it was a late start day. And so we just sat in the car. She was eating her morning popcorn, aka her snack. Sorry, Holly. And I asked her as I read this, want you to listen.
psalm closely. I want to know what pops out to you. Maybe the Lord is speaking something to you. Maybe you just have some question about this psalm. After I finished the psalm with popcorn coming out of her mouth, she said, taste and see that the Lord is good. And then she said, how do we taste God, I said, kind of like popcorn, but not really.
This is what I hope to do with our time this morning. We're not going to tackle this whole song, but we're going to launch off from verse eight. Taste and see that the Lord is good. And my hope is that as we walk out of here in just a bit, that our souls would be full. Full of the goodness of God.
I think the most helpful way we can attempt to not only look at the God who is good, but to also see Him in light of this world which is broken is to span what theologians call the fourfold storyline of Scripture. Creation, fall, redemption.
New creations. So that's our outline this morning. Creation, fall, redemption, and new creation. We'll start with creation. Genesis 1.1 says, the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. Right away, we find out that God, and God alone is the creator of all things. Out of nothing, God creates everything.
And by the fourth verse of chapter one, we get the word tov for the first time. God saw the light was good. If you read Genesis one and two, you're going to keep seeing that word all over the place. Tov or.
After God creates this world with all its animals, Genesis tells us, God saw that it was good. But he's not finished the pinnacle of his creation, verse 26. Then God said, us make mankind in our image.
in our likeness so that they may rule over the fish in the sea the birds in the sky over the livestock and all the wild animals and over all the creatures that move along the ground. God created mankind in his image in the image of God he created them male and female he created them God blessed them and said to them be fruitful and increase in number celebrate lots of Mother's Day's fill the earth and subdue it.
And by verse 31 of chapter one in our Bibles, says, God saw all that he had made and it was very good. Not just tove, it's very tove. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day.
Now we'll get to Genesis three here in a second, cause that is where we live. East of Eden post fall. But for a minute, I just want us to recognize how good his creation was. Everywhere you look in the creation account, Tove, Tove, Tove, Tove, Tove.
This word is defined by scholars to mean all sorts of things. Good, pleasant, right, beautiful, flourishing, most excellent of its kind. I like how Dr. Ryan Tafelowski explained it to us a couple years ago when he came and did a theology on the ground on the topic of work. says the word tov means something more like all systems go.
I love that. All systems go. When God calls creation good or very good, he's not merely saying, looks nice. Good job me, that Grand Canyon there. Wow. Now he's saying this is a perfect fit. Wonderfully ordered, majestically fruitful, beautiful.
functioning exactly according to my design all systems go. Now if you do look hard enough in the creation account there is one thing that is not tov. Be up on the screen here. Genesis 2 18 the Lord God said it is not good for the man to be alone I will make a helper.
suitable for him. The cultural mandate that God gave to humanity to be fruitful, to multiply, to fill the earth, to have dominion could not be accomplished. The man needed someone and not just anyone. Man needed woman.
Before you read this text on Mother's Day and think, Eve's a little less than Adam. She's just his helper. Well, this word helper or in the Hebrew, Ezer, is what God also calls, well, himself. So yes, happy Mother's Day. Once you notice one more thing from the creation account, that's the seventh day. By the seventh day, God had finished
the work he had been doing. So on the seventh day, he rested from all his work. Then God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, set it apart.
What's wild about what we call Sabbath is there's not an evening and a morning on the seventh day like there was on the other six. What does this mean? It means that the climax of creation, the culmination of all of creation is Sabbath.
Sabbath being this good God dwelling with his good people in his good creation Tov all systems Go now we'll come back to this idea of Sabbath, but but just know the goal of creation Shabbat Shalom
Well, we're done with creation, but before we jump right into the fall, I have to spend a minute talking about the God of creation. Remember we're in this series. God is, and if we're going to taste and see that the Lord is good this morning, we need to see that that God is good even prior to creation in the beginning.
In other words, before God started speaking galaxies into existence, He was. God is. Well, if we can, let's get a little theological here on the Trinity for a minute. I promise you this is going to help, especially when we get to the problem of evil. Now, God's goodness, friends, is not something that... It is not something that began.
in time. Like once he created the world rather it is always who he has eternally been. God doesn't have goodness. God is. We're getting it. God is good.
Now, if God were a solitary, single person God, if God were a solitary, single person God, not a Trinity, so think like Allah. He would need creation to love. He would need folks like Muhammad to show goodness to, which means love and goodness, for instance, would not be eternal to his very being. But the Christian God is Father.
Son and Spirit. Three persons, one God. And in this trinity, the unbegotten Father for all eternity loves and does good to the eternally begotten Son. In the fellowship of the Spirit. So when we say God is good, we do not mean God became good.
The moment he made us or helped us, we mean that from all eternity, God has been a fountain of self-giving life, delight, and love. Creation and as we'll get to redemption are just an overflow of that goodness. Augustine says that the Holy Spirit, this is how he pictures who God is.
It's hard to say who God is apart from creation. But Augustine, the church father, says the Holy Spirit is the bond of love between the Father and the Son. I love that picture of God. Or Jonathan Edwards says the Father eternally beholds His perfect image of His...
Sorry, let me just stick to the actual quote. Jonathan Edwards says, Father eternally beholds His perfect image in the Son. And the love and delight between them is the Spirit.
C.S. Lewis calls the Trinity something like an eternal dance, a living communion of love, joy, and self-giving life. In other words, before God ever created the world, He is not lonely or needy or empty. Rather, He was Father, Son, and Spirit, eternally full of life, love.
and goodness. God is eternally and infinitely good. So keep this in mind now as we transition into the fall. A Barnapole asked the question, if you could ask God only one question and you knew he would give you an answer, what would you ask? It's a good question.
anyone brave enough to throw theirs out.
the most common response from this poll, why is there pain and suffering in the world? Well, by Genesis 3, we begin to get an answer. And this won't answer everyone's question, everyone's questions about the problem of evil. But the awesome part about the Bible is that it is honest.
with these questions itself. Like there are prayers of lament all over the scriptures dealing with these types of problems. Here's a few of them. How long, Lord, must I call for help but you do not listen or cry out to you? Violence, but you do not save. Why do you make me look at injustice? Why do you tolerate wrong? Wow.
Or the Psalms, why, oh Lord, do you stand far away? Why do you hide yourself in times of trouble? Psalm 44, awake, awake. Imagine saying that to God, awake. Why are you sleeping, oh Lord? Rouse yourself. Do not reject us forever. Why do you hide your face? Why do you forget our affliction and oppression? Is this how you talk to God? Because you can. He's a big boy.
He can handle it and he already knows you're thinking it.
And just FYI, this sermon is going to be a part one to the reality of pain and suffering. Next week will be part two as we look at God is sovereign. So God is good. God is sovereign. He's totally in control, even amidst our pain.
even amidst the evil that we see in this world. So you're not going to want to miss next week. But for right now, Genesis 3, here we go, the fall. After God creates this good world, his good people doubt God's own goodness. Like what a sequence. The one who is himself, Tov, is thought to be depriving his creation of Tov.
This is where things begin to go downhill. God gives them commands to obey and they listen to Satan instead. They believe this good God is holding out on them and so they take matters into their own hands. And just like that, sin enters into the world.
Read Genesis three at some point this week. really does answer the question as to why things aren't the way they should be. Why things aren't all systems go. And now you're like, okay, I get the fall happened, but you didn't answer a question pastor. Why? If God is good, why would he allow this? Can he be all good?
all powerful, all knowing, and allow all that we see from the Rwandan genocide to the Cambodian killing fields, from the transatlantic slave trade to the Armenian genocide, from sex trafficking to child abuse to the broken foster care systems.
From a car accident that takes a loved one to cancer which does the same. From rejection to criticism, the list goes on and on and we all have things that we can throw into this list. If God is good, why? Why would He allow this?
I was leaving the coffee shop the other day and I saw an acquaintance of mine who's currently writing a book on philosophy. He literally sits at this coffee shop for 12 hours a day and he reads and reads and reads and writes. I've learned to only get into the conversations with him if I have at least 30 minutes of spare time.
But the dude can really think. I thought I'd ask him what he thought about my topic for this sermon. We've often talked about Augustine and Aquinas and all these big thinkers. Well, after a few F bombs, he told me that he's got a buddy who always tells him, man, when I see God, I have a bone to pick with the man upstairs. I hope they serve beer in hell.
My philosopher friend said, pastor, I always tell him, bro, if there is a God and you were even able to see him, if he's God, he would be a being so good that you and I would not be able to take him in, let alone question him. I don't know if he knew how good that answer was, but that's a good answer.
And I do think some of these questions are above our pay grade. Now God does have reasons, good reasons for doing everything that he does. We'll talk next week about what God can, what this sovereign God can and does accomplish through suffering. But we also need to humble ourselves and understand who we are. Finite creatures.
finite creatures trying to understand the deep things of this infinite God. Like the question, how did evil originate? Obviously God sovereignly allowed it. You could even say He ordained it.
And yet God does not evil and has. God is not evil and has never done evil. When the angel Lucifer turned on God and became who we know as Satan and likewise when God's people listen to Satan and brought sin. And sickness.
and suffering and evil and death into his good world. We might have to be okay, not knowing all the answers of how and why evil came to be. Randy Alcorn in his wonderful book, If God is Good, Faith in the Midst of Suffering and Evil says this, scripture addresses when evil came into being, but not how.
Deuteronomy 29, 29 seems to apply here. The secret things belong to the Lord our God. God has chosen to remain silent on this question, which may mean something significant. If evil is irrational, how can its point of origin be rationally explained? Perhaps God does not offer any explanation because evil...
defies explanation. It might make sense to an all-knowing God, but no sense at all to us. Every parent of small children knows that giving no explanation is sometimes better than a partial explanation that misleads little minds. Perhaps then we should interpret God's silence about the origin of evil not as a refusal to explain, but as kindness.
As our children will one day understand things we don't try to explain now. So one day in God's presence, we will have the reference points to understand what now remains a mystery. God is good. That's certain. This world is fallen. That's certain as well. And we see this in Genesis three.
And not only is this world marked by sin and suffering, evil and death, but Sabbath, remember Sabbath, where this good God was dwelling with his good people on his good creation, Sabbath ended in the fall. You will now die physically in.
Spiritually, all this happens at the fall. The goal of creation, Sabbath, lasts a whopping two chapters. But by the grace of God leads to our next section, redemption. Sabbath is lost. Will Sabbath be restored?
It doesn't take long after the fall for this good God to answer that question. And in talking to Satan, God is giving out the curse and he says this in Genesis three. I will put enmity between you, Satan and the woman and between your offspring and hers. He, seed of this woman, will crush your head.
and you will strike his heel. Well, what we have here is actually the first proclamation of the gospel that there's coming a Mother's Day that will be unlike any Mother's Day. This mother will give birth to the one who will crush, defeat Satan.
sin and death once and for all who will bring back Sabbath God dwelling with his people.
systems go.
Again, I can't even begin to answer on behalf of God how and why.
every how and why question that we might have regarding the problem of evil. But I will say two things because I just can't leave you with mystery, mystery. First, we learn from 1 Peter that the gospel is so glorious that even angels long to look into it. In other words, angels know of God's goodness. They know
God is holy, holy, holy. They know of God's love. They know nothing through experience of His mercy and grace. To experience the mercy and the grace of God is to taste and see that the Lord is good on a level even the angels bend down in heavenly curiosity.
That is no small thing. And second, though we might not have all the answers, we know one thing. God cares. God really cares. He cares so much that He enters the evil and the suffering Himself. He takes on flesh.
The only one who knew no sin, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of God incarnate, becomes sin for you, dies in your place so that you might enjoy Sabbath with God.
Friends, Christ, Sabbath is not a day we observe. Rather, according to Hebrews 4, Sabbath is a rest we enter. By faith in the Gospel, we receive true Shabbat Shalom. Peace. Wholeness.
Meaning and if that's not enough we ourselves through our union with Christ get to experience being connected to the inner life of our good God to know the love of Christ that surpasses our finite understanding. Talk about tov all.
systems go east of Eden. And yet in this place, we find ourselves in this this era of redemption, like we know it's an already and not yet redemption. We still long for new creation. But while we're here, check this out, everything we do recognize as tov or good from a beautiful sunset.
to the laughter of your kid, to the connection of a relationship, to climbing a 14-er. From good wine to getting a job done at work, to intimacy with your spouse. According to Jonathan Edwards, these are but scattered beams. God is the sun.
These are but streams. God is the fountain. These are but drops. God is the ocean. Even east of Eden, you exist to treasure God by enjoying Him and the good gifts He gives. All systems go, which points us to our final point this morning, new creation.
The Bible could be summed up in four words, Sabbath lost, Sabbath restored. And if you were with us in our Revelation series, you know that the new Eden is coming. Sabbath will be restored. So as I close this morning, church, let's get our eyes on that day. On that day when everything sad becomes untrue.
And until that day, imagine if we lived out our calling as Jesus had hoped for the church to be a city on a hill in this broken world east of Eden. In Scott McKnight's book, A Church Called Tove, he says, the gospel is about God's tove coming to us in Jesus who is tove and thus making us into agents of tove.
O Church, as we taste and see that the Lord is good, let us be a Tove people. Amen? Amen. Let me pray.
God is Love
AI Transcript
Good morning. Welcome. If you have a Bible, are going to be in 1 John chapter 4 this morning. If you can begin to make your way there. We are in this series. God is it's a series on theology proper just to lift our eyes to help our minds expand a little bit to behold who God is, his glory, his majesty, the truth of who he is. And we've begun to look at some things that he's self-existent in.
self-sufficient. Last week we looked at God is holy and not only are we beholding God but we're seeing that in every way that affects how we not only know Him but how we live. And in all of His attributes they are perfect and infinite. And in all of His attributes they are not contradicting one another. They work in unison and they complement one another. Now that's important to keep in mind
when we come to today's topic. Today, you might think this is an easy one. is God is love. Like if there's anything you can just kind of rest in, if there's anything you can go to your unbelieving friends and family and neighbors and be like, God is love. They'll say, I agree with that. God is love. Great. This is like a three minute sermon. Let's wrap it up, get a couple extra songs here, get some donuts. We're good to go.
until you start to realize, well, maybe when I say God is love and my unbelieving neighbor agrees with me, maybe we are thinking of different things. Maybe we're not saying the same thing. Maybe when we start to define the terms, there's some difficulty there. We can think about how that works. And so before we even get into our passage this morning, we've actually got to do some deconstructing and then
reconstructing of what this idea means before we jump into the passage in the New Testament that actually says God is love. Think about our culture. Think about what you hear and see and listen to in the culture at large. Our culture loves love. But think about how they determine what that means, what they say. Think about the songs that are popular or the
The movies, Jerry Maguire, You Complete Me, The Notebook. Think about all the ways that our culture pumps the message, love, God is love. Often it gets reduced to kind of a sentimental, emotional feeling. It means that God is a means to an end to get to that kind of high that we call love. We think about, if God is love, He just wants me to be happy.
Which is actually half true. The problem is in the culture, happiness is self-determined and whatever we determine is our happiness. If God is love, he's got to give us that thing. Sometimes love is, well, oftentimes love is reduced to the affirmation of self. It is whatever you determine, love is affirming whatever the other person self-determines.
them to be. So if you're really going to love someone then whatever they believe or think or do you must affirm. That's what our culture would say about love. If God is loved then God must affirm whatever I believe about myself or sometimes love is this idea of this is ultimate. It's this nebulous force in the universe. It is ultimate and it's detached from God's other attributes. Remember what I said in the beginning.
None of his attributes contradict. They all are who God is. So if God is love and God is holy, how do we work those two things out? If God is love and God is just, how do we work those things out? If God is love and he also has righteous wrath, our culture does not know what to do with that. And so they talk about love as the ultimate, even above and beyond outside of God. It is...
Ultimate like a Jedi force or something. They'll say all that matters is love or they'll say something like love is love this that's supposed to mean something Like try that with anything That doesn't make any sense it if it feels like love it can't be wrong This is what our culture says so when they hear us say God is love. They're like, yes agree with that But this is also the cultural air we breathe, right?
We consume the same media, the same songs, and read the same books and all these things. And so often this can begin to work its way into our hearts and minds in thinking about God and adopt these views. And so we can neglect what the Bible has to say about the love of God. We can project on the Bible a view of God that is not true. So again, as I was beginning to work a couple of weeks ago on this sermon, I was like, this will be easy. God is love.
But then I realized, this is not so easy. And so I came across this book. I don't always say this, this is super helpful. It's a book by D.A. Carson called The Difficult Doctrine of the Love of God. Again, even the title of it, you're like, no, if there's one doctrine that's not difficult, it is the love of God until you start to think about it. And so if you will with me, just for the next five, seven minutes, I want us to now reconstruct some things.
Think about a biblical spectrum of how or rather the five aspects of how God's love is portrayed throughout the Bible. So it's going to take some we're going to have to do some engagement here in our minds for a moment and then we'll get to the text and we'll see how this all works out. But D.A. Carson says there's five aspects. I'll put them on the screen. The first aspect that the Bible talks about in love is God's intra-Trinitarian love.
That from eternity pass, the reason there is love in the universe is because our God is triune. And there is love between father and son and son and father. And the bond of love is the spirit of God. It is the source. And remember, he is self-sufficient and self-existent. There is no need in God. So there is this no idea that God created the universe and created us because he needed
to express his love. That's not why God did any of that. It's out of the overflow of this perfect intra-trinitarian love that he creates, that he made you and me. Why this matters? If you lose this, God's love becomes dependent or reactive on creation rather than intrinsic to his nature. Jesus talks about this often in the Gospel of John, this love between Father, Son, and Sending of the Spirit.
Secondly is God's providential love. This is God who has love for all and all things and all all molecules in the universe. is his creating love that has made the universe and made all people and it is for all people. So for example a couple of verses Psalm 145 verse 9 the Lord is good to all. He has compassion on all he has made.
Jesus says it this way in Matthew 5 45 God causes his son to rise on the evil and the good and sins reign on right on the righteous and the unrighteous. is a real sense where God does love all and he sustains all even those in rebellion to him. He's keeping their hearts pumping right now. This is his providential love. Why this matters without this category you cannot account for real.
goodness in the world extended to believers and unbelievers alike. The third aspect of God's multi aspect of love is God's salvific stance toward a fallen world. God's salvific stance toward a fallen world. So out of his providential love he does have this concern for the whole world for all peoples. This is John 3 16 for God so loved the world.
that he gave his one and only son that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. Peter talks about this. Paul talks about this in First Timothy 2 for God desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. Why this matters. This guards against a cold overly narrow view of God that minimizes his genuine compassion.
toward the lost. See, we can lock in on one of these to the exclusion of the others and miss the full-orbed view of God's love, which leads to number four. God's particular, effective, electing love. The Bible from Old Covenant to New Covenant often says God has set his electing affection on sinners. Not because they were worthy, not because
They had enough information to choose God. No, we were dead in our sins and transgressions, unable to make any choice. Children of wrath, deserving His judgment, and yet God in His love, elects and redeems and saves some. So Ephesians 1, 4, 5, for He chose us in Him, us, the church, those who believe. He chose us in Him before the creation of the world.
to be holy and blameless in His sight. In love, He predestined us for adoption to sonship through Jesus Christ in accordance with His pleasure and will. Again, this matters because God's love for His people is able to rescue people who are dead in their sins and transgressions, who are unable to make any choice in of themselves. God's love isn't
vague or wishful that he hopes some will come? No, he is effective in his saving power to save sinners. And because of this one, we are secure in his love. Paul will write about this in Romans 8. What can separate us from the love of God? And he goes to this long list. Nothing in all of creation because God's electing effective love. Why it matters. Well, I just said why it matters, which leads to number five.
God's conditional relational love. Now, Mark, didn't you just say, didn't you just quote Romans 8, for nothing shall separate us from the love of God. That is true. This is where the Bible speaks about his relational, covenantal love. This is where the Bible repeatedly calls believers to obey his commands. And when we disobey, we...
relationally are stepping away from His love. Jesus talks about this again in John, but in Jude 21, He says this, keep yourselves in God's love as you wait for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to bring you to eternal life. Keep yourselves in that.
It's this idea of being in relationships, submitting to God in relationships. This does not mean God's love is fickle, but there is a relational experience of His love that can deepen or diminish based on our obedience to His commands. Now, let me help you understand maybe by illustration, because this is a hard one. What do you mean God's love is conditional? Now, every illustration and analogy breaks down, especially when we're talking about God, but
Parents understand this. You have an unconditional love for your children. It's unconditional. Absolutely. Imagine you have a teenager. In a teenager, you have a good relationship. And this teenager is making good choices and they have good friends. And they come to you and they say, hey, dad, I want to go on this trip with my friends, but I can't quite afford it. Could I have a couple hundred dollars so I could go?
And there's this good relationship. You're like, yes, I want to love you in that way. I want to give that to you. Yeah, absolutely. It's a relational love. But let's say that the teenager is in rebellion, making poor choices, having bad friends, maybe getting into drugs and alcohol and is on a destructive path. And the teenager says, hey, dad, I need a couple hundred bucks to go on a trip with my friends. And you, because you love your son, say no.
I'm not going to do that. Now, what that son received doesn't feel like the same kind of love that the other son received, but it is out of an unconditional love. But our relationship to God can deepen or diminish based on our submission to His authority in our lives. Why this matters. Without this, you flatten the biblical warnings and calls to abide, to obey, and to remain in God's love.
I think sometimes we can be so enamored by the grace of God and we should be that we can then come to the passages where God warns us. God calls us to obedience. We're like, well, I'll just go do it because God is love and he has to forgive me. That's what he does. Yes, you can quench the spirit and hurt your relationship. So there is a danger to overemphasizing or
neglecting any of these. So let's think about this for a moment. If we focus on number three alone, God's salvific stance toward a fallen world. We may strengthen the hand of those that are Arminians, like God loves the world. He just is kind of out there inviting everyone. We can increase a sentimental view of God, but we can also diminish a view of His holiness.
It's the doctrine of God's love is difficult because what do do with God is also righteously wrathful against sin? God, what do you do with judgment? What do you do with holiness? If we focus and emphasize only on number four, God's electing love, then we have a narrow sovereignty. We're like, well, because God from eternity past has only chosen some, therefore.
We don't need to. fact, we shouldn't even go evangelize the world because after all, God is going to accomplish what he's going to accomplish. Now, I don't think most of us that are even in this like focus on this category believe that. But practically we do. We think, well, because God's, you know, God's sovereign over salvation, I'm not going to go tell my friend.
my neighbor, my co-worker about Jesus. Because he's got it. Even though God commands us to do that and commissions us to do that. See, we can kind of hide behind some of these. And if we neglect some, we miss it as well. we neglect number five, for example, we talked about this, obedience to his commands.
are irrelevant, then why are they in the Bible? Why is God's people called to obey Him, both in the Old Covenant and New Covenant? If we neglect, number one, that God's intratrinitarian love, then love becomes this force outside of who God is. It's this disconnected, impersonal force. Okay, so it's harder than you think is all I'm getting at. All right? Let's turn in our Bibles to
1st John chapter 4 and we're gonna see how some of these aspects are worked out in our lives and in who God is. So we'll pick it up in verse 7. This is God's Word. Listen carefully. John writes, Dear friends, let us love one another for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God.
Whoever does not love does not know God. And here it is because God is love. There it is. God is love and he'll say it again and down in verse 16. God is love. Now we've already talked about a little bit but let's explore a little bit more. What does this not mean? What does it not mean that God is love? It doesn't mean that love is God. The sentence isn't reversible.
Whatever the culture determines is love. What we'll say, well, that's God. That's not what the Bible means when it says God is love. does not mean that the only definition for God is love. Again, we can so focus on this to the neglect of the other attributes. Some will say, well, it says right there, God is love. And some of these other attributes, it doesn't say that God is these things. And so this must be it. This is the ultimate. This is
This is what it means. God is love. Well, in the New Testament, there are four things that says God is. It says God is love. God is light. God is spirit. And we're like, OK, we can we could deal with all that. But Hebrews 12 29 says God is a consuming fire. No one in the culture is saying that. Right. God is a consumer. And no one would say that's all God is. But when it comes to this one, they're like, yeah, that's all.
God is. No. So that isn't, that's what love is not. What is love then? Well, he begins to define it for us in the next couple verses. says, this is how God showed his love among us. He sent his one and only son into the world that we might live through him. Again, it's an echo of John 3.16 and 1 John 3.16, which says this.
This is how we know what love is. Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. We ought to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters. He says love is costly and sacrificial. He goes on. This is love. Verse 10. Not that we loved God. Not that it started with us, but that he loved us and sent his son as an atoning sacrifice.
for our sins. This is the idea that there wasn't anything necessarily lovely in us that God would choose us. This is the fourth aspect of his love. He just loved us. This is where God time and time again comes to the people of Israel in the Old Testament. Deuteronomy 7 verse 7 he says,
It wasn't because you were more numerous. It wasn't because you were better. It wasn't because you were more moral. It wasn't because of anything in you, Israelites. It was because of me that I chose you out of all the nations. Not that we loved God. Romans 5, 8. This is how God demonstrates His love that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. This is love that the world...
doesn't understand that the world thinks love is ultimate and supreme, but the worldly view of love is too flat and too shallow. In fact, it's bankrupt compared to this love. He says, no, this is love. I sent my son, it was a costly, bleeding kind of love as an atoning sacrifice. This is what the world gets wrong. Well, after defining it, he says, now how does this begin to work its way?
In the next few verses he shows that his love is both the model and motivation and the source for our own love. We've already seen this command a few times in here, let us love one another, let us love one another, let us love one another, but the gospel never commands you to do something that it doesn't also empower you to do. And so this is what he says, dear friends, since God so loved us, there's the model.
We look to Jesus. We look to Him putting on flesh, going to a cross because He loved us. We also ought to love one another. There's the motivation. But again, we can't just do it with a model and motivation. We need more. Verse 12. No one has ever seen God. But if we love one another, God lives in us. There's the source. And His love is made complete in us. This is how we know that we live in Him.
and He in us, He has given us His Spirit.
So there it.
Everyone is difficult to love sometimes. You are difficult to love sometimes. Everyone that's been married more than a month knows this truth. Like, thought it was just going to keep going like this, right? No, we get it. it is people are difficult to love. So how do we do it? Well, we can try to muster up the strength and do it, but...
that tank runs dry very quickly. And so what this model of love is, like, husbands, love your wives as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her. There's the model. You're like, okay, but I don't always feel like loving my wife as Christ loved the church. I need something else. I need something outside of me or rather in me to do that. And good news.
If you're a follower of Christ, the Holy Spirit loves to love through you. You can love your spouse, you can love your neighbor, you can love your coworker. Jesus will even call us to love our enemies. None of us want to do that. None of us are motivated to do that in and of ourselves, but we can through Him who has put the source of love in our lives.
And God's love, we'll see, not, God's love through us is not only the basis of our salvation, we'll see it's an evidence of our salvation. Look at verse 16. so we know and rely on the love of God, the love God has for us. We rely on it. We live in it. We, we behold it. God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God and God in them. This is how love is made complete among us.
that we will have confidence on the day of judgment in this world we are like Jesus. Here's the thing, we should be able to look at our lives and say, man, nothing in me wants to love that person and yet by God I can love that person.
Our loving of people does not save us, but it is evidence that we are saved. It is evidence that the Spirit lives in us. And so this is what he's saying. We will have confidence on the day of judgment when we love, empowered by the Spirit like Jesus. Verse 19. We love because He first loved. Just again rehearsing and reminding us of the gospel. We love not because we just ought to love.
We love because we have been loved by God. Whoever claims to love God yet hates his brother or sister is a liar. For whoever does not love their brother and sister whom they have seen cannot love God whom they have not seen. And he has given us this command. Again, here's a command. Anyone who loves God must also love their brother and sister. Which leads us to just one question. I'll put it on the screen.
kind of just wrestle with here. Who am I struggling to love right now and what would it look like to love them with God's love?
Only you can answer that. Who am I struggling to love right now? And what would it look like to love them with God's love? Now, let me be clear. This question is not trying to keep you in a situation where you're being abused or being hurt. What it would look like to love that person in that situation is to set up good boundaries.
But for many of us, we know God has a person on our mind, maybe a family member, a coworker, a friend. What would it look like to love them? Like, there's nothing in me that wants to love them right now. Exactly. But what if the spirit in you wanted to love them? What would it look like? And so you begin to pray. Do you know how hard it is to keep hating someone you're praying for every day? It's so hard. Because
You feel like a hypocrite praying for him. Now the first time you can come to God and be like, Lord, I have no love in my heart for this person. You can deal with that. You can begin to pour into that. What would it look like? Imagine how this kind of deep, rich and sacrificial love could transform a marriage.
Imagine how it could transform a friendship.
neighborhood and a city. This is what God is calling his people to. This is why we are the hope in the world because his spirit lives in us and lives on our streets with us. My prayer is Lord make us a church that fixes our eyes on Jesus. Always remembering this is love that he came first and loved us and died.
for us. Lord, make us a church that understands that God not only loves us, but He loves through us. Lord, make us a church that loves one another. Jesus says, when you love one another, you will show the world that you're my disciples and something in that transforms the world. Friends, God is love. So let's love one another. Amen.
Let me pray for us.
God Is Holy
Ai Transcript
Amen. Thank you, Mark.
If you would, why don't we stay in Isaiah, open your Bibles to Isaiah chapter 6. That's where we'll be this morning. Isaiah chapter 6.
When we kicked off this series a couple weeks back, asked the question, what comes to your mind when you think about God? I said, finish the sentence. God is... We had all sorts of wonderful answers. God is holy. God is love. God is awesome.
said God is infinite. God is merciful. Well, the next day we talked about this same question at my GC. We went around and filled in the blank. God is, and again, a lot of really strong theological answers. God is merciful. God is good. God is consistent. I like that one.
But then we had a couple answers that were raw. I love raw. God is distant. God is small.
God is not my priority. The more I thought about that, that A.W. Tozer quote from a couple of weeks ago, what comes to your mind when you think about God is the most important thing about you. I just don't know if I think it's true. The Bible says even the demons have good theology and yet they tremble.
The more I've thought about it, the most important thing about you may be not be what you think, but what you believe deep down in your heart. Like the Christian philosopher James K.A. Smith says, we are not just thinking things. We are not brains on a stick. We are what we love. You are what you love.
you love. So what comes out of your heart when you ponder God that may just be the most important thing about you. Ask yourself that question. I'll give you a minute. Write it down.
Be honest with yourself that this isn't a theology quiz. What comes up out of the depths of your heart in your deepest place? What comes out when you contemplate God?
Is he really good?
Is he near? Is he distant? Can he be trusted?
Is he angry? What comes up from the deepest place within you as you contemplate? And then here's the second question. Is he holy?
Is he holy? How you answer that last question, is God holy, I believe has massive implications for your life.
Jackie Hill Perry goes so far to say this, and I think she's spot on. What is lurking behind our unbelief, so our lack of trust, what is lurking behind our unbelief is the idea that God is not holy. I mean, think about this for a second. If God is holy, if he is holy, well then he cannot sin.
If God cannot sin, he cannot sin against you. And if God cannot sin against you, then can't he be fully trusted? Again, it's so easy when we contemplate God for many of us, especially for those of us who have been hurt by people. We find it hard to trust people. It's quite natural to project that on God.
We may say God is awesome, we may even think it, but in all reality, many of us believe deep down that God is really just maybe a better image of ourselves.
So yeah, in your mind, you might know all the right answers. He is loving, infinite and good. He is self sufficient and self existent. But, sometimes the longest journey is that 18 inches from your head to your heart. My hope this morning is that we would behold a holy God.
And as we behold God in His holiness, we would believe in our deepest place that God is holy, holy, holy. And by the grace of God, as we behold and believe this holy God that we ourselves would become holy.
So if you're not already there, Isaiah 6 is where we will begin this morning. We'll start here in verse 1. And that's my outline for you note takers. Behold, believe, and become. We'll spend most of our time beholding.
Verse one, in the year that King Uzziah died, let's pause here for a minute. I want to give a little context before we jump into what the prophet Isaiah is about to share. He's about to share a lot.
I want to pick up from where we left off last week before we come into the context of King Uzziah and the story of Israel. Last week, if you remember, Moses encountered God, the self-existent one, the one who needs nothing. After Moses sees a bush on fire, yet not burning, as he curiously makes his way over, he's told to take his
sandals off because the place he is standing is holy ground. God is holy. This is where we're headed this morning.
The holiness of God, so buckle up. The holiness of God, wrecked me this week. John Calvin says this, if a preacher is not first preaching to himself, better that he falls on the steps of the pulpit and breaks his neck than preaches that sermon. Friends, I am first preaching to myself this morning.
Well, that's your God revealed to Moses who he is, namely, I am who I am or another way to say God is. Moses goes back to lead the people of Israel out of Egypt, out of slavery. The great I am doesn't just talk the talk. He walks.
the walk. He does what he says. And so, yes, God rescues his people. And after they cross the Red Sea, Moses finds himself back at the mountain where he first encountered God at the bush. As God meets Moses on the mountain, this scene is terrifying.
Mount Sinai is trembling, thunder, lightning, dark and threatening clouds, fire, smoke, and the sound of a loud trumpet. This is no ordinary earthquake. The people of God, Israel, are warned to not even touch this mountain because the God that just saved them is utterly holy. Then Moses goes up.
the mountain before this holy God and there the Lord gives Israel his law. This is not basic instruction before leaving earth like how some people understand the BIBLE. No, it is covenantal revelation from the God whose holiness shakes the earth. And this holy God tells Israel that if they obey his covenant, if...
They follow his law. Then they themselves will become God's own holy nation. Later in Moses's life, he's so captivated by the holiness of God that he prays this bold, audacious prayer. Lord, show me your glory. And God's like, yo, Mo.
Can't do that. You can't see my face, for no one can see me and live. But he does set him up in a rock, covers him with his hand, and lets him glimpse just the backside of his glory. Even Moses, the friend of God himself, cannot stand to be fully exposed before the fullness of divine holiness.
Often when Moses would come down from the mountain after meeting with God, his face was radiant, shining brightly with reflected glory. Israel wasn't able to handle it. So Moses would put a veil over his face. That is how weighty, fearsome, holy the presence of God is.
And most of us know how the story of Israel ends up, right? They don't keep the law. They don't live up to the covenant. They don't obey God. They fail and they fail and they fail some more. Fast forward to 1 Samuel after the Ark of God has been captured. Phineas's wife, she gives birth to a child. And on this baby dedication, she names him.
meaning God's glory has departed from Israel.
Well, the glory of God eventually comes back through people like David and his son Solomon. Eventually they build the temple. But again, it's not long before even the kingdom is divided. And apart from a few solid kings who understand God's holiness and call to people and call the people to serve this God, to become...
a holy nation. Most of these kings from the north to the south are just brutal. Brutal. They worship the gods of their surrounding nations. They don't see God as holy and so they do not become God's holy nation. And then this 16 year old cat, Uzziah, shows up on the scene.
I mean, what were you doing at age 16? I was just trying to stay eligible in school so I could play baseball. But even that was hard because I was trying to memorize and play Madden on my PS2 and watch Shaq and Comey dominate the NBA. had too much going on. Not Uzaya. Uzaya at age 16 becomes king. King of Israel.
Back to our passage in the year that King Uzziah died. This was a big deal. King Uzziah probably makes the top five of the list for Israel's greatest kings. So this year that this king died would have thrown this nation into a frenzy.
political turmoil. He reigned over Israel for 52 years. Could you imagine? It's like Queen Elizabeth longevity. Early in his life, he was marked by nothing but godliness. This was a holy man.
zealous for the God of his forefathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, the God of Jacob. He brought innovation and prosperity to the land of Israel, only second to people like David and Solomon themselves. But unfortunately, his life didn't end the way it began. At the end of his life, he lost sight of the holiness of God.
He decided, I'm a pretty good king. The priest needs some help. Why don't I take the role of what the priest should do? I can go in there. Fearing God simply means to take God at His word, to take God serious.
Proverbs says that the fear of God is the beginning of wisdom. At some point in Uzziah's life, he stopped fearing God. He got too comfortable with God. That's what wrecked me this week. He forgot, and I pray we don't, that God is holy.
And because of that, his final days were marked with shame and disgrace as God struck him with leprosy. A bad end to an otherwise great life. But like Tiger Woods, even with a tragic ending, everyone still remembers who Uzziah once was. And so in his passing, Israel is grieving. And then God shows up to the prophet Isaiah.
in a vision. Look with me at verse one again. In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up, and the train of his robe filled the temple. Above him stood the seraphim. Each had six wings.
With two he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew, and one called to another and said, holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts. The whole earth is full of his glory. And the foundations of the threshold shook at the voice of him who called, and the house was filled with...
Smoke.
The prophet Isaiah is given a vision of the Lord high and exalted on his throne. If you were here with us during our revelation series, maybe some of this sounds familiar.
And what this meant to, to Isaiah is that the Lord in verse one, capital L lowercase O R D this is Adonai or the sovereign Lord showing Isaiah and us that even amidst political turmoil, God reigns in majesty over all things.
Then the train of his robe fills the temple. This stresses the overwhelming weight of his glory and his presence. We also see the seraphim standing above him as heavenly attendants, emphasizing that even the most exalted creatures are not self-existent.
They exist to serve this self-existent sovereign king. And as they cover their faces, because even they can't look at God's holiness, it's that bright. God doesn't have light. God is light. And what does one of them do? The only thing you can do in the presence of God. Praise him. Holy.
Holy... Holy...
Then the thresholds shake while the temple fills with smoke. Picture the scene, this vision, showing us loud and clear that Isaiah is standing before the Holy Lord. Verse three, L-O-R-D, all caps. The covenant name of God, Yahweh. Holy, holy.
pastor theologian. This was his wheelhouse and I've listened to many asproul sermons over the years. And though like we said in our first sermon in this God is series, we are not called to rank the attributes of God. Remember, all that is in God is God. But I do love what Dr. R.C. brings out.
There's no other attribute in the Bible that is given this thrice language. Never do we see love, love, love is the Lord God Almighty or justice, justice, justice is the Lord of hosts. But we do have this phrase, holy, holy, holy is the Lord.
Now, if you know me and you get texts from me, if I'm ever excited and want to emphasize something, I may throw down like 50 exclamation marks as my high school teacher rolls over in her grave.
But we have ways to emphasize things in our culture, to say this is important. Maybe for you, you embolden your font, or you use italics, or you begin to speak real slow when you're about to say something.
Well, in ancient Judaism, happens when words get put on repeat. And in big moments of redemptive history, this is what we see. Awake, awake.
Moses, Peace, peace. Abraham, Abraham. If you read in the gospels, you'll see this with Christ Jesus himself. Right, he says, truly.
Truly, it's the Greek word, amen. Jesus is such a good preacher, he's not gonna wait for the crowd to say amen. Real talk, I don't even know if Jesus would get an amen if he preached in this church. Just saying.
So what does he do? He says it prior to the sermon. Amen, amen. What we translate truly, truly. He's saying lock in. Lock in. What I'm about to say is going to transform your life.
But get three repeats. Now this is more than an emphasis. It's the highest amplification. So when we hear holy, holy, holy, we know this is a holiness in which nothing can compare. Now what does holy mean?
Great question. Again, R.C. Sproul says, term holy, as it is used in the Bible to describe God, refers to both his nature and his character. So let's flesh that out. Regarding God's nature, holy, holy, holy refers to his greatness, his transcendence, his otherness.
Regarding his character, holiness refers to his purity, his ethical and moral excellence. Theologian Matthew Barrett says, his holiness is the supreme, highest, greatest good that can be imagined.
And if Anselm is right, which I quoted a couple of weeks back, that God is a being in whom none greater can be conceived. And it's also true that God is a being in which, in whom none holier can be conceived. Holy, holy, holy. This word literally means set apart.
Set apart. Set apart. Set apart.
wife, Holly is the best neighbor. know we have, we know so many of our neighbors because of Holly. Well, this week I got a ring on the doorbell and I opened the door to meet one of my neighbors for the first time, an older gentleman who lives down our street, Terry. He came to drop off his mom's China.
She she she's been passed for some time and though he's never used them, he also has felt weird about selling them to a stranger. So of course, give them to Holly. Now these dishes are no ordinary dishes. I don't know how many times we are going to eat off these plates or drink out of these cups, but let me tell you, it will only be for a special occasion. These dishes are set apart.
Not for Joey to eat his mac and cheese and hot dogs on. Well, God is set apart on a whole nother level. God is holy par excellence. In His transcendence, His holiness is utterly other. Holy, holy, holy. And in His purity, His holiness is moral and ethical perfection.
God is light in him. There is no darkness at all. Holy, holy, holy. And like Mark mentioned last week, when we see God rightly, we begin to see ourselves rightly. And friends, there's nothing that threatens us more than the holiness of God.
But unless you behold God as holy, you can't truly believe deep down in your heart, in your deepest place, that He is holy. Which takes us to our second point. Believe. We behold, then we believe. Look with me at verse five. Isaiah six, verse five.
After Isaiah encounters the Holy God, verse five, I said, woe is me for I am lost. From a man of unclean lips and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips for my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts. Like I said, nothing threatens us more than the holiness of God.
Because when you encounter this God, holy, holy, holy, you also see how much you fall short of His glory. In His light, our darkness exposed. Do remember when Peter becomes a follower of Christ?
Peter, who becomes this apostle and amazing leader in the early church, he's fishing all night, catches nothing. Then Jesus is on the shore, tells him, put out your net for a catch. Peter, probably so frustrated, like, dude, I fish for a living. You're a rabbi. Are you telling me how to do my job? But like a respectful Jew that Peter was, he says, at your word, rabbi. I'll do it.
And in that moment, if you remember, he catches so many fish that the weight of them causes his boat to begin to sink. But that's not the only thing sinking in this moment. Do you remember what Peter says to Jesus? Jesus, who is the exact imprint of God, holy, holy, holy, like Isaiah before him, Peter says, depart from me.
Leave. Get away from me, for I am a sinful man.
Have you encountered the Holy God?
Have you encountered this holy God? Have you seen God rightly and in doing so see yourself rightly? One of my fears in the American church and is one of its pastors is that so many people sitting in the pews and preaching from the pulpits have never experienced God as holy, holy, holy.
We might have all the right answers as to who God is, but our hearts have not been undone by his holiness. But when we behold God in all his holiness, we begin to believe deep down in our hearts, our deepest place that God is holy.
Holy, and this, changes everything. Which leads to our third point, our application this morning. Become. Look with me at verse six. Become.
Then one of the seraphim flew to me, having in his hand a burning coal that he had taken with tongs from the altar. He touched my mouth and said, behold, this has touched your lips. Your guilt is taken away, and your sin is atoned for. The burning coal is a sign that sinners like Isaiah.
like you, like I cannot survive the holiness of God unless God himself provides atonement. The altar points to sacrifice, the cleansing points to forgiveness, and then this whole scene, is merely a shadow pointing us to the fulfillment that we have in Jesus.
who as the holy, holy, holy Son of God becomes a man, takes on flesh, and by his sinless life and sacrificial death on the cross brings atonement once and for all. Atonement at one.
with God, in other words, making sinful people like you and I stand in the presence of Almighty God.
you
And as we behold God in His holiness and then we believe that God is holy, we become. By faith and faith alone, we become God's holy people.
Be holy as I am holy. That's what Peter says.
Yet that is our application. But the problem, I think, is people see a text like this, pull up their bootstraps, and in their own strength try really, really hard to be holy. And praise God for striving after holiness. The author of Hebrews says, without it, no one will see the Lord.
But we must realize because of the gospel friends, we are already God's holy people. Peter says, you are a holy nation. Paul calls Christians saints, holy ones because of the gospel. have been sanctified. We have been set apart. We are holy.
And yes, we're called to more holiness. We're called to continue to be sanctified. God wants to see radical transformation in all of our lives. By the grace of God, we'll look more like Jesus tomorrow than we did today. But all of this is possible because you are already set apart. You are holy.
Brothers and sisters in Christ, we are spirit-filled saints. Would you look at yourself in the mirror and see? Saint. The call now is to be who we already are in Christ.
Imagine if we lived out our calling as God's holy nation, a church who didn't just know the right things about God, but believed in our hearts that God is holy.
Because of that, he can be taken at his word. He can be trusted. A holy people who rightly fear their holy God. The people who, like the author of Hebrews says, are grateful because we've received a kingdom that cannot be shaken. And thus, a people who offered to this holy God.
acceptable worship with reverence and awe for our God is a consuming fire. Let's behold, believe, and become. Amen. Amen. Let me pray.
God Is Self-Existent and Self-Sufficient
AI Transcript
Good morning. It's good to see all the smiling faces.
Last Monday, two weeks ago, I was so looking forward to saying Amen on Easter and then just relaxing. Like, full cards on the table. The last six months have been probably the hardest, the most work I've ever done in ministry. And so after seven weeks of preaching in a row, after going through compelled, after all that, like I was just so looking forward to just...
relaxing and to looking forward to catching up on so many years of my life that I've just let go by the wayside and But God had other plans because after saying amen on Easter on Monday You get that feeling where you're like, oh, I feel like I'm getting sick here, but I ignored it and Got hit. I don't know. I got a hit by the doctor said the flu walking pneumonia, whatever I had a fever for eight days straight. So
I was just laid up in bed like I was like, this going to break? I'm going to break. So that was not awesome at all. And I was so bummed to not be able to join you guys last week as we had baptisms and just to be able to celebrate all that God is doing there. even now, even now as I stand, like it's still there. Like I just, I'm tired. So I might pass out, but.
I tried this week to turn my attention to, okay, what am I preaching on? And as I was beginning to unpack that in very small bits, because I didn't have enough energy to really dig into it, I was just reminded of the gift of sickness, the gift of weakness. We are in this series where we're lifting our eyes and beholding the
the majesty of the person of God. I was reminded this week as we look at this topic, and you can begin to look, go to Exodus 3 is where we're going to be at. But I was reminded in this topic that we're going to look at what theologians call the aseity of God. It simply means this, that God is eternally self-existent and God is eternally self-sufficient.
the weakness of sickness and not being able to get out of bed is just this, contrast there couldn't be more contrasted. Like where I am totally weak, which is true every day, I just don't live like it. God is not. God is eternally self-existent and self-sufficient. And he is the only one who is that. So a couple charts to help you just get that in your head. So the first one here is
What is created? Go to the next slide. So uncreated, only God. What is crea... That should say created, sorry. That's bad theology.
The second one should say, created. I was sick. I need some grace.
What's that? Anathema. know. You should walk out now. All right. So this simple chart, what's uncreated? God. Who made God? No one made God. God is eternally self-examined. What else is created? Everything else. Everything we see in the whole universe. Okay. Let's see if the next chart is wrong. Next one. What is self-sufficient? Only God. What is totally dependent? Every molecule of the cosmos is totally dependent on God's sustaining work.
And so as I was just realizing my weakness, my sickness, I just realized that this is a gift. It is always a gift to realize that we aren't what we think we are. We aren't as strong as we think we are. We're not as capable as we think we are. We're not... In every way, we are limited. And that's a good thing. We are finite. This is kind of a gift. Because most of my days, I live like you live.
with this idea that I'm in control. I decide what's going on. I decide what good things are going to come in my life. And I look through the trie... And I'm like, yeah, I can do some things. Most of my days, I am self-focused and believing I'm in control. It's the air that we breathe, right? Post-enlightenment, post-modern, post-everything world. We have this idea in our culture that...
Well, whatever you say, you can define yourself in any way you want to define yourself. Whatever you want to be, you could be like just go out, put in the work, put in the grind and you can have like, this is the air that we breathe, right? And it sounds like because it's the air we breathe, we're like, yeah, that's right. And true. We got to create our own identity. We got to create our own worth and value and, and, and show the world that we're worthy. And, and on the surface, that sounds good, but, but, but in reality is
It's absolutely exhausting. Like when we are just doing everything we can to make a name for ourselves, doing everything we can to show the world and to show ourselves that we are valuable and worth it. Like to live under that pressure, it's too much pressure. And this is why so many people just feel so burdened. And so it is a gift whenever we can wake up to our finitude, to our weakness. We can't do it all.
There's no one in here that wears a cape even though we think we can. Calvin, at the very beginning of his most famous work, The Institutes, he opens up the work like this. says, nearly all wisdom we possess, that is to say true and sound wisdom, consist of two parts. The knowledge of God and the knowledge of ourselves.
The knowledge of God and the knowledge of ourselves. When we see God clearly and we see ourselves clearly, now we can begin to walk in wisdom. Now we can live as God created us to live. But there's a problem in this world, It is the problem of sin that distorts and twists everything. Augustine had this theology in the city of God and Confessions that Martin Luther later
came along and in Latin it means this, Incurvatus Inse. It means sin is a life curved in on itself. Where your whole focus just starts to become your self. And so we don't love God rightly because we're not related. We don't love others rightly because we're curved in on our self. Incurvatus Inse. And this is a huge problem for us.
If we aren't intentional, we will live life as if the only thing that matters is what I'm dealing with, what I want, what other people will make much of me. Like this is just the default of the sin-filled heart. I want to give a shout out to my wife, her first book of eight, Enough About Me, Finding Lasting Joy in the Age of Self.
The solution, if the problem is curved in on yourself, then we've got to somehow uncurl ourselves, unfocus on ourselves, somehow lift our eyes. This is the path to actual joy, actual life for us. You can take that down, but get the book so I can get some money.
Thanks for writing that book. Many years ago I heard Pastor John Piper use this illustration. I think it's so helpful that helps me understand this incurbitous insight, how we live our lives, and the need to kind of open up. He says it's the difference between a microscope and a telescope. Maybe you've heard this before, a microscope and a telescope. And if you think about it,
What does a microscope do? A microscope takes that which is infinitesimally small and it blows it up. So you can see it. But like when we live our lives oriented towards the microscope, what we're doing is we're looking through the lens and we're seeing the stuff of our lives. The problems, the successes, the challenges, the relations. Like everything just seems massive. Like look how big this problem is. Because we're looking through the microscope.
theology done well is looking through the telescope. The telescope does what? It takes that which is massive, that which is almost incomprehensible, and it brings it into perspective. It helps us order things rightly. so to live rightly, to know who we are, to know who God is, we've got to move away from the microscope.
focusing on our own lives and take some time to look through the telescope. That's what this God is series is about. It's just a, it's an uncurling, it's a beholding who God is. What we need to know is that all theology, all theology you know is a gift from God. But like if you know anything true about God, it's first and foremost because it was a gift from God.
to you. It is God revealing Him. Like God didn't have to reveal anything. And to be sure, God is infinite and we are finite. So as Pastor Rick said last week, there will never be a moment in eternity where we will have arrived at all the knowledge of God. This is the glory of eternity. There will never be a moment where we aren't just filled with more awe, more wonder, more knowledge.
More discovery like this goes on and on and on and on forever. This is the beauty of eternity with God. But God has revealed some things about himself in different ways that we get to study. We get to look through the telescope if you will. And how has God revealed himself? Let me give you some examples through general revelation and special revelation. What is that? So general revelation is God reveals himself to
creation through his creation. This is Romans chapter one for the for since the beginning of the world the things that have been seen point to as a divine nature and eternal nature. So we can behold the heavens declare the glory of God for example Psalm 19. We can see God's providence directing the course of human history. This is another part of general revelation that the conscious that God has given to humans and human nature.
Just that there is some right and there is some wrong. This is what theologians call general revelation. We can know something about God just by observing the world that he's created and put us in. But that general revelation is not sufficient to come to know him personally, to know specifically what it is God like. We needed special revelation for that. So the special revelation is a few things.
God's redemptive acts in the world. So redemptive acts of God where he intervenes into his creation. What we're going to read about one of them in Exodus chapter three. When God reveals his word either by himself or through his prophets or or apostles these are divinely given words that special revelation. So we learn something. Ultimately the way we see who God is we look to Jesus.
in the incarnation as He came and lived among us and loved. Like what is God like? Look to Jesus. This is the whole point of the book of Hebrews. Like He is the exact image of who God is. So as we behold Jesus, we see who God is. And then captured in all that is the Word of God. These 66 books to you and to me and to God's people too.
capture that, to study that. So we as God's people, we as people can look at creation, we can look at special revelation, and we can know something of God. And we should know something of God. We don't know all the things for sure, but God has revealed Himself to us. So if you have your Bible, Exodus chapter three is where we're going to be at today. Exodus chapter three, Genesis, Exodus, the second book of the Bible. Let me set this up here. So at this point,
salvation history. God's people have been enslaved in Egypt. 400 years, their cries are going up to a God that they don't even really know. But we read in chapter 1 that God hears their cries and he begins to move. Well Moses is born, but Moses, you may remember his life is preserved. He grows up as a prince of Egypt.
Though he's Hebrew, he grows up in Pharaoh's household with all the wealth and the prestige and the power that is afforded to that, the most powerful man on the planet at that time with the most powerful army in human history up until this point. But Moses also comes to find out and realizes he's also a Hebrew and he sees this disconnect between his life, his comfortable, opulent life. And then you've got his people just being oppressed.
And so when he's about 40 years old, he sees an Egyptian mistreating a Hebrew and he's like, oh, I'm the guy. I've got power. I'm going to take things in my own hand. And he murders the Egyptian, buries him in the sand, and he feels pretty good about himself until he's caught and they seek his life. And he has to run for his life. And he spends the next 40 years in the wilderness, gets married, and for 40 years, from age 40 to 80,
His job is just to look at the backside of sheep all day. I mean, is he's like, how did I go from Prince of Egypt to here? And in Exodus, chapter three, he's on the side of this mountain Mount Horeb or later gets called Mount Sinai. He sees this bush on fire that's not burning up and it catches his attention and he turns to to to see what is going on. And in that he hears God's special revelation.
revealed to him the voice of God. in verse four of chapter three says listen carefully this is God's word says when the Lord saw that he had gone over to look God called to him from within the bush Moses Moses as Moses said here I am he's calling to him but but then verse five do not come any closer God said take off your sandals for the place where you are standing is
holy ground. It's this picture of God who is both transcendent above and beyond everything and imminent close here now. It's this picture of like come close don't come too close. Like this is the tension we have with God right? Come close don't come too close. And so as he comes close God begins to reveal and says I have
I've seen the suffering of my people. And in fact, I'm going to do something about it. It's time to act Moses. And in verse 10, he says to Moses, so now go, I am sending you to Pharaoh to bring my people, the Israelites out of Egypt. This is, this is crazy, right? You go.
He has this encounter with the living God and he gives Moses this great commission. You're going to go. But Moses does what you and I do. When God calls us to something great, we're like, well, who am I? Don't you know my failures? Don't you know my past? Don't you know my weakness? I can't go, Lord. I know you've given me a commission to go and make disciples, but that's...
That's for the extra credit Christians. That's for other people like not me. I'm too weak. I'm too frail. I'm too broken. I have too much sin. My past. You can't use me. And God's like what do you what are you talking about? You go. And so he asked this question of of God. Verse 11. It's a question we ask. Moses said to God who am I. Who am I. Who am I to do anything for God. Now remember
God is eternally self-existent and self-sufficient. What that means is that God has no needs. So what that means, sometimes people will say stuff to me like, God just really needs me to do this one thing. I'm like, no. God does not need you to do anything. God doesn't need Redemption Parker to do anything. Get that very clear. Sometimes people are like, well, God needs me to No, he does not.
That's blasphemy to think that God has any need, any deficiency. Like sometimes people will be like, well, God created people because he was lonely. No, he has no need. He's eternally self existent and self sufficient. is in the Trinity is perfect unity love like zero need. And so then we have to ask the question, if God has no need, then why does he give us commission?
Because he's inviting us to a life of purpose and meaning to join our story with his eternal story. It's a gift to us to be invited in. It's a gift to Moses to receive this commission. But Moses does what we do. He's in curvidus in say, he's like, who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the Israelites out of Egypt? It's a question of identity.
And the answer to that, God gives, is the answer that He gives throughout Scripture. Verse 12. God said, will be with you. Who am I? Don't worry, I'm with you. Listen, if we understand who God is, the eternally self-existent, eternally self-sufficient, all that God is, when God says, I will be with you, that should be the end of the story. sweet, we're good. Let's go.
But sometimes it takes some growth in our faith, right? It says, will be with you and this will be the sign to you that it is I who have sent you. When you have brought the people out of Egypt, you will worship God on this mountain. It'll be the same place where they receive the law of God. Look how God speaks. He speaks with absolute certainty because why? He stands outside of time. He knows this will happen and this will happen.
We think we know, we live like that, and then I'm going to do this and I'm going to accomplish this, but we don't know. We think we're going to have a great time after Easter and then we're just in bed for eight days. It's just how it is. We don't know, but God knows. So, when God says, will be with you, it is this promise of God for the people of God. God with us, verse 13. Moses said to...
God suppose I go to the Israelites and say to them the God of your fathers has sent me to you and they asked me what is his name then what shall I tell them so that the question moves on from a question of who am I to someone saying well I'm to be with you then okay well then who are you who are you what am I going to tell them and he's asking for the name of this God now in the ancient Near East he's not just asking to exchange business cards
He's not like, I just need a label. Names were your family heritage. It was your background. It spoke to your capacity and ability, your nature. And so he's like, I need to know who you are. What do I tell these Israelites that I'm going to lead out of Egypt? And this verse, verse 14, becomes the central verse in our understanding of who...
God is throughout the rest of the Bible. In fact, the rest of the Bible is an exposition on verse 14. It explains and unpacks what is verse 14. God said to Moses, I am who I am. This is what you are to say to the Israelites. I am has sent me to you.
Moses' brain blows up a little bit. Like, I was asking for a noun and you gave me a verb. More than that, you gave me a verbal phrase. What do you mean? I'm looking for a label and you gave me a whole theology. I am who I am. It is, am who I am. Or it is the verb to be, I be. It encapsulates past, present, and future. I was.
I am, I will be, I am who I am. And Moses is like, I don't understand what you're saying. This is too much. Let me help explain this. on the next slide, the Hebrew is at the top. The little dots below the Hebrew, so you would read that right to left, the little dots below the Hebrew were added in the sixth century. They're vowels. Hebrew as a language doesn't have vowels.
And so in the sixth century, they're like, well, how do we actually pronounce some things? And so the best they could possibly do is come up with vowels and we transliterate that Y-H-W-H. This would be where we get the words. Some translations say Jehovah. They're adding a whole bunch of vowels in that. Others, sometimes we say, Yahweh. But we don't know. We honestly don't know. This is the I am who I am to be.
You got to understand in the history of God's people how sacred the name is. Like in Hebrew class when we would be reading, we would not say the name out loud. We would take on the the Messianic Jewish tradition where we would replace the name Yahweh with Adonai, a generic name. just we wanted to be sacred with that. If there was a Messianic Jew in our class.
And for whatever reason in a test or something you had to write the divine name in Hebrew. They would take that piece of paper and keep it safe for the rest of their lives. The name is sacred. I don't know what you do with a PowerPoint. I guess I'll keep the USB for the rest of my life. But this name I am who I am is packed with theology. We get I am from.
In your Bibles if you see the word Lord all caps it's the divine name. It's it's this I am sent you. That's who you are to tell him. It's it and it has this Hebrew emphasis again they don't have exclamation points so it's I am who I am. It's emphasizing God's freedom. He alone has absolute freedom in the universe to do whatever he wants. It emphasizes his consistency. I was I am I will be.
forever and ever and ever. There is no changing in who God is. It emphasizes a call to us to complete trust and hope. What is God saying to Moses and by extension to us? He's saying, I am the center of everything. I am running the show. I am the same today, tomorrow and forever. I am the Lord.
everything. am the Lord. I am the owner of everything. I am the creator and sustainer of all life in the universe. I am the Savior. I am more than enough. I am inexhaustible and immeasurable. I am God. That's how he answers Moses question. Well who are you?
And did you notice in answering the second question, who are you? God also answers the first question. Well, who am I? Did you see that in that name? Let me help you. I am not the center of everything. I am not running the show. I am not in control. I am not the solution. I am not the owner of anything.
I am not all powerful. I am not the savior. I am not the Lord. It's important to understand because then we see things rightly. All wisdom begins with knowing who God is and who we are and then living in light of reality. So there are aspects of the character and nature of God that we are called to emulate to.
model to try to become. But then there are other aspects that we are not called to emulate. Theologians break it up in these ways. The communicable and incommunicable attributes of God. We get in trouble when we don't understand which one they are. So let me give you some... let's get... So incommunicable attributes. Only God has these and he does not expect us to in any way try to be these things. We are not infinite.
So embrace your finiteness. We are not, we are comprehensible. God is incomprehensible. God is self-existent. We are not self-existent. God is self-sufficient. We are not self-sufficient. God is eternal. We are not eternal. God is immutable, unchangeable. And we change every day. Every day my eyes get a little worse now.
We are not omnipresent. can't be everywhere. But God is. We are not omniscient. No matter what you think, Jack GPT is telling you. We do not know all things. We are not omnipotent. We do not have all power. God never asks us to be any of these things. In fact, it's when we try to be these things that the world gets broken.
This was the first set that you can be like God if you eat this fruit. You can have power and all authority. It's a lie. We can't but we can be and should be the communicable. We are called to be holy like God is holy. We were called to love imagine if we just leverage our life to love like God loves. We are called to be just and good and merciful and gracious long suffering wise jealous.
for His glory, because He is worthy of all praise, honor, and worship. We are called to be faithful, righteous, truthful. This is why we study these things. We understand this is what the Lord is calling us to and empowering us to do. So God is eternally self-existent and self-sufficient. Throughout this whole series, as we look at God, we should end with this question. So what? What does it mean
that God is eternally self-existent and self-sufficient. What does that mean for us? Here's what it means. And some of you need to hear this. We all need to hear this. It means the pressure's off. The pressure's off. You're not God. And that's a good thing. The world is exhausted trying to define themselves and prove their worth. It's exhausting to always try to show
the world you're worthy. God says you're worthy. I am saying, who said you had to create your own identity? God is the only one who creates his own identity. We don't. We can rest in who he says we are.
So I am not. But here's the beautiful thing in Christ in a relationship with him which by the way you read John's gospel it's a whole exhibition on this. Nine times Jesus says I am in John's gospel. I am the bread of life. I am the way the truth in life. I am I am I am. So I am not. But in Christ I know I am. I am not.
but I get to know I am. This is the beauty of what we're invited into, the story of God. And so it means you're off the hook. You don't have to prove yourself. You don't have to show the world that you're worthy of praise and worth. Here's the thing. Don't take this the wrong way. You and I and everyone in this room, we're average. Your kids are average.
What? Not my kids. We're average. Our marriages are average. Let's just even say you're not average compared to God. We're nothing. We're just here for a very limited time and that's okay. God sees.
Again, I know the call you average is not the way to build a big church in America. The way to build a big church is like, man, you guys are so awesome. You got this. You're going to go out and just absolutely crush it this week. And here's a couple of God pieces for you to help you out. Like, God, some divine CrossFit coach cheering you on. No. No, that's not the way to build a big church. But there's two problems with that. That message of you got this, you're awesome, you're going to crush it.
That becomes crushing to ourselves, first of all. And secondly, it's not true. The message of Bible isn't that you're awesome, you got this, you're going to crush it. The message of the Bible is God is awesome. God's got this. He's crushing it. And He's with us. Amen? Amen. So, what if we were a church that held out before us or looked through the telescope constantly just reminded that God
is self-existent, self-sufficient. What if we didn't expect ourselves or others to be what only God can be in our lives? Man, how much better would your marriage be if you didn't expect your spouse to be God in your life? How much more freedom would you give yourself to be like, man, I am, I'm limited, I'm frail, I don't have it all together. That's okay. I know who does.
I know who does. So theology again is meant to give us freedom, give us peace. It's meant to recalibrate our hearts and our minds and our lives. And so if you got a bulletin on your way and you can see on the back there's just some questions for reflection. Hopefully sometime this week maybe you have a meal with your spouse or with your kids or at your gospel community and just think about these things. In light of who God is, in light of who we are, what does this mean?
Well, I want to pray and then we're going to do communion and then I'm going to come up and give some update on on compelled. But let's just go before the God who is with us, the God who is eternal. Now, what a gift it is that he invites us to this. Let's pray. Amen.
Amen. Well I wanted to celebrate with you. I to give an update if you're just joining us welcome. If you've just been here for a couple of weeks welcome but for six weeks we turned our attention to this idea. What does it look like for a body of Christ to be compelled by the love of Christ. Second Corinthians 4 5 14 where Christ writes where Paul writes
Christ's compels us. As a church at this crossroads moment, what does that mean for us? This two-year discipleship journey. We said it looks like this, and we're just at the beginning of it, but it looks like continuing to go deeper in our love for Christ, our relationship with Christ, spurring one another on, encouraging one another, doing life together. It's just what God has already called us to.
It means going wider on mission with Christ. What would it look like if we together leaned in and sacrificed together to go wider, to reach one more person for Christ, to reach one more generation for Christ, to live in such a way that ten generations are blessed by our faith and our sacrifice here and now. And so many of you have sent so many stories of encouragement and love like
Different parts of this journey have spoken to different people. Some are like, man, I am just compelled for one more. Like Jesus was compelled. Others are like, man, I think it's really important that our youngest image bearers have a place where they can grow up and hear the gospel. And others are like, I've never thought about living a life that 10 generations from now will be blessed by my faith. I'm so encouraged by that. Yeah. And then forward together.
One of the hardest, hardest, hardest things for a church to do is to come from that stage of church plant set up and tear down every week to have a place where they can call home and establish an outpost of light in the kingdom of darkness. And so part of this is just a call. We've bought land. We're going to build a building. But that's incredibly difficult to get to. It's so expensive for...
For a church to get to that point, but we believe that God was calling us to it So, let me just remind you our primary goal was just 100 % engagement that all who in whatever way shape or form called this church your church home That you would lean in Compelled by the love of Christ. And so we we sought the Lord we fasted we prayed And to have absolutely everyone at RP play a role in compelled. We've asked you to lean in
Now, as covenant members, you've already committed to give sacrificially and you've done that. You do that. I just want to say it's such a privilege and honor as we step back to see our people go above and beyond what we've asked. Paul writes, if you remember my last message, compelled by generosity, Paul writes to the Corinthians, 2 Corinthians 8, that the Macedonians gave not only what they could
up to the limit that they were able to give, but beyond. And that's what you guys have done. Like that's what is just blowing, like the evidences of God's grace are so huge in our midst right now. We should all be encouraged. But engagement is not just something that can be merely quantified. Engagement is something that will continue through the next two years of this initiative.
and is better celebrated as an illustration in the Numbers. So before I get to any Numbers, our team has just done an incredible job of just kind of capturing some of the ways that God has been moving in people's heart as people press on to go deeper, wider, and forward. And so I have a short video that we'll share here with you on
There are moments in the life of a church when God brings his people to a crossroads. These are moments when God calls his people to courageous faith to step forward into what he is doing next. God has brought us to another defining moment because God has exceeded our hopes, grown his church, and is now calling us to take the next step of faith at this crossroads. This moment is not accidental. It is part of a much larger story, God's story, and in this season and in this place,
It is our turn. I would say the culture of RRP is authentic people trying to authentically follow Jesus Christ. It's a place where you can know others deeply and be known and people truly care and see one another on a daily basis. I'm compelled and driven by the need to build a Christian kingdom and community that the next generation can be excited to.
I am compelled to continue to invest in Redemption Parker because of the impact I've already seen it make in the lives of its members and also children specifically. What excites me about the future of RP and this compel specifically for our youth is that you can point to pretty much any person who is a believer and say that at some point someone decided to invest in them. This is a place where you can be seen, known, and loved.
And at the same time, we're pointing them back to the truth and the goodness of the gospel. As I look at Redemption Parker and the next two years in this compelled initiative, I'm definitely convicted on how am I giving? Am I giving sacrificially? Am I giving generously? You know, can I give more? I stirred up some really great conversation with my wife and I, just how do we be more involved and engaged with what we're doing at RP, and how do we dig in just deeper? It's such a delight to see people who love the gospel and love Christ.
But they don't stop at being welcomed in by him. They work hard laying down their lives to welcome in others. And I think that's what's gonna compel us forward.
How I want to grow deeper in my relationship with Jesus is getting baptized and reading the Bible every day. I can be generous by bringing an offering each week. I want to give generously by giving toys away when people have none. I want to give generously by giving money to the church. I want to spread the gospel by teaching people about Jesus and praying for them.
Our compelled commitment means putting down roots where our kids and family will be known and loved and poured into and getting to provide that opportunity for many more families to come. The compelled initiative to us just means a place for us to call home. We've been searching for home and a place for our kids to feel at home. That's what Redemption Parker has been for us. This compelled commitment means to us a place to know and be known, a place to establish roots for our
children and their children and future generations. One year ago, almost to the exact date, we walked into RP not knowing what to expect and we were greeted with an amount of warmth and kindness that compelled us to come back and standing here one year later, we have been compelled to give back to this church hoping that future generations are able to feel the same way that we have felt for the past year.
As we step into this season together, Christ is calling us to go deeper in our discipleship, trusting Him with every part of our lives, to reach wider in our mission, living as sent people for the sake of others, to move forward in faith, building for generations we will never see. We move forward together compelled by the love of Christ. This is God's story, and in this moment and in this place, it is our turn.
All right, let me share some numbers with you, first of all. So let me remind you, if you've been around, know our normal operating budget is about a million dollars a year. So that covers our missions, it covers our staff, it covers renting this facility, it covers everything we normally do. And so that number itself is actually an amazing number. Like you guys have grown in your generosity over the years.
just as a testimony of God's grace. So a million dollars a year is amazing. If you were to do that over two years, you could say like, we would expect to receive about $2 million in operating expenses over the next two years. But we've grown a ton in that. So.
Now it's time to reveal the number, right? Is that the next slide? wait, I didn't tell the households, sorry. I got ahead of myself. I wanna share some numbers here, first of all. So total households and singles who are committed to this compelled journey. So we had 124 households make a compelled commitment. Let's praise God for that. That's huge.
That represents over 412 men, women, and children made in God's image saying, we are leaning in, we're all in on this place. That's an amazing number that, that, cause again, our primary goal was 100 % engagement, the people to lean in. Now of that number of the 124 households, we had some that
for the very first time that it took a step of discipleship and say, yeah, I've never given here before, but I'm going to start giving. was 34 households that first time give it. Let's praise God for that.
Again, that's like over a hundred people that are like, okay, we're in. We're for that. We believe that Christ's love should compel us. So excited for all that God has done in us and through us in this. Again, what we believe God is calling us to is not easy. It takes all of us. And some of you are going to jump in and join us even today. There's still time, right? But for most of us, this has been an incredible journey together as we've seen.
God move in ways we have not seen him do before. But God gets all the glory. Again, our normal budget's a million a year. Over two years, that would be two million. And so, are you ready for our total commitments and expected gifts over the next few years? Go ahead click on that. So we got, in commitments, we got...
Four million. Let's praise the Lord for that.
Just again, like what Paul said about the Macedonians, they gave to what they could give and they gave beyond that. Let me tell you why I'm just so excited about this. This is such an amazing number for a church like us and a stage where I just want to, as your pastor, thank you. Thank you for taking a huge and significant step of faith in partnership with your brothers and sisters, in partnership with the family of God. I cannot wait to see what God will continue to do in us.
and through us as we take bold steps. here's the thing. You might remember our secondary goal for compel was actually 4.5 million over the next two years. But let me just say this. It's a two year journey. There's still time to join us. Others will join us. I think we'll actually probably crush our goal. And I praise God for that. Some of you may join us. In fact, we got a commitment today. I'm like, man.
You can do that even today. You can make a commitment. You can go online. But let me tell you why I'm super, super, super encouraged by this. I have a friend, church in Texas, they were doing an expansion on their church. It's Texas. So they needed 50 million dollars for their expansion. But I know something that the church doesn't know. I know that he's got these connections to these young oil guys and he went off and had a retreat with them and the oil guys committed 50 million dollars.
before the church did anything. I was like, well, that's nice for you. Doesn't take any faith for you, pastor.
Let me tell you why this number is so, so, so, so encouraging. Some of you know like, often times churches are funded by the few. Where 10 % give 90 % of the budget. Where then they make their goal and they have a celebration. That's not our church. Here's why this number is so exciting. Because so many of you are sacrificing so
But there's a question in your mind. There's a question in my mind who sacrificing a lot is if I make this sacrifice will others and the resounding answer for the from your brothers and sisters your fellow covenant church members is yes Yes, they are sacrificing this like like we don't have any very large gifts, but what we have is everyone Holding hands together saying we will do this together. Can we just praise the Lord for that?
Tricia, I'm sorry I'm cutting into your time. me just, let me try to, she's like, yeah, we have no time left. So again, this is just the beginning of the journey. We call it today our first big give. Some of you have already started and have given. If you haven't, now would be a great time to begin to fulfill that commitment. Let me explain why it's so important to start even sooner rather than later. I do want you to know that the elders, all of their families, Jen and I,
Like we're sacrificing more than we've ever sacrificed before. And I only say that to say, hey, we would not ask you to do what we're not willing to do ourselves. We believe that there's a scriptural precedent. We need to lead the way. So Jen and I are going to write the largest check we've ever written before because we believe a couple of things. That giving is not only God's grace through us, it is God's grace to us. Like we get to invest in eternity. We get to reap eternal rewards for that.
gonna give. Now let me give you a quick update on the land, the building, all that stuff. we had hoped to close on the land in December, but then there was a little hang up with the county. They're gonna have a hearing in May, should go through smooth, pray for us. Once that gets closed, we have the money you've already given to pay cash for that. The architects and the builders are working together right now doing the construction documents. That's where they pick the actual like stones and lights and all that stuff and getting bids on all that.
by the end of the summer, we could be breaking ground. Which is praise God for that.
We're dealing with church lenders because again even that doesn't cover all that. But so this is why we say if possible if you're able to give up front just like you going to get a mortgage we want to show the best financials possible to get the best deal possible. So if you could if you have that capacity begin now to do that. So the best response and the reminder from David and everything anything we give is only because God first gave it to us.
Like we don't pat ourselves on the back actually. All the glory goes to God. So I'm going to pray and we're going to worship and we're going have some ice cream. Amen? Amen. Let me pray.
God Is…
AI Transcript
Man, thank you Ryan. Yes, and you guys should sign up for that church history class. I believe Lainey will be teaching that class as a 12 week class at Denver Seminary in the fall. So she's going to do it in four weeks for us. There's no required reading or homework. So you can just come in and hear about the history of our history, our brothers and our sisters, a class on church history. We do have a big...
Institute season ahead we got a theology on the ground. Remember those. They're back starting next week. So we're bringing out the world renowned New Testament scholar Craig Blomberg and he's going to talk about a faith that can answer apologetics in a world of competing truth. Obviously that there's not.
competing truths there is one truth but but but but but this is gonna be a fun time where we can engage this is a time that that you can bring your unbelieving friends and family members skeptics where we walk through apologetics why do we believe what we believe how to give an answer to our faith because we can so mark your calendars for that that's next week from 4 to 6 p.m.
here at the Pace Center and we do have child care for that as well. Well, you can begin making your way to First Corinthians chapter eight. That's where we will be this morning. First Corinthians chapter eight.
God is. How would you finish that sentence? God is. Seriously, what's the first thing that comes into your mind when you think about God? God is. Let's hear it. Good, awesome. Rock. Anyone else? Merciful.
Love, I love it. A.W. Tozer starts off his classic, The Knowledge of the Holy with this line, What comes to mind when you think about God is the most important thing about you. Now the reason I think it's the most important thing about you is because, well, everyone's a theologian. I'm not sure you woke up this morning and looked.
yourself in the mirror and said you my friend are a theologian but you are whether you want to be one or not theology simply means words about God we we all have them you have them your kids have them your your neighbors we all have words about God the Jew the Hindu Muslim the spiritual the the Christian the the atheist we all have words
about God. And how we think about God has massive implications. For sure for all of eternity, and that's a sobering thought. For ourselves, our family, our friends, our neighbors, our co-workers, the unreached nations. How we finish that sentence, God is, is a matter of eternal life and death. But it's not just about heaven or hell.
Being a good theologian affects your experience of life here and now. For instance, theology is practical. How you understand who God is has massive implications for how you live your life. You are a theologian. Are you a good one?
If you're like me, you're feeling a ton of pressure right now. Man, I better get this figured out, be a good theologian, and you should be. But the cool thing is God has revealed himself to us. In the words of Tim Keller, what you think about God is not nearly as important as what God says about himself. I love that. What you think about God is not nearly as important as what God says about himself.
God has spoken. He has revealed himself to us. So for the next nine weeks, we're going to be doing just that. We're going to be getting our eyes on the one who, in the words of Anselm, there is none greater. The one who is transcendent, utterly other than, has become imminent, made himself known to us.
Now according to Jude 3, Christians are called to confess the faith once delivered to the saints. This is our aim. So we're calling this series God is. God is. And so for the next two months, we're going to do what the psalmist says in Psalm 27. We're going to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord. There's a term called theology.
proper and it sounds fancy, it simply means the study of God himself, his nature, his attributes, his character. This series God is, will be all about that. We're going to look at God. We're going to try to figure out who he is. We're going to see some things about him that are nothing like us. And in my prayer is that we would realize how
big this God is, like his sovereignty. Or next week, his self-existence, his presence, his unchanging nature, his incomprehensibility. Often we live as if people are big and our problems are big and God is, well, rather small. My prayer is that during this series, that would get reversed.
that we would experience the total revolution of a big God theology in our lives. And we're gonna see some things about God that at some level we can relate to and yet we also desperately need from Him things like love, wisdom, faithfulness, goodness. My hope is that as we see God's character,
we would be encouraged that our God is not just big, He's good. And He's for you. Our hope is that this series would cause adoration and imitation. Worship and transformation. That we would behold God, And as we behold God, we would become
So that's where we're headed. you're not already there, 1 Corinthians chapter 8 is where we'll begin this morning.
just gonna read verse six.
yet for us, apostle Paul speaking, yet for us there is one God, the Father. All things are from Him and we exist for Him. And there is one Lord, Jesus Christ. All things are through Him and we exist through Him. This is the word of God. Amen.
And if you were to come to my house, may wonder what's on the doorframe of our home. There it is. That's our mezusa. If you know the Shema from Deuteronomy, this is where the mezusa gets its credibility from. So Moses in Deuteronomy says, hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart.
with all your soul, with all your strength. These words that I am giving you today are to be in your heart. Repeat them to your children. Talk about them when you sit in your house and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Bind them as a sign on your hand and let them be as a symbol on your forehead. Write them on the doorposts of your house and on your city gates. Well...
When our mezuzah came from Jerusalem, I mean Amazon, me and my oldest opened it up and we found this scroll inside the Shema, Deuteronomy 6 in Hebrew. And then we proceeded to do what would get you expelled for in Jewish school. We wrote on the back of that scroll. And what we wrote is the verse I just read for you out of 1 Corinthians chapter.
This verse is what New Testament scholars called the New Covenant Shema. Maybe you notice some similarities. Yet for us there is one God, the Father. All things are from Him and we exist for Him. Every faithful Jew will say yes and amen to that. But then the Apostle Paul, this New Covenant Jew, continues. And there is one Lord.
Paul using this word, Lord, or in the Greek, Kyrios is shocking. This would definitely get you thrown out of a synagogue. What's so shocking is that this is the same word that's used when the Hebrew Old Testament is getting translated into Greek. Anytime the Hebrew word Yahweh or Adonai came up, was translated Kyrios, or what we would translate as
Lord, so when you come to first Corinthians 8 6 and Paul says there is one curious one Lord Jesus Christ all things are through him and we exist Through him. Do you see what Paul is doing? Remember Christianity is not some new religion with the coming of Christ Christianity is the fulfillment of what we have from the beginning of
The story from Genesis three online from Genesis three onward. This story has an arc pointing toward a Messiah. I would even challenge you whenever you read the name Jesus Christ in your Bibles substitute Christ for Messiah. Christ is not Jesus's last name rather it's a title Jesus the Christ.
Jesus the Messiah, the King, the anointed one. And whose Messiah? Israel's. Christianity is the fulfillment of God's plan of redemption that goes all the way back to Adam and Eve in the garden, Abraham and Sarah, Moses and the Israelites. So when Paul gives this new covenant Shema in first Corinthians eight, he's not changing the oneness of God.
He's not starting some new religion. Yet for us, he says, there is one God, the Father. All things are from Him and we exist for Him and there is one Lord, the Messiah. All things are through Him and we exist through Him. He's saying Jesus, Israel's long anticipated Messiah is also God.
Jesus is Adonai. Jesus is Yahweh Himself. Jesus is the one God we see in both Shema's, Deuteronomy and 1st Corinthians. We'll see from other passages that the Holy Spirit is also God. We have three persons, yet one God.
mystery as we jump into this God is series, it would be wise for us to begin laying down this foundation, the Trinity. Now there's a lot that we could say about the Trinity, but for this sermon this morning, don't miss this. There is one God, one God who exists in three persons, Father, the Son, and
the Holy Spirit. God isn't made up of parts. In other words, God's not one third father, one third son, and one third Holy Spirit. All the pieces of the pie making one God. No. Rather, the father is fully God. The son is fully God. The Holy Spirit is fully God. And yet there are not three gods, but one God.
We'll stop there. This is not a class on the Trinity. And yet we can't even begin to say God is without defining God. And as we define God as Father, Son, and Spirit, and in the weeks ahead move into who He is as self-existent, love,
faithful, good, sovereign on and on and on. It's vital we understand that God is a being unlike us. God is a being utterly other. We have attributes. In some ways we're made up of parts. Maybe some of you guys right now are doing some parts work in therapy. For instance, some days I have patients.
Other days I don't, I can get quite impatient. have awesome moments of love where I truly feel like I'm walking by the spirit. And yet I easily have these moments of selfishness. In a matter of minutes, I can have wisdom in one decision and the next I can act extremely unwise. Not with God. God doesn't have attributes.
Even good ones like love, goodness, wisdom, justice. We're tempted to think that this way about God because we don't understand he's other worldly. We want to say things like God has justice. God has righteousness. God has faithfulness. But most of all, God has love. We want to rank out his attribute.
But this series is called God is not God has because all that is in God, his attributes is God. Let me say that again. All that is in God is God. For instance, God doesn't have love. First John says God is love. He doesn't have goodness. He
is goodness. doesn't possess faithfulness like you and I might possess it in a given moment. He is faithful. And I know I'm asking you to use your brains this morning, but are you starting to track with me just how great this God is? He is a being in which none greater could be conceived. And if these things are true, that means that all that He is
He is fully. So he's not just love, he's wise, perfect, faithful love. He's not just just, he's loving justice. We can go on and on. I think you get the point. And this God cannot change. Malachi says, I the Lord do not change. James says, he's the one with whom there is no shadow or variation.
due to no variation or shadow due to change. only can God not change, which is very good news to us, but God is also infinite. It's not that God is just love or that God is good, but even that love and that goodness is to a degree that we could never fathom. Infinite.
For all of eternity, we will never plumb the depths of God. In my house, we love Forrest Frank. We play his music all the time. And he's got that song, God is good. And he keeps getting better. And he keeps getting better. That's actually not true. God is. He doesn't change. If he could get better, he would not be
God but I actually don't think the song's wrong. I think what Forrest does mean is that our experience of God as finite creatures means he continues in our experience to get better and better and better and better forever. I hope you're beginning to feel quite small. I think that's a good thing because we are. Imagine if we could
truly and fully understand God. At that point, he wouldn't be a being in which there is none greater. Rather, all we as his creatures can do is fall on our knees and lift up our hands and say like Paul in Romans 11, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God, how unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways for who has known
the mind of the Lord or who has been his counselor or who has given a gift to him that he might be repaid for from him and through him and to him are all things to him be glory forever and ever. Amen.
John Calvin says all we can really say about God as, as finite creature, speaking of the infinite is mere baby talk. love that baby talk. And yet if you're a parent in here, even our littlest kiddos know us. Joey, my, three year old would not be able to tell you where I'm from. What college I.
went to explain to you my life story, my personality type, but if you ask him who his daddy is, he knows.
And over the course of his life, he'll continue to know me in deeper and deeper ways that the same is true in our relationship with God. And all of this is possible friends, not only because God is, but that God is the gospel. John Piper wrote a book with that title years ago. God is the gospel and in it, his basic argument is simply the gospel.
The good news of Jesus is not just that we get forgiveness of sins, not just that we get eternal life or justification. We can go on and on and on. There are so many benefits of the gospel. But ultimately, the best news of the gospel, the greatest benefit of the gospel, friends, is that we get God Himself. We get God.
Maybe you're in here this morning and you don't know God. You've yet to jump on this journey with Him. Maybe you think, hey, I'm a decent person. I have more good than I have bad. I think God will be just fine with me. Well, if I could add to that Tim Keller quote from earlier, I'd add this. He says, what you think about God is not nearly as important as what God says about Himself. And I'll add,
and what he says about you. We've been talking about what God says about himself, but here's what God says about us. Before we get to the good news that God is the gospel, the bad news is that we are sinners. Born in sin. Our nature is one where we rebel against our
Creator like like Adam and Eve. We don't want to follow God We want to be God We want to be number one Do whatever makes us happy the Bible says there is none who is righteous No, not one that that apart from him our destination is eternal separation from him and yet God shows his love to us in that while
We are still sinners. The Lord, the Kyrios, Jesus, the Messiah died for you. The Son of God, the second person of the Trinity took on flesh, became a man and not just any man, the God man. He came here to live the life that we could not live and die the death that we deserve because of our sin.
So that by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone, you can have God himself. Every one of us comes into this world looking for somebody looking for us. We all feel this. At our core, we are created to be known.
And we can spend our entire lives longing to fill this void, sometimes without realizing that because of the gospel, we can have what our souls long for. To be fully seen, to be truly known, to be utterly loved beyond comprehension by the one to whom there is none greater, God himself. Amen.
Amen. So for us, there is one God, the Father. All things are from him and we exist for him. And there is one Lord, Jesus Christ. All things are through him and we exist through him. This morning, we've done a little theology. Thanks for rolling your sleeves up with me. We've looked at who God is and for the next eight weeks, we're going to continue to
gaze on the beauty of our Lord. But as we close this morning, have two points of application that are right from this passage here in first Corinthians eight in light of who God is. How then shall we live? Not, not that one. That's bad timing. It's a verse passage. There it is. We exist for him. We
exist through him. First, we exist for God and we exist through God. It sounds simple, but this is the call for all Christians. You exist for God. You belong to him. You're no longer your own. You've been bought with a price. And how do we exist for him? Well, by living.
through him. As we get our eyes on who God is, I hope we see as a church how glorious God is. And it would cause us to worship. Our God is better than we ever dared imagine. And yet we're called not just to adoration, but we're called to imitation. Paul in Ephesians says, imitate God as
beloved children Paul in first Corinthians is gonna say imitate me as I imitate Christ this is now our Calling Church to imitate Jesus so so what does this actually look like existing for him and Existing through him sound sounds great, but but what does this look like on a Monday morning? I'm so glad you asked
There's how I would answer that question. The Holy Spirit dwells in every single Christian. So if you're a follower of Christ in here this morning, God the Spirit lives in you. should just pause on that for a second. The Holy Spirit lives in you. And in a very real way, He unites us to
Jesus we're gonna do our baptisms here shortly and that's what baptism is all about us in Christ Christ in us through our Union with Jesus we die with Jesus We're raised with Jesus by the power of the Holy Spirit Imagine come Monday morning if we actually believed the power we possess Christ lives in you
with the purpose of making you look like Christ.
I finished an interesting book this year. Only God can judge me. The Many Lives of Tupac Shakur by Jeff Perlman. know Pastor Mark reads great novels like Thew of Golden and I read Tupac. But what's, what's fascinating to me about Tupac that I didn't know was I just figured he was all West coast thug life, but is actually more nuanced than that. Tupac wasn't raised in the streets of LA like his image portrays.
He attended Baltimore school for the arts where he studied acting, poetry and ballet. Let's throw the picture there with his ballet suit on in high school. That's Tupac. But when he got his first acting role in this movie, Jews, he played this character Bishop. Now this dude Bishop was a gangster and getting into the character Bishop changed Tupac's entire persona.
After he finished the movie, he never stopped being bishoped. In his imitation of this made-up character, Tupac goes on to becoming an icon, a rap legend, thug life, his mantra. Now imagine.
Imagine if we realize the role we get to play in what John Calvin calls God's theater, namely our lives here on earth, lived out before our director, God, called to exist for him and through him. Imagine if we actually believe that God is in us.
And by the power of God in us, we can put on Christ. can imitate Jesus. We can walk as Jesus walks.
Imagine what this would mean for you and for your family, for your neighbor and for the nations. Redemption Parker together by the power of the Holy Spirit. Let's exist for Him and through Him. Amen. Amen. Let me pray.