The Doctrine Of God

0:06 I want you to take out your message map with me, and what we're studying about in this series is the most important information you can ever download, ever. So you might be here, and you're like, you know, I'm not sure I believe in God. Welcome. We're happy that you're here. Others, you might be sort of one foot in, and one foot out and you're kind of teetering on making a decision, welcome. This is critical information. Others of us here, maybe you understand a good bit about the things and the nature of God. I believe this series will not only solidify what you know, but also it will stretch you and stretch me to understand God's ways in a deeper way, and it will help us glorify him like never before.

1:12 So make sure you take out this message map, and we have provided our team like a little holder where you can put all of these sessions, these notes in this. and we filled in the blank for you for last week's if you missed. And this week's, you can fill in those blanks with me. Is that exciting or what? I think so. I think so. I'll never forget the first time I ate cotton candy. I don't know why. It was just a cataclysmic event in my life. I think we were at Ringling Brothers in Barnum and Bailey Circus. You remember that? Way back in the day. and I was a little kid and I was looking around and I saw these vendors with these giant pink blobs of stuff on these little sticks.

2:05 Mom, I want one. So she got me one. I remember thinking, this is gonna be substantial. This is gonna taste so good. And as I opened my mouth and put my lips around this blob, it dissolved. I was shocked it was just flavored air. Cotton candy, it looks like one thing, but it's really another. It overpromises and underdelivers. I really think as I live and as I talk and walk around our culture in this city and as I do some traveling, I think a lot of us are cotton candy Christians. I know I've been that way before, and I struggle with that. we look like we're one thing we look really substantial and we look like whoa look at this man, look at this woman look at this kid but often times when it comes to the things of God we're just flavored air this series I believe will give us substance too many of us when it comes to the identity of God we sort of are like a buffet line I talked about this last time.

3:22 You know, a buffet, we have a lot of choices, and a lot of us just go straight for the dessert. We skip the meat and go for the banana pudding, and then we just tear up the banana pudding. This week I was talking to Lisa about this, and she majored in home economics, so she knows a lot about the chemistry of food, and she said it takes only an hour to digest pudding, but meat eight to nine hours. This series, theology, knowing God is the meat of the Christian life. This is solid. This has substance. Not that the other things we talk about don't. This, however, is about theology. What's theology?

4:14 Theology is the study of God. All of us are theologians. You might barely be a theologian, but you're a theologian. Theology is what the entire Bible says about a particular topic. Today I'm going to talk about the doctrine of God. It's inexhaustible. Today I'm going to talk about the identity of God. There is no way in our finiteness we can ever understand the essence of God. even when we get to heaven and we'll see God in another paradigm, we'll never, ever, even in eternity, understand everything there is to understand about God. It's sort of like marriage.

5:01 And anytime I illustrate the things of God, all the illustrations kind of fall short, but just help me here. Lisa and I have been married for 42 years, and one day we were doing a Q&A with some leaders about personal matters, about marriage and about family. And we just said, okay, do you guys have any questions? Lisa goes, yes. And this lady goes, Lisa, I'm sure, you know, having been married 42 years, that you know everything there is to know about Ed.

5:35 She was like, well, I've known him since he's been 14, and I pretty much, I think I know it all. Well, that night we were talking about some things, and I kind of went into some sign language. She goes, you know sign language? I never knew that about you.

5:57 So now she doesn't know everything. And you know, I'll never know everything there is to know about my lovely wife, ever, ever. And when it comes to the things of God, we don't know a lot, but we do, on the other hand, know a lot. There are communicable and incommunicable attributes of God. In other words, let me break it down. Shareable and unshareable. God has chosen to share a lot about his identity with you and me.

6:35 Also, he has chosen to keep something some things from us, some things, quite frankly, that we couldn't comprehend anyway. It'd fry a circuit. God is much bigger. He's much bolder. He's much more magnificent than we can ever, ever understand. On one hand, he holds the universe in his hand, and then he holds 8.2 billion people in his hand. He knows every hair on your head and mine, and I've had hair transplants. he knows the number of sands on the seashore that's how great our god is many times we see god in different ways this buffet style mentality i'll just pick this about god and i like that and i'll build my life around that the other stuff no i don't really dig that but i like this man this banana pudding is on point some of us see god though as a cosmic killjoy, don't we? We see him as a maybe benevolent grandfather. We see him as an EMT person. We see him as an Amazon delivery boy. We see him as a ghost, maybe even Bigfoot.

8:01 It's funny how we have these different concepts of God, and people say, well, my God. Well, Well, see, that's not accurate. God does not need us. Let me say that again. God does not need us. He doesn't need me. He wants you, and he wants me. But saying God needs me? No, God is self-sustaining. God is God. He has perfect community and his attributes are beautiful. The doctrine of God. What's a doctrine? A doctrine is kind of like theology. A doctrine is, again, what the entire Bible says about a particular topic. It's a statement. So today we're going through the doctrine of God.

8:56 That's kind of a light subject, isn't it? The doctrine of God. I read, I think it was yesterday on a plane, that cyber crime, and you've heard this too, I know, is just out of control. 26 million Americans fall prey, that's P-R-E-Y, to cyber crime every year. And it costs about $16 billion. That's a lot. could it be that we have sort of stolen God's ID? Could it be that we just concentrate on the parts that we like? Could it be that we've made him in our own image? So over the next couple of moments as I fly through this material, again, I could spend five lifetimes on this.

9:54 Here's some questions that you'll hopefully have answered. Number one, does God exist? Number two, if he does exist, has he revealed himself to us? And number three, what are the attributes of God? My challenge to you is this. I want you to say, God, some of you, if you're real, reveal yourself to me. I promise you he will. Now, if you're a believer, your prayer should be, God, reveal yourself to me in a deeper way, like I've never, ever known you before. That's what's going to happen. When it comes to God revealing himself to us, he's revealed himself to us in general revelation and specific revelation. I'm going to fly now. General revelation is the cosmos. It's the fact that we're here. That's general revelation. Specific revelation or special revelation is how God has revealed himself to us in this autobiography. God wants us to know him so much, generally. Okay, here I am, and then also specifically. The Bible says in the book of Romans, Romans, specifically chapter one, verses 19 and 20, since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them, for since the creation of the world, God's invisible qualities, his eternal power, divine nature, have been clearly seen being understood from what has been made, so that people are, Say these two words with me.

11:39 Without excuse. So the first verse in the Bible, it's just kind of like it is what it is. God exists. And over the years, smart people have used these rationales for God. The cosmological rationale. What does that mean? That's the existence of all created things, and it demands a creator. So creation demands a creator.

12:14 I think it was Wednesday, I saw some beautiful pieces of art. I mean, I was like stunned how gorgeous these artworks were. So obviously, because there was a piece of art, I said to my host, who? Who did these? Oh, and he named this artist. He's a famous artist. His work is seen in Art Basel in Miami. He's all over the world. And I said, man, this is something else. He said, my host said, would you like to meet him? Yes, I would. So I found myself talking to this renowned artist.

12:51 I mean, I'm not that smart, but a beautiful piece of art. I just concluded, okay, there must be an artist. A design must have a designer. Just look at the cosmos. That's the cosmological argument for God. The teleological rationale for God is everything has an order and a purpose by design.

13:18 We can just look around. Wow. Amazing. Look at the intricacies of photosynthesis. You mean that happened just by chance? Because everyone pretty much believed these arguments until, this is kind of ironic, the 18th century, you have the age of reason, which is kind of funny, isn't it? It was called that. Scientists said, maybe this thing happened by chance. Really? So I'm just amped up algae. From bioptic soup. Really? That's like saying, A steel factory explodes and the result is a Tesla. it's really funny isn't it people say oh the big bang the big bang well who pulled the trigger that's the teleological argument i gotta fly now the ontological rationale basically if you understand him if you understood god if i totally understood him he wouldn't be god the ethological rationale moral law is built in and requires a source study every people group every tribe, every nationality, they pretty much all have this moral stamp on their soul, don't they?

14:45 They choose honesty over deception. They choose peace over war. Where do we get that? Where do we get this in our minds and hearts when someone takes advantage of someone else, we say, someone's gotta pay. it was put there by the God of the universe. The fifth rationale for God, it's the transformational rationale. I want you to think with me. Billions of people all tell the same story that Jesus Christ changed and transformed their lives. Now I want you to think about it. So you're saying billions and billions of people have had the same hallucination? What?

15:36 What? So the existence of God, does God exist? We've seen this. It's pretty obvious. I mean, a design has to have a designer, right? This beautiful piece of art had an artist and, okay. How about some attributes of God? I mean, what is God like? Well, the identity of God is something that I opened up with that we have kind of stolen from him. I've been in Sao Paulo, Brazil, for the last several days.

16:15 And as I traveled to Brazil with Lisa to speak at a conference, I again was just reminded of the importance of the passport. You know, we need ID unless we're at the southern border or voting.

16:36 So So this passport certifies our identity and citizenship. So we go from one country to another. You know, Lisa and I walk up, hand our passports over. The guy looks at... Thank you, Jesus, you know. She stamps it. And that gives us the opportunity, does it not, to move, to transition from one place to another. Our IDs matter. We need to ID God. So here we go, God's identity. As I said earlier, the communicable and incommunicable aspects of God. The great philosopher and theologian R.C. Sproul was asked, what is man's greatest need need, and what is man's biggest problem? Here's what he said. Understanding the identity of God.

17:42 Then a follow-up question. Well, Dr. Sproul, how about Christians? I mean, how about people in the church? What's their biggest issue? Understanding the identity of God. Who is God? Well, he's omni. Omni means all. He's omnipresent. God is present everywhere at the same time. He knows about my sin and yours. He knows about my scars and yours. There's no such thing as a closed door session or something on the DL. God knows it all. He's everywhere present. Don't worry. that's one of the incommunicable attributes of God. We'll never understand him. He's also omnipotent. That means he's all powerful. God has the absolute authority and ability to do anything, anytime, anywhere.

18:37 He's God. Also, he's omniscient. God has complete and perfect knowledge of all things. Omni, omni, omni. are ever-present, ever-powerful, all-knowing God. How about this next one? God is invisible.

19:00 God's essence and divine nature are not perceptible to human sight. God cannot be confined by a space or a place. He's invisible. Now, obviously, he's manifest himself You look at the Old Testament and New Testament in different ways, but no one has ever seen the essence of God. Notice the next one, God is truthful. What does that mean? That which is consistent with the nature and revelation of God. God has revealed himself to us, remember, generally, also specifically through the scriptures. God is good. He's good. He's all that is morally right, beneficial, and in harmony with his character.

19:55 It keeps going. God is love. That's the profound, unconditional, and sacrificial care that God shows toward humanity. If we knew how much God loves us, we wouldn't believe it. God is holy, too. That's God is absolutely pure and completely separate from evil and sin. Now we're gonna come back to all these in this series. God is righteous. God's inherent nature of being just and fair and morally right in some of his ways. Nope, all of his ways. God is just. God is fair, equitable, and impartial in his dealings with the universe and you and me. God is jealous. Sometimes we think, God is jealous? Well, check this out.

20:47 God's intense and passionate commitment to his people reflecting his desire for their exclusive worship because God knows if we worship anything or anyone else, we're gonna be gravely disappointed. God is wrathful. Ouch. God's intense and righteous anger towards sin and evil.

21:09 God is unity. Now, check this out. God is completely and fully all of these attributes at once. Did you get that? Let me say it again. God is all of these attributes equally. Well, my God's a God of love. Yes, he is. But he's also a God of wrath. You see what I'm saying to you? So equally, God is all of these things. equally, perfectly. God is unity. One God, three personalities. That's the blessed Trinity. One in three, three in one. God has perfect unity and harmony within the Trinity. He doesn't need anything. That goes to God's independence.

22:04 The next thing, you see that? God's independence. God's independent. I'll say it and spray it and make you wheel it and deal it. God didn't need to create the world. He didn't. It's because, and here's an attribute, of his love and his grace. He created it. He initiated this, and he wants you and me, obviously we're made in his image, to worship him and reflect his glory. That's why we're here. Acts chapter 17. The God who made the world, this is the apostle Paul talking, and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by human hands and he's not served by human hands as if he needed anything.

22:59 Rather, he himself gives everyone life and breath. Romans 11, 36. For from him and through him and for him are all things. To him be the glory forever, amen. How can I illustrate that? Well, let me go back to marriage. Lisa and I got married 42 years ago.

23:29 We didn't have to have kids, did you know that? I mean, we were doing great. just me and my mate. Everything was fine. Everything was dandy. Every night was a date night. It was romantic. We could just flow, you know? We chose to have kids. Did we need them? No, we wanted them. That's just a scintilla of our great God.

24:08 That's how much we matter to him. The third thing is God's immutability. Malachi chapter three, verse six, I, the Lord, do not change. What kind of God would God be if he could change? What if he could change for the better? Well, that would mean when I met him, he wasn't as good as he is now. Or what if he changed for the worse? I mean, what kind of God would he be then? The unchangeableness of God. We need a God like that because of his trustworthiness, because we can bank on his promises. Notice number four, God's infinity. Now, this always, I just, when I start thinking about infinity, I don't know about you, I'm like, whoa, whoa. I am the Alpha and the Omega, says the Lord God, who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty.

25:07 Everything in creation is contingent, right? You take the universe, draw a big circle around it, obviously someone started the whole thing. God does not see space and time like we do. Everything is fluid. The Bible says in 2 Peter 3, verse 8, but do not forget this one, dear friends. I mean, with the Lord, a day, check this out, is like a thousand, a thousand years, and a thousand years is like a day. So when God sees history outside of time and space, everything is now. The creation, our redemption, Greek empire, Roman empire, He sees it in a fluid manner. Cowboys winning the Super Bowl, all of those things.

26:03 And when I start thinking about that, I blow a fuse. I blow a fuse. So God is independent. Yep. God is unchanging, his immutability. God is infinity. This is God's identity. One day could be tomorrow. One day could be five years from now. One day could be 50 years from now. You'll be held accountable. So will I regarding what we did with the identity of God.

26:58 Think about that. I want to ask you a question, a serious question. You could be all the way up on the balcony. What are you doing, or what have you done with the identity of God? Very simple. The Bible is a book about revelation. God revealed himself to us. The second person of the Godhead, Jesus, God sent him to live righteously, to die sacrificially, to rise bodily, thereby giving you and me an opportunity to receive him and place our identity in his hands. And I've just got to ask you, has your passport been stamped? has it been stamped by the blood of Jesus?

27:58 Because if it has, this is not your home. If it has, when you come before God one day, you'll have the documentation. You'll have the ID, not because of you or me, but because of him to enter. And the beautiful thing about it is it starts right here.

28:31 The doctrine of God. Would you pray? Lord Jesus, this has been just a a very profound study in my life and I pray for every person's life here there's no way that we can download all of this information we don't have the bandwidth but obviously you've shared with us enough enough for redemption enough to walk in your identity, enough to be followers, citizens of heaven. And it's my prayer, if you're here and you've never, ever asked Jesus to come into your life, if you've never had your passport stamped, you can do it.

29:33 Ed, how do I do it? by simply saying, God, I believe you love me so much that you identified with me by sending Jesus to live perfectly, to die, sacrificially, and rise again. And right now, Jesus Christ, I ask you to come into my life.

29:56 I want you to say that. I mean, I can't make you do it. You have a freedom of choice. but God wants you to do that that's why he made you you might be here and you've been a Christian for a long time, but you've sort of kept the things of God, the deeper things of God at a distance. And it's time to meditate on the attributes and the glory of God. Because God will take you places. He'll give you confidence and strength and wisdom like never, ever before, and it only comes, God, from you. So we give this time to you, Father, and we ask all these things in Jesus' name.