Knowing God Part 4: The Natural Attributes of God
What We Believe, and Why We Believe It! • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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Studying God is a huge undertaking. Just consider how vast the universe is, God created it. For me to stand here and tell you that “Tonight we’re going to learn about God” is a foolish thing to say. We’re going to begin learning about God, how about that?
For the Christian, there is no “I have learned about God”. It is always int he present active tense, “I am learning about God”. Tonight we are going to begin looking at the division of God’s attributes.
Two Categories:
Two Categories:
Natural attributes
Moral Attributes (more to come later)
Tonight we’ll be discussing the “natural attributes of God”.
What do I mean by “natural attributes”? Those that are tied to His intrinsic nature, or that are tied to His being. These are attributes we can never share with God to any degree.
There are four attributes of God considered to be natural attributes:
Omnipresence
Omnipresence
God is everywhere present at all times…say that again REAL SLOW!
God is EVERYWHERE present at ALL times.
Consider the following verses:
7 Whither shall I go from thy spirit? Or whither shall I flee from thy presence?
8 If I ascend up into heaven, thou art there: If I make my bed in hell, behold, thou art there.
9 If I take the wings of the morning, And dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea;
10 Even there shall thy hand lead me, And thy right hand shall hold me.
11 If I say, Surely the darkness shall cover me; Even the night shall be light about me.
12 Yea, the darkness hideth not from thee; But the night shineth as the day: The darkness and the light are both alike to thee.
1 Thus saith the Lord, The heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool: Where is the house that ye build unto me? And where is the place of my rest?
2 Though they dig into hell, thence shall mine hand take them; Though they climb up to heaven, thence will I bring them down:
3 And though they hide themselves in the top of Carmel, I will search and take them out thence; And though they be hid from my sight in the bottom of the sea, Thence will I command the serpent, and he shall bite them:
24 God that made the world and all things therein, seeing that he is Lord of heaven and earth, dwelleth not in temples made with hands;
25 Neither is worshipped with men’s hands, as though he needed any thing, seeing he giveth to all life, and breath, and all things;
26 And hath made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth, and hath determined the times before appointed, and the bounds of their habitation;
27 That they should seek the Lord, if haply they might feel after him, and find him, though he be not far from every one of us:
28 For in him we live, and move, and have our being; as certain also of your own poets have said, For we are also his offspring.
God’s omnipresence should be a comfort and encouragement to His children!
20 For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them.
20 Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen.
5 Let your conversation be without covetousness; and be content with such things as ye have: for he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee.
6 So that we may boldly say, The Lord is my helper, and I will not fear what man shall do unto me.
You are NEVER alone!
When everyone else deserts you, God doesn’t. God won’t. God can’t!
In your darkest trial - God is there
In your most desperate hour, God is there!
God’s omnipresence should also humble us.
Because God is always everywhere present, there is NOTHING He does not see.
If we truly understood this ONE attribute of God it would keep us from sin.
Right out of the gate we are dealing with a convicting truth about God’s attributes, but wait, there’s more! Next there is God’s...
Omniscience
Omniscience
God is all-knowing and has complete, perfect knowledge of everything!
This includes all things:
Whether actual (what you have done) or possible (what you could do)
The invention of the internet did not surprise God, neither did it enlighten Him!
Whether past, present, or future - “Did it ever occur to you that nothing EVER occured to God?”
7 Canst thou by searching find out God? Canst thou find out the Almighty unto perfection?
8 It is as high as heaven; what canst thou do? Deeper than hell; what canst thou know?
5 Great is our Lord, and of great power: His understanding is infinite.
19 For he hath looked down from the height of his sanctuary; From heaven did the Lord behold the earth;
21 For the ways of man are before the eyes of the Lord, And he pondereth all his goings.
17 For mine eyes are upon all their ways: they are not hid from my face, neither is their iniquity hid from mine eyes.
1 O Lord, thou hast searched me, and known me.
2 Thou knowest my downsitting and mine uprising, Thou understandest my thought afar off.
3 Thou compassest my path and my lying down, And art acquainted with all my ways.
4 For there is not a word in my tongue, But, lo, O Lord, thou knowest it altogether.
5 Thou hast beset me behind and before, And laid thine hand upon me.
6 Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; It is high, I cannot attain unto it.
Do you want to hear the most amazing part of this attribute? God knows EVERYTHING about you, all you have ever done, all you are right now doing, and all you ever will do, and He still loves you! Guess what, There is more still! Next we see God’s...
Omnipotence
Omnipotence
God is ALL-POWERFUL
14 Is any thing too hard for the Lord? At the time appointed I will return unto thee, according to the time of life, and Sarah shall have a son.
24 The Lord of hosts hath sworn, saying, Surely as I have thought, so shall it come to pass; And as I have purposed, so shall it stand:
24 Thus saith the Lord, thy redeemer, And he that formed thee from the womb, I am the Lord that maketh all things; That stretcheth forth the heavens alone; That spreadeth abroad the earth by myself;
9 Remember the former things of old: For I am God, and there is none else; I am God, and there is none like me,
10 Declaring the end from the beginning, And from ancient times the things that are not yet done, Saying, My counsel shall stand, And I will do all my pleasure:
11 Calling a ravenous bird from the east, The man that executeth my counsel from a far country: Yea, I have spoken it, I will also bring it to pass; I have purposed it, I will also do it.
35 And all the inhabitants of the earth are reputed as nothing: and he doeth according to his will in the army of heaven, and among the inhabitants of the earth: and none can stay his hand, or say unto him, What doest thou?
26 But Jesus beheld them, and said unto them, With men this is impossible; but with God all things are possible.
13 For thou hast possessed my reins: Thou hast covered me in my mother’s womb.
14 I will praise thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made: Marvellous are thy works; And that my soul knoweth right well.
15 My substance was not hid from thee, When I was made in secret, And curiously wrought in the lowest parts of the earth.
When God could have used any of the thousands of examples in Scripture concerning His power, He chose to use the miracle of life begin formed in the womb to demonstrate His omnipotence.
What does this tell us? That God can do as He wills, but he chooses to be “self-limited” by His nature
Meaning that whatever God does, will be in harmony with His other attributes.
There are somethings God cannot do:
13 If we believe not, yet he abideth faithful: he cannot deny himself.
18 That by two immutable things, in which it was impossible for God to lie, we might have a strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before us:
13 Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God: for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any man:
Do you want to hear the best part about this? God sees you, God knows you, and by His power, God can save you!
That lost loved one on your heart, God sees them, God knows them, and God wants to save them!
There is no sin too big that God cannot forgive! But there is one more natural attribute to look at and it is the best yet! God’s...
Immutability
Immutability
God NEVER Changes!!!!!!
19 God is not a man, that he should lie; Neither the son of man, that he should repent: Hath he said, and shall he not do it? Or hath he spoken, and shall he not make it good?
11 The counsel of the Lord standeth for ever, The thoughts of his heart to all generations.
21 There are many devices in a man’s heart; Nevertheless the counsel of the Lord, that shall stand.
12 And as a vesture shalt thou fold them up, and they shall be changed: but thou art the same, and thy years shall not fail.
17 Wherein God, willing more abundantly to shew unto the heirs of promise the immutability of his counsel, confirmed it by an oath:
18 That by two immutable things, in which it was impossible for God to lie, we might have a strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before us:
8 Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and to day, and for ever.
God remains the same as far as His essence, attributes, plans, and purposes are concerned!
NOW, there are passages that mention God “repenting”:
6 And it repented the Lord that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him at his heart.
11 It repenteth me that I have set up Saul to be king: for he is turned back from following me, and hath not performed my commandments. And it grieved Samuel; and he cried unto the Lord all night.
These are anthropomorphic expressions intended to show God’s hatred of sin, and his willingness to accept the repentant soul.
God is good!
God sees you, and God loves you.
God knows you, and still God loves you.
God has the power to save you and He will.
God’s promises do not change because God does not change!