The Truth About God

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You may have heard the name Erasmus. Erasmus was a brilliant renowned scholar. In fact, he produced the Greek text from which the King James version was translated. He received a letter from a younger man, a man at that time without the reputation that Erasmus had in that culture. The man's name was Martin Luther. Martin Luther wrote to Erasmus. In one of his letters he said, "Your thoughts of God are too human." Well Erasmus probably didn't take it really well. He probably didn't appreciate the rebuke, especially coming from a lowly minor's son. But if it was true of Erasmus and it was. It is much more profoundly true today of professing Christians.

All you have to do is look around at the Christian landscape and read the things that are written. Better yet go into a Christian bookstore or better maybe, a Christian trinket shop with a few books smattered somewhere in the back and you begin to get a view of how our culture, how our Christian culture perceives God. The words of A.W. Pink, I think, really speak to the issues of our time. He said, "The God of this century no more resembles the Sovereign of Holy Writ than does the dim flickering of a candle, the glory of the midday sun. The God who was talked about in the average pulpit, spoken of in the ordinary Sunday School, mentioned in much of the religious literature of the day and preached in most of the so-called Bible conferences, is a figment of human imagination and invention, an invention of maudlin sentimentality. The heathen outside the pail of Christendom formed gods of wood and stone, while millions of heathens inside Christendom manufacture a god out of their own carnal minds. In reality, they are but atheists. For there is no other possible alternative between an absolutely Supreme God and no God at all. A God whose will is resisted, whose designs are frustrated, whose purpose is checkmated, possesses no title to deity and far from being a fit object of worship merits nothing but contempt."

That is so true. It brings to mind Psalm 50, where the psalmist quoting God says, "You thought that I was just like you." That really is the god that has been created today. Well, I want us over the next couple of months to look together at the only reliable source for the truth about God. And that is, in His own words. We can learn about God from creation. Romans 1 tells us. We can learn about God from our conscience, That He's a lawgiver. That He has a Holy standard according to Romans 2. But while those are helpful in the end, they can be misread. They can be misinterpreted. We can conclude by looking at the world around us, for example. While we can see God's power, we could conclude that God is evil because there's evil in the world. We could conclude that God is capricious because things to us just don't seem to always happen the way they should happen. It seems capricious. Only perfect revelation can give us the true character of God and that's what we find in the Scripture. And that's what I want us to delve into over the next, and I'm not going to promise how long, but we're not going to go fast through the attributes of God. We may just sort of take one each Sunday night until we exhaust them and really get a picture of who our great God is.

As we begin our study, though it's important that we get some sort of foundational ideas in mind. We need to understand what do we mean when we say attributes? What do we mean by the word attributes?

Available online at www.countrysidebible.org

Copyright © 2004 Tom Pennington. All rights reserved Unedited transcript for personal use only.

Well, generally, an attribute is a concept that is expressed by an adjective or noun used to describe a person or thing. Now that you don't need that definition, but I thought I'd throw that in there. Here is what Tozer said: "An attribute of God is simply something that is true about God." It is aspects of God, views of God, portraits of God. They're his perfections or his virtues. I've had the opportunity, as some of you have, to visit the Tower of London in England. I love London. I love all that's there. But I got a chance to go into the Tower of London as you perhaps have and see the Crown Jewels. Really an amazing sight. Among the Crown Jewels mounted on the scepter, the royal scepter, is the Cullinan 1 or the Star of Africa Diamond. It is the largest cut diamond in the world at five hundred and thirty carats. That'd weigh your hand down ladies. As I said, it's set in the Royal Scepter, and it's kept with the other Crown Jewels in the Tower of London. Now most rough-cut diamonds or I should say most rough diamonds when they are yet uncut, have eight facets. Picture two pyramids with their bases glued together. That's essentially what they look like when they're pulled from the earth. Today, the most popular cut diamonds are cut in a round shape called a brilliant cut. And they have fifty-eight facets, from eight shaped into fifty-eight facets. The Star of Africa as you can see, is kind of pear shaped. It has seventyfour facets. Here's my point. As we look over the next number of weeks at the attributes of God. Really examining His attributes is like taking the Star of Africa and slowly, gently, turning it to see the light reflect off of each new brilliant facet.

God is still one as this diamond is one. He can't be divided into his attributes, but each attribute gives us yet another perspective of His beauty and His glory. Now it's important as we embark that you understand the distinction between essential attributes and non-essential attributes. You see an attribute can be used to describe any predicate that we ascribe to God. A predicate is simply what follows, "God is". If you say, "God is" and you leave a blank, anything that follows that is a, in a sense, an attribute of God. Well, therefore, it's important that we distinguish between these kinds of attributes.

An essential or defining attribute is an attribute that defines who God is. Without these He wouldn't be God. Non-essential attributes are those attributes that are true about God, but if they weren't true, He would still be God. Let me give you an example. If I say, God is love. That is an attribute of God. If I say, God is the creator of Tom Pennington. That is also an attribute of God. One of those is an essential defining attribute to the character of God. If God weren't love, He wouldn't be God, He would no longer be the God of the Bible. But if He had never chosen to create me, He would still be God. So, when we look at the attributes of God, we're not looking at everything the Bible says about God, I mean there are a lot of images that are used to portray God. There are a lot of truths that are said about God. All of those are true, but when we talk about the attributes of God, we're talking about the essential defining attributes. Those things that make Him God and without which he wouldn't be God. If any one of them is missing, the God of the Bible disappears.

Now, as we begin to look at attributes one more sort of introductory thing, and that is. Let's talk briefly about some guiding principles. Actually, two more introductory things - guiding principles. It's important to understand that when we talk about God's attributes, we're talking about His entire essence described from different perspectives. You see the biblical teaching about God's attributes is that His attributes are an indivisible unity.

Let me give you an example. In the Bible, all of God's attributes share all the other attributes. For example, God is mercy. But guess what? His mercy is eternal. His mercy is just. His mercy is righteous. God is love, but His love is just, and His love is eternal. You get the idea. They're an indivisible unity. You can't sort of peel God apart into parts.

And that brings us to the second guiding principle to keep in mind. God's attributes are not addons to His person. Each one describes who He is. For example, if I ask you, what is God's goodness? Is goodness something that is in God? No, goodness is Him. Divine goodness is really just a way to refer to everything that God is. Everything God does is good. Everything God thinks is good. Everything He is, is good. All His attributes are good. All His decrees are good. All His actions are good. There is nothing in God that isn't good. So, you don't sort of, God didn't sort of add on these things to His being. They're who He is, and they permeate everything that He is. This is an interesting sidelight here. I'll just mention this in passing. This means to praise one of God's attributes. For example, to praise, God's goodness, is not the praise a part of God. It's to praise all that God is.

Another defining principle. The attributes are either specifically mentioned in Scripture, for example, justice is mentioned by name. Love, grace or they can be deduced from the clear teaching of Scripture. For example, we'll deal at some point with the immensity of God. That is a clearly taught biblical principle. But the word immensity does not occur. So, they can either, they're either specifically stated, or they can be deduced from what the Bible says. We're going to look at one tonight, Lord willing, that can be deduced from what the Bible says.

But here's the final important guiding principle. Don't lose sight of this reality. God is not a collection of abstract properties. He is a person. We're talking about a person, and we're talking about His relationship to who He is, and to His world that He's created. And I'll do my best to keep you on that track as well - so that we can worship our God and not some abstract principle floating off in space somewhere.

One final clarification before we look at a specific attribute. How do we classify them? You know? Although God can't be divided into parts and there's no essential attribute that's more important than another. You'll read some textbooks that argue that, oh, no, you know God's holiness is more important than any other attribute, or God's self-existence is more important than any other attribute. Well, the truth is if the other principles I've just shared with you are true, then that can't be true. Any one of these defining principles stripped away and God ceases to be God. All of them are crucial.

There have been many attempts to sort of organize the attributes of God in a logical practical way, and you can read about a number of them. I'm just going to mention one because it's the most common. And it's with the words communicable and incommunicable. Communicable - by that we mean they can be shared with man. Man can also to some degree share these attributes, For example, holiness. God is holy. Man too can be holy. God is love. Man too can exhibit love.

And then there's the other category. The incommunicable attributes. These cannot be shared by man, cannot be communicated to man. An example would be immutability. We are, by definition as humans, subject to change. We're changing every second. God is immutable. He never changes, so there's a very real sense in which that can never be shared with the creature.

We're going to start in our study tonight to begin to look at the incommunicable attributes. I'll use this category just because there's no better but let me tell you about a problem with this designation. Here's why it doesn't work really well. So don't you know hang your hat on these too much. All those attributes that are listed as communicable, there's a sense in which they're not. I mean yes, I can be holy, but will I ever, ever come anywhere close to being holy like God is holy in the sense of the purity of his being? No, not in the same sense or to the same degree. I will be holy. Someday I'll be perfect. But I won't to the same degree as God. The same thing with love.

Also with the incommunicable attributes, while it's true that I will never be immutable, when God redeems my body and I'm taken to be with Christ. I go into a period of where there is no real change. I become like Christ, and I will remain so throughout eternity. So, the categories are not perfect, but they're the best we can do.

Alright, now, with those introductory matters done, I want us to examine tonight a very specific attribute of God in the time that we have remaining called His independence. His independence. This is also called His aseity. Comes from the Latin word esse, which means from or by himself.

It's also called His self-existence. Those are all terms for the same thing: God's independence, God's aseity, God's self-existence. What do we mean by this attribute? What I'm going to do, and I'll probably do this in each case. We'll start with a definition and then we'll look at the biblical data that supports that. That explains that. That fills out our understanding of it. And then we'll end with some practical ramifications.

Alright, so let's begin with a definition. What exactly does this mean, God's self-existence or His independence? Well, I, like John Feinberg's definition in his book, No one Like Him, which I recommend to you highly it is a ton though so be prepared to work through a lot of material. He describes God this way. God's self-existence. God depends on nothing other than Himself for His existence. Wayne Grudem, in his Systematic Theology, says the difference between God's being and ours is more than the difference between the sun and a candle. It's more than the difference between the ocean and a raindrop, than the difference between the Arctic ice cap and a snowflake. It's more than the difference between the universe and the room in which we sit. God's being is qualitatively different. No limitation or imperfection in creation should be projected unto our thought of God. He is the creator. All else is creaturely. All else can pass away in an instant. He necessarily exists forever. You see, not only does God not need the creation for anything, but He could not need the creation for anything, or He would cease to be God.

Now let's look at what the Scripture says, sort of fill out our understanding of this. Essentially, the Biblical data make two crucial points about this attribute of God. The first is that He is selfexistent. That is, the ground of God's being is in Himself. Let's look at a number of Scripture passages that will fill out our understanding. The first, you really don't even need to turn to. You know it from memory. "In the beginning, God." "In the beginning, God." Those are really profound words. You see there was a time, if we in fact can call it time, when there was no one but God. Absolutely, no one. The three persons of the Trinity enjoyed perfect eternal joy and there was nothing else. No plants, no animals, no human being, no earth, no Milky Way galaxy, no universe, no angels, absolutely nothing but God. And that was true, not for a day, not for a month, not for a year, not for a millennium but from eternity past there was only God. From the far reaches of eternity, God was absolutely alone, self-existent, independent, self-sufficient. There was nothing beside God, He needed nothing else. He needed absolutely nothing. In the beginning there was only God. And that's the profound point, one of the profound points that Genesis 1:1 makes. It goes on to describe how God decided, as we'll see later, for His own purposes to create. But God didn't need to create. God didn't need us. He didn't need the universe. He didn't need the world. God needed nothing. Within the Trinity, within the three persons who communed together, God was perfectly blessed and complete, absolutely selfexistent.

Look at Exodus 3. You remember the story of Moses. After forty years in the wilderness, keeping sheep, after forty years in the palace, learning the ways of the Egyptians. He's now eighty years old. He's keeping sheep one day and he sees this amazing sight. There's a bush that burns, but isn't consumed, and so he goes over to see what's going on and Jehovah God, Yahweh speaks to him from the bush. Verse 4, "When the Lord saw that he turned aside to look, God called to him from the midst of the bush and said, 'Moses, Moses!', and he said, 'Here, I am.' Then he said, 'Do not come near here; remove your sandals from your feet, for the place on which your standing is holy ground.'" And God goes on to reveal himself to Moses. He says, Moses, I'm going to send you on a mission. Verse 10. "I'll send you to Pharaoh, so that you may bring my people, out of Egypt." But Moses said, well, who exactly do I say is sending me? Verse 14. "God said to Moses, 'I AM WHO I AM' and He said, 'Thus you should say that the sons of Israel, I AM has sent me to you.'" Now, what does that mean? I AM? What does it refer to? It refers to God's self-existence. As I've explained to you before, that is the first person of the verb to be - I AM. When we say the name Yahweh, that is the third person of the verb to be - He is. He's simply the one who is. He is responsible for all existence, including His own. He depends on nothing or no one for His existence. And so, He says, you tell them I AM has sent you. I am the eternally self-existent one. I AM.

Let's look at a couple of other passages. Turn to Job 35. Elihu is rebuking Job. He's the one of Job's friends that God does not rebuke in the end of the book. And he says something very interesting in Verse 6. He says, "If you have sinned, what do you accomplish against Him?" In other words, if you sin does that really hurt God? "And if your transgressions are many, what do you do to Him? If you are righteous, what do you give to Him or what does He receive from your hand? Your wickedness is for a man like yourself, and your righteousness is for a son of man." He's saying, listen, neither our righteousness nor our wickedness, however, we decide to live affects God's essence. He's absolutely unaffected by it because he's self-existent. Our decisions don't affect God. Flip over a couple of pages to Job 41:11. God now is speaking to Job, putting Job in his place, and he says in Verse 11, "Who has given to me that I should repay him. Whatever is under the whole heaven is Mine." See what God is saying? He's saying listen, it is impossible to bring me under obligation. There's nothing you can do that will obligate me. You can't give me anything that makes me obligated to you.

Look at Psalm 90:2. In the Psalm of Moses, Verse 1, he says, "Lord, you've been our dwelling place in all generations before the mountains were born, or you gave birth to the earth." That's an amazing Hebrew picture, isn't it? "You gave birth to the earth and the world, even from everlasting to everlasting you are God." He's saying, listen, Lord before you decided to create anything, you were there. In the beginning, God. Moses tells us that before creation there was God.

The New Testament continues the same message. John 1, "In the beginning," those famous words, "was the Word, the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God." So here we have Christ identified as sharing eternal union and unity in the Trinity with the Father from eternity past when there was just God. And notice Verse 3, then something happened. "All things came into being through Him." Notice, all things. "And apart from Him," John wants to make it clear, "nothing came into being that has come into being." God doesn't depend on creation of any kind. Everything besides Him that exists, He created. One of the most profound statements comes in our Lord's mouth in John 5. Now understand the context here. Jesus is talking about life and he's talking about actually, bringing physical life where there's physical death. And then he deals with the issue of providing spiritual life and it's in that context. He says this in verse,

Notice Verse 24:

Truly, truly I say to you, he who hears My word and believes Him who has sent me, has eternal life and does not come into judgment but has passed out of death into life. Truly, truly, I say to you, an hour is coming, and now is, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God and those who hear will live.

Now watch verse 26

For just as the Father has life in Himself, even so, He gave to the Son also to have life in Himself.

This is probably the most definitive statement in all the Scripture about the self-existence of God. Here we're dealing with both physical life and spiritual life in the context. And Christ says life is something that the Father and I have in Ourselves? Jesus is saying that He and the Father depend on no one else for their life or on nothing else for their life.

Turn to the Book of Acts 17. Paul of course on Mars Hill. He has to make this point because remember these people are worshipping idols. They're accustomed to a God whom they wait on. And God and Paul, understand that the true God isn't like that. And so, he says Verse 24. I'm talking to you about the God who made the world and all things in it. Since He is the Lord of heaven and earth, He doesn't dwell in temples made with hands. You don't need to build Him a house. Verse 25, nor is He served by human hands as though He needed anything, since He Himself gives to all people, life and breath and all things. Now notice the progression here. God made all things. He said. He's the Creator. God needs nothing, and He gives to everything else, life and breath in all things. What's the clear implication of that? That God doesn't need to be given life and breath or all things or anything. Notice verse 28. He goes on and he makes this amazing summary of our dependence on God. Notice Verse 28, "In God we live and move and exist." Do you know what he's saying? That is a phrase that at some point I hope to preach an entire message on, but you know what he's really saying there. He's saying that God is the source or sustainer of all and sustainer I should say, of all life. In Him we live, in Him we move. That is, God is the power behind all action. If there weren't God, we couldn't do this, make the slightest motion. We couldn't move our hand to our face. And in Him we exist. That is, He is the sustainer of all being. So, if God is the sustainer of all life, the power behind all action and the sustainer of all being, that means he doesn't rely on anyone else.

Romans 11. Paul concludes the great section of Romans, where he's laid out the truth of salvation. He's talked about God's plan for Israel and as he brings it all together in a nutshell, he says this in verse 33. He says, "Oh, the depth of the riches, both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and unfathomable His ways?" For who has known the mind of the Lord who can understand how God thinks, who can know God's thoughts to the depth. We know some of God's thoughts. Don't we? Because He's revealed them, but we can never plumb the depths of God's thoughts or who became his counselor? Who's given God advice? Did God ever need advice from you or me? Or who is first given to Him that it might be paid back to him again? Here's the same point. Man gives nothing to God that could anyway obligate God. And then he makes this profound statement. Verse 36, "For from Him," in other words, God has created and provided all things. "And through Him," that means nothing happens apart from God's power. "And to Him" that means God is the rightful end of everything He's created. His glory is the goal of everything. "To him be the glory forever Amen." So, the Bible is clear. God, the ground of His being relies on nothing but Himself. He is self-existent.

There's a second point the Scripture makes though, and that is that God's choices and purposes are independent. That God's choices and His plans are independent. That is uninfluenced by anything outside of Himself. Now I'm going to cover this concept more in a different study, so I'm not going to spend much time on it tonight but let me just hit a couple of verses that highlight this. Not only is the ground of God's being in Himself alone, but God is the one who chooses, uninfluenced. His choices and His plans and His purposes are absolutely independent, uninfluenced by anything or anyone outside of Himself.

Let's look at a couple of references. Turn to Psalm 33. And notice Verse 8. "Let all the earth fear the Lord, let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of Him." Why? Verse 9, because "He spoke and it was done; He commanded, and it stood fast. The Lord nullifies the counsel of the nations. He frustrates the plans of the peoples." You see what the Psalmist is saying? Listen, God's plans won't be frustrated. If necessary, He does what He chooses and He will frustrate the plans of others. Verse 11, because "The counsel of the Lord stands forever, the plans of His heart from generation to generation." Listen. God determines absolutely what He will do when He will do it and why He will do it, and He is uninfluenced by anything but Himself. He is eternally independent.

Look at Psalm 115:3. Here is a Psalm that contrasts idols with the true God. Notice Verse 3 says,

"But our God is in the heavens, He does whatever He pleases." God does what He desires, what He chooses. Absolutely uninfluenced. Romans 11, we just read, makes the same point. God's purposes cannot and will not be thwarted. One more reference, look at Revelation 4:11. The scene of course is in heaven and all of the living creatures and the 24 elders et cetera, are gathered around the throne and this is what they say as they cast their crowns before the throne: "Worthy are You our Lord and our God to receive glory and honor and power for You created all things, and because of Your will they existed and were created." God made the decision to do it, and He did it completely self-determined. You say well, don't we bring glory to God? I mean don't we have some influence in terms of the glory of God? It is true that creation, providence and redemption bring glory to God. It's equally true that men and fallen angels dishonor God. But all of this has to do not with any necessity, but with God's free choice to manifest His glory to His creatures, He could just as easily have determined never to create. He was perfectly blessed and complete in Himself without a single thing He's made. That's the doctrine in the Scripture teaches. God is independent.

Now, let's come to where the rubber meets the road in the few minutes we have remaining. What does that mean for us who know Christ? For us who love God. What are the ramifications of this reality? There's several. The first is that we were made for God. God does not exist for us. You know we live in a culture that is absolutely steeped in the importance of self. The Bible comes into that and when it throws the reality that God is self-existent. That He made us, and we don't exist, or He doesn't exist for us, but we exist for Him. It runs absolutely contrary, even when people come to church. There are a lot of churches where the idea is - come to church for what you can get. That isn't the point at all.

We gather together to give our praise and our worship to God. Oh yes, we are the beneficiaries of a lot. We do get a lot, but that's not the point. Notice Colossians 1:16, talking about Christ. It says, "For by Him all things were created both in the heavens and on earth visible and invisible whether the thrones or dominions are rulers or authorities, all things have been created through Him." There it is again. He is the eternally self-existent one. Everything else He made. But notice how the verse ends. "All things have been created through Him and for Him." Listen folks we were made for God. We live, we exist not for ourselves, not to satisfy ourselves, not to get what we want in this life. We were made by God for one purpose and that was for Him. To bring Him glory. We talk about something doctrinal that affects everyday life and everyday decisions. This does. If you can just keep it in your mind as you go through life, as you go through every day that you have been made for God. He is the only independent self-existent one. And He made you for Him.

The second ramification. The greatest assault on God's character is to live independent from Him. If God says, I alone in the universe and the only truly independent one. Then what greater affront could it be to God on whom we are to be dependent and who we're made for than to live as if we are independent and not to show our dependence on God. You remember in Genesis 3, in Adam and Eve's sin? What did they choose at that point? What did they really choose? They chose to live and make decisions independent from God. God had said. Don't eat of the tree, but they made a determination that they had desires and they had appetites and they had plans. Basically, they chose to live independent of God.

Romans 1. In fact, turn to Romans 1. I want you to see this. This passage is so foundational. I find myself coming back to it so many times because it lays the framework for understanding God's perspective of the world. In Romans 1:18. He says, "The wrath of God is revealed from heaven." Paul has introduced the Gospel in Verse 17. He's going to get back to explaining the Gospel in Chapter 3:21 and following. But in between Chapter 1:18 thru Chapter 3:20, he lays out man's problem, man's fallenness, man's sin and God's judgment on him because of that. In other words, he helps us understand why the Gospel is such good news. But notice what he says Verse 18. "For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness, because that which is known about God is evident within them. For God made it evident within them." That in other words, God has given every man the capacity to know something about Him. How? Verse 20, "For since the creation of the world, His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature have been clearly seen." I talked about the stars this morning. I talked about the incredible nature of the heavens and what God has made. You can't look at that. I mean you cannot think about that without realizing something of the eternal power and divine nature of its creator. "Being understood," Verse 20 says "through what has been made so that they are without excuse." But notice Verse 21. Here is the essence of God's judgment against man and his sin. "They knew God," God made it clear to them. But 2 things, 2 wrong responses to God. "They did not honor Him as God." They didn't recognize and honor the true God as God. Nor did they give thanks. In other words, they didn't recognize by expressing gratitude to God their dependence on God for everything. They didn't acknowledge their dependence. When you're not thankful, what you're really saying is, it didn't really matter that much, and I can deal with it on my own. Gratitude is an expression of humble dependence. I'm grateful, thank you. I received this from You. You say, how terrible.

Let me give you another thought. Every time you and I sin, every time you choose to sin, every time I choose to sin. That sin is in a very real sense, an attack on the self-existence of God. He alone is truly independent. But when we sin, we are declaring our own independence just as Adam and Eve did. "God, I don't want your way. I don't want your path. I'm going to go my own way." In fact, that's how Isaiah describes sin isn't it? "All we like sheep have gone astray." We have turned everyone. What? From our own way. We say, I want my independence. In fact, I love the parable of the prodigal son. As I've often said to you, it's really the parable of the father's heart because it describes how God responds to a repentant sinner. But it's interesting.

What does the son want? He's living at home with his father. What is it that he wants?

Independence. He wants to be off on his own. That really is the essence of sin. Listen to A.W. Tozer. I love this quote from his book, The Knowledge of the Holy, "The natural man is a sinner because and only because he challenges God's selfhood in relation to his own. His constant assertion of self as far as he thinks of it at all, appears to him a perfectly normal thing. He's willing to share himself sometimes even to sacrifice himself for a desired end, but never to dethrone himself, no matter how far down the scale of social acceptance he may slide. He is still in his own eyes, a king on a throne and no one, not even God, can take that throne from him." Listen to this, how he finishes this quote. "Sin has many manifestations, but its essence is one. A moral being created to worship before the throne of God sits on the throne of his own selfhood. And from that elevated position declares, I am. That's exactly what we do when we sin. That's exactly what we assert. We climbed to the throne of our own selfhood and say, I am. I want my independence. I am independent. The greatest assault on God's character.

By the way how do you express? What's the chief way that you and I just express our dependence on God? 1 Peter 5 tells you. I won't take time to turn there because this isn't in my notes, and I really don't have time but let me just give you a little hint. 1 Peter 5, he says that we're to humble ourselves under the mighty hand of God. There's a verse we often quote that immediately following it. It says, "Casting, all your care upon Him for He cares for you." Casting, you'll notice is a verb. It's not the main verb. It's the participle. That means it modifies the main verb. The main verb is humble. What it's really saying is, how do you humble yourself before God? You humble yourself by casting all your cares upon Him? That's how you show your dependence on God. To whatever extent, you refuse to bring the issues of your life to God in prayer, to that extent, you are independent and you're refusing to humble yourself to God.

Another ramification of this doctrine is our worship doesn't meet God's needs. Again, this is such a common perception people have. You know. It's almost like God needs us to do something. God needs us together. And that we're fulfilling some great need in God. Well, this is true of idols. In fact, you can read Isaiah 44. We don't have time to do that together tonight. But you'll find that this is absolutely true of idols. I mean, idols need people to cut down the tree and make them and stand them up when they fall down and set food before them. They need the worshiper. But it's not true of God. Turn to Psalm 50:8. Let's start with verse 7. Asaph writes, "Hear, O My people, And I will speak; O Israel, I will testify against you, I am God, your God. I do not reprove you for your sacrifices and your burnt offerings are continually before Me. I shall take no young bull out of your house or female goats out of your folds for every beast of the forest is Mine." Now, God isn't here, saying, don't sacrifice to Me. He commanded that but He wants to teach the children of Israel important lesson. And that's the lesson of His self-existence of His independence. He doesn't need their sacrifices. It's not like they're like the idols where you're feeding God. He says, every beast of the forest is Mine, the cattle of a thousand hills. I know every bird of the mountains and everything that moves in the field is mine. If I were hungry, I wouldn't tell you. I wouldn't say I'm hungry, please bring me some food for the world is mine and all it contains. Shall I eat the flesh of a bull or drink the blood of male goats. No, let me tell you what you really need to offer to God, a sacrifice of thanksgiving. In other words, you can't bring anything to God but gratitude because he's done it all for you. And pay your vows to the Most High. Call upon Me in the day of trouble, and I will rescue you and you will honor Me. God says, listen, I don't need anything from you, but you need everything from Me, and that's how you can honor Me is by acknowledging and recognizing that fact.

I read earlier Act 17. You remember when Paul is confronting the Athenian philosophers and he says to them, listen, God doesn't live in temples that you make with your hands as if He needed. What? Anything. Like God needs anything and God says, if I needed something, I wouldn't ask you. I mean I own everything, but I don't need anything. Our worship doesn't meet God's needs. Instead, it helps us acknowledge our need of God. That's really why we gather. We confess our utter dependence on God. We ask Him for His mercy.

In fact, that brings me to my next point. There's a sense in which we can't even serve God. Now stay with me a moment. Isaiah 64:4. Listen to how the Prophet describes God. Here's how God differs from the idols of the nations. 64:4, "For from days of old, they have not heard or perceived by ear, nor has the eye seen a God besides You." In other words, God, You're alone in this way. You act on behalf of the one who waits for You. Again, this is absolutely contrary to the ideas of the ancient world. You've served your God. You met your God's needs. What distinguishes the true God from all false gods is that all other so-called gods make man work for them. Now, we can and should serve God, but we must never serve God in a way that implies we are meeting His needs.

2 Chronicle 16:9. "The eyes of the Lord move to and fro throughout the earth that He may strongly support those whose heart is completely His." God does it all. We rely and depend on Him. So how should we serve? Look at Psalm 123, never serve God as though he needed your service, but Psalm 123 tells us how we should serve. Verse 2. In fact, let's start with Verse 1 "To You I lift up my eyes. O You who are enthroned in the heavens! Behold, as the eyes of servants look to the hand of their master, as the eyes of a maid to the hand of her mistress, so our eyes look to the Lord our God until He is gracious to us." That's how you serve God, not as though God needed something from you. But serve God in the way that these maidens and these servants look for their masters to be gracious. God, I serve you, but it's only because I love your graciousness. I need from you. You don't need anything for me. I need everything from you.

We looked a couple of weeks ago at 1 Peter 4:11. Remember how he finishes that, whoever serves let him serve. How? As by the strength which God supplies so that God may be glorified. Serve God in a way that brings Him glory by acknowledging your service brings Him nothing. You're serving Him because He provides you everything. John Piper writes. "Any servant who tries to get off the divine dole and strike up a manly partnership with his heavenly master is in revolt against the creator." Good service is always and fundamentally receiving mercy, not rendering assistance. Receiving mercy not rendering assistance to God.

Quickly two more. There is no greater expression of God's love for us than His self-existence. Why do I say that? Turn to Ephesians 1. Remember, God was absolutely blessed and complete in the existence of the Trinity with nothing else in the world besides. And yet, notice what He did at the end of Verse 4 of Ephesians 1. "In love, He predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the kind intention of His will to the praise of the glory of His grace." Listen, what greater demonstration of the love of God for you could there be than that God who didn't need you. He didn't need me. He didn't need to create. He didn't need any of this, but He created. He created you. He set his love upon you. He called you to Himself, and He's promised in the coming ages to lavish His grace upon you. What greater demonstration of the love of God could there be than that? He was under no obligation. He didn't need you. He didn't need me. But He did it because of His great character. He did it because of His great love. He made promises to us that obligate Him forever. Think about that? God was under obligation to nobody, but He chose to make promises to you and me to obligate Him forever into eternity. What greater demonstration of God's love could there be than that?

And finally, even though God is self-existent, even though He needs nothing from us, we can bring delight to the heart of God. When He freely decided to create us, He decided that we would be able to bring real joy and delight to Him. It's amazing, but the self-existent God actually delights in His people. He delights in you, and He delights in me. Turn to Isaiah 62. Notice Verse 3. The prophet Isaiah is talking about redeemed Israel in the coming future, and he says this. Verse 3: "You will also be a crown of beauty in the hand of the Lord and a royal diadem in the hand of your God. It will no longer be said of you, 'Forsaken,' nor to your land will it be any longer be said, 'Desolate'; But you will be called 'My delight is in her.'" That'll be your name. "and your land 'Married' for the Lord delights in you and to Him, your land will be married. For as a young man marries a virgin, so your sons will marry you." Now watch this "as the bridegroom rejoices over the bride, so your God will rejoice over you." What an amazing reality.

God in choosing, He didn't need to, in choosing to create us, He chose to allow His own great heart to be given great joy, the kind of joy, the bridegroom experiences in you and in me.

Let's pray together. Father, we thank you for your Word. We thank you for the revelation of yourself. Father, we're amazed at your character to think that before time there was You and nothing else for eternity. And You were completely blessed, completely satisfied, completely perfect. We are absolutely humbled that You have chosen to create us. You have chosen to set Your love upon us. You have chosen to delight in us. Oh God, help us to love You with all of our hearts. To serve You, not because you need it from us, but because of the joy, the love that wells up in our hearts and in humble recognition that we depend on You for everything. We prayed it in Jesus' name.