God is...

I want to speak over this term on God. You might say, well, you do that every week. But I want us to look at who is God and what is God. It's been on my heart for a while to preach on the nature, the character, the attributes of God.

The Westminster Shorter Catechism, one of the documents that we confess we believe as a church, says this, what is God? God is a spirit, infinite, eternal, unchangeable in his being, wisdom, power, holiness, justice, goodness and truth.

And my plan is to basically take each word of that answer and try and expound them from scripture. We're going to really look at God on God, preaching God from the word of God.

We're going to do that because all of the Bible, all of scripture is given by the inspiration of God. And it's profitable for us. And it gives us all that we need to know concerning how to live righteously, about holiness, about correction and about proof.

All that we need for the Christian life is contained for us in the word of God. And the word of God, the whole of the Bible declares God to us.

The word of God doesn't simply try to prove God to you. One of the first words of the Bible, in the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.

It doesn't pause at that point and say, before we go any further, let me give you the qualities of God, the characteristics of God, because you don't know him.

But the word of God does reveal God to us.

I've chosen a text for this morning.

It's Hebrews chapter 11 and verse 6.

Hebrews 11 · chapter mention

And I think it's a good summary statement to begin our series.

It says this.

It says,

Without faith, it is impossible to please God.

For whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him.

It's a whole cluster of words put together in that verse that assume that knowing God and understanding God and seeking God is something that you want to do.

Now, this verse assumes that we as human beings have a desire within us to please God.

And it's telling us, isn't it, that you cannot please God.

It is impossible for you to please God without faith.

You cannot please God without believing that he is.

And that he is a rewarder.

He rewards those who seek him.

The verse speaks about drawing near to God.

Because that is what you were made to do.

And that God is the rewarder of all those who seek him.

Now, I think we are nervous of the word rewards, aren't we?

You might be sitting there and you think, well, are we to seek God for a reward?

And we don't do that.

We don't seek God for any reward.

But actually, the Bible says we do.

That's why we need to know God.

To know who he is and his character and his being and his character, his nature, his attributes.

And we are to seek God.

And as we seek him, he rewards us with revealing himself to us.

And so I want to ask the question this morning.

Why is it that you and I should draw near to God?

Why is it that you and I should seek God?

The first reason is this.

The Bible makes it clear that is what you were made for.

That is what we were made for.

We were made to please God.

To know God.

And we were made for his pleasure.

And we were made to draw near to God.

To worship him and to know him.

We were made to seek him and to be diligent in searching him out and knowing him.

And he has made us so that we would find our reward, our fulfillment, our happiness, our enjoyment in him.

It's the reason why you exist.

It's what you were made for.

You were made to know God.

To please him and to draw near to him.

To seek him.

To find your reward and your fulfillment in him.

And the Bible makes that plain in lots of places.

Not only here in this text.

The word of God makes it plain to us.

That we were made to know God.

But it also says to us that we will not find God by our own investigation.

We will not be able to figure out God by our own investigation.

Do you remember in Mark chapter 8, Jesus has done these great miracles.

Mark 8 · chapter mention

And he says to his disciples that famous question, who do people say that I am?

And then he says to them, and who do you say that I am?

And Peter responds, doesn't he?

And he says, you are the Christ, looking at the Lord Jesus.

You are the Christ, you are God's King, the Son of the living God.

And Jesus turns to him and says, blessed are you Simon.

Flesh and blood did not reveal this to you.

But my Father who is in heaven revealed it to you.

In other words, Peter, you didn't figure this out yourself.

In other words, coming to know God and coming to know the Lord Jesus is a gift of his grace.

And it is a revelation, a revealing of himself.

Knowing God, seeking God, is not something that you come to by logical proofs.

You'll find many great theologians have tried to set out the logical proofs that prove that God exists.

But Hebrews 11 is very, very clear, isn't it?

It doesn't matter how many logical proofs you set before someone, you need to believe.

It is a question of faith.

Faith is a response to what God has revealed about himself.

So how does God reveal himself?

First of all, God reveals himself.

He shows you what he's like by his created order.

His created world.

God reveals himself in the very nature of the world in which we live.

Isaiah 40 and verse 26 says to you, lift up your eyes and see.

Who created these?

Go into the night sky, look up and see.

He who brings out their host by number calls them all by name.

By the greatness of his might and because he is strong in power, not one of them is missing.

He created these.

In other words, you go to the night sky and there is a voice that booms out of the stars when you look up.

And the message of the stars in the night sky is, look who made these.

Look at the one who made them.

They're all in order, not one of them is missing.

And he gives them a name.

The created world says there is a God who is great in might and strong in power.

Now that's a lot we learn.

And that's good, isn't it?

It's a start from the nature of creation.

And Paul takes up this theme.

And he develops it further.

He says in Acts 14 and verse 17,

Yet he did not leave himself without witness.

For he did good by giving you the rains from heaven and fruitful seasons,

satisfying your hearts with food and gladness.

The heat wave.

And London and the parched ground.

And the rains came.

And it was so refreshing, wasn't it?

So delightful that again we had rain.

We've had this wonderful, wonderful spell of weather where the sun has been shining.

But everything was dry and arid.

And yet the rain came.

But the rain was giving you a message from God.

God says, do you look at the rain?

It is a witness to the fact that I am God.

God did not leave himself without a witness.

He sends the rain and the seasons and the fruit.

All these things say that there is a God.

A God who is great and mighty.

And he's revealing something of himself in the way that the world is created and put together.

Of course it's made much more explicit in that famous verse from Romans chapter 1.

Romans 1 · chapter mention

For what can be known about God is plain to everyone.

Because God has shown it to them.

For his invisible attributes, namely his eternal power, his divine nature, has been clearly perceived ever since the creation of the world in the things that have been made.

So that they, all of us, are without excuse.

What these texts are saying to us is that the first glimpse we have, or hint that we have, that there is a God, is in the nature of the world in which we live.

And a voice booms out of creation.

So that every direction you look, wherever you are, the order and the majesty of the created world shouts at you, there is a God.

But when you look at the pinnacle of creation, which is the creation of human beings, men and women, boys and girls.

The Bible tells us that we, you, are created in the image of God.

That in some sense, God has put a knowledge of himself inside of you.

The book of Ecclesiastes says, God has set eternity in our hearts.

John Calvin, a great theologian, when he thought about this, and he thought about the way that we've been created, the nature of God, that we've been created in the image of God.

He said that Satan is like one of those people that comes and, like a graffiti artist, and sprays over the piece of art.

But the devil is like someone coming along and finding an image of God, and he sprays all over it to destroy the glory of it.

And that's what's happened to us.

We are glorious, but we are glorious ruins.

There's something wrong.

The graffiti, the paint has been sprayed on us.

But the image of God has not been obliterated.

It has not been defaced.

So every single human being has a sense of God.

It's in your heart.

It's wired into you.

It is engraved into us because of the way that we've been made.

We've been made in the image of God.

And so the creation of the world is a magnificent testimony, and God has not left himself without a witness.

But you, yourself, are a statement of the nature of God.

And of the way that God is.

And of all that God has done.

The sense of divinity is on every single one of us, which means you matter incredibly, doesn't it?

And that you were made to know God.

Because you are part of his creation.

And the image of God, yes, it's been defaced.

It's been covered with graffiti.

It's been damaged.

The effects of sin have affected your mind.

They've affected your will.

They've affected your affections.

But the image of God is not totally lost.

Don McLeod writes,

If our understanding of Paul in Romans 1 is correct, there is no such thing as an atheist.

John Calvin said,

God has endued all people with some sense of the Godhead.

And the result of that is that a sense of deity is inscribed unto every heart.

And that sense of deity is indelible.

You can't get rid of it.

We never lose it.

And so that explains to us, isn't it,

that the Bible describes the person who says there is no God as a fool.

The fool says in his heart there is no God.

Why?

Because what's the fool doing?

He's suppressing the truth that he already knows.

The agnostic person, well, they're more honest, aren't they?

They say they don't know.

But they're suppressing the truth too.

Everywhere we look,

every single human being knows that there is a God.

And that means every single human being knows that they were made to know him.

Donald MacLeod, I've been reading lots of him this summer, he writes this.

He says,

So children,

the kids that you go to school with,

this week,

they know that there's a God.

The neighbors on your street,

they know that there's a God.

The people that you work with,

they know that there is a God.

The Apostle Paul,

when he went and preached in Athens,

he didn't try to make them religious.

Do you remember?

He said,

I perceive that you are very religious.

The evidence of their religion was all around him.

In their temples,

the paraphernalia of their city,

all men have a sense of the Holy One.

All men have a feeling of dependence.

All have God's law written on their hearts.

All know that they are answerable to God.

It is not our calling as a church

to instill those instincts into people.

Our responsibility is to build on that foundation,

to speak the truth that they already know.

that they've been made by God,

for God,

to know God.

I think that's an enormous help,

an enormous encouragement.

But it's only one side of the truth.

That's what we were made for.

Because the other side of this truth

is confirmed in the revelation of a book,

of God's own words,

that God has written down.

Here is the wonder of the glory of God,

that he chooses to reveal himself in creation,

yes,

and in human beings,

but also to reveal himself in a book.

He not only speaks the word and says,

okay,

and pass that on to the next generation

and to the next generation after that,

because when that happens,

we know that that gets distorted.

When I was growing up,

there was a game

that was called

Chinese Whispers.

I've tried to think of a more politically correct phrase.

Those of you who are Chinese,

I'd love to know what you called it in your culture.

But do you remember that game?

Let's call it Whispers, all right?

And you'd tell a message to the person at the front,

and then they would pass it to the person,

they'd whisper it to the person back,

and then they'd whisper it,

and they'd whisper it,

and they'd whisper it.

And at the end of the road,

do you remember,

there's a completely garbled message.

Some kind of game.

You all played it at some point,

I'm sure.

The transmission of words gets garbled,

doesn't it?

And gets altered.

And so sometimes,

the message from the start to the end,

it came out the exact opposite

from what the original purpose was.

Somebody's accent was different,

and they pronounced the words.

You know how it is.

Nobody's quite sure what was said originally.

But that isn't what happened with God's word.

That isn't what happened with the Bible.

God gives us his word,

and he puts it into print.

And he causes it to be written down,

and he watches over it from generation to generation.

And so the Bible that you've got on your laps

is trustworthy.

Don't fall for the Islamic lie

that it's somehow been corrupted.

He has revealed himself in his word.

But he's also revealed himself

more explicitly in the Lord Jesus Christ

that you might know him.

John 17 verse 3 says,

John 17:3

this is eternal life.

You want to know what eternal life is?

That they may know you,

the only true God,

and Jesus Christ who you've sent.

John 20 verse 31.

John 20:31

Why was John's gospel written?

It was written so that you may believe

that Jesus is the Son of God,

the Christ,

and that by believing,

you might have life in his name.

And that theme is picked up

in the Old Testament again, isn't it?

Jeremiah 9 verse 23.

Jeremiah 9:23

Let not the man,

let not the wise man boast in his wisdom.

Let not the mighty man boast in his might.

Let not the rich man boast in his riches.

Let him who boasts, boasts in this,

that he understands and knows me.

One of the things Jeremiah is saying,

this wisdom, riches, might.

But more important than any of that

is that you might know God.

That's why you were made.

Hebrews chapter,

Hosea chapter 6 and verse 6.

Hosea 6 · chapter mention

God says,

I desire steadfast love and not sacrifice.

It's an amazing verse.

I desire the knowledge of God

rather than burnt offerings.

I desire that you know me,

not just that you turn up on a Sunday morning.

They were coming in their worship

with all their burnt offerings

and their sacrifices

and God is saying,

I want you to know me.

That's what we were meant for.

To know God and the glory of his word

is that he's revealed himself.

But he reveals himself ultimately

in the Lord Jesus.

2 Corinthians 4 and verse 6.

God who said,

let light shine out of the darkness.

The God who said,

let there be light.

And there was light in the world

has shone in our hearts.

To give the light of the knowledge

of the glory of God

in the face of Jesus Christ.

That God has made us to know him

and to know his glory.

And he says,

this is how you will come to know me.

Not simply through the rain

and the stars.

Not simply through the written word.

But what is written here

as it points to the Lord Jesus.

You will know me in my glory.

Do you know that's what you were made for?

To know God through Jesus.

John Calvin,

he wrote

that Calvin's Institutes

are some of the most remarkable writing

this world has ever known.

But the Institutes

actually started as a very small book.

He wrote it early on in the Reformation.

And it had just six chapters

in its very first edition.

He was a young man.

He was 26 years of age.

And he wrote it as a defense of Christians.

Because in France

they were being persecuted.

And in his introduction,

the preface to the king,

it's a very powerful document.

He begins by saying

that the sum of all knowledge

is to know God and ourselves.

And then he goes on to say,

I don't know which one comes first.

We can't know ourselves

without knowing God.

And we can't know God

without also coming to know ourselves.

It's very profound.

He wrote a little catechism.

When he was a pastor in Geneva.

And his catechism began in this way.

What is the chief end?

What is the most important thing

about human life?

And he says this,

that human beings

may know God

by whom they were created.

You see that

where the short catechism got it,

don't you?

That you may know God

by whom you were created.

We read in Hebrews 11, verse 6,

Hebrews 11:6

that those who draw near to God

need to believe that he is.

And so why should you

draw near to God?

Why should you study God?

Because that's what you were made for.

But there's a second thing.

Why should you draw near to God?

You need to know him

in order to worship him.

You need to know him

in order to worship him.

The more that we know God,

the more that we're drawn

to worship God

and to give glory to God,

the English word comes from,

the old English word of

worth-ship.

To worship God

is to know the worth of him.

It's to know and grasp

the value,

the honour,

the place,

the standing,

the person

and all that he is.

The worship of God

is knowing

the worth of God.

And the more that we know

the worth of God,

the more that will breed in us

an awe

and reverence

and adoration.

The prophet Isaiah,

when he saw

that vision

of the glory of God,

he hears in Isaiah 60,

angels crying,

holy,

holy,

holy

is the Lord.

And in John's Gospel,

Jesus picks that up

and Jesus says,

when Isaiah

saw that glory,

he was speaking of

my glory,

the glory of Christ.

And Isaiah

saw the angels

crying out,

he is holy,

he is holy,

he is holy.

And he cried out,

woe is me.

I'm done for.

I'm undone.

I'm a man of unclean lips

and I dwell in the middle

of a people

of unclean lips.

For my eyes

have seen the King,

the Lord of hosts.

And when he grasps

the sense of the worthiness

of God,

how much God is worth,

he sees his own

unworthiness

in the presence of God.

A similar thing happens

in the book of Revelation

when in Revelation 5,

the apostle John

hears every creature

in heaven

and on earth

and under the earth

and in the sea

and all that is in them

saying to him

who sits on the throne

and to the Lamb

be blessing and honour

and glory and might

forever and ever.

And the four living creatures

said amen

and the elders

fell down and worshipped.

Why?

Because

they had a sense

of the worth of God.

And that's what he's speaking of

in Hebrews chapter 11

Hebrews 11 · chapter mention

when he says

draw near to God

of pleasing God

of seeking God.

It means

coming to know God

and to grasp

his worthiness.

How much he's worth.

So that we join

in the chorus

of standing

in front of a glorious God

and saying

you oh God

are worthy.

worthy is the Lamb

to receive honour

and glory

and dominion

and power

forever and ever.

Knowing God

breeds worship.

To know God

breeds worship.

In Hebrews

it uses the language

of drawing near to God.

If you've got your Bible

open let's just

have a look at this.

Look at Hebrews chapter 4

Hebrews 4 · chapter mention

and verse 16.

He says to us

let us

with confidence

draw near

to the throne

of grace

that we may receive

mercy

and find grace

to help in our time of need.

What an encouragement

to pray.

But did you notice

the context?

We have a great high priest

who's passed

through the heavens

Jesus the son of God.

And we don't have a high priest

who's unable to sympathise

with us in our weaknesses

but in every respect

has been tempted

as we are yet

is without sin.

He takes you to Christ

and he says

look at your high priest

look at the gospel

of good news

you want to draw near

to God

draw near to him.

You need to know him.

Look at chapter 7

and verse 25

it's the same phrase.

Consequently

he's able to save

to the uttermost

those who drew near

to God

through him

since he always lives

to make intercession

for us.

He goes on

in that passage

to speak of the

priesthood

of Christ

and all that

the Lord Jesus

has done

that he's offered

himself

once and for all

and drawing near

to God

is through

the Lord Jesus.

Knowing him

we know God

through Jesus

and it breeds

our worship

and adoration.

Chapter 10

and verse 22

let us draw near

with a true heart

in full assurance

of faith

our hearts

having been

sprinkled clean

from an evil conscience

our bodies

having been washed

with pure water

the blood

of the Lord Jesus

has opened

up to us

his death

has opened

to us

a new

and a living

way

that we have

a great high

priest

over the house

of God.

I've been reading

this book

by Don Carson

it's got a little

essay on worship

he's a Baptist

sometimes we quote

Baptists

and he says this

although there are

things that can be

done to enhance

corporate worship

that's what we're

doing this morning

gathering together

to worship

there is a profound

sense in which

excellent worship

cannot be attended

by merely

pursuing excellent

worship

in the same way

that according to

Jesus

you cannot find

yourself

until you lose

yourself

so you cannot

find excellent

corporate worship

until you stop

trying to find

excellent corporate

worship

and pursue

God himself

despite the

protestations

one sometimes

wonders if we

are beginning

to worship

worship

rather than

worship God

sheep he says

lie down when

they are well fed

and they are more

likely to be restless

when they're hungry

feed my sheep

Jesus commanded

Peter

and many sheep

in Christ's church

are unfed

if you wish to

deepen the worship

of the people of God

above all

deepen their grasp

of his ineffable

majesty

in his person

and in all his works

what is clear

is that if you try

to enhance worship

by simply livening

up the tempo

updating the beat

you may not be

enhancing worship

at all

on the other hand

dry as dust sermons

loaded with cliches

and devoid of the

presence of the

living God

mediated by the word

do little to

enhance worship

either

what we must

strive for

is growing

knowledge of God

and delight of him

not delight

in worship

per se

but delight in God

why should we

study the

doctrine of God

why should we

seek to know

God

well first of all

because it's what

you were made for

secondly because

it puts vitality

in our worship

he's worthy

of our worship

but thirdly

because we desire

to serve him

I'd hope to get

them today

but I hope

that you will read

and if you've not

read it

J.I. Packer's

book Knowing God

it's a classic

it's a 20th century

book

it's rich

powerful

biblical teaching

teeming with

scripture

and one of the

most remarkable

points that J.I. Packer

makes in that book

is that he picks up

the text of Daniel

Daniel 11:32

chapter 11

verse 32

and he says

the people who know

their God

will stand firm

and take action

or I think he is it

the people

who know their God

will do great exploits

we will not be able

to serve God

in the way

that he is worthy

of unless we

know God

know God

in the way

that he's revealed

to us

and Packer says

this

those who know

God

number one

have great energy

for God

number two

have great thoughts

of God

number three

show great boldness

for God

and number four

have great contentment

in God

now children

those of us

who were at

Holiday Bible Club

we saw that

in Daniel

didn't we

that Daniel

was a man

who knew his God

so he goes

as a 13

14 year old man

and he's taken

off to Babylon

and he knows

God

and yet he's

strong

he stands firm

in the classroom

and he comes

out the other end

remember on day one

not simply smarter

than the others

but he comes out

at the end

of Daniel chapter 1

Daniel 1 · chapter mention

having stood

for God

escaping from

Nebuchadnezzar

full of the

spirit of God

and the grace

of God

and in this

Babylonian empire

hundreds of miles

from home

these men stand

and they stand

in the public square

and when

the population

is commanded

to worship

in a way

like everyone else

does

but it's not

appropriate

for those

as followers

of the living God

to worship

they refuse

and they will

not fall down

they stand up

and when

the persecution

invades

the privacy

of their own

home

it moves

from the public

square

into the private

home

and they're told

they can't pray

Daniel still

goes home

doesn't he

in private

and he prays

and when they

stand in front

of the fiery

furnace

they stand

boldly looking

at the king

and they say

well if our

God saves us

he saves us

but if he

doesn't

we want you

to know

oh king

that we

will not

bow down

to your

image

and where

do they

go

they go

into the

fiery

furnace

they're

thrown

in there

but who

is with

them

one like

the son

of man

who was

in the

fiery

furnace

with them

it's the

Lord Jesus

and when

Daniel goes

into the

lion's den

because he

kept praying

in his own

home

God sends

an angel

and so

Daniel was

able to

serve God

in his

generation

for the

best part

of 70

years

because he

knew his

God

and in

our

generation

in which

religion

is attacked

in the

public

square

and persecuted

in the

public

square

we need

to know

God

if we're

going to

serve him

and what

happens

if it

moves from

public

to private

well we

need to

know God

because at

that point

those who

know God

will be

able to

stand

because if

you don't

know God

you will

not stand

on that

day

let me

move really

quickly to

my fourth

and final

point

we need

to worship

God

we need

to know

God

not only

because

that's

what we

were made

for

it's part

of the

very fabric

of the

way we

are

not only

because

we desire

to worship

him

not only

because

if we are

going to

serve him

we need

to know

him

lastly

we need

to know

him

in order

to enjoy

him

he

who

comes

to

God

remember

the

verse

must

believe

that

he

is

that

he

is

a

rewarder

of all

who

diligently

seek

him

that

doesn't

mean

that

all of a

sudden

we do

something

good

because

we

want

the

reward

it

simply

means

this

that

when

we

seek

him

it

is

himself

that

we

are

seeking

and

it

is

himself

that

we

shall

find

and

the

reward

is

himself

that

we

shall

know

him

that's

what

the

apostle

Paul

wanted

wasn't

it

it's

all

the

apostle

Paul

wanted

do you

remember

to

know

him

and

the

power

of his

resurrection

it's

what

God

said

to

Abraham

in

Genesis

God

says

to

him

I

am

your

protector

and

I

am

your

exceeding

great

reward

and

God

gives

nothing

but

himself

and

all

the

other

blessings

that

you

have

in

life

they're

simply

small

things

in

comparison

to

knowing

him

and

being

found

in

him

and

so

this

morning

we

need

to

believe

that

he

is

that

God

is

and

that

he

is

the

reward

of

those

who

diligently

seek

him

and

my

prayer

across

this

term

is

that

as

we

study

the

doctrine

of

God

as

he's

revealed

to

himself

in

the

word

of

God

that

he

will

awaken

in

our

hearts

that

this

will

be

a

church

family

of

diligent

seekers

after

God

may

God

so

work

it

let's

pray

may