Brian Fisher

Grace Bible Church

“Who are You, Lord?”

Introduction to the Attributes of God

Do we really know God as He is? If so, are those beliefs merely theoretical, or have they been allowed to change the way that we live, the way that we worship, our attitudes, decisions, and even our emotions? Our study of the attributes of God intends to bring not only greater illumination to our minds, but also to transform us more and more into the very image of the God whom we worship.

I. Goal of study

A. Know God…worship God…become more like God

Not, What should I think? God is great, God is good…

When I suffer (Is God good?)

When I am blessed (Is God the source?)

When I am battling temptation (Is God strong?)

When I fear (Is God sovereign?)

When I sin (Is God holy/love?)

When I pray (Is God near?)

“Our real idea of God may lie buried under the rubbish of conventional religious notions and may require an intelligent and vigorous search before it is finally unearthed and exposed for what it is. Only after an ordeal of painful self-probing are we likely to discover what we actually believe about God.”

—A.W. Tozer, Knowledge of the Holy, p. 3

If I really believe God is who He says He is, my life will change.

“I have heard of You by the hearing of the ear; But now my eye sees You; 6 Therefore I retract, And I repent in dust and ashes.”

—Job 42:5-6

Isaiah 6

Is such a painful ordeal worth the effort?

B. Importance

The low view of God entertained almost universally among Christians is the cause of a hundred lesser evils everywhere among us…. It is impossible to keep our moral practices sound and our inward attitudes right while our idea of God is erroneous or inadequate. If we would bring back spiritual power to our lives, we must begin to think of God more nearly as He is.

The history of mankind will probably show that no people has ever risen above its religion, and man's spiritual history will positively demonstrate that no religion has ever been greater than its idea of God. Worship is pure or base as the worshiper entertains high or low thoughts of God.

—A.W. Tozer, Knowledge of the Holy, pp. 6, 7, 9

Life will not rise above the level of my concept of God.

False concepts, messed up life. Might not even know it.

1. “Oh, God” (George Burns, 1977); Portrays God as “The man upstairs”

2. “Bruce Almighty/Evan Almighty”; Portrays God as powerful, but not worshipped

3. Ideas of Christians more dangerous; Wild at Heart, John Eldredge

▪ but on pages 30 and 32… “God is a person who takes immense risks. No doubt the biggest risk of all was when he gave angels and men free will…” “God’s relationship with us and with our world is just that: a relationship. As with every relationship, there’s a certain amount of unpredictability, and the ever-present likelihood that you’ll get hurt.”

▪ “Openness” theology: God is not all-knowing, not all-powerful. He figures things out as He goes. He is waiting to respond to our actions.

• How do I have peace in the midst of a fallen world?

• God needs me or else His “risk” won’t pan out well – all of a sudden I’m a partner to God rather than a dependent creation.

II. Guiding principles – curbs on the road

A. God is unfathomable

Great is the Lord, and highly to be praised, And His greatness is unsearchable.

—Ps 145:3

Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and unfathomable His ways!

—Romans 11:33

Augustine walking on the sea shore thinking and wrestling and trying to get his mind around the doctrine of the Trinity of God. And in the midst of his meditation, he was distracted by a little boy with a sea shell running to the water, filling his shell, and then pouring the water into a hole he had made in the sand

Augustine: “What are you doing, my little man?”

“Oh,” replied the boy, “I am trying to put the ocean in this hole.”

Augustine: “That is what I am trying to do; I see it now. Standing on the shores of time I am trying to get into this little finite mind things which are infinite.”

“We are speaking of God, what marvel if [you] do not comprehend? For if [you] comprehended, He is not God”

—Augustine

B. God has revealed Himself

Is it possible to know God? Yes, but only because He has revealed Himself

God is invisible; we know through our senses

“I will magnify Myself, sanctify Myself, and make Myself known in the sight of many nations; and they will know that I am the Lord.”

—Ezekiel 38:23

▪ Creation (Rom 1:20); Ps. 19:1-6

▪ His Word – Ps. 19:7-10, 14

▪ His actions in history (Ac 14:16-17)

▪ His Son (Heb 1:1-4)

C. Rejection of God’s self-disclosure – Romans 1:21-32

III. Overview

A. What is an attribute?

Definition: A characteristic, quality or property which is intrinsic to its subject

Objective - not what we think but what He has revealed about Himself

Not a conglomeration; He is always all of His attributes; He does not set aside one attribute to exercise another

B. Communicable and Incommunicable

Incommunicable Attributes

A. Self-existence

B. Immutability

C. Infinity – Perfection, eternality, omnipresence

Communicable Attributes

A. Spirituality – life, personality

B. Intellectual Attributes - Knowledge (omniscience), wisdom, truth

C. Moral Attributes – Goodness, love, grace, mercy, longsuffering, holiness, righteousness

C. Perfect symmetry of God

Transcendence

“For My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways My ways....For as the Heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways, and My thoughts than your thoughts”

—Isaiah 55:8,9

Roman, Greek, Hindu gods; all like us

Immanence

“Where can I go from Thy Spirit? Or where can I flee from Thy presence?”

—Psalm 139:7

Islam – Allah has no love for his creatures; he is in heaven

Justice

For it was fitting for us to have such a high priest, holy, innocent, undefiled, separated from sinners and exalted above the heavens….

—Hebrews 7:26

For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

—Romans 6:23

Love – 1 John 4:8

IV. Significance and application

Proper belief leads to proper worship

Proper worship leads to a transformed life. Beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord are being transformed into the same image, from glory to glory.

A. Read God’s word. What do you learn about God? Do you believe it?

B. Think about your struggles, decisions, patterns. Are they consistent with your beliefs about God? Do your actions, attitudes betray you?

C. Pray for God to reveal Himself more clearly and transform you.

“They that know Thee not may call upon Thee as other than Thou art, and so worship not Thee but a creature of their own fancy; therefore enlighten our minds that we may know Thee as Thou art, so that we may perfectly love Thee and worthily praise Thee.”

—A.W. Tozer