[Transcript may not match broadcasted sermon word for word, and contains extra material that was cut from the broadcast due to time constraints]

       Today I want to discuss the attributes of God. Now, any subject such as this can be very detailed to say the least. Really, there is no way to completely understand the attributes of God in full. Within the character of Jesus Christ, we certainly have part of these attributes revealed, if not all in some manner or form. Anyway, it’s best not to assume we completely understand God, or that we know all that there is to know about him. Therein lies a great temptation, to assume that we have figured God out, and totally understand him, when in reality, we haven’t.

              I think it is first, however, important to gain an underlying definition of the attributes of God. When we are talking about attributes, we mean to discuss God's nature and character. This includes the complete Triune God, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. It is important to note that each of these attributes only describe different parts of God, which interconnect together. Again, we cannot safely assume that the whole of the attributes of our knowledge are the only attributes of God, for it certainly seems possible there could be further attributes that we don’t understand with our human minds. The Bible describes God's relationship with man, and perhaps not God's totality. Therefore, it seems best to say that the attributes likely do not totally define God.

              In any case, in this lecture I do not seek to mean to describe the entirety of our known attributes about God. Nevertheless, it is beneficial and important to go over some of them, as time would allow. To name many of the attributes, we would explore the omnipresence, eternality, holiness, immutability, infinity, love, omniscience, omnipotence, righteousness, sovereignty, truth, and providence of God. Now, again, I don’t have time to review each of these, but let’s go ahead and review several.

              Okay, so first, let us ponder the love of God, for really, this attribute is the foundation to all the other attributes, to God’s character as a whole. Love I believe is the essential attribute to focus on. Besides, who themselves would want to love a God if He did not love us? Some false gods (gods which aren’t really real) seem to be distant (that is, unloving and uncaring), but this not the character we find in the God of the Bible! As for the Father himself, 1 John 4:16b articulates that “God is love” (ESV). We also read in John 3:16 that God loved the world, and that He sent his only Son to die for the sins of its people. This is our foundation of what God has done to reconcile us to himself. As for God the Son, The Book of the Revelation chapter 1 reveals that he “loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood and made us a kingdom, priests to his God and Father” (see 1:5-6a, ESV). These verses tells us that Jesus indeed does love His people. For the Spirit of God, Romans 5:5 says, “and hope does not put us to shame, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us” (ESV). Therefore, the Spirit fills our hearts with God's love and thereby too shows that He indeed loves us.

       Now that we have an acquaintance with our foundation for God’s character, let’s talk about about the fact that he has always existed. We know this as the eternality of God. We discover, then, at the start, that God was not created. Consider, our human finite minds think that all things, or creatures for that matter, have to have a beginning. The human brain, if it were, is programmed in this way—to think that all things have to have a beginning. But, we learn from the Bible that all things do not have to have a beginning. God is the chief example of that. God was never created, and He lives forever. He always has been, and will never cease to exist. Psalm 90:2 points out of God that, “Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever you had formed the earth and the world, from everlasting to everlasting you are God” (ESV). As for Christ, John tells us in his first chapter that Jesus was with God in the beginning (1:2). Genesis 1:26 shows this, and in that the Spirit of God was present at the creation events.

              Understanding, then, that God is eternal, let us examine God's holiness attribute. God is holy, and in Him is no fault at all. He is perfect and has never sinned—He has never gone against His own Word. As a matter of fact, God expects us humans to be holy like He is holy. In Leviticus 11:45c, God states, “You shall therefore be holy, for I am holy” (ESV). Jesus would reiterate this when He said, “You therefore must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect” (Matthew 5:48, ESV). Speaking of Christ, in 1 Peter 3:15a it says, “but in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy” (ESV). This verse shows us that Christ too is holy. We know that God's Spirit is holy, as He is often times referred to in the Bible as the Holy Spirit. We believe, then, that all three Persons of The Trinity are equal in Their holiness.

              Next, I want to contemplate God's immutability. This means that God’s character is unchanging and consistent in all times. We learn of God the Father's immutability in Malachi 3:6 when God speaks of Himself, ““For I the Lord do not change” (ESV). In the New Testament, James would put it this way: “the Father of lights with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change” (James 1:17bc, ESV). 2 Timothy 2:13 states two things about Jesus Christ. It informs us that Christ remains faithful even when we have no faith. And it expresses that Christ cannot deny Himself. This means, invariably, that Christ’s moral character would never change. John 16:13-15 conveys that the Holy Spirit will lead believers into the entirety of God's and Jesus' truth. We see the God the Spirit agrees with both the Father and the Son on truth.

              It is also important to think about the infinity of God. We know that God the Father cannot be contained in any limited space. For 1 Kings 8:27 proclaims that, ““But will God indeed dwell on the earth? Behold, heaven and the highest heaven cannot contain you; how much less this house that I have built!” (ESV). Thus, a place built by Solomon for God cannot even contain him. For Christ, I think a good way to understand his limitlessness is to look at Matthew 26. When Jesus was being betrayed by Judas Iscariot, Jesus said to one of his disciples, later we learn Peter, that he could call to his Father who would at once send him 12 legions of angels to rescue him. That is, they would come in an instant. That's pretty powerful. Some theologians estimate this to be 72,000 angels. Psalm 139:7 says that the Spirit of God is also limitless. The Psalm writer David asks where he could go that would be away from God's Spirit. And he ponders where he could flee to get out of God's presence. And obviously, he could not of.

              Next, let’s explore the righteousness of God. We believe that God is perfect, and that there is no fault found in Him. We also believe that righteousness is a part of God's character, and that God embodies righteousness and tells us what is right. Of God the Father, Psalm 11:7 expresses “For the Lord is righteous; he loves righteous deeds” (ESV). The prophet Daniel would say that to God belongs righteousness. He contrasted the people of Israel being on the opposite end of the spectrum, that they were not righteous (see Daniel 9:7). As for Jesus, He bore witness of Himself that he always did the things that were pleasing to God, thus making him righteous (see John 8:29). Both Hebrews 4:15 and 1 John 3:5 state that Jesus is without and does not contain any sin, thus making Him righteous. And how as Christians are we supposed to act? 2 Corinthians 5:21 spells out of Christ that, “For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God” (ESV). Consequently, we have been made righteous as we continually seek to be perfect in this life. And Romans 8:3 notes that God has condemned sin in a person's flesh. He did this by having Jesus, being in a body in the likeness of sin, dying on the cross for sin. In looking at the Spirit of God's righteousness, in Galatians 5 the Apostle Paul lists the fruit of the Spirit, which are all good, right, and true, which are for the Christian to live by. Paul says that the Christian is to walk by the Spirit, demonstrating those characteristics that he had listed. That, too, indeed shows the Spirit of God's righteousness.

              Moving on to God’s omnipotence. By discussing God's omnipotence, we mean God's powerfulness and matchlessness. We see in the Old Testament, in Genesis that God referenced himself to Abram the He is God Almighty (17:1). As a matter of fact, Psalm 68:34 states, “Ascribe power to God, whose majesty is over Israel, and whose power is in the skies” (ESV). Finally, the Apostle John notes in Revelation that, ““Hallelujah! Salvation and glory and power belong to our God” (19:1b, ESV). As for the Son of God, Hebrews 1:3 states that, “He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power” (ESV). Remember in Matthew 8 that Jesus was able to rebuke the storm and make it cease from happening. The disciples marveled, wondering how such a man could control the winds and the sea so that they obey him (see Matthew 8:23-26). For the Spirit of God, He also is seen to possess God's power. The Prophet Micah stated that, “But as for me, I am filled with power, with the Spirit of the Lord,” (3:8a, ESV). Genesis 1:2 explains that the Spirit of God, as part of the creation event, was hovering over the face of the waters on the earth. This is a demonstration of His all-powerfulness.

              Carrying along, now I want to consider the omniscience of God. What we mean by omniscience is that God indeed knows everything that can be known. Paul notes in Romans 11:33a “Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God!” (ESV). Indeed, no being in the Universe has greater knowledge than God! That is how he can be infinitely resourceful in his actions. For Paul continues, “How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways!” (Romans 11:33b, ESV). But how does the Son and the Spirit fit into understanding the knowledge of God? Jesus, in his earthly ministry, made God known. This is seen in John 1:18, when it says, “No one has ever seen God; the only God, who is at the Father's side, he has made him known” (ESV). John 14:7 points out that if you have known Jesus, then you have known God the Father. For the Holy Spirit, it is written in John 16:13-15 that:

“When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come. He will glorify me, for he will take what is mine and declare it to you. All that the Father has is mine; therefore I said that he will take what is mine and declare it to you.” (ESV)

We see from this passage that the Spirit reveals God's truth to the believer. The Apostle Paul would say that, “these things God has revealed to us through the Spirit. For the Spirit searches everything, even the depths of God” (2 Corinthians 2:10, ESV).

              Finally, I want to discuss the sovereignty of God. This means that God is the Supreme Being of the universe. Or, one could say that God has the supreme power of the universe. Even though things may happen on the earth that God does not want, he is infinitely resourceful in that he works out his plans regardless, and he works out goodness in the lives of his people. Acts 15 notes that God makes things that he knew from of old (17e-18). Thus, he causes specific, fixed things to come to pass. Indeed, Psalm 135:6 says, “Whatever the Lord pleases, he does, in heaven and on earth, in the seas and all deeps” (ESV). For John would note, as we all know by heart, “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him” (John 3:16, 17 (ESV). Thus, God does not force anyone to come into this relationship he desires, but sends people to share the truth so that they hopefully will. John continues, “Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God” (John 3:18, ESV). Finishing up, we can also note that Ephesians 1:14 notes God as our guarantee of our salvation. When we surrender our lives over to him, he has the power to guarantee our salvation.

              In conclusion today, perhaps you've been listening to this discussion—about the attributes of God, about how God is first and foremost love, and those of his other attributes of holiness, righteousness, and goodness, and how he has lived forever, that he knows everything possible, and so on. Perhaps, as you've listened, you've believed that God really is real, and that he indeed does love everyone. Well, no matter who you are, no matter what your status in society is, no matter how important or unimportant you may think you are, I am here today to tell you that God is offering you His free gift of salvation that He offers to anyone who would believe in Him. God wants everyone to accept the truth, to accept Jesus' death on the cross as a payment for their sins.

              It may be today that you feel like there is no way that this God, whom I've talked about, could accept you because, after all, He is holy, perfect, and good, and you may feel that you are quite the opposite. But, you see, God doesn't save you based on your works. You can spend your whole life trying to do things to get God's attention, or make yourself feel good, but, in the end, it's not going to matter. All that matters, in reality, is whether or not a person is in right relationship with God. All that matters is whether you know Jesus Christ as your personal Lord and Savior. You cannot earn God's favor. You can't bargain with God—you can't say, “God, if I do this for you, will you do this for me?” That's not the way it works. You can have much, much more than that.

              If you will come into a personal relationship with God, He will give you eternal life, and a new life, starting today. He will forgive you of your sins, and eventually, as you seek to please Him and follow Him, in a personal relationship with Him, he will give you, in accordance with His will, the desires of your heart. God wants people to be at peace, to have joy, to be happy. Now, that's very counter to our culture because our culture says that obtaining things or people—whatever it be—that's what our culture says will make you happy. But that is not true. The truth of the matter is what will truly fulfill your life is being reconciled to God through Jesus Christ, knowing that your sins are forgiven, and that you are now in right standing with God in a personal relationship with Him.

              God will help you where you need help. It doesn't matter if you're struggling with an addiction or some significant engrossed problem; God has the ability to get you through that issue. Our world's systems can help, but they can’t fix the true problem. God is the only One who can forgive sins, and really help you through whatever it is. God isn't just wanting to save you from Hell—though that is very important—God wants to be part of your life. He wants you to give your life over to Him, so that He can give you true life. There’s nothing to lose, at all, by knowing God. All there is, by knowing God, is gain.

              So, if you believe that you would like to have a personal relationship with God today, and accept Jesus Christ as your personal Lord and Savior, then follow my lead in this simple prayer:

God, I am a sinner. I have accumulated over my whole life as vast amount of sin. But today I understand that Jesus died for my sins, and that He forgives me of everything wrong that I have ever done. I believe that Jesus died on the cross for my sins, and that on the third day He rose from the dead so that I might have a new life. I believe that Jesus is God, that he’s Lord of everything that exists. And I, God, want to surrender my life to you now, so that you may be Lord of my life because, Father, you know what is best for me. Please, Father, come into my life, and start the transformation process, by which I become like you want me to be, so that I become pleasing to you. Thank you Father for today. In Jesus’ name I pray, Amen.

So, if you’ve prayed that prayer today, you can know for sure that everything is going, in the end, to be okay with you.

              Let's pray:

              Heavenly Father, I thank you for today. I thank you for the opportunity to look at your attributes—to study your Word and examine who you are—so that we can have a better understanding of your characteristics and know you more. I pray for those who accepted your truth today, who accepted Christ as their Lord and Savior: I pray that they would continue to believe what they have just believed, and that you would start that transformation process. I pray that you would help those people to overcome any issues in their lives, and seek to be pleasing to you, in their actions, thoughts, and what they do, so that they can become more like Jesus.

              I pray for those of us who are have been in right relationship with you, that we would be continuing to become more like Jesus, that we would not be going the other direction, away from you, but that our actions, our thoughts, our words, that we would be seeking to align those with your Truth, with the pages of Scripture. Help us, Father. It can be such a struggle at times, as our inner sin-nature tries to pull us away from You and make us not like Jesus. Help us to look at different areas of our lives in light of what we have learned today about you, and how we can be more pleasing to you, and more helpful and thoughtful to those around us, whether it be at home, with our friends, or where we work. Help us to seek to be like Jesus to those around us. In Jesus' name we pray, Amen.

-Daniel Litton