Lesson 4

Theology Proper - Who is God?

 

The Excellencies of God

1.  Introduction

Many people have an erroneous view of who God is!

 

 

 

The purpose of this series of studies is to explore the essence of God, the excellencies of God, and then to align our thinking about God with those divine characteristics revealed in the Scriptures.

 

 

2.  The Testimony of some Great Men of God from the past.

Some examples:

A. W. Tozer

A. W. Pink

Charles Haddon Spurgeon

J.I. Packer

 

 

 

3.  Relevance of God's Character to the Christian

Does such a study really have any practical value?

   J. I. Packer raises this very question and promptly answers it:

Why need anyone take time off today for the kind of study you propose? Surely a layman, at any rate, can get on without it?  After all, this is 1972, not 1855. A fair question!--but there is, I think, a convincing answer to it. The questioner clearly assumes that a study of the nature and character of God will be unpractical and irrelevant for life. In fact, however, it is the most practical project anyone can engage in. Knowing about God is crucially important for the living of our lives ... Disregard the study of God, and you sentence yourself to stumble and blunder through life blindfolded as it were, with no sense of direction and no understanding of what surrounds you.

 

Consider the following ways the study of the attributes of God impacts the life of the Christian.

(1)  The way to "see" God is to come to know Him is through a study of His character as revealed in the Scriptures.

 

 

We are among those who have not "seen" our Lord physically so our grasp of the nature of God as revealed through Jesus Christ must be limited to what the Scriptures teach concerning His character.

 

In the final analysis, we can "see" and know God only through the Scriptures as they reveal His character to us.  (John 20:29-31; 1 Peter 1:8).

 

(2) The character of God is the basis and standard for all human morality.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Do we wonder why the church has become so wishy-washy about morality?  The Bible tells us why. We have ceased to ponder and appreciate the moral perfection of God.

And once our view of the holiness of God is diminished, our moral values decline proportionately.

A study of the character of God will establish and under gird morality.

Rem: Basic principle, noted many times, our conduct is directly related to our view of who God is!

(3)  Failure to think rightly about God is the sin of idolatry, and it leads to countless other sins.

 

Tozer rightly identifies mistaken or distorted views of God as idolatry:

Among the sins to which the human heart is prone, hardly any other is more hateful to God than idolatry, for idolatry is at bottom a libel on His character. The idolatrous heart assumes that God is other than He is .... Let us beware lest we in our pride accept the erroneous notion that idolatry consists only in kneeling before visible objects of adoration, and that civilized peoples are therefore free from it. The essence of idolatry is the entertainment of thoughts about God that are unworthy of Him." [Knowledge of the Holy pp.10]

 

 

 

(4)  Knowing God intimately is our calling and destiny, our future hope, our great privilege and blessing, and thus it should be our great ambition.

- Jer. 9:23,24;   Phil. 3:10;  1 John 3:2;   Eph. 3:14-19

 

 

 

(5)  The attributes of God are foundational to our faith and hope.     [hope = expectant confidence]

 

Faith in God is trusting in God, and His attributes are the basis for that trust because He is able and willing to do all that He has promised.  

 

Heb. 10:23; 11:6; 1 Pet. 4:19

 

 

(6) A study of the attributes of God enhances our worship.