God is Merciful

"The Lord descended in the cloud and stood with him (Moses) there, and proclaimed the name of the Lord. The Lord passed before him and proclaimed, 'The Lord, the Lord, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, keeping steadfast love for thousands...'" Exodus 34:5-6

God is merciful. Everything we have that is good is due to God being merciful towards us. Consider John Piper's words,

All we will get from God this year as believers in Jesus is mercy. Whatever pleasures or pains come our way will all be mercy. This is why Christ came into the world – "in order that the Gentiles might glorify God for his mercy" (Romans 15:9). We were born again "according to his great mercy" (1 Peter 1:3); we pray daily "that we may receive mercy" (Hebrews 4:16); and we are now "waiting for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ that leads to eternal life" (Jude 1:21). If any Christian proves trustworthy, it is "by the Lord's mercy [he] is trustworthy" (1 Corinthians 7:25). In the end, when all is said and done, we will confess, "So then it depends not on human will or exertion, but on God, who has mercy" (Romans 9:16). So as we enter the new year, let us humble ourselves and take the position of the blind man, "Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!" (Luke 18:38).

Mercy is not something we have a right to or deserve (otherwise it would not be mercy), but it is something given to us by a merciful God. As sinful humans we deserve wrath (like we saw last week).

God is both just and merciful. Both of these attributes are seen in Exodus 34:5-7:

"The Lord descended in the cloud and stood with him (Moses) there, and proclaimed the name of the Lord. The Lord passed before him and proclaimed, 'The Lord, the Lord, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, but who will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children."

Is God's mercy sometimes abused? Many people abuse this attribute and presume that God will only show mercy and not wrath. (Sin that grace will increase). They presume too much. God has mercy on whom he wants to have mercy (Exodus 33:19). Our God is both wise and just.

God's mercy towards believers. How great the mercy that God has given his children. "For God, who said, 'Let light shine out of darkness' has shown in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ." God has opened our eyes to see how great and glorious He is in Christ.

The End for Which God Created the World

Here is a free online version of Jonathan Edwards' book The End for Which God Created the World (placed inside of John Piper's book God's Passion for His Glory). In our discussion on God's sovereignty and goodness there have been great questions come up that are worthy of study and discussion.

I am posting this book because although you have to read and think slowly through it I think it would benefit anyone looking to know God in a deeper way and ultimately love God more.

This is by no means required. Only check it out if you are interested.

Put your thinking caps on and go HERE.

God is Wrathful

"God is a righteous judge, and a God who feels indignation every day. If a man does not repent, God will whet his sword; he has bent and readied his bow, he has prepared for him his deadly weapons, making his arrows fiery shafts." Psalm 7:11-13

God is a God of wrath. A.W. Tozer writes, "God's justice stands forever against the sinner in utter severity."

John Piper defines wrath from Romans 12 by saying, "the wrath of God is God’s settled anger toward sin expressed in the repayment of suitable vengeance on the guilty sinner."

Wrath as I wrote in the "Attribute Focus" is God's eternal detestation of all unrighteousness. It is God's perfect response to rebellion against authority. Wrath is connected with God’s response to something that deserves vengeance (Romans 12:19-21). And if God's wrath is not poured out on sin then our God is not good. Sin must be punished. And because God is just sin is always punished. Perfectly.

The very nature of God makes Hell as real a necessity as Heaven is. A.W. Pink

In Ephesians, Paul calls those who were once unbelievers "children of wrath."

In Colossians 3:5-6, Paul says, "Put to death therefore what is earthly in you, sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry. On account of these the wrath of God is coming."

God's wrath is coming and will be poured out on a sinful world. This message must not be ignored. That God's wrath is coming is part of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. If there were no wrath of God then there would not be a need for the cross.

Paul, after calling all mankind "children of wrath" continues,

"BUT God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us even when we were dead in our trespasses made us alive together with Christ -- by grace you have been saved -- and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places with Christ Jesus so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus."

When meditating on God's wrath at least two things should happen:

1. We should take our eternal future and the eternal future of others very seriously. "The vague and tenuous hope that God is too kind to punish the ungodly has become a deadly opiate for the consciences of millions. It hushes their fears and allows them to practice all pleasant forms of iniquity while death draws every day nearer and the command to repent goes unregarded. As responsible moral beings we dare not trifle with our eternal future." Take the way you live seriously (Col 1:21-23).

2. We should overflow with thanksgiving. After giving a colorful description of God's wrath against sinners in Psalm 7 the Psalmist ends with thanksgiving. "I will give to the Lord the thanks due to his righteousness."

How thankful we should be. We have been saved. Saved from what, you ask? Saved from God's wrath. We, who were once far off, have been brought near by the blood of Christ. May we proclaim with Paul:

Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord."

God is Good.

Jeremiah 32:40–41.

I will make with them an everlasting covenant, that I will not turn away from doing good to them; and I will put the fear of me in their hearts, that they may not turn from me. I will rejoice in doing them good, and I will plant them in this land in faithfulness, with all my heart and all my soul.

Our God is good. This is why we can have peace and comfort in God's sovereignty over all things. If God were not good (which would really be saying 'if God were not God') then we could not trust Him.

There are many who believe that God can be either good or Sovereign but cannot be both. Rabbi Kushner, author of When Bad Things Happen to Good People, in trying to make sense out of a tragedy in his own family concludes by reading the book of Job that Job was "forced to choose between a good God who is not totally powerful, or a powerful God who is not totally good. (as quoted in Jerry Bridges' book Trusting God). In the Rabbi Kushner's view It is too difficult for God to keep bad things from happening.

It is surprising to see how many Christians will agree with the Rabbi. Many Christians will frequently speak of things happening by chance and by circumstances outside our (and God's) control. According to Jerry Bridges, the implicit assumption from this is that "If God is both powerful and good, why is there so much suffering, so much pain, so much heartache in the world?"

Can we have it both ways? Can our God be both sovereign and good? The Bible teaches us we do have it both ways.

As we saw last week God is sovereign over all things. Not even the smallest bacteria escapes His control. But there is a two fold objective to God's sovereignty. God's glory and the good of His people.

God has designed His eternal purpose so that His glory and our good are inextricably bound together. - Jerry Bridges

Can we trust God? Can God always care for us (is he sovereign?), and Does God always care for us (is he Good)? The Bible clearly affirms both that God is good and God is in control.

We can learn to trust God in adversity when we believe that nothing can frustrate God's plans for His glory and nothing can spoil his plans for the good He is working out in us and for us.

Along with the Key Scripture in your notes check out Romans 8:28-30 (and if you are really motivated the book of Job) and spend some time meditating on the fact that God is sovereign and that God is good.

Response to Question on How God's Sovereignty relates to 2 Peter 3:9.

If you are interested in seeing how God's sovereignty in Salvation and 2 Peter 3:9 relate then check out John Piper's article "Are There Two Wills In God?".

God is Sovereign

(I provided a lot of material for you to read in your One God packet so I will keep the blog as brief as possible.)

Here are a couple of quotes by A.W. Pink from his book The Sovereignty of God.

"The sovereignty of God. What do we mean by this expression? We mean the supremacy of God, the kingship of God, the Godhood of God. To say that God is sovereign is to decalre that God is God...the most high, doing according to his will in the army of heaven, and among the inhabitants of the earth, so that none can stay His hand or say unto Him, What have you done? (Daniel 4:35).

"The sovereignty of the God of Scripture is absolute, irresistible, infinite. When we say that God is sovereign, we affirm His right to govern the universe, which he has made for his own glory, just as He pleases. We affirm that His right is the right of the Potter over the clay: (in order that) he may mold that clay into whatsoever form He chooses, fashioning out of the same lump one vessel unto honor and another unto dishonor. We affirm that he is under no rule or law outside His own will and nature, that God is a law unto Himself, and that he is under no obligation to give an account of His matters to any."

Though your world, my world or your teenager's world be falling around us God is not alarmed. He is never surprised. There are no unexpected emergency's to which God must react. God "works all things after the counsel of His own will (Eph 1:11). All things are subject to his immeadiate control. God is not a distant spectator nor an impotent creator whose plans are always foiled by us or Satan. God never has a plan B. There is only His plan. His purpose and plan cannot be "thwarted by the creatures of His own hands."

One last quote by Pink as to our attitude towards God's sovereignty.

"The sovereignty of God is something more than an abstract principle which explains the rationale of the Divine government: it is designed as a motive for godly fear, it is made known to us for the promotion of righteous living, it is revealed in order to bring into submission our rebellious hearts. A true recognition of God's sovereignty humbles as nothing else does or can humble, and brings the heart into lowly submission before God, causing us to relinquish our own self-will and making us delight in the perception and perfomance of the Divine will...Truly to recognize the sovereignty of God is, therefore, to gaze upon the Sovereign Himself."

Connect Team Leader Meeting

Come get connected at the connect leadership meeting, November 18 @ 4:PM in Carpenter's Cellar. The theme of this meeting is "Connect Four: Getting Connected with Students." Bring some ideas on how you can connect with your students outside of church.

We will also talk about the "One God" Bible study and a bunch of other things.

God is Holy

Who will not fear, O Lord and glorify your name? For you alone are Holy. Revelations 15:4

Stephen Charnock once said that "Power is God's hand or arm, omniscience his eye, mercy his bowels (heart), eternity his duration, but holiness is his beauty."

There is no one like our Holy God. He is uttery different and separated from us. Holiness is the chief characteristic that they ascribe to God in heaven (Is. 6, Holy, Holy, Holy). Holiness is God's greatness. And God is ultimately so great and holy that when we encounter God all we can say is "You are Holy."

All of God's attributes only begin to be seen and understood when his holiness is seen and understood. God's abhorrence of sin and his sending Jesus to die on the cross only makes sense when you see God as holy. As A.W. Pink says, "God's holiness was made manifest at the Cross."

Because God is holy, he hates sin. And sin is never looked over or swept under the rug but is always punished. Think about that. Your sin was not forgiven. In Christ YOU are forgiven, but your sins were punished on the cross. Sin's path always leads to God's wrath.

God has often forgiven sinners, but he never forgives sin; and the sinner is only forgiven on the ground of Another having borne his punishment; for "without shedding of blood there is not forgiveness." A.W. Pink (Attributes of God).

How enormously great is our God. He sent his son to die for our sins so that we may be in Christ and may enter into his presence. There is nothing we could have done on our own to make peace with a Holy God.

Because God is holy, acceptance with him on the ground of creature-doings is uttery impossible. A fallen creature could sooner create a world than produce that which would meet the approval of infinite Purity. The best that sinful man brings forth is defiled....But blessed be His name, that which his holiness demanded his grace provided in Christ Jesus our Lord. Every poor sinner who has fled to him for refuge stands "accepted in the Beloved" Hallelujah! - A.W. Pink