July 9, 2006

Cawson St. Church of Christ

Hopewell, Virginia

Mural Worthey

 

Traits That Distinguish God

 

Introduction:  (Ambrose, 339-397 AD, a Roman Christian, wrote that four traits distinguish God from man; quoted in The Trinity, Roger E. Olson and Christopher A. Hall, 40.  His four points are included in this lesson.)

 

Knowing God is the beginning of all theology or religion.  There are many gods and lords, as Paul wrote, but to Christians there is only one true God, and the Lord Jesus Christ.  (1 Cor. 8:4-6.)

 

“But the people who know their God shall stand firm and take action.”  (Dan. 11:32.)  “And this is eternal life that they know you the only true God and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.”  (John 17:3.)  “And we know that the Son of God is come and has given us understanding, so that we may know him who is true.  And we are in him who is true, in his Son Jesus Christ.  He is the true God and eternal life.  Little children, keep yourselves from idols.”  (1 John 5:20-21.)  “For they themselves report what kind of reception we had among you, and how you turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God, and to wait for his Son from heaven.”  (1 Thess. 1:9-10.)  “For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became vain in their thoughts.”  (Rom. 1:21.)

 

The Bible states that we can both know God and yet not fully know Him.  This is not contradictory; it is to say that we cannot fully know Him.  Our knowledge is always limited, but especially so in regard to God. 

 

“For who has understood the mind of the Lord so as to instruct him?  But we have the mind of Christ.”  (1 Cor. 2:16.)  “Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God!  How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways!”  (Rom. 11:33.)  Job said, “Behold, these are but the outskirts of his ways and how small a whisper do we hear of him!  But the thunder of his power who can understand?”  (Job 26:14.)

 

We can understand much about the nature of God so that we can worship Him.  We can know the differences between God, false gods and mere man.  To emphasize the nature of God, note these differences.

 

#1:  God is Spirit  (John 4:24, 2 Cor. 3:17-18.)

 

Jesus said, “See my hands and my feet, that it is I myself.  Touch me and see.  For a spirit does not have flesh and bones as you see that I have.  And when he had said this, He showed them his hands and feet.”  (Luke 24:39-40.)  Jesus made a distinction between those who have flesh and bones and those who are spirit.

 

The Word who is God was made flesh and dwelt among men.  (John 1:1-3,14.)  This is called incarnation.  This is what happened when Jesus was born, but it never happens with man.  We do not experience an incarnation.

 

God being Spirit cannot be seen with human eyes.  Jesus was “the image of the invisible God.”  (Col. 1:15.)  “Who only has immortality, dwelling in light which no man can approach unto, whom no man hath seen or can see, to whom be honor and power everlasting.”  (1 Tim. 6:16.)  “No man hath seen God at any time.  The only begotten Son which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him.”  (John 1:18.)  Since God is Spirit, many question the reality of God.  For this reason, it was important that the Son come to earth and declare God unto man.  To know Jesus is to know God.  (John 14:7-8.)

 

This is a part of the mystery of God.  We do not understand much about the spirit world, though we have a spirit and are made in God’s image. 

 

#2:  God Is Without Sin and Forgives Sin

 

The statement that God is holy means that God is set apart from sin and the world.  (Lev. 11:44-45, 1 Peter 2:16.)  Jesus, though in a human body, is declared to be without sin.  (Heb. 4:15, 1 Pet. 2:22.)  The Holy Spirit is rightfully styled the Holy Spirit.  Jesus is described by the Hebrew writer in this way: “For such a high priest became us, who is holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, and made higher than the heavens; who needed not daily, as those high priests, to offer up sacrifice, first for their own sins, and then for the people’s.  For this he did once, when he offered up himself.”  (Heb. 7:26-27.)

 

Man is a sinner and carnal.  (Rom. 3:23, 7:14.)  No man can say that he has not sinned or that he has no sin.  (1 John 1:8-10.)  For man to claim that he has no sin is to put himself on equality with God.  Only God is pure and holy.  It is blasphemy to accuse God of sin, or to bring God down to the level of sinful flesh.  Pagan Gentiles even tried to bring God down to the level of animals and creeping things.  (Rom. 1:23.)  One trait that distinguishes God from man is that God is without any sin.

 

In addition, it is God who forgives sin.  Yes, we are taught to forgive others who transgress against us.  (Matt. 6:12, 14-15.)  But we cannot forgive someone eternally, or forgive their transgressions against God.  David said, “Against thee and thee only have I sinned.”  (Psalm 51:4.)  Yet David sinned against Bathsheba, Urriah, his wife and the nation of Israel.  All sin is ultimately against God.

 

The Jews complained when Jesus forgave the palsied man.  They asked, “Who can forgive sins but God only?”  (Mark 2:7.)  Jesus could forgive sins because he was God in the flesh.  (Mark 2:10.)  They were right; only God can forgive sins!  This is a great difference between God and men.

 

 

 

 

#3:  God is Creator; Man is the Creature

 

Man was created by the mighty hand of God.  This difference forever separates man and deity.  The Gentiles worshipped idols, false gods on the level of man and animals.  By making images of animals and bowing down to them, they worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator.  (Rom. 1:25.)  At the end of that statement, in order to add a note of reverence, he described the Creator as, “Who is blessed forever, Amen.” 

 

When Jesus gave the Great Commission, he commanded the apostles to preach the Gospel to every creature.  (Mark 16:15.)  Just as parents feel responsible for their offspring, how much more must the Creator love and provide for his creation.  Peter referred to God as “a faithful Creator.”  (1 Peter 4:19.)  This was said in the context of Christians suffering.  God knows about it and we should commit our souls unto Him.  He is a faithful Creator.

 

A terrible mistake is often made concerning Jesus Christ.  Some are determined to make Him a creature, rather than to acknowledge Him as Creator.  (Followers of Arius.)  Paul described him as “the first-born of every creature.”  (Col. 1:15.)  That could mean one of two things: 1) He was the first one created by God, or 2) He is the One by which all creatures were made.  I know that it is the second because Paul added, “For by him were all things created.”  (verse 16.)  “For” means this is the sense in which I speak of him as the first-born of every creature.  He is the means by which all things were created.  Jesus is Creator, not creature.  The Holy Spirit is Creator, not creature. (Gen. 1:2, 26.)

 

#4: God Receives Worship and Does Not Give It

 

When tempted by Satan in the wilderness, Jesus replied, “It is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God and him only shalt thou serve.”  (Matt. 4:10.)  Jesus was quoting Deuteronomy 6:13.  The first three of the Ten Commandments dealt with worshipping God and Him alone.  (Ex. 20.)  Man is forbidden in both covenants from worshipping idols, or false gods.  It right and good for us to express worship to the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.  Even Herod said to the wise men, When you find the child, come and tell me where he is so that “I may come and worship him also.”  (Matt. 2:8.)  It was and is fitting to worship the holy child Jesus.

 

Paul’s sermon on Mars’ Hill dealt with worship.  The Athenians had altars to every god, except the true God.  One altar was to the unknown god.  Paul said, This is the God that I declare unto you. (Acts 17:22-31.)

 

The apostle John saw many strange visions on Patmos.  Angels appeared to him to show him heavenly things.  On one occasion, John bowed down to worship the angel, but the angel forbade him from doing so.  The angel said, “See that you do it not; worship God.”  (Rev. 19:10.)  Man is forbidden to worship anything or anyone except God.

 

#5:  God Possesses Foreknowledge

 

It may seem strange to you, but some theologians deny that God can fore know anything.  They envision God as living within time and limited by it.  Isaiah wrote:  “Remember the former things of old.  For I am God and there is none like me declaring the end from the beginning and from ancient times the things that are not yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand and I will do all my pleasure.”  (Isaiah 46:9-10.)  One of the great differences between God and idols is that the false gods could not foretell the future.  Likewise the true and false prophet was made known.  If the saying does not come to pass, then the prophet has spoken presumptuously.  (Deut. 18:15-22.)

 

Concerning the death of Jesus Christ, Peter said on Pentecost, “Him being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, you have taken and by wicked hands have crucified and slain.”  (Acts 2:23.)  The Greek word for foreknowledge is prognosis.  We use the word as a medical term today to speak of one’s future condition.  Doctors can give only their best guess, but God knows ahead of time.  God knew that Jesus was going to give himself as a sacrifice for sin.  This is the event that is most often spoken of in reference to God’s foreknowledge.

 

I believe the Bible to be true because of the things that are recorded ahead and then fulfilled.  This is how you know a true prophet and true God.  Here are just a few of them: 1) Jesus as a lamb slain from the foundation of the world, (Rev. 13:8),  2) God’s Kingdom would be set up in the days of the fourth empire from Babylon, 3) Jesus foretold the destruction of Jerusalem forty years removed, (Matt. 24:1-34),  4) The Second Coming has been announced, (Matt. 24:36),  5) The resurrection of the dead has been promised, 6) Heaven has been described as the home of the redeemed.

 

Some have already been fulfilled; others are yet future.  All of these speak concerning the foreknowledge of God.  This distinguishes God from man.  We cannot know future events.