Attributes of Greatness (8)

I was interested Sunday to hear the announcement of the class from from Piedmont this next semester survey of theology and it was good to hear what the professor said about the whole subject of theology. Theology basically means a word about God. That's what the word literally means. It is the study of God and it is the study of what the scriptures teach about God and his revelation, everything the Bible teaches but systematic theology basically is the pulling together of all of the strands of truth in the Bible about certain doctrinal topics and that's exactly what we're doing here on on Wednesday evenings. We're studying the doctrine of God what the Bible teaches about God and we're approaching it from a biblical theology, a systematic theology, type of approach which is to focus upon the scriptures teach and what the scriptures teach is not found as you heard that gentleman say Sunday not found in one particular passage. You have to pull together all of what the scriptures teach on a particular area of a doctrine and that's how we come up with systematic systematized study. Study of what the scriptures teach about a particular doctrine. In our case it is the doctrine of God. We've been looking at at his attributes, his characteristics qualities that describe him and we've been looking at attributes of greatness. We will finish those tonight I know and maybe dip into one of the attributes of goodness. I anticipate we'll surely get that far. Notice that I did not put anything on the back of your outline tonight because I'm beginning to realize we're not getting we're not getting there. So if we run out of material tonight I'll let you out early. We have seen thus far that God is self-existent God is eternal he is unchangeable he is omnipresent he is omniscient he is omnipotent he is perfect and he is infinite and tonight we're going to pick up with the ninth attribute of God the last of the attributes of greatness attributes that we do not share with him that is that God is incomprehensible now what do you think that means let's talk about the meaning of incomprehensible what are we talking about there beyond finding out okay our mind cannot understand all he is okay he's too big all right can we know God I'm not trying to trick you act like what's going on here can we know him we if we say is incomprehensible does that mean we cannot know anything about him okay we can know what the Lord Jesus has taught about him the more we know the more there is tonight exactly okay all right so we can know we can understand and we can grow in our knowledge of God can't we so what do we mean by the fact that God is incomprehensible are we saying he is beyond our knowledge completely don't think so so what are we saying you've you've handed at it already he's beyond what we can imagine okay that's a good way to put it let me say it this way pulling together a lot of the strands of things that you've suggested which have been very good God cannot be completely comprehended by a finite mind by our finite minds he cannot be completely comprehended he can be understood it to some degree we can know him to some degree it doesn't mean that God is unknowable that he's the eternal mystery we can know him at least to some extent but he cannot be completely comprehended by finite minds and and that's where it can get very dangerous we can begin to think that we can somehow figure him out and and completely figure him out to where we've got him all boxed up now and we know exactly what his parameters are and it's just impossible to do that with God he is infinite as we saw last time we we are finite we are limited in our perspective and our understanding so while we can know him and we can grow in our knowledge of him and certainly this book is a fountain of knowledge that is you know take the rest of our lives to even begin to grasp the surface of what is in this book so we can grow but we cannot ever completely comprehend with a finite mind that which is infinite one who is infinite now just to reinforce the point that we can know him and we can know him personally and we can know a lot about him a couple of verses we're going to put on the screen John chapter 17 verse 3 now this is eternal life that they know you the only true God in Jesus Christ whom you have sent so Jesus is praying in his his prayer before the cross often called the high priestly prayer and and he says this is eternal life that they know you so we can we can know God first John 4 7 says the same thing difference let us love one another for love comes from God everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God now let's talk about a personal acquaintance personal knowledge an experiential knowledge of God I did not put this one but I I should have included this one a good one in Philippians chapter 3 where Paul talks about for whatever were whatever were gains to me I now consider loss for the sake of Christ what is more I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord for who's sake I have lost all things I consider them garbage that I may gain Christ and be found in him not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law but that which is through faith in Christ the righteousness that comes from God on the basis of faith and then he goes on to say I want to know Christ yes to know the power of his resurrection and participation in his sufferings becoming like him in his death so Paul says I've given up everything so that I might know him and I want to know him more intimately more completely and so we can know him and we can grow in our knowledge of him Paul saying in Philippians 3 for sure but we can never completely comprehend everything about God he is you know as Isaiah said Isaiah 55 his thoughts are above our thoughts his ways are above our ways we cannot comprehend them all and to think that we can understand everything there is to know about God is the height of arrogance we simply can't okay the few scriptures that that reinforce this let's look at the biblical teaching we're just gonna look at four passages tonight first of all in Job chapter 11 Job chapter 11 and verse seven good question by one of Job's so-called friends they do have some good thoughts in the book and this is one of them in in verse seven can you fathom the mysteries of God can you probe the limits of the Almighty he goes on to say in verse 8 they are higher than the heavens above what can you do they are deeper than the depths low what can you know their measure is longer than the earth and wider than the sea and he was right he was right can we fully grasp everything about God the limits of the Almighty no no it's a the answer is is obvious we cannot know everything there is to know about God okay look at Psalm 145 Psalm 145 and verse three great is the Lord and most worthy of praise his greatness no one can fathom preclear statement isn't it no one can fully understand no one can fully grasp the greatness of God so we cannot fully comprehend him Isaiah 40 and verse 28 is the next one Isaiah 40 verse 28 do you not know have you not heard the Lord is the everlasting God the creator of the ends of the earth he will not grow tired or weary and his understanding no one can fathom we cannot fully grasp the greatness of our God in Psalms here we cannot fully grasp the knowledge or understanding of God all that he knows all that he understands one final passage in Romans chapter 11 and you're familiar with this one no doubt Romans 11 verse 33 oh the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God how unsurkable his judgments in the words the decisions that God makes are unsearchable in the sense that we cannot fully understand them all and his paths beyond tracing out in other words we can't we can't track God to the point that we understand all of his movements okay and then verse 34 says who has known the mind of the Lord or who has been his counselor who has ever given to God that God should repay them for from him and through him and for him are all things to him be the glory forever amen so Paul makes it very clear that God is beyond our limited capacity to understand him fully we cannot we cannot fully understand we cannot track him his ways are untraceable in the sense that we cannot fully understand all of his movements and know exactly what he's done and why at least on all occasions okay any questions about those passages questions or observations okay what does it mean to you then what what application can we draw the application of this truth the need to bend the knee yes he is awesome isn't he and in the appropriate use of that word and we should we should bow before him in in awe of who he is yes what else but we have application to your life what does it mean that God is incomprehensible nothing can be without God okay yes yes yes he is above over around all in awe of him through him to him are all things yes okay he's told us all that we need to know in in this book right we always search for more and more a better explanation is that we didn't make use done this for a reason yeah look the job was written what eight hundred years before book of Joe was written probably around the time of Abraham most most Old Testament scholars believe it was back there had the same questions we did yeah yeah right they have the same questions we did we do okay it is it is somewhat daunting but also encouraging that we can learn more about him forever um it's it's an amazing thought but I I believe we will continue to know and learn more about God throughout eternity do you think we will ever understand everything there is to know after a million years in heaven we will not become omniscient will we we will not have all knowledge even in heaven our minds will be glorified so there will be a without sin but they will not be omniscient or we would be God and we will never become God so I believe there will be the capacity to learn about him through out eternity which that ought to say something about how inexhaustible he is more to learn about him than there is to learn about us yes and we're constantly learning new things about us aren't we it's amazing what the medical community continues to learn I love this verse I've mentioned it to you many times proverbs 25-2 it is the glory of God to conceal a matter to search out of matters the glory of kings I love I just love that verse it is though as though God has built into his creation an almost infinite number of mysteries just waiting for us to discover them and that shows his glory it shows how awesome he is and it is part of the task he has given us Genesis 1 the dominion mandate to rule over his creation and that's been severely limited and marred by the fall but it is a part of our glory as as his creatures made in his image to discover all of that that he has built into his creation and so that's um we're to search those things out and and part of that is to search him out to know him better the more we know about his creation the more we know about him as well the one who made it so God is incomprehensible in the sense that we cannot completely comprehend him with our finite minds but we can know him personally and we can grow in our knowledge of him and there is enough knowledge about him that we can keep going for an eternity okay pretty amazing already anything else on the incomprehensibility of God anything else you want ask about there okay let's take a look at the next attribute of God which really now we're dipping into the attributes of goodness and we'll look at about six of these attributes of goodness are attributes that God has that we can share to some extent we will never measure up fully to what God is but we can uh share them to some extent and grow in them okay the first one we're going to talk about is that God is holy God is holy and I want to begin with the scriptural teaching the biblical teaching and then we'll flesh out from what we see in the scriptures what holiness means I think we have ideas of holiness and I'm not sure we fully grasp what it's talking about let's begin with a very interesting passage one of the foundational ones in the Old Testament you have it on your outline there or Lividicus chapter 11 one of the basic Old Testament passages on holiness fact the whole book of Lividicus is a basic passage basic book on holiness the word holy is mentioned numerous times concept of holiness runs like a thread throughout the whole book of Lividicus in the Vitticus 11 verses 44 and 45 I am the Lord your God consecrate yourselves and be holy because I am holy do not make yourselves unclean by any creature that moves along the ground I am the Lord who brought you up out of Egypt to be your God therefore be holy because I am holy now this this is in the at the end of the chapter on clean and unclean animals there were certain animals that were considered clean in Israel that they could eat there were other animals that were considered unclean that they were forbidden to eat and God basically summarizes that by saying I want you to be different from the other nations I brought you out of a pagan nation I want you to be different from those other nations and I want you to be set apart for me I want you to be holy like I am holy and that's the reason for the clean and unclean animals and and their ability to eat some and not eat others but it's a basic passage on holiness where God says I want you to be holy because I am holy you're to be like me okay questions or comments there okay nobody's gonna ask about the clean and unclean animals okay all right we'll move on if you're not interested what has changed through time so that people can eat unclean animals now it better be biblical each state the question gene is raising really goes to the core of what is what are the unclean and clean animals and why was there this teaching that they could eat some and couldn't eat some and by the way that distinction has been lifted in a new testament you remember the story in Acts chapter 10 with with Peter in the sheet that was let down from heaven and God basically said that's done that's a part of the mosaic law I don't have that requirement anymore you can eat all the things that I have have created which you know opens opens the possibility of hell for ham and sausage and that kind of thing so so there is no there is no distinction like that now we are able to eat whatever we want to eat but the question of why is is one of the most puzzling questions in all the Bible as to why some animals were clean and somewhere unclean plenty did the did you clean animals what you mean the the command not to eat unclean animals no that was strictly for the Jews it was a part of what set them apart as a unique people of God the question that is debated is why why did God specify some animals as clean and some as unclean let me take a few moments to talk about that I I felt like maybe this question would come up and maybe I'm the one raising the question but in anticipating that I went back to some some of my notes some of you may remember I'm sure you would I think it was 1992 I taught through the whole book of Leviticus on Wednesday evenings and I'm sure that's very fresh in your minds but I pulled back some of my my notes from my studies on that the reasons for the food laws the basis for the distinction between clean and unclean animals has fascinated and perplexed Bible students and Bible scholars throughout the centuries and there are typically four explanations as to why God did that and what the rationale was one explanation is that it's just arbitrary that God decided some animals are clean some animals are unclean the reasons are known only to him and it was just given as a test of obedience will you obey me unquestioning and that's possible it it's only possible because most of the other views don't make much sense so it is possible that the that God just arbitrarily made these distinctions and said I'm just testing your obedience there's no real rationale behind it the second reason why some people believe the distinction was made it is for religious reasons there are those who say that the unclean animals were used in pagan worship or associated with other deities that is the most ancient interpretation it's the one held by the most of the early church fathers early church theologians and verses 44 and 45 may seem to support that because God says I'm consecrating him setting you apart from the other nations I brought you out of Egypt and so so many believe that it was for religious reasons because the unclean animals were used in pagan worship but it breaks down when you realize that most nations also sacrificed some of the clean animals like bulls so that that argument kind of breaks down that doesn't seem to really be the reason some people say the reason for the distinction between clean and unclean animals the third view is that it's hygienic that it had to do with hygiene and that really what they what those who hold this view say is the unclean animals were carriers of disease and God was trying to protect his people from disease and that's very attractive to twenty twenty first century health conscious Americans and Westerners there is probably some truth to that you can make a case for at least some of those animals but it breaks down also in some of the individual animals which do not appear to be carriers of disease or any problem for consumption and it also raises the question why did God and the New Testament say they're all clean now eat whatever you want why would God lift that requirement if it was for the benefit of people health wise so that doesn't seem to be the best view either the fourth view of why clean and unclean animals is that it's just symbolic now some people go way overboard with this some people say the clean animals represent righteous people the unclean animals represent sinful people some people go to specifics and talk about you know they were able to animals that chew the cud because that's like meditation and that's a spiritual thing you know I mean that's really wild fanciful interpretations some people say they could eat sheep because the Lord is our shepherd and when you start into those kinds of interpretations of the Bible you can basically make the Bible mean whatever you want that's called allegorical interpretation very highly symbolic everything is symbolic you can get very creative with that but it's also very wild and subjective so that's probably not it some people see that they're symbolic just in the sense that clean animals represent wholeness and I remember one commentator very well-known Old Testament scholar took this view that clean animals simply represent animals that are whole sound in in the way that they move in the way that they act in the way that they eat in the way that they function they are seen as normal but that can be very subjective too how do you find normal how do you define what is whole and so basically nobody really knows why God made that distinction some of it may have related to hygiene some of it may have just been I want to test your obedience will you be obedient to me in this area but I don't know the fact is now that God has removed that restriction and said basically fair game pun intended he loved us so much he allowed us to eat ham yes all right John when was this started this would have been given to Moses as the children of Israel traveling through the wilderness and this is when that's when Moses recorded these books so this would have been part of the law that he gave them in the wilderness as part of his covenant with them as far as we know yeah okay it's probably more than you ever wanted to hear or talk about there that's kind of interesting to me so thanks for listening Steve yeah yes yes although there was no legalistic no no part of the law of Moses yet in Genesis 6 the loading of the ark there were seven clean animals to unclean so there was some distinction even then but it was not a part of the law of Moses as to what they couldn't could not eat and how far it goes beyond that we don't know but yet could be simply that God was making sure that there was a greater population of clean animals available for later on I don't know okay what I mean there were like of the of the various clean animals there were seven of each of the clean animals on the ark only two of unclean is the way I think Genesis 6 portrays it yeah there there are records in in Genesis or in Leviticus 11 that whole chapter basically lists what's clean and unclean and I've got them all right here if you want to hear them but no you don't want to hear that there are five different categories that he deals with and he lists examples whether or not everything is listed probably not but he lists examples okay it's an interesting study anyway but the point for our study tonight is that God was through the clean unclean animal distinction calling Israel to holiness to being a set apart people a different kind of people than the pagan nations and that was one of the ways he was doing that let's look at Psalm 99 we need to get out of Leviticus Psalm 99 verses 2 and 3 great is the Lord in Zion he is exalted over all the nations let them praise your great and awesome name he is holy and then down verse 5 exalt the Lord our God and worship at his footstool he is holy verse 9 exalt the Lord our God and worship at his holy mountain for the Lord our God is holy so whatever holiness is it is caused for worship of God it is caused to exalt him and set him apart as high above all others and worship him okay special praise and worship belongs to him because he is holy one of the most clear and well-known passages about God's holiness is Isaiah 6 Isaiah 6 we get a familiar hymn from this passage Isaiah 6 verses 1 and 1 through 3 in the year that King Uzziah died I saw the Lord high and exalted seating on a throne seated on a throne and the train of his robe filled the temple above him were seraphim each with six wings with two wings they covered their faces with two they covered their feet and with two they were flying and they were calling to one another holy holy holy is the Lord Almighty the whole earth is full of his glory this is a vision of the holiness of God that Isaiah sees and notice that he sees the Lord high and lifted up exalted his his train the train of his robe filling the temple so this is a picture of the like we saw in Psalm 99 God being exalted high above all but also the result of Isaiah seeing this God who is exalted above all is to recognize how unclean he is you remember his response he says in verse 5 whoa to me I am ruined for I am a man of unclean lips I live among a people of unclean lips my eyes have seen the king the Lord Almighty he became instantly aware of his unholiness of his uncleanness because he had seen the holiness of God so keep those two things in mind God is high and lifted up and God is absolutely pure to the point that one glimpse of him and you automatically feel unworthy to be in his presence you feel unholy that's what Isaiah is talking about by the way holy couple couple things the context is very important it's in the year that king a Zaya died remember who king a Zaya was do you remember something he did what did he do he was a king of Judah good king or bad king do you remember good yeah one of the best one of the best reign for 52 years I believe and he was a godly king but what did you do at the end of his reign he messed up do you remember what he did you went into the temple and offered incense which only the priests were to do and he was warned not to do it but he had been lifted up with pride here's this godly man and he was lifted up with pride and did what only the priests were supposed to do and you remember what god did to him at that moment smote him with leprosy and until the day he died he was a leper because of his blatant disobedience to God and his presumptuous pride to think that we don't need this separation of prophet priest and king in Israel anymore I'm going to be king and priest and God said no wait a second you've crossed a line and so he died and in the year that he died is when Isaiah saw this vision of the one pure holy god who was above all other kings maybe see Isaiah ministered in the reign of maybe he was disillusioned with this godly king Isaiah was a court prophet he was in the palace that's where he operated and he was very close to Isaiah and possibly very disillusioned by he saw a great man fall and now he needs to realize there is a great god who will never fall yes yes is that why god took the kingdom from Saul yes much the same reason wouldn't wait on Samuel for the sacrifice disobeyed god there disobeyed when god told him to slay all the amalakites and he kept some of the animals kept the king alive so again blatant disobedience to god and if you're going to be a king in Israel you need to recognize you are under the king who is god and so Isaiah is seeing the king who was above Isaiah okay it's very important that god refocuses his attention and this is basically when god god deals with him about his ministry and his calling oh the other thing i was going to say was the repetition of the word holy holy holy basically is is the idea of emphasis it's not vain repetition in Hebrew thought whenever you repeated something you were emphasizing it and it was almost as though we want to emphasize the fact that god is holy that's the key thought here that god is holy all right one other passage and then i want to get to the definition and it's a new testament passage 1 Peter 1 15 and 16 but just as he who called you is holy so be holy in all you do for it is written be holy because i am holy he quotes there from leviticus chapter 11 so we in the new testament are to also be holy and our our goal our model our pattern is god himself and so we're to we're to be growing and holiness approaching as best we can the model who is god himself and notice it is all encompassing be holy in all you do holiness is to characterize every part of our lives to be more like more like him so what does holiness mean let's at least get the definition of it tonight before we before we have to go what it holy means the basic meaning there's a there's one primary Old Testament word Hebrew word one primary New Testament word Greek word in the New Testament to describe holiness and they both have the same idea both of the words have the idea of being separate or set apart separate or set apart and that basic idea can be used in a lot of different ways there are occasions even in the Old Testament where it can refer to something being set apart for immoral purposes so the root of the word holy just means to be separated from or to be set apart from something else now typically it has the idea of being dedicated for something but it can be used for something that is set apart for even an immoral purpose it is uniquely set apart for that that reason but when we're talking about god it it has two ideas the being set apart has two ideas first of all he is set apart is unique in his divine majesty he is absolutely separate from all of his creation and this is this is where we find in the Bible the idea of his uniqueness the fact that he is he is lofty exalted above all and that's the idea you get in Isaiah 6 he sees god exalted Psalm 99 god is exalted high above his creation he is unique he is set apart in that way another passage that mentions this that we didn't look at we'll put it on the screens Isaiah 57 verse 15 for this is what the high and exalted one says he who lives forever whose name is holy I live in a high and holy place but also with the one who is contrite and lowly in spirit to revive the spirit of the lowly and to revive the heart of the contrite so the emphasis here is that god's highness the fact that he is absolutely above all he is separate in the sense that he is lofty and exalted a god of splendor and majesty high above all that's a part of his holiness that's one of the ways in which he is set apart you know Isaiah sees him high and lifted up again exalted and what is our proper reaction to god in his holiness in that way to bow down yes I was thinking the very the very thought that uh Audrey mentioned earlier to bend the knee all reverence um worship of him that is the proper response and that's why Isaiah falls on his face and says I'm unclean I cannot even look at you divine majesty and then the second way in which god is absolutely separate um set apart is in his moral purity so holiness has the idea of divine majesty being exalted and lifted up but it also has the idea and this is what we normally think of is moral purity when we think of god we think of one who is absolutely separate from everything that is morally unclean absolutely without sin and that does seem to be the emphasis of the bible that's why when Isaiah hears the seraphim these angels around the throne of god crying holy holy holy then Isaiah's response is woe as me I'm a man of unclean lips I dwell in midst of a people of unclean lips and the lips simply being biblically the reflection of the heart out of the abundance of a heart the man speaks and so the lips indicate what's in the heart what Isaiah is really saying is I'm I'm unholy to the core and and god is absolutely unstained by evil he's untouched by it he's unstained by it absolutely separate from from evil in every regard couple of other verses and then we'll see if you have any closing comments or questions Habakkuk 113 your eyes Habakkuk says your eyes are too pure to look on evil you cannot tolerate wrongdoing why then do you tolerate this treacherousness why are you silent while the wicked swallow up those more righteous than themselves do you remember the story of Habakkuk it is such a great story Habakkuk is crying out to god to judge his people Israel because of their sin and god says okay okay answer your prayer I'm going to judge them by bringing the Babylonians to take them into captivity and this is this is Habakkuk's response the Babylonians they're awful they're worse than we are god you can't look on evil you can't tolerate evil why are you using them to judge people that are more righteous than they are and he really was struggling with that and that's when god tells him in Habakkuk chapter 2 you've got to live by faith trust me trust me and what I'm doing and he says as he goes on through the book I'll deal with Babylon too but I'm going to use Babylon first to judge my people but in the midst of that Habakkuk realizes a truth about god that god is too pure to look on evil cannot tolerate wrongdoing but that knowledge creates attention in his mind as to why god would allow such unholy people to be his instrument of judgment that was his that was his quandary the other passage is one that we saw Sunday night and that is James 1 13 when tempted no one should say god is tempting me for god cannot be tempted by evil nor does he tempt anyone god is untouched unstained by evil he is above completely separate from evil so god is holy in the sense that he is above all of his creation is unique in that way high and lifted up exalted he is also holy in the sense that he's separate from anything that is morally impure and that's typically what we think of and we think of holy okay closing questions before we leave what the great question and if you didn't hear it in the back the difference between holiness and sanctification and I think you've approached the right answer there what you've suggested typically sanctification is used of us and it refers to our growth in holiness our growth in being set apart for god and for his purposes holiness typically deals with god now we we are also commanded to be holy and it's really the same words the Greek word hagias is the word for holy and it also has the idea of sanctification but our English word sanctification is usually used of our growth in holiness so yeah typically that would be the difference but sanctification indicates the process holiness is basically the goal okay times up kids will be loosening them in it we don't want that so let's let's pray Father thank you that you are a holy god and and help us not to approach that concept with a pure um rational approach just to be able to understand it explain it parse it out Lord help us to grasp it to the extent that we like Isaiah realize how unholy we are how far short we fall of the standard that you embody and I pray Father that will be our goal to be more like you in holiness to grow in sanctification to be more set apart to you each day of our lives we ask in Jesus name amen