The Message – God is Light Lesson 5
and Can Be Known – Part II .
This is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you, that God is light,
and in him is no darkness at all. If we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness,
we lie and do not practice the truth. But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin.
1 John 1:5-7 ESV
You will only know God as far as your love, your hunger,
and your comfort zone will allow.
Job 22:21 Now acquaint yourself with Him, and be at peace; Thereby good will come to you.
Jer 9:23-24
23 Thus says the LORD: "Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, Let not the mighty man glory in his might,
Nor let the rich man glory in his riches;
24 But let him who glories glory in this, That he understands and knows Me, That I am the LORD,
exercising lovingkindness, judgment, and righteousness in the earth. For in these I delight," says the LORD.
“An unknown God can neither be trusted, served, nor worshipped.
Something more than a theoretical knowledge of God is needed by us.
God is only truly known in the soul as we yield ourselves to Him,
submit to His authority, and regulate all the details of our lives
by His holy precepts and commandments.”
Arthur Pink
Hos 6:3 Let us know, Let us pursue the knowledge of the LORD. His going forth is established as the morning;
He will come to us like the rain, Like the latter and former rain to the earth.
Dan 11:32b .... the people who know their God shall be strong, and carry out great exploits.
Q. 4. What is God?
A. God is a spirit, infinite, eternal, and unchangeable in his being, wisdom, power, holiness, justice, goodness and truth.
The Westminster Shorter Catechism, 1647
TNBS Addendum: He is unchangeable in his perfections, purposes, and promises
I. The Mystery of God in Doctrine
A. The Immutability of God
1. Some things do not change
Ps 102:25-27
25 Of old You laid the foundation of the earth, And the heavens are the work of Your hands.
26 They will perish, but You will endure; Yes, they will all grow old like a garment; Like a cloak You will change them,
And they will be changed.
27 But You are the same, And Your years will have no end
2. Some things do
a. when people or circumstances change
Jonah 3:4 And Jonah began to enter the city on the first day's walk. Then he cried out and said, "Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown!"
b. when there is a special request
Ex 32:9-10
9 And the LORD said to Moses,"I have seen this people, and indeed it is a stiff-necked people!
10 Now therefore, let Me alone, that My wrath may burn hot against them and I may consume them.
Isa 38:1-5
1 In those days Hezekiah was sick and near death. And Isaiah the prophet, the son of Amoz, went to him and said to him, "Thus says the LORD:'Set your house in order, for you shall die and not live.'"
2 Then Hezekiah turned his face toward the wall, and prayed to the LORD,
3 and said,"Remember now, O LORD, I pray, how I have walked before You in truth and with a loyal heart, and have done what is good in Your sight." And Hezekiah wept bitterly.
4 And the word of the LORD came to Isaiah, saying,
5 "Go and tell Hezekiah, 'Thus says the LORD, the God of David your father: "I have heard your prayer,
I have seen your tears; surely I will add to your days fifteen years.
c. when God is sorry
Gen 6:6 And the LORD was sorry that He had made man on the earth, and He was grieved in His heart.
1 Sam 15:10-11
10 Now the word of the LORD came to Samuel, saying,
11 "I greatly regret that I have set up Saul as king, for he has turned back from following Me, and has not performed My commandments.
B. The Omniscience of God
The divine attribute of perfect knowledge. This is declared in Ps 33:13-15; 139:11-12; 147:5; Prov 15:3; Isa 40:14; 46:10; Acts 15:18; 1 John 3:20; Heb 4:13, and in many other places. The perfect knowledge of God is exclusively His attribute. It relates to Himself and to all beyond Himself. It includes all things that are actual and all things that are possible. Its possession is incomprehensible to us, and yet it is necessary to our faith in the perfection of God's sovereignty. The revelation of this divine property like that of others is well calculated to fill us with profound reverence. It should alarm sinners and beget confidence in the hearts of God's children and deepen their consolation. The Scriptures unequivocally declare the divine prescience and at the same time make their appeal to man as a free and consequently responsible being.
(The New Unger's Bible Dictionary. Moody Press, 1988.)
C. The Emotion od God
1. “impassibility” of God
I. There is but one only, living, and true God, who is infinite in being and perfection, a most pure spirit, invisible, without body, parts, or passions; immutable ......
(From the Westminster Confession of Faith, Charter 2:I)
Acts 14:15 And saying, Sirs, why do ye these things? We also are men of like passions with you, KJV
2. “passion” of God
Isa 62:5 For as a young man marries a virgin, So shall your sons marry you;
And as the bridegroom rejoices over the bride, So shall your God rejoice over you.
Ps 78:40 How often they provoked Him in the wilderness, And grieved Him in the desert!
Ex 32:10 Now therefore, let Me alone, that My wrath may burn hot against them and I may consume them.
Matt 22:7 But when the king heard about it, he was furious. And he sent out his armies, destroyed those murderers, and burned up their city.
Ps 103:13 As a father pities his children, So the LORD pities those who fear Him.
Ps 103:13 As a father has compassion on his children, so the LORD has compassion on those who fear him;
D. The Sovereignty of God
Ps 33:11 The counsel of the LORD stands forever, The plans of His heart to all generations.
Ps 115:3 But our God is in heaven; He does whatever He pleases.
Ps 135:6 Whatever the LORD pleases He does, In heaven and in earth, In the seas and in all deep places.
Heb 1:3
who being the brightness of His glory and the express image of His person, and upholding all things by the word of His power, NKJV
The Son is the radiance of God's glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word. NIV
phero NT:5342, "to bear, or carry," is used also of "bearing or bringing forth fruit," To bring is the most frequent meaning.
(from Vine's Expository Dictionary of Biblical Words, Copyright © 1985, Thomas Nelson Publishers.)
1. In the natural world
Ps 65:9-10
9 You visit the earth and water it, You greatly enrich it; The river of God is full of water; You provide their grain,
For so You have prepared it.
10 You water its ridges abundantly, You settle its furrows; You make it soft with showers, You bless its growth.
Ps 104:14 He causes the grass to grow for the cattle, And vegetation for the service of man,
Ps 135:7 He causes the vapors to ascend from the ends of the earth; He makes lightning for the rain;
He brings the wind out of His treasuries.
Ps 147:16-18
16 He gives snow like wool; He scatters the frost like ashes;
17 He casts out His hail like morsels; Who can stand before His cold?
18 He sends out His word and melts them; He causes His wind to blow, and the waters flow.
Matt 8:26-27
26 But He said to them, "Why are you fearful, O you of little faith?" Then He arose and rebuked the winds and the sea, and there was a great calm.
27 So the men marveled, saying, "Who can this be, that even the winds and the sea obey Him?"
2. in human history
Ps 2:1-2, 4
1 Why do the nations rage, And the people plot a vain thing?
2 The kings of the earth set themselves, And the rulers take counsel together,
4 He who sits in the heavens shall laugh; The LORD shall hold them in derision.
Ps 33:10 The LORD brings the counsel of the nations to nothing; He makes the plans of the peoples of no effect.
Dan 4:35 All the inhabitants of the earth are reputed as nothing; He does according to His will in the army of heaven
And among the inhabitants of the earth. No one can restrain His hand Or say to Him, "What have You done?"
Acts 17:26 And He has made from one blood every nation of men to dwell on all the face of the earth,
and has determined their preappointed times and the boundaries of their dwellings,
3. In individuals
Jer 1:5 Before I formed you in the womb I knew you; Before you were born I sanctified you; I ordained you a prophet to the nations
Ps 139:13-16
13 For You formed my inward parts; You covered me in my mother's womb.
14 I will praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; Marvelous are Your works, And that my soul knows very well.
15 My frame was not hidden from You, When I was made in secret, And skillfully wrought in the lowest parts of the earth.
16 Your eyes saw my substance, being yet unformed. And in Your book they all were written, The days fashioned for me, When as yet there were none of them.
4. in human decisions
a. did Joseph’s brothers make a free choice?
Gen 45:5 But now, do not therefore be grieved or angry with yourselves because you sold me here;
for God sent me before you to preserve life.
b. did Pharoah make free choices?
Ex 4:21 And the LORD said to Moses, "When you go back to Egypt, see that you do all those wonders before Pharaoh which I have put in your hand. But I will harden his heart, so that he will not let the people go.
Rom 9:17-18
17 For the Scripture says to the Pharaoh, "For this very purpose I have raised you up,
that I may show My power in you, and that My name may be declared in all the earth."
18 Therefore He has mercy on whom He wills, and whom He wills He hardens.
c. did Cyrus make a free choice?
Isa 44:28 Who says of Cyrus, 'He is My shepherd, And he shall perform all My pleasure,
Saying to Jerusalem, "You shall be built," And to the temple, "Your foundation shall be laid.
1
d. did Judas make a free choice?
Luke 22:22 And truly the Son of Man goes as it has been determined, but woe to that man by whom He is betrayed!"
e. were those held responsible for Jesus’ murder acting freely?
Acts 2:23 This man (Jesus) was handed over to you by God's set purpose and foreknowledge;
and you, with the help of wicked men, put him to death by nailing him to the cross.
5. in salvation
John 6:44 No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him,
Matt 11:27 All things have been committed to me by my Father. No one knows the Son except the Father,
and no one knows the Father except the Son and those to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.
Rom 9:16-18
16 It does not, therefore, depend on man's desire or effort, but on God's mercy.
17 For the Scripture says to Pharaoh: "I raised you up for this very purpose,
that I might display my power in you and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth."
18 Therefore God has mercy on whom he wants to have mercy, and he hardens whom he wants to harden.
Eph 1:4-5, 11
4 For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love
5 he predestined us to be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will
11 In him we were also chosen, having been predestined according to the plan of him
who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of his will,
2 Thess 2:13 But we ought always to thank God for you, brothers loved by the Lord, because from the beginning
God chose you to be saved through the sanctifying work of the Spirit and through belief in the truth.
2 Tim 1:8b-9 God, 9 who has saved us and called us to a holy life — not because of anything we have done but because
of his own purpose and grace. This grace was given us in Christ Jesus before the beginning of time,
6. in everything
Ex 4:11 So the LORD said to him, "Who has made man's mouth ? Or who makes the mute, the deaf, the seeing, or the blind? Have not I, the LORD?
Lam 3:32, 37-38
32 Though He causes grief, Yet He will show compassion according to the multitude of His mercies.
37 Who is there who speaks and it comes to pass, Unless the Lord has commanded it?
38 Is it not from the mouth of the Most High that both good and ill go forth?
Isa 45:7 I form the light and create darkness, I bring prosperity and create disaster; I, the LORD, do all these things.
Ps 119:75 I know, O LORD, that your laws are righteous, and in faithfulness you have afflicted me.
Job 2:10 He replied, "You are talking like a foolish woman. Shall we accept good from God, and not trouble?"
In all this, Job did not sin in what he said.
Amos 3:6 When a trumpet sounds in a city, do not the people tremble? When disaster comes to a city,
has not the LORD caused it?
“Nothing – no evil thing or person or event or deed – falls outside God’s ordaining will.
Nothing arises, exists, or endures independently of God’s will. So when even the worst of evils befall us, they do not ultimately come from anywhere other than God’s hand.”
Mark Talbot, 2006
II. The Mystery of God in the Responsibility of Man