GOD

1. There are 48 verses in the book of Jonah.

2. In these 48 verses the word God or Lord is used 39 times.

WE OFTEN VIEW THIS BOOK AS A STORY ABOUT JONAH. ATTENTION IS ALSO FOCUSED ON THE PEOPLE OF NINEVEH. WHEN GOD IS MENTIONED 39 TIMES IN 48 VERSES, IT WOULD SEEM THE ATTENTION IS REALLY FOCUSED ON GOD.

1. This morning I want to do one of the most difficult things a preacher can ever do.

2. I want to talk about God.

3. Who is God? What is God? How can God be described in human terms?

4. These questions are best answered by exploring how God describes Himself.

5. In fairly rapid order I am going to use several passages to show how God describes Himself.

6. Jn. 4:24 says God is “spirit.”

7. There are religious people who believe God has flesh and bones.

8. God says this is not what He is like.

A. He does not have a body as we know it.

B. The lack of a body allows Him to be omnipresent.

C. Omni means all. Omnipresent means present in all places and at all times.

9. The psalmist recognized this a long time ago in Ps. 139:7-10.

10. The writer asked where he could go to get away from God.

11. He then answered his own question.

12. He said if he went to the highest and lowest places God would be in both areas.

13. Jonah learned this same principle when he tried to flee from God.

14. God is spirit, and because His presence is everywhere, we cannot hide from Him.

15. When we understand these two qualities we might naturally ask about God’s origin.

16. Where did God come from?

17. Everything we know has had a beginning; what about God?

18. Deut. 33:27 says God is “eternal.”

19. That is, He had no beginning; God has always been.

20. Just as He will never cease to exist, so there has never been a time when He was not.

21. God is a being who exists outside the bounds of what we call time.

22. A long time ago there was a beginning (start date). At a distinct point in the past time began.

23. God was before the start date (time) because He has always existed.

24. If God has always been, we might ask another question.

A. Has He ever changed?

B. When we look at time, we see that many changes have taken place.

C. Life now is not like it was 200 years ago.

D. We live in a time when changes take place every day—sometimes big changes.

25. If God has always existed, has He always been the same?

26. Mal. 3:6 says God does not change.

A. God’s will for man can change. In fact, it has changed throughout time.

B. Deity has had different plans for different generations.

C. People at people in different time periods received different commands from Him.

D. Yet, in regard to God’s nature, both testaments say God does not change.

E. For a New Testament reference on this point see Heb. 13:8 (this verse describes Jesus).

27. Knowing God is unchanging is important because some believe and teach that God does change.

28. It is sometimes argued that the God of the Old Testament was mean and hard.

29. In the New Testament we are presented with a God of love.

30. The Old Testament God was harsh but in the New Testament God is kind.

31. This cannot be right because of how God describes Himself.

32. He does not change. Jas. 1:17 says there is “no variation” with Him.

A. If God told the truth in the Old Testament, He tells the truth now.

B. If God was good in the Old Testament, He is good now.

C. If God blessed the righteous and punished the wicked, He now acts the same way.

33. When we think about God we must say He has (and has always had) certain attributes.

34. Stated another way, He has certain qualities.

35. He possesses these qualities to the maximum degree.

36. Earlier I mentioned omniscience (God knows all things).

37. Anther omni quality is omnipotence (He is all powerful).

38. Another of His qualities is holiness.

A. In just the book of Isaiah this characteristic is applied to God about 30 times.

B. God’s holiness means He cannot tolerate sin.

C. It also means that we need to treat Him with a lot of respect.

D. God is not an impersonal force; He is a holy (pure) being, and His holiness is perfect.

E. He is faultless, and in Christ, we are given the chance to be like Him.

39. Another well-known quality is God’s love.

40. Whenever people think about God in modern times, this is the trait that is usually stressed.

41. God is love. We agree that this is right because John said so in 1 Jn. 4:16.

42. God loves as much and as strongly as anyone can love.

43. There is no doubt that God is all loving.

A. Yet, we must remember that love does not cancel out God’s other attributes.

B. My family is preparing to move and we will need a new bank.

C. We are looking at MFB.

D. When I spoke with the people about new accounts, the lady told me this:

E. “We have many great features and the best one is our attitude towards customers.

F. “We are the friendliest bank in the area.”

G. Let’s say this is exactly right.

44. Let’s also say that tomorrow one of MFB’s customers takes out a loan.

45. Next month he returns to the same branch and asks to see the loan officer.

46. When the customer sits down with the loan officer he says, “I am not going to repay the debt.”

47. “This bank is so friendly it will not care if I repay the debt or not.”

48. We all know that the friendliness would disappear.

49. Those who refuse to pay will be turned over to the authorities or a collection agency.

50. A bank’s friendliness does not cancel out the need to repay a debt.

A. A similar thing is true of God’s love.

B. He loves and loves, but His love does not cancel out justice and punishment for evil.

51. In addition to being all loving, God is the possessor of all goodness.

52. Ps. 52:1 says God’s goodness continually endures.

53. Jesus said in Mk. 10:18 that only one is truly good (God).

A. Two other important qualities associated with God are truthfulness and patience.

B. There are many stories in the Old Testament which show how God is truthful.

C. They also reveal that God is a God of patience.

D. Paul specifically joined God with patience in Rom. 15:5.

54. The quality of patience is further associated with God’s mercy and grace.

55. God is rich in these two attributes as well.

56. In Ex. 34:6 we find these words:

57. God is “merciful.” He is “slow to anger” and “abundant in lovinkindness.”

58. Very early in the scriptures God’s graciousness to man is expressly stated.

59. These same qualities are described by Jn. 3:16.

A. As Christians we want to teach these attributes because they are in the Bible.

B. However, we do not want to teach these qualities and stay silent about God’s other traits.

C. Some become so enthused about grace and mercy they forget God’s other qualities.

60. The Bible presents God as a well rounded being; He is a God ho is balanced.

61. If God were only composed of love, mercy, and grace, He would be a lopsided God.

62. He would not be perfect because love without justice is not true love.

63. For God’s love to be perfect, He must also be a God of justice.

64. Perfect love requires righteous wrath. The two must co-exist.

65. When people do not teach these things, they present a perverted and anti-scriptural view of God.

66. Right now this is one of the problems in the religious world.

67. The side of God which is associated with wrath and punishment is underemphasized or not taught.

68. In Rom. 1:18 Paul said God has “wrath” that is “revealed from heaven.”

69. This is directed against “all unrighteousness and ungodliness.”

70. Heb. 12:29 says God is a “consuming fire.”

71. Adam and Eve got to experience this first hand as did the people of Sodom.

72. Jonah also faced God’s wrath.

WHEN WE LOOK AT GOD WE FIND THAT HE IS A BEING WHO HAS ALWAYS BEEN AND WILL ALWAYS BE. HE IS ALSO INFINITE IN EVERY QUALITY (THAT IS, HE POSSESSES EACH QUALITY TO THE FULLEST POSSIBLE DEGREE).

1. This is the God Christians serve.

2. This is the God all will one day stand before in judgment.

3. He knows everything about us right now and that will also be true at the Day of Judgment.

4. He is with us wherever we go whether we want Him there or not.

5. He is aware of every thought we have and every act we do (good or evil).

6. Most importantly, He has all the power necessary to save us or condemn us.

7. Jonah made a miscalculation about God’s power.

8. He thought he could get on a ship and escape.

9. The God of heaven is omnipresent (Jonah couldn’t escape).

10. God is also all powerful. Jonah got to see God’s power first hand.

11. When we get to see the power of God at the final day, one of two things will be true:

12. It will be used to save us in heaven with the redeemed or send us away with the cursed.

13. Which will it be?

14. Have we become a Christian as God describes?