Who Is God
Who is God?
I. Bob- Opening Prayer-
II. Bob- Introduction to…”Who is God”- Sometimes we take for granted that people “Know” who our God is. Many times we discover that they really have a perception of God that isn’t truly the God of the Bible.
Our goal today is to make sure we all “Know” the true God
III. Bob- There are two types of knowledge mentioned in the original Greek text.
A. Facts- this would be to simply know facts about someone. I know Michael Jordan. He was a basketball player for the Chicago Bulls, he attempted to become a baseball player and his father was murdered.
B. The second type of knowledge is knowing by “personal experience”. This kind of knowledge builds on the first. I have the facts about using my computer but if something were to break, I don’t “Know” my computer well enough to fix it.
IV. The Apostle Paul preached in the city of Athens (Act 17). He preached about who the Greeks called the “Unknown God”. The gods that they were worshiping were inanimate gods meaning that they weren’t living. This “Unknown God” that they were worshipping was, as Paul said, the Living God.
Our goal today is to know the facts about God and to apply those facts so that we can know God personally.
V. Bill- Let’s get to “Know” some of the facts about our God.
A. God is a “Living Spirit”. (Acts 17: 28-29) What Paul says is this: If we are the offspring of God, and we are living, our God must also be alive. Not a God of stone or gold.
B. He is “Spirit”. (John 4:24). Let’s take a look at the word “spirit”. What does it mean? Many people think of God as,
1. Some kind of gas
2. Air
3. Casper the friendly ghost
4. Something mysterious
5. Mystical
6. Imperceptible
God has provided us help to understand the concept of “spirit”. Turn to (James 2:26)(Read). For us to be alive, our body must have a spirit or soul. Our “body” refers to our human tabernacle. Our “Spirit” refers to the part of man made in the image of God. (Gen. 2:7)
God is a “Spirit” and we have a “Spirit” inside of this physical shell (Paul describes it as a tent).
Sometimes people will visit a funeral home and as they walk up to the casket they will say, “They just look like they are lying there asleep. Yet, there are some drastic differences.
What are some of the traits we have when we are alive that we don’t have when we are dead?
1. Intelligence
2.
3. Emotions
4. Ability to communicate
5. Conscience
6. Ability to reason (what is that)? It is the ability to choose between right and wrong.
These traits describe the nature of a “spirit”.
Let’s take a look at a chart that shows what happens to the spirit and the body after death. (Pass out the chart) Bob Hold Chart
Here we have a man alive; he dies; what happens at death?
1. The body is placed in the grave
2. The “spirit” leaves the body and goes to the realm of departed spirits, Hades, which was prepared by God Himself. (Luke 16: 19-31)
3. The spirits of the righteous go to Paradise at death. This is where Jesus’ spirit went at His death. (Luke 23:43)
4. The spirits of the wicked go to Torment at death.
5. A great gulf separates these two realms and there is no changing of destiny after death. These “spirits” have consciousness, awareness and memory. All who die will go to Hades until Christ’s Second Coming at which time He will destroy Hades. (Rev. 1:18)
6. Christ will return on the Last Day and bring ALL the spirits from Hades with Him.- both righteous and wicked.
7. The spirits that Christ brings with Him will be re-united with the bodies that have been changed into immortal bodies. (I Cor. 15: 12-24).
8. Then, the whole human race will be caught up to meet the Lord in the air. (I. Thess. 4:17)
9. Then the Judgement will occur. All those in “Torment” will be sent to the tortures of Hell and all those in “Paradise” will be invited into the glories of Heaven.
C. Bob- God is an Eternal Spirit. Bob (Romans 1:20) Eternal is a difficult concept. It simply means “Forever”. God is a Being who is NOT governed by time. (II Pet. 3:8)
1. He ALWAYS WAS in the past
2. He ALWAYS WILL BE in the future
But what about man? Obviously you have not always exited in the past. But what about your future? At some point in future you will die. But is that the end of you? Obviously not, remember our Chart. At death, you will go to Hades. At the Lord’s Second Coming you will be judged and will then enter Heaven or Hell. How long will you be there? FOREVER! Eternal begins to take on a personal concept.
D. God is an “All-Sovereign Spirit- (Acts 17:25-26). His Sovereign Will determined all the creation. He made the choice to give man life and all the blessings of life. This attribute of God is often described by the word “omnipotent” which simply means “all powerful.” It means that He can do whatever He chooses to. He has the power to stop death but has chosen not to. He chose to send His Son to come to this earth to die so that we have a means of salvation.
E. God is an “Omniscient Spirit”- Simply means “all knowing”. He knows our goings, thoughts, and even the hairs on our head. He knows everything about us. We cannot cover up nor hide anything from God. (Psalms 139: 1-6). Sometimes we use the word “Omnipresent”. Some people think this work means that God is not a literal spirit or being. They think that God is like air, gas or that He is force. They believe that God is in every mind, in every room and in every car in the world. They make the assumption that unless God is everywhere; He couldn’t possibly know what is happening in every place. To say He is “Omniscient” means that we can NEVER escape God’s knowledge. God not only knows everything about you, all the time; He knows everything about everyone all the time. Ask Jonah or Ananias and Sapphira (Act. 5:1-11) if you can ever hide from God.
F. God is Love- This is the best known trait of God, but like we mentioned last week it isn’t the only trait. Many people believe that His love means that He simply ignores man’s sin. This concept is called Universalism and is not Scriptural. It says that He will save everyone. Nothing could be further from the truth. He cared about man being in sin so much that he sent His Son to die so that we had a way of redemption. Which brings us to the next trait of God…
G. He is the God of Justice. – This trait is almost completely overlooked today. People want Him to be a God of love so desperately that they totally overlook His justice. In a court of law, today, can justice be good and can justice be severe. How much more good or how much more severe would the justice be of the one who made the concept of justice. He is fair in His judgements and keep His word that He will extend His grace to those who obey His commands and His punishment to those that do not obey His words. What did Cain know of God’s justice? What did the people of Sodom and Gomorrah know about God’s justice? And most significantly, what will unbelievers know of God’s justice at their death or at the Second Coming of Christ? (II Thess. 1:6-9)
VI. We need to know who God is as He has revealed these facts about Himself in Scripture. In addition to “knowing Him” we need to believe in Him and make Him our God by Loving Him, trusting Him and obeying Him.
VII. Next week “Who is Jesus Christ”.