God, The Father Almighty

Introduction

How do you define God?

“What comes to our minds when we think about God is the most important thing about us.” -A.W. Tozer

Out of all the ways we can describe God. . . one foundational question we must answer is if we truly believe that God is good.

The Creed defines God with two words “Father Almighty”

Key Point: God as our Almighty Father is both intensely personal and immensely powerful.

God

What is God?

Our new city catechism answers the question this way. . . God is the creator and sustainer of everyone and everything. He is infinite, eternal, and unchanging in his power and perfections, goodness and glory, wisdom, justice, and truth. Nothing happens except through him and by his will.

Psalm 86:8–10 ESV

8 There is none like you among the gods, O Lord, nor are there any works like yours. 9 All the nations you have made shall come and worship before you, O Lord, and shall glorify your name. 10 For you are great and do wondrous things; you alone are God.

Psalm 86:15 ESV

15 But you, O Lord, are a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness.

If God is infinite, eternal, and unchangeable. . . if God completely transcends our knowledge and understanding. . . how can we even know him and have a relationship with him?

Because God has freely chosen to reveal himself to us. GRACE!

“God forfeits his own personal privacy that His creatures might know him.” -Carl Henry

He does this through. . .

Creation

Everyone knows that God exists. -Romans 1:18-20.

Scripture

The Name of God

Yahweh (Jehovah)

“I am who I am.” Exodus 3:14.

He is eternal and has always existed. He is almighty and no one can stop his will from taking place.

Holy Love and Loving Holiness

Exodus 34:5–7 ESV

5 The Lord descended in the cloud and stood with him there, and proclaimed the name of the Lord. 6 The Lord passed before him and proclaimed, “The Lord, the Lord, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, 7 keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, but who will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children and the children’s children, to the third and the fourth generation.”

God is both love and light (1 John 1:5; 4:8).

Three in One

The Christian doctrine of the Trinity is based on five biblical affirmations being true...

There is only one God- Deuteronomy 6:4 “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one.”

The Father is God.

The Son is God.

The Holy Spirit is God.- Acts 5:3-4 “You have not lied to man but to God.”

The Father is not the Son is not the Spirit.

To summarize...God is one in essence or nature and exists in three distinct persons…Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Each person of the Godhead is fully God and shares the same divine essence, they are completely unified in the work of creation and redemption, but each have different and unique roles in that work.

One application of this truth is that if we believe in one God and he is the only true God, then we will not worship anyone or anything else.

Next, our God as Matt Chandler says is both immensely powerful and intensely personal because he is the Father almighty.

We see God as both a Father and almighty in the way Jesus taught us to pray in Matthew 6:9-13, and we will use this text as a guide for the rest of our time to see how God is both personal and powerful.

Matthew 6:9–13 ESV

9 Pray then like this: “Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name. 10 Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. 11 Give us this day our daily bread, 12 and forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. 13 And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.

The Father: God is Personal

Calling God our Father communicates the personal aspect and nature of our relationship to him.

As close as a son is with his Father, so too, we can have that same intimate relationship with our Creator!

By calling God “Father” it demonstrates that God not simply a power or force, but he is a personal being to whom we can relate with and who can relate with us.

“Our Father”

The Bible describes the Fatherhood of God in three ways. . .

Creation

Since God is the creator of every person, in one sense, God is father over all people he has made. He is a “father” to his creation in that provides providential care and common grace to all of his creatures.

The Relationship Between the Father and Son within the Trinity

There is an intimate relationship between the Father and the Son that has existed for eternity.

Jesus calls God his Abba Father, which is the equivalent of a respectful Dad. . . and God calls Jesus his “beloved” Son.

Our Adoption as God’s Sons through Christ

God becomes our Father and we become his children when we believe in the Son for salvation (John 1:12).

Through faith in Jesus Christ, we have been predestined from before time began to be adopted into his family as his sons! (Eph. 1:4-5).

Almighty: God is Powerful

God is intimate as our Father, but he is also powerful as our creator, sustainer, and savior.

Almighty communicates God’s sovereign power and rule over the universe. No one can thwart his hand or stop him from accomplishing his purposes for his world (Dan. 4:35).

“Your kingdom come, your will be done.”

The word “Almighty” is used to represent all of God’s attributes-omnipotence, omniscience, omnipresence, self-existence, and immutability-are all summed up in this one word “Almighty.” This is because if God was not “almighty” he could not possess any of these other attributes.

We cannot understand God’s ways until we see them in light of his sovereignty.

“who is in heaven, hallowed be your name” -Matt. 6:9-10.

So, God is all-powerful, he is Almighty, he can do all things. . . but can he really do literally ALL things?

The truth is. . . even though God is all powerful, there are some things that God can’t do.

Things God Can’t Do

God cannot do that which is illogical or self-contradictory.

He cannot make a square circle or a rock so large that he cannot lift.

God cannot act contrary to his nature, he cannot deny himself.

He can do nothing evil or wrong because it is not in his nature to do so.

He cannot break a promise or not do something that he said he would do.

God cannot lie (Numbers 23:19).

If God were able to do these things, this would demonstrate ironically that God is not all-powerful.

Moral instability is not a virtue but a weakness. Therefore, since God is almighty, he cannot be morally impure and always does what he intends to do (Psalm 135:6; 33:9).

So What?

How do the truths about God being our Almighty Father apply to us and how should they change the way we live?

God as Our Almighty Father demonstrates. . .

He cares for our needs

Matthew 7:7-11; Matthew 6:11.

He will say no at times and not always give us what we want. . .

But, he will give us everything that we need.

We can pour out our hearts before him and cast our burdens upon him knowing that he hears us and will help us in our time of need.

We can find rest and refuge in him.

He loves us.

So we can find the loving relationship we desire and were created for.

He does all things for our good and his glory. . . he even disciplines us for our good because he loves us (Heb. 12:5-12).

He is good (and hates what is evil).

He can forgive our sins.

Matthew 6:12.

He can help us overcome temptation and deliver us from evil.

Matthew 6:13.

He has the power to do what he said and keep his promises.

So we can trust him that he will always keep his word and promises.

He has the power to save us and keep us until the end.

Satan, nor demons, nor any other ruler of this world can stop his plans from taking place. He sits on the throne and will do all that he pleases.

Response

Symmetry

We must worship him both as powerful and personal

We must have a symmetry between these two truths.

Clarity

We don’t believe in Deism (God is intimate and personal).

We don’t believe in God simply being love without hating sin.

Because God loves you so much, he will reveal your secret sin and then provide the cleansing for it.

Community

Since God is our Father, we are all united together as brothers and sisters in Jesus. Therefore, if we believe God is our Father, we should demonstrate our faith by treating one another like brothers and sisters.

Counsel

If God is immensely powerful and intensely personal, we must use these truths to counsel ourselves and counsel others.

If we are Christ’s, then. . .

A sovereign protector I have,

Unseen, yet forever at hand,

Unchangeably faithful to save,

Almighty to rule and command. . .

If thou art my Shield and my Sun

The night is no darkness to me,

And, fast as my moments roll on,

They bring me but nearer to thee.