The God We Worship

Introduction

Take your Bible and turn to Genesis 1:1

When we come to Genesis 1:1, we come with a teacup to an ocean of truth. We don’t have the ability, nor the time, nor the insight to exhaust the truth in this one verse. -Adrian Rogers

But what I am going to do today is help you understand the magnificence of the God that we worship.

We come and we call what we are doing Sunday morning worship…and the reason we call it Sunday morning worship is because we are here to praise a God that is far above us in every way and to thank Him for His gift of salvation and His continued blessings.

More than that, worship is not confined to Sunday mornings. God is much more important and awesome than that. Every single day of our lives ought to be poured out in worship to the God that Who was and the God Who Is.

Who is the God that we worship?

The God that we worship is infinite, He is intimate, and He is Intentional.

I. God is Infinite

Genesis 1:1 NKJV

In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.

The Bible begins with the most profound statement that could ever be spoken or read, that in the beginning, God.

Do you know what this says? That there is a God that is infinite in His existence, in His character, and is infinite in both His power and His wisdom.

A. God is Infinite in His Existence

For this world and for the people and the animals that exist on the face of this planet, there was a beginning.

When we consider the stars and the plants, we know that there was a beginning.

But maybe the most controversial debate that has taken place in the history of the world is the question of origin (Where did we come from?)

Well, according to the Bible, we came from God.

So, then, if we came from God, where did God come from?

God didn’t come from anything, He has always existed. He was there in the beginning and He is there in the end. He is eternal and He is not bound by time and He is certainly not bound by any sort of physical limitations.

Scripture and The Trinity

In the gospel of John, John wants to reveal Jesus as God in human form. So, what he does in his gospel is he opens at the same point in time that Genesis opens.

John 1:1–3 NKJV

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made.

So, there is a point of origin. There is a point where everything that you and I know in this physical reality began. However, if you will look there again at John 1:3, it says that all things were made through Him. The Him is Jesus. When the Bible says The Word, it is talking about Jesus. One of the persons of what we call the Holy Trinity.

Not only has Jesus always existed with God, but the Holy Spirit has always existed with God.

Genesis 1:2 NKJV

The earth was without form, and void; and darkness was on the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters.

They were all there. Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, ever existing, uncreated, the cause of our world and the Creator that we worship.

I think the next logical question that someone might ask is, “Who created God?”

If God created the earth, then who created God?

No one created God. He has always existed.

How can that be logical?

Scripture and Eternal Existence

Well, first I want to point you to Scripture to show you that God is not bound by space and time like we are bound by space and time.

Revelation 1:8 NKJV

“I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End,” says the Lord, “who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty.”

Jesus says He is, Jesus says He was, and Jesus says that He is to come.

Exodus 3:14 NKJV

And He said, “Thus you shall say to the children of Israel, ‘I AM has sent me to you.’ ”

This is God talking to Moses at the burning bush. God says, “I AM”. Therefore, scripture tells us that God is. God was not created, He is.

Cosmological Argument

Now, here is the logic according to the laws of nature.

Whatever begins to exist has a cause.

The universe began to exist.

Therefore, the universe has a cause.

Now, in order for the universe to have been created, it must have come from something that existed before there was a universe. This has to be something that was uncaused. In other words, it must come from a Creator that is uncreated and eternal.

Now, take the same logic and apply it to God.

Whatever begins to exist has a cause.

God has always existed.

Therefore, God is uncreated creator.

So, not only is the God we worship infinite in His existence, He is infinite in His Character.

B. God is Infinite in His Character

James 1:17 NKJV

Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning.

Do you know what the Scripture means? It means that God is the same yesterday, today, and tomorrow.

Because He is ever-present, because He is infinite in His existence, He has does not change because He is the I AM.

He says to Moses there at the burning bush

Exodus 3:14 NKJV

And God said to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM.”

What this means for us is that we can trust God to do what He says He can do, and the He is Who He says that He is.

It means that we can have faith in Him no matter the circumstance. That He is dependable. That the same miracles that He has performed in the lives of others, He will also perform in our lives, and that because Jesus physically resurrected from the dead, we will also physically resurrect from the dead.

He has the power to save. If He saved the saints of old, He will save us too.

What is the character of the God that we worship?

1. Faithful

Deuteronomy 7:9 NKJV

“Therefore know that the Lord your God, He is God, the faithful God who keeps promises and mercy.”

The fact that God is faithful means that He will keep His word and His promises.

God is faithful…

2. Good

1 John 1:5 NKJV

This is the message which we have heard from Him and declare to you, that God is light and in Him is no darkness at all.

That is, God can commit no evil, He can cause you to do no evil. He is light, and in Him is no darkness at all.

God is faithful and good…

3. Patient

2 Peter 3:9 NKJV

The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance.

God is a God that would rather be heart-broken over sin for a time than to be heartbroken over the punishment of the wicked.

Some people make God out to be a God that wants people to die and go to Hell, but that’s not God’s character at all.

Ezekiel 33:11 NKJV

Say to them: ‘As I live,’ says the Lord God, ‘I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way and live.”

Even in the life of Jonah, God sent His messenger to the pagan city of Nineveh so that they would repent. He is a patient God that wants people to be saved.

The God we worship is faithful, He is good, He is patient, loving, gracious and merciful, but make no mistake that God is also filled with wrath and righteous judgement.

Wrath and Righteous Judgement

I don’t want you to get the idea that God is all love and no justice. He is infinitely good which means that He will punish and destroy all that is evil. The reason that He has not destroyed this world is because He is patient and He is faithful.

But the Bible says that there will come a day when He will punish those who have rejected the name of Jesus our Lord.

Revelation 20:11–15 NKJV

Then I saw a great white throne and Him who sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away. And there was found no place for them. And I saw the dead, small and great, standing before God, and books were opened. And another book was opened, which is the Book of Life. And the dead were judged according to their works, by the things which were written in the books. The sea gave up the dead who were in it, and Death and Hades delivered up the dead who were in them. And they were judged, each one according to his works. Then Death and Hades were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. And anyone not found written in the Book of Life was cast into the lake of fire.

Those that are not found are those that never repented and never trusted Jesus for their salvation.

The God we worship is infinite in His existence, He is infinite in His character…

C. God is Infinite in His Power and Wisdom

Obviously, for God to create the universe He must be infinitely powerful. Only God can create something from nothing.

We can discover things, we can make things from other materials formed and found, but we cannot create something from nothing.

While we are limited to what we have, God is unlimited in His power to create.

Not only that, but God is unlimited in His power to understand and to know.

He is all-wise. He is all-knowing. We can trust Him even when we cannot see.

Romans 1:17 NKJV

“The just shall live by faith.”

Application

Sometimes we think that we serve a God that has no authority in our life or over our circumstance. And even if we believe that He does have the power to save us, and even though we do believe that He does have the power to change us…we tend to live a life that doesn’t express that.

The other thing that we do is neglect the wisdom of God in our life circumstances.

How many of you, as you were making everyday decisions this week, prayed and asked God to give you His wisdom?

Not very many if I had to guess. We just kind of go about our day, never taking the time to just sit and listen for the voice of God in every choice that we make.

Romans 11:33 NKJV

Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and His ways past finding out!

Do you know why His ways are past finding out? Because they are infinite. We are a finite people that want to make decisions as if we have the perspective of eternity.

But only a Person Who is outside of time and space can rightly predict the outcome of any situation.

So, in times of need, in times of loss, in times of suffering, we have to trust in the Lord that He is infinitely powerful and that He is infinitely wise, and that He is doing what He said that He would, which is working together all things for the good of those who love Him.

Romans 8:28 NKJV

And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.

If you are a child of God, He is working things out for you in a way that infinitely powerful and infinitely wise…your only job is to trust and obey.

The God we worship is infinite. He is infinite in His existence, His character, and His power and wisdom…but not only is the God that we worship infinite…

II. God is Intimate

It should amaze you that a God that is uncreated, unchanging, and unlimited would consider people like us…and yet He does.

Psalm 8:4 NKJV

What is man that You are mindful of him, And the son of man that You visit him?

I want to share with you today that the God we worship is a personal God, and that has been evident since the very beginning of creation.

Genesis 1:1 NKJV

In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.

The word translated God is Elohim.

From the very beginning, in the first verse of the first book, we discover the doctrine of the Holy Trinity.

When we talk about the Trinity, what we are referring to is that God exists as three persons. That He is God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit.

So, when I say that God is intimate, what I am saying is that God is alive and that God is relational. He is relational within Himself and He is relational with us. He is not an impersonal God, or some kind of impersonal cosmic force…but He is a personal God that wants to live and dwell in your heart and in your mind.

A. The Trinity

There may be no doctrine of our faith more complicated than the doctrine of the Trinity. It’s also possible that there isn’t a more obvious doctrine in the Bible than the doctrine of the Trinity.

From the very first verse we see the word elohim.

This is the word that is translated as God right there in Genesis 1:1.

It is a plural word and yet it describes only one God.

God is One

God is plural, He is three persons, and yet He is one God.

Deuteronomy 6:4 NKJV

“Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one!

The God we worship is one God. Not only is He one God…

God is Three Persons

Matthew 3:16–17 NKJV

When He had been baptized, Jesus came up immediately from the water; and behold, the heavens were opened to Him, and He saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting upon Him. And suddenly a voice came from heaven, saying, “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.”

Right there in that passage we see God the Son (Jesus came up from the water), God the Holy Spirit (the Spirit descending like a dove) and then God the Father Who says, “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.”

One God, three persons, and something that cannot be explained

All Analogies Fail

People have for years tried to explain the Trinity by relating it to human concepts.

Some have said that the Trinity is like water. That water can be liquid, gas, or ice, but it’s all still water.

Some have said that the Trinity is like a three leaf clover. Three leaves but one clover.

These analogies can’t do it justice because God water cannot be gas, liquid or ice all at one time, and a leaf is only part of the clover not the clover itself.

To try and understand the Holy Trinity is something that is impossible for the human mind.

Ecclesiastes 8:17 NKJV

then I saw all the work of God, that a man cannot find out the work that is done under the sun. For though a man labors to discover it, yet he will not find it; moreover, though a wise man attempts to know it, he will not be able to find it.

In the matter of the Trinity, we need to know that it’s in the Bible, but we also need to know that we can’t comprehend the fullness of God.

The reason that God exists in the Triune form is because He is a personal and relational God. In His character He desires relationships. In Himself, He finds perfect relation because He is a triune God.

But not only is God relational in and of Himself, He is relational with people.

B. People

John 3:16 NKJV

For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.

How is it that we get this everlasting life?

Well, very simply the Bible tells us that Jesus died so that we could live.

In Genesis 1…the Bible says that God created. And since God is infinitely good, the world that He created was also good.

However, His two greatest creations, Adam and Eve, sinned when they rebelled against the Word of God, and separated all of mankind from God.

Well, because God is good, and because He is just, and because He is filled with mercy, grace, and love. He sent Jesus as a payment for that sin so that we could live with Him again.

But not only does God want us to be forgiven, God wants to dwell in us.

1 Corinthians 6:19 NKJV

Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own?

When we become a Christian, God dwells in us and with us. He is a personal God that loves us and is interested in our lives.

Not only is the God we worship infinite, not only is the God we worship Intimate…

III. God is Intentional

Genesis 1:1 NKJV

In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.

God created you with and for a purpose. And God created the world with and for a purpose. And God has done these things intentionally to reveal Himself to sinners, to glorify Himself in creation, and to manifest Himself in mankind.

A. To Reveal Himself

How is the God we worshipped revealed?

He is Revealed in Creation

Romans 1:20 NKJV

For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse,

Who is without excuse? The people that are without excuse are the people that can see and experience all of God’s creation, and yet they still reject Him

One of the greatest evidences of the existence of God is existence itself. The fact that we are sentient beings, alive and designed by the hand of God.

Everything from the trees, to the grass, and to the birds all reveal the beauty of God.

You may be used to it because you grew up here, but when I drive across the open fields in the afternoon, I can see God’s beauty in North Alabama like I’ve never seen it. When I cross the bridges and I see the magnificent bluffs I see the fingerprints of God.

When I drive through the mountains and I look at the big timber, I can hardly wait for the new earth that God will give us.

A place where we will have all of the beauty of God’s creation with none of the disaster.

A person ought to be able to look around and see God in everything that exists. Therefore, those who don’t believe in God, even if they have never heard the name of Jesus before, are without excuse. God has revealed Himself in all of creation.

Of course, creation is not the only way that God has revealed Himself.

He is Revealed by Jesus

John 1:14 NKJV

And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.

Not only is the God we worship revealed by creation, not only is He revealed by Jesus, He is revealed in His word.

He is Revealed by the Scripture

Psalm 119:105 NKJV

Your word is a lamp to my feet And a light to my path.

Why is the Bible described as light? Because it lights the way to God.

Jesus Himself was also described as the light.

John 1:4 NKJV

In Him was life, and the life was the light of men.

When we read the word of God, God reveals Himself to us. This is His word, given to us, so that we can know Him and so that we can love Him.

He is intentional to reveal Himself…

B. To Glorify Himself

Romans 11:36 NKJV

For of Him and through Him and to Him are all things, to whom be glory forever. Amen.

God is not a selfish God, but He is a God that is worthy of all praise and all glory.

If God is perfect, and He is, then He is the object and the standard of all things. Without Him, nothing can be good. Therefore, if we are going to experience anything that is good, it must come from God, and in return, we all of creation glorifies Him because of His goodness.

It’s not selfish for God to receive glory because it rightfully belongs to Him.

Let me prove it in the form of a question. Is it selfish for you to take your paycheck every week? No! Well, why not? Because, by mutual agreement you traded your time and effort for those wages. If your effort is worthy, then your pay ought to be worthy also.

In the same way, God is deserving of glory. That’s why when we take the glory or give the glory to anything other than God, we are stealing from God. Well, what does it mean to steal? To steal means to take something that rightfully belongs to another person.

So, it is then, that God glorifying Himself in creation and expecting us to glorify Him is not selfish, because it has belonged to Him from the very beginning.

The God that we worship is intentional to reveal Himself, to glorify Himself, and to…

C. To Impart Himself

When we see that God created man, it tells us that God created man in His image. Now, because of sin, that image is marred. But in the beginning it wasn’t so. God created us in His image. And through Jesus Christ we can regain that image that was tarnished by sin.

Something that we will discover as we walk through Genesis is that God has intentionally worked so that we can enter into His presence again. He has intentionally worked to impart Himself into our heart and into our lives.

Conclusion

Who is this God that we worship?

He is infinite, He is intimate, and He is intentional.

He has a plan for your life, and that plan begins and ends with your salvation.

Don’t fall into the trap of thinking that your salvation was a one-time experience. It is a life-long pursuit that finally comes when we die and enter into the gates of heaven with Jesus our Lord.

So don’t ever lose the awe and wonder of God in your life. He is a God that has always existed, and a God that is outside of space and time, and yet He is a God that came to save and to protect His people.

Learn to rest in God by worshipping Him for Who He is.

Are you saved today?

If you would like to trust in this God that we worship, if you would like to personally know Elohim, I want you to pray this prayer right where you are.

“God, I know that you are beyond my understanding. I know that you love me even though I’ve sinned against You. I know You sent Jesus to pay for my sin. Today, by faith, I want to accept Jesus into my heart. Forgive me Lord, and save me today.”

It’s not about a feeling, it’s not about a sign, it’s about a promise. A promise that says whoever calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.