Sermon Tone Analysis

God’s Attributes

1.

We study God’s attributes because we are called proclaim them to those around us.

2. We study God’s attributes because we want to worship God in spirit and in truth.

3. We study God’s attributes because it guides our actions.

Types of Attributes: Incommunicable and Communicable Attributes

The incommunicable perfections are those characteristics unique to God (e.g., self-existence, simplicity, immensity), whereas the communicable perfections are those characteristics transferable in part to humans (e.g., goodness, righteousness, love).

- John MacArthur

God is Independent

God is independent of all things.

He is perfectly self-sufficient, not depending on anything outside himself for anything, and is therefore the eternal, foundational being, the source of life and sustenance for all other beings.

God’s Independence means that God is self-sufficient - not depending on anything outside himself, and that he is self-existent - he was not created.

He has always existed.

1.

As Yahweh, God is self-existent, having life in and of himself (; ).

2. God existed before all things, and through him alone all things exist (; ; ).

3. God is Lord of all (; ).

4. He depends on nothing; all things depend on him ().

5.

He is the source of everything (; ; ; ; ).

6.

He does as he wills (; ; ; ; ; ; ; ).

7. His counsel is the basis of everything (; ; ; ; ; ; , , ).

8.

He does everything for his own sake (; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; , ; , , , ; ).

9.

He needs nothing, being all-sufficient (; ).

10.

He is the first and the last (; ; ; ; ; ).

11.

He is independent in his mind (), his will (; ; ; ), his counsel (; ), his love (), and his power ().

John MacArthur and Richard Mayhue, eds., Biblical Doctrine: A Systematic Summary of Bible Truth (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2017), 169.

God Needs Nothing

Acts 17:

How do we see God’s independence in this passage?

1. Made everything

2. Lord of heaven and earth

3. Does not live in temples made by man

4. Is not served by human hands

5. Does not need anything

6.

Gives everyone:

a. life

b.

breath

c. everything

7. made from one man every nation

8. determined the allotted periods and boundaries of the nations

9.

Not far from each of us

10.

In him we live and move and have our being.

Ps. 50:

Psalm 50:7-

How do we see God’s independence in this passage?

Christ’s Dependence

As a servant, the Son became totally dependent on the Father for his spiritual life: “For as the Father has life in himself, so he has granted the Son also to have life in himself” ().

- Mark Jones

Jones, Mark (2017-06-30).

God Is: A Devotional Guide to the Attributes of God (p.

68).

Crossway.

Kindle Edition.

John 12.

Jesus models for us dependence on God.

Our Dependence

In view of God’s independence and self-sufficiency, perhaps we wonder, why would he care about or bother with us if he remains entirely without need?

God created us not because he needed us but because he loved us.

-Mark Jones

Jones, Mark (2017-06-30).

God Is: A Devotional Guide to the Attributes of God (p.

69).

Crossway.

Kindle Edition.

Jones, Mark (2017-06-30).

God Is: A Devotional Guide to the Attributes of God (p.

69).

Crossway.

Kindle Edition.

God’s Self-Sufficiency Means He Can Help

Christ’s Dependence Shows the Need for Our Dependence

-Mark Jones

Jones, Mark (2017-06-30).

God Is: A Devotional Guide to the Attributes of God (p.

69).

Crossway.

Kindle Edition.