PS-F 02 Who Is God?

What is God?

Genesis 1:1 NASB95

In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.

God is the Creator

What does it mean God created?

Genesis 1:2–5 NASB95

The earth was formless and void, and darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was moving over the surface of the waters. Then God said, “Let there be light”; and there was light. God saw that the light was good; and God separated the light from the darkness. God called the light day, and the darkness He called night. And there was evening and there was morning, one day.

From nothing to something

What was that “something”?

From chaos

To order

Highlights from Creation:

How did God create? His word/speaking

God’s word:

Is His power and authority

Brings order from chaos

Results in good

God created to bring order, design, and purpose to His creation

How did God create?

Genesis 1:6–24 NASB95

Then God said, “Let there be an expanse in the midst of the waters, and let it separate the waters from the waters.” God made the expanse, and separated the waters which were below the expanse from the waters which were above the expanse; and it was so. God called the expanse heaven. And there was evening and there was morning, a second day. Then God said, “Let the waters below the heavens be gathered into one place, and let the dry land appear”; and it was so. God called the dry land earth, and the gathering of the waters He called seas; and God saw that it was good. Then God said, “Let the earth sprout vegetation, plants yielding seed, and fruit trees on the earth bearing fruit after their kind with seed in them”; and it was so. The earth brought forth vegetation, plants yielding seed after their kind, and trees bearing fruit with seed in them, after their kind; and God saw that it was good. There was evening and there was morning, a third day. Then God said, “Let there be lights in the expanse of the heavens to separate the day from the night, and let them be for signs and for seasons and for days and years; and let them be for lights in the expanse of the heavens to give light on the earth”; and it was so. God made the two great lights, the greater light to govern the day, and the lesser light to govern the night; He made the stars also. God placed them in the expanse of the heavens to give light on the earth, and to govern the day and the night, and to separate the light from the darkness; and God saw that it was good. There was evening and there was morning, a fourth day. Then God said, “Let the waters teem with swarms of living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth in the open expanse of the heavens.” God created the great sea monsters and every living creature that moves, with which the waters swarmed after their kind, and every winged bird after its kind; and God saw that it was good. God blessed them, saying, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas, and let birds multiply on the earth.” There was evening and there was morning, a fifth day. Then God said, “Let the earth bring forth living creatures after their kind: cattle and creeping things and beasts of the earth after their kind”; and it was so.

Days = structure (He had a plan)

Why create like this?

Give us an example

Reveal His character

Give a purpose and design to His intentions

What is God’s Character?

In a word: love

1 John 4:7–9 NASB95

Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. The one who does not love does not know God, for God is love. By this the love of God was manifested in us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world so that we might live through Him.

How does John describe God?

How do we see or know God’s character? His actions

What will this look like?

1 Corinthians 13:4–7 NASB95

Love is patient, love is kind and is not jealous; love does not brag and is not arrogant, does not act unbecomingly; it does not seek its own, is not provoked, does not take into account a wrong suffered, does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

What does this describe? Love

Therefore, WHO does this describe? God

How would God describe Himself?

Context: Exodus 32-33 (the Golden Calf and God’s response)

Moses asks God for help

Exodus 33:12–13 NASB95

Then Moses said to the Lord, “See, You say to me, ‘Bring up this people!’ But You Yourself have not let me know whom You will send with me. Moreover, You have said, ‘I have known you by name, and you have also found favor in My sight.’ “Now therefore, I pray You, if I have found favor in Your sight, let me know Your ways that I may know You, so that I may find favor in Your sight. Consider too, that this nation is Your people.”

What help does Moses want?

To have help

To better understand God

God’s Response: Okay

Exodus 33:17–19 NASB95

The Lord said to Moses, “I will also do this thing of which you have spoken; for you have found favor in My sight and I have known you by name.” Then Moses said, “I pray You, show me Your glory!” And He said, “I Myself will make all My goodness pass before you, and will proclaim the name of the Lord before you; and I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show compassion on whom I will show compassion.”

What is God’s name? What is God’s glory?

Exodus 34:6–7 NASB95

Then the Lord passed by in front of him and proclaimed, “The Lord, the Lord God, compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in lovingkindness and truth; who keeps lovingkindness for thousands, who forgives iniquity, transgression and sin; yet He will by no means leave the guilty unpunished, visiting the iniquity of fathers on the children and on the grandchildren to the third and fourth generations.”

This is what sets God apart. This is what He thinks of Himself.

God is:

Compassionate and gracious

Slow to anger

Abounding in lovingkindness and truth

To the thousands

Forgives iniquity (sin)

He is just

Punish the guilty

Even down to the generations

NOTE: See the contrasts

Good to thousands

Punishment to 3rd and 4th generations

God emphasizes the good over the bad

To Summarize

God is the Creator who is defined by His love and mercy.

Who am I to God?

Homework

Reading

Genesis 3

1 John 3:4

James 4:17

Romans 14:1-2; 22-23

James 1:14-15

Questions to Consider

What is man’s greatest problem? What is my greatest problem?

What is “sin”?

What is so significant about sin?

Where does sin originate?