The Attributes of God Part 5

Bible Text: Exodus 34:6

Exodus 34:6 And the Lord passed by before him, and proclaimed, The Lord, The Lord God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abundant in goodness and truth,

Introduction:

Once again we have been studying the attributes of God. This is our 5th message in this series and Lord willing we will have one more next month.

As a recap, what we have covered so far:

I. The Aseity of God - He is Infinite - From Everlasting to Everlasting

II. The Self-Sufficiency of God - He has no needs

III. The Immutability of God - (Meaning) He Never changes

IV. The Omnipresence of God - He is Always Everywhere

V. The Omniscience of God - He is All-knowing

VI. The Omnipotence of God - He is All-powerful

VII. The Wisdom of God - He Is Full of Perfect, Unchanging Wisdom

VIII. The Faithfulness of God

IX. The Goodness of God - God is Good

X. God is Just

XI. God is Merciful

XII. God is Gracious

Exodus 34:6 “And the Lord passed by before him, and proclaimed, The Lord, The Lord God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abundant in goodness and truth,”

This is the statement God made to Moses of Himself.

This statement is repeated over and over again throughout the Word of God. Here are just a few:

Numbers 14:18

18 The Lord is longsuffering, and of great mercy, forgiving iniquity and transgression, …

Psalm 86:15

15 But thou, O Lord, art a God full of compassion, and gracious, Longsuffering, and plenteous in mercy and truth.

Psalm 103:8

8 The Lord is merciful and gracious, Slow to anger, and plenteous in mercy.

Psalm 145:8

8 The Lord is gracious, and full of compassion; Slow to anger, and of great mercy.

Joel 2:13

13 And rend your heart, and not your garments, And turn unto the Lord your God: For he is gracious and merciful, Slow to anger, and of great kindness, {and He relents over disaster.}

Jonah 4:2

2 And he prayed unto the Lord, and said, I pray thee, O Lord, was not this my saying, when I was yet in my country? Therefore I fled before unto Tarshish: for I knew that thou art a gracious God, and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness, {and relenting from disaster.}

Nehemiah 9:17

17 … but thou art a God ready to pardon, gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness, …

2 Chronicles 30:9

9 For if ye turn again unto the Lord, … the Lord your God is gracious and merciful, and will not turn away his face from you, if ye return unto him.

Time and time again this same self-revelation of God is repeated. That He is a God of grace and mercy.

And as we ended our last study with the attribute that God is merciful, so we start with in this message that God is Gracious. The two are so intimately linked together.

In fact, in our opening passage here, the Hebrew words (el rahum) God is compassionate or merciful, and (el han-nun) God is gracious, and (a-rek) God is longsuffering, and (he-sed) God is good - all contribute together as to the meaning of grace in the Old Testament.

By His grace He is merciful toward us, by His grace He is favorable toward us, by His grace He is longsuffering toward us, and by His grace He is good toward us.

Mercy is not giving us what we do deserve… wrath, punishment, judgement.

Grace is giving to us what we don’t deserve… His mercy, and goodness, and favor.

If by mercy the debt that I owed to the Lord was canceled, the slate wiped clean; then by grace I am afforded all the riches of His glory that I was not owed.

repeat

And mercy being the greatest act of grace.

Friend, we are rich in the Lord.

I owed a debt so large I could not pay.

We grumble and complain about the national debt that our leaders have got this country in. over 23 trillion dollars. That’s 23 followed by 12 zeros.

To put that in perspective, if you were to pay that back with $100 bills it would take an area 328 feet long and 164 feet wide, let’s just call it the size of a football field so you can visualize. A football field is 300 feet long and 150 feet wide. You would have to stack $100 bills side by side touching each other over the whole field some 165 feet high to have that kind of money.

Friend, it is no joke the debt that this country owes, it can not be paid back in a hundred lifetimes.

But what greater debt that you and I owed to the Lord. What infinitely larger of a sum that we owed to Him. It could not be paid back.

But I want to show you what the Lord done. Turn with me to Matthew chapter 18. Matthew chapter 18 and beginning with verse 23.

Matthew 18:23–24

23 Therefore is the kingdom of heaven likened unto a certain king, which would take account of his servants.

24 And when he had begun to reckon, one was brought unto him, which owed him ten thousand talents.

Now, I want you to understand this. a days wage in this time was about 1 denarii. One talent was 6,000 denarii. To pay back 10,000 talents the man would have to be able to work 60 million days. That’s 164,383 years.

Friend, the point Jesus is making here is that this man could never pay back this debt.

Let’s read on:

Matthew 18:25–27

25 But forasmuch as he had not to pay, his lord commanded him to be sold, and his wife, and children, and all that he had, and payment to be made.

26 The servant therefore fell down, and worshipped him, saying, Lord, have patience with me, and I will pay thee all.

27 Then the lord of that servant was moved with compassion, and loosed him, and forgave him the debt.

Now, I understand if we read on in this parable, Jesus had another point He was making on our own forgiveness, but at this point in the parable we see a heavenly truth.

Friend, that debt that you and I owed to the Lord, or still owe if you are not a child of God, not born again, that debt that we owed, we could never pay.

And in God’s grace He extended mercy rather than judgment and forgave all that surmountable debt, and you owe nothing, nothing, not one thing. Simply because God is a God of grace and compassion.

One of the Hebrew words that make up the notion of grace and we already talked about, found in our opening verse is the word “hesed” It is found some 245 times throughout the Old Testament, 127 of those in the Psalms. And 150 of those times, do you know how the word is rendered in the English? It is the word mercy, or mercies, or merciful.

That is how closely related that mercy and grace are. You will never find one without the other, neither could you. Because wherever mercy is shown, it was extended by grace and wherever grace is shown it was an act of mercy.

And the most profound act of grace ever… is found in John chapter 1 and verse 14.

John 1:14

14 And the Word (Who is the Word this morning?) Jesus!

14 And the Word was made 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.

Friend, what grace God has lavished on us. What unmerited favor He has shown to those that are His.

Aren’t you glad this morning that our God is a God of grace?

XIII. God is Sovereign

His sovereignty is a divine sovereignty meaning it does not come from someone or something else, but it is from and of God.

Divine sovereignty refers to God’s all-encompassing rule over the entirety of creation.

Listen to Daniel 4:35,

Daniel 4:35 “And all the inhabitants of the earth are reputed as nothing: and he doeth according to His will in the army of heaven, and among the inhabitants of the earth: and none can stay his hand, or say unto him, What doest thou?”

Friend, that is absolute sovereignty.

He is sovereign over His creation.

Turn with me to Psalm 104. A little bit of a lengthy psalm, and probably easier if you turn there to follow along. But I want you to hear this psalm of David.

This psalm talks about Gods sovereign rule over His creation. In fact in psalm 103, David talks about God’s grace and mercy, and I had thought to read that one when we looked at God’s grace, but I didn’t.

Psalm 104

1 Bless the Lord, O my soul. O Lord my God, thou art very great; Thou art clothed with honour and majesty.

2 Who coverest thyself with light as with a garment: Who stretchest out the heavens like a curtain:

3 Who layeth the beams of his chambers in the waters: Who maketh the clouds his chariot: Who walketh upon the wings of the wind:

4 Who maketh his angels spirits; His ministers a flaming fire:

5 Who laid the foundations of the earth, That it should not be removed for ever.

6 Thou coveredst it with the deep as with a garment: The waters stood above the mountains.

7 At thy rebuke they fled; At the voice of thy thunder they hasted away.

8 They go up by the mountains; they go down by the valleys Unto the place which thou hast founded for them.

9 Thou hast set a bound that they may not pass over; That they turn not again to cover the earth.

10 He sendeth the springs into the valleys, Which run among the hills.

11 They give drink to every beast of the field: The wild asses quench their thirst.

12 By them shall the fowls of the heaven have their habitation, Which sing among the branches.

13 He watereth the hills from his chambers: The earth is satisfied with the fruit of thy works.

14 He causeth the grass to grow for the cattle, And herb for the service of man: That he may bring forth food out of the earth;

15 And wine that maketh glad the heart of man, And oil to make his face to shine, And bread which strengtheneth man’s heart.

16 The trees of the Lord are full of sap; The cedars of Lebanon, which he hath planted;

17 Where the birds make their nests: As for the stork, the fir trees are her house.

18 The high hills are a refuge for the wild goats; And the rocks for the conies.

19 He appointed the moon for seasons: The sun knoweth his going down.

20 Thou makest darkness, and it is night: Wherein all the beasts of the forest do creep forth.

21 The young lions roar after their prey, And seek their meat from God.

22 The sun ariseth, they gather themselves together, And lay them down in their dens.

23 Man goeth forth unto his work And to his labour until the evening.

24 O Lord, how manifold are thy works! In wisdom hast thou made them all: The earth is full of thy riches.

25 So is this great and wide sea, Wherein are things creeping innumerable, Both small and great beasts.

26 There go the ships: There is that leviathan, whom thou hast made to play therein.

27 These wait all upon thee; That thou mayest give them their meat in due season.

28 That thou givest them they gather: Thou openest thine hand, they are filled with good.

29 Thou hidest thy face, they are troubled: Thou takest away their breath, they die, And return to their dust.

30 Thou sendest forth thy spirit, they are created: And thou renewest the face of the earth.

31 The glory of the Lord shall endure for ever: The Lord shall rejoice in his works.

32 He looketh on the earth, and it trembleth: He toucheth the hills, and they smoke.

33 I will sing unto the Lord as long as I live: I will sing praise to my God while I have my being.

34 My meditation of him shall be sweet: I will be glad in the Lord.

35 Let the sinners be consumed out of the earth, And let the wicked be no more. Bless thou the Lord, O my soul. Praise ye the Lord.

And friend, we see the sovereignty of God at work all throughout the scriptures.

We see it in the story of Joseph, where his brothers commited the evil act of selling him into slavery, of which was the cause of him eventually being thrown into an Egyptian prison. But also of his being brought before Pharoah and being set up as the second in command of all Egypt. For the preservation of his brothers and father, but ultimately it was for the preservation of the tribe of Judah, of which would one day come the Messiah.

Joseph had this to say to his brothers after they were reunited, He told them not to fear… He said, “You meant it for evil, but God meant it for good.”

So what exactly does that mean? If the brothers are the ones that acted in evil to do such a thing, why has Joseph laid it also in God’s lap?

It’s not like that the brother’s had no choice in the matter. They acted of their own free volition. They had the power to chose. And yet, get this, God did not wait out through history for this to take place and then decide to use it for the preservation of Judah and ultimately to the coming of the Messiah, but no, this was determined before the foundation of the world.

And yet it is not determinism at work. But God’s divine sovereignty.

Who wrote the book of Romans?

You say it was Paul?

Oh really?

The Bible says that it is the Word of God. Literally, that all scripture is God breathed.

And yet Paul penned the book of Romans.

Was it dictation?

If it was dictation, then I could easily say, that yes, the book of Romans was written by God, although at the hand of Paul.

But that’s not the case at all. The book of Romans, is Paul’s thoughts, Paul’s words, Paul’s mannerisms and nuances, not mere dictation, and yet, it is the very Word of God.

Paul was free to write as he saw fit, and still yet, every Word, every dot and title, as Jesus said, was authored by God Himself.

How?

Because God is sovereign.

And His sovereignty goes far beyond our own understanding.

Psalm 139:15-16 “My substance was not hid from thee, When I was made in secret, And curiously wrought in the lowest parts of the earth. Thine eyes did see my substance, yet being unperfect; And in thy book all my members were written, Which in continuance were fashioned, when as yet there was none of them.”

Another way of reading that is God formed you by His own decree. Fashioned you as He saw fit. The very days of your life were numbered by Him before you ever took your first breath. And yet your freewill left intact.

In Knowledge of the Holy, A. W. Tozer attempts to reconcile the seemingly contradictory beliefs of God’s sovereignty and man’s free will: He says,

An ocean liner leaves New York bound for Liverpool. Its destination has been determined by proper authorities. Nothing can change it. This is at least a faint picture of sovereignty.On board the liner are scores of passengers. These are not in chains; neither are their activities determined for them by decree. They are completely free to move about as they will. They eat, sleep, play, lounge about on the deck, read, talk, altogether as they please; but all the while the great liner is carrying them steadily onward toward a predetermined port.

Both freedom and sovereignty are present here, and they do not contradict. So it is, I believe, with man’s freedom and the sovereignty of God. The mighty liner of God’s sovereign design keeps its steady course over the sea of history.

Another example:

R. B. Kuiper once used the following illustration of God’s sovereignty and human responsibility:I liken them to two ropes going through two holes in the ceiling and over a pulley above. If I wish to support myself by them, I must cling to them both. If I cling only to one and not the other, I go down.I read the many teachings of the Bible regarding God’s election, predestination, his chosen, and so on. I read also the many teachings regarding “whosoever will may come” and urging people to exercise their responsibility as human beings. These seeming contradictions cannot be reconciled by the puny human mind. With childlike faith, I cling to both ropes, fully confident that in eternity I will see that both strands of truth are, after all, of one piece.

God’s sovereignty is seen in His providence over the circumstances of our life.

We see it also throughout scripture. Namely in the book of Ruth and also of Esther.

But we see it all the time in our own life’s as well. Sometimes more profound than others.

Cliff Barrows served as Billy Graham’s lifelong associate and crusade song leader.

In 1945, before he met Billy Graham, Barrows and his fiancée, Billie, had scraped together enough funds for a simple wedding and two train tickets to a city with a resort hotel.

On arrival, however, they found the hotel shut down. Stranded in an unfamiliar city with little money, they thumbed a ride. A sympathetic driver took them to a grocery store owned by a woman he knew.

The newlyweds spent their first night in a room above the store.The next day, when the lady overheard Cliff playing Christian songs on his trombone, she arranged for them to spend the rest of their honeymoon at a friend’s house.

Several days later the host invited them to attend a youth rally where a young evangelist was speaking.

The song leader that night was sick, and Cliff was asked to take charge of the music for the service. The young evangelist, of course, was Billy Graham. The two were partners ever since.

When things don’t go the way you plan, God may have plans for you of his own.

God’s sovereignty at work in the lives of His creation.

One more illustration and we’ll close. I normally don’t use many illustrations, but with a subject so deep as the sovereignty of God, it is all we have to try and explain it. Although, no illustration will do to completely explain the depths of God’s sovereignty.

In 1937 Walt Disney released the first full-length animated movie: Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.

Producing an animated movie was a monumental task.

Disney artists drew over one million pictures.

Each picture flashed onto the screen for a mere one-twenty-fourth of a second.

As we watch the movie run at regular speed, it seems so simple. We have no idea all that goes into it.

Our lives are like that movie. God puts infinite thought, skill, and careful attention into every detail. Yet as our lives run at “regular speed,” we have no idea how much God’s providence fills every single second.

Closing:

Friend, in closing,

Do you know what else was a part of God’s sovereign plan?

It was for His Son to come to this world, to be made in the likeness of sinful flesh, yet without sin. To come and to die in our stead, the innocent for the guilty.

As part of God’s divine mercy and grace.

That if we will place our faith and our trust in Him, that God would place upon His Son our guilt, and account Christ’ righteousness to us.

Friend, talk about the deal of the century, that is the deal of all ages.

Would you trust Him today?

That;s the message!