Your Convictions About God

Your Convictions About God

Key Passage: Romans 1:18-22

Summary

Who is God, and what is He like?

Some people imagine Him as a loving grandfather in heaven who’s waiting to bless them, while others think He’s a harsh judge sitting on His throne, ready to pour out punishment. There are also people who don’t even believe God exists because they want to live as they please rather than in obedience to His divine authority. However, the only way to truly know God and His attributes is to rely on the descriptions of Him that are found in the Scripture.

Sermon Points

A right understanding of God is essential because it has eternal ramifications.

According to Romans 1:19-20, that which is known about God is evident within us, and His invisible attributes, eternal power, and divine nature are clearly on display through His creation. Therefore, we have no excuse. To deny His existence is to suppress the truth and bring ultimate disaster upon ourselves.

We all have convictions that govern our lives, and being certain about God’s identity should be one of them. A conviction is being so thoroughly convinced of the absolute truth of something that we are willing to take a stand for it regardless of the consequences. When we are convinced that God’s Word is true, we have a sure foundation for our convictions about God.

God is an uncreated being. He existed before the beginning of time and is the Creator of heaven and earth (Gen. 1:1). Psalm 90:2 mentions His eternal existence, saying, “Even from everlasting to everlasting, You are God.”
He is unchangeable. What a comfort it is to know that the Lord’s perfection, purposes, and promises never alter. If He has given us a promise in His Word, we can be certain that He will never change His mind.
He’s omnipresent. This means that God is present everywhere. We don’t have to search and find Him. In fact, according to Psalm 139, we can never get away from His presence. No matter what we face, He is with us.
God is omnipotent. He has all power: “With God all things are possible” (Matt. 19:26). However, the Lord never acts in a manner that is inconsistent with His nature. For instance, He cannot lie or be tempted by evil because He is absolute goodness, perfection, and truth (Titus 1:2).
The Lord is omniscient. He has complete knowledge about everything, including past, present, and future events. Although we might want Him to share His knowledge with us, as finite beings we are incapable of comprehending the infinite vastness of God’s mind. According to Deuteronomy 29:29, “The secret things belong to the Lord our God, but the things revealed belong to us.” God doesn’t satisfy all our curiosity, but He has revealed what He desires us to know in His Word. And if we can’t find an answer in Scripture, we can leave our concerns with Him, trusting in His infinite knowledge and wisdom.
God is invisible. Although Jesus was visible as God in human flesh, no human being other than Christ has seen the Father. Paul described Him as the “only Sovereign, the King of kings and Lord of lords, who alone possesses immortality and dwells in unapproachable light, whom no man has seen or can see” (1 Tim. 6:15-16).
God is love. This is not just what He does, but who He is—love is an essential aspect of His nature. The ultimate expression of His love for us was the act of sending His Son into the world to redeem sinners (John 3:16). In mercy, grace, and love, He reached down to save and give eternal life to all who believe in Jesus.
The Lord is holy. This means He is separated from all sin, and His holiness is the pattern we are to follow. Although we can never live without sin as God does, we who are committed to Christ as our Savior and Lord should have a desire to live a holy life of obedience. Holiness is a lifestyle to which God calls us and for which He equips us through the power of His indwelling Holy Spirit. He gives us sensitivity to sinful attitudes and actions in our lives and prompts us to immediately seek forgiveness from God and request His strength to turn from that particular sin.
God is righteous. He is the final standard of righteousness and always acts in accordance with what is right. Furthermore, righteousness is His desire for each of us, and He’s given us His Spirit to enable us to do what’s right.
He is a God of wrath. This means the Lord hates sin and everything that is opposed to His moral character. According to John 3:36, “He who believes in the Son has eternal life; but he who does not obey the Son will not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him.” The wrath of God will never come upon those of us who have trusted Christ as our Savior because it is limited to those who defy the Lord and reject His Son.
God is our judge. We must all stand before the judgment seat of Christ to be recompensed for our deeds (2 Cor. 5:10). As Christians we have no need to fear God’s wrath because our judgment is for the purpose of rewards. We will be judged according to how we have lived and what we have done with the truth and the opportunities we’ve been given.
The Lord is a rewarder. We each have a choice regarding how we build our lives on the foundation of Christ (1 Cor. 3:10-15). If what we have done is of no eternal value, it will be burned up in the judgment, but if our works are precious and everlasting, we will receive a reward. Even in the judgment, God’s love and grace will be evident to His children.
God is to be worshipped. He is the Lord of the universe and our Savior, who is worthy of all honor and glory. Our worship of Him is displayed when we let His Word dwell in us richly and praise Him with singing from a grateful heart (Col. 3:16).

Response

If you had to write your own description of who God is and what He’s like, what would you say? How much of your perception of Him comes from His Word? How much comes from your experiences and how much comes the ideas other people have about Him?
The same God who is characterized by love, holiness, and righteousness is also described as a judge who hates sin and deals out retribution. Do you have trouble reconciling these two aspects of His nature? How were all these characteristics displayed at the cross? What would the world look like if God never had wrath against sin? What comfort comes from knowing that He is a righteous judge?

Copy Sermon Outline

Romans 1:18-22

18 For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness,

19 because that which is known about God is evident within them; for God made it evident to them.

20 For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse.

21 For even though they knew God, they did not honor Him as God or give thanks, but they became futile in their speculations, and their foolish heart was darkened.

22 Professing to be wise, they became fools,

Genesis 1:1

1 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.

Deuteronomy 29:29

29 The secret things belong to the LORD our God, but the things revealed belong to us and to our sons forever, that we may observe all the words of this law.

Psalms 90:2

2 Before the mountains were born Or You gave birth to the earth and the world, Even from everlasting to everlasting, You are God.

Psalms 139:1-24

1 O LORD, You have searched me and known me.

2 You know when I sit down and when I rise up; You understand my thought from afar.

3 You scrutinize my path and my lying down, And are intimately acquainted with all my ways.

4 Even before there is a word on my tongue, Behold, O LORD, You know it all.

5 You have enclosed me behind and before, And laid Your hand upon me.

6 Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; It is too high, I cannot attain to it.

7 Where can I go from Your Spirit? Or where can I flee from Your presence?

8 If I ascend to heaven, You are there; If I make my bed in Sheol, behold, You are there.

9 If I take the wings of the dawn, If I dwell in the remotest part of the sea,

10 Even there Your hand will lead me, And Your right hand will lay hold of me.

11 If I say, Surely the darkness will overwhelm me, And the light around me will be night,"

12 Even the darkness is not dark to You, And the night is as bright as the day. Darkness and light are alike to You.

13 For You formed my inward parts; You wove me in my mother's womb.

14 I will give thanks to You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; Wonderful are Your works, And my soul knows it very well.

15 My frame was not hidden from You, When I was made in secret, And skillfully wrought in the depths of the earth;

16 Your eyes have seen my unformed substance; And in Your book were all written The days that were ordained for me, When as yet there was not one of them.

17 How precious also are Your thoughts to me, O God! How vast is the sum of them!

18 If I should count them, they would outnumber the sand. When I awake, I am still with You.

19 O that You would slay the wicked, O God; Depart from me, therefore, men of bloodshed.

20 For they speak against You wickedly, And Your enemies take Your name in vain.

21 Do I not hate those who hate You, O LORD? And do I not loathe those who rise up against You?

22 I hate them with the utmost hatred; They have become my enemies.

23 Search me, O God, and know my heart; Try me and know my anxious thoughts;

24 And see if there be any hurtful way in me, And lead me in the everlasting way.

Matthew 19:26

26 And looking at them Jesus said to them, With people this is impossible, but with God all things are possible."

John 3:16

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

John 3:36

36 He who believes in the Son has eternal life; but he who does not obey the Son will not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him."

1 Corinthians 3:10-15

10 According to the grace of God which was given to me, like a wise master builder I laid a foundation, and another is building on it. But each man must be careful how he builds on it.

11 For no man can lay a foundation other than the one which is laid, which is Jesus Christ.

12 Now if any man builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw,

13 each man's work will become evident; for the day will show it because it is to be revealed with fire, and the fire itself will test the quality of each man's work.

14 If any man's work which he has built on it remains, he will receive a reward.

15 If any man's work is burned up, he will suffer loss; but he himself will be saved, yet so as through fire.

2 Corinthians 5:10

10 For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may be recompensed for his deeds in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad.

Colossians 3:16

16 Let the word of Christ richly dwell within you, with all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with thankfulness in your hearts to God.

1 Timothy 6:15-16

15 which He will bring about at the proper time--He who is the blessed and only Sovereign, the King of kings and Lord of lords,

16 who alone possesses immortality and dwells in unapproachable light, whom no man has seen or can see. To Him be honor and eternal dominion! Amen.

Titus 1:2

2 in the hope of eternal life, which God, who cannot lie, promised long ages ago,

Aired On 17 Mar 2017