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So I'm preaching a sermon tonight entitled the concept of God the concept of God and there in Psalm chapter 14 It says in verse 1 the fool has said in his heart. There is no God. They are corrupt They have done abominable works There is none that do with good the Lord looked down from heaven upon the children of men to see if there were any that did understand and Seek after God so you see these two different people here in Psalms 14 that are being referenced one the fool who says in his Heart there is no God and we'll get into that here in a little bit But also there's another group that that God is looking for in verse 2 He's looking among the children men to see if there were any that did understand and what seek after God Okay, and seeking after God meaning they're trying to find out who God is Understand about God the nature of God and what I'm preaching about tonight is the idea is this idea that That man has an innate ability to conceptualize God in his mind Okay, and what does it mean to conceptualize something or to hold a concept in your mind? Basically a concept, you know is just a more of an abstract idea, you know, it's a it's a general notion It's something that is not you can't necessarily put your hands on. It's not something you can feel It's not something that you can point to and say this is whatever but it's more something that's just you know held in your mind It's a mental, you know Representation right of an entity or of a personality now, we know that God is literal You know that God is exists that there is a throne that he is something That we are going to see that he's going to manifest but generally speaking, you know the con, you know man Conceptualizes who and what God is. Okay, and I just want to talk a little bit about that tonight. So What we see is that man's conceptualization of God His existence of God is a logical conclusion so when when man begins to think about God, you know that is a in a proof of God's existence the fact that man can even has The ability or the desire or the wherewithal to even begin to fathom this concept called God You know, and this is a unique ability to man You know, no other animal, you know animals don't do this. They don't sit around and ponder the meaning of life You know, you're you know, sorry, I know that dog your dog at home has that real inquisitive look sometimes But he's not thinking about life and death, you know, he's not thinking about where his soul is going for eternity You know This is something that only man does Okay And the fact that that is in man in is in and of itself is proof that there even is a God at all To even that we could even sit down even conceptualize the idea that that there is such a thing as God as eternity So and the other thing I want us to understand is that and go over to keep something in Psalms 14 but go over to a 2nd Timothy chapter 2 2nd Timothy chapter number 2 is that Belief in God is something that is intuitive to all men. It's intuitive to all men It's in it's something that comes to us naturally Man naturally will come to the conclusion that there is a God and now I know there's atheists out there And we'll talk about them in a minute. All right, and we read Psalm 14 You know the atheists life verse right and but we'll get there but even atheists, you know I don't want to get ahead of myself, you know, they're probably just lying to themselves. Okay? because Man by nature is religious. He is a religious creature. He wants to worship something he wants to Understand what God is and he will make up You know, he'll come up with his own ideas about what God is. Okay through observation and things like that But even without observation even without you know Pondering or thinking about these things man just naturally has this intuitive natural instinct To seek after God to to even fathom the concept of God. Okay, which is proof that there is a God, okay The Bible says in Psalm or you're going to a second to me It says in John 1 there was a man sent from God whose name was John The same came for a witness to bear witness of the light that all men through him I believe he was not that light which is referring to Christ, right? But he was sent to bear witness of that light That was the true light which lighteth every man that cometh in to the world Every man that is born every man that cometh into the world the Bible says is enlightened by God He has a light in him That wants to seek after God that wants to find God that sits and can conceptualize this idea of God And now the proof of this is the fact that just just think about this If you were devoid of all physical senses, could you could you would still come you would still try to? conceptualize God If you had no sense of feeling like you couldn't feel anything you had no nerve endings or whatever You just there was no physical sensation Okay If you didn't have vision if you couldn't smell if you couldn't taste if you couldn't hear if you lost all your physical ability to all your physical sensory You would still be able to conceptualize God Right, you know, you don't we don't just think about God or come to that You know conceptualize about God through observation through what we can feel and see now those things help You know, obviously observation helps us to establish things about God But that that initial seeking for God that initial desire to want to know who God is Or even the ability to even think about that. There is a God is completely It's completely intuitive to man. It's completely inward. It's not something that is Instilled in us it comes from within it's something that God has given us like the Bible says here It's what lights every man that comes into the world, you know, God gives that to every man So we all have this innate ability and this is important when we start talking about the atheist Okay, because the atheist tries to deny this and they're really fighting against themselves. I Should have had you stay there in Psalms chapter 14. Did you keep a finger there? Probably not if you want to go back there real quick You know the atheist he denies the existence of God, right? That's what it means to be atheist, right? anti-theist God, you know belief in God So he is anti, you know negative. He's a negative about God. He does not believe there is a God That's what he tells everyone, right? But the person he's trying to convince the most is himself If you notice there in Psalms chapter 14, it says in verse 1 the fool hath said in his heart so we often think about the atheist as These very, you know often they're very vocal You know, they're always trying to push their point of view on other people they object to anybody that you know Has something to say, you know that believes in God But who they're really trying to convince is themselves. It says he says in his heart That's where you that's where it starts because that's where the the atheist has to begin if you're going to deny God the existence of God You first have to convince yourself of that Because every single one of us has this ability to understand and know that there is a God Maybe not the God of the Bible but we all know instinctively just by intuition that there is a God because we know that's true because the very fact that you can even Conceptualize the idea of God. Okay, that is something that God has given us So the fool, you know, he has said this in his heart now keep something in Psalm 14 go back to second 7 second Timothy chapter 2 and What's you know got to be so frustrating for the atheist? I wouldn't know because I'm not one but I can imagine That it would be very difficult for them to do this because they you know, not only are they denying the existence of God Okay But they are at odds with their own instinct. There are odds with their own intuition You know our own intuition tells us that there is a God You know, I remember very clearly as a child thinking about God, you know, and I wasn't brought up in a religious home No one came to me and said hey I just remember even as a child looking up at the clouds looking up at the skies and just thinking You know, where did we come from? Is there a God what's outside of space? You know these deep thoughts that children think right? Maybe you didn't think about those things as a kid. I did All right, I went through my mind But what is that? That is my natural instinct to think about God and you know, I even at that young age I didn't wasn't born again. I wasn't I didn't believe on Christ But I remember very clearly telling myself yes There is a God there has to be how else do you explain all this and even as a younger man as I got older You know looking up at and seeing the stars and all that and seeing God's creation Being convinced that there was a God, okay Why was I even able to do that to even think about God the concept of God is because God has put that in every single person So the atheist, you know, they're not just fighting against God they're fighting against their own nature and that's why so often atheists are so, you know, just aggressive and vehement and just mean-spirited They're some of the most mean-spirited people I've known have been atheists, you know, that's why they're the ones that always get triggered I don't want to get ahead of myself But that's what the Bible teaches us is that atheists they fight against their own nature look at 2nd Timothy chapter 2 verse 24 and The servant of the Lord must not strive but be gentle unto all men apt to teach patient in meekness instructing those that oppose themselves That's the atheist tonight The atheist is the one that what opposes themselves They're their own worst enemy. They're at odds with themselves They're fighting their own God-given instincts their own God-given intuition that there is a God Now whether or not it's the God of the Bible, you know that depends on a lot of other things But everyone believes in a God to some degree even the most ardent Atheists deep down inside will admit and I've known atheists Who have who have been just you know who in the past were very just rank stout atheists who admitted that even at that time When they got in a jam, they would pray to God and say Lord if you could just help me out of this, you know Because that's instinctual to look to a higher power, you know, it's something that is just in ingrained in every one of us God has given us that I So atheists here, you know, they're at odd with at odds with their own spiritual nature, which is unique to man you know, no, no other of God's creation could sit there and conceptualize about God So all men Atheists everybody they manifest some belief in God in some way shape or form, you know And this would explain why there's you know, different religions in the world, you know people would have you believe there's all these different religions There's really not there's really seven major world religions But think about how much thought goes into the concept of God think about how much time people spend, you know philosophizing about God You know, you know teaching theology about God different religions that exist about God people devote large portions of their life to thinking about ruminating and and you know Expressing thoughts and writing about and preaching and so on so they about God Right. Why is that because every man has some belief in God because he is by nature a religious creature Even the atheists they might not believe in God But do they have a belief about God they do they believe he does not exist. That's what they say, right? So even the atheist He even manifests some, you know, he conceptualizes about God That's why it said in Psalm 14 It said in verse 1 the fool has said in his heart. There is no God they are corrupt They have gone they have done abominable works. There's none that doeth good They look down from heaven upon the God the Lord looked down from heaven Upon the children men to see if there were any that did understand and seek after God You know God has put this in us and he looks to see are there any that understand what's going on? What I've done and are going to seek after me You go to Acts actually, you know what just go over to uh You know go to Acts Acts chapter 17 acts chapter 17 look every man every person All people conceptualize about God. They all have this desire to know who God is even the atheist It's something that's just given to all men That's why even in Paul's day when he's in anthems, you know when he's on Mars Hill talking to these Greeks You know when he's talking to these Unsaved Gentiles, you know, they that's what they sit around and think about all the time You know, they're philosophizing they're thinking about God. They had a whole pantheon of gods, didn't they? He said in verse 22 then Paul stood the midst of Mars Hill and said he men of anthems I perceive that in all things you're too superstitious For I passed by and beheld your devotions and I found an altar with the inscription to the unknown God You know and that's really what all men start out looking for is that unknown God, isn't it? Whom you therefore eagerly were ignorantly worship him declare I unto you look at verse 28 for in him We live and move and have our being as certain also of your own prophets have said For we also are his offspring now these people weren't Christians, but even their own poets their own philosophers It's you know admitted that there was a God that they even had a an image made to the unknown God All men seek after God But the very least they they make a determination about God what they believe about God even the atheists Conceptualize about God they have a concept of God now this intuition, of course that men have to to Conceptualize about God to determine what they believe about God. It can be established and it can be developed You know once you know, that's just like a building block that God has given us And it can be you know, it can go You can go bad or it can get good. You know, it can either go either way Either we're gonna take that and we're gonna build upon it We're going to preach the gospel We're gonna believe the gospel and we're going to believe the scriptures or we're gonna get sucked into some vain religion Or we're just gonna go down the route of atheism and just deny the existence of God, which really is religion almost in itself But this intuition that God has given us, you know, it needs to be established and developed and we do that through what through observation You know people look at the creation around them the things which are clearly seen, right? They look at these things and they understand that there is an eternal Godhead and that they you know They understand there is a God just through what's in the observable universe, but they can see her in the world around them They can look at you know in their own heart But they can establish these things through observation through You know Pondering God and also through what through special revelation through the Bible through the scriptures You know, that's why God has given us the scripture so is that that man's intuition to seek after God doesn't just go blindly wandering through life not knowing You know may all men are born, you know, spiritually speaking and they start out and they're just kind of groping in the darkness They're just trying that like they know there's something out there But they don't know quite what it is. And it's almost like God just says here you go You can thank me later, right? God just takes our hand and goes That's what you're looking for. Right? And then what does that do that establishes us? Right God uses that intuition that we all have to seek after God then he establishes us in his word So that we would seek after God But here's the thing can we understand that there's a God without the Bible Yeah, of course Everyone can you know, we can understand that that there's a creator Right that there's a higher power without the scripture because that's just something that's Intuitive demand that's just something that is exists by itself. The scriptures is simply establishes that Gives gives it a firm foundation to build itself upon So we understand that there is a God even without the Bible. It's just our light and our guide so man has this Universal man has this natural man has this independent Conceptualization of God and that leads us to this conclusion that God exists Right the fact that every man. Okay. Look I know this is kind of a brainier sermon All right, but it's what's being preached tonight. Okay, so stay with me Every man, you know has this every single person has this it's built into them. All right It's it's for every person. It's natural. It's independent. Nobody else has to give it to them It's just there and what does that tell us just that alone just tells us that God exists that God just simply is So go over to go over to Exodus chapter 3 Exodus chapter 3 You know, and this is what the scripture tries to express to us, you know in in man's terms in a way that we can understand Because we could understand that there is a God but then People agree with with that. Okay. God exists. There is a God there is a Creator, but now you have to establish Okay, what do I believe about that God? What is that God like and this is where you guys start to get all these other religions and beliefs about God But just the fact that God is that's a very profound thought if you just think about the fact that Just there is a God right and this is like, you know People run into this wall. I remember thinking about this when I was younger, too and it's just it's one of those thoughts you just kind of learn to To put out of your mind because it's it's just there's no solving it and it's it's it's kind of I don't want to say It's heretical, but it's just one of those things that we it just shows us that we can't even begin To wrap our minds around who God is or what God is like. I mean we understand some things about God by his grace He's given us this book to establish us and to show us some things about himself But even then he's done it in a way that So that we can grasp it with our with our minds with our finite minds But we could say here and think about well, where did God come from? You know, what? What's what is you know, where did God start? Well, he's always been And it's just like You might as well just go beat your head against the wall at that point look There's just certain things about God that we're never going to understand maybe an eternity. I don't know my maybe not even then We might we'll probably will definitely understand more about God, but this side of turn there's certain things We're just never going to understand to me. That's amazing when I think about that and the fact that every man has this in them every person has this intuition to seek after God to acknowledge that there is a God has even the ability to think about the fact that there is a God just proves that you're not an animal That you're not you didn't just crawl out of some primordial ooze billions of years ago You know what evolutionary process brought about the the need to think about God There isn't one, you know, what well, how does that help me with my survival? Survival of the fittest right? That's what it's all about. Okay, the widest man even conceptualized about God It serves no biological function whatsoever. It's not needed to live That's why there's so many philosophies and so many lifestyles out there That you can you can adhere to with and have no belief in God at all. Okay The Bible says in Psalms 90s verse 2 Before the mountains were brought forth or ever thou hadst formed the earth and the world even from everlasting to everlasting Thou art God. How long has God been around from everlasting to everlasting? I can't wrap my mind around that, you know explain that, you know, but this is the best that we get This is the best that we can do that. God has been from everlasting to everlasting Now obviously there's certain things about God that we just have to accept by faith But is it really that big of a leap to go from there is a God to God wrote a book? to me it takes more faith to just say there is a God and He created everything, you know, and people will go with you there. Some people will say yeah, you know There is a higher power and they'll even say you know what there is a creator but to have written a book Whoa, let's not get carried away here. I Mean, but look how many books are written by man every day. I mean men men write books all the time We're talking about God God could write a book through a man through men and God could preserve that book. It's not that big of a leap It's a little much smaller leap to me from going there is no God to there is a God From there is a God he has written a book. His name is Jesus Christ So, you know the scripture is just trying, you know in a lot of ways just tries to explain this to us You know in ways that we can understand who God is once we start to you know Conceptualize about God once we start to form this concept about who God is You know if we're left to our own devices people are gonna come up with some pretty strange ideas So God gave us the Bible and tried to explain himself to us But he did it in ways that we all we could understand and even and it still leaves us wanting, doesn't it? We've only scratched the surface when it comes to God You know in the in the Bible, you know, it just the Bible doesn't attempt to explain the existence of God it just assumes that We're on board with that because again that is in that's that's man's intuition. Yeah, God exists That's why it just starts out in Genesis 1 in the beginning. God created the heavens and the earth Not you know, well, let me first convince you that there is a God to begin with It just it's already on its you see how it's already speaking to man's Religious spiritual nature by just stating the fact in the beginning God No explanation. Just there is a God. Here's what happened And so that you could see how the how the scripture, you know is is written to With the understanding that man is a religious creature. Okay? And I love in Exodus chapter 3 how God kind of You know explains identifies himself here when he says in Moses chapter 13 chapter 3 verse 13 and Moses said unto God behold when I come unto the children of Israel and Say unto them the God of your fathers hath sent me unto you and they say to me. What is his name? What shall I say unto them? then what should I call you and God could have said anything right? He could have kept chose any name he wanted and he has several names. We understand that verse 14 and God said to him I am that I am I Am that I am He's saying I am that God that everyone knows exists that I am that has always been that always exists That's who you're dealing with Not some graven image not some carved out of stone or wood not some golden calf Not some ox that they worship in Egypt He says I am that I am that that God that every single human being knows Exists and deep down in their heart no matter how much they want to deny it. That's me That's who he's saying. I am the God that has always been and always will be Now We could see how the scripture speaks to the fact that man has this ability to Conceptualize about God that every man forms concepts in their mind about who God is. Okay? And that's why there's so many false concepts out there, you know, and man has come to some conclusions about God on his own Hasn't he? The first one we talked about was atheism right and again atheism is Unnatural to man. It's it's abnormal and I'm not just saying that to try and bash atheists. They don't need any help Because it is it's totally it's it's it's a denial of what is intuitive in man That's why they're the ones that get the most triggered you ever think about that. I Don't we don't get phone calls from you know People go out knock doors every week in our church and we get phone calls and they're usually negative people complaining It's not from Hindus You know every now and then you get a Catholic, you know, it depends on the nature of what happened But sometimes a lot of times it's just some atheists just railing Just so mad that somebody came by and reminded them about God because they spent so much of their life Just trying to repress that That natural instinct that intuition that knows that God's exist there. You know, I'm an atheist. I don't believe there's a guy I don't believe there's a guy there, you know, they're trying to convince themselves of that. There is no God There is no God. There is no God. There's no and then you come along, you know, you're out walking in South Tucson yesterday I can't remember who it was My wife was telling me about it and you're they see you handing out your religious Literature and it triggers them and they have to pull their car over and say you shouldn't be doing that I'm in it. I'm an atheist and you shouldn't be doing that What is you being an atheist have anything to do with what I should and shouldn't do? I mean do I do you how many people in this room who you know, we all believe in God here You know, how many of us go looking for the atheist calling up, you know The whatever atheist foundation is out there and just so upset that they even exist But the atheist, you know, they call our church they stop our soul winners why because Deep down they know there's a God and they've been working so hard telling themselves. There is no God. There is no God There's so that when they see somebody who believes in God, it just it just makes them mad Because they're fighting their own nature they're going against their own Intuition, it's unnatural. It's abnormal. Okay You know and in reality Most of these atheists, you know, if you if you ask me they're faking it Or it's just this, you know suppressed Assertion it's just this belief that they're forcing upon themselves That they have to just keep reaffirming. I'm an atheist. There is no God. There is no God deep down they know it is that there that there is a God and Atheism, you know, I'm just gonna talk about it for a minute, you know, it manifests in a few different ways You know because not every atheist is this, you know, God hating reprobate, you know Some atheists are just eight people are atheists for different reasons You know, some of them are just atheists for practical reasons, you know They just prefer not to believe in God because it would be inconvenient You know we get away with their business practices You know, it would their lifestyle would have to alter or something like that You know, they would have to be you know Then they'd have to be more moral or they'd have to admit that what they're doing is wrong Okay, so just from a practical standpoint, they just prefer to you know, just say well, you know I really don't believe there is a God. Okay, and you know, there's hope for those people. Those people might come around. Okay Then there's you know people that are Atheists because of some philosophy that they adhere to right you think about like, you know communism You know communism and materialism. These are philosophies that if you adopt them, they don't require you to believe in God In fact, it'd be better if you didn't right you just fall in line You know, you just make your life about the pursuit of things and stuff and you don't worry about God You know, you just what does the Bible say that you know gain is not godliness But that's that's another reason why people are atheistic because it gels with some, you know philosophy or You know just just the way they they live okay It doesn't require belief in God because think about it think about the fact that You know in America, we're more people are more independent aren't they we're not socialists at least we're not yet You know that might change real soon. Well, you know by and large and over our history. We've been a very independent people We've been you know, a lot of people are about what a small government self governance, right? Limited government, you know that puts a lot of responsibility on the individual, doesn't it? That person has to then decide, you know what they believe about Working and raising families and and all these things they have to develop more of their own, you know they have to use their moral compass and That is going to lead them to God that is going to lead them to believing in some kind of a god Then you have the more, you know, the people that are gonna pull over and let you know that they're an atheist, right? They're the ones that are going to You know be vehement about it. They're the you know, the militant dogmatic Dogmatic atheists is what they are These are the ones that are very open about it boastful. You know, they flaunt it and Really what they have is, you know a religious like adherence to the fact that God does not exist It's almost like a religion in and of itself And that's what Bible tells us in Romans right Romans 1 they professing themselves, right? They profess this they profess themselves to be wise and they become fools and what is the who is the fool? The one who says there is no God, okay So that's one, you know, that's one thing that that's one concept of God that man can be taken down, you know that he might form Because he has to come up with it. Every man has to come to decision about who God is they have to they have to form some kind of an Understanding about God the concept of God has to be settled in their mind Some people are gonna be come atheists and say well there is no God But they're really just fighting themselves Then you get into more of you know, people who are agnostic, you know, this is somebody called said I was an agnostic But I really don't believe maybe it was just because they didn't really understand what agnostic was Because a lot of people think just say think well agnostics. They're just not sure if there's a God, you know, they're skeptical But really agnosticism is is the assertion that it's impossible to even know whether or not there is a God It's not that they're just not sure. It's just they just think well, nobody can know for sure. They'll say it's impossible So yeah, it's kind of a skepticism but it's more of a it's not this, you know doubtful wondering Well, is there God maybe there is one it's like no it's impossible to know whether or not they're they're not saying there isn't one They're just saying hey look nobody can know. Okay, that's the agnostic and Then you get into and I'm gonna blow through these you get it more into the deism, right? Which is the belief that there is a God? Okay, but he's impersonal That he's a powerful God, but that's only present in creation, right? He's not it's not it's not a personal God who's involved in Human affairs. He's not involved in his creation He's kind of this, you know this absentee He's like the the watchmaker right who developed this very intricate watch and wind it up wound it up and then just set it down and walked away and just Let the thing play out on its own that's what deists would believe and You know, there's different Religions that you know you find this this this philosophy and humanism free masonry It's something that came out of you know, the 18th century enlightenment as they call it and you know Let me just go ahead and burst somebody, you know, maybe I'll burst some bubbles or not I don't know, but this was a what a lot of our founding fathers adhere to, you know They they said a lot of religious things they had they'd certainly had some you know Loyalty to Christianity, but they a lot of them Jefferson Washington Franklin were deists you read their writings These were not Christian men You know, we're not I'm not beholden to these these men of old. Okay, they were deists they were Rationalists they believed that that the world's problems could be solved just the reason alone without the aid of the scriptures without God's involvement That's what they believed then you get into We're just kind of going through that what are the different things that men You know conceptualize about God because every man has to come to decision about God who he is And these are the things that people come up with Atheism deism dualism. Okay, this dualism is you know, this is where you would get into the Star Wars stuff, you know Where you're talking about, you know The path of darkness leads to hate or whatever you would have said, you know follow come to the light You know, this is where you get it and more practically, you know Where this is practice is in things like You know Eastern mysticism people who read the Tao Te Ching Taoism the yin-yang kind of stuff this is more of a dualism that God is Exists, but he's impersonal. It's a power. It's light and dark, you know, and you have to walk that line, whatever Then you get into things like pantheism, you know, we're like all nature is God Okay, we're people who are gonna worship the creature the creature more than the Creator that's a pantheistic Type of belief, you know, this is where you get into the Mother Earth the New Age Environmentalism, you know Hinduism kind of blurs through all these lines. They kind of get into the deism they get into the Pantheism they also get into the polytheism Which is the belief in many gods People say oh there's gods and they're personable and there's a lot of them, right? They'll believe in many many different gods. Okay, there's this God. There's that God, but they're also, you know Hinduism Hindus are also very pantheistic. They believe that all life is sacred You know don't step on that ant. It could be your grandmother, you know Don't eat that meat or you'll come back as a cow or something like that. Okay, I Don't know. Maybe I'm maybe I'm blaspheming the Hindu religion right now, but that's basically Not too far off the mark, okay, they're they're polytheistic and they are pantheistic at the same time So those are some of the false Concepts that man comes to when they when it comes to God now, what are some of the true concepts that are out there? Now look there might even be they might have some understanding about the nature of God, but still not know Who God really is they just have these these concepts down. Okay, so there's the concept of theism, right? Which is that you know, God is personal and Infinite he's a personal God and he's infinite. This would be opposed to your atheists and your agnostics But not polytheism right the polytheist could be it could also be a theist because they believe that God is personal They just believe that there's and that they're eternal. He just believes that there's many of them. Okay, and Then you get into the mono theism mono right like like one singular. Okay, there's just one That God is personal that God is infinite and that God is single singular now So now we're narrowing it down to the truth what the scripture teaches, aren't we? When you get into monotheism now, you're not quite there yet because of the fact that you know, the Jews believe that Who else the the Muslims you know, they believe this that there's only one God they're real big about that and and others, you know that that God is Singular but that he's personal they're right about that now God is singular We believe that right that's Bible believers, but we believe if you wanted to put like a fancy theological term on it We believe in triune Monotheism. Okay, so write that down if anyone ever asked you what you believe just tell them that I believe in triune monotheism What's your concept of God? Well, I believe the triune monotheistic belief of God which is that we believe in one God right the monotheism But we believe that God is triune meaning that there he's three persons right co-equal co-eternal as three persons one God, okay, and This is probably you know If you're if you're struggling now Sunday nights are gonna get long for you because I'm gonna talk about this more later We'll get into the truth. We'll get into Trinity later But tonight I'm just kind of covering, you know, what are the different concepts that man has about God? what are the different things that man believes about God and Really just trying to point out the fact that You know Even even the fact that man can think about God and even come up with concepts about God Should prove to you that there is a God, okay? Now the scripture does try to again go back, you know going back to what I was saying earlier the Bible You know man can conceptualize about God. God is there to kind of help us along and say, okay I'm glad that you you're acknowledging the fact that I you know, I've I light every man that cometh in the world And you're you're trying to understand and you're seeking after me. Let me guide you to who I am through the scripture All right, God it this is the power of God into salvation So what how does the scripture define God it says God is now this is a big subject, you know I'm just gonna cover fourth four points here real quick But the scripture says a lot about obviously about who God is We really can't put all that in the last, you know, 15 20 minutes of a sermon But go over to a first John chapter 1 first John chapter 1 You know according the scripture, you know, we narrow it down man through just observation and logic Can start to narrow things down about God? It could even on his own really arrive at the conclusion That God is personable and that there's only one of them. Okay? But man could get there but it takes the scripture to kind of get to the truth God has to get us to that that next step and according scripture of course God is a spirit right is the Bible says in John for God is a spirit and They that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth. So the Bible says that God is a spirit Now, what does it mean by that? Well, this is really just regarding you know Who God is his Intrinsic nature, you know, what is God will God is a spirit You know as God is God flesh and bone as God have a body now We know that he you know, God was manifest in the flesh. We understand that But Jesus said that God is a spirit Right. So the intrinsic quality of God is that he is a spirit, okay? I Was in John first John 1 where you are look at verse 5 This then is the message which we have heard of him and declare unto you that God is light So the Bible is giving us You know these concepts about God telling us who God is. What is God like? He's a spirit and that God is light and then as him is no darkness at all. Now, what does he mean by that? Well, I believe this is regards to his holiness the fact that he is sinless This is the sinless nature of God because if you look at verse 6 He says if we say that we have fellowship with him and walk in darkness We lie and do not the truth But if we walk in the light as he is in light We have fellowship one with another in the blood of Jesus Christ His son cleanses us from all sin if we say that we have no sin We deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us if we confess our sins He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness So to walk in the light is to you know to not live sinfully to not walk in sin All right. Now we all have sin right we understand that and that's why he goes on explains that look if we confess it He'll forgive it and to cleanse us But it's showing us that you know, God is light. What is God trying to tell us about himself that he's sinless that he's holy first John go to chapter 4 chapter 4 So we see, you know when it comes to this concept of God the scripture is telling us what we should think about God You know, God didn't leave us without witness God gave us his word so that we can understand What he is like Again to a certain degree, okay One that he is a spirit one that he is light and that he also is loved He says in 1st John chapter 4 verse 7 Beloved let us love one another for love is of God and everyone that loveth is born of God and knoweth God He that loveth not knoweth not God for God is love So what does he mean by this? Well, basically just saying look God is love because that is what he has declared to the world Right because if you look at verse 9 he said and this was manifested the love of God toward us Because that he sent God sent his only begotten Son in the world that we might live through him Mm-hmm here in his love not that we love God But that he loved us and sent his son to be the propitiation for our sins So when he's saying look God is love we know that's true because of the fact that he sent his son to die for us Okay. Look I know these are these are concepts. These are things that you got to kind of you know, these aren't real clear-cut, you know But the Bible is telling us this is what God is. He is light. He's a spirit. He is love He is love in the sense that he loved us Right and he sent his son to be the propitiation for our sins. I'll end on Hebrews chapter 12 Hebrews chapter 12. I Lied you I'm not gonna in there but go there anyway There's a whole nother page of notes Stick with me. I saw a lot of caffeine getting drunk out there today. So I you know, I don't know what's going on Is it too hot in here or what? He was chapter 12 verse 28 wherefore we receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved Let us have grace whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear for our God is a consuming fire So the Bible just makes these statements about God is this God is this it says that he is light that he is a spirit That he is loved but it says here that God is what a consuming fire So look, it's great that we could sit around and ponder about God and think about God and conceptualize about God But we need to draw some very firm conclusions about who God is we need to come to very Firm conclusions about who God is and one of them is that God is a consuming fire People like to think about the fact that God is love and I do too. It's great It's one of the greatest things about God. We can't even wrap our minds around how much God truly loves us Let's not forget that God is also a consuming fire. What's he trying to get across here to us is that God is righteous and just and Jealous, he's jealous You know today, you know the word jealousy has a very negative connotation, but it's not you know what we call jealous We really the Bible calls envy To be jealous of something is to be jealous of something that is rightfully yours To be upset that someone would try to take something that belongs to you you know, I'm very jealous for my wife, you know, if another man tried to come and and Steal my wife woo my wife, you know, I'd be very jealous for her Why because you know, he made an oath one to another she's mine and I'm hers So me being jealous over my wife is not a bad thing. It's actually a good thing Now if I envied another man's wife, you know, that's what we call jealousy today But the Bible even says that God is jealous and that's what it says in Deuteronomy 4. I'll read to you It says in verse 23 take heat on yourselves lest you forget the covenant the Lord your God Which he made with you and make you a graven image or the likeness of anything which the Lord thy God hath Have forbidden thee for the Lord thy God is a consuming fire there. It is again even a jealous God So God is holy God is righteous and God is jealous Now the other thing about that consuming fire is I think about is the fact that God is inescapable Because it's a consuming fire, right? It's going to consume everything in its path You know, there is no hiding from God There's no getting away from him. God is going you know, he is unstoppable Okay, he in every that's why the Bible says every knee shall bow Every tongue shall confess that Jesus Christ is God to the glory of the Father That is inescapable fact of reality The most ardent atheist out there is going to bow his knee one day and confess that Jesus Christ is God No matter how much they've convinced themselves in this life that there is no God when they look him in the face when they see him eye to eye there will be no denying it and They will confess that he is God and Then they'll be what cast headlong into the lake of fire. You know, our God is a consuming fire Now I want to end real quick because the Bible, you know, we're just talking about the concepts of God You know, what what conclusions has man come to about God just through his natural intuition You know without the aid of Scripture man can come to some very wrong conclusions about God now they can get some things, right? But The scripture is what it takes to tell us who God is But I want to end by talking a little bit about who God isn't okay You know and God is not a man Okay, God is not a man now. We know Jesus Christ is a man was a man He took the you know, he became flesh we understand all that But the Bible says in Numbers 23 verse 19 that God is not a man This is kind of going back to the fact of saying that you know, God is a spirit talking about his essence Okay, that God is not a man that he should lie neither the Son of Man that he should repent And what I kind of get out of that is that you know, God is not on our level We should never get this idea that you know Jesus is my buddy, you know that term buddy Jesus. I hate that term. I Hate that term. Look, let me just tell you something. Jesus isn't your buddy Jesus is God and he's not on your level And what I really know and I'm probably saying that backwards. Let me put this put it this way. You're not on his level Now you can be the friend of God. I understand that, you know, if you keep his commandments You know if we live for him, he will be our friend. He will help us But you know, he's not he's not like somebody you're gonna go shoot pool with I Mean that's that's really bringing God down to a pretty low level and we're talking about God here and I want to end on this thought that you know that God is far beyond our comprehension and Everything that we you know Just the brief a little bit that we looked at just a tiny bit that we looked at in Scripture Day about who God is God is light. God is spirit. God is love. God is a consuming fire These are just terms that God has given to help that we can only understand through man's Understanding you know I'm saying Anyone if any one of us sat down and tried to describe God You know, you would only be able to do throat do so through your own understanding You could never fully describe who God actually is because of our own limited understanding And we can't you know, and God is is so far above anything that we could describe and That's what the Bible says over and over and over go to 1st Corinthians 8 we will end there, okay But Isaiah talks about this in chapter 40. He said to whom went then will you liken me or who shall I be equal? Say it the Lord the Holy One Lift up your eyes on high and behold who hath created these things that bringeth out their hosts by number He calleth them all by names by the greatness of his might for that he is strong and powered not not one failings So he's talking about the stars. You say look, you know what you want to get a just an idea about my power and who I am just go look at the stars and understand that I call every one of them by name I call I have them numbered and I put them there and not one of them followed again He's just trying to convey how great he is in a way that we can understand I mean God is really bringing it down and putting it on the lower shelf for us, isn't he? When he's using the stars to do that and he's saying like to whom are you gonna liken me? Or who shall I be equal? How are you gonna describe me? How are you gonna put God in a box and say this is what God is? He said that again in Isaiah 46 to whom will you liken me and make me equal and compare me that we may be like Isaiah 55 verse 8 this is a very familiar passage He said for my thoughts are not your thoughts Neither are your ways my ways say it the Lord for as the heavens are higher than the earth Now how high are the heavens plural? All right, so you've got we've got several heavens to think about here You have the firmament right now cruising altitude commercial airliner about 30,000 feet, right? That's not even close to how far much farther God's thoughts are above us Right than our thoughts because it's the heaven of heavens, right? How many light years do they say, you know some the most distant star in the galaxy? I mean, it's just it's we can't wrap our minds around how vast the universe is those heavens But that's how God is trying to explain it to us to get us to understand this that Yes, we can sit here and we conceptualize about God and we can come up with thoughts about God and we can philosophize about God But we have to always understand that it's it's always gonna be coming from the mind of a very limited man Man with his limited perspective his limited understanding cannot fully put into words what God is and who he is That's what he said for that as the heavens are higher than the earth So are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts see, that's why it's so foolish for man to sit there and charge God and Blame God and criticize God Now look there at 1st Corinthians chapter 8 because here's the thing do we know some things about God now Are there some things that we can say about God that are true? Yeah, we looked at him tonight You know, we believe in the triune monotheistic God we believe in the Trinity We believe that God is light We believe that God is a consuming fire and being like that God is spirit that he is loved and there's other things that we can Look at the scripture and say well we know that this is God But that's not some profound thing and none of us came up with that on our own we needed the scriptures to help us with that Look at verse 1 of 1st Corinthians 8. He says now as touching things offered unto idols We know that they would that we all have knowledge So he's saying look, you know the things that they're offering to idols. We know that they're nothing We have knowledge that the idol is a false god And he says knowledge puffeth up but charity edify So all I'm understanding things about God I know something let me tell you about God look that's a popped up attitude You know, he goes out and says and if any man think he know if anything he know if nothing yet as he ought to know Whatever, you know about God is what you ought to know about God what you know about God is just what God has told us and It's limited and it's only and it's given to us in a way that so that we can begin to understand What God is like? It goes on and says in verse 3, but if any man love God the same is known of him So is God impressed with our knowledge is God impressed when when we sit around and come up with these big fancy Theological terms about God and have these deep intellectual thoughts about God or these conversations about God and use this bit You know use terminology and and and and write big long thick books discussing God You know what you know about God only what you ought to know But what really matters to God is that we do what that we love that we edify charity edify You know if any man loved God the same is known of that's what you know That what that's what God wants to see in our lives. Not how much do you know about me? How how well can you you know, describe me? How are you? How are you gonna describe God that's even bring the least bit of glory to him that he's worthy of And God's more concerned the fact that what that we love him that we love others that we walk in the light as He is in the light and that we win others to the Lord so What what am I getting at tonight? Look the full and true nature of God is beyond our comprehension It's we have a very limited understanding When we really think about it but what we can say with certainty is that God is very gracious and That he has revealed to us revealed himself to us In the degree in which he has which is the scriptures. I mean the degree to which God has revealed himself to man That's a very gracious thing, isn't it that God has given us that understanding? You know, so don't don't take that for granted, you know, don't walk out of here tonight So I don't know anything about God, you know, whoa. Wow. I'm just so beyond beyond my understanding look Take what you do know about God what you ought to know about God and be grateful for that Greatly God we can understand what we can about God that he is loved that he is all these good things You know and and don't forget that but don't ever get this puffed up attitude thinking like well, I've got God figured out You know, I've got God down like I know everything there is to know about the Lord No, you don't we don't we we know only know what we ought to know and we've only begun to just scratch the surface You know now when we get to heaven, you know, we'll probably understand a lot more But even then there's probably a lot of things will still be just left pondering for all of eternity Well, let's just be grateful for the things which are revealed right the secret things belong unto the Lord our God those things are revealed Or are given unto us and to our children that what that we may do all the the words of this law that's what we should be more concerned about is actually loving God serving God and not just trying to You know come up with some intellectual You know, you're just trying to impress people intellectually about God let's go and pray