(Disclaimer: This transcript is auto-generated and may contain mistakes.)

The title of the sermon this evening is, Who is God? Who is God? When we look at our Bibles, we have a lot of information that we could look at, but I find it fascinating that in the first chapter, when we just start reading the book of Genesis, we actually get a lot of information about who God is. When you study your Bible, the Bible is written in a way where, as you progress through the book, you learn more about God, because God is vast. God is beyond our comprehension. God is infinite. There are so many different attributes of God that are beyond our complete understanding, but what God wants us to understand is penned in the Bible. I like how the book of Genesis has so much good doctrine, just right off the bat, just right at the very beginning. Look at verse number one. The Bible says, in the beginning, God. Notice before there was anything, there was God. God himself is eternally existent. God exists outside of time. We notice in this verse, it says, in the beginning, God created the heaven and the earth. Who is God, according to the Bible? Well, he's eternally existent, and he is the creator. He is the one that has created everything that we see today, the heaven and the earth. Now, keep your finger here, because we're going to go through the book of Genesis chapter one, but go to Ephesians chapter number three in your Bible, Ephesians chapter number three. We see God himself is outside of his creation. He's what spawned creation, and in the first sentence, we learned that he created certain elements. God created space, time, and matter, because to have a beginning, that's a notation of time. What's before beginning? God, right? We have God, then with God, he creates time. Not only does he create time, he creates space, and he creates matter. The space-time continuum, as they would say in science or in college circles, God created this. We know that God exists outside of time, just from the first verse, but we also see in the Bible, it gives us more information about how this creation took place. Look at Ephesians chapter three, verse nine, the Bible says, and to make all men see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the world hath been hid in God, who created all things by Jesus Christ. Later in our Bibles, we learn a little bit more about the creation. It says that all things were created by Jesus Christ specifically. God used Jesus Christ to create the entire world, the heaven and the earth. Everything that we see that's visible or invisible was created by Jesus Christ. Go to Colossians, chapter number one, we're going to get a clear statement on that. Who is God? God is the creator. We know from reading the rest of our Bible that God himself used Jesus Christ for the creation. It was created by him. Sometimes, I could give a message to my wife, but maybe I have someone else delivered it. That would still be me giving the message, but it was delivered by someone else. We see God used Jesus Christ to create the world. Look at Colossians, chapter one, verse 12, it says, giving thanks unto the Father which hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light, who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son, in whom we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins, who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature. For by him were all things created that are in heaven and that are in earth visible and invisible, whether they be thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things are created by him and for him, and he is before all things, and by him all things consist. He is the head of the body of the church, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in all things he might have the preeminence. According to the Bible, Jesus Christ is before all things. Notice before anything, there was God. Then in the beginning, God created the heaven and the earth. At some point, God brings time into existence with the creation of the heaven and the earth. It's Genesis 1-1, but before all things, there was Jesus Christ. Before all things, there was God, and God declared that he would create the worlds through Jesus Christ, by Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ is the creator. Let's go back to Genesis 1. In the beginning, God created the heaven and the earth. There's so much that we can learn from that simple statement, from those 10 words, just the beginning of our Bible. As we read more into the scriptures, we get more details about that statement. We learn more about that statement. You say, who is God? Well, he's eternally existent, and he's the creator. Look at verse number 2. The earth was without form and void, and darkness was upon the face of the deep, and the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters. In the beginning, we have God, but then notice it mentions someone else, the Spirit of God. Notice when it talks about the Spirit of God, what is it doing? It's moving. The Spirit of God is something that's alive, and it's moving upon the waters. Now, go if you went to Matthew chapter number 3 in your Bible, Matthew chapter number 3. Even in the second verse, we already get more definition to who God is. Well, God has a spirit, and the Spirit of God can actually move. The Spirit of God is moving. In fact, many times when we read in our Bible about the Holy Ghost, about the Holy Spirit, he's moving. Look at Matthew chapter 3 verse 13. The heavens were opened unto him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and lighting upon him, and lo, a voice from heaven saying, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. So we see in Matthew chapter 3 a great picture of the Trinity. We have what? Jesus Christ on this earth. We have God the Father speaking in heaven, and then we have what? The Spirit of God moving, coming down from heaven and lighting upon the Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, when was the time before that that we had the Spirit of God moving? Genesis chapter 1 verse 2. The Spirit of God is moving upon the waters. Isn't that interesting that when Jesus is baptized, we have the waters moving again, and where is the Spirit of God? It's coming down and lighting upon the Lord Jesus Christ. So who's the Spirit of God? Well, he obviously moves, doesn't he? And he's distinct from the one in heaven. He's distinct from the Son. He's coming down from heaven and lighting upon the Son. Go to John chapter 16. The Bible says in John chapter 3 verse 34, For he whom God hath sent speaketh the words of God, for God giveth not the Spirit by measure unto him. According to the Bible, God the Father gave Jesus Christ, the Son of God, he gave him the fullness of the Spirit of God. The Holy Ghost came upon the Son in the fullest extent while he was on this earth. There was no limitation that he had of the power of the Spirit of the Holy Ghost. And in John chapter 16, Jesus gives us more definition of the Spirit of God. Look at verse 7. Nevertheless I tell you the truth, it is expedient for you that I go away. For if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you, but if I depart, I will send him unto you. For when he is come, he will reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment, of sin, because they believe not on me, of righteousness, because I go to my Father, and ye see me no more, of judgment, because the prince of this world is judged. I have yet many things to say unto you, but ye cannot bear them now, howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth, for he shall not speak of himself, but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak, and he will show you things to come. He shall glorify me, for he shall receive of mine, and shall show it unto you. So according to the Bible, the Holy Ghost, he does not speak of himself. And it was needful for the Lord Jesus Christ to depart and go back and to be into heaven, so that the Holy Ghost could come upon the disciples, and give them the power that they could preach the gospel in different languages, and they could do the different miracles that they did. And not only that, that the Holy Ghost would lead them into all truth, is what the Bible says. Not only that, that he would bring into remembrance all the things that Christ had said unto them. And notice that Jesus makes it very clear that the Holy Ghost does not speak of himself. Now that's important when we study Genesis chapter number one. Why? God speaks in Genesis chapter number one. So you know who's not speaking? The Holy Ghost. Why? Because the Holy Ghost doesn't speak of himself. He just gives us Christ's words. He gives us the words of the Father. He just brings into remembrance the words of God. The Holy Ghost isn't giving us his own personal opinion. He's just telling us what this book says. And when people don't know the Bible, they don't have the Holy Ghost speak to them. You want the Holy Ghost to speak to you? You got to read these words. You got to get these words in your heart, and he'll bring them into remembrance. Now go back to Genesis chapter number one. So we see the Holy Ghost, he does not speak of himself. That's an important statement. Because look at verse number three, verse one. The Bible says, And God said, Let there be light, and there was light. So notice we've learned a lot about God in just a handful of verses. Now we're using other scriptures to make sure we're understanding these things correctly. But even in just a few verses, we've learned about God being the Creator, being eternally existent, there being a distinction from his Spirit. Not only that, we see in verse three that God speaks. Right? I mean, in order to say something, you have to have a mouth, you have to be able to speak words. So God is one that communicates. God is a God of words. And notice he says, Let there be light. What happens? And there was light. So we see that his word has power. Whatever he says happens. There wasn't like a circumstance. Let there be light. Well, maybe it'll happen. Maybe something. No, as soon as he spoke, it happened, didn't it? We see the power of the Word of God. Go to Psalms chapter 29. So what have we learned about God? Well, we've learned that God has a spirit. We've learned that God speaks. We see whatever God says happens. Look at Psalms 29 verse 3. The Bible says, The voice of the Lord is upon the waters. The God of glory thundereth, the Lord is upon many waters. The voice of the Lord is powerful. The voice of the Lord is full of majesty. The voice of the Lord breaketh the cedars. Yea, the Lord breaketh the cedars of Lebanon. He maketh them also to skip like a calf, Lebanon, and Syrian like a young unicorn. The voice of the Lord divideth the flames of fire. The voice of the Lord shaketh the wilderness. The Lord shaketh the wilderness of Kadesh. The voice of the Lord maketh the hinds to calf, and discoverth the forest, and in his temple doth everyone speak of his glory. So notice the Bible's giving emphasis to what? The voice of God. The words of God are powerful. That's why we love the Bible. That's why whenever they heard Jesus speak it says that they were astonished at his doctrine for his word was with power. That's why there's no book like the King James Bible. I've never heard words like these words. Never man spake like this man. The Bible says, For the word of God is quick and powerful and sharper than any two-edged sword piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit and of the joints and marrow and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. According to the Bible, the word of God is what has power. You say, why do you believe the Bible, Pastor Shelley? Because the word of God has power. You show me another book that's like this book doesn't exist. You try to explain these things in your own words. It fails in comparison to the way God explained it. Everything in this book is powerful. We notice from just the very beginning when God speaks, it happens. You can take it to the bank. Whatever God says is true, it's going to happen. Go to John chapter number one. John chapter number one. We see God speaks. He speaks with power, authority. We see he speaks things into existence, and he created things by Jesus Christ. Look at John chapter one, verse one. The Bible says, In the beginning was the word, and the word was with God, and the word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him, and without him was not anything made that was made. So notice, who did we learn already was the creator? All things were created by Jesus Christ. We see here in John chapter one, it says that the word was in the beginning, and the word is God. Not only that, the Bible says that all things were made by him. So we're talking about whom? A person, and the person is described as the word. Go to first John chapter number five. First John chapter number five. So who is God? Well we notice that God has his spirit, right? But we also notice that God has his word. So we're seeing some distinctions already. We have God, we have the word, and we have the spirit of God. And these are the distinctions that the Bible makes, but it's still God. We still worship the one true God of the Bible, made up of who? The Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost. Now we haven't learned the word Father yet. It hasn't been declared unto us yet in Genesis chapter number three, but we've learned about whom? Well we've learned about the word, we've learned about the spirit. Look at Revelation, I'm sorry, first John chapter five, verse five. Who is he that overcometh the world? But he that believeth that Jesus is the Son of God. Who is he that came by water and blood, even Jesus Christ, not by water only, but by water and blood? And it is the spirit that beareth witness, because the spirit is truth. For there are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost, and these three are one. And there are three that bear witness in earth, the spirit, and the water, and the blood, and these three agree in one. If we receive the witness of men, the witness of God is greater, for this is the witness of God, which he hath testified of his Son. What is the context of first John chapter number five? The context is verse five, he that overcometh the world is the person that believes that Jesus is the Son of God. Now why would someone believe that Jesus is the Son of God? The Bible is explaining to us, well, we have three witnesses in heaven. We have the Father, we have the Word, and we have the Holy Ghost, and you know what their testimony is? One, they have the same testimony. If you ask God the Father what I should do, he's going to say believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. If I ask Jesus Christ, you know what he's going to say? Believe on Jesus Christ. If I have the Holy Ghost, bring into remembrance the words of Christ, you know what he's going to say? Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. They have the same testimony. They have the same record that God gave of his Son, that the Lord Jesus Christ died on the cross for our sins, was buried according to the Scriptures, and rose again the third day. That's what the Bible says. You know what the Father says that, the Son says that, and the Holy Ghost says that, even though he's not speaking of himself. So there's three witnesses. Not only that, we had witnesses in the earth. We had the Spirit, and the water, and the blood. When you studied the book of John 19, when Jesus Christ dies on the cross, they stab him with the spear, and the blood and the water come out, and it says the Spirit bears witness. You know what that Spirit was? The holy men of God spake as they are moved by the Holy Ghost. We have the Bible that told us about the water and the blood, and those three agree in one. So we have the record on this earth of the Lord Jesus Christ. We also have the record in heaven, and all these things have the same record to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. That's the context of 1 John chapter number 5. Now we could learn other things from this passage though. How about the fact that there's three in heaven? Isn't that the Bible saying clearly that there's the Father, there's the Word, and there's the Holy Ghost? And we notice that if the witness of God is greater, how could there only be one witness? The Bible makes it clear, out of the mouth of two or three witnesses shall every word be established. So God's making it clear he has a greater witness than us. First of all, he has two or three witnesses, and it's the witness of God, which cannot lie. You know, by two immutable things, which he cannot lie, is what the Bible says. So God has a better witness than men. If God was one witness, you would ask the question, how is he better a witness than two men? But he's not, because he has three witnesses in heaven. Go to Revelation chapter number 3. Well, you said here, but the Father, and the Word, and the Holy Ghost, is the Word really the Son? Well, let's see what the Bible has to say. Revelation chapter number 3, look at verse 14. The Bible says, and unto the angel of the church of the Laodiceans write, These things saith the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of the creation of God. So whenever the Bible is describing Jesus Christ, it calls him the Amen. What does Amen mean? True. God is true. I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man cometh unto the Father but by me. And notice he's described as what? The faithful and true witness. That's important. Hey, didn't we learn about some witnesses in 1 John chapter number 5? We'll go to chapter 21 now of Revelation. Revelation chapter number 21. So we see Jesus Christ is noted as being the faithful and true witness. In Revelation 21 verse 5, it says, He that sat upon the throne said, Behold, I make all things new. And he said unto me, Write, for these words are true and faithful. Notice the Bible declares itself as true and faithful, and it describes Jesus Christ as the true and faithful witness. And Jesus Christ is described as the Word, and his name is even called the Word of God. Let's get back a couple chapters. Look at chapter 19. Look at verse number 11. And I saw heaven open, and behold a white horse. And he that sat upon him was called faithful and true, and in righteousness he doth judge and make war. So who are we talking about? We're talking about the Lord Jesus Christ, the Word of God. Keep reading. Verse 12. His eyes were as a flame of fire, and on his head were many crowns. And he had a name written that no man knew, but he himself. And he was clothed with a vesture dipped in blood, and his name is called the Word of God. So you say, who is Jesus Christ? He's the Word of God. But he also is God, right? We've already learned all of these interesting facts about the Lord Jesus Christ. And then in verse 16, he also has the name on his vesture and his thigh, a name written King of Kings and Lord of Lords. So we've already learned a lot. We've gone from the beginning to the end. But when you read the Bible, we learn more about God as you continue reading through the Bible. He continues to give us more information about who he is. So we can't just get stuck on verse number one. We can't get stuck at a certain point in time in the Bible and say, well, this is who God is because that's the amount of information we had up to that point. No, he wants to keep giving us more information about who he is. But even when we study our Bibles, we see in God said, let there be light, didn't we? But now we get some more information about how that actually took place. And you say, some people think, well, when God was back then, it was just his literal words, like just sounds coming out of his mouth. I do believe that God the Father spake all of these words. You know what? At the same time, Jesus Christ is the Word of God, and he is the Creator. So it's both. It's both. God the Father spake all these words, but Jesus Christ was still with the Father when he spake those words. Jesus Christ still is literally the Word of God, and Jesus Christ is the Creator. He's before all things. He gets all the preeminence. We see his name is written, the Word of God. He is the Word. We see that God is three. He's the Father. He's the Son. He's the Holy Ghost. You could change these differently. God the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, he could be the Word and the Holy Ghost. So we see there's a little bit of more information about each one of these individuals, but there's always three. And they've always been distinct, even in the beginning. Even at the beginning of the creation, there was a distinction. God the Father created the heaven and the earth by Jesus Christ. Now go to Proverbs chapter number eight. Let's get a little bit more information about this. It's important to understand who God is, and who is the God that we worship. And what do we think about who God is, or what are the attributes of God? But if you don't really understand the distinction between the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, you're never going to really understand who God is. God gives us these distinctions constantly throughout the Bible, even at the very beginning. But look at Proverbs eight, because it gives us some more insight on how the Lord Jesus Christ was there in the beginning with God. Look at verse 22. The Lord possessed me in the beginning of his way, before his works of old. I was set up from everlasting, from the beginning, or ever the earth was. Now this is very interesting, because the Bible says that the Lord possessed me. Now who's he talking about? This is like the Lord Jesus Christ saying that God possessed him. Now what does it mean to possess something? Well, think about my wife. My wife is my possession. Why? Because she's my wife. She's not your wife. She's my wife. Think about my children. It's my son. It's my daughter. Why? Because I'm in possession of them. And what does John 3.16 say? For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son. Whose son is Jesus Christ? The father. The father possesses the son. You know what? The son also possesses the father. They possess one each other. And we see that the Lord Jesus Christ was God's possession. He's the only begotten son of God. Look at verse 24. When there were no deaths, I was brought forth. When there were no fountains abounding with water, before the mountains were settled, before the hills was I brought forth. While as yet he had not made the earth, nor the fields, nor the highest part of the dust of the world, when he prepared the heavens, I was there. Now some people might get caught up on this brought forth thing. The Mormons actually believe that Jesus Christ was created in eternity past. Now that would be false doctrine because the Lord Jesus Christ is from everlasting. He's always been with God. But in some sense, he is brought forth in the sense that he's the only begotten son of God. In some sense, he's the lamb slain before the foundation of the world, as the Bible describes him. But we see that these are because God's outside of time. The Lord Jesus Christ is outside of time. But there's never been a point when Jesus Christ was created. Why? Because all things were created by him. And he's before all things. And all things consist of him. So in a sense, he's brought forth. But in another sense, we also understand that he's never come into existence. He has always existed. He's outside of time. Look at verse 28. When he established the clouds above, when he strengthened the fountains of the deep, when he gave to the sea his decree that the water should not pass his commandment, when he appointed the foundations of the earth, then I was by him as one brought up with him. And I was daily his delight, rejoicing always before him. The Lord Jesus Christ and God the Father have always been together before. And he was always his daily delight. They had perfect love between one another. The Father has always loved the Son. The Son has always loved the Father. There's always been this perfect unity and love in relationship. That's why it was so hard for God the Father to want to send his Son to die for the sins of the world. The sacrifice that he made to give his Son. And the sacrifice for his Son to be obedient unto his Father and at his Father's command to come and be the Savior of the world, to lay down his life. The Bible says that it wasn't his will, but it was the will of him that sent him. That's what Jesus Christ did. So we see he was as one brought up with him. Look at verse 31, rejoicing in the habitable part of his earth, and my delights were the sons of men. Now, therefore, hearken unto me, O ye children, for blessed are they that keep my ways, hear instruction and be wise, and refuse it not. He's also referring to the fact that, hey, you need to listen to my words. Why? Because Jesus Christ is the Word of God. If you refuse the Word of God, you're refusing the Son. You're not trusting the words that God has given us. Let's go back to Genesis chapter 1. So we've learned a lot about God already. Obviously we're comparing spiritual with spiritual. We're comparing a lot of new, old, and the end of the Bible. But to get a good idea of who God is, you really have to read the entire Bible. You can't just get stuck in one section. And we can't take just an Old Testament picture of God. We can't just take a New Testament picture. We've got to take all of it. And even then, there are certain things that we just know in part. Nobody knows what God the Father's face looks like, the Bible says. No man shall see his face and live is what the Bible says. Now, we have an idea of what it looks like since Jesus Christ is the express image of his person. There were people that saw the Son of God, so they know what God the Father looks like. They just have never seen his face. Look at verse 4. And God saw the light, that it was good, and God divided the light from the darkness. So not only does God have a voice, but we see he has eyes. And I'll read for you from 2 Chronicles, the Bible says, The Bible says the eyes of the Lord are everywhere. You can't escape God's sight, according to the Bible. He sees everything. God sees the light. God sees the darkness. And notice this, there was division in verse number 4. God's already telling us there that he's a God of division. Look at verse 5. It says, So not only that, we see that God is a God of order, a God of structure, a God of sophistication. The Bible says for God is not the author of confusion, but of peace. So God is creating all these different elements. Why? To give order. If we didn't have a calendar, we don't have clocks, we don't have watches. It would be chaos. You know what actually brings order into society? Clocks, time. You know, in fact, even in computer programming, just the fact that we observe, you know, daylight savings time, it makes things very difficult. Or just even time zones in general, it makes things very difficult. But we see that God gave us the ability to be organized, to be structured, to have rule, to have a good society. Without these type of elements, we wouldn't have anything. God even declares the first day. You say, where do you get days? From God. God created the day. God created everything that we see and hear and have to exist. Not only that, we see that God is a wonderful worker. All of his works are wonderful. The Bible says, Oh, that men would praise the Lord for his goodness and for his wonderful works to the children of men. Look at verse 6. The Bible says, And God said, Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters. So in verse number 4, we had learned that God is a God of division. We see in verse number 6, God again is a God of division. Now go to Exodus chapter number 8. Exodus chapter number 8. God likes to separate things. God likes to keep certain things separate, one from another. Look at Exodus chapter number 8, verse 23. The Bible says, And I will put a division between My people and Thy people. Tomorrow shall this sign be. Many people, their view of God is that He is a God of complete unity. We're all God's children. God just loves everybody the same. He wants everybody to come together, world peace. No division, no strife, no wars, no anything. God just wants us to all come and sit together and sing kumbaya and, you know, let's just worship God together. God has never been like this. He's always been a God of division. He's always dividing things. Light from darkness. He doesn't want the light and the darkness to mix. It's complete division, complete separation. And when God looks at the Egyptians and He looks at the Hebrews, He says, you know what? I want a division between the Hebrews and from the Egyptians. God is not excited about mixing everybody together and mixing the wicked with the good and the wicked with the righteous. Go if you would to Luke chapter number 12. The Bible says in John chapter 7, verse 43, So there was a division among the people because of Him. When Jesus Christ was on this earth, He brought a lot of division. People were dividing. Households are dividing. The nation is dividing. People that are in religious sects are dividing. Why? Because of Jesus Christ. God is a God of division. You say, oh man, sometimes there's a church split. My God's a God of division. Sometimes splitting is good. Sometimes getting the junk off is good. Sometimes when you separate things, it's great. God thought all of His creation was great when He made separations, when He made divisions, when He gets all the light over here and He gets all the darkness over there. He doesn't want the darkness to creep in with the light and hang out and be, hey, it's cool, we're all hanging out together. No, get the darkness over here. The darkness actually flees from the light is what the Bible says. Look at Luke chapter 12, verse 51. Suppose ye that I am come to give peace on earth, I tell you, nay, but rather division. For from henceforth there shall be five and one else divided, three against two, and two against three. The father shall be divided against the son, and the son against the father, the mother against the daughter, and the daughter against the mother, the mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law, and the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. The Bible has such a sharp division even between family. Now when it comes to father and mother, it doesn't get much closer than that, and that's some strong language that the Lord Jesus Christ gave us, but we already learned that about God in Genesis chapter number 1. He's dividing the waters from the waters. You say, oh, we're all Christians here. Well sometimes there needs to be a division between Christians even. Sometimes there even needs to be a division in a church when there's bad people in the church. Now a church is supposed to be unified. We're supposed to all be unified and rallied together with the Bible and all be on the same team and the same page, but when some people are coming in and trying to destroy it, you need to have division. You need to have separation, and that can be good. That can be great. God likes division. Now obviously God is not wanting for you and your family to have strife, to have issues. The Bible says when I speak, I am for peace, but they are for war. And in fact, most of the times when I see divisions, people are telling me I want to hang out with this family member. I want to be in their presence. I want to do things with them. They don't want to be around me. They don't like what I have to say. They're calling me every name under the sun. They say that I hate them. Go back to Genesis chapter 1. And we ought not be one to strive for division. We ought not be one that's aiming to separate, but at certain points in our life when we notice that there needs to be a separation, we need to be willing to side with God, be on the Lord's side, be on the division that He wants us to make. And God is not all about unity right now. There will be a day and a time when we're all unified together and serving the Lord Jesus Christ after every last person is cast in the lake of fire. Every person whose name is not written in the book of life is cast in the lake of fire, then we can have unity. But before then, He's a God of division, and we see in His creation, He immediately starts dividing things. Look at verse 7. And God made the firmament and divided the waters which were under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament, and it was so. Not only this, we see that God's will is always accomplished. And this is where the Calvinists really get off, because a Calvinist wants to cling onto this idea, well, God's sovereign. Whatever God wants is going to happen. Now there's a layer of truth to that. Whatever God wills is going to happen. You know what? God willed that all those that would reject Him would go to hell. And you know what's going to happen? Every single person that rejects the Lord Jesus Christ is going to burn in hell. But you know what? It's accomplished according to His will. Now He doesn't want them to go to hell. He would like for them to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, but He's already declared it. If you don't believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, His will is for you to burn in hell for all of eternity, to suffer His wrath, to suffer the eternal judgment of Almighty God. Now He wishes you would believe in Him, but He gives us the choice. He gives us the free will, and we see how powerful God truly is that even in the midst of giving people free will, ultimately whatever He wants is going to happen. Ultimately whatever God says is going to come to pass. No matter how hard the devil fights of his own free will, he will fail, and the Lord Jesus Christ will be the victor. And we'll have victory through the Lord Jesus Christ. No matter how much the devil wants to pull you down into hell, if you believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, you're going to heaven. Now isn't that great news? Wouldn't it be kind of scary if we read right here, well sometimes when God speaks it doesn't work out. And you're like, well I hope that John 3.16 isn't one of those times, you know? I hope that John 3.36 isn't one of those times. But we know every time God speaks, He can't lie, it's going to happen, it was so. Look at verse 8, and God called the firmament heaven, and the evening and the morning were the second day. So notice this, God also has His own timing. I mean God just, hey here's the first day, here's the second day. Notice a couple other things about this, He's patient. He didn't just create everything instantly, did He? He took some time to develop certain things, to create order, to create the days. Why for our benefit, for the benefit of us to have the different days and to learn different things about Him. Not only that, we see that God's methodical. He doesn't just do everything just instantaneously, He's not hasty, He's very patient, He's long suffering. We see a lot of different attributes of God through His creation. If you go over to Romans chapter number 2, the Bible says in Exodus 34 verse 6, Now think about this, if God just wants people to worship Him based on, hey believe on the Lord Jesus Christ or not, couldn't He have just given us a one split second decision? He just lined us all up and just said, believe or not, and He's just like, you're going straight down or straight up. But what does He do? He gives you a whole life, doesn't He? He gives you breath from your mother, you get to grow up, you get to develop, you have all kinds of different experiences, and in many cases we've rejected God, we didn't necessarily heed to the first call that was given unto us, but you know what, God's long suffering. He's patient with people, He gives people many opportunities to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. I sure hope all those that rejected the Gospel this afternoon, that that was not their last chance. I hope they get another chance, I hope another soul winner comes by and knocks on their door, and I hope the next time they do believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and we see it's by God's long suffering nature that we even see more people getting saved. More people loving Him, more people responding to the call that He's making. The Bible says in Psalms 86, 15, Look at verse 4 in Romans 2. He's saying, look, because God is long suffering, because He is forbearing, that causes you even more to want to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. Even more to get saved. Even more to have true repentance from dead works and to put your faith in the Son of God. We see the long suffering nature of God, and even His creation. He took His time, didn't He? We got day one, then we got day two, and we got many days in the future that He's going to have in creation too. Six full days of work. Go back to verse number nine. We're not going to go through the entire chapter this evening, but I want to keep highlighting some different things that we notice about who God is. Now in this question, who is God? You could preach an infinite number of sermons. I can't cover the breadth of that topic, but we're just scratching the surface, and we see in just Genesis 1, with comparing some other verses, how much have we already learned about who God is? Look at verse 9. So not only have we learned so much about God's creation, we see that God, in His wisdom, He created a self-perpetuating creation. He created something where it has seed inside of itself, and that seed will actually reproduce again. And then that next fruit will have seed in itself, and it can reproduce again. So we see His creation has a perpetual cycle of reproduction, this continual cycle. What a fascinating way for God to create. Look at verse 12. It says in the earth brought forth grass, the herb yielding seed after his kind, and the tree yielding fruit whose seed was in itself after his kind, and God saw that it was good. So God likes this way of creation. God likes the fact that the seed is in the fruit, and the fruit then reproduces itself with new seed, and then we have this continual progression and cycle of creation. In Romans chapter 1, I'll just read for you. It says, For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God and the salvation, to everyone that believeth, to the Jew first, and also to the Greek. For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith. So you know what? God, in a carnal sense, He said, you know what? The apple is going to have an apple seed, and then once you eat the apple, you plant the seed, it produces a new tree. That tree produces a new apple. And then guess what? Start all over again. Then we eat the apple, we take the seed, we plant the seed, we get the tree, we get another apple forever. He says this is the same way it is spiritually. You know what? Salvation is from faith to faith. God has ordained it that someone who is saved, He goes unto someone who is not. He gives them His faith, the seed that's inside of them, the incorruptible seed of the Lord Jesus Christ, and by that faith, He gets someone else saved. And you know what? That's a perpetuating cycle all the way until now. So in the exact same way that God created and uses reproduction in a physical sense, is the same way He does it in a spiritual sense. What a wonderful creator that God is, and He uses us to perpetuate His spiritual creation. Look at verse 13, and in the evening and the morning were the third day. Verse 14, and God said, let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven to divide 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 firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth, and it was so. It's not only this, God also gives us seasons, days, years, signs. Now when you read this verse, you have to think something's coming, right? If He's going to make, He's pretty much setting the stage. He's saying, look, I'm giving you all these different elements for what? The calendar and for signs. Signs of what? Something's going to be happening, right? Why would He be giving signs if nothing's going to happen? So we see God and His wisdom, He's preparing the stage for something else. He's methodical. He's thinking about all these things. He's making plans for things in the future. We see He's a planner. He's one that prepares things. There's so many great attributes of God that we can see in each one of these verses. And nothing is by accident or mistake. Every one of His creations is on purpose. He created all these things because He already knew everything else that He was going to create. And He says, you know what? You're going to need a calendar. You're going to need years and days and seasons, and you're going to even need signs in the sky. Look at verse 26. So what are we setting the stage for? Skip down because we get a lot more creation, but look at verse 26. And God said, let us make man in our image, after our likeness, and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth. So God created man in His own image, and the image of God created He him, male and female created He them. There are some very profound verses in our Bible that teach us a lot about God. So we've already learned a lot about God. We see that He speaks. We see that He sees. We see that there was the Spirit of God that was distinct from God. But notice here He says, let us. There's some level of plurality. Now we've already looked at many of the verses that show us that plurality. The Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost. But even in reading Genesis chapter 1, we can already tell that there was a plurality to God. And notice something that He says, alright. He says, after our likeness. Now what does that mean? What does it mean to have likeness? It means that you in some way are alike to something else. If I said, hey, Jared Plant and Jacob Plant, they're alike. What does that mean? Well, they share a lot of similar characteristics, don't they? Right? If I said, hey, me and my son, we are alike. What does that mean? You could look at us and say, hey, there's some kind of semblance between them. If you were to look at identical twins, you would say, man, these are alike. What they have, likeness. But some people, some morons, some false prophets and liars, they'll say, well, when it's talking here, it's saying that there's just one person. And he has a spirit and he has words, okay? And somehow he's going to make a man after our likeness. But here's the problem with that, okay? First of all, what does literal words have to do with a person? What's the likeness that they share? But if we have a father and a son, and the son's the express image of his person, doesn't it kind of make sense if you could look at him and say, hey, let's make a man after our likeness. He looks like us. Why? Because he's a man. You know what? He wasn't a bear. God didn't say, you know what, we're going to create someone after our likeness, a dog, a fish, a Tyrannosaurus Rex. It was a man. Why? Because he looks like a man. Because he is a man, the man Christ Jesus. If me, my father, and grandfather were all looking at my son, we would say, hey, doesn't he share in our likeness? Now doesn't that make sense? Now imagine me talking to myself, being like, hey, words, he shares our likeness. Yeah, he does, doesn't he? It's stupid. This person is a moron. And the reality is, I don't share in that likeness. You know what? Words are not a distinct whole living other person beside me. I don't have that type of a likeness. Now I do have a body, soul, and spirit, but that is not the distinction that we're being made here. There's actually separate persons of the Godhead. There's the father, there's the son, and there's the Holy Ghost. And we see if he's saying our likeness, okay, then we have a man, then we must have two men-like figures in order to have them say he's after our likeness, at least two. And that's what we have. We have the father, we have the son, and guess what, we also have the Holy Ghost. And they look at one another, we're going to make man after our likeness. So we see, even in Genesis chapter number one, you can already figure out that there's the father, the son, and the Holy Ghost. You might not know everything about them yet, and God's going to give us more information as we read, but we already see that there's the plurality to God. Let us, and look at verse 27, so God created man in his own image, and the image of God created he him. So mankind was created in the image of God. What does that mean? We look like how God was, is. Now what is likeness? I'll just say it's resemblance, it's the outward appearance, it's the portrait or representation. So if we have two things that are representing one thing, that makes a lot of sense. If you have one saying let us represent him, you have a grammatical fail there. You need to learn about that, all right? Now some people would say, well, here's the problem. The Bible often talks about God in a singular sense, right? Doesn't it? He, him, thee, thy, and they'll say, well, you're making God this nebulous essence where there isn't really something, because we'll talk about God's eyes, didn't we? We talked about, hey, God, he spake. That sounds like there's just one person, and I've heard a lot of people attack the Trinity. They'll say, well, you're just picking this essence, and somehow this essence is doing all these things. Well, that's a fallacy, because go to Numbers chapter 21 in your Bible, and this is very important to understand, but many times in your Bible the Word of God will refer to a group of people in a singular sense, and it's not referring to their nebulous essence, okay? It's just how the Bible describes certain things whenever a group of people are in unity. Look at Numbers chapter 21 verse 2. And Israel vowed a vow unto the Lord and said, if thou wilt indeed deliver this people into my hand, then I will utterly destroy their cities. Now, in Numbers 21, is the man Jacob still alive? Did Jacob also go into, didn't Jacob go into Israel, or I'm sorry, into Egypt and die? And then his 12 sons are the 12 tribes, and then they're in the land for 430 years. Then they go out in the Exodus. So in Numbers, when he says Israel, is he talking about a singular man, the man Israel? No. He's talking about millions of people. Notice that. Now, what does he say? If Israel vowed a vow, how can a nebulous essence of a million people vow a vow? Why, that's how the Bible words it. It also says, look, if thou wilt indeed deliver this people into my hand, did Israel here describe, is it one person with one hand? No. It's the way the Bible is describing Israel, even though it's a group of people being described, isn't it? Go to Judges chapter number 11. Judges chapter number 11. You say, yeah, but God is described in a singular sense often. So is tons of other groups of people described in a singular essence, or a singular moniker. But that doesn't discount the fact that there's God the Father, there's God the Son, and there's the Holy Ghost. Look at Judges chapter 11 verse 19. And Israel sent messengers unto Sion king of the Amorites, the king of Heshbon. And Israel said unto him, let us pass, we pray thee, through thy land into my place. Now again, is Israel here a person? No. It's a group of people. So notice Israel sends messengers, but notice this, Israel speaks. Now, you expect me to believe what the Bible is saying here, that all million Israelites, they all said in unison this one message. No. Obviously, as a group of people, they had one person deliver this message, didn't they? Right? But then it says in unity, this is what they said, but it's using a singular sense, is it not? So when God speaks, if Jesus Christ speaks, can't you just say God said? If God the Father speaks, can't you just say God said? If the Holy Ghost speaks, can't you say God said? Oh, but it's talking in a singular fashion. Of course it is. We're not pointing to some nebulous essence that we worship. No. We worship God the Father, God the Son, and the Holy Ghost, and these three are one God, is what the Bible says. Who is God? He's the Father, He's the Son, and He's the Holy Ghost. What about all the times He's referred to as a singular person? Great. There are other times that people are referred to as a singular person, aren't there? Go to Obadiah chapter number one. Let's get real specific with these types of mentions. Obadiah chapter one verse one, the Bible says, the vision of Obadiah, thus saith the Lord God concerning Edom. Now, is Edom a person? No. It is the nation that was derived from Esau. Esau, his descendants, is the nation of Edom. We have heard a rumor from the Lord and an ambassador sent among the heathen. Arise ye and let us rise up against her in battle. Behold, I have made thee small among the heathen. Thou art greatly despised. The pride of thine heart hath deceived thee. Thou that dwells in the clefts of the rock, whose habitation is high, that saith in his heart, Who shall bring me down to the ground? Though thou exalt thyself as the eagle, and though thou set thy nest among the stars, thence will I bring thee down, saith the Lord. You say, yeah, but all the times it's talking about God, it's talking about his hand, talking about his heart, talking about his mind, talking about his eyes. It just sounds like one person. Well, we have that type of logic and we apply it consistently through the Bible, you're going to have to believe there's a guy named Edom in the book of Obadiah. Let's read this again carefully, all right? Let's see how it describes Edom. It says, I have made thee small. That's singular. Look, it says in the latter part of that, thou art greatly despised. Look at verse three, the pride of thine heart. Now did Edom have one heart? Is it just one person with one heart? No, but isn't that verse, all that verse sounds like there's one person with one heart. That's just because you don't understand what the Bible's saying. The natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness unto him. Not only that, it's just thee, thou, saith in his heart. Oh, that's singular again, it is. Who shall bring me down to the ground? Though thou exalt thyself as the eagle, and though thou set thy nest among the stars, then shall I bring thee down, saith the Lord. They'll say, oh, see, you don't understand that, you think God's a trinity, you don't understand all the singular versions of God in the Bible. No, you just don't understand the Bible, my friend. How many times is the Bible referring to a group of people, thee, thy, thine heart, thy hand, thine eye? What else do you want it to say? It has it all. Go to John chapter 17. You know, we have clear statements from Jesus Christ, how do they ignore those would be my question. The people that want to deny who God truly is. And most false religions, they do not believe in any sense of a trinity. They believe in just one centralized person God that they worship. But the God of the Bible is the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost. We must understand this, or we can't really understand who God is. And God knew that was important, that's why in Genesis chapter 1, He told us all about it. He gave us plenty of information. If you just slow down and read your Bible, you got it. If you read the whole thing, you can find a bunch of information about God. Let's get some words from Jesus. Look at John chapter 17 verse 1. These words spake Jesus, and lifted up His eyes to heaven and said, Father, the hours come, glorify Thy Son, that Thy Son also may glorify Thee. Now from a one person perspective, this guy loves himself. But we see from the trinity, we see they esteem other better than themselves. The Father esteemed the Son, the Son esteemed the Father, they both love one another. The Son glorifies the Father, the Father glorifies the Son, the Holy Ghost doesn't speak of Himself, He's glorifying the Father, He's glorifying the Son. We see the Jesus Christ, He's giving credit under the Holy Ghost. We see what? There's perfect love and unity and selflessness. We don't see this one self-conceited person that's all about himself. That is not the God of the Bible. That is a false prophet. You know that is the devil. The devil is a singular entity that loves himself, that loves to declare all about himself. And you know what the devil does? He masquerades himself as three. The false prophet and the antichrist and the beast. All of them, right? Oh, I'm three, but he's actually one, isn't he? That's the God of oneness, the devil. The devil. You know the God of the Bible is the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, and He's never lied about it. Genesis chapter 1, he told us all of the distinctions. Hey, there's the Spirit of God. Oh, let us make man in our image. He's not trying to trick us. He's not trying to deceive us. But of course, the revelation of Jesus Christ comes in different stages. We learn more about God as we get more through the Bible. But He wasn't ever tricking us. He's not deceiving us. Look at verse 2. Now, how much clearer can Jesus Christ get? He's saying, look, you have your own self, and then I was with you. You know what that means? He's not the self of God the Father. He's saying there's the Father who has His own self, and then there was the Son who was with Him. Right? I mean, the Bible couldn't get any clearer. Let's keep reading. He says, in verse 6, You know who we first learned about God the Father from? Jesus Christ. Why? We don't know that name except by Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ came to this earth, and He manifested and taught us God the Father. He taught us how to pray. Oh Father, which art in heaven, hallowed be Thy name. When we pray the prayer, the Lord's Prayer, we don't have the name Jesus in it. Who are we giving the glory honor to? The Father. And even when He's departing, He's telling them, hey, you need to pray to the Father in My name. So we pray to God the Father through the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. Look at verse 11. So according to the Bible, He's saying, hey, I want you to keep Him through Thy name. What's His name? Holy Father. He's God the Father. And notice He says He wants us to be one just as the Son and God the Father are one. So if you believe that Jesus Christ is the Father, that would mean that we are also God the Father. If you take that logic, you know, every time the word one is used in this sense, it's just meaning unity. It's just meaning in the same mind. We're all together. We have some type of, the best word is just unity in the sense that the same way the Son is unified with the Father, God wants us to be unified with Him. But it's not saying that we're going to be a transformer. We're not all coming together and we're going to make God. That's a stupid, wicked, false doctrine. Look at verse 24. Now if Jesus Christ did not exist until the incarnation, how did God the Father love Him before the foundation of the world? He couldn't. He loved Jesus Christ with Him before the foundation of the world. Look at verse 25. So Jesus Christ came to this earth to declare the love of God the Father, to declare who God the Father was. You know where we get John 3.16 from? Jesus Christ. For God so loved the world. You know that's Jesus Christ giving honor and glory to the Father, saying how much the Father loved us. That's what Jesus Christ came to do. You say, who is God? God is one who is a supreme being of love. The Bible says God is love. You know what? Someone that just loves themselves is not loving. But you know what? The Father loves the Son. The Son loves the Father. The Father loves the Holy Ghost. The Holy Ghost loves the Father. The Holy Ghost loves the Son. We see the perfect love and unity, and we see Jesus Christ came not to glorify Himself but to give glory and honor to the Father. And we see the Bible gives testimony and glory unto whom? The Son. And we see the Holy Ghost brings into remembrance once the glory of the Son, that He might have all the preeminence. Go to Hebrews chapter number 7. The Bible says in John 1, no man has seen God at any time. The only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, He hath declared Him. Now if Jesus Christ is God the Father, okay, then John 1.18 could never be true. Because we saw Jesus Christ. Now some people, they'll say this, they'll say, well, we saw the humanity of God. We just saw the man version part of God. That was just the flesh of Jesus. But it wasn't really what God looks like. You know, it wasn't the spiritual version of God or whatever they want to say. But you know, Peter, James, and John, they went to the Mount Transfiguration and they saw the glorified Lord Jesus Christ. And guess what? He's not going to get more glorified than that. So if you saw the glorified Lord Jesus Christ, you know you still didn't see God the Father. That's why John 1.18 is still true. But if Jesus Christ is the Father in His glorified state, they saw them in this verse as a lie. The oneness Pentecostals, they can't understand this verse. The Bible says that Jesus Christ is the express image of His person. But I'm not the express image of Pastor Shelley. Let me just help you out. I am Pastor Shelley. If I told you, hey, I look a lot like Pastor Shelley, you'd be like, this guy is crazy. This guy is a psycho. Jesus Christ is not an express image of Himself. He is Himself. He is the Son of God. He is God manifest in the flesh. But you know what? He looks just like God the Father. God the Father and the Son, they look alike. Look at Hebrews chapter 7, let's prove this a little bit further that Jesus Christ is from eternity. Look at verse 1. For this Melchizedek, king of Salem, priest of the most high God, who met Abraham returning from the slaughter of the kings, and blessed him, to whom also Abraham gave a tenth part of all, first being by interpretation king of righteousness, and after that also king of Salem, which is king of peace, without father, without mother, without descent, having neither beginning of days nor end of life, but made like unto the Son of God, abideth the priest continually. Now, I've heard some people, they try to twist this verse, verse number 3, and they say, well this proves that Jesus Christ is God the Father, because it says he doesn't have a father. So ergo, there isn't some other person, he is his own father, whatever. Well, if you were to apply that, then he also says here, without mother. But we know that the Lord Jesus Christ was born of the Virgin Mary, didn't we? And how can you even be the Son of God without a father? I mean that doesn't make any sense. But the Bible is saying in verse number 3, is it's saying that Melchizedek, the priest in the Old Testament, he did not have a physical father on this earth. He did not come from that seed, you know, progression, where the seed produces the fruit and the tree. He just appeared somehow. He didn't have a mother. He just shows up. And you know what? It's saying there's someone else that's like that. You know who else does not have those things? The Son of God. Why? Mary is not really his mother. She is the one who gave birth unto him, but that's not where he came into existence. Jesus Christ did not come into existence, it says, without descent, is what the Bible says, having neither beginning of days nor end of life, but made like unto the Son of God. So if Melchizedek just shows up all of a sudden, he has no physical descent, he just is. I am, right? Then he says there's another person like that, who? The Son of God. Proving what? That the Son of God is without descent. The Son of God has no beginning of days nor end of life. He just is the Son of God. The Son of God has eternally existed. He will always exist. Jesus Christ, when he came to this earth, that is not when he came into existence. That is when he became flesh, is what the Bible says. The Word was made flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld his glory as the glory of the only begotten Son of God. But I also believe that Melchizedek was an appearing of the Lord Jesus Christ. Why? Because he's made like unto the Son of God. We see someone just shows up without descent, Jesus Christ. We see Jacob wrestles with a man. You know who that man was? Jesus Christ. We see, you know, Joshua. He's met with the captain of the host. You know who that was? Jesus Christ. Way before the Incarnation, we have the Jesus Christ. Why? Because he's always been with God. In the beginning, God. You say, who is God? Well, if we study our Bible, we learn a lot about who God is in the Bible. What do we learn? Well, we learn that he's the creator. He's eternally existent, that he has a spirit, which is a person, and it's alive, it moves. We see that there's the Word of God, which is a person. We see that the Word is powerful. We see that God has eyes, and he speaks, that he's a God of order, he's a God of division, that his will always comes to pass, that he's a God of reproduction, that he's a God of planning, that he's constantly setting the stage for a great event. What was that event? Oh, yeah. The death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Well, we celebrate on Easter the most climatic point in human history, the death, burial, and resurrection, when Jesus Christ is said to by God the Father, thou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee. What a glorious moment in time. We even see that God makes man in his image, and we see the relationship between the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost. You say, who is God? It's right here. Jesus Christ is known as the true God. If you want to learn who God is, you've got to open this book, and liars and deceivers all day long, they'll tell you everything you want to know about God without referencing this book. If you can't show me clear verses from this book, you're a liar. You're a deceiver. You're an anti-Christ. The only person I want to learn about God from is right here. That's how we should get all of our learning and study from who God is, and it's important for us to understand who the true God is so that we can worship him in spirit and in truth. Let's close in prayer. Thank you, Father, so much for giving us the gift of your Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, for his sacrifice, for your sacrifice, for the love that you shed upon us, for your long suffering. Thank you for your creation. Thank you for giving us the Bible that we can read every day and we can get to know you. And thank you that after we're saved, you give us the Holy Ghost that will guide us and lead us into all truth. I pray that we would be a church that knows who God is, that worships you in spirit and in truth. In Jesus' name I pray, amen.