I hope everyone had a good lunch, prepared for a little bit of a mind-stretching topic this afternoon. I've had several people come to me or talk to me and say, I'm excited to hear from you on Sunday afternoon, but what are you talking about? The email went out, and a lot of people don't know what the word aseity means. So if you're in that camp, that's fine. You are not alone. The doctrine of the aseity of God very foundational, essential aspect of who our God is. But before we actually get to that attribute proper, I do want to talk for a second about the distinction that theologians make between different categories of the attributes of God. I don't believe this was touched on before. If it is, it's just a good refresher for you. But on one hand, there are attributes of God which are classified as the communicable attributes of God. On the other hand, we have the incommunicable attributes. Now, those may be also new terms. If you've heard them, they've probably been in the context of talking about a disease, a communicable disease. Thankfully, our topic is a little bit more uplifting than that. But the divine attributes are classified in these two different ways, communicable and incommunicable, because certain attributes are attributes we share with God. God communicates these attributes with us. We participate in these attributes because we are made in the image of God. Attributes such as knowledge, justice, goodness, wrath, love, these are communicable attributes. God possesses these attributes in their greatest sense, but we also can exhibit these attributes in ourselves because we are creatures made in the image of God. Partaking of these attributes is imperfect and always marred by sin, but they are a genuine participation of that attribute, and they reflect God's perfection of that attribute. On the other hand, there are the incommunicable attributes, and these are the attributes that are the property of God alone. These are attributes that essential to God and only God. Only God has these attributes that are the incommunicable attributes. Pastor Mike began our series with one of the incommunicable attributes, the simplicity of God. And so today we're going to look at another incommunicable attribute of God, that is the aseity of God. So what is aseity? If you're taking notes and you forgot how to spell it, it's A-S-E-I-T-Y, the aseity of God. This is a word that comes from two Latin words, ase, meaning literally from oneself. That is what aseity, and sometimes I might say aseity, that's how the British pronounce it. I listen to D.A. Carson a lot, so it may come out both ways. The aseity of God is God's self-existence. His nature, his being, his existence comes from himself. In other words, God exists entirely because of who he is. He does not need anything to continue or sustain his existence. He finds his own existence within himself. We do not have this ability. This is, again, an incommunicable attribute. Our existence, our being, is derived. We are creatures of God. We rely on many things to continue our existence. We need food. We need water. Some of us need coffee. We need clothing and shelter. Above all, we need God. God is the one that is giving you your breath right now. He is the one causing your heart to beat. So at a foundational level, we need God because our being flows from God. But God needs nothing. He has his being within himself. Now, obviously, an attribute like this, talking about the self-existence of God, is connected to the other divine attributes, particularly the other incommunicable attributes like his eternity and his immutability. But this attribute is, if you could assign a priority, this would be more foundational. The eternality of God flows from his self-existence. His immutability flows from his self-existence. The aseity of God is concerned about what is God? What is his nature? What is it that makes him eternal and immutable? What is the nature of this God that we are talking about? Another way to describe the aseity of God is that of independence. God is independent of all he has made. In his book, The Attributes of God, appropriately enough, A.W. Pink writes this in the very first chapter, which he titled The Solitariness of God. He said, there was a time, if time it could be called, when God, in the unity of his nature, though subsisting equally in the three divine persons, dwelt all alone. There was nothing, no one but God, and that not for a day, a year, or an age, but from everlasting. During a past eternity, God was alone, self-contained, self-sufficient, self-satisfied, in need of nothing. God did not have a beginning, because he has his existence in himself. So before Genesis 1-1, there was God, and there was only God. And God does not need anything. He is independent of his creatures. He is independent of us. God does not need you. God does not need me. God does not need any angel or anything at all. God exists by virtue of himself. He is life, and he gives us life. He is the source. We are the recipients. In John 5, 26, Jesus says that the Father has life in himself. The Father then is the source and giver of all life. But above all, his own life finds its source in himself. He has life in himself. The Father has self-existence. His life is inherent, it is not derived. Creatures live, but God is life, and he has that life in himself. Now Jesus also describes himself as saying the Father has granted to the Son to have life in himself. And now this is not to be understood as a statement that Jesus is a creation, as if that he did not exist at a particular point and the Father gave him life and there Jesus came into being. Rather this is a granting That is an eternal granting. In the relationship of the Godhead, the Son is eternally begotten of the Father. This is what is talked about in John 5.26. The Father has life in Himself. The Son also has life in Himself. It is a granting from the Father. But it is not, again, not to be confused as saying that Jesus had a beginning, because self-existence, life in oneself, cannot be given. It's contradictory in terms to think in the strictest sense that someone could be given life in themselves. You can't be given self-existence. So this is an eternal outworking of the relationship of the Father and the Son. So Jesus claims self-existence for himself. And again, we heard today, John 8, 58, Jesus' use of the name I AM to convey his own identification of the eternal, independent, self-existent God. He took that title for himself. Jesus clearly believed and taught his own eternal self-existence. And Jesus' claim did not go unnoticed, if you remember. What was the immediate response of the people? They picked up stones to throw at him. They were going to stone him. And it can kind of be deceiving our translations, and it's not even just the translations, the original language itself isn't very colorful here. Jesus said this, they picked up stones. It wasn't a nonchalant thing like, oh well, I guess we'll do this now. When Jesus, as Scott said, dropped the hammer on them with the divine name, that crowd exploded. The anger that must have come out of them would have shocked us. Because what Jesus is saying is that he is the eternal, self-existent God. The God that revealed himself to Abraham. The God that revealed himself to Moses in the bush. The God that revealed himself on Sinai. That is who Jesus was claiming to be, and the Jews knew that. That's why they wanted to stone him. Now, this identification of the name of God as I Am comes from the book of Exodus, Exodus chapter 3. So turn with me, if you would, to Exodus chapter 3, and that will be the main text that I will look at. Exodus chapter 3, and I'll just start with verses 1 through 3. Now Moses was tending the flock of Jethro his father-in-law, the priest of Midian. And he led the flock to the back of the desert, and came to Horeb the mountain of God. And the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a flame of fire from the midst of a bush. So he looked, and behold, the bush was burning with fire, but the bush was not consumed. Then Moses said, I will now turn aside and see this great sight. Why does the bush not burn? So Moses, having gone into exile after having committed murder in Egypt, has settled down to a nice, quiet life of being a shepherd. And on the occasion here, Moses was tending the sheep, as I'm sure he did regularly, and saw an incredible sight. He had the most amazing vision of God that had ever occurred up to this point, at least as far as scripture records. He sees a bush burning. Now that would not be terribly unusual, except it's a single bush burning. Wildfires usually are not contained to a single plant. So that in itself is odd. But that's not the main that makes this fire distinct. He looks at it, and this is a fire that is not consuming the bush that it is in the midst of. Now, many commentators, particularly older theologians of the past, if you read Matthew Henry, he is one of these guys, and he identifies the burning bush as a picture of the church. The bush is the church in the midst of the fires of persecution, yet not destroyed. There's some truth to that. That's a true statement. God's people endure persecution, yet God's church will never be destroyed. That is true. I don't think, though, that is what is being communicated to us in the burning bush. Rather, this appearance of God, and it is God, the messenger of the Lord is God himself. We see that in this passage and in many other passages. The messenger of God is God. And most theologians understand it's particularly the second person of the Trinity. It's Jesus prior to the incarnation. And so here we have an appearance of God, a theophany, in the bush. And theophanies are not used to teach us about God's church. Theophanies are used to teach us about God. And that's what's happening here. This picture is intended to teach us something. God didn't pick it on a whim. God doesn't do anything on a whim. He's communicating, he's teaching something with this picture, this visible representation of himself in a fire that is not consuming the bush. Think of the other theophanies throughout scripture. The other theophanies in the book of Exodus, and particularly the pillar of fire and the pillar of the cloud that led Israel out of Egypt. That taught us about God. It didn't teach us about Israel. It taught us about God being our protector, the one who covers us, the one who gives us guidance and direction and light. These things teach us about God, and this appearance of God is no different. The book of Hebrews tells us that our God is a consuming fire, and that is true. But here, the fire is not. consuming. So there's something else that's being taught here. This is teaching us that God is, yes, he's a consuming fire, but he is a self-sustaining fire. This fire, which is before Moses in this bush, burns without fuel. It is pure fire derived from nothing. It does not take its fuel from the bush. It has its fuel in itself. The fire burns because it is fire. and it is a pure fire. It needs nothing to sustain the flame. And so this self-sustaining flame is a picture of the acidity of God. The fire is burning in the midst of the bush, but it doesn't need the bush. The fire has no source of existence outside of itself. God in this appearance is demonstrating his own nature as the self-existent, independent God. In verses 13 through 15, we read, then Moses said to God, indeed, when I come to the children of Israel and say to them, the God of your fathers has sent me to you, and they say to me, what is his name? What shall I say to them? And God said to Moses, I am who I am. And he said, thus you shall say to the children of Israel, I am has sent me to you. Moreover, God said to him, thus you shall shall say to the children of Israel, the Lord God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob has sent me to you. This is my name forever. And this is my memorial to all generations. So Moses, apparently still lacking the assurance that he can actually do what God has called him to do, asks God for some help. He anticipates a problem when he goes to bring Israel out of bondage. They will ask, what is the name of this God that has appeared to you? And so Moses asks him, what is your name? And God responds with what seems to be a cryptic statement. He says, I am who I am. And this is not, as some commentators will claim, a statement of God basically blowing off Moses' question. He's not saying, well, I am who I am. You don't need to worry about that. You don't need to worry about my name. That's not at all what God is communicating here. He is saying, I am who I am because that is the definition of his name. That is what the name of God means. It means, I am. Now the name itself doesn't actually appear until verse 15. But first God gives us the meaning of his name. The meaning of his name is, I am. Now, yes, this is a statement of promise that God is with his people. I am. I am with you. I am not unaware of what is going on with you and what is happening to my people. But, above all, this is a statement of the self-existence of God. He says, I am. He exists in and of himself. Now this, like I said, it seems to be the meaning definition of the name that actually appears in verse 15. I think there are two main reasons for understanding this is the definition of the name. First, both the word I am and the name itself are derived from the same verb in Hebrew. Secondly, God uses the phrase I am Interchangeably with the name, look at what he says in verse 14, I am who I am, thus you shall say, I am has sent you. And then verse 15, thus you shall say, the Lord God has sent me to you. He uses the terms interchangeably. So there's a connection here between I am and the name itself. He does not say, I was. He does not say, I am becoming. He does not say, I will be. He says, I am. A statement of God's eternal existence, his independence from all things, that he simply is. Unlike all other things, he simply exists. In verse 15, God gives the name itself. He says, thus you shall say the Lord God of your father. Now if you're unaware in your English translation, when you see capital L, capital O, capital R, capital D, that is the divine name of God. That is the personal, covenantal name of God. what is called the Tetragrammaton. Scott mentioned that today. Yod-Heh-Vav-Heh or what is translated or usually pronounced as Yahweh or Jehovah if you prefer. Same thing. Now, following Jewish tradition, almost no English Bible will actually translate the Tetragrammaton. Almost all of them will substitute the English word Lord and tell you that there's a substitution going on here because they capitalize it. Now, sometimes they do it with the word God as well, but the vast majority of the time it's the word Lord. But when you see Lord or God in all capital letters, know that is the divine covenantal name of God. It is Yahweh. And so this name, used here by God himself interchangeably with the phrase, I am, reveals his self-existence, his independence. He is the God who sees and hears his people, but is not dependent on his people. This name is used almost 7,000 times in the Old Testament. And the proclamation of this name of God to the Jews in their bondage was to be a promise to them and an encouragement to them that your God exists. He knows you. He is not unconcerned about what's happening to you in your bondage. and this use of the name throughout the Old Testament is the continued testimony to the worship of the eternal self-existent creator. That is the God we worship, the one who made all things, but who in himself simply is. And so we see here in a very significant way, this attribute is what separates Yahweh from all other gods. This sets him apart from the gods of Egypt, the gods of Greece, and the gods of Rome. A seity is that line that separates God from all other so-called gods. The ancient pagan gods did not have existence in themselves. If you read any of the ancient myths, most of those gods, depending on which myth you read, they had several competing traditions, but most of the time the gods were created by other gods. who were created by other gods, and on and on. These are created gods that needed humans and that could die. They were not gods that had existence in themselves. Pagan religions were essentially built on a barter system. The gods would come to humans and say, you do something for me and I will help you out. So if you need a good sea voyage, you offer an impressive sacrifice to Poseidon, and your ship will make it to the port safely. That was the thinking. You needed success in battle? I'll slaughter a hundred bulls to the god of war, and you will have success in battle. It was a barter system. The gods needed things from humans, and therefore they offered favors to get what they wanted from man. But that is not what we have. In Scripture, we have the God who is, who does not need us. Yes, God required sacrifices, but for a totally different reason. God did not need the sacrifices of Israel to eat, like the gods of Greece and Rome. God required sacrifice to show the heinousness of sin and to point to that great sacrifice that was to come and to display his wrath against sin. But the God who appears here to Moses, he says of himself, I am. His very name is I am. He needs nothing. To begin his existence, he needs nothing to sustain his existence. He is self-existent and independent. One more text. Turn to Romans chapter 11. Romans chapter 11, starting in verse 33. Romans 11 33 through 36. Oh the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God. How unsearchable are his judgments and his ways past finding out. For who has known the mind of the Lord or who has become his counselor or who is first given to him and it should be repaid to him. For of him and through him and to him are all things to whom be glory forever. Amen. In verse 33, Paul begins by extolling two of the other attributes of God, the wisdom of God and the knowledge of God. But very quickly, his praise in this doxology turns to the aseity of God, God's independence from all he's made. He says, who has become his counselor? It's a rhetorical question. The answer is no one. No one can counsel God. While yes, this is still a statement about God's wisdom, His wisdom is inexhaustible and His knowledge is inexhaustible, this is also touching on God's independence. You cannot counsel God. He does not need your help to figure out any problem. You cannot contribute to the knowledge of God. God does not need a counselor. He is independent and supreme. He is not dependent on the wisdom of anyone or anything. He says, who has first given to him that it should be repaid? No one. God is the one who gives first. No one gives to God first. Remember what A.W. Pink said in that quote, there was a time when God was alone. He existed by himself. He gave first when he created of his own freedom. for of him and through him and to him are all things. All things are made by God, sustained by God, and they find their purpose in God. God is completely and utterly independent of all his creation. You cannot help him. He does not need your help. He is independent and supreme. So what is the practical application of this this attribute, this doctrine about who God is. So I'll give you three applications, three things that this should help us with. First, this attribute should create in us a sense of awe. Who is like our God? No one. There is no one like our God. Eternal, self-existent, finding life in himself. There is no one like our God. That should amaze, I mean, it should blow our minds. God has always been. He alone is of himself. This is one of the things that makes God truly awesome. And I use that word in the old sense. He is truly awe-inspiring. We cannot help but look at this God and say, how majestic are you, oh Lord. There is none like you. And second, because this creates awe in us, or it should, it should create humility in us as well. This doctrine should humble us. God does not need you. He does not need me. He does not need Hope Baptist Church. He does not need Scott Brown. He does not need the NCFIC. He does not need the Southern Baptist Convention. He does not need All of us could crumble to dust and blow away, and God will still do as God pleases. And he will make a great name for himself if we all drop dead right now. God does not need you, and so that should humble you. If you truly get a grasp of what this means, that God simply is. He is self-existent and independent. we should see that we have no place to boast, because everything we have is a gift. And lastly, this doctrine should give us confidence. It can be a little bit of a downer to hear just how completely unnecessary you are, but this should inspire confidence in us. Think about it. If God is independent, self-existent, self-sufficient, finds all happiness and power and his own being in himself, who can stop him? Who can stop our God? Who can restrain his hand or say to him, what have you done? He does what he pleases because his will is not dictated by the creature. because he does not need the creature. And this whole idea of the independence of God and the freedom of God is the core preposition of the very gospel itself. God is free from his creation. He is independent of creation. Therefore, he is free to do with his creation as he pleases. And so he is free to save. He is free to save sinners who deserve his wrath. God is absolutely free and no one can stop him. He has freely chosen to condescend, to enter history and time in the person of Christ, and to redeem an innumerable multitude of people. We should have confidence that God will do exactly what he has intended because he is self-sufficient, self-existent, and independent. God will accomplish all his plans. His word will not return to him void, and he will fulfill all his promises to you in Christ, because he needs nothing. He will do it of his own power and his own strength. Let's pray. Our Father, we come before you, Lord, amazed at who you are. Oh Lord, who is like you among the gods? There is no one like you. There is nothing that can even aspire to likeness with you. We are nothing but dust. Lord, may we be humbled today considering who you are and what you are. But Lord, may we have great confidence knowing that our God is in heaven and he does all that he pleases. In Christ's name we pray.