Let's turn to Ephesians, just to kind of set the table, and then we will go to the Lord in song. Ephesians chapter 3, verse 1. For this reason I, Paul, the prisoner of Christ Jesus for the sake of you Gentiles, if indeed you have heard of the stewardship of God's grace which was given to me for you, that by revelation there was made known to me the mystery, as I wrote before in brief. By referring to this, when you read, you can understand my insight into the mystery of Christ, which in other generations was not made known to the sons of men, as it has now been revealed to His holy apostles and prophets in the Spirit. To be specific, that the Gentiles are fellow heirs and fellow members of the body and fellow partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel, of which I was made a minister according to the gift of God's grace, which was given to me according to the working of His power. To me, the very least of all saints, this grace was given to preach to the Gentiles the unfathomable riches of Christ and to bring to light what is the administration of the mystery which for ages has been hidden in God, who created all things, so that the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known through the church to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly places. This was in accordance with the eternal purpose which He carried out in Christ Jesus our Lord, in whom we have boldness and confident access through faith in Him. Well, Father, I thank You so much for this Word. I thank You for sending this apostle, for revealing these mysteries to him, that he might then go into the world and reveal them through these letters and through the preaching that he did. Lord, thank You for preserving this Word for us, the Word by which Your long-hidden mystery in Christ is now revealed to us, that we may know the truth. And Lord, thank You that You have opened our hearts to know and believe what we read here in Your Word. And so Lord, as we come tonight to again look into Your eternal purpose, we give You thanks and praise. And we stand in awe and worship before You. In Christ's name, amen. In Ephesians chapter 3, which we just read, Paul writes of a mystery, a mystery hidden in God through many ages, through all of human history in one sense, certainly through the history of the nation of Israel. A mystery which had been revealed to him, not by one of the other apostles, but by the risen, ascended, and exalted Christ. That's where Paul gets his gospel. Read Galatians and you'll see. I didn't get my gospel from men, he said, but from Christ. And Paul spoke here of God's eternal purpose in Christ. We know of God, how? How does every man know about God? But those who don't even read a Bible, how do they know there's a God? Creation. We know of God from creation. That's what Romans chapter 1 tells us. There is no rational explanation for creation other than a transcendent self-existent God who created all things. Romans 120, His eternal power and divine nature are clearly seen through what has been made. And we know about God, and we can actually come to know God through what He has revealed to us in His Word, in Scripture. That's how we come to know God. We know He's there by the creation. It didn't just happen. There's no other rational explanation for creation. But the Word of God tells us who God is, reveals God to us, tells us of His eternal plan of redemption of a people for Himself, tells us the way of salvation. And the Word of God reveals to us attributes of God, characteristics and qualities inherent in His nature and in His essence. God possesses two categories of attributes. And last week we looked at the first category, those which are incommunicable. Those are attributes which only God possesses. And there are other attributes, which we'll look at tonight, which are said to be communicable, transmittable to people, which can, in a sense, be transmitted to people, although not in the perfect sense in which God possesses them. So last week we saw, if God has an eternal plan and purpose, which He carried out over thousands of years of human history, having first created the universe by His Word, having formed man from the dust of the earth He had created. If that's all true, and it is, there are six attributes that must pertain to the infinite God alone. And that's what we looked at last week. And Scripture affirms all of these six attributes. And we're not going to go back through those tonight. But I will mention what they are. The Scriptures, which are many, they're still available on the last week's tape. But He is and must be self-existent. The word we find used by the theologians is aseity, A-S-E-I-T-Y. It means He exists independent of His creation. He's independent of any external power or authority or activity. He's the uncaused cause. Self-existence is a concept beyond our finite minds. We cannot truly comprehend it. We can't truly comprehend any of these attributes really. Because for the finite mind everything has to have a cause. Where did this come from? How did that car get put together? Somebody had to build it. Well, God Himself does not have a cause. He is the uncaused cause. And so He is and must be self-existent. Second, He is and must be eternal. His existence is outside of time. He existed before He created those heavenly bodies by which we measure time. He has no beginning. He will have no end. Scripture teaches us all these things. Third, He is immutable. He does not change. He doesn't change in His essence. He doesn't change in His character. He doesn't change in His eternal plan and purpose. He's not reacting to events. He has an eternal plan, and He's carrying it out even as we speak. Fourth, He is omniscient. Now, as with all the incommunicable attributes of God, this is so difficult for a finite man to grasp. But here it is. He is possessed of complete, perfect, and total knowledge of all things past, present, and future. Fifth, He is omnipresent. He's not confined by spatial limitations. He is present in all places at all times. And finally, He is omnipotent. He is all-powerful. He is the Almighty God. He's able to accomplish His will without any limitation. If He wills it, it will occur. We'll read one Scripture, Jeremiah 32, 17. Ah, Lord God. Jeremiah's in the dungeon as he's saying this. You've made the heavens and the earth by Your great power and Your outstretched arm. Nothing is too difficult for You. Let us never forget that. Nothing is too difficult for Him. So these attributes, while distinct, are in perfect harmony with one another. They're in perfect harmony in the being of God. Each attribute reflects his divine nature and is essential for understanding who God is. There's nothing more humbling than to reflect on these incommunicable attributes of God because you know what? None of us are any of these things. This is only God. And these attributes pertain to all three persons of the Godhead. Now tonight, we turn to what are known as the communicable attributes of God. Now these are attributes that God possesses in perfection, divine attributes that He transmits to people. Although, please understand, men cannot possess these attributes in the same sense that God does. But He commands us to all of these six communicable attributes. The first one is holiness. Kadosh is the Hebrew word. It means sacred, set apart. Now God is absolute purity. He's absolute moral perfection. He is totally set apart from sin. Now that right away draws a line between what's holiness in the case of God and what holiness would be in our case. But He is set apart from all that is unholy. That's why nobody could come into His presence stained by sin. That's why if anyone was to come into God's presence and live with Him forever, something had to be done about that sin that stains and puts guilt upon all of us. So He's holy, and Scripture talks about His holiness a lot. Isaiah 6-3. One called out to another and said, Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts. The whole earth is full of His glory. Revelation 4, 8. John has a vision of four living creatures, each one of them having six wings. And he's having this vision in the year somewhere between the 60s and the 90s A.D. And this is the vision he has of what's going on then in heaven. Four living creatures, each having six wings, full of eyes all around them. And day and night they do not cease to say, Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord God, the Almighty, who was and who is and who is to come. Do you see some of the incommunicable attributes of God in that little prayer that we read in Revelation? What do we see? We see past, present, and future. So we see His eternality. What else? We see His omnipotence. He's almighty. And we see His holiness. Exodus 15, 11. Who is like you among the gods, O Lord? That's a prayer we should be praying. Who's like you among the gods? We should acknowledge. Holy is His name. That's why Christ taught the disciples to pray in that fashion. Who is like you? Majestic in holiness, awesome in praises, working wonders. Psalm 86, There is no one like you among the gods, O Lord, nor are there any works like yours. Are there men who can do the same works that God does? There's silly questions in a way, but there's been something about mankind that he wants to bring God down to make him more like us instead of doing what scripture calls us to do, which is to become more like him. Now, how are we going to be holy when God looks upon man, Genesis 6, 5, and sees that the wickedness of man was great on the earth, that every intent of the thoughts of his heart is only evil continually? How could we possibly become holy? Psalm 14, 3, they've all turned aside, David wrote. Together they've become corrupt. There is no one who does good, not even one. He wrote it again in Psalm 53 and Paul gathered all that together and repeated it in Romans chapter 3 verse 9 and following. There's no one who does good. There's no one who is righteous. There's no one who even seeks God. So, how can we view holiness as communicable? imputes his righteousness to us, but then how do we begin to live in a holy manner? That's a tough thing to accomplish for us, isn't it? Scripture teaches that this attribute is communicable, though. Now, we've changed. Christ cleanses us of our sin by faith. He imputes His righteousness to us. Our sins are wiped away in the sight of God. And so, if this attribute is communicable, it is, in one sense, capable of being passed on to men. In fact, God has set His people apart to Himself. As God has set apart from sin and from all that's unholy, He has set His people apart to Himself, and He commands us to be what? Holy as He is holy. Right. Now, I'm not sure that communicable, to the extent that the attributes of God are transmitted to born-again sinners completely, is the best way to describe these attributes, frankly. It might be better to describe them as attributes of God which He desires to see in and which He commands of His people. So, holiness. What's He say? Leviticus 11.4 which Elias just cited for us, for I am the Lord your God. Consecrate yourselves, therefore, and be holy, for I am holy. So now God is commanding us to be holy because He's holy. And He's called us to be His children. And Peter links this idea of holiness to obedience to Him. 1 Peter 1.14. As obedient children, do not be conformed to the former lusts which were yours in ignorance. So we can see that living according to our lusts is unholy, is not what God wants, obviously, in us. Don't be conformed to the former lusts which were yours in your ignorance, but like the Holy One who called you, Be holy yourselves also in your behavior. He's talking about conduct. He's talking about obedience to His Word. Because it is written, and he then quotes from Leviticus 1144, you shall be holy for I am holy. So, if you've got the idea in your head, well look, I can't possibly measure up to this. I'm not going to be conformed to Christ until He calls me home. No. He's calling all of us to holy living now. Now. Holiness speaks of a God-like quality in a person. I started to listen to a sermon where the guy entitled the sermon, What Does Holiness Mean? What does this mean? Well, it has to do with how we live, how we think, and how we talk. It's not, I'm really spiritual, you know. Unbelievers like to talk about how spiritual they are. No, it's not about being spiritual. We hesitate to call ourselves holy because what sin has done to us, even though that we're born again, we're never going to reach that perfection in this life. We are going to reach that perfection in the next life. That's the whole point of being predestined to be conformed to the image of Christ. When He says, those He predestined, those He called, He predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son. What a glorious truth. The Bible calls all who have been born again what? What's one of the terms they use? Saints. Saints. The word holy and the word saints come from the same Greek root word, Hagia. Saint, holy. Now, he doesn't call us saints because we have been beatified and canonized and because someone has declared that we are now in heaven floating among the clouds with the angels. He calls us saints because God has set us apart to Himself. That's what the word means. Sacred. Set apart. As saints set apart to God, we have received His call to holy living. And God's telling His people this. He's saying that He set us apart to purify ourselves, to be about the business of seeking our own sanctification. Now, He's the sanctifier. And yet, at the same time, He calls us to live in light of this transformation He's worked in us. Causes people to set themselves apart from sin. That's the calling here. If we leave here tonight with nothing else, take that with us. He has called us to set ourselves apart from sin. And He commands us not to separate ourselves from the world. You know, we know many Amish people, but they have set themselves apart from the world in a way that I believe is contrary to what God commands. Christ said to his disciples, look, you're in the world, but you're not of the world. And we have to be in the world in order to what? In order to witness, in order to evangelize. If Christians are all separated out from the world, who's going into the world with the gospel? So be set apart. In our way of life, from the way of life of the world. Set apart in the way we think and speak and act. But we can't just get up and leave the world. The monks tried to do that hundreds of years ago. There may be some out there somewhere today. And they were abdicating their responsibility to take the gospel into the world. First John 3.2, we see the relationship between holiness, the believer's pursuit of purification, and obedience to God. First John 3.2, Beloved, now we are children of God, and it has not appeared as yet what we will be. Now, that means there's something better still ahead for all of us. We know that when He appears, speaking of His return, we will be like Him. Now, I don't know how much it excites you to know you'll be like Him, but what about the fact that the people we're going to live with forever are going to be like Him? We're going to not only live with Christ, but live with people conformed to His image. And we ourselves, who believe, will be conformed to His image. We will be like Him because we will see Him just as He is. By the way, nobody was closer to Jesus than John. It's not like he's just writing some stuff up that he thought about. In verse 3, everyone who has this hope fixed on him purifies himself, just as he is pure. If you have this hope, purify yourself. Now he'll be there to lead the way. I mean, how do we do it? Through prayer, through time with God, through turning ourselves from the stuff of the world and turning ourselves to Him. The next attribute of God which He desires in us and commands to be seen in His people is love. Some of these verses are so well known to us that they come to us pretty quickly. 1 John 4, 8, God is love. And we'll read more of that verse as we work through this. But this attribute speaks not of some sentimental, emotional kind of feeling that God has toward His people. It speaks of God's self-giving and self-sacrificial nature. His love is unconditional. He gives of Himself wholly to us. Demonstrated how? How does God demonstrate His love for us? In that while we were yet sinners, He sent His Son to die for us. 1 John 4, 9. And you may want to put a little bookmarker there because we're going to be reading about eight verses from this section. 1 John 4. And just in terms of God's love, and He'll talk about love from our perspective in a minute. By this the love of God was manifested in us, that God has sent His one and only Son into the world so that we might live through Him. Now what did He have to do in order that we might live through Him? He had to die. What did He have to do before He died? had to live an act of obedience. And then, having done that, and as he approached the cross, he had to suffer mightily. All is an act of love. By this the love of God was manifested in us that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world so that we might live through Him. In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Because as we talked about earlier, He's holy, He's set apart, He's transcended. He cannot be in the presence of sin. Something had to be done and it was something we could not do. He sends the second person of the Trinity to suffer and die. And in living that sinless life, his sinless life is imputed to all who believe in him. So this word love, Agapao, is the self-sacrificial giving of oneself for the benefit of another without regard to the worthiness of the recipient, without regard to any benefit to oneself. There are hundreds, literally hundreds, of portraits of God's love for His people in Scripture. I'll just read a couple. Exodus 15, 13. And again, we're going to see His power here as well. In your lovingkindness you have led the people whom you have redeemed. In your strength you have guided them to your holy habitation. Romans 5, 7. For one will hardly die for a righteous man, though perhaps for the good man someone would dare even to die. But God demonstrates His own love toward us in that while we were yet sinners. See, He didn't die for people worthy of Him giving of Himself. He died for people who were wicked, who rejected Him, who hated Him, and who were stained with sin. While we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Sons of Jacob deserve none of the loving kindness that God showered upon them, and neither do we. We don't deserve any of this. We don't deserve to have had our eyes open to come here and want to worship God and hear from Him. Why are we doing it? You think we're not smarter than everybody else? We're certainly not holier or more righteous, but He's done something in us. He said, come and hear from me. Come gather with my people. And this is an attribute, God's love, that God has equipped His children to manifest toward Him and toward one another. He's made it possible for us to love. While I'm reading John 1335, you might want to turn to 1 Corinthians 13. Because 1 Corinthians 13, Paul's going to describe what love is, and he's talking about the love of God for his people. But John 1335, Jesus said, a new commandment I give to you, that you love one another. even as I have loved you, that you also love one another." He said, by this all men will know that you are my disciples if you have love for one another. In John 15, 12, this is my commandment, that you love one another just as I have loved you. Does God want to see us be a people who love Him and love one another? Isn't any question, is there? There's no question about what God desires of us. Now here's Paul speaking about the importance of love and the place of love in all of the virtues which men might have. 1 Corinthians 13, 1, If I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but do not have love, I have become a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy, if I know all the mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but don't have love, I am nothing. What Paul is talking about and what Christ talked about is the fact that this heart transformation is the evidence that you're a child of God. This is what He wants to see in us. Not talking about us having great knowledge. Not even talking about us having great faith if we don't have love. We can believe all of this intellectually and not have love. And we would be as nothing. This is critical. And love simply means giving of ourselves to others. Without regard to any benefit to ourself. Verse 3, If I give all my possessions to feed the poor, and surrender my body to be burned, but do not have love, it profits me nothing. Some religions, the whole idea is how much are you going to give? How much are you going to cough up? If you do all that and don't have love, are not giving of yourself in a self-sacrificial way. Verse 4, Love is patient. Some of us struggle with that one. Love is kind, is not jealous, love does not brag, it is not arrogant, does not act unbecomingly. You know, we were talking earlier about fights breaking out at the end of ball games. Is that acting becomingly or unbecomingly? How we treat people is a manifestation of whether there's love in our hearts. And again, it's not an emotional thing. You know, it's a willingness to see others as better than ourselves, as more deserving than ourselves, whether they are or not. But to see them in that way and to give of ourselves. Love does not seek its own. It's not selfish. I mean, love is the opposite of selfishness. If you boiled it down to just one little quick sentence, that would be it. It's not provoked. So if somebody does something to us, we had a lot of provocation the last four years. But we're not to be provoked. I know, I was preaching to the choir a minute ago and But this is what Christ was, you know, they just hammered away at Him. You see, we are provoked because we don't like how that government was affecting us. We don't like how it was treating the Word of God. So we feel we have a right to get provoked. I don't think we do. Love is not provoked. Love does not take into account a wrong suffered. Does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth. You know, all forms of entertainment have just devolved into various and greater and greater degrees of unrighteousness. That's what passes for entertainment in our day, by and large, unrighteousness. And you know, it's a good sign when you see these things passing for entertainment and are appalled by them. This might be one of the easier ones for us to comply with. But it isn't a matter of complying even. It's just a matter of, is this change taking place in your heart? rejoices with the truth, bears all things. You know, this boils down to the idea of entitlement. I'm entitled to this. I'm entitled to that. It's not right for whoever it is to be doing something, taking actions that are not what I want. It's possible we're not always right about everything. The attitude we are being called to have is the same. It doesn't change whether things are to our liking or not. Bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Now if you've still got a marker in 1st John 4, Because now he's going to talk about us again. Now this is what Paul talked about. Here's what love is, and at the same time it's our instruction as to will we be a people who love according to God's command. 1st John 4, 7, Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God. Now listen to this, everyone who loves, and we just read what love is, everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. John didn't fool around setting the standard for us, did he? The one who does not love does not know God. Now our sermon on Sunday was, if you don't know Jesus, you don't know God. That's what he said. He who does not honor the Son does not honor the Father. He who does not believe me doesn't believe the One who sent me. Now he says, the one who does not love does not know God. For God is love. And here's the thing about reading the Word of God. The Spirit of God works to teach us. All we have to do is ask Him. Lord, teach me as I'm reading this. Let me be transformed by this Word. I can't stand up here and change anybody's heart about anything. I can read you the Word of God. I can tell you what it means. But you've got to take the Word of God into your heart. It's not just for information. Verse 11, Beloved, if God so loved us, which we just read, we also ought to love one another. That's what Jesus said about four times on the night before He died. He didn't want them to forget that. No one has seen God at any time. If we love one another, God abides in us and His love is perfected in us. One of the reasons we have, we've always done this, had dinner, I mean for 15, I don't know how many years it is now. We do that so we can know each other. So we're not just strangers in a pew. This we know, by this we know that we abide in Him and He in us because He has given us of His Spirit. Number three, mercy. Mercy. God's compassion is expressed in the mercy He extends to people. Does He extend His mercy even to the reprobate? He does. In what way does He do that? That's the main way, Gus. By not taking them out. Leave aside those who have been born again. Of the rest, who does not deserve judgment immediately? They all do. We all did. He withholds judgment for a time. And yes, he provides rain and food and all of those things for everybody. But he withholds his judgment. And for those who do not come to Christ in faith, the judgment is coming, is certain. In Numbers 14, 18, we read, the Lord is slow to anger, abundant in loving kindness. And I think that word loving kindness, when you come to it, is best understood as God's unfailing love. Forgiving iniquity and transgression. Psalm 103.8, the Lord is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in loving-kindness. Now let us turn to Nehemiah chapter 9. Nehemiah chapter 9. Now they've come back from exile. We're told about 42,000 of them. They're about the business of rebuilding the city, city walls, rebuilding the temple. And Nehemiah is recalling the sons of Jacob in the wilderness. Nehemiah 9, 16. And he's recalling how patient God was with the sons of Jacob. But they, our fathers, acted arrogantly. Did God strike them down at the moment? He did not. They became stubborn and would not listen to your commandments. Did He strike them down? They refused to listen and did not remember your wondrous deeds which you had performed among them. Did He take them out? So they became stubborn and appointed a leader to return to their slavery in Egypt. They appointed a leader, and remember this is after God had performed ten miracle signs, miracle judgments, plagues on Egypt, on the gods of Egypt, each one relating to a false god of Egypt. After he had opened the Red Sea, So they could walk through it. After they got to the other side, and then the walls of the sea closed, and Pharaoh's army was destroyed. After all that. Then they come into the wilderness. It's a desert. He provides them water. He provides them food from heaven. They decided to appoint a leader to return to their slavery in Egypt. Did God strike them down on the spot? No. God is compassionate. He is merciful. He is patient. He is long-suffering. You are a God of forgiveness, Nehemiah writes, gracious and compassionate, slow to anger, and abounding in loving-kindness, and you did not forsake them. Now folks, His patience with us has been of a far greater quality than the patience He showed them. Because He's rescued us from eternal damnation. They ended up, as we know, that generation never entered the promised land. And thus we think that God's patience was seen only in His long-suffering toward the sons of Jacob. Let's go to Ephesians chapter 2. Among them, we too all formerly lived in the lusts of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest. But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, doing nothing righteous, not seeking God, having nothing good in us, He made us alive together with Christ. By grace, you have been saved. And He raised us up with Him, and He seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus. That's mercy. Romans 9.23, Paul speaks of God's elect as vessels of mercy. And as God has been compassionate and merciful toward us, what do you suppose He calls us to be toward one another and toward others? Merciful, yes, and compassionate. Here's Matthew 9, 13. This is Jesus quoting from Isaiah 6, 6. Thank you. He says, but go and learn what this means. I desire compassion, not sacrifice. I didn't come to call the righteous, but sinners. I didn't come to see who was really righteous here and say, come on into the kingdom. I came to look for sinners. to whom I would pour out my grace." Matthew 23, 23. Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you tithe the mint and dill and cumin and have neglected the weightier provisions of the law, justice and mercy and faithfulness. But these are things you should have done without neglecting the others. And finally, Colossians 3, 12. Wonderful verse. Wonderful three verses. Colossians 3, 12. Paul writes, So as those who have been chosen of God, holy and beloved, holy, set apart and loved by Him, put on a heart of compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience. Might be a good idea for all of us to just put those five words up on a board where we see them every day. I could use that. Compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience. I mean, that's what Christlikeness is. There it is in five words. Bearing with one another. Forgiving each other, whoever has a complaint against anyone, just as the Lord forgave you, so also should you. And beyond all these things, put on love, which is the perfect bond of unity. See, if everyone's trying to serve one another, you have unity. The Lord plainly regarded compassion and mercy as qualities He desires to see in us. As he does the fourth item, justice. Justice. Now again, we see God is perfectly just. He is righteous in all his judgments. He's not capricious, as some would accuse him. He's not arbitrary. He upholds his moral law and ensures that justice is executed, and there is a penalty of death for every sin. The only difference between the believer and the unbeliever is that Christ has taken that penalty for our sins. They will have to suffer their own penalty. But God is just. Genesis 18, 25. Shall not the judge of all the earth deal justly? Psalm 11, 7. The Lord is righteous. He loves righteousness. The upright will behold His face. Psalm 37, 28. For the Lord loves justice. When people are condemned to eternal damnation, God's justice is satisfied. His justice is upheld. People don't like that. People don't want God to be just. They only want Him to be merciful. That's right. And then when He's merciful, a great number of those who receive the mercy say, well, I made a decision. God loves justice. It's part of who He is. He's omnipotent, omniscient. He's eternally self-existent and He is eternally just. He does not forsake His godly ones. They are preserved forever, but the descendants of the wicked will be cut off. Now let's turn to Romans chapter 3. And the truth is, every preacher of the gospel loves hearing the pages turn. Now here is Paul writing, of course under the inspiration of God the Holy Spirit, about righteousness and justice and justification. But now, apart from the law, apart from works, the righteousness of God has been manifested, and it was witnessed by the law and the prophets, even the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction between Jews and Gentiles. For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. Being justified, declared not guilty, not because we aren't guilty, we're justified as a gift of His grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus, which we read about last week in Ephesians chapter 1. Because God displayed Christ as a propitiation, as an atonement in His blood through faith. This was to demonstrate His righteousness. Because in the forbearance of God, He passed over the sins previously committed. Isn't that an amazing thing? Think back through your life and all the sins you've committed. He just looks past them and looks and sees His Son on the cross and sees the payment being made. He passed over the sins previously committed for the demonstration, I say, of His righteousness at the present time so that He could still be just and also be the justifier of those who believe in Christ. I don't think we could have even thought that one up. To somehow punish our sin and yet admit us into His presence. That's why Christ came. So Jesus received the justice of God for our sins. Romans 5, 9, Much more than having been justified, that is, declared not guilty of all our sins by His blood, we shall be saved from the wrath of God through Him. Of Abraham, God said, Genesis 18, 19, For I have chosen him so that he may command his children and his household after him to keep the way of the Lord by doing righteousness and justice, so that the Lord may bring upon Abraham what he has spoken about him. And so the sons of Jacob... Here's what God said, Amos 5.15. Here was God's instructions to this nation of Israel that had rejected Him over and over and over again, that was building idols. They had built in the north in Dan and in the south in Beersheba idols to be worshipped. Amos 5.15, Hate evil, love good, and establish justice in the gate. Perhaps the Lord of hosts may be gracious to the remnant of Joseph. Take away from me the noise of your songs, the Lord said. I will not even listen to the sound of your harps. But let justice roll down like waters, and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream. He wants us to be like Him. So when we sing to the Lord, we're not just singing some songs, we're singing to the Lord, worshiping Him. But we also worship Him in our lives. Jeremiah 7, 5, if you truly amend your ways and your deeds, if you truly practice justice between a man and his neighbor. Jeremiah 22, 3, Thus says the Lord, Do justice and righteousness. Deliver the one who has been robbed from the power of his oppressor. And do not mistreat. Do not do violence to the stranger or to the orphan or to the widow. And don't shed innocent blood in this place. Micah 6, 8, He has told you, O man, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you but to do justice? to love kindness, to walk humbly with your God. That's what He wants to see in us. That's what He saved us unto, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God prepared beforehand that we would walk in them. The fifth attribute, truthfulness. God is the source of all truth. He is truth. He cannot lie. Numbers 23, 19. God is not a man that he should lie or a son of man that he should repent. If he said it, he'll do it. If he's spoken, he'll make it good. 1 Samuel 15, 29. Also, the glory of Israel will not lie or change his mind. And again, we keep coming back in Scripture over and over again to His eternal plan and purpose in Christ. He won't change His mind. He is not a man that He should change. We are in the midst of God's outworking of a plan which He has had from before He created time. Hebrews 6.18, it's impossible for God to lie. And God commands His people to be as He is, to be truthful in all things. Leviticus 19.11, You shall not steal, nor deal falsely, nor lie to one another. That's pretty simple, isn't it? Proverbs 12.22, Lying lips are an abomination to the Lord. If you lie, you are an abomination. Do you want to be an abomination to the Lord? But those who deal faithfully are his delight. And then to Zechariah 8, 16. These are the things which you should do. Speak the truth to one another. And then Paul ends up saying the same thing in Ephesians 4. Judge with truth and judgment for peace in your gates. This is particularly true within the body of Christ. There's a lot in these prison epistles Paul wrote to Ephesus and Colossae and Philippi. Colossians 3.9, don't lie to one another, since you've laid aside the old self with its evil practices. He's always talking about a transformed heart. You are a new person in Christ. Walk in the newness of life. And finally, wisdom. God possesses perfect wisdom. Wisdom is God's perfect application of knowledge. He knows the best means to achieve His ends. Colossians 2.3, in Christ are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. They looked at Christ and saw a man. Here was a God-man who laid aside his glory and the majesty, but not his divine nature, not any of these divine attributes. In him were hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. Romans 11.33, Paul was out of words. He didn't know what to say. He said, oh the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and the knowledge of God how unsearchable are his judgments and unfathomable his ways and that's a verse we should keep in our heads because we will not Try to bring God down to our level when we see him in this way So this attribute, too, is one that God, though, desires to see in His children. And how does one come to wisdom? Well, prayer is the first thing. Staying in His Word. Every day that a person is not in His Word is a day he's falling farther from the instruction of God. Proverbs 1.1. This is also not in the sheet, and we're almost at the end here. Turn to Proverbs 1.1. We've got a couple more scriptures in the sheet, but this is the proverb of Solomon, son of David, king of Israel. And he says, these proverbs are to know wisdom and instruction, to discern the sayings of understanding, to receive instruction in wise behavior, righteousness, justice, and equity. We've got wisdom, righteousness, justice, and equity. To give prudence to the naive, to the youth, knowledge, and discretion. You think this is a pretty good book for teaching us? A wise man will hear and increase in learning. and a man of understanding will acquire wise counsel. The question is, who are we going to acquire that counsel from? CNN? Fox? The only place to get wise counsel is here in the Word of God. To understand a proverb and a figure, the words of the wise and their riddles. And then he says it, the fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge. Fools despise wisdom and instruction because they want to be indulged. Proverbs 2, 6, For the Lord gives wisdom, from His mouth come knowledge and understanding. The Lord gives wisdom. It's from His mouth that knowledge and understanding come. And then James says this to us, If any of you lacks wisdom, Let him ask of God. Ask of God for wisdom. It's okay to pray for yourself, that God would make you more sinless, that He would give you wisdom, He would give you understanding of His Word. Let him ask of God who gives to all generously and without reproach, and it will be given to him. And finally, like Paul, we should be praying that our brethren would have wisdom and would grow in all of these qualities. Paul prayed for the Ephesians 117. He prayed that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you a spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of Him. It's okay to pray for ourselves that God would enlighten us, strengthen us, grow our faith. And it's also command of God that we pray for one another, that one another would, our brethren would increase in wisdom and knowledge and faith and holiness. What we see in all these so-called communicable attributes of God are qualities we should be seeking daily and praying for daily. And we should pray that our brethren would also grow in these qualities. Because these attributes define those who are being conformed to the image of the risen, ascended, and exalted Christ. Well, next week, Lord willing, we're going to turn to the eternal plan and purpose of God itself, and the eternal covenant entered into by the three persons of the Godhead before the worlds were. Well, Father, thank you for this time. Thank you for this Word. Thank you for giving us these scriptures. Thank you for teaching us. Thank you for changing our hearts by your Word. Thank you for opening our eyes and our hearts to hear you and to know you. And Lord, as the Apostle wrote and as your Son commanded us, Lord, I pray you would open our hearts to be people who love one another. who love You, who live, who seek to live in obedience to You, to purify ourselves as You have called us. Lord, we thank You for this time, and I pray that Your Spirit would teach us and impress these words on our heart tonight. In Christ's name, amen.