This morning, I'm deviating from John. Dave may get a little double dose today. I'm going to preach on what I preached on Monday night, the attributes of God in our daily life, just to inspire you. You know, Dave mentioned, I think it was last week or the week before, about the book that we all studied together, Knowing God. I'm going to have to get that book out and go over it again. You know, we can never learn too much of God. God is so beyond anything we can imagine in His infinity. But I'm glad He revealed Himself to us that we can worship Him in spirit and truth. In Isaiah chapter 55, verses 8 and 9, the Lord says something to you and I to remind us who we are. He says, For my thoughts are not your thoughts, Neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts. That should help us to remember we need to remember who God is. When we don't understand something, it happens in life like this young lady with her husband. We just have to bow to the sovereign will of God in providence and know that He's in control, though we don't understand why. In Isaiah 40, chapter 40, verse 22, he says, It is He that sitteth upon the circle of the earth, and the inhabitants thereof are His grasshoppers, that stretcheth out the heavens as a curtain, and spreadeth them out as a tent to dwell in. Revelation 19, 5, And a voice came out of the throne, saying, Praise our God, all ye his servants. And actually, we all are servants to the Lord. And ye that fear him, both small and great. Remember, Proverbs says, The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. Where there is no fear, there is no wisdom. And I heard as it was the voice of a great multitude, and as the voice of many waters, and as the voice of mighty thunderings, saying, Alleluia! For the Lord God Omnipotent reigneth, Do we believe that this morning? Do we believe God is reigning at this present moment? That He's in control of your life and my life and everything that comes into our lives? He has it under control. Now, we don't understand the providence of God at times. Sometimes it goes contrary to what we think. But remember, He says, My ways are above your ways and My thoughts are above your thoughts. In the book of Daniel, chapter 4, verse 35, it says that all the inhabitants of the earth are reputed as nothing. Compared to Him, we're nothing. And He doeth according to His will in the armies of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth. And none can stay His hand or say unto Him, What doest Thou? No one has the right to question God. Now, we do at times, be honest. We all do. There are situations that come into our lives we don't understand. And we say, why, Lord? I don't understand this. Jeremiah 9, verses 23 and 24. You need to mark this verse and keep it in your memory. Jeremiah 9, verses 23 and 24. Thus said the Lord, let not the wise man glow in his wisdom. If you've got full of wisdom, don't glory in that. Neither let the mighty man glow in his might. It's because you're strong and healthy and don't glory in that. And he said, let not the rich man glow in his riches. If you have riches, don't glory in that. But let him that gloweth, glow in this. Don't glory in your wisdom, don't glory in your strength or might, and don't glory in your riches. But glory in this, that He understandeth and knoweth me. That should be the prayer and the desire of each one of us, that we can understand and know God. That I am the Lord. which exercise loving kindness. I'm glad he started off like that. He exercised loving kindness, judgment, righteousness in the earth. God is a merciful God, Brother Dave. If he wasn't, none of us would be here. The Apostle Paul probably had a greater concept of God than any of the apostles. As Peter says, he wrote some things hard to understand. He says in Colossians 1, verses 9 and 10, this is Paul's prayer, he says, For this cause we also, since the day we heard of it, do not cease to pray for you. Paul was a man of prayer, and he prayed for God's people. and to desire that you might be filled with the knowledge of His will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding. We don't read just to know about God in our intellectual, but we want to have spiritual understanding, brother Dave. Spiritual. For what purpose? Here's the purpose Paul said. That you might walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing. being fruitful in every good work, and increasing in the knowledge of God. God wants you to increase in knowledge of Him. You should study from Genesis to Revelation, what? To know more about God. And one author said, the end of all knowledge is conduct. that you might walk worthy. In other words, we want to learn that it will affect how we live. It should affect our conduct. If we're learning and it doesn't have any effect on our conduct, something is wrong. God's Word should have an effect upon our life. It says in Peter, Desire the sin, seal milk of the Word that you may grow thereby. It's a matter of growth. Paul, one of the most spiritual man in the New Testament, had this to say in Philippians 3.10, that I might know Him. He wanted to know the Lord more. He wanted more grasp, more understanding of the Lord. And the power of His resurrection. He wanted to know the reality of the resurrection of the Lord. and the fellowship of His suffering being made conformable unto His death. Every day we're dying gradually. Paul says, I die daily. But in the spiritual man, he was growing. He wanted to grow in the power of the resurrection. You know, Paul says in Romans 11, Because He lives, we can live by the power of His resurrection in our daily life. One of the first things we're going to look at is the eternity of God. And as you think about the attributes, you know, the attributes of eternity, the attributes of God's self-existence. He's the self-existent God. We cannot comprehend that. God's immutable. He says in Malachi, because I change not, sons of Jacob are not consumed. He changes not. So as we think about time, we think about that it is eternity with God. Time with us is eternity with God. Time is in God. God sees everything present. God doesn't look to the future, there is no future to God. God doesn't look to the past, there is no past with God. I know this is hard to comprehend. God doesn't learn anything. He doesn't forget anything. He cannot die. That's talking about the infinitude of God, how great God is. But aren't you glad that when we come to God, we come to Him as Father? Our Father, which art in heaven, hallowed, sacred be Thy Name. He comes down to our level so we can understand that He loves us, cares for us. Even as great as He is in all His attributes, He comes down to our level and says, I love you. See the cross? Look at Calvary. There's an example of how much I love you. Power, that is His omnipotence. There's nothing that God cannot do. Nothing. He's all-powerful. Knowledge, that is omniscient. He knows everything, as I just said. His will, that is His sovereign will. Goodness, that is His holiness. All goodness comes out of God's holiness. I read this one time out of a book I have. It's a quote from Christ in all the Scriptures. It's a good little book to read. And this author says, there's five forms. The five forms are space, time, matter, motion, and force in this world. And the Holy Spirit manifested that to us. In the beginning was time. God created the heavens, that's space. and the earth, that's matter, and the Spirit of God, force, moved, that's motion. I read that years, probably 30, 40 years ago, and I've always enjoyed that comment. When we apply God's infinitude to His control of the universe He has made, it means that God's control is infinite. That is, nothing and no one can limit God's control. No one. Not the devil. The devil is not God's equal. There's no comparison. The devil is like a wimp, like nothing compared to God. Now to us, he can overpower you and I, but he has no control over God. God's omnipotence means infinite potential power. God's sovereignty means infinite actual control. God's omnipotence supplies the will of God with all the power it needs to control all that exists so that everything in heaven and earth will bring glory to God. They're all working together as a unit. God is one. This is a quote I took out of one of the books. I think it's a quote by Pink. God's sovereignty is an attribute of God. It is not just an attribute, but the chief attribute of God. A.W. Pink, following the Puritans, called God's sovereignty the Godhood of God, because it is God's sovereignty that makes all the attributes of God work together to accomplish God's will. It's amazing how powerful and sovereign God is. This means that we cannot strip God of His sovereignty without destroying His deity. If we say God's not sovereign over all things, then God is not deity or God is not God. God's sovereignty amplifies and magnifies all the other attributes of God. That is, God's love becomes God's sovereign love. Jeremiah 31.3, I have loved thee with an everlasting love. Therefore, in loving kindness have I drawn thee. What a beautiful verse for you and I to think about. The sovereignty of God's love. No beginning, no end. You say, how can that be? I don't understand it. I just believe it. God's grace becomes God's sovereign grace in Ephesians 2, 8 and 9. Brother Dave quoted this morning, For by grace are you saved through faith, and that not of yourselves, but the gift of God. And not of works, lest any man should boast. God's sovereign grace. What hope of salvation would we have if God were not sovereign? Can you imagine if the world out here was just happening by chance and God had no control over it? You don't know what would happen. You don't know what would happen to us, what would happen to the church, congregation of the Lord. Things don't happen by chance when it comes to God. There is no chance with God. Now we have God's providence. God works in providence. And God is the one who's in control of providence, not chance. What assurance would we have that the good will ultimately triumph over the evil, if God's not in control of evil and sovereign over evil? That history is His story. they will reach its climax as predicted in Scripture. If God be not sovereign in everything, that cannot be guaranteed, brother Dave. He's not sitting back and saying, well, they made that move, I'm going to make this move. Remember, He knew the end from the beginning. I'll just throw that out there for now. Isaiah 50.16 says, declaring the end from the beginning, so He knows the end of your life, before you've started the beginning of your life. He already knew the end. Because He's infinite in knowledge. Isn't that wonderful? What a wonderful, glorious, gracious, wonderful God we serve. Declaring the end from the beginning. It says, And from the ancient times of things that are not yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand, and I will do all My pleasure Human knowledge must progress from the beginning to the end. Our knowledge has to have a beginning and it goes forward. Divine knowledge already knows the end from the beginning. That's wonderful, isn't it? That's the God whom we serve. He knows the end from the beginning. And He knows everything in between. I brought this out here a couple of times already, but I want to reemphasize this. God the Father is sovereign in all things. Romans 8, 28 is talking about God the Father. And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God. That's God the Father. To them who are called according to His purpose. God the Father's purpose. Verse 29. For whom He, God the Father, did foreknow, He also, God the Father, did predestinate to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren. God's the one that's conforming us to His Son. Verse 30 says, Moreover, whom He did predestinate, Him He also called, whom He called, then He also justified. The He there is talking about God the Father. And whom He, the Father, justified, then He also glorified. He's got it all under control from the beginning to glorification. He says, I see it all as one. Those verses are all in the past tense. It's as good as done in God's sight. Verse 31, it says, What shall we say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us? Now you think for a moment. If God be for us, who has infinite knowledge, infinite power, infinite wisdom, beyond anything we can think about, who has no beginning, no end, He's self-existing, He knows the end from the beginning, who can be against a God of that nature? No one can. Not Satan, not the demons of hell, no one can be against God and win. Verse 32 says, "...He that spared not His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall ye not with Him freely give us all things?" What do you need in your life? God will freely give you all things that pertain to life in Godliness. Just ask. James says, you have not because you ask not. We need to pray more. Brother Dave said this morning, we need to pray. And pray believing. Verse 33 says, what shall we say to these things? Well, who shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect? It is God that justifies. The Father has justified us, beloved. We are justified in the sight of God. There is no charge that can be brought against us legally, judicially. Hallelujah for that. And in Ephesians 1 and 11, speaking about God the Father, it says, In whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of Him who works all things after the counsel of His own will. Who's working all things to your good and my good? God the Father. And what's His name? We say, Our Father, which art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Beloved, He loves you and I. and He's demonstrated it over and over in the Scriptures. This is just a little example in Romans how God's in control of everything because of His love to you and I. Remember, time is eternity with God. Space, God is omnipresent and nowhere absent. Power means He's omnipotent. Knowledge means he's omniscient, and the other one's omnipotent. His will means he's sovereign, and goodness means that he's holy and goodness. What a blessing that is, beloved, to think about. Now we're going to make it a little more practical to you. The faithfulness of God and the sovereignty of His will. 1 Corinthians 10, 13 was given to us to encourage us. I use this verse many times in my life to encourage me. 1 Corinthians 10, 13. There is no temptation taken you but such as common to man. But God is faithful. So here we come to the faithfulness of God. God's holiness, God's goodness. who will not suffer you to be tempted above that you are able. There's a promise. But will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that you may be able to bear it or endure it. Beloved God had given us on His faithfulness. God says, but God is faithful who will not suffer you to be tempted above that you are able. When you're being tempted, claim that verse. Believe that verse, brother Dave. Hold on to that verse. and look for the way of escape. Because it says God will make a way to escape that you may be able to bear it. That's the promise of a holy God that cannot lie. Every morning that you wake up, we should think about these verses, the faithfulness of God. I know some of you, these are your favorite verses. Limitations 3 verse 21 through 23. That whole chapter is beautiful, but I'll just read the portion to encourage you. Verse 21, this I recall to my mind. Therefore have I hope, as Dave mentioned about that song, the song of hope. It's good to have hope, beloved. Verse 22, it is of the Lord's mercies. that we are not consumed because His compassions fail not. I'm so glad that God's compassion hasn't failed in my life or I would have been consumed years ago. That's why we have hope because of His compassions. They are new every morning. What's new every morning? His mercies and compassion. Great is Thy faithfulness. Beloved, Aren't you grateful for these promises God gave us? He's saying, if it wasn't for my goodness and mercy, you'd be consumed already. But my compassion fails not. I'm always there to show compassion. They're new every morning. We need new mercies every day, Roger. Every day we need new mercies. We need God's faithfulness and we need God's forgiveness. This brings us down to 1 John 1.9, thinking about faithfulness. When you say God's always faithful, that's what we need to believe that. He says in 1 John 1.9, if we confess our sins, what is He then? He is faithful and just to forgive our sins. and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. God is being faithful not only to us, brother David, brother Roger, but to Jesus Christ, who made the atonement for our sins. He said if God is for Christ's sake forgiving you, for Christ's sake, how much more should we forgive one another? We should imitate God in our forgiveness and our mercies toward others. God is faithful to forgive you. and cleanse you from all unrighteousness. He didn't say some unrighteousness, but all unrighteousness. Now that's good news for a sinner. And we're sinners. It's good news for us. Many times as you read through the Word of God, you see God being faithful to Israel. And there's a verse in 1 Kings 8.56, you should remember this verse. Blessed be the Lord that hath given rest unto His people Israel, according to all that He promised. There hath not failed one word of all His good promise." Not one word ever failed. God has fulfilled every promise He ever made to Israel, and God is fulfilling every promise He ever made to you and I. God is faithful. And when you sin and you go to God and claim 1 John 9 and say, Lord, You are faithful to justly forgive me and to cleanse me from all unrighteousness. I claim that and I confess my sins and pray that You will cleanse me. Now God, you don't have to beg God to do it. That's His will to do it. All we have to do is ask. Through ask means to agree. Confess means to agree with God. I'm guilty. You're right, God. Now we're going to look at a few more things on the attributes of God. The omnipotent God, the Almighty God. Philippians 4 verse 13 says, I can do all things through Christ infuses or strengthens me, who is infusing strength into me." You've got to remember, Jesus said in Revelation, I'm Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, the Almighty. Beloved, we're dealing with the Almighty God. That's why Paul said, I can do all things through Christ who is infusing strength into me. God's unlimited power working through His sovereign will for you and I. It says in Ephesians 6, verse 10, Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of His might. You have three descriptions. Strong, power, and might. And remember, there is no one stronger than the Lord. There is no one who has more power than the Almighty God. And there's no one who's called the Almighty except God, the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, the Almighty. And we get that strength as we pray in our secret chamber. God gives us that power. He gives us that strength. And He gives us that might as we pray. And I need it. I don't know about you, but I'm sure you do too. We all do. God's unlimited knowledge of all things and His unlimited power. Now this verse goes so far beyond anything we can comprehend. Ephesians chapter 3 verse 20. I know we quote it quite often. It's a powerful verse, but it's a verse full of meaning. Dave will be getting around to that one of these days in his preaching on Ephesians. He has plenty of time to study it out. Now unto him that is able to do exceedingly abundantly. And that word exceedingly abundantly means super abundantly. Above all that we ask or think. In other words, God is saying you can't even ask something or think of anything that I'm not able to do, brother Dave. You think that some of your problems are beyond the help of God? We've got to be careful that we don't look at the problem and that the problem becomes bigger than God. Sometimes our unbelief can strip us of our own strength. We look at something, oh, there's no way out in this situation. There's no way out. There's always a way out. God says, I'll make a way out. The thing we're praying for or someone we're praying for, they have to enter the exit and get out of it. But God will provide a way. But I believe that with all my heart. If I didn't believe God would make a way out and deliver those who we're praying for, I'd quit praying. But I'm here to tell you this morning, God is able to do abundantly above all that we ask or think. Don't think anything is too hard for the Lord. He told Abraham and Sarah, is anything too hard for the Lord? And how often do we question God? And I do. God, forgive us. for not having more confidence in God. According to the power that's working in us, that's operating in us. Thank God for that power. The omniscience of God. Unlimited knowledge in His sovereign will. James 1.5 says, If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberty, and upbraideth not, and it shall be given him. Because He knows the end from the beginning. When you go to God for wisdom, He already knows the answer. He already knew it. He always has known the answer to everything you ask Him. Because He's omniscient. He knows all things. Unlimited knowledge. And He says He'll give it to you. And He won't upgrade you or scorn you for doing it. He's there to help us when we lack wisdom. And I know, and you know, that we've all had to go there many times for wisdom. We're very dependent. You know, God is independent of all things. But you and I are dependent upon God for everything. Even our next breath that we breathe depends upon God. Now we're going to look at sovereign grace in 2 Corinthians 12, 7-9. This is when Paul had a thorn in the flesh, we're going to see. And lest I should be exalted above measure through the abundance of the revelation that was given to me, a thorn in the flesh, I should say Roger Parker, the messenger of Satan, to buffet me. Lest I should be exalted above measure. For this thing I besought the Lord thrice, that it might depart from me. And He said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee. My strength is made perfect in weakness. We see grace coming to our need. My grace, the Lord said. Now keep an eye on these words. My grace, not your grace. My grace will meet your need. The Lord says, if we think about it in this sense, my strength created the world, Paul. And the creation is being upheld by the world of my power, Paul. The very earth you're standing on, I created it. The very atmosphere, the stars, the moon, the galaxies are being upheld by my power. What a thought that is. And it says in Ephesians 1, and he is the head over all things to the church. Beloved, when you think about the power of Christ, Paul's problem was very insignificant. It's no match for God. God could strengthen Paul, raise Paul out of the dunghill. He could set Paul up in the heavenly places. He said, Paul, my strength, my power, my grace, is made perfect in your weakness. Not in your strength. But when you are as low as you can go, I'm there to strengthen you. My grace will lift you up. My strength will pull you back up. And that's true to every one of us. Beloved, Paul says, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured to cross his father in shame, he died for you and I to redeem us. Paul says, Most gladly, therefore, without rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. Sometimes we need to say, Lord, Your will be done, but just let Your power and grace remain upon me when you're going through trials. Philippians chapter 4, verse 19, But my God shall supply all your need according to the riches of His glory by Christ Jesus. He shall supply all your need. Remember, that was the church, Philippi, that supplied Paul's needs. Now he's telling them, God will supply your need. He will supply your need. The word supply means to fill to the full, to their every need. God was going to meet every need they had. And in closing, we'll close out with this verse in 1 Corinthians 1.31. that according as it is written, he that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord. And what have you do in word or in deed to alter the glory of God? Beloved, our God is in control. Don't let unbelief hinder your spiritual walk with God. Don't let things around you rob you of your joy. Satan wants to rob us of our joy through our circumstances. It could be with our family, our children, financially, it could be health, it could be many things. We must keep our eyes on the Lord as the omnipotent God Almighty. May we pray. Father, we thank you for this day and thank you for thy word and testimony. We pray that you would bless it to our hearts. In the name of Jesus Christ we do pray and give thanks. Amen. Someone have a song in closing.