- Br. Abraham Koshy
(Borivali Assembly, 21st February, 2018)
(Borivali Assembly, 21st February, 2018)
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Sermon Transcript
So, we turn to book of Exodus 15:11
11 Who is like unto thee, O Lord, among the gods? who is like thee, glorious in holiness, fearful in praises, doing wonders?
Shall we turn to Exodus 20:1-6
1 And God spake all these words, saying, 2 I am the Lord thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. 3 Thou shalt have no other gods before me. 4 Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. 5 Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the Lord thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me; 6 And shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments.
Verse 18
18 And all the people saw the thunderings, and the lightnings, and the noise of the trumpet, and the mountain smoking: and when the people saw it, they removed, and stood afar off. 19 And they said unto Moses, Speak thou with us, and we will hear: but let not God speak with us, lest we die.
Verse 22.
22 And the Lord said unto Moses, thus thou shalt say unto the children of Israel, Ye have seen that I have talked with you from heaven. 23 Ye shall not make with me gods of silver, neither shall ye make unto you gods of gold. 24 An altar of earth thou shalt make unto me, and shalt sacrifice thereon thy burnt offerings, and thy peace offerings
Shall we continue reading in Chapter 24:1-2
1 And he said unto Moses, Come up unto the Lord, thou, and Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel; and worship ye afar off. 2 And Moses alone shall come near the Lord: but they shall not come nigh; neither shall the people go up with him.
And verse 9-11,
9 Then went up Moses, and Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel: 10 And they saw the God of Israel: and there was under his feet as it were a paved work of a sapphire stone, and as it were the body of heaven in his clearness. 11 And upon the nobles of the children of Israel he laid not his hand: also they saw God, and did eat and drink.
Finally, let's go to chapter 32:1
1 And when the people saw that Moses delayed to come down out of the mount, the people gathered themselves together unto Aaron, and said unto him, Up, make us gods, which shall go before us; for as for this Moses, the man that brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we wot not what is become of him.
So, we pray, Father, we are thankful for this privilege. A privilege to know You are God. Privileged to have the knowledge of the Holy One. Because You Yourself have said it that the knowledge of God is what you desired more than burnt offerings.
Father, we thank You for this privilege to call you God. To call You as Abba. We thank You, Father, for this gift that you gave us. The gift of eternal life to know You and to know Your Son. We thank You, Father, that You have redeemed us from the judgement of not knowing You. From the punishment of the famine of death, but You have given us this gift to know You.
O Father, we pray, O Lord, that we might know You more. We might seek You and find You. O Lord we might know about Your ways, about Your wisdom, about Your truth. Father, we might know about Your attributes. We might know who You are. O Father, we might say that there is no God like You, and there is no God beside You. Help us O father that we might know You O Lord through Your Son, Lord Jesus, who is the light of the glory of the knowledge of God, shining in His face. Father, we thank You this moment for Your Son, and through Your Son You have made us know You.
O Father we pray, O Lord, this evening as we study about You, Father, we pray for Your Spirit. O Lord that would take the deep things and show us Your glory. Father, we might behold You. We might see Your glory. And it will change us. We pray O Father, O Lord that each and everything that we know about You will affect our practical life that we live out in this world. Help us, O father, enrich us with this treasure, the knowledge of the Holy One. Father, we pray this prayer in through the Name of Lord Jesus Christ, Amen.
Last time we began by seeing about the importance of the knowledge of God. And we looked at two ways. One is we saw how the consequences of not knowing God, the troubles and the perils of it, and we saw the impossibility of knowing God. We saw how the knowledge of God gives us peace. And ultimately, we saw how the knowledge of God comes only through the Lord Jesus Christ.
Exclusivity of God
Today, we look at what we read in Exodus 20:1
I am the Lord your God, which brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage, you shall have no other gods before Me.
We are looking at something that's called the exclusivity of God, as to how God is exclusively God. How he is uniquely God, how there is just none like Him. And that's what we read in the start in Exodus 15, after the Red Sea, Moses is saying, who is like, our God who is our God, so glorious in holiness, fearful in praises, and doing wonders?
You see, it is one thing to say that there is no God like our God. But it is a totally different thing to come to a point where you say that there is no God beside our God, there is no God beside him, and that he is the only God. You see, this is the offense of the gospel that we share. We do not just share and tell them to come to Christ, but we say that the name of Christ is the only name under Heaven for men to be saved. And that becomes offensive. So, we come to the point of saying that there is no God, but our God. And to be honest with you, there are so many religions out there that say the same thing. You can pick up, you can just walk up to any Muslim. And there is one phrase you will have to see every day. That is, that there is no God like the God that He worships. And this exclusivity of Godhead is there in so many religions. There are so many gods that would say worship only me and not somebody else.
And that brings us to the concept as to now we know that there is no God like Him. We know He is glorious in holiness. We know that there is just no god that is glorious in holiness, or to begin there is just no god that is so holy, like our God, forget being glorious, in that holiness. And we know that there is no God who accepts praise out of fear. It's not out of feeling happiness or not feeling out of duty that you go and praise God but out of a reverential fear we give praises, and we worship Him, and there is just no god who is so fearful in praises. And there is no God who does wonders, like our great God of wonders, but we come to the point and say that there is just no God beside Him, that he is the only God.
You see, Erasmus had this dialogue with Luther. And during the study of Romans, we were saying of how Erasmus had a very, very low view of sin. But eventually, Luther wrote him a letter and told Erasmus that Your thoughts of God are too human. Your thoughts of God or too human. You see, this is exactly the kind of indictment that God would tell the people that are wicked. In Psalm 50, He says that you thought that I am I was all together, like as one as yourself. And in one of the strongest indictments that God gives to man is that when man thinks God is like man. And the context over there is that man is wicked, he commits sin one after the other, and he thinks that God is silent. God is not looking after him. God is not punishing him, and that God doesn't exist. And then God goes down and says, You thought that I was like you.
Last week, we saw three references like that God, saying, for the record, that I am not a man, but I am God. And this is so important for God because when Peter was on the Mount of Transfiguration, and when he equated Christ with Elijah and Moses; Father again had to intervene and show His Son is superior and sole and exclusive, that there is none like Him and listen to Him. This is one of the greatest insults for God, that when man thinks that God is like, man, and you can't just blame man solely because we try to understand an unknowable God through things we know. We try to understand God because we understand man. We equate God to man. We think that man does not like these things, so God will also not like these things. For man, these things are okay. So, for God also these things are okay. We reduce his standard, we reduce his bar, we reduce our morality, when we do not have a complete knowledge of God. And that is the beginning of all destruction starting from individual life to family, to society, to the whole nation. When people do not retain the knowledge of God.
You see, that is why this is the first commandment among the 10, that you shall have no other God, but me. To worship God exclusively, as he is, and no other God beside Him. The second commandment we read, over there; verse 4. You shall not make unto yourself any graven image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above or that is on earth or that is under the earth. What is the difference between the first and the second commandment? In the first is that you shall have no other God beside me, you should have no false god. But even to have an image of the true God is false. You shall have no other image, or likeness or form of anything. That's how it's written any graven image or likeness of anything, not even a symbol, or a sign. You see that explains why we don't have across around in this hall, not even a symbol, or a sign of God. So, you might be worshipping a true God, but even to have images of a true God is falsehood.
Story of the Golden Calf
So that brings me to the question we know about the story of the golden calf. We read about in Exodus 32. Shall we turn to Exodus chapter 32. And when people in verse 1 are saying that they want a golden calf, they want gods. What are they actually asking for? Are they asking for a new god? A completely new god? Or they want to worship the same Jehovah God in a new form? What among these two things are they really asking for? So, when we made that golden calf, and they worshipped it, what were what were they worshipping? Did they dump the God that brought them out of Egypt and started worshipping a new god? Or they were worshipping the God Almighty? Through the image of a calf, what was really happening? The second one? Precisely, so when they made the calf, they said that this is the calf that brought us out of Egypt. So, they just gave an image, a glory or representation to a God that they had never seen. So, the gods still remain the same. And so, you see that what happens over here in verse 5. Aaron is saying; Aaron made a proclamation and said, Tomorrow is a feast to who? to Jehovah. Tomorrow is a feast to Jehovah. So, they looked at this golden calf and called it what? Jehovah.
You see this is worse than excepting a new god. This is worse than dumping God, Jehovah and accepting a new god. What they did is they had never seen God. They saw God's thunder and lightning and burning up the mountain. They saw all of that glory, but they still did not see God. And sadly enough, if there were people that saw God, we saw about the 70 Elders they saw under the feet of gods, the fire stones, it doesn't still mean they saw even the feet of God. And the Lord said in Deuteronomy that you did not see even a sign or a token about me. They did not see a God that was so powerful. You see, that brings us to the question, we know God to be powerful. We know him to be immensely powerful, majestic, and glorious, and infinite and eternal. Some of the things we're going to see today; this is a great God, but we have not seen Him. We do not know His appearance, we do not know His glory, we have not seen His image. So, what did the people do? They reduced it to a humble animal of a field, a calf. This great God, they likened it to such a humble animal, of a calf.
God is Invaluable
You see, this is what we do every day with our eyes. We feed our eyes with information. We see things. And based on things we see, we value it. Like if I have to show you a black and white phone, plastic made, you know its value. And if I have to show you an iPhone, on the other hand, you know its value. So, if you see something, you know its value, and that is why this was an abomination. Such a God that is invaluable. They reduce that invaluable God; this priceless God; a God that cannot be compared or counted his worth, such a God was reduced to a calf. And just to add some dignity, they made it golden.
And what are the consequences of reducing God's glory to something so cheap? Something that is like an animal. You might call it Jehovah. You might even call it the right name. But what are the consequences of reducing God, who cannot be seen? Who is so glorious to something you can see? A God that is invaluable to something you can value. A God that is unapproachable to something you can touch? What are the consequences of doing that? You ask yourself because you're living in a city where there are so many people that think they're worshiping the true God, but with statues; statues of Christ and Marry and everything else. What are the consequences of it? You might call it God, you might even say let's celebrate the feast of the Lord. Let's celebrate, let's offer sacrifices. But what actually happens in verse 5 Aaron says, let's celebrate. What actually happened in verse 6. They rose up early on the morrow offered burnt offerings, they bought peace offerings, all of that was right. But notice the next part, people sat down to eat, to drink, and rose up to play. So, what was something to be religious, turned out to be an orgy turned out revelry or carnival. And people committed all kinds of unclean, immoral sins, in the name of the Lord.
So, they called it The Lord, gave it a religious name, even offered burnt offerings and sacrifices, but ended up committing sins in the same Festival of the Lord. You see, this is what happens when you reduce the value of the Lord. You reduce the value of a holy God to one immobile, inanimate calf, or a statue; the attributes of God, the values of God, you will never be able to comprehend. You reduce the glory of God to just as much as Golden you can make it, make it as much as precious you can. But still, you will not be able to appreciate His standards. So in the name of religion, you can call his name you can offer sacrifices. But, if you have reduced the image of God, if you have reduced Him to things that you can see, His glory, you have reduced His value. You have reduced His holiness. And it won't be a surprise that you would end up committing sin. You see, this is about a molten image.
Mental Image of God
Let's talk about a mental image. What is the image of God in our minds? How much have you seen God? You talk of people in the Bible like Isaiah or Jeremiah or Ezekiel, or John, people who saw God. And you talk of how their lives were changed. We talk of Isaiah because he saw God he became a person that would walk in the streets of Jerusalem naked, for months together, because the Lord commanded him. A person who would obey God so much. You talk of Paul, was struck by the vision of God in Damascus, and you see a person who has submitted his life so much for God. Today, are we going to see a vision of God? Are we going to see a glory of God? Are we going to see an image of God? Are we going to come any close to what Isaiah or Jeremiah saw? How are we going to see the glory of God? How are we going to see His image? Is those transformation things that happened to all those stalwarts of the Bible? Is it only for them? Visions and dreams? Was it only for them? How about us?
Well, if God turns up in a dream, don't be surprised, he's sovereign, he can do that. But don't be surprised that God won't do that when you have the word of God with you. So, when the Lord would tell when the rich men who tell Abraham send Lazarus back, and they will believe somebody risen from the dead; Abraham would say, they won't believe the prophets, they won't even believe a big miracle. Even if somebody comes out from the dead. You see, today, what you need is not a vision like Isaiah. You do not need to go into the throne room of God. If you see that is amazing. You can see everything of it, and much more of it, through the word of God. If you want to see the glory of God today, in the 21st century, it comes from the knowledge of God. How much do you know God? What is your mental image of God? How much have you known him?
You see this, this kind of expression where we say that there is no God beside him, begs us the question, why is He so unique? Why is He so exclusive? Today, I would just like to look at a few of his attributes.
Self-Existence of God
Let's look at Exodus 3:14.
And God said, I AM, has sent me to you. I AM, the two words, a long form, is I AM that I AM. And what is the meaning of I Am? This brings us to the first attribute we can study about God, or God who says, I am a God, who is self-existent. A God who lives by himself.
Shall we read Genesis 21: 33.
So we saw one of the names that was I am, and I am mean self-existent, and the self-existence of God; to acknowledge that God is self-existing. To acknowledge that He exists by Himself, outside us, without us. What is the deal? Why do we need to acknowledge it? Why do we even need to study it?
Who Created God?
You see, as human beings, we always like to explain things with an origin. We always like to explain things with a cause and an effect. And so, when you share the Gospel, you might say that all of this was created by God. And suddenly somebody will ask you who created God? How would you answer that? Who created God? If somebody throws you a question, from where did God come? Who was the beginning? Or what was the beginning of God? Who created God? How can you answer that question? He Himself is the beginning. Any other answer? How would you answer a question somebody would ask? Who created God? Okay, how about you go to a bachelor? And you ask a bachelor, how’s your wife doing? How will it sound? Can a bachelor have a wife? Well, the point of he being called a bachelor, is that he has no wife. And so if you go to God and ask Who created you?, it's the same thing. If God can be created, He can never be called God. And that is so difficult for man to accept. Because we look at everything, and we want to see your cause. We want to see an origin.
Eternality of God
And so, as children we struggle to understand what was at the beginning? How did God come into existence? We come to a point where we realize that God did not come into existence. And that is what we read in this verse, Abraham plants a tree and calls the name of the Lord El Olam or 'The everlasting', El Olam. This is the first reference of the eternity of God, the Everlasting nature of God, a God who is from ever to ever. And what made Abraham say that? You see, Abraham in Hebrews is written to be a person who was looking for a place, a city, whose foundation, and the maker of it was God. He lived in things that are temporal, he was nomadic. He lived in tents, he moved from places to places. He lived in everything that was transient. There was nothing permanent in his life. And in this passage, he just made a covenant with a person called Abimelech.
Abimelech's children would become the Philistines. Abraham's children would become the Israelites. And here is a covenant between two people, their fathers. Abimelech covenanting with Abraham that not only themselves, but even their sons will not fight with themselves. And we know how well that covenant will ended. We know of the rivalry between the Philistines, and Israel. We know that the covenant would not be kept. And Abraham has this issue, he knows that this covenant will not be kept, what is his solace? What is his assurance? What can be more appropriate that in an occasion like this, he calls upon a God, that is from everlasting to everlasting. A God that is from before time and will extend to when time ceases. He's not going to exist for long, but he calls upon the name of the Lord, who will account people for keeping covenants. So, Abraham looked at all that was temporal, he didn't see anything that was permanent, except to call upon the name of the Lord, and said that, this God is from eternity unto eternity.
You see, if people can come to this conclusion, and say that God is self-existent. A god who is from eternity, who was before anything created, who was existing before anything was created. That is a great, great, great declaration. You see, somebody put it this way to admit that there is one who lies beyond us, who exists outside all our categories, who will not be dismissed, who will not be dismissed with a name, who'll not appear before the bar of a reason, who will not submit to a curious inquiry. This requires a great deal of humility. To accept that God is self-existent beyond our realm, that God is independent of us, that we are nobodies to God, that God doesn't even need to be accountable to us. He doesn't need to even answer our queries or our questions, requires humility. A kind of humility that when you lose all your family members, you still say that God has taken what He has given. A kind of humility to accept His sovereignty. A kind of humility to accept that He is beyond me. So He is in control.
Can we read some more verses from Psalms 90:1. Lord, you have been a dwelling place in all generations, Before the mountains were brought forth. Or you had even formed the earth, and the world, even from everlasting to everlasting, you are God? What is the context of Moses writing these words? Why is Moses writing these words? He says in verse 4. For 1000 years in your site are as but as yesterday, when it is passed in us watching the night. And then he says that they are like grass, which goes up. He's talking of the brevity of man. Here is a person who has seen one generation of a nation fall dead within 40 years. He's seen dead every single day of his life and not just one, so many of them, he has seen a generation wasting before God because they did not acknowledge him. He has seen so many deaths, and he himself knows he's going to die. And in that context, he says, You Lord, are from everlasting, to everlasting.
God is complete in Himself
You know, this eternal aspect, of course, this self-existent aspect of God, I want to say about three attributes of it because when we talk about of eternity, we always talk of it in respect with time, but it's more than that. First of all, we say that God is self-existent because He is complete in himself. He is existent in Himself. This is what the Lord said, can we read this verse in John 5:26. The first part, yes, so has He given to the Son to have life in Himself. In the first part, the Father has life in Himself, this can be said of only God. You see, we all have life, but we cannot say that we are self-existing. We all exist. But we cannot say that we are existing on our own. For example, if you were to close your nose for how long, and you exist? If you had to not drink water, how long could you exist?
If you are not to sleep, how long could you exist? If you're not to eat, how long can you exist? You see, we are not self-existent. We depend on everything that is around us, not just about people around us, we depend on things that God has created. We depend on the air we breathe, if that is not right, we can suffer. We are not self-existent. But when we say God is self-existent, we talk of a God that depends on absolutely nothing to go on. We talk of a God who is existent in Himself, by Himself in Him, His life. And so whatever life that has come from Him. God is the giver of life, and He doesn't depend on anybody to live by Himself. He is only the giver of life. In Him is life. So, God is self-existent means He exists in Himself, He doesn't need anybody's helping to live. You see that cannot be said about us. We depend on things around us we depend to even survive.
God exists since time Immemorial
The second thing about God's self-existent is not that He is complete, or He is in finite, or He can exist by Himself. And that, how do we even know that he exists by Himself? Well, because it's written that He existed, before anything was created. He existed before anything that He could have been dependent on was created. He existed before we created, so he doesn't exist for our glory, He doesn't live for our glory. He doesn't live for us to give Him praises. Before anything was created, anything was created, He existed. So, He doesn't depend on anything to live. He is a self-existent God. The second thing is about I guess, before we go to the second thing, these are some of the verses we could have read in
Colossians 1:17, is written, that Christ is before all things, and by Him, all things consist in Him, all things consist. Paul when writing, when giving the sermon at Athens, a gospel message, he was saying there, that in Him, you move and live and have your being in God. So, God is self-existent, and it is because of God we live, move and have our being. That's how Paul would write that He is before all things and, in Him, all things insist. It is because of Him, there is life in anybody or anything you see on this earth. And he is a self-existing God that can be understood again by the fact in Isaiah 40:28 is written that the creator of the earth neither faints nor is weary, you see, God is totally at a different level. When you talk about a God that is self-existent, you talk of a God who will not be tired, who will not be weary. A God who doesn't faint. A God that doesn't feel lower, or of His energy depreciating. He is a God that never faints.
The second thing is about His externality that is if He is existent, self-existent, then He existed before time began. And he's existing out of time, and he will exist beyond time. That is His name. His name is I am; that name means He was there in the past, He was there in the present, He will be there in the future. And all of these things are saved for Him. It doesn't matter. He is eternal. And that can be read. Now let's read from Daniel chapter 6:26, if you can read the last part, He is the living God, the steadfast forever, this kingdom that shall not be destroyed, this dominion shall be even unto the end.
If you can recollect, somewhat similar lines were said about Christ by Gabriel. And Gabriel visited Mary and said, that is the throne of his father David will be given to him and of His kingdom, there will be no end. That's written over here that His kingdom that which shall not be destroyed, His dominion shall be even unto the end. You see, only we as human beings ask this question as to why is God created or did He exist? Or how was He formed? But the Bible, when you read from verse 1 of Genesis 1, it begins by the fact that God always existed. You open the Bible, and it says, In the beginning God created. It doesn't even need to dwell in the point that was God the earth, before the time began. It takes it granted that God self-existed before time.
So then what about Christ? We know he was born on this earth; He had a beginning in this earth. So, what is said specifically about Christ, can we read it from Micah 5:2. This is written about the birth of Christ. In the last part, it says that when He is born, it says that the one who is going to be born is the ruler of Israel, who's going forth have been from old, and that's the literal translation there it says, He is from the days of eternity, this is written about Christ, at his birth, that the one who is going to be born is eternal.
So that's how John begins his gospel. And in the beginning was the word, the word was God, and the Word was with God. And by Him were all things created. So John introduces Christ as word and then says, this word, created all things. So the birth of Christ was not a beginning for Him. It was a beginning and only a sense that He who was God for the first time became man, but He who was God always existed. And when He became God, He did not stop being God. That one who was going to be born, is going forth were from the old, and He was an eternal one.
God doesn’t Need Us
Finally, when we look at a self-existing God, we need to understand of something so closely related of a God who self-existent should also be self-sufficient. And this is a very humbling thing to see. Sometimes we often say that God needs us, God needs you. God needs you to do this. You use words like God needs your help. You see God needs to support and God wants us to do some work. Let's get some things out of the way that God is self-existent means he doesn't need us. You might ask as to why did God create us? If you didn't need us? Did He create us without a purpose? What was the purpose of creating us? You see, Isaiah Lord would say that those whom He has called, he has formed them for His glory. So, we need God. We add to the glory of God. We are part of His glory. We have been called and formed and made for His glory. But in no way God needs us.
You see, there's a difference over here that God doesn't need us. But what happens is, He loves us so much, that He wants us for Himself. He loves us so much that He would give His Son for us. And that is why I said it's so humbling. He doesn't need us. But if He could give His own Son for us, then look at how much He has valued us. He doesn't need us to exist. If all the people in this whole world were to become Atheist and rebel against God, God is not going to be uneasy about it. He's not going to be uncomfortable about it. To begin with, when God created us, He didn't need us, and He still doesn't need us. But what a wonder is this that He wants us to live for Him.
You see, this is how I believe one of the persons are written that God wants us to do those things. God is pleased when we don't do those things. God is honored when we do those things. God blesses us when we do those things. But he does not need those things from us, in order to be what He is. He's not going to fall apart. He's not going to be in a situation where He can't go on if you don't do those things that He has told us to do, and that He wants us to do, and that enables us to do. You and I will be hurt if we don't do those things, but God will not be hurt, because God is all-sufficient.
So, God who doesn't need us, decides to use us for His glory, decides to use us for the extension of his kingdom decides to use us as vessels through whom his glory can shine. Do does he need us? Absolutely not. Can he get His work done without us? Absolutely. But Still, He will not do it without us. He wants us. Here is a God who will give His own Son to purchase us as His children. This is how one writer would say that God has a voluntary relationship with everything, but not a necessary relationship. God is under no obligation to even have a relationship. It is all his will.
So that's how Paul would say in Ephesians 1, that all things he has worked out according to the purpose of God’s will. He is sovereign, He has done everything for His purpose and for His will. We might not know the purpose. But that doesn't mean it is purposeless. That doesn't mean that God is capricious, that God randomly works and throws the dice and created us. That God created us for no reason. We might not be even satisfied with the reason that we are created for the glory of God because we want some self-worth. We want to think that God created us to keep some purpose. Let's be clear, even if that is there, and even if that purpose is not accomplished, God is not going to be hurt. God does not need us, He is a self-existent God.
And under the background of all of this, a God who is complete by himself, a God who exists by himself, a God was eternal, from time immemorial, from time to time past the future, a God was outside time, and a God who is, self-sufficient, absolutely independent, is our Father.
Shall we close by reading a couple of verses. Isaiah 45:5
I am the Lord, and there is none else. There is no God beside me
Verse 6, they may know from the rising of the sun, and from the West, that there is none beside me, I am the Lord, and there is none else. Let's read verse 14 the last part.
Surely God is in you. And there is no one else. There is no God, Verily, you are a God, that hides Yourself, Oh God of Israel, The Savior
Verse 18
For thus says the LORD that created the heavens, God Himself that forms the earth and made it He has established it. He created it not in vain. He formed it to be inhabited, I am the Lord. And there is none else Verse 21, the last part,
Who has declared this from ancient time, who has told it from the time? Have not I the LORD? and there is no God else beside me. A just God and a savior, there is none beside me. Look unto me be he saved all the ends of the earth, for I am God and there is none else.
Chapter 47: 8. The middle part,
I am, and there is none else beside me.
Shall we turn to Jeremiah 10:6.
For as much as there is none like unto you, oh, Lord, You are great, and Your name is great in heaven. For who would not fear You, oh king of nations, for to You is it fitting. For as much as among all the wise men of the nations and in all your kingdoms, there is none like unto you. Verse 10 For the Lord is the true God. He is the Living God and an everlasting King.
May God bless this verse.
11 Who is like unto thee, O Lord, among the gods? who is like thee, glorious in holiness, fearful in praises, doing wonders?
Shall we turn to Exodus 20:1-6
1 And God spake all these words, saying, 2 I am the Lord thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. 3 Thou shalt have no other gods before me. 4 Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. 5 Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the Lord thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me; 6 And shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments.
Verse 18
18 And all the people saw the thunderings, and the lightnings, and the noise of the trumpet, and the mountain smoking: and when the people saw it, they removed, and stood afar off. 19 And they said unto Moses, Speak thou with us, and we will hear: but let not God speak with us, lest we die.
Verse 22.
22 And the Lord said unto Moses, thus thou shalt say unto the children of Israel, Ye have seen that I have talked with you from heaven. 23 Ye shall not make with me gods of silver, neither shall ye make unto you gods of gold. 24 An altar of earth thou shalt make unto me, and shalt sacrifice thereon thy burnt offerings, and thy peace offerings
Shall we continue reading in Chapter 24:1-2
1 And he said unto Moses, Come up unto the Lord, thou, and Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel; and worship ye afar off. 2 And Moses alone shall come near the Lord: but they shall not come nigh; neither shall the people go up with him.
And verse 9-11,
9 Then went up Moses, and Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel: 10 And they saw the God of Israel: and there was under his feet as it were a paved work of a sapphire stone, and as it were the body of heaven in his clearness. 11 And upon the nobles of the children of Israel he laid not his hand: also they saw God, and did eat and drink.
Finally, let's go to chapter 32:1
1 And when the people saw that Moses delayed to come down out of the mount, the people gathered themselves together unto Aaron, and said unto him, Up, make us gods, which shall go before us; for as for this Moses, the man that brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we wot not what is become of him.
So, we pray, Father, we are thankful for this privilege. A privilege to know You are God. Privileged to have the knowledge of the Holy One. Because You Yourself have said it that the knowledge of God is what you desired more than burnt offerings.
Father, we thank You for this privilege to call you God. To call You as Abba. We thank You, Father, for this gift that you gave us. The gift of eternal life to know You and to know Your Son. We thank You, Father, that You have redeemed us from the judgement of not knowing You. From the punishment of the famine of death, but You have given us this gift to know You.
O Father, we pray, O Lord, that we might know You more. We might seek You and find You. O Lord we might know about Your ways, about Your wisdom, about Your truth. Father, we might know about Your attributes. We might know who You are. O Father, we might say that there is no God like You, and there is no God beside You. Help us O father that we might know You O Lord through Your Son, Lord Jesus, who is the light of the glory of the knowledge of God, shining in His face. Father, we thank You this moment for Your Son, and through Your Son You have made us know You.
O Father we pray, O Lord, this evening as we study about You, Father, we pray for Your Spirit. O Lord that would take the deep things and show us Your glory. Father, we might behold You. We might see Your glory. And it will change us. We pray O Father, O Lord that each and everything that we know about You will affect our practical life that we live out in this world. Help us, O father, enrich us with this treasure, the knowledge of the Holy One. Father, we pray this prayer in through the Name of Lord Jesus Christ, Amen.
Last time we began by seeing about the importance of the knowledge of God. And we looked at two ways. One is we saw how the consequences of not knowing God, the troubles and the perils of it, and we saw the impossibility of knowing God. We saw how the knowledge of God gives us peace. And ultimately, we saw how the knowledge of God comes only through the Lord Jesus Christ.
Exclusivity of God
Today, we look at what we read in Exodus 20:1
I am the Lord your God, which brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage, you shall have no other gods before Me.
We are looking at something that's called the exclusivity of God, as to how God is exclusively God. How he is uniquely God, how there is just none like Him. And that's what we read in the start in Exodus 15, after the Red Sea, Moses is saying, who is like, our God who is our God, so glorious in holiness, fearful in praises, and doing wonders?
You see, it is one thing to say that there is no God like our God. But it is a totally different thing to come to a point where you say that there is no God beside our God, there is no God beside him, and that he is the only God. You see, this is the offense of the gospel that we share. We do not just share and tell them to come to Christ, but we say that the name of Christ is the only name under Heaven for men to be saved. And that becomes offensive. So, we come to the point of saying that there is no God, but our God. And to be honest with you, there are so many religions out there that say the same thing. You can pick up, you can just walk up to any Muslim. And there is one phrase you will have to see every day. That is, that there is no God like the God that He worships. And this exclusivity of Godhead is there in so many religions. There are so many gods that would say worship only me and not somebody else.
And that brings us to the concept as to now we know that there is no God like Him. We know He is glorious in holiness. We know that there is just no god that is glorious in holiness, or to begin there is just no god that is so holy, like our God, forget being glorious, in that holiness. And we know that there is no God who accepts praise out of fear. It's not out of feeling happiness or not feeling out of duty that you go and praise God but out of a reverential fear we give praises, and we worship Him, and there is just no god who is so fearful in praises. And there is no God who does wonders, like our great God of wonders, but we come to the point and say that there is just no God beside Him, that he is the only God.
You see, Erasmus had this dialogue with Luther. And during the study of Romans, we were saying of how Erasmus had a very, very low view of sin. But eventually, Luther wrote him a letter and told Erasmus that Your thoughts of God are too human. Your thoughts of God or too human. You see, this is exactly the kind of indictment that God would tell the people that are wicked. In Psalm 50, He says that you thought that I am I was all together, like as one as yourself. And in one of the strongest indictments that God gives to man is that when man thinks God is like man. And the context over there is that man is wicked, he commits sin one after the other, and he thinks that God is silent. God is not looking after him. God is not punishing him, and that God doesn't exist. And then God goes down and says, You thought that I was like you.
Last week, we saw three references like that God, saying, for the record, that I am not a man, but I am God. And this is so important for God because when Peter was on the Mount of Transfiguration, and when he equated Christ with Elijah and Moses; Father again had to intervene and show His Son is superior and sole and exclusive, that there is none like Him and listen to Him. This is one of the greatest insults for God, that when man thinks that God is like, man, and you can't just blame man solely because we try to understand an unknowable God through things we know. We try to understand God because we understand man. We equate God to man. We think that man does not like these things, so God will also not like these things. For man, these things are okay. So, for God also these things are okay. We reduce his standard, we reduce his bar, we reduce our morality, when we do not have a complete knowledge of God. And that is the beginning of all destruction starting from individual life to family, to society, to the whole nation. When people do not retain the knowledge of God.
You see, that is why this is the first commandment among the 10, that you shall have no other God, but me. To worship God exclusively, as he is, and no other God beside Him. The second commandment we read, over there; verse 4. You shall not make unto yourself any graven image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above or that is on earth or that is under the earth. What is the difference between the first and the second commandment? In the first is that you shall have no other God beside me, you should have no false god. But even to have an image of the true God is false. You shall have no other image, or likeness or form of anything. That's how it's written any graven image or likeness of anything, not even a symbol, or a sign. You see that explains why we don't have across around in this hall, not even a symbol, or a sign of God. So, you might be worshipping a true God, but even to have images of a true God is falsehood.
Story of the Golden Calf
So that brings me to the question we know about the story of the golden calf. We read about in Exodus 32. Shall we turn to Exodus chapter 32. And when people in verse 1 are saying that they want a golden calf, they want gods. What are they actually asking for? Are they asking for a new god? A completely new god? Or they want to worship the same Jehovah God in a new form? What among these two things are they really asking for? So, when we made that golden calf, and they worshipped it, what were what were they worshipping? Did they dump the God that brought them out of Egypt and started worshipping a new god? Or they were worshipping the God Almighty? Through the image of a calf, what was really happening? The second one? Precisely, so when they made the calf, they said that this is the calf that brought us out of Egypt. So, they just gave an image, a glory or representation to a God that they had never seen. So, the gods still remain the same. And so, you see that what happens over here in verse 5. Aaron is saying; Aaron made a proclamation and said, Tomorrow is a feast to who? to Jehovah. Tomorrow is a feast to Jehovah. So, they looked at this golden calf and called it what? Jehovah.
You see this is worse than excepting a new god. This is worse than dumping God, Jehovah and accepting a new god. What they did is they had never seen God. They saw God's thunder and lightning and burning up the mountain. They saw all of that glory, but they still did not see God. And sadly enough, if there were people that saw God, we saw about the 70 Elders they saw under the feet of gods, the fire stones, it doesn't still mean they saw even the feet of God. And the Lord said in Deuteronomy that you did not see even a sign or a token about me. They did not see a God that was so powerful. You see, that brings us to the question, we know God to be powerful. We know him to be immensely powerful, majestic, and glorious, and infinite and eternal. Some of the things we're going to see today; this is a great God, but we have not seen Him. We do not know His appearance, we do not know His glory, we have not seen His image. So, what did the people do? They reduced it to a humble animal of a field, a calf. This great God, they likened it to such a humble animal, of a calf.
God is Invaluable
You see, this is what we do every day with our eyes. We feed our eyes with information. We see things. And based on things we see, we value it. Like if I have to show you a black and white phone, plastic made, you know its value. And if I have to show you an iPhone, on the other hand, you know its value. So, if you see something, you know its value, and that is why this was an abomination. Such a God that is invaluable. They reduce that invaluable God; this priceless God; a God that cannot be compared or counted his worth, such a God was reduced to a calf. And just to add some dignity, they made it golden.
And what are the consequences of reducing God's glory to something so cheap? Something that is like an animal. You might call it Jehovah. You might even call it the right name. But what are the consequences of reducing God, who cannot be seen? Who is so glorious to something you can see? A God that is invaluable to something you can value. A God that is unapproachable to something you can touch? What are the consequences of doing that? You ask yourself because you're living in a city where there are so many people that think they're worshiping the true God, but with statues; statues of Christ and Marry and everything else. What are the consequences of it? You might call it God, you might even say let's celebrate the feast of the Lord. Let's celebrate, let's offer sacrifices. But what actually happens in verse 5 Aaron says, let's celebrate. What actually happened in verse 6. They rose up early on the morrow offered burnt offerings, they bought peace offerings, all of that was right. But notice the next part, people sat down to eat, to drink, and rose up to play. So, what was something to be religious, turned out to be an orgy turned out revelry or carnival. And people committed all kinds of unclean, immoral sins, in the name of the Lord.
So, they called it The Lord, gave it a religious name, even offered burnt offerings and sacrifices, but ended up committing sins in the same Festival of the Lord. You see, this is what happens when you reduce the value of the Lord. You reduce the value of a holy God to one immobile, inanimate calf, or a statue; the attributes of God, the values of God, you will never be able to comprehend. You reduce the glory of God to just as much as Golden you can make it, make it as much as precious you can. But still, you will not be able to appreciate His standards. So in the name of religion, you can call his name you can offer sacrifices. But, if you have reduced the image of God, if you have reduced Him to things that you can see, His glory, you have reduced His value. You have reduced His holiness. And it won't be a surprise that you would end up committing sin. You see, this is about a molten image.
Mental Image of God
Let's talk about a mental image. What is the image of God in our minds? How much have you seen God? You talk of people in the Bible like Isaiah or Jeremiah or Ezekiel, or John, people who saw God. And you talk of how their lives were changed. We talk of Isaiah because he saw God he became a person that would walk in the streets of Jerusalem naked, for months together, because the Lord commanded him. A person who would obey God so much. You talk of Paul, was struck by the vision of God in Damascus, and you see a person who has submitted his life so much for God. Today, are we going to see a vision of God? Are we going to see a glory of God? Are we going to see an image of God? Are we going to come any close to what Isaiah or Jeremiah saw? How are we going to see the glory of God? How are we going to see His image? Is those transformation things that happened to all those stalwarts of the Bible? Is it only for them? Visions and dreams? Was it only for them? How about us?
Well, if God turns up in a dream, don't be surprised, he's sovereign, he can do that. But don't be surprised that God won't do that when you have the word of God with you. So, when the Lord would tell when the rich men who tell Abraham send Lazarus back, and they will believe somebody risen from the dead; Abraham would say, they won't believe the prophets, they won't even believe a big miracle. Even if somebody comes out from the dead. You see, today, what you need is not a vision like Isaiah. You do not need to go into the throne room of God. If you see that is amazing. You can see everything of it, and much more of it, through the word of God. If you want to see the glory of God today, in the 21st century, it comes from the knowledge of God. How much do you know God? What is your mental image of God? How much have you known him?
You see this, this kind of expression where we say that there is no God beside him, begs us the question, why is He so unique? Why is He so exclusive? Today, I would just like to look at a few of his attributes.
Self-Existence of God
Let's look at Exodus 3:14.
And God said, I AM, has sent me to you. I AM, the two words, a long form, is I AM that I AM. And what is the meaning of I Am? This brings us to the first attribute we can study about God, or God who says, I am a God, who is self-existent. A God who lives by himself.
Shall we read Genesis 21: 33.
So we saw one of the names that was I am, and I am mean self-existent, and the self-existence of God; to acknowledge that God is self-existing. To acknowledge that He exists by Himself, outside us, without us. What is the deal? Why do we need to acknowledge it? Why do we even need to study it?
Who Created God?
You see, as human beings, we always like to explain things with an origin. We always like to explain things with a cause and an effect. And so, when you share the Gospel, you might say that all of this was created by God. And suddenly somebody will ask you who created God? How would you answer that? Who created God? If somebody throws you a question, from where did God come? Who was the beginning? Or what was the beginning of God? Who created God? How can you answer that question? He Himself is the beginning. Any other answer? How would you answer a question somebody would ask? Who created God? Okay, how about you go to a bachelor? And you ask a bachelor, how’s your wife doing? How will it sound? Can a bachelor have a wife? Well, the point of he being called a bachelor, is that he has no wife. And so if you go to God and ask Who created you?, it's the same thing. If God can be created, He can never be called God. And that is so difficult for man to accept. Because we look at everything, and we want to see your cause. We want to see an origin.
Eternality of God
And so, as children we struggle to understand what was at the beginning? How did God come into existence? We come to a point where we realize that God did not come into existence. And that is what we read in this verse, Abraham plants a tree and calls the name of the Lord El Olam or 'The everlasting', El Olam. This is the first reference of the eternity of God, the Everlasting nature of God, a God who is from ever to ever. And what made Abraham say that? You see, Abraham in Hebrews is written to be a person who was looking for a place, a city, whose foundation, and the maker of it was God. He lived in things that are temporal, he was nomadic. He lived in tents, he moved from places to places. He lived in everything that was transient. There was nothing permanent in his life. And in this passage, he just made a covenant with a person called Abimelech.
Abimelech's children would become the Philistines. Abraham's children would become the Israelites. And here is a covenant between two people, their fathers. Abimelech covenanting with Abraham that not only themselves, but even their sons will not fight with themselves. And we know how well that covenant will ended. We know of the rivalry between the Philistines, and Israel. We know that the covenant would not be kept. And Abraham has this issue, he knows that this covenant will not be kept, what is his solace? What is his assurance? What can be more appropriate that in an occasion like this, he calls upon a God, that is from everlasting to everlasting. A God that is from before time and will extend to when time ceases. He's not going to exist for long, but he calls upon the name of the Lord, who will account people for keeping covenants. So, Abraham looked at all that was temporal, he didn't see anything that was permanent, except to call upon the name of the Lord, and said that, this God is from eternity unto eternity.
You see, if people can come to this conclusion, and say that God is self-existent. A god who is from eternity, who was before anything created, who was existing before anything was created. That is a great, great, great declaration. You see, somebody put it this way to admit that there is one who lies beyond us, who exists outside all our categories, who will not be dismissed, who will not be dismissed with a name, who'll not appear before the bar of a reason, who will not submit to a curious inquiry. This requires a great deal of humility. To accept that God is self-existent beyond our realm, that God is independent of us, that we are nobodies to God, that God doesn't even need to be accountable to us. He doesn't need to even answer our queries or our questions, requires humility. A kind of humility that when you lose all your family members, you still say that God has taken what He has given. A kind of humility to accept His sovereignty. A kind of humility to accept that He is beyond me. So He is in control.
Can we read some more verses from Psalms 90:1. Lord, you have been a dwelling place in all generations, Before the mountains were brought forth. Or you had even formed the earth, and the world, even from everlasting to everlasting, you are God? What is the context of Moses writing these words? Why is Moses writing these words? He says in verse 4. For 1000 years in your site are as but as yesterday, when it is passed in us watching the night. And then he says that they are like grass, which goes up. He's talking of the brevity of man. Here is a person who has seen one generation of a nation fall dead within 40 years. He's seen dead every single day of his life and not just one, so many of them, he has seen a generation wasting before God because they did not acknowledge him. He has seen so many deaths, and he himself knows he's going to die. And in that context, he says, You Lord, are from everlasting, to everlasting.
God is complete in Himself
You know, this eternal aspect, of course, this self-existent aspect of God, I want to say about three attributes of it because when we talk about of eternity, we always talk of it in respect with time, but it's more than that. First of all, we say that God is self-existent because He is complete in himself. He is existent in Himself. This is what the Lord said, can we read this verse in John 5:26. The first part, yes, so has He given to the Son to have life in Himself. In the first part, the Father has life in Himself, this can be said of only God. You see, we all have life, but we cannot say that we are self-existing. We all exist. But we cannot say that we are existing on our own. For example, if you were to close your nose for how long, and you exist? If you had to not drink water, how long could you exist?
If you are not to sleep, how long could you exist? If you're not to eat, how long can you exist? You see, we are not self-existent. We depend on everything that is around us, not just about people around us, we depend on things that God has created. We depend on the air we breathe, if that is not right, we can suffer. We are not self-existent. But when we say God is self-existent, we talk of a God that depends on absolutely nothing to go on. We talk of a God who is existent in Himself, by Himself in Him, His life. And so whatever life that has come from Him. God is the giver of life, and He doesn't depend on anybody to live by Himself. He is only the giver of life. In Him is life. So, God is self-existent means He exists in Himself, He doesn't need anybody's helping to live. You see that cannot be said about us. We depend on things around us we depend to even survive.
God exists since time Immemorial
The second thing about God's self-existent is not that He is complete, or He is in finite, or He can exist by Himself. And that, how do we even know that he exists by Himself? Well, because it's written that He existed, before anything was created. He existed before anything that He could have been dependent on was created. He existed before we created, so he doesn't exist for our glory, He doesn't live for our glory. He doesn't live for us to give Him praises. Before anything was created, anything was created, He existed. So, He doesn't depend on anything to live. He is a self-existent God. The second thing is about I guess, before we go to the second thing, these are some of the verses we could have read in
Colossians 1:17, is written, that Christ is before all things, and by Him, all things consist in Him, all things consist. Paul when writing, when giving the sermon at Athens, a gospel message, he was saying there, that in Him, you move and live and have your being in God. So, God is self-existent, and it is because of God we live, move and have our being. That's how Paul would write that He is before all things and, in Him, all things insist. It is because of Him, there is life in anybody or anything you see on this earth. And he is a self-existing God that can be understood again by the fact in Isaiah 40:28 is written that the creator of the earth neither faints nor is weary, you see, God is totally at a different level. When you talk about a God that is self-existent, you talk of a God who will not be tired, who will not be weary. A God who doesn't faint. A God that doesn't feel lower, or of His energy depreciating. He is a God that never faints.
The second thing is about His externality that is if He is existent, self-existent, then He existed before time began. And he's existing out of time, and he will exist beyond time. That is His name. His name is I am; that name means He was there in the past, He was there in the present, He will be there in the future. And all of these things are saved for Him. It doesn't matter. He is eternal. And that can be read. Now let's read from Daniel chapter 6:26, if you can read the last part, He is the living God, the steadfast forever, this kingdom that shall not be destroyed, this dominion shall be even unto the end.
If you can recollect, somewhat similar lines were said about Christ by Gabriel. And Gabriel visited Mary and said, that is the throne of his father David will be given to him and of His kingdom, there will be no end. That's written over here that His kingdom that which shall not be destroyed, His dominion shall be even unto the end. You see, only we as human beings ask this question as to why is God created or did He exist? Or how was He formed? But the Bible, when you read from verse 1 of Genesis 1, it begins by the fact that God always existed. You open the Bible, and it says, In the beginning God created. It doesn't even need to dwell in the point that was God the earth, before the time began. It takes it granted that God self-existed before time.
So then what about Christ? We know he was born on this earth; He had a beginning in this earth. So, what is said specifically about Christ, can we read it from Micah 5:2. This is written about the birth of Christ. In the last part, it says that when He is born, it says that the one who is going to be born is the ruler of Israel, who's going forth have been from old, and that's the literal translation there it says, He is from the days of eternity, this is written about Christ, at his birth, that the one who is going to be born is eternal.
So that's how John begins his gospel. And in the beginning was the word, the word was God, and the Word was with God. And by Him were all things created. So John introduces Christ as word and then says, this word, created all things. So the birth of Christ was not a beginning for Him. It was a beginning and only a sense that He who was God for the first time became man, but He who was God always existed. And when He became God, He did not stop being God. That one who was going to be born, is going forth were from the old, and He was an eternal one.
God doesn’t Need Us
Finally, when we look at a self-existing God, we need to understand of something so closely related of a God who self-existent should also be self-sufficient. And this is a very humbling thing to see. Sometimes we often say that God needs us, God needs you. God needs you to do this. You use words like God needs your help. You see God needs to support and God wants us to do some work. Let's get some things out of the way that God is self-existent means he doesn't need us. You might ask as to why did God create us? If you didn't need us? Did He create us without a purpose? What was the purpose of creating us? You see, Isaiah Lord would say that those whom He has called, he has formed them for His glory. So, we need God. We add to the glory of God. We are part of His glory. We have been called and formed and made for His glory. But in no way God needs us.
You see, there's a difference over here that God doesn't need us. But what happens is, He loves us so much, that He wants us for Himself. He loves us so much that He would give His Son for us. And that is why I said it's so humbling. He doesn't need us. But if He could give His own Son for us, then look at how much He has valued us. He doesn't need us to exist. If all the people in this whole world were to become Atheist and rebel against God, God is not going to be uneasy about it. He's not going to be uncomfortable about it. To begin with, when God created us, He didn't need us, and He still doesn't need us. But what a wonder is this that He wants us to live for Him.
You see, this is how I believe one of the persons are written that God wants us to do those things. God is pleased when we don't do those things. God is honored when we do those things. God blesses us when we do those things. But he does not need those things from us, in order to be what He is. He's not going to fall apart. He's not going to be in a situation where He can't go on if you don't do those things that He has told us to do, and that He wants us to do, and that enables us to do. You and I will be hurt if we don't do those things, but God will not be hurt, because God is all-sufficient.
So, God who doesn't need us, decides to use us for His glory, decides to use us for the extension of his kingdom decides to use us as vessels through whom his glory can shine. Do does he need us? Absolutely not. Can he get His work done without us? Absolutely. But Still, He will not do it without us. He wants us. Here is a God who will give His own Son to purchase us as His children. This is how one writer would say that God has a voluntary relationship with everything, but not a necessary relationship. God is under no obligation to even have a relationship. It is all his will.
So that's how Paul would say in Ephesians 1, that all things he has worked out according to the purpose of God’s will. He is sovereign, He has done everything for His purpose and for His will. We might not know the purpose. But that doesn't mean it is purposeless. That doesn't mean that God is capricious, that God randomly works and throws the dice and created us. That God created us for no reason. We might not be even satisfied with the reason that we are created for the glory of God because we want some self-worth. We want to think that God created us to keep some purpose. Let's be clear, even if that is there, and even if that purpose is not accomplished, God is not going to be hurt. God does not need us, He is a self-existent God.
And under the background of all of this, a God who is complete by himself, a God who exists by himself, a God was eternal, from time immemorial, from time to time past the future, a God was outside time, and a God who is, self-sufficient, absolutely independent, is our Father.
Shall we close by reading a couple of verses. Isaiah 45:5
I am the Lord, and there is none else. There is no God beside me
Verse 6, they may know from the rising of the sun, and from the West, that there is none beside me, I am the Lord, and there is none else. Let's read verse 14 the last part.
Surely God is in you. And there is no one else. There is no God, Verily, you are a God, that hides Yourself, Oh God of Israel, The Savior
Verse 18
For thus says the LORD that created the heavens, God Himself that forms the earth and made it He has established it. He created it not in vain. He formed it to be inhabited, I am the Lord. And there is none else Verse 21, the last part,
Who has declared this from ancient time, who has told it from the time? Have not I the LORD? and there is no God else beside me. A just God and a savior, there is none beside me. Look unto me be he saved all the ends of the earth, for I am God and there is none else.
Chapter 47: 8. The middle part,
I am, and there is none else beside me.
Shall we turn to Jeremiah 10:6.
For as much as there is none like unto you, oh, Lord, You are great, and Your name is great in heaven. For who would not fear You, oh king of nations, for to You is it fitting. For as much as among all the wise men of the nations and in all your kingdoms, there is none like unto you. Verse 10 For the Lord is the true God. He is the Living God and an everlasting King.
May God bless this verse.
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