The PRAISEWORTHINESS of God.

THE PRAISEWORTHINESS OF GOD. 

Geoffrey R. Kirkland

Christ Fellowship Bible Church

I will call upon the LORD who is "WORTHY TO BE PRAISED" (1 Samuel 22.4)!  God is worthy, infinitely worthy of all honor and praise!  The praiseworthiness of God speaks of the full honor and deserved worship given to our exclusive and preeminent God. God is to be praised! 

In heaven, the saints sing worthy is the Lamb to take the book for He was slain and purchased men for God with His blood (Revelation 5.9). They continue singing: “Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power and riches and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing” (Revelation 5.12). 

This kind of thinking should saturate the thoughts of God’s people. Our hearts should well up with bubbling praise and honor to our God who gives innumerable reasons to bless Him. All day, every day, throughout the day, whatever happens each day should not alter our praises of the Lord for He remains the same, unchanging, perfect, good and sovereign. Perhaps this is why the common refrain thunders forth so often in the Bible:  “Hallelujah" - Praise the LORD (see, e.g., Psalm 117:1-2; 135.1, 3, 21).

God is exceedingly praiseworthy because of His character, His actions, His creation, and His salvation.  Contemplate your God and praise Him for His infinite beauties of His character. His being, His attributes, His personhood, His glories, and His excellencies deserve the highest praises from His creatures.  Let your study of God lead to doxology and worship of your God.   Second, contemplate your God and praise Him for His actions in history, toward Israel, toward all nations, and toward you and me. Think of the greatness of His works as you survey biblical revelation. From His provisions, to His deliverances, to His electing people to work out His plans, to His sustaining of His people, we have plenteous reasons to stand stunned before our God and praise Him with a cheerful heart.  Third, contemplate your God and praise Him for His creation. He made all things with His spoken Word. Nothing rebels when God gives the sovereign word. His decrees stand fast. When God spoke, it was done. And also, contemplate your God and praise Him for His salvation. Think of the mercy of God that pitied you as a child of wrath, running headlong toward eternal hell, and He lovingly, particularly, sufficiently, and powerfully snatched you from the fire and saved you! There was nothing in you to merit this kind of rescuing love. But it was His kindness!  Praise be to the Lord!  It’s why David said “I will sing praise to your Name, O most High" (Psalm 9.2)

Today, let your heart well up with genuine and honest worship to your Savior as you say with the psalmist: “I will sing to the LORD as long as I live, I will sing praise to my God while I have my being" (Psalm 104.33; 146.2). And amazingly, this is not something that only you and I must do today for this praising God is something that God Himself jealously and passionately does! His own very glory He will not give to another (Isaiah 48.11). We must praise God because He deserves it, and in response to His actions, and because God Himself is passionately committed to His own honor and excellency, but we must also praise God as the goal and purpose of all that He does!  Let us praise God for all things, especially our salvation in Christ our Beloved Savior, and let us live to the praise of the glory of His grace (Ephesians 1.6).

 

 

**To read more from this blog-series on the Attributes of God, go here. 

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[RE-POST] Why I'm Relentlessly Committed to Expository Preaching!

 

Why am I relentlessly committed to expository preaching?
 Geoffrey R. Kirkland
Christ Fellowship Bible Church


Expository preaching allows God to speak to the people through His powerful & eternal Word.

Expository preaching means that God determines what will be preached since I work verse-by-verse through books of the Bible.

Expository preaching models for the flock of God how to study the Bible — carefully, intentionally, reverently, methodically, and prayerfully working through books understanding the meaning of texts as they're properly interpreted in the immediate context.

Expository preaching obediently follows the authoritative demand of God that He gives to all ministers of the gospel: "Preach the Word!"

Expository preaching provides the necessary venue for the Spirit of God to work by means of the preached Word that has centered on Christ and His gospel to bring sinners to salvation.

Expository preaching conforms the people of God into the image of Christ.

Expository preaching glorifies God since it is God and His Words speaking to the people rather than a man's opinions.

Expository preaching counsels the souls of believers to trust confidently in God's Word, to run relentlessly to the cross of Christ, to pray fervently in the power of the Spirit, and to obey swiftly what God has said in His Word.

Expository preaching magnifies the absolute sovereignty of God since the preacher has no inherent power to convert or sanctify the hearers but it is God, and God alone, by His marvelous grace, who works in the hearers through the proclamation of sacred Truth.

Expository preaching gives people what they MUST hear not necessarily what people want to hear. God determines what is said, what text is preached, and what points to bring out in the message.

Expository preaching feeds the hungry souls of born-again believers who, like sheep, need to be fed the precious, pure, and satisfying food of the Word.

Expository preaching produces effects that are outside of the abilities of the man who stands to preach since the true preaching event is in fact a divine event -- the voice of God thundering through the Word of God and the Spirit of God applies divine truth to the souls of hearers according to His sovereign prerogative.

Expository preaching is the primary vehicle through which the Spirit of God draws the lost to Jesus Christ as the herald opens the Word of God and preaches it with authority.

Expository preaching unquestionably reminds hearers that God is the authority and His Word is what rules over us and tells us what to do. The preaching event is never about self-help, pithy, crafty, entertaining, crowd-producing, cute sermonettes. In true preaching, God, from heaven, condescends to His people through the proclamation of the Word and meets with His people to show them Christ by the illuminating work of the Spirit. This is authoritative, God-centered preaching.

Expository preaching reminds Christians to trust in God's truth in the Word & not on a man's dazzling message. Let their faith be in Christ! 

 

 

Therefore, by God's grace:

I will EXPOSITIONALLY preach

I will BOLDLY preach 

I will REGULARLY preach 

I will PRAYERFULLY preach

I will OBEDIENTLY preach 

I will FAITHFULLY preach

 

Haddon Robinson sums it up concisely: 

Expository preaching is the communication of a biblical concept, derived from and transmitted through a historical, grammatical, and literary study of a passage in its context, which the Holy Spirit first applies to the personality and experience of the preacher, then through the preacher, applies to the hearers.

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The NAME of God.

THE NAME OF GOD

Geoffrey R. Kirkland

Pastor, Christ Fellowship Bible Church 

Blessed be the NAME OF THE LORD (Psalm 113.2). The Name of God appears all throughout the Bible and speaks of His essential Being and perfect Nature in its blessed fullness. The Name of God signifies who God really is. The Bible speaks of praising the NAME of the Lord (Psalm 113.1; 148.13). This means that we must know our God and respond rightly in worship to who God is in the fullness of His glory. 

The Name of the Lord most specifically is Yahweh. He says that “My name” is Yahweh (Exodus 6.3; cf. 3.14-15). The Name of Yahweh speaks of His self-existence, His eternality, His power, and His Almightiness.  None can compare and none can outdo our God!  But His name is more than a “title”. It is a revelation of His nature and attributes. Often one’s name indicated one’s identity, and even one’s works and actions, or even one’s profession. The Name of God, to be sure, encompasses the grand glories and the infinite splendors of God’s personhood, works, miracles, and being! 

To worship and praise the “name of the LORD” means to celebrate HIs attributes, actions, power, and mercy. In the song of Moses, praising the name of the Lord is parallel to ascribing greatness to God (Deuteronomy 32.3). Elsewhere, the name of the Lord is parallel to the glory of the Lord (Psalm 102.15). To call upon the name of the Lord means that one prays to, cries out to, and begs God for a listening ear (Psalm 116.4). Proverbs 18.10 tells us that the name of the Lord is a strong tower.  

In the New Testament, believers are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus (1 Corinthians 6.11). Whoever calls on the name of the Lord will be saved (Romans 10.13). These truths speak of the fullness of who God is. Saints have been justified because of the fullness of the work of Jesus Christ.  To be saved, one must call upon the character, the work, the actions, the mighty saving abilities of God! 

Like Micah, we must walk in the name of the Lord our God forever (Micah 4.5). We must be ever living in the presence of the fullness of God’s glorious being. As the praises were uttered: “We thank you and praise your glorious Name” (1 Chronicles 29.13). Nehemiah extolled: “may your glorious name be blessed and exalted above all blessing and praise” (Nehemiah 9.5). God is so passionate about the worth and enjoyment of and exaltation of His Name that He makes for Himself a glorious Name (Isaiah 63.14). 

This means you must know your God rightly to worship His Name and character appropriately. It means you must bow humbly before your God when you know His Name truly. It means you must live obediently and reverently before your God for His Name is glorious! So you ponder the name of your God which leads to a blessed and happy study of the attributes of God and it leads you to sing with David: “I will sing praises to the Name of the Lord Most High” (Psalm 7.17). You can exalt the Name of the Lord through prayer and praise, hymns and singing, obedience and living (1 Corinthians 10:31; Psalm 92.1)!  Many people boast in anything or everything this world can offer, but we as God’s people who love God and know Him truly and trust Him supremely can say: “we will boast in the Name of the Lord our God” (Psalm 20.7). 

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The WILL of God.

THE WILL OF GOD

Geoffrey R. Kirkland

Christ Fellowship Bible Church,  pastor

The WILL OF GOD is a multifaceted reality of God’s being that includes God’s thinking, choosing, and doing that flows from His omnipotence and His sovereignty. God’s will always is perfect and right and true and appropriate. God does what He wants all the time in accordance with His perfect will and sovereign decrees.  God raised up David, a man after God’s own heart who “will do all my will” (Acts 13.22). 

Consider how theologians have referred to the will of God in a few ways. First: the DECREED will of God. This is God’s sovereign, efficacious, unhindered, never-thwarted plans and decrees of God. The LORD does whatever He pleases (Psalm 115.3).  Second: the PRECEPTIVE will of God. This is the will of God that is revealed in His Word, the Bible. Teach me your statutes (Psalm 119.12). Teach me discernment and knowledge (Psalm 119.66). Teach me to do your will, for you are my God (Psalm 143.10). This speaks to the revealed will of God as found in the sufficient Scriptures. These are the things revealed so that we may know and do them and teach them to our children (Deuteronomy 29.29).  Third: the PERMISSIVE will of God. This is the will and plan of God whereby He allows and permits all that happens in the world to occur — even evil and lawlessness. God does not sanction sin but He has decreed it and He allows it (to further His sovereign and perfect will for His glory in His infinite wisdom). Fourth: the DESIRED will of God. God has desires and longings for His people to know Him, obey Him, trust Him, and be saved. God desires all men to be saved and come to a knowledge of the Truth (1 Timothy 2.4).

The will of God most often refers to the sovereign, decreed, predetermined, unchanging plans and purposes of God that can never be thwarted. No angel, or army, or person, or circumstance can ever hinder God’s purposes. The will of God shall always be fulfilled for his sovereign purposes shall come to pass. He alone receives glory, ultimate glory, as He unfolds His perfect plan in human history. 

Also, we must strive to know and learn the will of God so as to obey Him.  This is the will of God, your sanctification: that you abstain from sexual immorality (1 Thessalonians 4.3). The will of God in Christ Jesus is for you to give thanks in all circumstances (1 Thessalonians 5.18). And God must be praised for He glories in His own perfect plans and will that will be accomplished, even through His creatures who obey and follow Him (Isaiah 46.10). 

This should lead to 3 responses: devotion, delight, and duty.  We must be devoted truly and fully to God’s Word. The will of God, the mind of Christ, the voice of God is found in the Word of God, the Scriptures. We must strive to diligently study the Word, be devoted to the Word, and hide it in our hearts. For therein will we learn and grow in understanding the will of God.   Second, we must delight in God. We must delight in our God who is absolutely sovereign and perfect. Nothing shall ever change or alter or thwart His mighty and majestic and foreordained decrees (Psalm 93.1; Job 42.2). How awesome to think of this God of Almighty power who is in control unswervingly! Third, we must seek to fulfill our duty in walking in obedience to God’s Will as revealed in the Bible. We must present ourselves to God fully as living sacrifices — to do His will (Romans 12.1-2). 

Rest confidently in your God and in His perfect will! Study His Word, the revealed will, and make every intention to know Him deeply, obey Him fully, and worship Him daily for His wisdom, power, glory, and strength!  Consider His will and be drawn to worship!

 

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The SPLENDOR of God.

THE SPLENDOR OF GOD

Geoffrey R. Kirkland

Christ Fellowship Bible Church 

In a song of praise to God, David, Asaph, and the worship-leaders proclaimed: “Splendor and majesty are before God” (1 Chronicles 16.27)! THE SPLENDOR OF GOD emanates from the glorious Being of His majesty and power and holiness.  The splendor of God signifies His beauty and glory and worth and radiance! This wonderful reality evokes awe and humility on the part of the observers. 

One writer so aptly put it like this: Our God is not only great, but good. Not only big, but beautiful. Not only strong, but stunning. He is, in a word, majestic. The majestic splendor of God are radiances of the stunning power of our beautiful God. The splendor of God is joined with his majesty, strength, and beauty, all beheld in His sanctuary (Psalm 96.6).

As you reflect on God’s power in creation and His unrivaled ability to do the impossible by creating with His own absolute word, the psalmist exclaims: Bless the LORD O my soul, O LORD my God you are very great; you are clothed with splendor and majesty (Psalm 104.1).  This splendor finds expression in the greatness of God and in the power of God.  The word for splendor often speaks of majesty, strength, glory, honor (thus, splendor). It often arises is passages juxtaposed with majesty. 

David says that He will meditate on the wonderful works and glorious splendor of God’s majesty (Psalm 145.5). That meditative splendor is seen in creation (Psalm 8.2). Indeed, the splendor of God even speaks of the Messiah who will rebuild the Temple and have royal, divine, majestic honor and splendor in the latter days (Zechariah 6.13). Everything discussed here can be summed up in the phrase: “awe-inspiring splendor.” 

When you gaze upon God the King rightly you should bow low in humble adoration with cheerful and submissive devotion. The splendor of God covers the heavens (Habakkuk 3.3). God actively, daily, consistently displays His most excellent splendor in the heavens with the moon and the stars which He sets carefully in place (Psalm 8.1). Oh to gaze upon the royal majesty of your King! 

The splendor of God should should affect you practically and personally in these ways.  First, it should instill hope. Your God always promises to bring good out of every circumstance and situation of life. You can hope not in self and in situations and in expectations but you can and should hope in God and in His steadfast and splendid character.  Second, it should embolden trust. Your God is not only powerful but He is good. This splendid and majestic God of royal power is absolute in authority and merciful in tenderness and good in His ways. Third, it should eliminate all fear and worry. Your God as the splendid Monarch over the universe governs all things well and is working out His perfect decrees in every single moment. Never fear or worry because it adds nothing, it does nothing, it accomplishes nothing, and it changes nothing. Fourth, it should evoke awe and humility and worship! Praise your King! 

Finally, the splendor of God must instill incredible trembling in the hearts of unbelieving sinners and willful God-rejecters. The proud may strut along fine now but soon enough they will hide in the rocks from the terror of the Lord and the splendor of His majesty (Isaiah 2.10). In judgment against all arrogant unbelievers, God will arise and make the earth tremble in the splendor of His majesty (Isaiah 2.19). The greatest of God’s most splendid, majestic, and royal works is the coming to save guilty worms who deserve His very own wrath. What a Savior! Splendid and majestic is His work (Psalm 111.3). Seek Christ the King and bow low in humble trust in Him alone for there is no other name, under heaven, given among men by which you may be saved (Acts 4.12)! 

**More from this ongoing blog-series can be found HERE.

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The INFINITY of God.

 THE INFINITY OF GOD.

Geoffrey R. Kirkland

Pastor, Christ Fellowship Bible Church 

The INFINITY OF GOD means that God has no limits or bounds whatsoever. He is free from any and all limitations. God has no one constraining him. There is no scientific law that binds him. No creature or person or circumstance can limit or hinder God in any way. This essential part of God’s character reminds us of the infinite vastness of the magnitude of God’s splendor. He is totally unlike us. Therefore, the infinity of God consists of His non-communicable attributes (that is: those characteristics of God that we as people cannot emulate; e.g., his omnipresence, his omniscience, his infinity, etc.).

The Bible exclaims that God’s greatness is “unsearchable” (Psalm 145.3). No one can withstand God or resist Him in any way (2 Chronicles 20.6). Marvel at this amazing truth of the psalmist: “Our God is in the heavens and He does whatever He pleases" (Psalm 115.3)! One must be infinite in order to do whatever He pleases! 

Solomon prayed and affirmed the infinite largeness and unmeasured glory of God when he said: “even heaven and the highest heavens cannot contain you” (1 Kings 8.27). Some have called this attribute of God’s infinity a “meta-attribute” because it, in a sense, qualifies all the other attributes of God’s blessed character and being. This is a most gloriously positive and wonderful attribute. It highlights the supremacy, preeminence, and incomparable nature of our God’s personhood! 

Our minds get lost in the magnitude of sheer exaltedness of the infinity of God. God has internally, in and of Himself, no limitation nor defect in any way or form. Furthermore, He alone has boundless potentiality. He can do all His holy will. He has potential to do anything that He wants. This brings us back to the majestic perfection of His being. What comfort! What hope! What joy! What stability to know and trust and love — and be loved by — this God! 

God has no restrictions to His attributes. Furthermore, God lacks nothing and needs nothing. He is complete and not needing anything or anyone to fulfill Him. All the perfections and attributes of God find a direct link to this infinity of God because His love is infinite, His mercy is infinite, His compassions are infinite, His righteousness is infinite, His holy wrath is infinite, and so on. 

Everything God made has limits. You and I have limits. Just examine your own physical body. You have limits: physical form, bodily shape, mental limitations. But not so with your God!  Ponder Job 11:7 — Can you discover the depths of God? Can you discover the limits of the Almighty? Even David acknowledged: “I have seen a limit to all perfection; but God’s Word is exceedingly broad” (Psalm 119.96)!  Oh how mighty and majestic, how infinite and incomparable, how limitless and unhindered is your God. 

Because this is true, why worry? Why fear? Why get caught up in the trivial sins and temptations and worldlinesses of today? Transfix your heart on the deep and sturdy infinity of God. Be shocked and amazed that this mighty and limitless God of all the universe who could — and should! — crush me and you because of our vile sin and evil rebellion. Yet He has, in unspeakable and infinite grace poured out the riches of His love upon us to save us from infinite wrath! What an infinite cost! What an infinite Savior! What an infinite love! What infinite reasons we have to bless this God!  Do so today! Praise and consider your God for His infinity.

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The INCOMPREHENSIBILITY of God.

THE INCOMPREHENSIBILITY OF GOD.

Geoffrey R. Kirkland

Christ Fellowship Bible Church, pastor

The incomprehensibility of God refers to the fact that God’s nature, being, ways, and decrees are beyond human understanding. Even the Apostle Paul exclaimed: “How unsearchable are His judgments and unfathomable are His ways” (Romans 11.33)! The INCOMPREHENSIBILITY OF GOD speaks to the unrivaled truth of God that He is unfathomable. No one can fathom, or understand, or fully know all that there is to know about God. 

This means God is independent, self-sufficient, dependent on no one or nothing or existence, powerful, and simple. All of God and the depths of God are beyond human reckoning. We cannot fathom the fullness of the depth and breadth and height and length and bounds of God. Indeed, there are no bounds to God. The Reformers would often say: “The finite cannot grasp the infinite."

An important and essential point must clearly be understood by us. Though God is incomprehensible, He is at the very same time truly knowable.  Though we cannot know all there is to know about God, we can know God truly and genuinely. We can know God personally and individually.  Though we cannot plumb the depths of the mind of God, we can know the mind of Christ accurately as He has revealed Himself in Scripture. 

Ponder these truths. God’s thoughts are not our thoughts; His ways are not our ways; for as high as the heavens are above the earth, so His ways are higher than our ways (Isaiah 55.8-9). This puts people in the proper place as we humbly bow before His infinite transcendence and His exclusive position of authority. Indeed: “the secret things belong to the LORD” (Deuteronomy 29.29a). God is incomprehensible. You can’t ever figure out all of God’s ways. 

This mind-blowing reality of God and His unfathomable and unsearchable knowledge and wisdom should cause our hearts to erupt with humility and praise. We must bow low before our God and never grumble or complain or question any of His ways. Rather, we must trust our good God who is wise and perfect in executing His decrees every moment of every day for every person for His ultimate glory. This amazing truth of God should propel us to greater, deeper, prolonged study of Him in His Word, the Scriptures. We can know God truly by studying His revelation of Himself through Christ as seen in the pages of the Bible. So then, God is both hidden and revealed! We cannot know the deepest thoughts of God’s heart (so we trust Him!) but we engage in heartfelt and devotional study of Him through His Word (so we can know Him and obey Him!). 

The incomprehensibility of God should have a real impact on your life this very day. For you to grasp this truth in your heart means that you must trust in your God in all of His ways. Everything that happens in your life is from the decreed and perfect hand of God. Even the trials that take us by surprise and may linger long in hard times should remind us to not chafe nor rebel nor grumble at God’s doings. Rather, we must praise and worship Him and acknowledge that whatever God ordains is always right and good. Every event, every nation, every kingdom, everything in nature and creation, and all circumstances and meetings and occasions are all from the incomprehensible mind and plan of God. He is always working out His perfect and fore-ordained decrees. Thus, worship Him in humble and heartfelt wonder and praise! Though we cannot know God fully, let’s keep studying Him to know Him truly and personally! As God says of His covenant-people: “I will give them a heart to know me; for I am the LORD” (Jeremiah 24.7)!

 

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The COMPASSION of God.

THE COMPASSION OF GOD.

Geoffrey R. Kirkland

Christ Fellowship Bible Church 

The LORD your God is a COMPASSIONATE GOD (Deut 4.31).  The compassion of God is an attribute of God’s essential nature and marvelous being whereby He willingly shows mercy and kindness to His creation. Some have called it a ‘core’ attribute of God. It flows from His wondrous nature. It’s the spring through which He manifests expressions of love and tenderness toward weak and pitiful creatures. 

Psalm 86.15 describes God as being “full of compassion”. The Hebrew word for ‘compassion’ speaks of a deep, internal, emotion-filled love for an object. It is used for a mother’s tender love toward her nursing baby (Isa 49.15). It speaks of a father’s kind love toward his very own children (Psalm 103.13). The word underscores the deep and tender love God has for weak creatures. God knows the weaknesses of fallen and helpless creatures. He can sympathize and relate to human temptation and weakness (though without sin!). He never excuses our sins or overlooks sin or winks at sin but He does have much tender mercy and internal affection toward His creatures in such a miserable condition. 

The Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who is the King of glory and the God of all majesty pronounced denunciation judgments on unbelievers (Matthew 23). And yet, in that very same context and setting, our Lord has tender compassions toward unbelieving Jerusalem wishing and yearning for her repentance unto life! (Matthew 23.37). What melting mercy and what undeserved grace and what lavish tenderness our sovereign Lord shows toward men! 

Think of it: a bruised reed He will not break (Matthew 12.20)!  What a loving and understanding Savior!  Our Lord saw the crowds and He had compassion for them and didn’t want them to faint on their journey home (Mark 8.2). Our Lord saw a weeping woman and had great compassion toward her (Luke 7.13). 

Think of it:  the Lord God of heaven and earth is ‘full of compassion and is merciful’ (James 5.11). The prophet Joel pleaded with sinners to return to the Lord God in genuine repentance for He is gracious and compassionate (Joel 2.13). O sinner, wretched sinner, hell-bound sinner, sin-loving transgressor, turn to God thru faith in Christ right now! God, being compassionate, forgives iniquity and is willing to not destroy sinners (Psalm 78.38). But if you slight his compassions now, He will cease His invitations to you when you don’t expect it, and there will be no mercy for you but only justice. Flee to God’s merciful compassion through repentance from sin and faith in our Lord Jesus Christ and be saved from the Almighty judgment of God that will unendingly crush you in hellfire for endless eternities to come!  

But in Christ, we know that His lovingkindnesses never fail and His compassions never fail (Lamentations 3.22). Child of God, adopted into God’s family through His sovereign predestination (Ephesians 1.5), remember and rejoice that you now stand in the secure position of being chosen of God, holy and beloved (Colossians 3.12). And because you have received compassion from God, now you must show this same compassion toward others (Colossians 3.12b). Be astonished and let this truth humble your heart that God who said: "I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion” has selected you to be an eternal object of His passionate and kind compassions forevermore (Romans 9.15). Let the tender, emotional, kind, sweet compassions of your Savior fill you with hope and rest, joy and worship, humility and a holy resolve to show this same compassion toward others!  All for the glory of your God who is the “Lord God, compassionate and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in lovingkindness and truth” (Exodus 34.6)!

 

 

**More entries from this ongoing blog series on the ATTRIBUTES OF GOD are here.

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