The SIMPLICITY of God.

THE SIMPLICITY OF GOD. 

Geoffrey R. Kirkland

Pastor, Christ Fellowship Bible Church 

The SIMPLICITY OF GOD means that God’s being is not made up of many parts that ‘work together’ to make Him God. What makes God to be God is not a collection of wonderful attributes and qualities. Rather, God’s attributes and qualities and aspects are not part of Him but they are who He truly is. There is no distinction and no separation and no collection of qualities that are collected together to make God God. 

Fundamentally, God is one Being. He is perfect, glorious, unified, exalted, transcendent and different than us. He is unique, unrivaled, unparalleled, unfathomable and unmatched in His beauty and excellence. 

We can better understand the simplicity of God when he contrast it with human beings. We are very different from God in this regard. Human beings are made up of many parts that contribute to who we are as people, as individuals, as persons, all made in the image of God. For example, we may be wise but our wisdom does not make up who we are as infinitely wise beings. We may be powerful and able to lift much weight in the gym but that power does not make up who we are as infinitely omnipotent beings. These qualities are part of who we are but they do not comprise the fullness of our beings and personhood.  But with God, His attributes are simply who He is without any fleeting separation or the smallest distinction. 

We can not say that God is part love, and part wrath, and part knowledge, and part grace, and part justice. His attributes are not separate pieces of the pie of God that all fit together to make a unified whole. Rather, all of these wondrous attributes are identical with and gloriously descriptive of who God is in His one, divine, perfect, unrivaled, and distinct essence. 

Even from 1561, the Belgic Confession states this profound truth: "that there is a single and simple spiritual being, whom we call God”.  The Bible teaches this repeatedly. God is love (1 John 4.8).  God is light  (1 John 1.5).  God is spirit (John 4.24). God is a consuming fire (Hebrews 12.29). The LORD is a warrior (Exodus 15.2). The LORD is peace (Judges 6.24). The LORD is upright (Psalm 92.15). The LORD is gracious and merciful (Psalm 145.8). The Lord is full of compassion (James 5.11). The Lord is faithful (2 Thessalonians 3.3). All of these wonderful statements declare who God is in His being and essence. They do not declare what God is in parts or in percentages or in halves or in pieces. God’s very essence and being consists of these marvelous wonders! 

For this reason, then, you cannot rank God’s attributes higher than the others. We cannot say God is loving but sometimes he shows His angry wrath and just fury. God is always ever living out who He is in his most excellent Being! God is distinct and infinite and most transcendent above all else! (That’s what it means, again, for God to be holy!) 

Let this be reason for you to praise and glory in your God for who He really is. You as a person may show love, show patience, show compassion, extend forgiveness which are God-like qualities. Let these truths in your life compel you to worship your God who is these marvelous qualities in fullness.  To sum it up, God’s wondrous attributes comprise who He is simply, perfectly, incomprehensibly and profoundly! Worship your God! Get lost in wonder and praise and honor! Contemplate Him and His transcendence with humble awe today! 

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The HAPPINESS of God.

THE HAPPINESS OF GOD. 

Geoffrey R. Kirkland

Pastor, Christ Fellowship Bible Church 

 

God is an infinitely happy God.  The happiness of God means that God finds infinite, eternal, delightful joys in and of Himself. God is supremely happy. He is a rejoicing God. Paul speaks of the glorious gospel of the “blessed God” (1 Timothy 1.11). Isaiah 62.5 speaks of God rejoicing over His people. This signifies deep and profound glory that God exudes in Himself and in His character. He rejoices when sinners come to faith (Luke 15.7). This marvelous attribute that springs from God’s character is a most exhilarating and breathtaking quality flowing from the divine nature because it teaches that God is a God of emotion, of relatability, of infinite and boundless joys. And He can relate to us. Imagine that for a while!

As has been said by the Puritans: the happiness of God consists in the knowledge of Himself, and his own perfections, and His wondrous and infinite delights in them. God — and God alone — is the perfect and ultimate object of His own happiness. It has been well said that the knowledge of God consists of His own happiness and so our knowledge of God is what produces our real happiness as well. The more we know God, the happier and more joyous we become. 

For God to be blessed means that He is infinitely joyous and receives infinite delight in Himself. God cannot be infinitely happy outside of Himself for that would mean something is greater than Himself because His happiness and joy would depend on something else. But that is not the case. He is the perfect sum total, in Himself, of all immeasurable delights. This is not a selfish narcissistic joy but a good, righteous, appropriate and infinite delight in His own perfect worth and glory. It is right for God to be happy in Himself because He truly is the only One who is infinitely glorious and good. 

Learn and study your God for He alone is the fountain and source and well-spring of all true and real happiness. Why, then, is God truly happy?  First, God is truly happy in Himself. He has perfect fellowship with each of the divine and eternal members of the Godhead. Each member delights and satisfies one another as each member is God. Each member is co-equal, co-eternal, co-existent and happy fellowship and marvelous delight springs within the perfect Godhead. 

Second, God rejoices in His works of creation. He spoke all things into existence and pronounced it very good. God rejoices in His works (Psalm 104.31). Third, God is supremely happy in His Son. The Father spoke and said how he was well-pleased with His Son (Matt 3.17; 17.5). It is the Son of God who magnificently reflects the glory of the Father because He is God (Hebrews 1.2-3). Jonathan Edwards put it well: “the infinite happiness of the Father consists in the enjoyment of His Son.” 

Next, God finds happiness in His people. He rejoices over His own (Isa 62.5). He exults over the covenant-ones with loud singing (Zephaniah 3.17). His own reflect His glory as the redeemed ones become more conformed to the image of Christ (Romans 8.29). God delights in this. God is well-pleased in the prayers of His people. Indeed, the prayers of the upright are acceptable to God (Proverbs 15.8).  Finally, God is happy in the redemptive work of the Son. He loves His glory and wants His glory to be restored in the corrupt and sin-cursed world. And that wondrous work of the Son that completes atonement and promises ultimate consummation gives joy to the heart of God.  Contemplate your happy God today! The more you know Him, the happier you become! 

 

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The GUIDANCE of God.

THE GUIDANCE OF GOD.

Geoffrey R. Kirkland

Pastor, Christ Fellowship Bible Church

 

God’s guidance is His wise, decreed, good, and timely direction in orchestrating and directing His people and everything that exists. The guidance of God stems from His good wisdom, His perfect decrees, His infinite knowledge, and His all-sufficient Word. The Psalmist declared: “Lead me in your truth and teach me” (Psalm 25.5). What is so amazing about the guidance of God is that God happily and clearly directs His people through the unchanging Truth of His Word. In fact, God clearly led His people in the wilderness wanderings every step of the way (Deuteronomy 8.2). 

God leads His people in wisdom through His counsels (Proverbs 4.11). His guidance is always best, upright and good. Today, the guidance of God comes through His revealed Word, the Scriptures, and those who “speak the word of God to you” (Hebrews 13.7). Through godly counselors there is victory and help (Proverbs 11.14; 15.22).  Practically and preeminently for the believer, direction and guidance from God is clearly received through the testimonies of Scripture (Psalm 119.24). 

So how does God guide a child of God nowadays? He guides through His Word (2 Timothy 3.16-17; 2 Peter 1.5). God does not speak or direct apart from His revealed and complete revelation nowadays. In times past, God spoke through prophets and visions (Hebrews 1.1) but now He has spoken preeminently in the Son (Hebrews 1.1-2) who is beautifully seen and portrayed in the Scriptures (John 5.39). 

What encouragement springs from the truth of the guidance of God! He guides because He is alive and involved in the affairs of His people (Joshua 3.10). Additionally, God is true and His word is always timely and wise (Psalm 25.5). God sends out His light and truth and leads His own (Psalm 43.3). Even through afflictions, uncertainties, trials, and great struggles of life, God remains with His people He promises to His covenant-ones, “I am the LORD your God who teaches you to profit, who leads you in the way you should go” (Isaiah 48.17). 

How do you find guidance from God? Where does it come from? Clear truths and Scriptures provide perfect guidance and truth to hear, believe, embrace, and obey. Also, there are principles that can be gleaned from Scriptures to provide helps to navigate life and make godly decisions (2 Timothy 2.22). Pray for God’s direction (Psalm 27.11) and study God’s counsels (Psalm 119.24), receive biblical counsel from wise saints full of the Word (Proverbs 24.6), and happily rest and believe that for His own sake He will lead and guide you (Psalm 31.3). Thank God for His guidance. Praise Him for His direction. Consider your God and His providential workings in your own life, every day, minute by minute. Thank Him and praise Him for His manifold wisdom (Romans 11.33-36)!

 

 

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The GOODNESS of God.

THE GOODNESS OF GOD. 

Geoffrey R. Kirkland

Pastor, Christ Fellowship Bible Church

 

THE LORD IS GOOD! Believe the Bible’s declaration about this essential character quality of your God. The goodness of God is a moral attribute of God whereby He is the source of all benevolence, kindness, care and tenderheartedness. The goodness of God requires that God has no evil, no darkness, no impurities. Think on this: your God is good and his love is everlasting (Ps 100.5). Your God is good so all must sing praise to His name for it is lovely (Ps 135.3). The Lord is good “to all” (Ps 145.9). The Lord is good to all those who wait for (that is to say: ‘eagerly and actively pursue’) Him (Lam 3.25). The Lord is so good that He proves to be a stronghold in the day of trouble (Nahum 1.7). 

This essential quality flows from the very being and nature of the Almighty God. God’s goodness is not some passive quality. God does not just see what happens and then respond in a good way to the events of life. No! Rather, God’s goodness demonstrates itself in His infinite benevolence in active motion at all times. God is good in amazing ways. He is good in who He is. Also, He is good in what He does. These two points on the essential qualities of God’s goodness must ignite a loving trust and a steady reliance on our God. We can trust Him and lean on Him. He is sturdy and merciful. He is a Stronghold and faithful. 

For God to be good means that every other attribute flowing from His majestic character must be perfect. For example: God’s love is good.  His wrath is good.  His mercy is good.  His justice is good.  His eternality is good.  His holiness is good.  The goodness of God highlights the praiseworthiness of all that God is and all that He does.  That’s why you can confidently speak truth to your heart from Romans 8:28: “We know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God and who are called according to His purpose”. This truth brings us to the very character of God, His dealings with all mankind, and His decrees in all of creation.  In fact, God’s goodness extends even to the wicked and unbelieving in what we call “common grace”. For example: rain and sunshine that the ungodly enjoy come from the good hand of God. That the rebels and blasphemers have provisions, food, water, shelter, health and laughter prove that God is good generally (commonly) to all His creation. 

But O! How marvelous is God’s goodness most magnificently seen in Christ at His cross! Taste and see that the Lord is good; how blessed is the man who takes refuge in Him (Ps 34.8). What amazing goodness springing from the very heart of the infinite God that He would be so kind and benevolent toward the ill-deserving like us. We deserve infinite wrath, but He lavishes us with infinite love. This is an expression of God’s goodness. For God so loved the world that He gave His Son (John 3.16). 

Eschatologically, in the last days, in the glorious Kingdom of Christ, all will come to the Lord and to His goodness (Hosea 3.5). Not only that, God promises that His covenant-people will “be satisfied with my goodness” (Jeremiah 31.14). What awesome promises! What holy wonder! What glories to come! What worldwide joys await all the redeemed! 

This attribute proves to sustain weary souls through sufferings. We would despair unless we believed we would see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living (Psalm 27.13). In every circumstance of life, at all times, I can know that my God will actively, perfectly, caringly and perfectly do what is best in my life for His glory and my good. This theological foundation gives hope and stability in sufferings. It encourages trust in the good hand of God when the thunderclouds burst upon our heads. It motivates us to live holy and happily for Him even when uncertainty and confusion invades. I must be persuaded that my God is good. This grand vision of God’s essential goodness provides hope and joy for the suffering saint not because of our circumstances but because of our God who always remains immutably the same in His magnificent goodnesses (Psalm 23.6).

 

 

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The RIGHTEOUSNESS of God.

THE RIGHTEOUSNESS OF GOD.

Geoffrey R. Kirkland

Pastor, Christ Fellowship Bible Church

 

God is righteous and upright (Deuteronomy 32.4). The RIGHTEOUSNESS OF GOD is an essential quality of God flowing out of His perfect holiness whereby He is morally perfect and always acting in perfect harmony with His character. He cannot deny Himself or go against His own character. God is the standard of what is right and He shall always uphold what is right and cannot deny His own perfect standard. 

We may say that the righteousness of God is the glorious expression of His perfect holiness. What makes God to be God and what sets God apart as the glorious Almighty shows itself in His righteousness. Because God is infinitely pure and holy, He must be opposed to all sin (Romans 3.25). This character quality of God is so beautiful that the psalmist extols: “the Lord is righteous and He loves righteousness” (Psalm 11.7). He is righteous in all His ways (Psalm 145.17).  Daniel knew that the Lord is righteous with respect to all His deeds (Daniel 9.14). That means that every single thing God does in all of human history is good and right. 

But here at this glorious point of God’s character is an insurmountable problem for unrighteous humanity. We by nature are sinners and unholy and impure. God’s righteousness is measured by His own perfect character and all mankind falls short (Romans 3.10). And God’s righteousness means that He will and must act in accordance with His own will, His own moral perfections, and His own truthful faithfulness. His character and conduct is always right and must do what is right. The Scripture says: “You are righteous and your judgments are right (Psalm 119.137). Because He is righteous and must uphold His own perfect, inflexible, glorious moral standard, all sinners are in a desperate condition because we fall short of His perfect glory (Romans 3.23). 

God says that He is the righteous God and Savior (Isaiah 45.21). This is unspeakably good news for helpless lawbreakers like us. Through faith alone in Jesus Christ and in His gospel, the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith (Romans 1.17). That means that through faith in Jesus Christ, God’s only provision for sinners to be forgiven, God imputes or reckons the perfect righteousness of Jesus Christ to that sinner’s account (2 Corinthians 5.21). Paul exclaims that faith is credited as righteousness (Romans 4.5). What wonderful news! We can be made right with the Righteous God all by His doing (1 Corinthians 1.30). 

Most certainly and fearfully, God will return to judge the world in righteousness (Psalm 96.10). In fact, God will judge the world through Jesus Christ, His appointed Judge (Acts 17.30). And what a hopeless condition for every unbelieving sinner to be measured by God’s perfect character and standard. All sinners fall infinitely short with no hope of salvation within himself. God most marvelously wraps His people with a ‘robe of righteousness’ (Isaiah 61.10).  This saving righteousness comes through faith in Jesus Christ — from God on the basis of faith (Philippians 3.9). Oh, what manifold reasons to rejoice happily!

True believers who are born of God will practice righteousness (1 John 2.29) because the righteous position of salvation granted through faith in Jesus Christ will inevitably produce a righteous conduct and practice as the believers grows in Christlikeness (1 John 3.7). Ponder God’s character! Consider His righteousness! Meditate on His nature! And stand in awe of His righteousness!

*This is part of the ongoing blog-series on the ATTRIBUTES OF GOD. Click here for more.

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The JUSTICE of God.

THE JUSTICE OF GOD. 

Geoffrey R. Kirkland

Pastor, Christ Fellowship Bible Church 

The Justice of God is that serious and praiseworthy attribute of God whereby He always does right; that is, he alone determines right from wrong. The Scriptures say: "Does God pervert justice? or does the Almighty pervert what is right” (Job 8.3)? Of course God loves justice because it flows from His very essence and nature (Psalm 33.5; 37:28). The very kingship and power of the Almighty God rests on the foundation of God’s justice (Psalm 89.14). 

The justice of God flows out of His infinitely perfect holiness. For God to be set apart and infinitely different than His creatures in essence and in purity means that God alone is upright, righteous, true and the standard of what is right and wrong. And he upholds what is right — always. God’s justice means He upholds what is right and He always does what is right and in accordance with His character and decrees. Christ will sit on the throne of David one day in the future and He will establish and uphold His kingdom with justice and righteousness (Isaiah 9.7).  Simply, the justice of God refers to God as a strong Rock, and all His ways are perfect, for all of His ways are just; always faithful and without injustice (Deuteronomy 32:4). 

This essential character trait of God Almighty is hugely comforting to the believer as we live in a world with so much injustice. The plague of injustice drips in every part of human society. God says: “Do not pervert Justice” (Ex 23:6). But we see that all around us. God said to his people: “Justice and only justice you shall pursue” (Deuteronomy 16.20). But that is not the case currently. Rulers are to decree justice (Proverbs 8.15). But we don’t see that taking place from our political administrators. God advises: “learn to do good; seek justice; reprove the ruthless; defend the orphan; plead for the widow” (Isaiah 1.17). But that’s not happening. So we find hope in knowing that in the kingdom of Messiah, there will be justice and the nations will be blessed by this divine justice and worship the Lord (Jeremiah 23.5; 33.15). 

The justice of God must awaken unbelieving and slothful sinners from their dangerous condition as God promises to always do what is right. And the justice of God demands that sin be punished (Romans 6.23). God is the Just one who must pour out punishment upon lawbreakers (Romans 3.26). But here is where we come to Calvary and see what Jesus did. He took the curse of God (Galatians 3.13). He received the just — and right — punishment in our stead (Romans 3.24-25). Therefore, for the believing sinner in Christ, God is both just and the justifier (Romans 3.26). Rejoice in this essential character quality of God’s Being because He does and shall always do what is right! The kingdom of Christ and of justice shall come! The unjust and all injustices shall be punished by the God who shall act with holy justice. Rejoice in Him, ponder His commitment to perform what is right, always and evermore. 

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The CONTEMPLATION of God.

THE CONTEMPLATION OF GOD.

Geoffrey R. Kirkland

Pastor, Christ Fellowship Bible Church 

To behold God thoughtfully, carefully, and accurately is the soul’s happy CONTEMPLATION OF GOD. To contemplate God means that we consider His glory, His attributes, His being, and His character. The Scriptures teach that the wise man considers the ‘loving kindnesses of God” (Psalm 107.43).

The psalmist prays that his meditations would be pleasing to God  (Psalm 104.34). In order for a person to contemplate God rightly, He must have an open Bible before Him all the while. David said in the Psalms: “O how I love your Law; it is my meditation all the day” (Psalm 119.97).  That which consumes the child of God are the testimonies of His Word (Psalm 119.99). 

The happiest state of a person consists in the regular, serious-minded, prolonged, and biblical pondering of the beauties of the Triune God. As the child of God meditates on God’s Law day and night, he will be careful to do according to God’s will and will have success (Joshua 1.8-9). 

As you read the Bible and see God’s character, power, attributes, decrees, and redemptive plan unfold on every single page, let your heart soar high in the heavens with thoughts of Him. This is the contemplation of God. This is the highest and most wondrous occupation of the soul. David says: “On the glorious splendor of your majesty, and on your wonderful works, I will meditate" (Psalm 145:5). Do you do this? In a very hurried world, do you pause and consider God? 

Beware and be carefully on guard that distractions and busyness and the affairs of everyday life (even the good and important ones like a job, school, family, etc.) do not squeeze out the necessary time to contemplate God. It has been well-said that the contemplation of God hushes the clamoring voices of the world and hears the One who speaks from heaven!  The more you consider and commune with Him, the more you’ll trust Him, the deeper you’ll love Him, the loftier you’ll honor Him, the happier your soul will be in fellowshiping with Him. 

Discouragement creeps in because of contemplation of God’s goodness has waned.  Anxiety and fear of all shapes and forms enters our hearts and minds because the contemplation of God has become minimal.  Selfishness and pride and arrogance takes root in our hearts and lives because the contemplation of God’s majesty and loveliness has been infrequent. May it be that you would retreat from the busyness and hurried parts of your day and diligently prioritize time to consider God. How? Open your Bible, read a verse, a paragraph, a chapter, a portion, and then take a few minutes and ponder something of that truth about God. Consider it. Chew on it. Fill your thoughts, heart, mind, affections with God, with Christ, with the Spirit, with His gospel. Let that launch you in happy worship and joyous fellowship with your Savior.  What is the contemplation of God but preparation for eternity where we will contemplate God and His excellencies forever and ever and ever! Start now! It is, perhaps, the most heavenly-like activity you can do while living on this earth. Contemplate your God!

 

**To access more of the Attributes of God study, click HERE. 

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The WRATH Of God.

THE WRATH OF GOD.

Geoffrey R. Kirkland

Pastor, Christ Fellowship Bible Church 

A necessary attribute of God is His wrath.  THE WRATH OF GOD is a perfect, holy expression of holy indignation over sin and evil. The Scriptures state that the LORD is avenging and wrathful (Nahum 1.2).  For those who sin and break God’s Law, he promises that “I will act with wrathful hostility against you” (Leviticus 26.28). God’s wrath is the stirring of His holy and furious anger toward all sin.  Never is God’s wrath something that is emotionally irrational or an unthinking sudden response to something but it always perfectly and purely shows itself in righteous opposition to anything that goes against His perfect character and nature. 

In fact, the perfect and exceeding love of God demands and necessitates the perfect and holy wrath of God. God loves His own pure holiness so perfectly that anything that is sinful and lawless ignites His Holy wrath. God’s wrath comes out from the beginning to the end of the Scriptures. No one can deny the wrath of God. It proves to be one of the most common, most described, most illustrative, and most sobering attributes of the Almighty. The enemies of God will be destroyed in His wrath (Psalm 59.13). When Jesus returns at His 2nd coming, He will trod down people in His anger and trample them in His wrath (Isa 63.3, 6). God’s future Tribulation “Day of wrath” is soon coming (Zephaniah 1.15). 

This attribute of God’s wrath comes forth not only in the Old Testament but also in the New. The same God of the Old is the holy God of the New (for He never changes). Jesus warned the self righteous to ‘flee from the wrath to come’ (Luke 3.7). God’s wrath is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness (Romans 1.18). In fact, God sovereignly demonstrates His wrath by enduring with much patience people, vessels, of wrath prepared for destruction (Romans 9.22). For unbelievers, God promises in His wrath, they will never enter His rest (Hebrews 3.11). All unbelievers will be struck down and thrown into the wine-press of the wrath of God, the Almighty (Revelation 19.15). 

How you respond to the doctrine of the wrath of God reveals your attitude toward God. It is hard. It is uncomfortable. it is difficult. But your reluctancy or your readiness to meditate upon and praise God for His wrath reveals your heart attitude toward God’s holy and good and supreme character.   

To behold the wrath of God in his perfect and fullest expression, you must look at the cross. This is the perfect, unmitigated, everlasting wrath of Almighty God poured out and pressed upon the soul of the infinite Son, Jesus Christ at Calvary. God made Him to be sin (2 Cor.5.21). He bore our sin (1 Pet 2.24) and took our curse (Gal 3.13). Christ took the cup full of divine wrath and fury and drank it to the dregs. God’s dark wrath and holy punishment against our sin was mysteriously and infinitely - but truly - placed upon Christ and charged to Him. And He bore it all, in full, once for all, on that tree! He bore our hell and God’s wrath - all out of infinite love! 

Oh sinners, unbelieving sinners, must hear this and tremble for the wrath of the Son will soon be kindled against them (Psalm 2.12). Jesus said to self-righteous people: “how will you escape the sentence of hell” (Matt 23.33)? All unbelieving sinners who refuse Christ will drink of the cup of God’s wrath and be tormented forever and ever (Rev 14.10). O flee to Christ! Run immediately! Receive His righteousness by faith alone! Be saved from this wrath by trusting in the substitute who took it all in your stead! 

 

 

**More from the Attributes of God blog-series can be accessed HERE. 

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The LOVE of God.

THE LOVE OF GOD.

Geoffrey R. Kirkland

Pastor, Christ Fellowship Bible Church 

 

 

The Bible teaches that GOD IS LOVE (1 John 4.8). Love is not just something that God does or something that God shows but it stems from His very being, His essential nature, His glorious perfections.  God cannot not be loving because His very nature proves to be love. The love of God marvels the mind, captivates the soul, has no bounds, and is never passive or impotently reactive. His love is mighty and strong reaching to the heavens (Psalm 36.5).  But sadly, this divine love is often misunderstood. 

The love of God first shows itself in the Inter-Trinitarian Godhead. That means within the Godhead, the Intratrinitarian workings and relations one to another, this One God, eternally existing in three Perfect Persons (Father, Son, and Spirit) has always and ever shown infinite and satisfying and happy love toward each member. God’s love is eternal, natural, unfailing and perfectly good. 

Additionally, God is love toward His creation. He has a general caring concern for all his creatures. And with that, God has a common grace and general love for all humanity. All whom He has made are objects of His benevolent love. 

But there is, however, a most particular and specific love — indeed, a saving love — for all of the elect. God declares that He has loved His covenant-ones with an ‘everlasting love’ (Jeremiah 31.3). This electing love of God came from before the foundation of the world (Ephesians 1.4-5).  The sweetness of God’s perfect love initiates salvation for the sinful (Romans 5.8). It shows itself in propitiation and wrath-satisfying for sin thru the work of Jesus the mediator (1 John 2:2; 4:9-10).  The love of Christ is such that He loves His own, His elect, unto the end; or, “to the max” (John 13:1). O the believer is to study and learn this infinite love that surpasses knowledge (Ephesians 3.18-19). This love surpasses all bounds, all limitations, all conceptions, and all desires for it is infinitely delightful and perfect (Ephesians 3.18). It’s like the bride in Song of Solomon who says to her man: “Draw me after you”, so the bride of Christ can say to Christ our Bridegroom because of His perfect delights, “Draw me after you” (Song of Solomon 1.4).  Let this strong love of Christ refresh you in trials in that nothing can separate you from this Almighty love (Romans 8.35-39). Truly, this love comforts you (Psalm 119.76) and it forgives (Psalm 130.3-4, 7). Oh, labor hard and perseveringly to know this love (Ephesians 3.19)!

The love of our God perfectly extols and harmonizes with every other divine attribute of God’s character. His love for His own nature guarantees the perfections and faithful outworking of all of His dealings. His holiness and sovereignty and power and compassion fuel and sparkle and radiate the excellencies of this divine lovingkindness. As you have received love of Christ, make it your daily resolve to show this same love for one another (John 15.17).

 

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The MERCY of God.

The Mercy of God.

Geoffrey R. Kirkland

Pastor, Christ Fellowship Bible Church 

 

God is merciful.  The mercy of God is the undeserved compassion and kindness toward those in a pitiable and helpless condition. God’s mercy shows itself when He withholds punishment and wrath from those who rightly deserve it because of sin. Mercy cannot be earned. No one deserves mercy. But everyone is in a state of needing mercy because of the lost and pitiable condition of mankind. Simply: mercy is God’s wondrous and undeserved kindness and benevolence toward the needy. 

No wonder the Bible says you must praise God for his mercy (Rom 15.9). Indeed, God is rich in mercy (Eph.2.4). No wonder we should pause and praise the exceeding kindnesses of God. He is lavish in such benevolence to needy and lost souls like us. 

God’s very own character is merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abundant in lovingkindness and truth (Psalm 86:15). This astonishes our souls because we realize we are those conceived, born and living in such a miserable, lost and hopeless condition in our sin that we have nothing to claim from God. No merits of our own can save us. Due to sin and depravity, mankind sinks low in lost, wretched, and hopeless conditions. But Jesus entered as the merciful and faithful High Priest (Hebrews 2.17). All this bubbles forth from the very nature of God — God is full of compassion and merciful (James 5.11). 

That God has not cast me and you into the punishment of eternal fire due to our sin is simply because of the abundant mercy of God. We were sinking low, heading to hell, lost in our spiritual blindness, unable and unwinding to choose God and yet He had benevolence and mercy toward us. This should result in your praise and worship because according to God’s great mercy He caused you to be born again (1 Peter 1.3). And though you were not a people of God, He has now given you mercy (1 Peter 2.10). His mercy is more than your sin and able to save and secure and glorify the worst of sinners (1 Timothy 1.13-16). If God has shown mercy to you, then He calls you to show mercy toward others. Blessed are the merciful for they will be shown mercy (Matthew 5.7). Be merciful as your Father is merciful (Luke 6.36). 

Lost sinners must hurry to the mercy of Christ! Sinking down in rebellion and sin, with no hope of their own, sinners must cry out for mercy. Just like the blind men who had nothing to claim and nothing to offer in their pitiable state, they simply cried out for Christ’s mercy and they received it (Matt 9.27). Hallelujah for the tender mercy of Christ that seeks and saves the hopeless and helpless. Pause and praise God for his “great mercies” (Psalm 119.156) and “faithful mercies” (Isa 55.3). Truly He is the Father of mercies and the God of all comfort” (2 Cor.1.3). This should produce wonder and ignite worship to the Savior of our souls!

 

 

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The FAITHFULNESS of God.

 

The FAITHFULNESS of God. 

Geoffrey R. Kirkland

Pastor, Christ Fellowship Bible Church

The attribute of God’s faithfulness bleeds through the whole Bible. Know therefore that the Lord Your God, He is the faithful God (Deut. 7.9). For God to be faithful means that He is reliable, trustworthy, and totally faithful.  Faithfulness is not so much something God does as much as it is what God is. His very being shall always prove faithful and unswervingly reliable. Without beginning and without ending and without any variation at any point in time, God eternally remains true to His Word, faithful to His promises, inflexible in His justice, and reliable to all who trust in Him. 

Amazingly, the innumerable and incalculable decrees of God for everything in all of space and time shall come to pass just as He purposed because of this wonderful reality: God is faithful. No event or circumstance can overturn God’s plans. No rebel or calamity can frustrate God’s plans. No sin or abominable deed can destroy the faithfulness of God. What God says He will do, that He shall do precisely and exactly. Simply: everything God does is done in faithfulness (Psalm 33.4).

Though man spirals down in great depravity, God always remains faithful (Romans 3.3). The great rebelliousness and evils of men do not change the faithfulness of God (Hosea 11.12). Even as men act unfaithfully and impurely, God remains faithful for He cannot deny Himself (2 Timothy 2.13). 

Because God is faithful in His essence and character, all of His commandments are faithful as well (Psalm 119.86). This is why you and I must run to God’s faithful Word daily (Psalm 119:138). Even in times of affliction, we must know God always acts as Father toward His own in loving and perfect faithfulness (Psalm 119.75). The faithfulness of God is a friendly and hope-filled truth to every child of God. 

The whole salvation enterprise stems from the faithfulness of God who calls His own (1 Cor.1.9) and has eternally called unto salvation (1 Thess.5.24). You know you were joined to Christ because God proves Himself to be faithful. You know He who began the saving work will perfect it because He must remain faithful. You know He shall glorify you and bring you to heaven to worship the Lamb forevermore because He is faithful (Revelation 1.5-6). Child of God, you must then strive to cultivate faithfulness in your life as you emulate your Savior (Galatians 5.22). 

O lost soul, perishing and heading for everlasting destruction, run to God while you have time for He who promised your eternal ruin shall bring it to pass if you die in your unbelief and worldliness. God is faithful to repay the wicked to his face (Deut. 7.9). God will repay wrath and recompense to His adversaries (Isa 59.18). Vengeance belongs to God (Rom 12.19). Ensure you trust in this covenantally faithful God so you do not receive His everlasting wrath that will burst on your soul if you die in your stubborn rebellion. 

Lastly, remember that God who makes all things new and who promises to restore all things and bring in everlasting righteousness is He who sits on heaven’s throne and said: “these words are faithful and true” (Rev 21.5). Rejoice, the unshakeable hope of heaven shall come for God who promised is reliable. 

*More in this blog-series can be found HERE.

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