Genesis chapter 1, I have something
here that I wish I could say to millions and millions of people. It pleased the Lord by the foolishness
of preaching to save them that believe. Isn't that what our
Lord said? By the foolishness of preaching. Romans 10 says,
how shall they believe if they don't hear? And how shall they
hear without a preacher? And how shall he preach except
he be sent? Sent of God with God's truth,
with his word. The Lord has used men throughout
time to reveal himself through this word. It pleased him to
use men to reveal who he is to his people. He used Moses and
the prophets, didn't he? He used 12 apostles and all of
those men were given the inspired word of God. And what that means
is they declared God in a way that he had never been declared
before. They spoke God's word, his inspired
word. Paul did not have the book of
Ephesians when he wrote that letter to the Ephesians. He did
not write and say, it says God inspired his word to him and
he knew he was riding on the authority of God. Even after
the men who God gave his word to, even after those men wrote
the word, our Lord still uses men to explain his word. He is still using men. He gives
some men the spirit of understanding to more clearly reveal who he
is. There are some men that stand
out in my mind that the Lord has greatly used, men like John
Gill. Every true pastor I know uses
John Gill's commentaries in study. Men like Charles Spurgeon. Aren't
you so thankful for Charles Spurgeon? God raised up that man. He revealed
some things to that man and he allowed Spurgeon to see some
things that have been such a blessing to us, such a help to us. Another
man that the Lord greatly used was Arthur Pink. A man named
Arthur Pink, the Lord gave him some true insight to the scriptures.
One of his commentaries was called The Sovereignty of God. And a
lot of people, that book has been used to greatly
bless so many people, Sovereignty of God. Now here's why I'm telling
you all this. The Lord gave this man, Arthur Pink, some true insight
to the attributes of God. the attributes of God, the character
of God, who God is. Our Lord said, this is life eternal,
and this is, I'm telling you, this is. This is life eternal,
that they might know thee. They might know thee. And the
only way that that's possible is if God reveals Himself. That's the only way. This illustration
was given by Arthur Pink. He said it or
heard it. He repeated it. But he said if
a savage man, a remote savage man, found a watch on the sand. I see him out on this island
and this watch floats up from the ocean and he picks up this
watch on the sand. After he looks at it he realizes
somebody made this, right? Even a savage man can tell somebody
made this watch. So then he sits down on the sand
and he tries by looking at the creation to understand and know
the watchmaker. He's just going to sit there
and he's just going to look at this creation. He's just going
to stare at this watch, study it until he comes to know the
manner of the watchmaker. What his affections are, his
desires are. We all have different ones, right? what his disposition is, the
man's disposition, what his moral character is, everything that
makes up this man's personality. He's just gonna gather all that
by looking at this watch, looking at this creation. That savage
man can study that watch all he wants to, but do you think
he'll ever come to a true knowledge of the watchmaker? No. This is not just a watchmaker. This is God. This is God Almighty. The heavens do declare His glory. They do. The earth, the firmament,
does show His handiwork. But we cannot, by searching the
creation, find out God. That is amazing. That's an amazing
revelation to me. That's what man is doing. We
cannot, by searching the creation, find out God. He must reveal
Himself. He must. He has revealed Himself
through His Word. Through His Word. Our Lord allowed
this man, Arthur Pinck, to see 17 attributes of God that were
revealed in this Word. God revealed them concerning
himself. All right, 17 truths about his
character. These 17 truths, these 17 attributes
reveal more of who this God is that we love and bow to and worship. And I felt led to look at the
first one this morning, okay? We've been going through Ecclesiastes
for the Bible study, and I don't want to leave Ecclesiastes, but
as the Lord leads us, I want us to look, if He's willing,
I want us to look at all 17 of these attributes. It would be
so beneficial to us to understand more of who He is. The first
one is the solitariness of God. the singularity of God. There is none like Him. No one and nothing compares to
Him. You try to explain something
to somebody and you say, well, it's like, there's nothing like Him. It
cannot be explained. It can only be revealed from
Him. No one and nothing compares to Him. Solitaire means alone. It means one. Now look with me
at Genesis 1 verse 1. It says, In the beginning, God. Alright, there was a time. And you can't even really call
it time. There was a time when there was
no time. All right? But for our understanding, we
can't fathom no time. For our understanding, there
was a time when God, the one God, the only God who dwells
in three persons, Father, Son, and Spirit, There was a time
when God dwelt all alone. All alone. Verse one says, in
the beginning, God created the heaven. There was a time when
there was no heaven. That is amazing. I've been thinking about that
for a week, two weeks now. There was a time when there was
no heaven. God created the heaven. Okay? God was before that creation. And God created the heaven. Before that, there was no heaven. There was no heaven. There were
no angels. There were no cherubims. There
were no seraphims. There was no universe to be upheld
by the Word of His power. There was nothing. There was nothing. Verse 1 says,
In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. Until
He did that, there was nothing. There was nothing. It was not
that way for a short while either. It was not that way for a short
while. It was that way from everlasting. Everlasting means there's no
stop to it. It's everlasting. It cannot be measured with a
starting point and an ending point. Our lives can be, and this world can be, but what
was before He created it cannot be. It just cannot be. From everlasting,
He is. Turn with me over to Psalm 90. Psalm 90 verse 2 says, Before
the mountains were brought forth, or ever thou hadst formed the
earth and the world, even from everlasting to everlasting, thou
art God. during a past eternity. We all think about eternity,
don't we? Aren't we all looking to eternity? Aren't we all waiting? We're
here to hear about the things of eternity. We had this starting
point, and now we've been going for this long, and then one day
we're going to cross over, and after that, no more time, it's
going to be eternity. Alright, the same eternity that
goes that way, went that way. From everlasting. During a past eternity, God was
alone forever. God will be with us forever.
I'll be their God. They'll be my people. I'll dwell
with them forever. God was alone forever. He was alone forever. He was
self-sufficient from everlasting. He was self-satisfied. This is so important. Man, I
wish we had a live feed going into every building in Kingsport.
This is so important. He was self-sufficient. Self-satisfied. He was in need of nothing. Nothing. If he had needed the
angels, and if he had needed human beings, and if he needed
a universe, he would have created them from eternity. From everlasting. He didn't need them though. He's
God. He is God. The fact that He did
create those things, did create us, that did not add anything
to what He already was. It didn't add anything to His
glory. Why did God make man? Well, to
glorify God. It did not add anything to His
glory. He doesn't need me to glorify
Him. I do, but He doesn't need it. It did not add anything to
His sovereignty. God controls all things. Well, there was a time when there
were no things, and the fact that He made things didn't add
one thing to His sovereignty. He said in Malachi 3 verse 6,
I change not. I don't change. People ask the
question all the time, does God change? Isn't that what everybody
wants to know? Well, I understand that's what it said in the Old
Testament, but that's the Old Testament. Now we have the New Testament.
Does God change? God has not changed from never
beginning eternity. He has not changed. for ages
and eons, and that, I don't even know what an eon is, but I know
that word, and however much that is, if you multiplied that times
however many, that would be the first fraction of a second of
never beginning eternity. And from all that time, He has
remained unmovable, He has remained unchangeable, and He's not going
to start changing now. If forever he's been this way,
he's not going to start now. He is the same yesterday, today,
and forever. So he's from eternity. He needed
nothing then. He needs nothing now. This is what I wish people could
understand. He needs nothing right now. He does not need man's
praise. He does not need man's glory.
He does not need man's company. Go with me to Ephesians chapter
1. Ephesians chapter 1, now here's
the next thing about his solitariness. Ephesians 1 verse 11 says, in
whom also we have obtained an inheritance being predestinated
according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after
the counsel of his own will. He is not influenced by anyone
or anything. Not at all. He is not influenced. He has no obligation to do anything. He has no obligation to create
anything or sustain anything. No obligation. Everything that
he does is a sovereign act of His own good pleasure and will. Everything He does. Right here
in Ephesians 1 verse 5 says, having predestinated us unto
the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to Himself according to
the good pleasure of His will. He is the only one who does as
he pleases. The only one. He's the only one
who truly does as he pleases. He answers to no one. No one. Look with me at Romans 11. Back just a few pages to Romans
11. Romans 11 verse 33 says, Oh the depth of the riches both
of the wisdom and knowledge of God. How unsearchable are his
judgments and his ways past finding out. For who hath known the mind
of the Lord? Or who hath been his counselor? or who hath first given to him,
and it shall be recompensed unto the one who gave it again." What
that saying is, the Almighty is under no obligation to any
creature. None. No one counseled Him. No one made Him what He is. No one. But here's the amazing
thing, still, even so, Sinful man has it in his mind that he
has to make Him Lord. Isn't that what he believes?
Won't you make Him Lord? Verse 35 says, Who hath first
given to Him, and it shall be recompensed unto Him again. Isn't
that the craziest thing? I tell you what, if you make
Him Lord, He'll save you. Isn't that crazy? That's like telling a man who's
drowning in the ocean, a ship comes by. If you'll go up there
and get the life preserver and throw it in, you won't drown.
And then jump back in after you're out. It's crazy. Job said, this is what Job said,
If thou be righteous, if you were righteous, no sin. If thou be righteous, what givest
thou him? Even if you were righteous, what
could you offer him? What would he need of you being
righteous? If thou be righteous, what givest
thou him or what receiveth he of thine hand? What could we
possibly offer an eternal, almighty, complete, in need of nothing
God? What could we offer him? This
is what God says of all the creation collectively. Go with me over
to Isaiah 40. Isaiah 40. And it's just amazing, man thinks
he has something to offer God. Man thinks he has something to
offer God. Verse 15, Isaiah 40 verse 15
says, Behold, the nations are as a drop of a bucket, and are
counted as the small dust of the balance. Behold, he taketh
up the isles as a very little thing. All these islands that
all that water surrounds on this earth. It's just a very little
thing. Verse 16, And Lebanon is not
sufficient to burn, nor the beasts thereof sufficient for a burnt
offering. All nations before him are as
nothing. and they are counted to him less
than nothing, and vanity. To whom then will you liken God,
or what likeness will you compare unto him?" That right there is
the God of Scripture. That is the God of Scripture.
That is the God of the universe. That is the God of all existence. That is the God of time. That's
the God of eternity. But this is what the Apostle
Paul said. He said, He's still the unknown God. Isn't that what
he said? I'm going to declare to you the
unknown. Can you believe it? The unknown God. Verse 21 right
here says, Have you not known? Have you not heard? Hath it not
been told you from the beginning? Have you not understood from
the foundations of the earth? Man ought to know. Man ought
to know, but he doesn't. How sad it is that the actual
true God of all, the actual God of all, the God who is God, sounds
nothing like this in the average pulpit today. Isn't that something? The God that they're preaching,
it sounds nothing like this. Nothing like this. The God that is preached in religion
today has been brought down to a level that man can understand.
Brought way down. to a level that man can understand.
He's a God who does not work alone. Isn't that true? He's a God who needs. This is
what they say. This is what they preach. God
needs. He does not, does He? He does
not. In saying that, they are not
preaching the God of the Bible. This God right here is the only
God. This is the only God. He alone
is worthy to be feared. He alone is worthy to be worshipped. He alone is worthy to be praised. And He's the only one who is
worthy to be declared. He's the only one. So this is
where we're going to leave it. This is where we're going to
leave it. We're going to declare this in our hearts and we're going
to leave it right here. Look with me at 1 Timothy chapter
6. First Timothy chapter 6, verse 13 says, I give thee charge in the sight
of God, who quickeneth all things, and before Christ Jesus, who
before Pontius Pilate witnessed a good confession, that thou
keep this commandment without spot, unrebukable, until the
appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ. Who is this God that we've been
talking about? We've been talking about God.
Who is the God? The eternal, almighty God? It's Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ. It's I Am. Moses said, who are
you? He said, I Am. And he told those
Pharisees before Abraham was, I Am. I am. He is God manifest in the flesh. We receive the knowledge of the
glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. Verse 15 says, which
in his times he shall show who is the blessed and only potentate. Potentate means mighty authority. He's the blessed and only mighty
authority, the King of kings and Lord of lords, who only hath
immortality, dwelling in the light, which no man can approach
unto, whom no man hath seen nor can see, to whom be honor and
power everlasting. Amen. All right, you're dismissed.