So in continuing with our study
on the attributes of God, I feel like I'm still in the introduction
phase. There are so many glorious things
to say about our God, so many marvellous aspects of his character. And now study of them can never
be exhausted, can they? So I found myself visiting many
verses in my study and so this is why we have those sheets there.
to save us looking up those verses and save a little bit of time.
If you look at that first verse, Job 42 verse 2, Job makes a wonderful
statement concerning our God which gives us a good starting
point, doesn't he? He says, I know that thou canst
do everything. and that no thought can be withholden
from thee. And Job is speaking here of two
special attributes, wonderful attributes of our God, peculiar
to our God. He says, I know that thou canst
do everything. So Job is speaking here of the
omnipotence of God. It's just a fancy way of saying
God can do everything. He's all powerful. And like all
the glorious attributes of our God, the omnipotence of God is
a comfort. It's a comfort to believers.
If God is for us, who can be against us? Who? He can do everything,
can't he? He can do everything. If God
is saving a people for himself, and he is, and if God can do
everything, and he does, then those he determines to save must Is there not a comfort to us
who believe in him, believe him at his word? Thou canst do everything. And then Job says, and that no
thought can be withholden from me. And Job is speaking here
of the omniscience of God. Another fancy word, isn't it?
And not just another way of saying, our God knows all things. The Lord Jesus knew the hearts
of men. He read them like a book. He
didn't even need to read them. He just knew. There was no process
involved for the Lord Jesus. He was omniscient, wasn't he?
Our God is omniscient. Our God knows all things. And
again, like all the attributes of God, this is an amazing comfort
to every believer. He knows us. He knows our frame. He knows that we are dust. He
knows our thoughts. He knows our thoughts before
we've even formed them in our mind. When we pray, when we pray,
He knows what we'll pray before we pray. He knows our needs. He knows our need than before
we even know our need. He knows. He knows our complete
inability, inability to produce righteousness, which God requires.
And knowing that inability and knowing that destitution, He
provides everything. for his children. He provides
absolutely everything. He provides us a complete and
perfect completeness, completeness and a perfection, I should say,
which can never be diminished. And he gives us perfect standing
in his Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. And he says to his people, ye
are complete in his Son. Our saviour offered himself a
sacrifice, didn't he? He offered himself to God. And that offering was accepted.
Now God knows all things. He knows everything possible.
He knows everything actual. He knows all events. He knows
all his creatures in the most minute detail. Think of that
for a moment. How much does our God know? There's
nothing he doesn't know. There is absolutely nothing at
all that takes our God by surprise. He's not like us. We are so,
so limited. We have no idea. One of the books
that's been truly very, very helpful to me is this Attributes
of God by Mr. Pink. I think we've still got
a few copies left, but anyway. This book was written because
of the great ignorance, predominantly ignorance, particularly among
religious people, ignorance of the character of God, ignorance
of the attributes of God, but also the character of man, the
character of man. So let me read just something
to you, which is something of a summary, I suppose you could
say, to the book. In the last page he says, he
quotes another writer first, he says of this other writer,
he says, over the world which he has created God, he sways
the scepter of omnipotence, is that word. I praised and honored
him that liveth forever. whose dominion is an everlasting
dominion, and his kingdom is from generation to generation.
And all the inhabitants of the earth are reputed as nothing,
and he doeth according to his will in the army of heaven. And among the inhabitants of
the earth, and none can stay his sand or say to him, what
doest thou? That's from Daniel chapter four,
by the way. And then these words as a commentary
on this. A creature considered as such
has no rights. He can demand nothing from his
maker and in whatever manner he may be treated has no title
to complain. Do you love a God like that or
is that not to your palate? Yes, yet when thinking of the
absolute dominion of God over all, we ought never to lose sight
of his moral perfections. God is just and good, and ever
does that which is right. Nevertheless, he exercises his
sovereignty according to his own imperial and righteous pleasure. He assigns each creature his
place, as seemeth good in his sight. He orders the varied circumstances
of each according to his own counsels. He moulds each vessel
according to his own uninfluenced determination. He has mercy on
whom he will, and whom he will he hardens. Wherever we are,
his eye is upon us. Whoever we are, our life and
everything is held at his dispose. To the Christian, he is a tender
father. To the rebellious sinner, he
will yet be a consuming fire. Now unto the king eternal, immortal, God be honor and glory forever
and ever. Amen. So it's good. It's good, I believe,
to contemplate the character of our God, the attributes of
our God. And this is what happens here
every week, really. This is nothing special. We talk about who God
is. We declare him and describe him
as the scriptures describe him. In Job 22, we have a good instructions
printed on the sheet there. Job 22 verse 21, acquaint now
thyself with him and be at peace. thereby good shall come unto
thee. Thus saith the Lord, let not
the wise man glory in his wisdom, neither let the mighty man glory
in his might, let not the rich man glory in his riches, but
let him that glorieth glory in this, that he understandeth and
knoweth me, that I am the Lord. How can a finite man, a sinner,
know the infinite God? Isn't it remarkable that the
eternal almighty God would stoop to make himself known to his
creatures? In the scheme of God, we're here
just for a blink of an eye, aren't we? We're just a vapor. James
says, for what is your life? What is your life? It is even
a vapor. that appeareth for a little time
and then vanish away. And yet the Lord is determined
for us to know him. In John 17 we read, And this
is eternal life. that they might know thee the
only true God and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent. I trust that as we study these
attributes of God that our understanding of him would increase and be
enlarged and that he'd be pleased to make himself known to us.
I'm very much looking forward to studying those glorious attributes
that we love so much. I love to think about the sovereignty
of God. Our God is subject to no one. That's how God is subject to
no one and influenced by no one. He does as he pleases, only as
he pleases and always, always as he pleases. I love to think
about the holiness of God, the holiness of God. God is light
and in him is no darkness at all. The scripture tells us, And so we read of the beauty
of holiness, the beauty of his perfections. My life loves to
take photos of flowers, particularly when they're in full bloom, and
they're often, to our eye, perfect. And we behold the beauty in them,
don't we? The beauty of perfection. I love to think about the grace
of God, our very salvation. God is a gracious God. These
are descriptions of the Lord. All these attributes are so worthy,
aren't they, of our adoration and Lord willing in the months
to come we'll look at them more in some details. And like I said,
I feel like I'm still at somewhat of an introduction here. The
more I look, the more I see, and then the more I see, the
more I want to convey. Today I want us to spend some
time to consider another view of our God that will help us
in our understanding, hopefully, of who he is and what he does.
And I'm referring to the name of God, the names of God, if
you like. There is help for us in the name
of our God. Psalm 79 verse 9, a key verse
I would have to say for this message. It's on your sheet. The psalmist makes a petition
to God. And this is the petition of all
believers. This is the petition of sinners making their appeal
to God. Help us, O God of our salvation,
for the glory of thy name. and deliver us and purge away
our sins for thy name's sake. The title of my message is For
the Glory of Thy Name. So we see the appeal of the psalmist
here on the basis of the name of Lord. What a good reason for
us to pray. What a good lesson. What a simple
and perfect prayer the psalmist gives us here. He says help us. of thy name and for thy name's
sake. See, the glory of God is bound
to his name. It's bound to his name. And so
when we ask him to do according to his name's sake, we're asking
him to do according to his glory. Lord, do this, do this for the
glory of thy name. Do this, do this for thy name's
sake. Look at me at Psalm 106. The
psalmist here is recounting the wonderful works of the Lord done
before the Israelites in verse 7 of Psalm 106. We read, our
fathers understood not thy wonders in Egypt. They remembered not
the multitude of thy mercies, but provoked him at the sea,
even the Red Sea. The Lord delivered, you recall,
people out from under the bondage of the Egyptians. And he was
performing miracles, great miracles, awesome miracles before their
very eyes. And there they were, there they
were at the Red Sea with nowhere to go, or so it seemed. And the
Egyptians were descending on them and they murmured and they
complained against Moses and against the Lord. They remembered
not the multitude of thy mercies, they forgot his mercies, but
provoked him at the sea, even the Red Sea. After all that the Lord had revealed
of himself. after everything the Lord had
done before their very eyes. They had no regard of what the
Lord had done, and they had no regard of his mercy. And they
stood there, faithless and murmuring in unbelief. And the question
might be asked, would not the Lord have every reason to give
these hard-hearted people over, just to leave them where they
are? But before we judge these people harshly, isn't that what
we all did? when we were walking in the ways
of this world before the light of the gospel shone in our hearts,
before God granted us repentance and faith to believe the gospel,
to believe the testimony of his son. All of us were born into
this world with an unregenerate heart and a carnal mind born
as enemies, enemies, enemies of the living God. Romans tells
us the carnal mind is enmity against God. Timothy against
God. Colossians says, we were alienated
and enemies in our mind by wicked works. And that's how we would
stay. That's how we would stay but
for the intervention of the Lord. But that verse in Colossians
goes on to say and declare something wonderful, something wonderful.
He says, yet now hath he reconciled. And yet now hath he reconciled.
The Israelites provoked God. Their actions were to God an
incitement. They provoked him, provoked him
to anger. They ignored all his previous
mercies. But look at our verse 8 in Psalm
106. Nevertheless, he saved them. Why? For his name's sake. He saved them for his name's
sake that he might make his mighty power to be known. Nevertheless,
he saved them. Where do we find the source of
motivation for God to save? Is it found in man? It's not
found in man, is it? It's found in God, it's found
within himself. He saved them for his namesake. He saved them for himself. What
a wondrous thought. Just think about this just for a moment.
Our salvation, our salvation is bound to the glory of his
name. That is the surest confirmation
of God, of salvation, that indeed all his people must be saved
according to the glory of his name. He is zealous for the glory
of his name. What a comfort that is. We have
nothing to offer God. Our salvation is not dependent
on us in any way. It has nothing to do with our
works. Aren't you glad? Aren't you glad it's got nothing
to do with your hand? Our salvation is accomplished.
It's an accomplished work. It's a finished work. because
God is zealous for the glory of his name. His name is the
Lord Jesus Christ, he's zealous. God's sworn to save a remnant
and he made an oath, he made an oath, he swore an oath. Look
at our verses in Hebrews chapter six. Verse 13, for when God made promise
to Abraham, because he could swear by no other, no greater,
he swore by himself, saying, surely blessing I will bless
thee, and multiplying I will multiply thee. And so after he
had patiently endured, he obtained the promise. For men verily swear
by the greater, and an oath for confirmation is to them an end
of all strife. wherein God, willing more abundantly
to show under the airs of promise the unchangeableness of his counsel,
confirmed it by an oath, that by two immutable things, in which
it was impossible for God to lie, we might have a strong consolation
who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before
us, which hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure
and steadfast, and which entereth into that within the veil. Whether the forerunner is for
us entered, even Jesus, made and high priest, forever after
the order of Melchizedek. I've heard men say, from their
lips, I've heard men say, we can lose our salvation. I've
asked them, can we lose our salvation? Yeah, you can lose your salvation,
they say. And that is certainly true. If we have any part of
it, if we have some part in it, then men can lose their salvation.
How sure is our salvation? How certain can we be that he
will save us? Brethren, we can rely on the
immutability of his counsel, his immutability. His unchangeableness
is yet another divine attribute which gives us such assurance
of salvation. He cannot change. He cannot stumble.
He cannot fail. He is immutable. God confirmed the promise to
save with an oath. He said, I'm going to save a
people and I'm sworn to do it. And God cannot lie. Another wondrous,
beautiful, divine attribute of our God. He cannot lie. God swore
a promise to Abraham. He said, Abraham, look up at
the stars. Look up at the stars in the sky and tell me if you
can number them. You know, the Milky Way, I did
a little Google search, the Milky Way alone, which is just that
band of stars you see in the sky on a clear night. estimate
at minimum 100 billion stars, 100 billion. And those stars
are just suns, like our own sun. That's what they are, they're
suns. And they're so far away, they just appear small. That's
the distances, that's the might, that's the extensiveness and
the power and the sovereignty of our God. uncountable. And so the Lord said to Abraham,
can you number all those stars? Can you number them? Can you
count them? And the Lord said, so shall thy seed be. We who believe are a testimony
to that promise. We are, if you believe, believe
God, believe his son, believe the gospel, You yourself is a
testimony to that, the seed of Abraham. That's the remnant. The remnant are the evidence
of that promise fulfilled. We are the evidence of that promise.
Abraham believed in the Lord and he counted it to him for
righteousness. We're the spiritual seed of Abraham.
Lord said, swore that promise upon his own name. And so we
see again, swearing upon his own name, he gives great weight. the greatest of all weight, to
the glory of his name. And so we see the glory of his
name connected to the fulfillment of that promise. The reputation
of his name is upheld by the keeping of his promises. And
so we have another demonstration, don't we, of how the name of
the Lord would be glorified. The name of the Lord would be
glorified here in the demonstration of his mighty power in saving
the Israelites. And so our God, God does what
he does for his name's sake, for the glory of his name. And
when God does something for his name's sake, he's doing it to
show forth his glorious attributes. It's like one for the other.
It's one to two and then two back to one. A demonstration
of all he is and all that he's done. A demonstration before
this world and before all the inhabitants and before the heavenly
hosts of creation that by the invincible power of God, he will
do what he says he will do and what he says he will do. He never
says he will do something and doesn't do it. So all the things,
all things, from the beginning of time until
the end of time, all things will ultimately reverberate back to
the glory of God. Everything. These are the sure things of
God. These are the immutable promises. Look at our verse in
2 Corinthians 1, verse 20. And so this connection between
the glory of God and his name is seen time and time again.
So that everything God is, his name is. Everything God is, his name is.
And everything his name is, God is. It's a reciprocal. Look at Isaiah 42 verse 8. It says, I am the Lord. That name is Jehovah. Jehovah. That is my name. The name by
which he made himself known to Israel. A name peculiar to him
alone. A name which distinguishes him
from all other false gods. a name which belongs to no other.
I am the Lord, that is my name, and my glory will I not give
to another, neither my praise to graven images. You know, people
compare God, don't they, to things. They do. God cannot be compared
to anything or anyone. Because the thing to which you
compare it to Whether, whatever it is, a thing, a people, place,
person, they're all gonna fall short.
They can only ever diminish the glory of God. They're always
going to be beneath, beneath. The Lord Jesus Christ is the
only one who displayed the glory of God perfectly. The reputation
of God was always perfectly safe in the hands of the Savior, wasn't
it? The God-man, the God-man. We trust in Christ, don't we?
We trust in Christ. But who was the first to trust
in Christ? Who was it? It was God. God was the first to trust in
Christ. And so the name of God is perfectly
glorified in the name of the Lord Jesus, in the person of
the Lord Jesus. There was never a possibility that God's trust
in Christ would be in vain. Vain religion. Vain religion
is always clutching, isn't it? Clutching for some of that glory.
Vain religion says that salvation begins with the will of man.
You'll hear it time and time again. You go to websites, church
websites, and they say, no, you've got to do your bit, and then
God can do his to make what he did work. Friends, if that were
true, then men would have something to glory in, wouldn't they? And
they do. They do. They glory in it. I made a decision. Psalm 115 says, and look at that
verse. It's a beautiful verse. Not unto
us, O Lord, not unto us, but unto thy name give glory for
thy mercy and for thy truth's sake. That's the declaration
of a sinner, isn't it? In the scheme of salvation and
in all gospel preaching, God receives all the credit, all
the accolade, all the glory for having done all of it. God does it all, or not at all.
The glory of his name is at stake. So look at Isaiah 48, verse 9. For my name's sake, Will I defer
my anger? And for my praise will I refrain
that I cut thee not off? Aren't you glad that the Lord
has deferred his anger? Aren't you glad of that, that
he refrains from cutting us off as we deserve? Why doesn't he
do that? Why doesn't he do that? He does
it for his name's sake. He does it for the glory of his
name. And here's perhaps one of the
most beautiful verses of scripture I've ever read in Psalm 103. He hath not dealt with us after
our sins, nor rewarded us according to our iniquities. You know,
those sins and iniquities, they exist, don't they? They exist
in this flesh. They cannot be ignored. And for
God to be just, he must deal with sins and iniquities. He must do. How is it that God
has not dealt with us after our sins, nor rewarded us according
to our iniquities? How is it? Not because of any
creature merit? We don't have any merit. Not
because of any creature righteousness? We don't have any righteousness.
All we have to offer is sin and unrighteousness. They must be
dealt with, though. Their sins must be dealt with,
and they have been dealt with. They cannot be ignored, because
if God were to allow it, what would happen? If God were to
allow sins and iniquities to pass by unjudged, you'd be an
unjust judge, would you not? You'd be an unjust judge. To justify the wicked is an abomination
in the sight of God. Justice was indeed exercise,
exercise in punishment, but rather than being poured out on us,
he poured it out on a substitute. That's the work of our Saviour
pledged to do. Our redemption is a blood-bought redemption,
a substitute for His people. Our Saviour promised to do it,
and He cannot lie. And he does it for the glory
of his name, too. And again, any time you see a promise from
God, the reputation is then on the line, isn't it? It's on the
line. If he makes a promise, his reputation is on the line.
He's gotta do it. He's gotta perform it. The glory of his
name is put forth. Isaiah 48, verse 10 says, Behold,
I have refined thee, but not with silver. I have chosen thee
in the furnace of affliction. For my own sake, even for mine
own sake, I will do it. For how should my name be polluted,
and I will not give my glory to another? The Triune God has a covenant
commitment to uphold, pledged before the foundation of the
world, and the surety of that covenant is the Lord Jesus Christ. He's the surety, make sure it
gets performed. And if it doesn't get poor, it
falls on him. He takes all the responsibility
to redeem his people back to God. He saves for his own sake. Not because we're wonderfully
good. He sayeth for his own sake, and
that is an infallible salvation, a sure salvation. David said,
he hath made with me an everlasting covenant, ordered in all things
and sure, and this is all my salvation, all my desire, although
ye make it not to grow, ye make it not to grow. You can't add
anything to it. Nothing is needed. Nothing is
needed. Nothing needed to be added. Here's
all my salvation, all my desire. We have no need to add anything
at all, especially the works of men. Look with me at Ezekiel
36. Angus walked us through these
verses just a few weeks ago and they explain so much to us regarding
the how and why of our salvation and how the Lord is zealous for
his name. Ezekiel 36 verse 19. says, And I scattered them among
the heathen, and they were dispersed through the countries according
to their way and according to their doings I judged them. And
when they entered unto the heathen, whither they went, they profaned
my holy name. When they said to them, These
are the people of the Lord, and are gone forth out of his land. And so there is an accusation
against the Lord that would tarnish his reputation. These people
are the people of God, and yet they've not remained in God's
land. And they would say, so these
enemies would say, the heathen would say, God couldn't keep
them. He couldn't keep them for himself. What God is that? How powerful is that God? And
in verse 21, we read this, but I had pity for mine holy name. That is, I had compassion. I
had regard which the house of Israel had profaned among the
heathen whither they went. Here the Lord declares, my holy
name, my holy name, my sacred name, my hallowed name, my hallowed
name. Reading on, verse 22. Therefore
say unto the house of Israel, thus saith the Lord God, I do
not do this for your sake, so house of Israel. Why is he doing
it? But for mine holy name's sake,
which he had profaned among the heathen wither he went. Of all
the blessed attributes of God, the holiness of God is perhaps
the most emphasized in the scriptures. God is holy. He is holy. Holiness, as we said before,
the holiness of God is His beauty. He is unblemished. He is glorious
in holiness. Reading on, verse 23, And I will
sanctify my great name, which was profaned among the heathen,
which he had profaned in the midst of them. And the heathen
shall know that I am the Lord, saith the Lord God, when I shall
be sanctified in you before their eyes. And so God is serious. as well. God is serious concerning
the reputation of his name. And there's a very descriptive
word that the scriptures use to demonstrate this, to demonstrate
God's absolute commitment to the reputation of his name. Look at the verse in Exodus 34. for thou shalt worship no other
God, for the Lord, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God. Jealous God. His very name is
Jealous. A theme repeated so much in the
scriptures, particularly in Deuteronomy, which speaks so much of God's
character. Deuteronomy 4, for the Lord thy God is a consuming
fire, even a jealous Deuteronomy 5.9, I, the Lord
thy God, am a jealous God. Deuteronomy chapter six, for
the Lord thy God is a jealous God among you. Jealous, now,
perhaps when we think of that word, jealous, we might attach
a negative connotation, don't we? We do, don't we? When we
think of jealousy, how many of us would think that that was
a virtue? Not a virtue, is it, in men?
Applied to men there's no virtue in jealousy, unless there is
a righteous jealousy. But it is most commonly a vice,
isn't it? It's a vice, jealousy, rather
than being something lovely, it's normally something unlovely. But there is a jealousy which
is righteous, a righteous jealousy. There is a jealousy which is
godly, godly jealousy. And I recall now, remember when
we are talking about the attributes of God and the character of God,
we're not just speaking about God the Father, we're talking
about the God the triune God in its completeness, particularly
of the Lord Jesus Christ. I think of his time when he went
to the temple. Remember, he went to the temple
and there were people making merchandise and doing business
there. They had cattle and sheep and all sorts of things there,
and they had money changes. What did he do? He went and made
a whip. He went and made a whip. This is the zealousness and this
is the jealousy of the Lord. He went and made a whip and he
went into that temple and he drove them out. Drove them out,
he tipped over the money, the tables of the money changers,
and what did he say? Make not my father's house a
house of merchandise. Paul said of the Corinthians,
I am jealous of you with godly jealousy, godly jealousy. For
I have espoused you to one husband, that I may present you as a chaste
virgin to Christ. And so we see this attribute
in the context of marriage, don't we? A jealousy with great commitment,
commitment to guard and protect and to always do good to the
object of that love. And so to summarize what we've
seen, he's saving his people to make his mighty power known.
He's saving his people to show forth his mercy and his grace.
He's saving his people for his namesake, that his name might
not be profaned. Now God is jealous, with a godly
jealousy, a godly jealousy. Everything that God does is godly.
that God is jealous for his people is an expression of his great
zeal, his great zeal, both for his name and for his church,
because as we've seen, for the glory of his name is vitally
connected with the salvation of his people. What a great assurance
that is to me, I find. I hope you find that too. God
entrusted the glory of his name to his son. Father, the father
gave his son a bride, the church of God, to redeem her back to
himself, to save her from her sins by the shedding of his blood. For without the shedding of blood,
there is no remission of sins. And so there is that instruction.
And the Lord said to Joseph, you shall call his name Jesus.
Do you recall that? For he shall save his people
from their sins. And the question is always asked,
did he do it? He did indeed, didn't he? The
reputation of God depended on it. This is where it comes down
to. God's reputation, his jealousy
for his name. If it wasn't done, if it wasn't
completed, if it wasn't finished, if there's something still for
you to do, then his reputation is down the drain. If he failed,
is it possible for God to fail? Those two words, failure and
God, should not be in the same sentence. The reputation of God
depended on it. He's jealous for his name and
he's jealous for his church. What a great comfort that our
God is true to his own character, true to himself, and that he's
going to save his people for the glory of his name. I trust
those words will go with us today as a comfort. Let's have a little break and
we'll come back with a very short video.