Dr. John Goetsch: Who Is God?

let's take our Bibles and turn to the Book of Isaiah chapter 40 if you will Isaiah and the fortieth chapter I'm gonna read starting in verse number 6 and read down to verse 9 and we'll look at several other verses in this chapter in just a moment Isaiah chapter 40 starting with verse 6 the voice said cry and he said what shall I cry all flashes grass and all the goodliness thereof is as the flower of the field the grass withereth the flower fadeth because the Spirit of the Lord bloweth upon it surely the people is grass the grass withereth the flower fadeth but the word of our God shall stand forever o scion that bring us good tidings get thee up into the high mountain o Jerusalem that bring us good tidings lift up thy voice with strength lift it up be not afraid say unto the cities of Judah behold your God when I was 10 years old we were riding in the car one day as a family and remember we came to a stoplight and the car in front of us had a bumper sticker on the back of their car it was kind of an ugly green with black letters I saw this bumper sticker many many times in the years following but that was the first time I saw it it had three words on that bumper sticker it simply said God is dead I learned later in life that that thinking that philosophy that teaching that God was dead came from a German philosopher named Friedrich Nietzsche who was the chief counselor to Adolf Hitler during World War two Nishi believed that God had died and they're all morals and all ethics with him and following those days in the 1960s that philosophy began to permeate much of the thinking of people here in the United States and in the minds of many today God is dead atheism continues to rise while church attendance continues to fall the names God and Jesus Christ are still fairly popular curse words but have become politically incorrect to speak in public it seems that God and the name Jesus Christ have been barred from our normal conversations barred from our school classrooms barred from our halls of government how live is God in your life did you talk to him this week did you allow him to speak to you did you sense his presence this week in your life did you sense he was grieved when you sinned did you sense his joy when you obeyed have you spoken to anyone else about him the last seven days who is God to you if I were to give you a piece of paper this morning and a writing instrument and I were asked you to write in two or three sentences a definition of God how would you define him how would you define God now when you finish ask yourself does God agree was my definition of God does God agree with what I've written about him I think in our country and our culture today we have gotten away from a true definition of God in our life because we have strayed from the Word of God if they speak not according to this word is because there's no light in them we are forgetting about God today because we are neglecting the word of God and I want you to see in Isaiah chapter 40 three critical components to the Bible's definition of our God first of all we we find that God is above all look with me at verse 12 who hath measured the waters in the hollow of his hand and meted out heaven with the span and comprehended the dust of the earth and a measure and weighed the mountains and scales and the hills in a balance who has directed the Spirit of the Lord or being his counselor hath taught him with whom took he Council and who instructed him and taught him in the path of judgment and taught him knowledge and showed to him the way of understanding 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 and Lebanon is not sufficient to burn nor the beasts thereof sufficient for a burnt offering all nations before him are as nothing there counted him less than nothing and vanity to whom then will you liken God or what likeness will you compare unto him the workman Greivis melteth a graven image and the Goldsmith spread it over with gold and casteth silver James he that is so impoverished that he hath no ablation chooseth the tree that will not rot he seeketh in him a cunning workman to prepare a graven image that shall not be moved have you not known have you not heard not been told you from the beginning have you not understood from the foundations of the earth it is he that sitteth upon the circle of the earth and the inhabitants thereof hoppers that stretcheth out the heavens as a curtain and spreadeth them out as a tent to dwell in that bringeth the princes to nothing he maketh the judges of the earth as vanity ye they shall not be planted he they shall not be sown either stalks shall not take root to the earth and he shall also blow upon them and they shall wither and the whirlwind shall take them away as stubble to whom then will you liken me or shall I be equal saith the Holy One lift up your eyes on high and behold who hath created these things that bringeth out their hosts by number he calleth them all by names by the greatness of his might for that he is strong and power not one faileth God is above all you know the more we think about ourselves the less we will know about God when we focus on the bigness of God we look very small God created everything that we see everything in this universe that we can see or hear or touch or taste or smell God created it in the beginning God created the heavens and the earth God said let there be light and there was light Exodus 20 says for in six days the Lord God made the heavens and the earth job said I notice all the truth but how can a man be just with God if he contend with him he cannot answer him one in a thousand who has hardened himself against him and it's prospered whose removeth the mountains and they know not which overturned a--the them and his anger was shaketh the earth out of her place and the pillars thereof tremble which calleth our tourists and Orion and politi and the chambers of the south which doeth great things past finding out he and wonders without number job said asked now the he'll tell thee speak to the earth it'll teach thee the fishes of the sea shall declare unto thee he who knoweth not that in all these the hand of the Lord hath wrought this in whose hand is the soul of every living thing and the breath of all mankind Hannah in her prayer in 1st Samuel chapter 2 and verse 2 she said there's none holy as the Lord for there's none beside thee neither is there any rock like our God talk no more so exceeding proudly let not arrogance see go out of your mouth for the Lord is a God of knowledge and by him our actions weighed the bows of the mighty are broken they that stumbled are girded with strength they that were full have hired out themselves for bread and they that were hungry ceased for the barren of born 7 and she that hath many children is waxed feeble for the Lord killeth and maketh alive he bring us down to the grave and bring us up again the Lord bringeth up the poor out of the dust and lifteth up the beggar out of the dung Hill to set them among princes that they men here at the throne of glory for the pillars of the earth of the lords he has set the world's upon them the adversaries of the Lord shall be broke into pieces out of heaven shall he Thunder upon them until they be destroyed for by strength shall no man prevail God is above all he created it all we live in a solar system that is 6 billion miles across life inhabits a galaxy that we call the Milky Way if you could step back in space and observe the Milky Way from a distance it looks like a giant bowl or a giant dish I'm told that if you could get on one end of this galaxy called the Milky Way and you could travel at the speed of light that's a hundred and eighty-six thousand two hundred eighty-two miles per second that's moving if you could travel at the speed of light 186,000 282 miles per second it would take you 100,000 years to cross the galaxy we call Milky Way and it is estimated by scientists that there are 100 million galaxies like ours 40 sextillion solar systems our earth is 25,000 miles in circumference the Sun is 1 million 300,000 times bigger than the earth the next nearest star after the Sun to us is 26 trillion miles away the supernova has 24 Septim that's a that that that's a trillion with 24 zeros after it 10 septon times more energy in it than the hydrogen bomb and it's God that has made all of it the heavens declare the glory of God the firmament showeth his handiwork day on today on her speech night on tonight south knowledge there's no speech nor language where their voice is not heard their lines go out to the ends of the earth their words to the ends of the world the nation's this morning Paul verse 15 says there has a drop of a bucket verse 17 taught us than all nations take them all God says there next to me less than nothing God says take all the nations in the world the superpowers like the US and China and Russia take them and put them over here on this side of the scale and to those superpowers the intermediate nations take all their resources all of the military muscle take all of it put it over here take the little tiny nations and the uniqueness of each one of them put all the nations over here on this side of the scale and put me over here and he said next to me there below zero less than nothing so where does that put me in the picture well verse 22 says the inhabitants thereof are grasshoppers great is the Lord and greatly to be praised in the city of our God in the mountain of his holiness beautiful for situation the joy the whole earth is Mount Zion in the sides of the north the city of that great king I am the Lord and the Lord is the true God he's a Living God he's an everlasting king God is above all but I want you to see secondly God is aware of all when you start thinking about God and how great and how powerful and magnificent God is I don't know about you but my tendency is then to think he doesn't care about me I mean he's got all this to take care of these vast solar systems and this universe and all this creation that God has made God doesn't care how I live God doesn't care what I think God doesn't care what I need he doesn't know about me but I'm wrong look at verse 27 why saith thou o Jacob and speakest o Israel my way is hid from the Lord and my judgment has passed over from my god hast thou not known has I not heard that the everlasting God the Lord the creator of the ends of the earth fainteth not neither is weary there's no searching of his understanding don't you think that God knows you what do you think God knows in this room this morning whose children are and whose children aren't don't you think God knows about our sin do we really think that we could hide somehow who we are from this God oh thou has set our iniquities before the our secret sins are in the light of thy countenance Oh God how knowest my foolishness my secret sins are not hid from thee if we have forgotten the name of our God or stretched out our hints to a strange God will not God search this out for he knoweth the secrets of the heart there's nothing covered there's nothing hid from God even those are thoughts Ezekiel 11 and verse 5 I know the things that come into your mind every one of them I've never had a thought I've never had a dream at night I've never had an attitude I've never had a desire that God did not know he knows the details of our life when you think about creation it's fun to think about the big stuff the stuff that we just have to kind of go wow what do you think about creation you also have to think about the detail of it atoms are that which make up matter now an atom is so small I'm told you can't even see it under a microscope all you're seeing is the reflection of the atom in fact I'm told that if you take 100,000 atoms and you line them up in a single-file line the distance of 100,000 atoms would cross the width of a human hair and yet inside each one of those atoms is at least a proton a neutron an electron and guess who put him there God detail I like living in the desert sand especially night going out looking at the moon it's always seems closer here in the desert I don't know if it just shines brighter or whatever but some some nights we have a full moon it almost seems like it's daylight doesn't it and I enjoy those evenings you look up at that moon you know that our Moon is situated in an exact proportion of distance from the earth in fact I'm told that if the moon was situated 100 miles farther away from the earth there would be no tides and if there were no tides there would be no seasons no summer fall winter spring now I'm told that if the moon were situated a hundred miles closer to the earth we'd have no land the entire earth to be covered with water details whenever you see a globe of the earth you see the globe it's always tilted on its axis you go to the library or go to school classroom and there's a there's a globe there on the teacher's desk whatever and it's it's always tilted you know our earth is tilted and an exact degree of angle in space in fact they tell us that if our earth was tilted just one degree one direction we would all freeze to death if it was tilted just one degree the other direction we'd all burn up so our earth is tilted at this exact degree of angle in space so that life can inhabit this planet now that globe in the classroom or in the library it's on a stand it's holding it there at that angle you can go up and spin it it remains at that angle that it's that it's supposed to be but the Bible tells us in Joel chapter 26 and verse 7 he God stretcheth out the north of the empty place and hangeth the earth upon nothing so our earth is at this exact degree so that we can inhabit the planet yet it's hanging on nothing and while you think about the fact that it's tilted at an exact degree in hanging on nothing remember it's also spinning once every 24 hours exactly once every 24 hours and while you think about the fact that it's tilted at an exact degree of angle hanging on nothing spinning every 24 hours it's also revolving around the Sun details details and God knows if you're saved or not you can't hide that from him God knows if you love him or whether you're angry with him this morning God knows about that bitterness though you try to smile God knows about that lustful thought he knows everything about you he created you you have 203 bones in your body you have 600 muscles you have 970 miles that's from here to Denver 970 miles of blood vessels running through your body taking nutrients taking oxygen taking water to the various tissues of your body we have 10 million nerves in our body that's why solve you have to drink coffee in the morning just we have four thousand taste buds on our tongue so that we can decipher a sweet and sour bitter we have three thousand five hundred sweat tubes for every square inch of skin on our body I always tell young people that's a great topic for your first date the first day you run out of things to say within seconds so just you know boy those are the most beautiful sweat tubes I've ever seen in my life but those sweat tubes allow our body to breathe it allows our body to be air-conditioned we have 600 million air cells taking air into our lungs as we breathe we breathe in 2,400 gallons of air every day our heart beats 4,200 times every hour and pumps 12 tons of blood through our body every day and you and I don't have to think about it when we get up in the morning we roll out of bed we don't have to think like I breathe reason I get this blood pumping we don't think about it until something goes wrong God knows us friend God knows those burdens this morning God knows those cares God knows that trial you're in God knows that heartache in your heart today he understands God is a God of detail and he says cast your care upon me for I care for you the psalmist said I'll lift up mine eyes unto the hills from whence cometh my help my help cometh from the Lord which made heaven and earth he will not suffer thy foot to be moved either keepeth thee shall not sleep he that keepeth Israel so not slumber nor sleep the Lord is thy keeper the Lord is thy shade upon thy right hand the Sun shall not smite thee by day to the moon by night the Lord shall preserve thy soul he said preserve thy soul listen God is above all God is aware of all but thirdly God is able to do all boy the last verses of chapter 40 our favorite verses look at verse 29 he giveth power to the faint to them that have no might he increases strength even the youths shall faint and be weary and the young men shall utterly fall but they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength they shall mount up with wings as Eagles they shall run and not be weary and they shall walk and not faint I love what jeremiah said in chapter 32 and verse 17 Oh Lord God now it's made the heavens and the earth by that great power and by the stretched out arm and there's nothing too hard for thee do you believe that this morning nothing too hard for the Lord sometimes I thank God I don't think you can do this Lord I just don't I think it's too late it's too far gone the situation is too bad we doubt that God is able to do all it was a man in the Old Testament by the name of Abraham Abraham had been promised by God a son this son was going to be the beginning of a nation God told Abraham that was going to come through his seed Abraham the name means father of multitudes yet Abraham reaches the age of 99 and he has no children his wife Sarah is now 90 years old they're up in years and God visits Abraham again in chapter 18 of Genesis and he says Abraham you're gonna have a son and Abraham he said God I know that's what you promised me many years ago and I know you've reminded me of it from time to time but God it's too late I'm 99 Sarah's 90 were past the age of bearing children the Bible says in other words biologically it was impossible but verse 14 God said is anything too hard for the Lord and I love Genesis 21 in verse 1 the Bible says the Lord visited Sara as he had said and the Lord did unto Sarah as he had spoken and Sarah conceived and bare Abraham a son at the set time of which God had spoken to him with men it was impossible they were too old it was past time they couldn't possibly biology biologically have any children and they laughed at God's promise but God said no no you don't understand I am able to do all in fact Abraham and Sarah have Isaac when Isaac is 40 years old Sarah dies so Abraham's now 139 and yet Genesis 25 tells us that Abraham got remarried and has six more kids God loves to show off you know it I mean when God says is anything you hard for me boy he makes sure we get it nothing's impossible listen you are not too hard to save I mean people when you tell him that God loves them and God wants to save him and God wants to forgive them of their sin if they'll just come to him and repent and turn to him as their Savior they kind of laugh in their heart you maybe not out loud but in their heart they're thinking you don't know who you're talking to pal I've been a lot of bad stuff I've done a lot of bad thing I'm not a church guy I mean I don't think God could save me oh listen he's able to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for you listen Jesus Christ is in heaven right now praying for you he's making intercession for you to be saved he loves you he died for you on that cross he paid the penalty of your sin he wants you to be saved he's not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance what a joy this morning after the first service to see a lady in the parking lot who came down one of these aisles during the first service and trusted Christ and I said did you get saved today and tears began just well in her eyes I sure did and I'm sure just talking with her a moment there that when she came to church this morning she thought I I don't think God loves me I don't think God cares about me I don't know why I'm even here but you know what God wants to save and he can save you Christian God wants to restore you somewhere you are away from the Lord as we sang a moment ago our hearts are prone to wander lord I feel it prone to leave the god I love it's easy as Christians have things come into our life where we become frustrated and we get bitter and we get angry and and things happen in our life and we decide that I don't I don't want God anymore and I don't need church anymore and then we walk away from it listen there's no sin that can't be forgiven there's no backslider that cannot be reclaimed there's no one that has walked too far away from God that God doesn't want to draw back to his love and his purpose for their life God can forgive in fact he delights in mercy if we confess our sins he's faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness I was preaching yesterday at a camp and after the service I was walking across a field we were gonna break some ground on a new building and as walk across that field and a gentleman was kind of running and calling my name and I stopped he said look I don't expect you to remember me he told me his name and I I recognized his name because I I knew his dad and and he said when I was a boy a junior age boy my dad took me to camp and you were the speaker and that we could camp I got saved but he said as a teenager I walked away from the Lord I got back slidden some things happen in my life and I got bitter I got angry I turned my back on God he said one night as a as a teenager I think he said he was 17 he said my dad came to my room and he said son come on let's go to camp he said we came to a camp I walked in the auditorium he said there was some singing and then they introduced the preacher and it was you and he says soon as you opened that Bible I just sensed God loved me that night he said brother yes I got right with God God forgave me God restored me he summed the pastor of a little Baptist Church few miles away listen friend God loves you you may have gotten away from him you may have strolled a stray too far off but listen there's no sin that God can't forgive Christian there's no commandment we can't obey sometimes we think oh it's too hard it's too hard to take that next step I still think I can do it I I'm glad I'm saved but I getting baptized or getting involved in the church or or tithing or telling others about the Lord I just I don't know listen God's commandments are not Grievous they're not placed there to be a grief to us first John 5:7 tells us God is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think according to the power that worketh in us faithless you that calls you who also will do it take that step of faith obey the Lord today take that next step you'll see God's power in your life listen some of you struggle with sin in your life you think these these this I have this beset in sin and it just keeps it keeps coming after me and I I can't get victory and I've tried and I've tried I've tried and it's just no use it's just the way I am no no there's no temptation taken you but such as is common to man but God is faithful who will not suffer you to be tempted above that you're able but will with the temptation also make a way to escape that he may be able to bear it listen we have a great God this morning when will we start trusting in this God what will we believe in the definition that the Bible gives us of God and begin to live for this God because one day we'll die and we will meet this God are you prepared to meet God

Channel: Lancaster Baptist Church

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Keywords: lancaster baptist church, lancaster baptist, baptist church, paul, chappell, paul chappell, pastor paul chappell, Isaiah 40

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Length: 33min 35sec (2015 seconds)

Published: Wed Aug 21 2019