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[0:00] Praise God. May, just through the sermon series, which we are now doing on the subject of God, more specifically knowing God, my prayer is that we will be able to ascribe the glory that is due His name.

[0:24] Let me just simply ask you the question, how important is it for Christians to know God? As you've been with us the last couple of weeks, you know what is the utmost of importance in regards to this sermon series.

[0:41] What does God actually think about the subject of knowing Him? Our theme verse for this series is found in Jeremiah 9, 23, 24.

[0:53] The prophet writes, Let not the wise man boast in his wisdom. Let not the mighty man boast in his might. Let not the rich man boast in his riches.

[1:06] But let him who boasts in this, that he understands and knows me, that I am the Lord who practices steadfast love, justice, and righteousness in the earth.

[1:27] For in these things I delight, declares the Lord. Think about that. If there was just one thing, one thing that we could brag about that we desperately understand that the Lord wants from us.

[1:47] It's to simply know and understand God. There is no higher calling for the believer.

[1:59] To say that we know someone is to say that we love them. Imagine loving someone and not knowing someone.

[2:10] One of the greatest, biggest mishaps that I've ever been involved with in a counseling situation was a husband and wife.

[2:22] And the wife was exceptionally angry with her husband because for her birthday, he bought her a complete power tool set.

[2:34] She was very much worked up because why? He actually didn't get her the DeWalt lithium battery one. And she just explained, how could you not know me?

[2:49] You know, it's sometimes like that. We get things for people hoping that they will like it, but sometimes we act in ignorance. Think about this when it comes to the idea of worshiping God.

[3:10] We can say we are sincere. We can say we are authentic. But is the worship that we offer to God more about Him or more about us?

[3:30] Could God ever say to us, do you not even know me? What does God or what does knowing God result in?

[3:48] Two weeks ago, I went over six different advantages it is to understand this. The first and foremost reason is I called it transcendent worship.

[4:00] Worship that is real. Worship that is true. Worship that is effectual. Just to think to worship God is not just following the paces or just acting robotic, but it's something that has to attach itself to not only our minds and understanding, but it has to activate our emotions, our passions.

[4:26] The second aspect that knowing God does is it humbles us. It creates humility in our hearts because we are getting to know the Creator on high.

[4:41] It brings about spiritual maturity, which brings about effectual, effective ministry, which results in personal encouragement and Lord-willing personal conversion.

[4:58] Why does this happen? Because the spiritual and saving knowledge of God is the greatest need of every single human being that walks this earth.

[5:10] To become aware of the awe-inspiring and worship-provoking grandeur of God's character should invoke something in us. How we think and what we think in this life is shaped by our knowledge of God.

[5:26] If you believe in God, yes, you worship Him. No, there is no worship. Is God good and loving that we act out in response to that worship?

[5:39] If He was bad or unkind, we may not worship or we would do so out of fear. Two weeks ago, we began with an introduction to what is called the attributes of God.

[5:53] Now, the definition of attribute, it refers to a quality or characteristic of someone. The attribute we are discussing are the qualities and characteristics that belong to God.

[6:08] If you remember, there's two types of characteristics. There's the incommunicable attributes, where those are the attributes that are of God and God alone.

[6:21] All-powerful, all-knowing, all-seeing, all-understanding, eternal. Then there's what's called the communicable attributes. Love, just, mercy, anger.

[6:34] Those are the attributes that we can experience human-wise. So we have these two different type of attributes. Now, I don't know if you've been thinking about this, but if you were to think, if there is one attribute that would be God's chief attribute, what do you think it would be?

[7:00] I mean, if there was an attribute that helps define every attribute, that's where we would begin. Now, if you understood what I taught a couple of weeks ago, we understood that all the attributes are found equally in all members of the Trinity.

[7:24] We understand that the attributes are permanent of God, and that all of God's attributes are connected. So when God acts in one way, it's not as if he sets aside another attribute.

[7:37] All attributes are a part of God and connected to God. They both constrain and affect one another 100%. All these attributes have to be true together.

[7:49] We see God's love work in perfect harmony with God's wrath, his holiness. We see works in perfect conjunction with his justice and mercy.

[8:02] And because of this, there's actually no one attribute that functions as the chief attribute. And what I mean by that, it's not as if there's attribute number one, and everything flows from that attribute like some type of chart.

[8:23] But let me propose that there is a place to begin. Just the other night, my wife and I were watching the news, and one of the news broadcasts was interviewing a very well-known pastor.

[8:37] And I believe this pastor, in all his sincerity and all that he knows, was trying to express about, he was trying to encourage the listeners about God's love.

[8:49] And he made this statement. He said, God needs us. God needs us. And I believe in his sincerity, while trying to share the good news, I believe he overstated something about God.

[9:10] The question is, does God need us? The reality is, we know that God loves us. John 3.16 tells us quite clearly, for God so loved the world.

[9:25] In fact, God's love for us was so great that he sacrificed his own son, who bore the wrath for the sin that was due to us. And it wasn't because we were good, but some of us were in fact vile and wretched people.

[9:42] This indeed is a big love. But does that mean that God needs us?

[9:55] You see, there's an implication to this statement. One could attest that that must mean that God is somehow incomplete without us.

[10:10] So by saying God needs us, it would mean that God somehow is not fully himself without us being involved.

[10:22] Now think about the implications of this statement, this understanding. This would now affect how we see worship.

[10:34] Is worship about us, who can be a part of God's needs, or is worship solely about God?

[10:46] You see, a false understanding can lead to wrong worship. So today, I want us to look at the attribute, is what theologians call the aseity of God.

[11:03] God, the aseity of God, which clearly means God self-existent, which means the self-existence of God, or as some call the solidaritiness of God.

[11:19] Many theologians believe that if we were to begin in one place where one needs to start when studying God, this is the point, the attribute that we are to grasp.

[11:31] That word aseity, which is spelled A-S-E-I-T-Y, it comes from the Latin, which means out of self, or to be self-reliant.

[11:46] What this simply means is, it means that God finds his own existence within himself. What this refers to is, God has eternally self-existed.

[12:03] God is the source of all life. There is no beginning to God. There is no ending to God. There has always been God. There always was God. And there will always be God.

[12:15] Let's take a look at some of Scripture. Genesis 1-1, In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. Before creation, God was already in existence.

[12:29] Through eternity past, God was always God without beginning. Psalm 93-2 says, Your throne is established from old.

[12:40] You are from everlasting. How long has God's throne been established? The writer of Psalm tells us that it's been everlasting.

[12:51] Titus 1-2, Eternal life which God promised before the ages began. Referring to Jesus, Daniel 7-13, There came one like a son of man, and he came to the Ancient of Days.

[13:10] The prophet Micah speaks, Whose coming forth is from of old, from ancient days. And Psalm 90-2 says, Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever you had formed the earth and the world from everlasting to everlasting, you are God.

[13:34] Let's take a look at these words. We read, In the beginning. You are from everlasting. Before the ages began.

[13:47] From ancient of days, and from everlasting to everlasting. There is an existence that began before even time itself.

[14:00] And that existence was God. The reality is, you and I will live for eternity. This is what the Bible teaches. We will either live out eternally in heaven, or we will live out eternally in hell, separated from God.

[14:20] But this eternal life that we have only flows in one direction. We are quite clear. The Bible is clear. We have a beginning. But God does not.

[14:33] God has existed from eternity past. There is not a time. There is no such thing as a time when God did not exist.

[14:46] If there is nothing, there will always be nothing. This is what the atheists want you to believe.

[14:57] That life came from nothing. But nothing can come from nothing, or something can come from nothing. Isaiah 43.10 says, Before me, no God was formed, nor shall there ever be any after me.

[15:21] This is God. This is what it means to talk about the self-reliance of God. This morning, I want us to look at four facts about what it means for God to be self-reliant.

[15:36] And from these facts, I want us to see three incredible truths that flow from these facts that deeply affect us and our worship to God.

[15:51] Remember, our goal is to simply know God better. And by knowing God better, our role is to grow our worship, enhance our worship, to be moved more of God with greater knowledge.

[16:09] The first fact that I need us to understand in regards to God's self-existence is that though God was alone, God was not lonely.

[16:23] God is perfect. God, through the Trinity, enjoyed perfect satisfaction. God enjoyed perfect fellowship. God enjoyed perfect delight in one another.

[16:37] As such, as God exists as a part of the Trinity, the Trinity, as we know, is made up the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. So to say that God was lonely or to say that God has need of us would be to say that He needed something outside of Himself to complete Him.

[17:00] that within the perfect Trinity something was missing.

[17:13] Was God lonely? Did God need fellowship? If these questions were affirmative, would God really be independent of His creation?

[17:30] Or would He be a God that created creation and be dependent upon it? To do so would mean He was not God.

[17:42] this would mean that God needed to create us to feel happy or to feel fulfilled in His personal existence.

[17:54] Let's be honest. the love, fellowship, and communication that God enjoys with the Trinity far exceeds any love, fellowship, and communication He would ever have with us.

[18:10] Let's really be honest. We struggle being this person to our loved ones. We struggle being this perfect person to our spouses, our children, our friends, our employers, our neighbors.

[18:28] To think for a moment that God would need us is really quite silly. We are finite sinful beings.

[18:45] John 17 5 in His High Priestly Prayer writes, and now Father, or this is Jesus' prayer, glorify me in your own presence with the glory that I had with you before the world existed.

[19:05] Even before the world existed, God was perfectly glorified along with His Son, Jesus Christ. So that is the first fact.

[19:17] Though God was alone, God was not lonely. The second fact we need to understand is God created the universe not by necessity, but for His own glory.

[19:32] Let me repeat that. God created the universe not by necessity, but for His own glory. The reality is God did not lack anything when He was alone.

[19:45] God was not forced to create, He did not owe us, He did not owe creation, anything else for that matter. But Luke writes in Acts 17 verses 24 and 25, the God who made the world and everything in it, being Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in temples made by man, nor is He served by human hands, as though He needed anything, since He Himself gives to all mankind life and breadth and everything.

[20:24] The idea that a God would be dependent upon His creation for His glory is absurd, but this is how ancient world thought.

[20:36] Many Greek mythologies are based around that the gods drew power from their worshippers' prayers, their worshippers' worship of them would make them greater than other gods around them.

[20:51] It's not so with God. Revelations 4.11 says, Worthy are you, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things, and by your will they existed and were created.

[21:12] In the beginning, Genesis 1.1, there was of a time, if there could call it time, when God in the unity of His nature dwelt all alone.

[21:24] There was no heaven where His glory is now particularly manifested. There was no earth to engage His attention. There were no angels to sing His praises, and there were no universe to uphold by the word of His power.

[21:40] There was nothing, no one, but God. Not a day, not a year, or an age, but from everlasting.

[21:56] And during eternity past, God was alone, self-contained, self-sufficient, self-satisfied, satisfied, and in need of nothing.

[22:16] If He had a universe, had angels, had human beings been necessary to Him in any way, they also had been called, they would have been called into existence from all eternity.

[22:31] Do you understand that? If we were needed, the universe were needed, if the angels were needed, God would have called them into existence from the very beginning.

[22:44] But He does only in our beginning, not His beginning, because there is no beginning. You see, the creating of us, this world, this universe, when He does, when He did, adds nothing to God.

[23:07] God does not change. Therefore, His essential glory can neither be augmented or diminish. God is the same all the time, every time.

[23:24] Now, God's creation does reveal some incredible things about God. One, it reveals God's love, and two, God's creation reveals His majesty.

[23:41] And this is an incredible, remarkable truth. We matter to God. God does not need us. That does not mean we do not matter to God.

[23:55] God. We are meaningful. Why are we meaningful? The prophet Isaiah answers that question for us.

[24:06] In Isaiah 62, 3, 5, the prophet writes, you, when he's speaking to us, shall be a crown of beauty in the hand of God.

[24:18] you shall be a crown of beauty in the hand of God and a royal diadem in the hand of your God.

[24:30] You shall no more be termed forsaken, and your land shall no more be termed desolate, for you shall be called my delight is in her.

[24:43] In your land married, for the Lord delights in you, in your land shall be married. For as a young man marries a young woman, so shall your sons marry you, and as the bridegroom rejoices over the bride, so shall your God rejoice over you.

[25:06] We are loved. We are loved by a God who's always existed. the prophet calls us the crown of beauty in the hand of the Lord.

[25:26] But we are not necessary for God to be God. We are not needed by God to be God.

[25:37] But we are loved, we are esteemed, valued, and we are valued by God. And our value is found in God, not found in us.

[25:57] That is the second fact, that God created this universe, he created me, he created you, not by necessity, but for his own glory.

[26:12] God is the third fact that we need to understand when it comes to talking about God's self-reliance is that God is the source of all life.

[26:25] God is the source of all life. I think we understand this. The basis for God is found only in himself. God is not caused by anything or anyone.

[26:38] The philosophers call him the uncaused cause. We understand that every motion has power behind it. A ball just does not roll on its own.

[26:52] A ball needs either the wind or a person to kick it, to throw it, but it needs a cause outside of itself to cause it to move.

[27:03] God does not. The great theologian and philosopher Thomas Aquinas called God the first mover. He argued that this was a powerful proof for the existence of God.

[27:17] Not only is the first mover, he's the only mover, he's the one who creates all motion. God is not dependent on anything else.

[27:28] God is independent. What this means is there is nothing above God. There is nothing more powerful than God. God is self-sufficient, self-sustaining, self-satisfied.

[27:42] Only God is self-existence. Now because of that, everything else finds its existence in God.

[27:53] Acts 17 28, Paul, who was arguing with the Greeks, or I would say speaking with the Greeks in the Areopolis, simply stated, in him being God, we live, and move, and have our being.

[28:13] God is our beginning. God is the reason for our life. God is the reason for our purpose. God is what defines us as human beings.

[28:27] We are dependent upon God. Not partly dependent, but entirely dependent. Why? we are not self sufficient.

[28:39] We are not self sustaining. And we are not self satisfying. God is the source of all there is.

[28:51] God is all sufficient in himself all the time and never needs anything outside of himself.

[29:01] The fourth fact that I need us to understand here is all things are from him, all things are through him, and all things are to him.

[29:17] Let's take a look at Paul's book of Romans. And I have the verses coming up. The first verse, verse 34, states, for who has known the mind of the Lord or who has been his counselor?

[29:35] Think about it. Does God need a counselor? Does God need advice? Does he need someone to help him? Does God need someone to consult with?

[29:50] No. God is completely above any counselor, any help, any advice. Who could think to give God counsel?

[30:03] Now read verse 35, or who has given a gift to him that he might be repaid? What he's saying is, have we actually ever given God something that he now owes us?

[30:19] Think about sometimes how we pray. We think because we pray, we ask for something, we're doing something. God, I served you for 20 years, I deserve this.

[30:30] That is not how prayer works. That is not how a relationship works. Sadly, many people act as if how they act here on this earth create some sort of debt with God that God is forced to pay back.

[30:49] God does not need provision. God does not need provision. God does not need power.

[31:05] No one can owe God anything or have God owe them. Sorry. Now we find the answer in the following verse, verse 36, for from him and through him and to him are all things.

[31:30] To him be glory forever. Amen. this word for introduces the explanation for us. For from him and through him and to him are all things.

[31:43] Is there anything outside of God? No. Is there some things, a few things, a million things? No. The word there is all things.

[31:55] The words from him means that he is the source of all things. The words through him means he is the means of all things. And the words to him means he is the goal of all things.

[32:13] What does that say about your worship? What does that say about your relationship with God? Let's say this in another way.

[32:28] From him means from God's sovereign will. has anything really come forth or happened that is not of God?

[32:40] We learned a couple of months ago that even the devil is God's devil. Proverbs 16.4 Solomon writes, the Lord has made for the Lord has made for the day of trouble.

[32:58] Even judgment day, as horrible as that is, has been designed ultimately with purpose.

[33:11] God's grace. Now let's take a look at that word through him. That means through God's sovereign activity. And the word to him means to his sovereign glory.

[33:30] 1 Corinthians 8 verses 5 and 6 Paul writes, For although there may be so-called gods in heaven or on earth, as indeed there are many gods and many lords, yet for us there is one God, the Father, from whom are all things and for whom we exist, and one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom are all things and through whom we exist.

[34:04] the bottom line is you and I were created for God's glory. The question that you and I are faced with is does our life glorify God or our death glorify God?

[34:27] Even in our death, his righteousness will shine forth. God so those are four truths, four facts about God.

[34:40] You might be asking, what does that mean to me? I want to tell you three reasons why understanding God's self-reliance is so important to man and especially us as believers in Christ.

[34:57] Christ. The first truth is your heart and my heart will be restless until we live in fellowship with God. Your heart and my heart will be restless until we live in fellowship with God.

[35:14] The fact is we will never be satisfied with what this world offers. We can only be satisfied with what God offers. And that is a relationship with Him.

[35:27] To understand that God is our source, that He is our power, and that He is to be the object of our love. Why? We know this verse, 1 John 4 19.

[35:38] We love because He loved us. Our source of love, the ability to love our children, our parents, our family, our friends, is all sourced from God's love.

[35:52] The greater we know more of God, the more our own hearts become filled with contentment and satisfaction to Him. When we are seeking to be solely satisfied from God, we will stop trying to see satisfaction in what this world offers, whether it be our spouses, our kids, our parents, instead of trying to live to glorify them, we will live to glorify God, and our love will be satisfied.

[36:25] It will not be found in money. It will not be found in the things of this earth. Our satisfaction will be found in Jesus Christ alone.

[36:37] God's love will be not for God's love. The second truth that we get from understanding that God is self-reliant is everything is small to God.

[36:57] Everything is small to God. Let me ask you this question. Have you ever wondered if something is too big for God?

[37:10] Oh, man, I can't even pray that prayer, man. That would be too big for God. Or, have you even thought, you know what, this is such a small thing, I don't even want to bother God with it.

[37:26] Well, here's the first lesson when we understand that everything is small to God. one, there is nothing too big for God. There is nothing too great, too big, too augmentous that he cannot handle.

[37:42] When you think of the God who has lived for eternity past, he's created all the cosmos, there is no request too big to bring to God. There is no sin to bring to God or too big for God not to forgive.

[37:59] All right, that's the truth that we learn from this. There is nothing so big that God cannot handle it. So what do I have for you? Get over yourself if you think you have a sin that is too great for God to forgive.

[38:13] It's not. But, here's the flip side. Being small does not mean insignificant.

[38:26] We see over and over again in the words of the Bible that God wants us to bring even the small things to Him. In fact, He's asking us to, He invites us to bring even our smallest cares to Him.

[38:47] Think about that. As big as God is and as reliant as He is and as powerful, nothing is too big and nothing is too small.

[39:02] God does not say, cast your big burdens on me. No. He says, cast all your cares and burdens on me.

[39:16] The third truth derived from this is there is no need that God cannot supply. supply. There is no need that God cannot supply.

[39:30] There was a study Dave did in our Sunday school time, the journey class or foundational class now, and it was a study and it focuses on these four facts about God.

[39:47] Whenever we deal with any situation, one, God is good. He is always good. He does not change. God is gracious. God is gracious all the time.

[39:59] He does not change. God is glorious all the time. He does not change. And God is great. You see, God is all sufficient and because He doesn't need anything, there is nothing that He cannot supply for us.

[40:17] this is, my friends, the God of the universe. He has no need of anything or anyone. And because of this, we know He can supply anything or any of our needs.

[40:39] If you're familiar with the Westminster Catechism of Faith, it is a biblical teachings that Christians throughout the year have been learning through.

[40:52] And it just simply has many questions. I think there's 104 in the Shorter Catechism. But it asks questions. And the first question that it asks is, what is the chief end of man?

[41:09] And man's chief end is to glorify God and to enjoy Him forever. may we glorify God by knowing Him and knowing everything that God has enabled us to know about Him so that we can glorify Him with our lives.

[41:35] Let us pray. Dear Lord, Heavenly Father, we just thank You for who You are. It is beyond our words.

[41:49] It's beyond our minds. We understand that You are God, that You created all things. Father, I am thankful that You do not need us, but You indeed want us.

[42:06] You created us with a purpose, that we get to share in Your glory with our lives, with our words, with our actions, how we work, how we parent, how we live.

[42:24] It's all meant for a further purpose, which is to ultimately give glory to You. Father, I pray that these concepts aren't beyond our mind to understand.

[42:36] Father, I pray during this time we would ask the Holy Spirit to enlighten our minds to truly understand what it means that You are self sufficient.

[42:50] May we come to understand that there is no need that You cannot meet. There is no burden that is too big or too small for You.

[43:05] Father, You are great and may we ever, ever uphold You as great. Father, may You bless the words that have been spoken. May You bless the ears that hear this message.

[43:20] And may You break the pride of those who are yet humble. And may You implant in each and every one of us a submissive will that is moved by Your greatness and Your glory.

[43:41]  We ask these things in Your most holy and precious name. Amen.