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[0:00] Well, good morning, church. My name is David Corrente. If I have not been introduced to you or if we have not interacted, I have the joy and privilege of being the pastor of Grace Church of 99 and Pastor BK on Friday afternoon or morning.

[0:18] Let me know that he was feeling unwell and under the weather and just because of our friendship, because of our fellowship, and because of the joy that we share in Christ together as churches. I asked if I would be able to come in and 99 would be able to come and fellowship together.

[0:31] And so I know that it was a burdensome weekend for BK and Daniela. So it was absolutely a joy for us to be able to do so and come here on Sunday morning.

[0:44] Thank you so much, music team, for leading us in song. I gave them a couple of curveballs. There's a couple of songs I had in my mind ready to go for 99, a couple of psalm settings that I thought would be encouraging and helpful.

[0:58] So if they were new, that's on me, okay? That's not the music team. That's on me personally. And you probably didn't even know that it was new to them.

[1:08] So that's how talented and refreshing and encouraging this music team is. So every time we get to sing together in the Lord, especially with our music teams together, it is always a joy.

[1:19] Anyway, if you could just oblige me for one second, just a couple of housekeeping items for us 99ers here. Remember that my family and I are heading out this afternoon.

[1:30] We're going to Jupiter, Florida. That is where my seminary, the Expositor Seminary is. And so we grew up there ministry-wise. We spent four years there. And so our seminary, just like many of you men, go to Shepherd's Conference.

[1:43] My seminary has a pastor's conference as well called Courageous Churchmen. And so that's going to be in a week and a half, but we are going to go and enjoy some friendship and fellowship that we've been able to be encouraged by over the four years that we were there.

[1:58] And so for us, there's no Tuesday night ministry, Tuesday night Bible study. Grace Kids this week is off. Grace Kids starts next Wednesday, because many of you are a part of Grace Kids as well.

[2:10] So there's a couple of Tuesdays off, and then once we get back, then we'll get going again. All right. Let's get into the Word of God. Let's pray. Father, we thank you for every Lord's Day worship where your Word is preached.

[2:26] And we know that your Word does exactly what it intends to do. Every time your Word comes down on this earth, Lord, you are doing a work in a soul that glorifies you.

[2:42] And so we ask that you would do that this morning. Father, we pray for the Smiths. We pray for their sickness. We pray that you would heal them, bring them back to health so that they can do what they love to do, minister to the saints and minister to this church.

[3:00] Would you be a comfort and a balm for Daniela and her family as they grieve the loss of her mother? Father, we are so thankful for them and their ministry to our hearts because of what you have been doing in their lives.

[3:14] And we pray that you would strengthen them physically and spiritually during this time. Father, thank you for your church. May you be glorified in a people who long to be obedient, long to hear, long to be doers of your Word this morning.

[3:31] In your Son's precious and holy name. Amen. Well, would you turn to Acts chapter 10? Acts chapter 10 this morning.

[3:41] I'm going to read from verses 34 to 43. This is not going to be an exposition of this particular text, but this is where we are going to launch from.

[3:52] For you at SBC, and if you're new here, you're actually in part two of a series that we started last week called Greatness in Salvation. So we are going to take what Peter does here in this sermon to Cornelius, and then I pray that we'll be encouraged of how Peter takes the character of God and the gospel of God and preaches it to an audience that desperately needs to know who God is.

[4:22] Acts chapter 10, starting in verse 34. Opening his mouth, Peter said, I most certainly understand now that God is not one to show partiality.

[4:36] But in every nation, the man who fears Him and does what is right is welcome to Him. The word which He sent to the sons of Israel, preaching peace through Jesus Christ, He is Lord of all.

[4:48] You yourselves know the thing which took place throughout all Judea, starting from Galilee after the baptism which John proclaimed. You know of Jesus of Nazareth, how God anointed Him with the Holy Spirit and with power, and how He went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with Him.

[5:08] We are witnesses of all these things. He did both in the land of the Jews and in Jerusalem. They also put Him to death by hanging Him on a cross.

[5:20] God raised Him up on the third day and granted that He become visible, not to all the people, but to witnesses who were chosen beforehand by God. That is to us who ate and drank with Him after He rose from the dead.

[5:34] And He ordered us to preach to the people and solemnly to testify that this is the one who has been appointed by God as judge of the living and the dead. Of Him all the prophets bear witness.

[5:47] That through His name, everyone who believes in Him receives forgiveness of sins. Do you know God? Do you know Him?

[6:01] Do you know Him? Maybe another question that's just as important is, does He know you? This speaks to the authenticity of a relationship.

[6:13] Relationship is built on knowledge, what you know about that person. There's a couple of aspects of knowledge in a relationship that would really help define it. You have information, and you have intimacy.

[6:26] You have information that is general, information that is specific. When it comes to intimacy, you have information about intimacy that is personal, but is also vulnerable.

[6:45] You may know somebody. Think of a celebrity you see all the time. You could say that you know them, but do you have a relationship with them, right?

[6:55] The difference is that information, is it general or specific? Do you have an intimate relationship with them that is personal and vulnerable? That's going to speak to how close a relationship would be.

[7:08] Your varied levels of friendship. Your varied levels of discipleship relationships. Depend on these things. Man, I'm going to put you on the spot right now.

[7:20] Do you know your wives? Because you knowing your wife and how much you know her and how you interact with her literally depends on your spiritual health.

[7:35] Remember? 1 Peter 3, 7. Live with your wife in an understanding way and show her honor as a fellow heir of the grace of life so that your prayers will not be hindered.

[7:50] In the original language there, the live in an understanding way is with knowledge. Live with your wife with knowledge. According to the knowledge that you know.

[8:01] And then you put into action that knowledge so that you show her honor. So the information that you know, general, specific, personal, vulnerable, helps you understand how you honor her.

[8:15] It's a big deal. Information leads to intimacy. And marriage is the most intimate relationship on earth one can have in terms of personally and vulnerably.

[8:31] Men, husbands. How long could you talk about your wives? How deep could you go in a conversation with somebody else about who she is?

[8:44] Her fears, weaknesses, strengths, personality traits you like, maybe don't like as much? How much you're sanctified by her? How much she helps you as your helpmate?

[8:58] Would they notice how you talk about her? Mannerisms? Smile? Body language? All because of the way you know her.

[9:12] Informationally. And in an intimate way. How much could they think about your relationship in the way that you talk about her? Now what about your God?

[9:28] He's revealed himself. How about your God? That's what I said. That's what I said. Yeah. I know a lot of people know their dogs really well too.

[9:44] No problem, sir. How about your God? He's revealed himself. He's given you very general, specific, general information. He's given you specific information.

[9:55] He's revealed himself. He's revealed himself. He's revealed himself. How much do you talk about him?

[10:09] When you talk about him? How much can you articulate how much you know him? In your own personal and intimate way. I use the marriage illustration because God does about his people.

[10:25] Turn to Hosea chapter 4 for a moment. The Old Testament prophet, Hosea. Because this was one of the indictments that God had against Israel.

[10:42] In the book Hosea, he uses the relationship between Hosea and Gomer as an illustration for the indictment against Israel.

[10:56] The spiritual infidelity that Israel had against their God. Look at verse 1 of Hosea chapter 4. Listen to the word of the Lord, O sons of Israel.

[11:09] For the Lord has a case against the inhabitants of the land. Because there is no faithfulness or kindness or knowledge of God in the land. Is God saying that they didn't know about him?

[11:23] That they didn't have information about God? They still had his laws. They still had his word. Look at verse 6.

[11:35] My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge. Because you have rejected knowledge, I will also reject you from being my priest.

[11:47] Since you have forgotten the law of your God, I will also forget your children. It was because of their lack of knowledge, their lack of understanding of who God is really in a relationship with them.

[11:59] That he did not allow them to be as effective as he called them to be. Because if you go all the way back to Exodus chapter 19. Who was Israel supposed to be to the world? A kingdom of priests.

[12:12] They were supposed to testify, mediate, let the world know. Yahweh is God. And if you submit to him, if you believe him, if you worship him rightly according to who he is in his nature.

[12:25] Who he is in his laws. This is what he does. This is how he blesses. And every other nation was supposed to look into Israel and go, Who is that God? Who is that God?

[12:36] I want to worship him. But because of the lack of knowledge. Because they didn't know God personally and intimately and submit to him.

[12:47] God uses this marriage relationship illustration. Go to chapter 6 for a moment. Chapter 6 verse 3.

[13:02] They even say, Israel says, Let us press on to know the Lord. There seems to may be something arising in their hearts. God says, What shall I do with you?

[13:16] Your loyalties. It's like a morning cloud. It's like a dude just kind of comes and goes. They'd sometimes come back. And they'd say, You are my God. And then the next week they would go and they would worship Baal.

[13:30] Fickle. God was more like an acquaintance at that point. So it lost the effectiveness of what they were called to do in the world.

[13:45] Go to Matthew chapter 7 for a moment. Many of you know this Sermon on the Mount.

[13:57] One of the more terrifying texts in your Bible. Matthew chapter 7. Starting in verse 21.

[14:13] He gives the illustration of fruit and bad fruit and good fruit. In verse 21 he says, Not everyone who says to me, Lord, Lord, will enter the kingdom of heaven.

[14:24] But he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven will enter. Many will say to me on that day, Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name? And in your name cast out demons.

[14:35] And in your name perform many miracles. And then I, Jesus, I will declare to them, I never knew you.

[14:49] Of course he knew about them. He's the creator of each and every human being. He doesn't know them relationally. There was an external way that they thought that they could have access to God.

[15:05] But it wasn't a heart issue. It wasn't an intimate knowledge of who God is. There wasn't a submission of the heart. There wasn't an obedience to his word.

[15:17] I never knew you. Depart from me, you who practice lawlessness. And don't turn there, but you know this text, Jeremiah chapter 9.

[15:32] Don't boast in your riches. Don't boast in your wisdom. Don't boast in your might. Whatever external thing you think that you have that provides you security and comfort and hope in this life.

[15:46] No, boast in this one thing. Boast that you know me. Your whole life is a boast about your knowledge of God in an intimate relationship and who he is so that you can testify to him.

[16:07] So that you can proclaim him. So that you can preach about him. So that he can save sinners. So they can have access to truth. Go back to Acts chapter 10.

[16:23] We've been going through the book of Acts on Sunday mornings and it has been about testifying to the Lord Jesus Christ. You can think about Acts as the acts of the risen Lord. Sometimes you hear about the acts of the apostles or acts of the Holy Spirit and those ring true to some extent.

[16:38] But it's the act of the risen Lord through his church testifying to his salvation so that every single nation has access to the salvation message of the gospel.

[16:49] The church is called to testify, give witness, talk about, proclaim to the world that you can know your creator.

[17:01] You can have access to God through the Lord Jesus Christ, through his life, death, burial, resurrection, and ascension. And the church is empowered by the Holy Spirit to do that very thing.

[17:16] So there's information that's needed to testify, to proclaim, to show honor to your Savior. The information that you know shows honor.

[17:30] In the same way that a husband has information that shows honor to his wife, the information that you have directly correlates and relates to the honor that you show God in your witness about him.

[17:46] To testify accurately, courageously, faithfully, effectively is to know who God is and continue to learn and to be able to speak about him to give hearts, souls, minds access to the truth.

[18:05] So when we come to Acts 10, we come to this divinely initiated opportunity. You've maybe said it before. It's divinely appointed. Well, this one was recorded divinely appointed.

[18:18] Remember the story how Peter had a vision and the sheets came down of unclean animals and Peter says, I don't eat these things. And God says, eat. I don't eat these things.

[18:29] Eat. I don't eat these things. Eat three times. He's had to do that. And it was to show, ultimately, that the Gentiles, those of non-Jewish descent, will have access to the gospel and to God in the exact same way that the Jews do.

[18:47] So the gospel is making its way from Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and to the ends of the earth. And when we come to Acts chapter 10, there's this captive audience of Gentiles.

[19:01] Peter has a group of people saying, preach to me. I don't know if you have anybody come over to your house and they just knock on your door and like, I just feel like God told me that you need to preach to me today.

[19:13] It would be pretty awesome, wouldn't it? Peter is a captive audience who didn't have a religious background, didn't have the Torah, didn't have God's law, didn't have a history, a divine revelation, didn't have a hope of a coming Messiah, didn't have a future kingdom.

[19:40] From the time of the Tower of Babel, the nations have been deceived by false gods and self-consumed by man-made religions trying to figure out why do I feel like there's something about the divine in my nature and I can't quite connect it all together.

[19:58] So this is an incredible moment in salvation history. God promised that salvation would go global and Acts 10 proves him to be true. Here it is. Gospel's going to all the nations.

[20:10] A Roman centurion and his family sent men. Peter is in Joppa and if you remember an Old Testament prophet who was in Joppa, Jonah, what did he do?

[20:20] And he had an opportunity to go to a Gentile nation. He fled, he left. Peter's now being obedient. He's going to a bunch of Gentiles to give them a life-saving gospel message.

[20:32] So if you had a captive audience, the Lord gave you the joy, the privilege of a captive audience where they said, please preach to me because look at verse 31.

[20:47] I'm sorry, I'm in the wrong page here. 33. What if someone said this to you? Now then. We are all here present before God and hear all that you have been commanded by the Lord.

[21:00] We're all here. We're ready. We're waiting. Do you ever pray for that? Lord, give me an opportunity where I can just boldly proclaim someone who wants to hear about you.

[21:11] You probably have a lot of opportunities where people don't really want to and you're trying to sneak it in and you're trying to maneuver the conversation to get to some sort of gospel truth and you know that they're just not hearing it. What about this opportunity?

[21:27] Are you prepared? Are you prepared? Are you prepared to speak about your God and have that person know, that person really knows their God.

[21:38] I'm so glad I came to them. They seem to know their God, the way that you speak about him, the general information, the specific information, with intimacy, with joy, with conviction, with love, and with courage.

[21:54] would you be able to help this world know who God is according to how he has revealed himself and according to how your mission as a Christian and our mission as a church is called to go.

[22:07] What should give us confidence in our gospel presentations is that we do know God, we know who he is, and why he saves the way that he does, and how people connect those kind of dots together.

[22:20] Father, you and I are not going to know every single answer to every single question and every single scenario that you come across. But praise God, you don't have to.

[22:33] Because if you know who your God is, someone asks you a question, you have that angle. You have that perspective. Or if you don't know, you can go study. And you can give them the answer.

[22:47] If we can know who God is and all that he reveals to us, then we can be prepared to faithfully give an answer as Peter in his epistle says. Be ready to have an answer for the defense of the hope that is in you.

[23:04] So Peter, Gentile audience, preaching, who he is and why he saves. That's what Peter does here.

[23:16] In verse 34 to 37, he gives a characteristic about God. Here's who God is, Cornelius, and his family.

[23:28] He preached about a characteristic of God and then he preached from verse 38 to 43 about the person of Jesus Christ and why he saves. He didn't get into a deep theological seminary course for these guys.

[23:46] He gave them the right information that they needed. And then God worked. In verse 34, he says, now I certainly understand that God is not showing partiality, that God is not a partial God.

[24:01] That is a characteristic of his nature. Who he is. That you can tell someone. That God doesn't show favoritism. That he doesn't elevate groups of people.

[24:15] He doesn't have two different types of standards of judgment. He doesn't have unfair preferential treatment based on arbitrary standards. That's more like us.

[24:28] Cornelius, this group of family, this God is not partial. Yes, Jesus Christ came to the Jews. Yes, he came through the Jewish nation.

[24:40] But that was actually a vehicle so that you could hear the gospel too. What comfort Peter brought to their hearts knowing that they could be saved by this Jewish Messiah that they've been hearing about.

[24:55] Because where they are in this text is only about 60 kilometers from Nazareth where Jesus grew up. And Galilee, where most of Jesus' ministry took place. So they've been hearing all the stories.

[25:07] It doesn't take long to hear about news. Even in the, you know, old ancient Near East newspaper connections. However that information traveled.

[25:20] Right? It took us about, what, 30 seconds to hear about the landslide in Lion's Bay. It can take a little bit longer and, you know, first century Israel.

[25:32] But they heard. They heard. Who is this guy? Do we have access to him? Can we get healed? He talked about this eternal kingdom. Do we get to experience that? He's forgiven people's sins.

[25:44] What does that even mean? How do I get that? And Peter comes and says, no, this God is not partial. You can have access to the same truth. And then he went and preached Christ.

[25:55] What he did. Who he was. The forgiveness of sins. They're going to be judged by him. So that was a really long introduction that I had to give last week as well.

[26:09] To basically say what the greatness in salvation series is, is we're just walking through characteristics of God. We're walking through who God has revealed himself to be so that we can know him more.

[26:22] Understand him. Love him. Have a deeper conviction. Have a deeper well of information and knowledge so that you can thank him for who he is to you.

[26:34] How he's revealed himself to be. And then you're ready to go tell the world about who he is. And so these aren't going to be mind-boggling in the sense that you've never heard them before.

[26:47] You've probably heard of all these characteristics and attributes. And praise God for that. But I want us to be ready. I want us to be prepared. I want us to be thoughtful and mindful.

[27:00] If someone asks me to describe God and how he works, how he acts, why he saves, can I connect those dots for somebody in the same way that Peter and the apostles were able to?

[27:13] Can you take a specific characteristic about God and show this is why you can trust him in salvation? That's my goal in this series. Last week, we went through three attributes.

[27:25] We went through he's a God of truth, he's a God of faithfulness, and he's a God of holiness. When you believe and know that God is a God of truth, who he is and what he does is always true.

[27:40] There's never error, there's never distortion, there's never a lie when he speaks or acts in regards to how he saves. You can take him at his word. That he is the only true God.

[27:53] He's the only way to God. His plan of salvation is the only way to have your sins forgiven. His Savior is the only Savior that can stand before God for you on your behalf and be counted as righteousness.

[28:08] It's the only truth. You live in a pluralistic society that says, no, you get to define your own truth. You get to live out your own truth in your own way and you don't have to face the consequences for that.

[28:22] But God is also a God of faithfulness. When you believe and know that God is faithful, he always follows through in his actions. He always completes, accomplishes what he says he will do.

[28:39] It may not be in a timing that we think is good, but he always does it. We went through passages like he's abounding in loving kindness and faithfulness.

[28:51] Great is thy faithfulness. 2 Timothy 2.13, he remains faithful. He cannot deny himself. Some people might ask you, how can I know that he's the only way?

[29:05] How can I trust that if I give myself to this Jesus that he's going to accomplish what you say? Well, it's because he's faithful. He's never not done what he's going to say.

[29:20] If he's going to do something, he will do it. Everything that God said, he will do. He said he would turn evil to good. He said he would send Jesus Christ.

[29:31] He said he would send the gospel to the nations. He says that you're a sinner, but the blood of Jesus covers you. He provided all of that in his faithfulness. Wholeness. Thirdly, we went over God as holy.

[29:48] When God is holy, when you believe and know that God is holy, he is separate from his creation. That he, in his nature, is the standard for having a relationship with him.

[30:04] Not our standard, not a human standard, but God's standard of perfect holiness. The world needs to know that God has a standard to be met. And that he is the standard.

[30:19] Leviticus 10, he says, he will be treated as holy for he is holy. The famous passage in Isaiah chapter 6, holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts.

[30:30] as the seraphim were all around singing this, saying it out. What is it about Christianity, someone might ask? What is it about your God that makes him different than all the other gods?

[30:43] Our God is holy. Our God is separate. Not like the other gods. Not like his creation. Why can't I decide about my own truth?

[30:56] Why can't I decide which is best in the afterlife? Because God is holy. And you have to stand before a holy judge who demands perfection. How are you going to be perfect?

[31:09] That's where you get to preach Jesus Christ and his holiness and how his holiness covers you.

[31:20] and you get to meet the standard that God sets in Jesus Christ. So you see how a characteristic of God leads you into preaching Christ so that they have access to information and knowledge of salvation.

[31:39] All right. Let's get to our next characteristic. He's a God of power. He's a God of power. When you believe and know God is a God of power, he has the ability to generate, create, produce, actualize what he says that he will do.

[32:01] So if he is a truthful God and says something and he's a faithful God and it's always going to come true, how does he make it happen? Well, he has the power to make it happen.

[32:14] He has the ability to make it happen. How many times have you said to yourself, I wish this could happen and you realize in that moment, I have no ability to actually make it happen.

[32:28] Powerless. Not God. Not your God. Not Yahweh. He's a God of power. So when he says he's going to do something, he's actually going to accomplish it.

[32:41] Turn to 1 Chronicles 29 for a moment. We're going to go through a couple of verses as we did last week.

[32:54] We're not going to get through all the characteristics today, so I'm sorry if it's going to kind of leave you on a cliffhanger. But I have about 8 to 10 characteristics we're trying to walk our way through here.

[33:07] 1 Chronicles 29. Verse 10. 1 Chronicles 29. Verse 10.

[33:20] So David blessed the Lord in the sight of all the assembly and David said, Blessed are you, O Lord God of Israel, our Father forever and ever. Yours, O Lord, is the greatness and the power and the glory and the victory and the majesty.

[33:40] Indeed, everything that is in the heavens and the earth. Yours is the dominion, O Lord. You exalt yourself as head over all. Both riches and honor come from you and you rule over all and in your hand is power and might.

[33:59] And it lies in your hand to make great and to strengthen everyone. Now, therefore, our God, we thank you and praise your glorious name.

[34:13] You can even pray these out in your personal prayer time. We thank you, God, because you are like this. And God's power is in there. Because if you want to contrast how the world thinks that they are powerless, their gods are powerless, their religious systems are powerless.

[34:33] Do you remember when the Ark of the Covenant went into the Dagon or the Temple of Dagon? The fish god? The next day, the fish god was on his face.

[34:50] What did they have to do? The temple priest actually had to pick up their god. And then the next day, hands are cut off, heads are cut off. Powerless.

[35:02] Utterly powerless. That piece of stone had nothing against our God. That's the point.

[35:15] He was trying to show Israel, he's even praying in such a way to show every other false god is powerless. You can think of Isaiah 44 as well, right? The guy that cut the tree, bakes bread out of part of the wood over here and then cuts it in and says, you are my God, deliver me.

[35:30] And he was the guy that actually carved the god. How deceived people can be because they think there's power in a piece of wood or they think there's power in man-made systems.

[35:45] Turn to Romans chapter 1 for a moment. Do you guys know this well? I know that you guys have been walking through Romans. I know it's kind of been slowed at a crawling pace. That's okay. I know you guys will get back there.

[35:55] But Romans chapter 1, we need to know this text here. We should have this memorized in Squamish. We should be able to go to this verse at any moment, at any time, with anybody.

[36:10] Romans chapter 1, verse 20, for since the creation of the world, his invisible attributes, his eternal power, and divine nature have been clearly seen being understood through what has been made, so that they're without excuse.

[36:27] We step outside the doors of this church, somebody steps outside the doors of their home, they're without excuse because they get to see the same thing we get to see. Did you guys see the sunset the other day?

[36:40] The sun, how it was directly going right on Garibaldi Peak on Atwell Peak. How glory, how beautiful is that? Were your eyes just not drawn to that majestic sight? So was everybody else.

[36:53] So was everyone else in Squamish. Because of that sight, they're without excuse. Go to Ephesians chapter 1.

[37:06] Ephesians chapter 1. Verse 19. Let's start in verse 18.

[37:22] Paul's continuing a prayer here for the church. I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened so that you will know what is the hope of his calling. Right?

[37:33] So there's that no word. You need to know the hope of God's calling. What are the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the states? And what is the surpassing greatness of his power towards us who believe?

[37:49] These are in accordance with the working of the strength of his might which he brought about in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places.

[38:01] Far above all rule, all authority, and power, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come. And he put all things in subjection under his feet and gave him as head over all things to the church which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all.

[38:22] The same power that spoke and it was and was created here that gives the entire world no excuse about God's power is now mightily working in believers in the church to show the world about the greatness of his power in Christ.

[38:40] Raised from the dead. people might ask you can God do really what he said he can do?

[38:53] Is it some kind of bluff or maybe an over promise? Natural bent of the human heart is to close the gap from who God is as creator and who we are as created to make that gap smaller not bigger or what it should be astronomically bigger.

[39:15] If God said that he created the world keeps it sustained it by his very word his very word is it difficult to believe what he accomplished in salvation?

[39:27] If Christ was risen from the dead seated at the right hand of God in the heavenly places and because of that he's been given all rule authority and power and dominion is there any government that should fear us?

[39:48] That we should fear I should say? Is there anything on earth that we should fear? There's a lot of fear in this world today. Why should you have no fear?

[40:03] Because Christ raised from the dead and you have the power of the living God resident within you through the Holy Spirit? When he says that he forgives sin he does so by the power of Christ.

[40:21] When you die in Christ it's God's power that recreates your physical being and makes you look like the resurrected glorified body of Jesus Christ?

[40:35] Christ. Can you proclaim that to someone who needs to know about God's power and who he is and why you can trust him and why you can have the hope that you do?

[40:47] It's God's power God's ability to accomplish what he says. Next characteristic it's a God of love he's a God of truth he's a God of faithfulness he's a God of holiness he's a God of power he's the God of love when you believe and know that God is love he's a loving God you believe that he gives sacrificially for the outcomes of his plans and purposes because that's the definition of love you give sacrificially of yourself to another person without asking anything in return at the cost of yourself that's love so the world needs to know that God is a personally sacrificial God that gives himself to his creation he's not a God supposed God that stands way up there and you have to appease him or he's going to throw lightning bolts at you he's a God that personally sacrifices himself so that you can have a relationship with him

[42:00] I think the world needs to know that of course they do go back to Hosea chapter 14 for a moment there's probably a thousand verses we could go to but you already know the context now of Hosea right of people who are spiritually adulterous spiritual infidelity he says God says that Israel was going to other lovers other gods so what does God say here in Hosea chapter 14 verse 4 I will heal their apostasy look at this next line I will love them freely I will love them freely freely not out of some obligation

[43:02] I guess I kind of have to love freely I will give of myself I will give myself to you Israel even though you have ran off to other gods even though you're worthy of judgment because of your sin I will give myself to you I will take the cost I will pay the punishment go to John 15 John chapter 15 verse 13 hopefully this is another exercise of do I know my Bible do I know my Bible well enough can I know it better can I grow in it and I hope the answer is yes for all of us we're all growing we're all learning chapter 15 John chapter 15 verse 13 greater love has no one than this that one lays down his life for his friends lays it down

[44:11] Jesus says I lay it down and I take it back up no one does that no one tells me to do that I do it on my own father sent me I submit to him I lay down my life freely lovingly remember Romans chapter 5 verse 8 God demonstrates his love while you are in your loveliest state while you are most beautiful while we were yet sinners that's when he came when we were at our worst when we were distant when we were chasing other ideologies chasing other world views chasing money chasing our own kingdoms chasing the lust of our flesh the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life you know well 1st John 4 16 that God is love who loved first he did he personally and sacrificially came to this world people desire to be loved and cared for they want their relationships to matter and mean something there's nothing more meaningful than knowing the God of love who personally and sacrificially gave himself for you when you were worthy to be judged because of your sin maybe you've thought one or two times does anyone really love me am I loved in this world probably a lot of people right now that are thinking the same thing asking themselves the same question no one has to wonder whether they're loved when you come to

[46:10] Yahweh when you come to the Lord God of heaven and earth who sacrificially gave himself in the Lord Jesus Christ God's giving is unlike anything we give in his height or depth or breadth you believe Romans 8 that nothing can separate you from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus nothing do you believe that he is truthful when he says that do you believe that he is faithful when he says that do you believe that he is holy when he says that that that's what he accomplished that he's the God of power that your sin post conversion cannot separate you from him how many times have you heard I don't know if God can forgive me enough you don't know my past you don't know what I've done you need to teach them about God's love teach them about who God is in his love a personally sacrificial

[47:12] God who knows them intimately and can still love them in the Lord Jesus Christ his love is personal there is no more personal love in this world than someone who intimately knows your sin and still comes towards you and cares for you that's a pretty intimate love that's that's what makes the intimacy of marriage so unique they know your sin patterns they know who you are can't hide anything God knows every failure every weakness every stumbling block every sin Christ came in love can you teach that to the world someone who needs it captive audience let's keep going righteous God is a righteous God when you believe and know that

[48:15] God is righteous he always speaks and acts according to his perfect standard according to his law according to his word all nations to some degree have a judicial system there's laws of the land there's right and there's wrong and if there are no laws of the land remember Romans says that there's a law in our heart God gives us the law in our hearts so that even if you don't know who God is you don't have a moral code of law you know it's wrong to murder you know it's wrong to lie you know it's wrong to steal the world needs to know that God's immovable standard is good and right for this world and every single person the world needs to know that turn to

[49:18] Psalm 11 Psalm chapter 11 Psalm chapter 11 verse 7 for the Lord is righteous he loves righteousness righteousness the upright will behold his face he is righteous he is the standard for right and wrong and that's how he gives to this world he speaks and acts according to his law because he loves righteousness you don't have to turn there but Psalm 119 righteous are you oh Lord

[50:19] Jeremiah 23 6 the Lord our righteousness they were supposed to know in Israel that God's standard and God's law his moral rightness and wrongness is ultimately the world's rightness and wrongness standard that's how he's created you that's how he's created this world the world knows that standards are important right if gravity doesn't work the way that God has said it we're in a lot of trouble there's a right way that gravity works and if it doesn't work that way we're not here right now or there's a right way that oxygen works chemically so that you can breathe so that we can be alive if it's not that chemical compound it's not oxygen and you can't breathe it in same with

[51:24] God's law there's sin and there's righteousness and God's standard is the standard for morality and ethics in this world you might have questions about how do I know what is evil why do I feel this way in my heart when I do something wrong is there ever going to be a time that people don't act this way when will the world be made right you ever heard even sentiments like that because the world knows that there's sin evil wickedness there's a moral standard of right and wrong are you able to help them know that God is righteous and it's his standard the world knows internally by the creation that God made in them being in the image of God that there is a moral quality to this world we're not just skin and bones and flesh and a bunch of molecules put together there's something more there's a rightness and a wrongness so when

[52:43] God acts in salvation when he gives the standard of relationship with him there's nothing corrupt there's nothing tainted there's nothing polluted there's nothing spoiled every decision that he has made every way that he speaks about his son reveals himself calls you to believe it's right it's right every law for every person and every nation he gets to say what is right everything done and said in connection to Jesus Christ and salvation is right and I'm just going to flow into this next characteristic because the two kind of work together God is a God of justice he's a God of righteousness and the flip side of that he's a God of justice he's a just

[53:44] God when you believe and know that God is just he always judges perfectly he never judges too harshly he never judges too lightly he never judges in error he never judges in an unfair treatment or manner that's the impartial word group but to the exact degree of precision needed at that time don't you wish we had judges like that politicians like that the world needs to know that God judges with exact accuracy according to his word according to his nature and according to his law and he's not partial so each and every single one of you are going to have to face him with that characteristic right because you remember in Acts chapter 10 that Jesus is the judge of the living and the dead you're going to have to stand before a righteous just

[54:44] God Deuteronomy 32 Deuteronomy 32 Deuteronomy 32 verse 4 the rock his work is perfect for all his ways are just a God of faithfulness and without injustice righteous and upright is he see how these two work together God is going to judge he's going to sit on his throne he's going to judge nations and he's going to judge souls and he judges by his immovable standard of his righteousness this word perfect it's a word for wholeness or completeness he judges wholly and completely he doesn't leave anything out he doesn't forget about anything he judges perfectly and he judges righteously and he judges justly for the sake of time we'll continue on

[56:02] Psalm write this one down Psalm 89 14 righteousness and justice are the foundation of his throne Psalm 89 14 righteousness and justice are the foundation of his throne that's what the throne sits on so you can guarantee that's what it's going to be it's like the foundation of a house how sturdy is it how stable is it so God's throne the foundation of it what it sits on is righteousness his immovable standard and his justice when he acts and he speaks according to whatever he's judging again it's connected to righteousness because people might ask you how will evil be handed how do people get away with this I see so much evil in the world and I feel like I need to do something about it and I know sometimes that I can't do anything about it are these people gonna receive a just penalty it seems like they just got away with it you can tell them oh no God is a

[57:05] God of justice he will right every wrong he will judge every act and every word whether evil is internal or external the bar of justice for every person in every situation is gonna be based on his character on his righteousness that he's a just God every single word every single act is going to be brought out into the light of day there's unspeakable evil going on in this world that we don't even know about don't see we'll never hear about but God does with intimate knowledge and will judge with precise accuracy should cause us to fear God a little bit more don't you think be able to communicate about our God that our people serve a God of justice

[58:05] I want to do one more I don't want to leave it just right there let's leave it this last one he's also a God of compassion he's a God of compassion when you believe and know that God is a God of compassion he understands the need of the sinner and has pity towards them because of their inability to overcome their need when God is a God of compassion he knows the depths of your sinfulness like we've already understood he knows the breadth of it he knows what it requires in his righteousness and in his justice but he's also a God of compassion praise God for this that he knows that you cannot overcome your need for a savior on your own you cannot overcome your need for forgiveness on your own that you are indeed powerless as we've already understood but because you are powerless he is a compassionate

[59:09] God he sees it and knows it and he draws near to you in his love the world needs to know that God understands their needs to a greater degree than anyone else in the world would and he's actually able to provide what they need since we're already kind of in this area go back to Deuteronomy 4 verse 31 Deuteronomy 4 verse 31 Deuteronomy 4 verse 31 for the Lord your God is a compassionate God he will not fail you nor destroy you nor forget the covenant with your fathers which he swore to you you know the context in Deuteronomy that first generation failed out right they didn't trust God this new generation is going in he understands that he understands the moral need he understands the struggle and the difficulty of this second generation that they can't keep the covenant on their own he can't keep anything on their own just like you and

[60:24] I he's a compassionate God where does this come from we'll go to Exodus 32 just put that left turn signal in your Bible and go to Exodus 34 I mean Exodus 34 again this is one of those landmark passages that we should have earmarked highlighted underlined in our Bible because this is God revealing his characteristics I would encourage you to get to know Exodus 34 well and you know the context again sin spiritual infidelity it created a gold idol and this is what God says about himself in this moment verse 6 the Lord passed by in front of him and proclaimed the Lord the Lord God compassionate and gracious slow to anger abounding in loving kindness and truth what does he say after the

[61:25] Lord the Lord God compassionate I know your need Israel I know that you need me to come to your aid because you cannot do it on your own don't turn there but Isaiah 49 13 and 15 the Lord comforts his people and will have compassion on his afflicted compassion on his afflicted those who are the suffering he will have compassion because he knows their need Daniel 9 in his prayer he says to our God belongs compassion in the New Testament over and over again Jesus was moved with compassion for sinners they were sheep without a shepherd or they needed healing of some kind he knew the afflicted and he gave them compassion he knew their needs he may sit down with somebody who doesn't know

[62:28] God and they may ask you the question does anyone truly understand me does anyone truly know who I am God does does anyone really know what I'm going through and you can tell them my God is a God of compassion my God is a compassionate God that knows with piercing clarity everything that you were thinking everything you were going through everything you're struggling with every need that you have your soul that's the God that I serve and I want to tell you about him he knows the good the bad and the ugly he knows the really good the really bad and the really ugly he understands every weakness frailty stumbling blocks sin wicked thought and he knows that you cannot overcome those on your own he knows that he's a righteous God he knows that he's a just God and if you stand in a bar of justice without his aid he will judge you righteously but he sent his son he has sympathy he has pity on the sinner who cannot supply their own need he supplied your need he supplied your greatest need to be forgiven to have his righteousness and his holiness to have a relationship with him he's a compassionate

[63:58] God thank you for your patience here I know I've taken a little bit maybe more time than normal but I thought that compassion was probably a good one to end on but my goal my desire for you is to be able to see how quickly you can take God's character and you can connect that to the God of salvation and connect that to Christ and you can have access people to the God of salvation no matter where you're at who the God gives you as a divine appointment that you can be ready to proclaim and testify to his greatness and salvation let's pray father thank you for revealing yourself thank you for giving us these characteristics so that we can have a foundation of our faith that is immovable and unshakable so that we can proclaim to the world and we can testify to your greatness that you and you alone are the

[65:03]  God of salvation so father all of us here are different places in our walks how much we know you different ways that we learn but father would you grant us the ability to know you more to love you more deeply because of who you are and to proclaim you more courageously father if there's anyone here that doesn't know you and has heard about your characteristics this morning would you powerfully save would you be the God of compassion see their need and do what only you can do forgive them of their sin give them a new heart so they may believe in you and in your greatness because of your son Jesus Christ to him be the glory in Jesus name we ask amen