I'm trying something new and putting it here for your use and/or helpful comments. A.W. Pink's Attributes of God is available in the public domain (as far as I know), so I am not attempting to plagiarize or rip anyone off. This is an attempt to make it accessible and applicable. Below you will find the introduction and chapter 1.
If you prefer a pdf or Word format, please leave a comment with your email and I will send it your way.
Our knowledge of God is based on the Bible. GotQuestions.org says, "the Bible was written by God. Second Timothy 3:16 tells us that the Bible was 'breathed out' by God. God superintended the human authors of the Bible so that, while using their own writing styles and personalities, they still recorded exactly what God intended.
"Humanly speaking, the Bible was written by approximately 40 men of diverse backgrounds over the course of 1500 years. Isaiah was a prophet, Ezra was a priest, Matthew was a tax-collector, John was a fisherman, Paul was a tentmaker, Moses was a shepherd, Luke was a physician. Despite being penned by different authors over 15 centuries, the Bible does not contradict itself and does not contain any errors." (https://www.gotquestions.org/Bible-authors.html)
This study uses God's description of Himself to reveal who He is and how He works. Look for yourself:
Introduction
Chapter 1 The Solitariness of God
Before All Else
His Sovereign (Absolute) Will
By Revelation
If you prefer a pdf or Word format, please leave a comment with your email and I will send it your way.
Who is God?
Our knowledge of God is based on the Bible. GotQuestions.org says, "the Bible was written by God. Second Timothy 3:16 tells us that the Bible was 'breathed out' by God. God superintended the human authors of the Bible so that, while using their own writing styles and personalities, they still recorded exactly what God intended.
"Humanly speaking, the Bible was written by approximately 40 men of diverse backgrounds over the course of 1500 years. Isaiah was a prophet, Ezra was a priest, Matthew was a tax-collector, John was a fisherman, Paul was a tentmaker, Moses was a shepherd, Luke was a physician. Despite being penned by different authors over 15 centuries, the Bible does not contradict itself and does not contain any errors." (https://www.gotquestions.org/Bible-authors.html)
This study uses God's description of Himself to reveal who He is and how He works. Look for yourself:
Introduction
Look up and write out the following
verses:
Job 22:21
Jeremiah 9:23,24
A spiritual
and a saving knowledge of God is our greatest need. God alone is the greatest
need of every human being ever created.
All true
knowledge of God begins with realizing how little we can grasp of His
perfection and holiness as revealed in the Holy Scripture. Who would trust a
God they don’t know? Who would want to serve Him? And how can we worship Him if
we don’t understand Him? This is an effort to discover some of what the Bible
teaches about His divine character. In order to benefit from the pages that
follow pray, turning again and again to God asking for a blessing in Himself,
for His help in applying these truths to one’s mind and heart, and for
spiritual change.
We need more
than head knowledge. We cannot know God until we submit to who He is, to His
authority, and until every detail of our lives is given over to His words and
commands.
Look up and write out the following
verses:
Hosea 6:3
John 7:17
Daniel 11:32
Write a prayer asking God to help you
see Him clearly, submitting to His authority and giving up your own:
Chapter 1 The Solitariness of God
The word
“solitary” is not the best word, but this is a difficult idea to explain
because many of us don’t spend time meditating on God’s personal perfection.
Most Christians would agree that God is full of wisdom, great in power, and full
of mercy, but to look closely and wonder at His being, His nature, and His
character as He reveals Himself in Scripture is something very, very few people
have discovered. Those who read the Bible without serious thought miss out on
this description of God. He is alone in His excellency.
Look up and write out the following verse:
Exodus 15:11
Before All Else
Look up and write out the following
verse:
Genesis 1:1
Have you
ever thought about the fact that time didn’t start until God created the heavens
and the earth? Where was He before that? There was no heaven as we think of it,
where He lived in glory and splendor. There was no earth for Him to oversee.
There were no angels singing His praise; there was no universe to be held
together by His power. There was nothing, no one, but God for all of eternity
past—not just for a day, year, or century. In eternity past, God was alone and
without need. He was self-sufficient, satisfied, glorified, whole, and perfect.
If He had needed a universe, angels or humans to be who He is, they would have
been there all along. The fact that He created them did not make Him “more”
God.
Look up and write out the following
verse:
Malachi 3:6
Because God
does not change, nothing will or can ever affect His glory. He does not have
more or less. He is fully glorious and complete in and of Himself.
His Sovereign (Absolute) Will
God did not have to create. He did not
have to create anything at all. The fact that He chose to is an act of His
sovereign will. He did it because He wanted to. Creation wasn’t caused by
anything or anyone outside of Himself. It was for no reason other than His own
pleasure.
Look up and write out the following verse:
Ephesians 1:11
By creating the heavens and the earth,
God made known, or manifested, His glory.
Look up and write out the following verse:
Nehemiah 9:5
God does not benefit from our worship.
He does not need anything outside of Himself to be complete, full, satisfied
and glorified. He does not need our praise. Why did He create us for adoption
and predestination?
Look up and write out the following verse and
circle the reason:
Ephesians 1:5
This may seem strange and new, so we
will move slowly and study Scripture carefully.
Look up and write out the following verses:
Romans 11:34, 35
Job 35:7-8
Luke 17:10
The message is this: God is not
obligated to us. He gains nothing from us. Even our obedience does not profit
Him.
Here is another difficult thought: our
Lord Jesus added nothing to God’s character, being, or glory by what He did or what
He suffered. Yes, He made known (or manifested) the glory of God to us, but He
did not add to who God is.
Look up and write out the following verse:
Psalm 16:2
This was a Psalm of the Messiah, or
Christ. The next verse (vs. 3) says that Christ’s goodness or righteousness
reached His saints on earth, but God is high above and beyond it all. Only God
is the Blessed One (Mark 14:61).
It is true that people honor God or
dishonor Him. Their opinion does not affect who He is. It only reveals how much
or how little they know Him. It is also
true that God is “glorified” by creation, by His provision, and His redemption
of His people. What we know, however, is that God is not made more or less by
our recognition of Him. It is His way of showing Himself to us; it doesn’t
change who He is. If God wanted to, He could have gone on for all eternity
without making Himself known to His creation. It was His choice. He was
perfectly blessed and whole in Himself before making anyone or anything. And
what does the Bible say about His creation?
Look up and write out the following verses:
Isaiah 40:15-18
Isaiah 40:22, 23
God is very different than many of us
know! The New Testament agrees with the Old Testament because it has the same
Author.
Look up and write out the following verse:
1 Timothy 6:15, 16
This God is worthy of our worship,
respect, and adoration. He alone, or solitary, in His majesty, He is one-of-a-kind
in His excellency, single in His perfections. He keeps all, but is independent
of it He gives to all, but needs none.
By Revelation
This God cannot be found by searching.
He can only be known as He reveals Himself to our hearts by the Holy Spirit
through the Word. Although creation tells of a Creator and “men are without
excuse,” we must be careful not to limit God to what we see, hear, and
experience.
Look up and write out the following verse:
Job 26:14
When we limit God by creation,
believing we can understand Him by what He has made, we bring down the great
God to a place of our own understanding and lose awe of His solitary, eternal
excellence. The God of Scripture can only be known by those to whom He makes
Himself known.
Look up and write out the following verse:
John 4:24
God cannot be known in our thinking.
He is Spirit, and is known spiritually. But fallen, sinful man is not
spiritual. He is dead to spiritual truth. Unless we are born again, brought to
life supernaturally and taken from the kingdom of darkness to the kingdom of
light, we cannot see the things of God or understand them.
Look up and write out the following verses:
John 3:3
1 Corinthians 2:14
2 Corinthians 4:6
2 Peter 3:18
The Holy Spirit has to shine in our
hearts (not our minds) in order for us to see Christ. And even that is
incomplete. Once new, the new soul must grow in the knowledge and grace of our
Lord Jesus Christ. Our prayer and aim should be this:
Look up and write out the following verse:
Colossians 1:10
Rewrite Colossians 1:10 as a personal prayer
request to God:
Adapted from
2) this copyright notice and all the text on this page is included.
Adapted from
The Attributes of God, by A. W. Pink. First Printing 1930. First Chapel Library edition 1993. Printed in the United States of America.
© Copyright 1993 by Chapel Library (this edition), Pensacola, Florida. Permission is expressly granted to reproduce this material by any means,
provided:
1) it is not charged for beyond a nominal sum for cost of duplication
2) this copyright notice and all the text on this page is included.
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