Streams of Living Water

Read: 1 Kings 18:17-40
We come, tonight, to our final study into Q & A 4 of the Shorter Catechism, ‘What is God? God is a Spirit, infinite, eternal and unchangeable, in his being wisdom, power, holiness, justice, goodness and truth’ – God is Truth. I haven’t gone through this study with you to bore you, or to tire you, but to enthuse you about the God you serve so that you may know Him better, praise Him sincerely, and serve Him enthusiastically. I have also chosen to do these studies on a prayer meeting night, not because I want to cut down the length of time we pray, but because I want us to use each of God’s magnificent attributes as the focus for our prayers on behalf of ourselves and other people.

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Read: Ephesians 2:1-10
I got a shock when I typed ‘grace’ into the Google Search Engine earlier on – it came back with 130,000,000 hits (approximately). And when you think of the number of things we use the word ‘grace’ for, it’s not surprising. By far, the biggest users of the word ‘grace’ are Christians – therefore, Christian web-sites dominate the search results display. Grace is so very important to us – it is the heart of the Christian Gospel. Without grace, there is no Gospel. But what is grace, and why is it so important to we Christians? I want to argue tonight that fundamentally, grace means beauty, and that therefore Christianity is all about beauty, delight and attraction.

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Read: Titus 3:1-8
Of all the attributes of God we have studied together so far, the least has been written on the Mercy of God. I’m not sure why that is because the mercy of God is beautifully, prominently and forcefully presented in the Bible. Indeed, the very first words Paul usually wrote to churches went something like “grace, mercy and peace to you from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ”. And yet, when we understand the mercy of God, our hearts are lifted up to think that the Gospel He offers us, the new life He gives to us, is all a gift of His mercy.

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Read: Hosea 11:1-11
Could there be a more horrific world than the idea of a wicked God wielding every possible power in order to ruin us? Unfortunately, many primitive religions believe in a God or God’s like that. They live in fear of everything – from thunder in the sky, to monsters of the deep – everything is a sign and symbol of the displeasure and hatred of their gods towards them. How amazing it is then to think that we don’t live in a world like that – that whereas we worship a God of infinite power, that God is also full of infinite love. It is the love of God, and particularly the love of God in Christ Jesus, more than anything else, which causes us to fall on our knees in worship, praise and adoration.

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Read: Psalm 145:1-21
When I was a child, in common with many other children, I read C. S. Lewis’s Narnia books. The best known of his books is probably “The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe”, where we are introduced to Aslan – the Jesus-figure of the books – a great and awesome lion – the King of Narnia. The first we hear of Aslan in the book is when the four children are in the house of the Beavers, and Susan asks Mrs Beaver about Aslan – “Is he – quite safe? I shall feel rather nervous about meet a lion.” Mrs Beaver replies, “if there’s anyone who can appear before Aslan without their knees knocking, their either braver than most or else just silly.” Lucy, the youngest child then pipes up, “Then he isn’t safe”. But Mr. Beaver comes out with the one line I’m sure we all recognise from the book, “Safe, don’t you hear what Mrs Beaver tells you? Who said anything about safe? Course he isn’t safe. But he’s good. He’s the King, I tell you.”

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Read: I John 1:5-2:2
I would suggest, that more than any other attribute of God’s character, His justice is the least understood and most disliked. People fall for a God of love – a cosmic Santa – but they hate a God of justice. But, if we are being fair to the Bible and to God, we must try and understand what His justice does and does not mean.

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Read: Isaiah 6:1-8
Although this mocking insult is really no longer used, when I was a boy Christians like myself were often called, “holy Joes”. People could see that Christians were different, and although they didn’t always mean it in a nasty sense, they called us ‘holy Joes’. I wonder, why don’t people call us holy Joes any longer? Is it just because that phrase has gone out of fashion, or is it because our standards of holiness have so declined that nobody can see a difference anymore? That would be tragic, since the God we love and serve, is described even by the mighty angels as ‘Holy, Holy, Holy’.

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Read: Psalm 115:1-15
At the beginning of this week, the government announced that by 2020, 100% of the domestic power supply of the British Isles will be produced by offshore wind farms – by great wind turbines planted in the sea. Every home in Britain will be powered by the wind – the wind, which is so powerful, will be harnessed to light and heat British homes. The power of God, which is infinite, eternal and unchangeable, is also harnessed for good – God harnesses it so that His people may be kept in their faith and that they may succeed as Christians. God’s infinite power is working in and through you as a Christian believer tonight!

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Read: Psalm 94:1-15
I wonder what characteristic or attribute you would love to have most. Power – to be ultra-strong; goodness – to be ultra-benevolent ; what? Perhaps its just me, but the attribute I would love to have more of is wisdom – I would love to be wiser – to know what to do, when to do it, what to say and when to say it. The good news for me, and all who lack wisdom, is that God gives it freely for the asking. Wisdom is the greatest of prizes. But Wisdom is, in the final analysis, just knowing and acting a little bit like God – because after all, He is infinite, eternal and unchangeable in His wisdom – as our text in Psalm 94 hints at.

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Read: Psalm 33:1-22
Perhaps the only thing in life that ever stays the same is the certain fact of change. Change is inevitable. The world changes around us – global climate changes alter the seasons; the courses of rivers change; the shape of cities and towns change. Nothing is ever the same as it once was. We change too – we grow older – our minds and bodies develop and age. The world in which we live is like a river which is turbulently rushing down a gorge. How grateful we are then when we come up against a doctrine like the unchangeability of God, because where we are like rivers, He is like the ocean – never immobile, but always the same.

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