Hey, podcast listeners! Thanks for streaming today's podcast, From Pathway to Victory. Pathway to Victory is a nonprofit ministry featuring the Bible teaching of Dr. Robert Jeffress. Our mission is to pierce the darkness with the light of God's word through the most effective media available, like this podcast. To support Pathway to Victory, go to ptv.org slash podcast and click the donate button, or follow the link in our show notes.
Now, here's today's podcast, From Pathway to Victory. God has gone to great lengths to reveal important information about Himself to us, and I want us to consider, first of all, He reveals Himself to us through nature. We call that, in theology, natural revelation.
It's general information that is available to everyone about God, without ever reading a Bible or hearing the Bible. Welcome to Pathway to Victory with author and pastor, Dr. Robert Jeffress. You know, the most important relationship we could possibly have in life is not with our family or friends, but with our God.
Yet many Christians admit to feeling distant or unfamiliar with their Heavenly Father. Today, on Pathway to Victory, Dr. Robert Jeffress helps us grow deeper in our relationship with God by describing His attributes and His character. Now, here's our Bible teaching. I want you to introduce today's message.
Dr. Jeffress? Thanks, David, and welcome again to Pathway to Victory. Over the years, I've discovered the wisdom of setting aside time for a proper vacation.
Our bodies, our minds, our spirits need time to refresh and restore. And along those lines, I'm inviting you to join us for a one-week time of relaxation on the Pathway to Victory cruise to Alaska. The dates are June 15th through 22nd. From the minute you step foot onto the luxury cruise ship to the moment you return home, you'll experience the vacation you've longed for. Along the way, we'll be stopping in quaint ports of call, such as Ketchikan and Skagway.
We'll slide into Glacier Bay, where you'll enjoy a world-class view of the glacier. We'll enjoy the Christian music of Rebecca St. James and Michael O'Brien, along with the comedy of Dennis Swanberg. I could go on and on, but check out the details for yourself and reserve your spot by going. Now, I want to turn our attention to the subject at hand today. Today, I'm continuing our teaching series called What Every Christian Should Know. And before we start today's message, I'll remind you that today, anyone who gives a generous gift to support the ministry of Pathway to Victory is entitled to request my best-selling book for this series. The full title is What Every Christian Should Know, Ten Core Beliefs for Standing Strong in a Shifting World. In my hardcover book, I'll help you grasp ten pillars of our Christian faith that will keep you standing strong.
I'll say more later in today's program about the book and other resources. But right now, let's tackle the next subject in this series. Message number two is titled What Every Christian Should Know, Ten Core Beliefs for Standing Strong in a Shifting World. But right now, let's tackle the next subject in this series.
Message number two is titled What Every Christian Should Know, Ten Core Beliefs for Standing Strong in a Shifting World. A first-grade teacher was walking around inspecting her students' work on a creative art assignment she had given them. She stopped by one desk, and Johnny was fervently working on his project, and so she was interested to see what it was.
What are you drawing, the teacher asked. Johnny answered, well, this is a picture of God. The teacher said, well, Johnny, nobody knows what God looks like.
And without lifting up his head, Johnny said, they will in a few minutes. A.W. Tozer once said, what comes into our minds when we think about God is the most important thing about us. One wag said, in the beginning, God created man in his own image, and ever since that time, man has tried to return the compliment. What are your ideas of God based on? Are they based on your speculations that in reality have no more authority than a first grader's drawings? Or are your beliefs about God grounded in reality? Today, as we continue our series, What Every Christian Should Know, we're going to look at what every Christian should know about God the Father. In theology, we call it theology proper, but it immediately raises a question, and you've probably had it before. How is it that we talk about God the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit? Do we worship three gods, as some people charge against Christianity?
No, our historic belief has been that the triune God is one God in three persons, three co-equal, co-eternal persons, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Now, let's admit that is a mystery. A lot of people try to explain the Trinity. I have people all the time who say, Pastor, I've figured this out.
I've got an illustration on this napkin that helps figure it out. Everybody comes up with an explanation. One explanation of the Trinity I've heard is, my name is Robert Jeffress. I am the father of Julia and Dorothy.
I'm the husband of my wife, Amy, and I am the son of Robert James Jeffress, Sr., and Judy Jeffress, but I'm still one person. And so it is with God. Now, the truth is that illustration has as many holes in it as a piece of Swiss cheese. It doesn't really correspond.
There's no way to understand it. We accept it by faith, and we believe what the Bible tells us about each person of the Godhead. Today, we've come to God the Father. You know what's astounding to me is the first chapter of the Bible, Genesis 1, tells of how God the Father created this entire universe by His Word. And then the rest of the Bible, 1,188 chapters, are a record of how God chose to reveal Himself to His creation. Now, God didn't have to do that.
He was under no obligation to have any relationship with His creation. But don't you find it astounding that the great God of the universe cares enough about you that He wants to have a relationship with you? How does God connect with us? How does God reveal Himself to us? Well, today, we're going to look at, first of all, the how. How God reveals Himself to us. Secondly, the what. What does God reveal to us about Himself? And then the what now.
What difference should that make to us? What is our response to God's revelation? Let's first of all talk about how God reveals Himself to us. If you were trying to introduce yourself to somebody who didn't know you, how would you inform them about yourself? Would you send them a resume that listed all of your work experiences and honors? Maybe you'd fill out a dating profile that showed your likes and your dislikes.
Maybe you'd send them photographs of yourself at significant points in your life and people who have influenced you. Well, God has gone to great lengths to reveal important information about Himself to us. And I want us to consider four ways God has revealed Himself to us. First of all, He reveals Himself to us through nature. We call that, in theology, natural revelation.
It's general information that is available to everyone about God without ever reading a Bible or hearing a sermon. Nature reveals some important truths to us about God. David spoke about that in Psalm 8, verses 3 and 4. When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars which you have ordained, what is man that you thought of Him and the Son of Man that you care for Him? Jesus pointed to nature as a revelation of God. Remember in Luke 12, 27, He said, Consider the lilies, how they grow.
They neither toil nor spin, but I tell you, not even Solomon in all of his glory clothed himself would like one of these. Jesus was talking about why we shouldn't worry. He said, God is involved in our lives.
That's why you don't worry. Look at what He does for the lilies. How does He array them? He uses photosynthesis and the process of evaporation to be sure they have exactly what they need. Or look at the birds of the air, how God cares for them. If God cares for nature like that, how much more is He going to care for you? The apostle Paul spoke about natural revelation. In Romans 1, 20, he said, For since the creation of the world, God's invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they, that is the unsaved, are without excuse. You don't ever have to read a Bible or attend a church service to know that there's somebody in the universe greater than you. Just look at the creation.
Everybody knows they didn't do that. God did that. That is natural revelation. Every pagan in the world, the heathen in Africa. That's what we used to hear about growing up, the heathen in Africa. I never understood why all the heathen were gathered in Africa, but for some reason they thought they were.
No, it's heathen anywhere, whether it's in Africa or across the street from you, where you live. Everyone is without excuse because God has made Himself known through His creation. Now, that information, that revelation of God that He's powerful, is not enough to save you. Nobody can be saved by believing that there's a God.
The psalmist said, The foolish person, literally in Hebrew, the moron, has said in his heart there is no God. Believing God doesn't save you. That revelation is not enough to save you.
But as Charles Ryrie used to say, it is enough if rejected to condemn you. If you don't accept that natural revelation that's available to everybody, God has no obligation to send you any further revelation about Jesus, His Son, and His death for you. That's natural revelation. Secondly, God reveals Himself through Jesus Christ. Jesus is God's final revelation to man. In Hebrews 1, verses 1 and 2, God, after He spoke long ago to the fathers and the prophets and in many portions and ways in these last days, He has spoken to us and His Son, whom He appointed heir of all things. In the Old Testament, God revealed Himself through a burning bush, through a stone tablet, through visions, through dreams. But God's final revelation and complete revelation is in Jesus Christ.
Everything you need to know about God is found in Jesus Christ. Jesus said Himself in John 14, 9, He who has seen Me has seen the Father. And people say Jesus never claimed to be God.
There's an example of, yes, He claimed to be God. He who has seen Me has seen the Father. God reveals Himself through Jesus Christ. Thirdly, God reveals Himself through His Word, the Bible. Jesus is the living Word of God. John 1, In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. That was Jesus, the living Word, the living expression of God. The Bible is the written Word of God. And there is no dichotomy between the living Word, Jesus, and the written Word, the Bible. When I used to listen to those pagan religion professors in college, I remember one of them used to say, oh, I'm just so troubled about all of these Bible idolaters, he called them, who love the Bible more than Jesus. Poppycock.
Bologna. There is no such thing as somebody who truly loves the Bible and doesn't love Jesus. If you love the written Word of God, you will love the living Word of God, Jesus, because it points to Jesus. If you search the Scriptures, they testify of me. And if you truly love the living Word of God, Jesus, you will love and revere the Bible.
You can't love one without loving the other. The Bible is God's revelation of Himself. All Scripture, 2 Timothy 3.16, is inspired, theos nustos, God breathed. Fourthly, God reveals Himself to us through His Holy Spirit. We'll talk about that more in a couple of weeks when we look at what every Christian should know about the Holy Spirit. But the Holy Spirit reveals God personally to us. For example, if we are pleasing God with what we do and we're obeying Him, the Spirit affirms that in our heart. Romans 8 16, for the Spirit Himself testifies with our spirit that we are children of God. If we need guidance, it's the Holy Spirit of God that guides us. Romans 8 14, for all who are being led by the Spirit of God, these are the children of God.
If you don't have the Holy Spirit, then you're not a child of God because every true child of God has the Spirit who leads Him. The Holy Spirit acts as a conscience. He is our conscience. He's a conscience not only for Christians but for non-Christians. In John 16 8, Jesus said, and when He, the Holy Spirit, comes, He will convict the world concerning sin, righteousness, and judgment to God. Now, what does God reveal to us about Himself? We saw the how God reveals Himself through nature, through Jesus, through the Bible, through the Holy Spirit. What is it that God wants us to know about Himself? Well, first of all, God reveals His attributes. We would call them characteristics or traits. Traits is not a good word or characteristics because, well, they're not always true of a person.
For example, you're intelligent about some things and probably ignorant of other things, just like I am. We're semi-intelligent, depending on the subject. We can say, well, we're loving. Well, not all the time. Sometimes we're unloving.
Sometimes we're vengeful. And so, a better way to describe God's attributes are His perfections. We call them God's perfections. These are things that are always true of God 100% of the time. I've listed 10 of them for you.
Don't panic. I'm only going to say a sentence about each one of them, but write them down. Number one, God is holy. He is holy. Holy, holy, holy was Isaiah's vision of God.
That means, this is important when something's repeated three times. What does it mean that God is holy? That word means He's separate. It's a cut above everyone and everything in His creation. And because of that, His holiness, He cannot have fellowship with anyone, and that's all of us tainted by sin. God is holy. Secondly, God is just. His just nature demands punishment for sin. Now, you know some people are so arrogant, they think, gee, why is God so intolerant? I mean, He destroys people, sends them to hell for sin.
Why can't God be more like I am? I'm tolerant of other people. I'm tolerant of sinners. Why can't God be that way? Well, the fact that we are tolerant towards sin is not a mark of our holiness.
It's a mark of our unholiness. We're sinful, so we have no trouble tolerating sin in ourselves or sin in other people. But God is intolerant towards sin because He is just.
Exodus 34 says God cannot allow the guilty to go unpunished. And that's why He had to take drastic means to save us and have that relationship with us, offering Jesus to be the one who was punished for our sins. God is just. Thirdly, God is loving.
It's not a superficial emotion. God has a profound love for us that manifests itself in instruction, correction, and discipline. Fourth, God is eternal. He's not bound by time. And that's why we can trust His promise.
And lo, I'm with you always. Or Hebrews 13, 5, I will never leave you, nor will I ever forsake you. Fifth, God is omnipotent, omni, all potent, powerful. He is all powerful. He can suspend the laws of nature to accomplish His purpose, which He had to do for a 90-year-old woman named Sarah to become pregnant. He suspended the laws of nature in stopping the sun's movement so that Israel could have victory, Joshua 10. He suspended nature when He allowed three of His servants to walk around unharmed in the burning furnace in Daniel 3. Now, that raises the question, I bet you heard this as a child, can God do anything? We answer, yes. And then the child asks, could He make a rock so heavy that He couldn't lift it?
Have you ever heard that before? Could God do that? There are some things that God cannot do. God cannot do anything that is contrary to His nature. The only things God can do are the things that are consistent with His nature. For example, God can't lie, Titus 1, verse 2. God can't be tempted by evil, James 1, verse 13. He can't be faithless, 2 Timothy 2, 13. Even when we are faithless, He is faithful. Aren't you glad there's some things God can't do?
That's what we mean. He is omnipotent. He can do whatever is in His nature. 6, God is omniscient. He's all knowing what should be a comfort to you. He knows the future. He knows your future. You know how He knows your future? Because He has planned the future. That's how God knows. He is omniscient. 7, God is imminent. That means God is always with His creation.
He's a hands-on manager. Now, this is in contrast to, say, deism. Two of our nation's founding fathers were deists.
Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin. Most of them were Orthodox Christians, but these two were deists. The deists believed that God created the world, and then He left it alone to run down, like an alarm clock.
You wind it up, and the clock runs down if no energy is injected to it. No, the Bible says God is ever-present and working in His creation. 8, God is transcendent. That means even though He is in His creation, He is distinct from His creation. 9, God is sovereign.
You know what sovereign means? It means boss. He's the boss. What God wants done gets done. Job 42, 2. I know that you are God and that you can do all things, Job said.
No man can thwart your purpose. And then finally, God is unchanging. He is the same yesterday, today, and forever, Hebrews 13, 8. Those are the things that God reveals about Himself, His attributes. Secondly, God reveals His names. You know, names represent the essence of a person. When you hear a name, you think about a person, don't you? For example, if I say the name Ronald Reagan, many of you who are my age or a little bit younger get a picture in your mind.
You think about a man sitting in an oval office, or you think about an actor in bedtime for Bonzo, or you think about a great communicator. You think about a certain person when you hear the name. The name represents the person. God has revealed to us certain names that reveal His attributes to us. We don't have time to look at this, but I've put them in your outline. Some of the most frequently used names of God, Elohim, which is the first name for God.
It's a general term. In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. Yahweh is the most holy name for God. The Israelites wouldn't even speak the word.
It was so holy. God used to reveal Himself to Moses in the burning bush. Exodus 3, I am who I am. Then you see the other names for God used in Scripture. Jehovah is an especially interesting name. It's a variation of Yahweh. There are seven names for God that all begin with Jehovah. Jehovah Jireh, meaning the Lord our provider.
Jehovah Rapha, the Lord our healer. That's an interesting study sometimes to see all of the things God tells us about Himself through His names. Thirdly, God reveals His plan to us. Sometimes we refer to God's plan as God's will. To understand this, you need to understand that when we talk about God's plan, there are three aspects to God's plan. First of all, there's what we call God's providential plan or will. This is God's plan, master plan that governs everything that happens in the universe. It's what's referred to in Ephesians 1-11. Also, we have obtained an inheritance having been predestined according to God's purpose who works all things after the counsel of His will. Will you notice that word will is singular? God does not have multiple plans.
This is one of the greatest heresies in the church and you hear it taught all the time. Well, God has His perfect will. That's what He wishes would happen. And then He has His permissive will.
That's what actually happens. In other words, there's a plan A and there's a plan B. Who wants to believe in a God like that?
No. Everything Ephesians 1-11 says is worked together according to His plan. He has one plan. God is able to use all things to accomplish His single will. Aren't you glad to know that God has only one plan?
He hasn't created a menu from which we choose our favorite way. This is one of the many principles we're learning through this teaching series called What Every Christian Should Know. It's also the title for my book and the subtitle explains further what my book is about.
Ten Core Beliefs for Standing Strong in a Shifting World. The key to growing deeper in your relationship with God is getting better acquainted with His character. My book lays out ten core beliefs, doctrines we call them, that describe the very nature and character of God. This book and series would make an excellent choice for your small group Bible study or Sunday school class.
There's even a study guide available to you as well. David will mention how you can get your copy in just a moment. In today's world, changing trends and social upheavals have led to wild speculation about God.
Plus, these days we're hearing some pretty shaky ideas about right and wrong. Well, standing strong starts and ends on the clear teaching of God's Word. Ask for my book What Every Christian Should Know when you give a generous gift to support the ministry of Pathway to Victory.
I'll make sure a copy is sent to your home right away along with the study guide. A final word, your gifts to Pathway to Victory are truly making a difference. In the last few weeks we've received remarkable feedback from our audience telling us their amazing stories of life change. And when those notes and phone calls arrive, I thank God for people like you who stand with us by giving generous gifts. Thanks so much for your faithfulness.
David? Thanks, Dr. Jeffress. You're invited to request a copy of the book by Dr. Jeffress called What Every Christian Should Know when you give a generous gift to Pathway to Victory. Here's our toll-free number, 866-999-2965, or visit online at ptv.org. And when your gift is $75 or more, you'll receive not only the book, but also the complete collection of audio and video discs for the What Every Christian Should Know teaching series. Plus, we'll also include a study guide.
That's perfect for Sunday school class or maybe even a small group Bible study. One more time, call 866-999-2965 or find us online at ptv.org. You could write to us if you'd like, P.O. Box 223-609, Dallas, Texas, 75222.
Again, that's P.O. Box 223-609, Dallas, Texas, 75222. I'm David J. Mullins. Join us next time for Part 2 of the message, What Every Christian Should Know About God. That's right here on Pathway to Victory. Pathway to Victory with Dr. Robert Jeffress comes from the pulpit of the First Baptist Church of Dallas, Texas. You made it to the end of today's podcast from Pathway to Victory, and we're so glad you're here. Pathway to Victory relies on the generosity of loyal listeners like you to make this podcast possible. One of the most impactful ways you can give is by becoming a Pathway partner. Your monthly gift will empower Pathway to Victory to share the gospel of Jesus Christ and help others become rooted more firmly in His Word. To become a Pathway partner, go to ptv.org slash podcast and click on the donate button or follow the link in our show notes. We hope you've been blessed by today's podcast from Pathway to Victory.
