Knowing God Part 4 - The Acts of GOd
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Knowing God – Part 4 – The Acts of God
Proposition: God wants us to Know Him by knowing His Sovereign Acts
An attribute refers to the characteristics of a person. In other words, attributes describe the nature of God.
We learned that it is impossible to describe who God is in one word or a small sentence. God is an infinite Being, and it would take eternity to learn about Him. Therefore, describing God in short phrases or words would be unwise.
It is the same with the attributes of God. Though they describe God’s nature, the attributes do not describe God fully.
Why is this? There is no way to describe the Great; I AM; there is no way to describe the Majestic King; it is difficult to describe the Eternal God.
Today, we are going to look at another way of knowing God.
One of the best ways to know God, besides His character and attributes, is to learn about and from the Acts of God.
The Acts of God refer to whatever God “acted” upon or whatever God “did” or will be doing now or in the future.
Hebrew 1:3 talks about the supremacy of Christ and says,
Who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high;
By this verse, we know who made all things. Who decreed all things.
The Acts of God describe God's involvement in events and lives.
So, the question we are dealing with is: How can we know God? We can know God by knowing His Acts.
The Acts of God are also known as the “Decrees” of God.
What is a Decree of God?
What is a Decree of God?
It is the “speech” of God. Or we would say it is the power of the “Word” of God. God speaks, and things happen; God utters a command, and things form – they must form – there is no option from not forming or occurring.
One writer describes it this way:
“Sometimes God’s words take the form of powerful decrees that cause events or even cause things to come into being. “And God said, ‘Let there be light,’ and there was light” (Gen. 1:3).”
“The decree of God therefore is the act of an infinite, absolute, eternal, unchangeable, and sovereign person, comprehending a plan including all his works of all kinds, great and small, from the beginning of creation to an unending eternity.”
The same writer goes on to say, “The decree of God is his eternal, unchangeable, holy, wise, and sovereign purpose, comprehending at once all things that ever were or will be in their causes, conditions, successions, and relations, and determining their certain futurition.”
Another way of defining the Decrees of God is to say the eternal plans of God were planned before the foundations of the world were laid, which God determined to bring them to pass.
God is not making specific decisions now or today, but He had planned it ALL before the creation. This is what it means by an Act or a Decree of God.
What Does the Scripture say about God’s Acts or Decrees?
What Does the Scripture say about God’s Acts or Decrees?
This is the purpose that is purposed upon the whole earth:
And this is the hand that is stretched out upon all the nations.
For the Lord of hosts hath purposed, and who shall disannul it?
And his hand is stretched out, and who shall turn it back?
No one can change or alter the decree of God.
Remember the former things of old:
For I am God, and there is none else;
I am God, and there is none like me,
Declaring the end from the beginning,
And from ancient times the things that are not yet done,
Saying, My counsel shall stand,
And I will do all my pleasure:
And all the inhabitants of the earth are reputed as nothing: and he doeth according to his will in the army of heaven, and among the inhabitants of the earth: and none can stay his hand, or say unto him, What doest thou?
In whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will:
God’s Act in the Eternity Past – Ps. 33:11, Psalm 104:24, Isaiah 37:26, Matt. 25:34, 1 Cor. 2:7
God’s Act in the Eternity Past – Ps. 33:11, Psalm 104:24, Isaiah 37:26, Matt. 25:34, 1 Cor. 2:7
God declared certain things would happen in the past, and His counsel will stand forever. There would not be any change in His plans.
God doesn’t need to “alter” His plan because something went wrong during history. Because He knows all things, He sees all things.
The counsel of the Lord standeth for ever,
The thoughts of his heart to all generations.
O Lord, how manifold are thy works!
In wisdom hast thou made them all:
The earth is full of thy riches.
Hast thou not heard long ago, how I have done it;
And of ancient times, that I have formed it?
Now have I brought it to pass, that thou shouldest be to lay waste
Defenced cities into ruinous heaps.
Then shall the King say unto them on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world:
But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, even the hidden wisdom, which God ordained before the world unto our glory:
God is an Infinite Being!
God’s Act as a Creator – Gen. 1:1-3
God’s Act as a Creator – Gen. 1:1-3
In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.
And God said, Let there be light: and there was light.
Without God, there is no creation; without God’s “Acts,” there is no humanity.
God’s Act as a Redeemer – Gen. 3:15
God’s Act as a Redeemer – Gen. 3:15
And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.
God said in this verse that He will put enmity between the seed of the woman and the seed of the devil. This is also the verse that gives us hope because God has set out to redeem His people from the domain of darkness.
God has planned this in such a way that even the definitive plan of God based on His foreknowledge was executed at the right time. In regard to our Savior, and His death, God has planned it ahead of time. Acts 2:23 and Acts 4:28
Him, being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, ye have taken, and by wicked hands have crucified and slain:
For to do whatsoever thy hand and thy counsel determined before to be done.
Our salvation was determined before the world was created – Eph. 1:4, Eph. 1:11, and Eph. 2:10.
According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love:
In whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will:
For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.
This is to say that God has chosen us in Christ before the foundations of the world – How gracious His Acts are!
God also redeemed us from the curse of the law – Gal. 3:13
Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree:
God’s Acts as the Deliverer – Exodus 6:6-8; John 3:16
God’s Acts as the Deliverer – Exodus 6:6-8; John 3:16
Wherefore say unto the children of Israel, I am the Lord, and I will bring you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians, and I will rid you out of their bondage, and I will redeem you with a stretched out arm, and with great judgments: And I will take you to me for a people, and I will be to you a God: and ye shall know that I am the Lord your God, which bringeth you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians. And I will bring you in unto the land, concerning the which I did swear to give it to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob; and I will give it you for an heritage: I am the Lord.
For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
The purpose of Christ’s coming to this world is to deliver “His” people. John 3:17, Luke 19:10
For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.
But into whatsoever city ye enter, and they receive you not, go your ways out into the streets of the same, and say,
God’s Act with Good Purposes – Romans 8:29
God’s Act with Good Purposes – Romans 8:29
And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose. For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren.
God has been and is doing all things for Good. Even this was planned before the foundations were laid.
Conclusion:
As believers, what should we do?
Know that God decrees and things will come to pass no matter what the circumstances might seem from “our” perspective. God doesn’t see things from “our” perspective but from HIS perspective.
We must stand in awe and respect for the Great God, who is wonderful, powerful, wise, and loving.
We can trust God and should trust God with all our being.
We should not get weary or worried about world events as we see them now. Why? God is in control of all things, and God declared certain things to happen according to His good will.
Finally, we must reduce ourselves so He might be exalted; we must cut our pride and acknowledge that all good happens not because of who we are but because of God. We must praise God forever and ever.