Sermon #7                                Series: Who Is God?

          Title:           Our Infinite, Eternal, Omnipresent God

          Text:           John 4:24

          Reading:   

          Subject:     God’s attributes of infinity, eternality, and                                      omnipresence

          Date:          Tuesday Evening - January 30, 1990

          Tape #      

          Introduction:

 

          My aim, my goal, my purpose in preaching is setforth in the opening petition of Elijah’s prayer before the prophets of Baal. This is the purpose of our ministry in this congregation. If indeed I have no other ambition but this in my preaching and we have no object but this in the ministry God has given us in this place, God will honor my preaching and honor our labors together as his people. Here is our goal, hre is our ambition, here is the object of our ministry - “It came to pass at the time of the offering of the evening sacrifice, that Elijah the prophet came near, and said, LORD God of Abraham, Isaac, and of Israel, let it be known this day that thou art God in Israel, and that I am thy servant, and that I have done all these things at thy Word. Hear me, O LORD, hear me, that this people may know that thou art the LORD God” (I Kings 18:36-37). I want all who hear my voice to know that the Lord our God is God indeed and that he alone is God. I want, somehow, by the power of God the Holy Spirit, to turn men and women away from the idolatrous vanities of their corrupt imaginations that they may fall down before the throne of the living God in reverent faith and adoration.

 

          I want all men to see and know the greatness and solitary supremacy of our God. Particularly, I want you to see something of God’s great majesty tonight, so that we may together worship him for a little while. God’s greatness is to be seen in those magnificent attributes of his Being which are essential to him as God and distinguish him from all his creatures. I have shown you, in recent weeks, something of God’s:

·        Solitariness

·        Immutability

·        Sovereignty

·        Omniscience

·        Foreknowledge

·        Omnipotence

The subject of our meditation tonight will be Our Infinite, Eternal, Omnipresent God. The three attributes of God, infinity, eternality and omnipresence, are attributes of God alone. He who is infinite, eternal, and omnipresent is God. And these three magnificient attributes of our God are full of comfort for us. Yet, God’s infinity, eternality, and omnipresence are so closely relatted to one another that they will be best appreciated when considered together. Therefore, I have decided to deal with them in one messge.

 

          In John 4:24 the Lord Jesus Christ tells us, “God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and truth.” God does not have a body, consisting of parts and material substance, as we do. “God is a Spirit.”

 

Proposition:

 

          God’s spiritual nature, him being the uncreated Spirit by w hom all things were made, implies that he is infinite, eternal, and omnipresent.

 

Divisions:

 

          Tonight, I want us to meditate upon these three characteristics of God’s spiritual nature.

1.    The infinity of God.

2.    The eternality of God.

3.    The omnipresence of God.

 

I. GOD IS INFINITE.

 

          “When we say that God is infinite, the meaning is, that he is unbounded and unlimited, unmeasurable, or immense, unsearchable and not to be comprehended” (John Gill). God dwells alone in his infinity. There is none before him to limit him, none after him to limit him, and none above him to limit him (Isa. 443:10; 44:6). Our great, infinite God is the only totally independent Being. All things depend upon God; but God depends upon nothing. All things are of him, through him, and by him; but God dwells alone. All things are checked by God; but God is checked by nothing. All things are limited by God; but God is limited by nothing. God is infinite. And God alone is infinite.

 

          No creature is infinite. No thought, word, deed, work, or possession of any finite creature can be infinite. Indeed, nothing created is infinite. Space is not infinite. Time is not infinite. Light is not infinite. Darkness is not infinite. Only God is infinite. Infinity distinguishes God and sets him apart from all his creatures.

 

          We sometimes speak of sin as an infinite evil. But even that is not strictly accurate. The God against whom we sin is infinite. But sin is not infinite. Sin is the finite act of finite creatures. However, our sins, because they are acts of emnity against the infinite God, demand an infinite satisfaction.

 

·        Finite creatures can never render infinite satisfaction to the infinite God. That is the reason why hell is eternal. The sufferings of finite creatures in hell can never satisfy the offended justice of the infinite God (Ezek. 18:23, 32; 33:11).

·        But here is good news - Christ, the infinite God, our Savior, has rendered infinite satisfaction to God for our sins by his obedience and death in our nature, as our Substitute before God (Isa. 53:10).

 

Complete atonement Christ has made,

The law’s demanded price He paid:

All that His people owed to God,

He satisfied by His own blood.

 

Christ Jesus my discharge procurred,

The whole of wrath divine endured:

The law’s tremendous curse He bore;

Justice can never ask for more!

 

          God alone is infinite. And God is infinite in all the attributes of his Being. Everything that God is is infinite.

 

          A. God’s understanding is infinite (Psa. 147:4-5).

 

          God sees, knows, comprehends, and understands all things perfectly and at once. “There is no searching of his understanding” (Isa. 40:28). In comparison with God’s wisdom the wisdom of the heavenly angels is only folly (Job 4:18).

 

          B. God’s power is infinite.

 

          With God nothing is impossible. His power has never yet been exerted. All power is his. He who created one world by his eternal poer could have made ten million worlds. He spoke this one into being and upholds it by the word of his power (Rom. 1:20; Heb. 11:3). There is no end to God’s infinite power. “Is anything too hard for the Lord?” No. His power is infinite.

 

          C. God’s goodness is infinite (Mic. 7:18-20).

 

          I have heard men say, “There is a limit to God’s goodness.’ But that is not so. There may be a limit to your enjoyment of God’s providential goodness in this world. But there is no limit to the goodness of God. He is good, eternally good, always good, infinitely good, infinitely good to all his people in Christ.

 

          D. God’s holiness is infinite.

 

          There is none holy but God. None are pure and righteous before him. Even the holy angels are not pure in the sight of his infinite holiness (Job 4:17-18).

 

1.    No man can make himself holy, righteous, and pure in the sight of God.

2.    Our only hope of acceptance with him is the imputation of Christ’s purity, righteousness, and holiness to us by grace.

3.    And all who are made pure before God by divine imputation are clothed with humility before him (Isa. 6:2-3).

 

          E. God’s love is infinite (Eph. 3:18).

 

Could we with ink the oceans fill,

And were the skies of parchment made,

Were every stalk on earth a quill,

And every man a scribe by trade,

To write the love of God above

Would drain the oceans dry,

Nor could the scroll contain the whole,

Though stretched from sky to sky.

 

          Do you see the unsearchable greatness of our God? He is infinite, immense, uncomprehensible. The heavens cannot contain him, much less our puny minds. God measures all things; but he is measured by none. God comprehends all things; but he is comprehended by none. We know him by faith in Christ; but our ignorance far outweighs our knowledge. God is too big for our brains. No creature can ever begin to comprehend the infinite God. In heaven’s glory we will know God in perfection; but we will not know him perfectly, fully, comprehensively. One glory of heaven will be the saints’ ever increasing knowledge of our great, infinite God.

 

          Because he is infinite...

 

II. GOD IS ETERNAL.

 

          God is not limited by time. He is eternal. The infinite God is the One who inhabits eternity. He is the eternal King, the everlasting God (Gen. 21:33; Deut. 33:27; Isa. 40:28; Rom. 16:26; I Tim. 1:17).

 

          That which is eternal is without beginning, without end, without succession of time. It never changes. In this sense God alone is eternal. We speak of eternal happiness for the saints in heaven and eternal misery for the damned in hell, and the Bible describes our salvation as the gift from God of eternal life. But the word “eternal,” in that sense, simply means everlasting. That which is everlasting has a beginning, but no end. When the Bible speaks of God being eternal, the meaning is that he is from everlasting past to everlasting future God (Psa. 90:2). God alone is eternal, without beginning, without end, and without succession of time, or change.

 

          Of course, you do not need for me to remind you that eternity, like infinity and omnipresence, is an attribute belonging to each of the three Persons in the Godhead, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. When we say that God is eternal, three things are implied.

 

          A. God is without beginning.

 

          There never was a time when God began to be. He is self-existent and independent. God alone possesses immortality in the essence of his Being. He has made his angels immortal spirits, and made men to have immortal souls. But their immortality and ours depends entirely upon God. He makes us immortal. But he could annihilate us as easily as he made us, were it his pleasure to do so. God, however, is essentially immortal. And he alone is immortal (I Tim. 6:16), because God alone is eternal. Everything about God, every attribute of his Being is eternal.

 

1.    God’s power is eternal (Rom. 1:20).

2.    God’s knowledge is eternal (Acts 15:18).

3.    God’s mercy is eternal (Psa. 103:17).

4.    God’s love is eternal (Jer. 31:3; I John 4:16).

5.    All God’s purposes, counsels, and decrees are eternal.

          They all one of old, even from everlasting (Isa. 25:1: Eph. 3:11).

 

          a. His covenant of grace is an everlasting, eternal covenant (II Sam. 23:5).

          b. His blessings fo grace are eternal blessings (Eph. 1:3).

          c. His election is an eternal election (Eph. 1:3; II Thess. 2:13).

          d. His Book of Life is an eternal book (Rev. 17:8).

          e. His salvation is an eternal salvation (II Tim. 1:9).

 

          B. As he is without beginning, God is without end.

 

          He is called, “the incorruptible God” (Rom. 1:23). God is over all, blessed forever. His dominion is an everlasting dominion. He is the most high God who lives for ever and ever (Rev. 4:9-10; 10:6).

 

          I repeat again, God is totally independent. God does not depend upon any of his creatures for anything. His Being, his glory, his happiness and his satisfaction are all in himself. He does not need us! And because he is totally independent of his creatures, he is eternal, without end.

 

1.    His counsel stand forever (Psa. 33:11).

2.    He keeps his truth forever (Psa. 146:6).

3.    His covenant stands fast with Christ forever (Psa. 89:28).

4.    He sustains his elect in grace forever (Psa. 89:33-36).

5.    God will be the portion of his saints forever.

 

          C. God is without succession of time.

 

          Time means nothing to the Ancient of Days (II Pet. 3:8). God is not restricted, limited, constrained, pushed, or hindered by time. Time is his servant, not his master. Time moves by him. God does not move by time.

 

1.    God never gets in a hurry.

2.    God never gets frustrated.

3.    God is never pushed.

4.    God never changes.

 

          God is eternity. He inhabits eternity. With him there is no beginning of days, nor end of life. God is eternal.

          God is infinite.

          God is eternal.

 

III. GOD IS OMNIPRESENT.

 

          That simply means, God is everywhere, at all times, in all the fulness of his infinite, eternal Being. As he is eternal, unlimited by time, so he is omnipresent, unlimited by space and place (Acts 17:27-28; Psa. 139:7-10).

 

          Much could and should be said about God’s omnipresence. But I want to send you home with this thought upon your heart. May it be bread for your soul for many days. The Lord Jesus Chrsit, God our Savior, this magnificent, infinite, eternal God is to us “a God at hand and not far off” (Jer. 23:23-24).

 

          A. Our God is gloriously present with his saints in heaven.

 

          B. Our God is powerfully present in the exercise of his dominion throughout the universe (Isa. 66:1).

 

          C. Our God is graciously present with his elect throughout the earth.

 

          Though our Lord’s humanity is limited by time and space, his divinity is not. He is with us, always, everywhere with us.

 

1.    In the assembly of his saints (Matt. 18:20; Rev. 1:13).

2.    In the ministry of his gospel (Matt. 28:20; Rev. 1:12).

3.    In the trials we must face (Isa. 41:10; 43:1-5).

 

          He says, “I will not leave you comfortless: I will come unto you.”

 

The soul that on Jesus hath leaned for repose

I will not, I will not desert to its foes;

That soul, though all hell should endeavor to shake,

I’ll never, no never, no never forsake!

 

4. In the Valley of the Shadow of Death (Psa. 23:6).

 

Application: Phil. 4:4